Why God Created - Part 2

Last time we talked about the fact that God created the universe for his pleasure and glory. But what does "glory" mean?  The root word behind "glory" means heavy or weighty. We sometimes use the word weighty in the sense of deep or important such as when we way this is a weighty topic. I think of when Dick Chaney was nominated for Vice President, the media was saying that George W. Bush needed someone like him because Chaney had "gravitas".  That meant he was weighty in the sense that he had strength and character and experience whereas it was claimed that Bush was a light-weight. So glory has to do with the weight or density of something rather than brightness or shining.

God is glorious because he is packed to the point of overflowing with all of his attributes. God is love. That means God is full of love. God's wisdom is glorious because he contains all wisdom and knowledge. He is packed full of it, so to speak.

What Edwards and Stevens (see references below) helped me to understand is that the Bible speaks of glory almost like communication. When we communicate with someone, we first have the thought inside of ourselves. Then we express our thoughts in action of some kind, usually words, but sometimes gestures. That information spreads out to a listener and is received. Finally there is a response or reaction of some sort in the listener. That's the whole purpose of communication to transfer a thought or idea from one person to another such that there is a response.

Glory functions in a similar way. The glory of God, i.e. the weightiness of God's goodness, beauty, truth, righteousness, etc. is first in him.

For example:

“Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1, NKJV)

“Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory.” (Ezekiel 10:4, NKJV)

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19, NKJV)

Then, his glory flows out from him. The fancy word is "emanates". It spreads out and broadcasts from him. Creation is an example of this. God's desire to create, spread his glory out in the creation of the universe.

For example:

“For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”” (2 Peter 1:17, NKJV)

“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:” (John 17:22, NKJV)

Since part of that creation are conscience beings such as angels and human beings, we are a result of that creative act and, because we and the angels are conscience beings, we are observers of God's creation. If God had not created conscience beings there would be no audience except the three persons of the trinity themselves.

“And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”” (Exodus 33:18–19, NKJV)

““I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.” (Ezekiel 39:21–22, NKJV)

“Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1–2, NKJV)

“And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16, NKJV)

Finally there is a response on the part of the receivers of that glory. It produces an effect in us and we can respond and reflect God's glory because we are made in his image. As God's glory is reflected from us, it can be seen by others and the process continues and God's glory expands.

For example:

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, NKJV)

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NKJV)

“For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:15, NKJV)

“Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”” (Psalm 50:23, NKJV) 

References:

The End For Which God Created the World by Jonathan Edwards which is given in its entirety in God's Passion for His Glory by John Piper

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper

Why God Created the World: A Jonathan Edwards Adaptation by Ben Stevens

 

Why Did God Create the Universe? -Part 1

I've been meditating and thinking a lot lately on the question: Why did God create the universe? I want to share with you some of the things that I have learned from the Scripture and from some other resources that focus on what the Scripture teaches. Since many of these thoughts were generated by what others have written, I've listed a few references at the end of this post to give them credit for thinking these things ahead of me and to point you in a direction that might be helpful for you as well. (But the reader should not assume that everything I've written here should be attributable to these authors. I respect them too much for that.)

What got me started on this originally was a point that John Piper makes in several of his books that the greatest joy that we as human beings can have is to know God intimately. Along with that is the idea that when we enjoy God and find our pleasure in Him, God gets the glory.  And it turns out that God's glory is the purpose of everything. So knowing God and finding joy in him works to promote the very purpose for which God created the universe and us. So pursuing real joy and glorifying God are one and the same.

Let's begin by looking at several passages of Scripture. 

“Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”” (Isaiah 43:7, NKJV, emphasis mine)

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Revelation 4:11, AV, emphasis mine)

So from this small sampling of verses we can see that God's purpose in creating was for his pleasure and for his glory. When we speak to one another, we often say, "So, what's the bottom line?"  We want to get to the point. And the point of Scripture is that God created for his glory. He didn't need anything. He didn't need fellowship. He was not incomplete in himself. Everything in creation started out in God, and so we have nothing to offer back to God that he didn't already have.

“For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7, NKJV)

That means that everything we have came from God. We have nothing in and of ourselves.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36, NKJV)

Everything we have we have received from him. We cannot offer him anything that he did not have beforehand and so his motive for creating could not have been in order to get something from us, even love and fellowship. He had love and fellowship among the persons of the trinity throughout all of eternity past.

