Month: November 2015

Martin Luther discussed who we are in Christ, and what that means regarding how we are to relate to one another:

Nor are we only kings and the freest of all men, but also priests for ever, a dignity far higher than kingship, because by that priesthood we are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one another mutually the things which are of God. For these are the duties of priests, and they cannot possibly be permitted to any unbeliever. Christ has obtained for us this favour, if we believe in Him, that, just as we are His brethren, and co-heirs and fellow kings with Him, so we should be also fellow priests with Him, and venture with confidence, through the spirit of faith, to come into the presence of God, and cry “Abba, Father!” and to pray for one another.
–Martin Luther

In Christ, we have been adopted into the family of God – making us royalty. Through Christ, we have experienced grace, making us free in Him. But in being brought into this royal and free family, we have also been given a role – that of priests. As such, it is our role and duty to minister to those around us – helping them connect with God in stronger ways because of their relationship with us. Are the people who work with you able to say that about you… that their relationship with God is better because they have a relationship with you? How about your family or other friends?

In Christ, you are a priest forever. Be faithful to your calling and seek to be an expert in this, your task. Diligently pray for those around you, and teach them how to live for God.

William Carey was a missionary from Britain in the 1700s who promoted the idea of sending missionaries all over the globe, specifically to the areas that were commonly referred to at that time as the “heathen lands.” Not everyone was so excited about his ideas.

There were five objections that people raised against missions to “heathen” lands: their distance, their barbarism, the danger that would be incurred, the difficulties of support, and the unintelligible languages. One by one Carey answered these.

One of his key arguments:
The same obstacles had not prevented the merchants from going to distant shores. “It only requires,” William Carey wrote, “that we should have as much love to the souls of our fellow-creatures, and fellow sinners, as these merchants have for the profits arising from a few otter skins, and all these difficulties could be easily surmounted.”
–Bruce Shelley

We are called to be the most loving and compassionate people who exist. And we have the greatest news available that we are to share. And yet, still today we must ask ourselves if we love people who don’t yet know the news of Jesus as much as the “merchants” of today love money. Our merchants are still seeking to take their products to the uttermost parts of the world to gain more of what they love. Are we fighting just as hard to take our great news to the farthest places to gain more of what we are called to love… people… the treasures of heaven?

We are coming up on Christmas 2015. This would be a great time for each of us to consider how we might set a higher priority on gaining more treasure in heaven by supporting and giving to missions and finding new ways to impact our community, nation, and world for Christ.

How could I have missed it?
Jesus did not proclaim the Sermon on the Mount so that we would furrow our brows in despair over our failure to achieve perfection. He gave it to impart to us God’s Ideal toward which we should never stop striving, but also to show that none of us will ever reach that Ideal. The Sermon on the Mount forces us to recognize the great distance between God and us, and any attempt to reduce that distance by somehow moderating its demands misses the point altogether.
–Philip Yancey

Keep striving toward the ideal of Jesus.

Perfectly loving, perfectly compassionate, perfectly humble.
Full of grace, joy, peace, patience.

We will never measure up to his perfect ideal, but we must keep striving to do so, knowing that the great distance that exists between us and God is filled up by Jesus’ action on the cross. He measures up for us. And so, because we are so grateful and loving toward this One who first loved us, we keep striving to be exactly like Him.

Why be a law-abiding citizen?
While it is certainly true that justification frees one forever from the need to keep the law, or try to, as the means of earning life, it is equally true that adoption lays on one the abiding obligation to keep the law, as the means of pleasing one’s newfound Father.
–J. I. Packer

Paul said to the church in Ephesus:
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Good works don’t get you into heaven with Jesus.
But once you have Jesus and have been adopted into the family by the loving God of all… you will want to do the good works that please Him!

Go out and “keep the law” doing the the things that honor God not to try to earn His love, but in gratitude for His great love that He has freely given to us.

[Based upon Jesus’ model of suffering for us…]
Then shouldn’t we also be the first ones to lay down our lives for others? Shouldn’t we also let someone else benefit from our suffering? Those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47), and those who are the recipients of the benefits of suffering should be the first in line to suffer for others. Our love for and devotion to Christ, coupled with our desire to follow His example, should compel us to suffer on others’ behalves with enthusiasm–with gusto.
–Anonymous, Embracing Obscurity

Gusto is a strange word. And not one we probably use very often.
But I like how the author used it here, indicating that we should suffer on the behalf of others with enthusiasm and gusto. It seems such a foreign idea to us — To be enthusiastic to suffer.

And yet…
We see suffering with gusto in Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.

We see suffering with gusto in the apostles who rejoiced that they had been counted worthy to be beaten and suffer public disgrace due to the name of Jesus.

We see suffering with gusto in many of the martyrs who willingly died for their faith in Jesus.

And we are called to be enthusiastic to suffer for the Name and cause of Jesus.
May we suffer with gusto for Him and His Kingdom.