God desires his glory to be praised and declared.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,” (Psalm 19:1–4, NKJV)

And God desires that we should declare his glory.

“Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.” (Psalm 96:3, NKJV)

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9, NKJV, emphasis mine)

So God is ultimately the source of everything good and right and beautiful.  He was and had everything before he created. Therefore, he didn't create because he needed anything.  Multiple verses of Scripture teach us that God created ultimately for his enjoyment, pleasure and glory and he desires that we his creatures respond by exulting in and praising his goodness and glory.

But what does glory mean?  This is something I had not known and understood before so we'll pick that up next time.

References:

The End For Which God Created the World by Jonathan Edwards which is given in its entirety in God's Passion for His Glory by John Piper

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper

Why God Created the World: A Jonathan Edwards Adaptation by Ben Stevens

 

Memorization Monday - Colossians 1:9-10

Some of us are memorizing the book of Colossians. Here are the two verses for this week.

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;” (Colossians 1:9–10, NKJV) 

One of the things we notice about New Testament prayers is that they are mostly focused on spiritual requests. Most of us focus on our needs for health, safety and wisdom. These are always worthwhile things to pray about since God wants us to come to him as our heavenly father and share our needs with him. But he is primarily focused on that which is good for us spiritually. His focus is on the advancement of his will and kingdom and therefore he tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will take care of itself (See Matthew 6:33). 

So in these verses we see Paul praying that people will be filled with the knowledge of God's will and that they would walk worthy of the Lord and that they would be fully pleasing to him. These are the kinds of requests that need to be the focus of our prayer life.

Hymn of the Week - All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name

All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name by Edward Perronet

1. All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ Name!
   Let angels prostrate fall;
   Bring forth the royal diadem,
   And crown Him Lord of all!
2. Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race,
   Ye ransomed from the fall,
   Hail Him Who saves you by His grace,
   And crown Him Lord of all!
3. Let every kindred, every tribe,
   On this terrestrial ball,
   To Him all majesty ascribe,
   And crown Him Lord of all!
4. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng
   We at His feet may fall!
   We’ll join the everlasting song,
   And crown Him Lord of all!

Our Praying Reveals our Heart

John Piper writes in his book "When I Don't Desire God" on page 139:  Prayer is the revealer of the heart. What a person prays for shows the spiritual condition of his heart. If we do not pray for spiritual things (like the glory of Christ, and the hallowing of God's name, and the salvation of sinners, and the holiness of our hearts, and the advance of the gospel, and contrition for sin, and the fullness of the Spirit, and the coming of the kingdom, and the joy of knowing Christ), then probably it is because we do not desire these things. Which is a devastating indictment of our hearts.

He goes on to say, "How we pray reveals the desires of our hearts.And the desires of our hearts reveal what our treasure is. And if our treasure is not Christ, we will perish. 'Whoever loves father or mother more than me,' Jesus said, 'is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matt. 10:37)."

Hymn of the Week - A Mighty Fortress

A Mighty Fortress -- Martin Luther 

1. A mighty fortress is our God, 
 a bulwark never failing; 
 our helper he amid the flood 
 of mortal ills prevaling.  
 For still our ancient foe 
 doth seek to work us woe; 
 his craft and power are great, 
 and armed with cruel hate, 
 on earth is not his equal.

2. Did we in our own strength confide, 
 our striving would be losing, 
 were not the right man on our side, 
 the man of God's own choosing.
 Dost ask who that may be?  
 Christ Jesus, it is he; 
 Lord Sabaoth, his name, 
 from age to age the same, 
 and he must win the battle.

3. And though this world, with devils filled, 
 should threaten to undo us, 
 we will not fear, for God hath willed 
 his truth to triumph through us.  
 The Prince of Darkness grim, 
 we tremble not for him; 
 his rage we can endure, 
 for lo, his doom is sure; 
 one little word shall fell him.

4. That word above all earthly powers, 
 no thanks to them, abideth; 
 the Spirit and the gifts are ours, 
 thru him who with us sideth.  
 Let goods and kindred go, 
 this mortal life also; 
 the body they may kill; 
 God's truth abideth still; 
 his kingdom is forever.

Hymn of the Week - And Can it Be

 And Can it Be by Charles Wesley

1. And can it be that I should gain 
 an interest in the Savior's blood! 
 Died he for me? who caused his pain! 
 For me? who him to death pursued? 
 Amazing love! How can it be 
 that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 
 Amazing love! How can it be 
 that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 

2. 'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies! 
 Who can explore his strange design? 
 In vain the firstborn seraph tries 
 to sound the depths of love divine. 
 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; 
 let angel minds inquire no more. 
 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; 
 let angel minds inquire no more. 

3. He left his Father's throne above 
 (so free, so infinite his grace!), 
 emptied himself of all but love, 
 and bled for Adam's helpless race. 
 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, 
 for O my God, it found out me! 
 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, 
 for O my God, it found out me! 

4. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, 
 fast bound in sin and nature's night; 
 thine eye diffused a quickening ray; 
 I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; 
 my chains fell off, my heart was free, 
 I rose, went forth, and followed thee. 
 My chains fell off, my heart was free, 
 I rose, went forth, and followed thee. 

5. No condemnation now I dread; 
 Jesus, and all in him, is mine; 
 alive in him, my living Head, 
 and clothed in righteousness divine, 
 bold I approach th' eternal throne, 
 and claim the crown, through Christ my own. 
 Bold I approach th' eternal throne, 
 and claim the crown, through Christ my own. 

Great Christian Hymns

Here's a profitable project for you, especially my younger Christian friends. Tim Challies, on his blog the other day, posted what in his opinion are the 10 greatest hymns of all time. Obviously that is going to leave out a lot of really good hymns and so many, many people responded with their suggestions as to what should have been included. I was surprised at the number of different hymns represented and I know that almost all of them are tremendous hymns with scriptural lyrics.

So here's my assignment for you. Go to the link below where the hymn suggestions are located. Go through as many of the hymn titles as you can just reading the titles. Don't forget to look through as many of the comments as you can. Take 15 or 20 minutes to do this and see if you recognize most of them or not. Whether you know them or not, either make a list or keep track of where this link is found so that you can go back to it and as frequently as you can over the next several weeks, read the lyrics of one hymn at a time as part of your daily devotion time, either personally or with your family. If you can do this once a day, that would be great. If you can work through 3 or 4 in a week that would be good too. Maybe you can only read one a week. Then do that. If you don't have a hymnbook with the lyrics in it, use the Internet to find the lyrics. Read the lyrics slowly and carefully and think about what they are saying. If you are a husband and father do this with your wife and kids.

These hymns should be in the repertoire of every Christian in my opinion. To the degree we are not familiar with the great hymns of the faith, we are missing a whole segment of the Christian life. So make it a long term goal to become familiar with as many of these hymns as you can.

I'd like to hear how it goes. I think you will be a better man for it.

Here's the link: http://www.challies.com/articles/the-10-greatest-hymns-of-all-time

Memorizing Long Passages of Scripture - Help from Andrew Davis

Andrew Davis has written a small book on how to memorize long passages of Scripture. I thought the technique was very helpful.

Here are some of his ideas. You can find the entire PDF here:


(Also I highly recommend another book by Andrew Davis entitled, "An Infinite Journey.)

Now some memorization thoughts from Pastor Davis:

Surveying the Terrain

 The next step is to survey the entire book for length, and decide how quickly you feel you can memorize it.  Perhaps you can start at one verse per day, six days per week.  I always recommend taking one day off per week so you don’t get burned out, or to take up the slack for days in which you are sick or exceptionally busy.
 The way you survey the terrain is this:
1)  Count the number of verses in the entire book.
2)  Divide that number by the number of verses you will memorize per week.  This is how many weeks the book should take you.
3)  Look at a calendar and determine a tentative finish date.
4)  Add 10% so as to not feel under tremendous pressure until you get used to this lifestyle (i.e. If you are doing Ephesians—155 verses—at the rate of 6 verses per week, it will take you 26 weeks, or exactly 6 months; add 10%--3 weeks—for a total of 29 weeks).
5)  Make a covenant before the Lord that, with his help, you will memorize this book by this date:
“Lord, having sought you in prayer, I believe that you have led me to memorize     (name of the book)   .  I now dedicate myself
to begin this task with your help and for your glory.  I commit myself to memorizing this by   (date).”  
Sign and date the covenant, and put it in a place where you can get to it regularly when the times get tough.  
 The purpose of surveying the terrain is to mark out a reasonable pace which will make achievement of your goal a probability.  It will teach you how much you need to do every day, and when you should finish.  The survey leads to a covenant that helps you keep persevering.

Daily Procedures

Priority of reviewing old verses:  Always give priority in your mind to the retaining of old verses even over the learning of new ones. 
What’s the point in going on to new ones if you don’t hold onto the old?  This doesn’t mean you should re-memorize the old  ones… just that you should begin every day’s work with review of old verses.  Look on that at what you need to do to earn the privilege of acquiring some precious new verses.  (Work before play!)  
Repetition over time:  Saying a verse 100 times in one day is not as helpful as saying it every day for 100 days.  The absolute key to successful Scripture memorization is repetition over a long time period.  This is how you retain old verses while learning new ones.
Memorizing the verse numbers:  An important note is that it is well-worth the extra effort to memorize the verse numbers as if they were part of each verse.  This will help prevent you from dropping out verses or even whole paragraphs when you’re reciting the book all the way through.  It will also help you in being able to pick individual verses out to quote to someone for ministry or evangelistic purposes.  Finally, it will help you to be able to recall the verses as you are reading Christian books that cite them… you won’t have to look them up!  Ephesians 1:1-3’s verse numbers would be said like this: “
One-one.  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus;
One-two Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  One-three  Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” etc.  Longer verse numbers are no different… Ephesians 6:11 would be “
Six-eleven.
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”   Acts 27:25-26 would be
“
Twenty-seven twenty-five.  So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.
Twenty-seven twenty-six.  Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”  DON’T SHORT-CUT THIS DISCIPLINE!!  It actually makes memorization easier in the long run!
Photographing the verses with your eyes:  Memorization is partly visual.  This is not to say that blind people can’t memorize the Bible, but just that the memorization process is connected very closely to the eye.  Read each new verse ten times, covering each word as though photographing it with your eyes.  I can still remember where some particular verses were on the page of the Bible I first used to memorize them.  Burn each verse into your brain with your eyes.
Say it out loud:  Another help in memorizing is to say the verse out loud to yourself.  The additional sensory input to your brain helps the memorization process.  It doesn’t have to be very loud, just loud enough so you can hear it.  Also, try putting some feeling and interpretation into reciting the verses… this is actually a form of meditation on the verses as you
are learning them. Sample daily procedure :  The following is an example of how someone could go about memorizing Ephesians at the rate
of one verse per day:
1)  Day one
:  Read Ephesians 1:1 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. 
Be sure to include the verse number.  Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
2)  Day two
:  Yesterday’s verse first!!  Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1:1 ten times, being sure to include the verse number.  Look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory.  Now, do your new verse.
Read Ephesians 1:2 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes.  Be sure to include the verse number.  Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
3)  Day three
: Yesterday’s verse first!!  Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1:2 ten times, being sure to include the verse number.  Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory.  Old verses next, altogether:  Recite Ephesians 1:1-2 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers.
Now, do your new verse.  Read Ephesians 1:3 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes.  Be sure to include the verse number.  Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You're done for the day.
4)  Day four: Yesterday’s verse first!!  Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1:3 ten times, being sure to include the verse number.  Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory.  Old verses next, altogether:  Recite Ephesians 1:1-3 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers.  Now, do your new verse.  Read Ephesians 1:4 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes.  Be sure to include the verse number.  Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
This cycle would continue through the entire book.  Obviously, the “old verses altogether” stage will soon swell to take the most time of all.  That’s exactly the way it should be.  The entire book of Ephesians can be read at a reasonable rate in less than fifteen minutes.  Therefore, the “old verses altogether” stage of your review should not take longer than that on any given day.  Do it with the Bible ready at hand, in case you draw a blank or get stuck… there’s no shame in looking, and it actually helps to nail
down troublesome verses so they will never be trouble again.  Therefore, your 60th day should look like this.
60)  Day sixty
: (eight days off in that span means you’re on your 52nd  new verse, which would be Ephesians 3:7)
Yesterday’s verse first!!  Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 3:6 ten times, being sure to include the verse number.
Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory.  Old verses next, altogether:  Recite
Ephesians 1:1-3:6 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers.  LOOK IN THE BIBLE IF YOU NEED
TO, SO THIS PROCESS WON’T TAKE TOO LONG!!!  Now, do your new verse.  Read Ephesians 3:7 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes.  Be sure to include the verse number.  Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.

Memorization Monday

After a long busy summer, I'm going to try to get back at the business of regularly sharing thoughts and biblical teaching that I have learned along the way. A couple of us are going to try to memorize Colossians over the next eleven months and every long trek has to begin with a few steps and so we begin with the first two verses:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture memorization is an important discipline because it allows us to hold the Word of God in our minds and hearts and meditate on it frequently. It continues to work even in our subconscious once we have it stored away. God promises spiritual success if we meditate on his word.  Joshua 1:8 says,

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

 

Because of the Truth, I'm Responsible to

Because of these truths, I am responsible to:

1. Reckon (count, act as though) yourself to be dead to sin and alive to God. (Romans 6:11)

2. Do not allow sin to reign because its reign has been terminated. (Romans 6:12)

3. Do not present the members of your body to sin as weapons of unrighteousness, but to God as weapons of righteousness. (Romans 6:13)

4. Serve God in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old way of the letter of the law. (Romans 7:6)
...because the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)

5. Walk according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)

6. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit, things above. (Romans 8:5, Colossians 3:2)

7. Put to death your members (the deeds of the body) on the earth. (Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5, 8)

8. Resist the devil and he will flee. (James 4:7 1 Peter 5:9)

9. Take the way of escape. (1 Cor 10:13)

10. Put off the old man (see #5 in the first section). (Ephesians 4:22)

11. Put on the new man. (Colossians 3:10; Eph 4:24)
See Ephesians 4:25- 5:21 and Colossians 3:5-24 for what to put off and put on.
Galatians 5:19-26 for the deeds of the flesh vs. the fruit of the Spirit

Flesh adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, wrath, selfish ambition, dissension, heresy, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelry, passion, covetousness, malice,blasphemy, filthy language, lying, stealing, corrupt speech, bitterness, clamor, foolish talking, coarse jesting, pride, boaster, strife, whisperers, backbiting, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, disobedience to parents, violence

Spirit love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, tender mercies, humility, meekness, forbearance, forgiveness, thankfulness, truthfulness, work, edifying speech, grace, righteousness, redeeming time, spirit-filled, speaking/singing/teaching one another with various songs, submitting appropriately, obey and honor parents, prefer and honor others, selflessness, compassion

12. Lay aside every weight and the sin that easily trips me up. (Hebrews 12:1)

13. Be renewed in your minds. (Ephesians 4:23; Romans 2:2)
...by spending time memorizing and meditating on the Scriptures. (Psalm 1:1-3; Joshua 1:8)

14. Exercise and practice your powers of discernment. (Hebrews 5:14)
Train yourself in godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7)
Because breaking bad sinful habits requires the practice of new habits.

Truth to Know and Believe

 In summary from our study of victory in Christ here are --

Truths to Know and Believe:

1. While I was still a sinner Christ died in my place. (Romans 5:8)

2. Just as Adam's sin made me a sinner, Jesus' life and sacrifice made me righteous. (Romans 5:16, 19)

3. I died to sin when I died with Christ. (Romans 6:1-3)

4. I am crucified with Christ. (Galatians 2:20)

5. My old man was crucified with Him. (Romans 6:6)

6. The body of sin has been rendered inoperative. (Romans 6:6)

7. I've been freed from sin and its reign. (Romans 6:7)

8. Sin will not have dominion over me. (Romans 6:14)

9. I am not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:15)

10. I've been forgiven of all trespasses and the handwriting of ordinances that was against me has been taken out of the way and nailed to the cross. (Colossians 2:14)

11. I am a slave of whoever I obey – either sin leading to death, or obedience leading to righteousness, to holiness to eternal life. (Romans 6:16-23)

12. I have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. (Romans 7:4)

13. I am free to bear fruit to God and to serve in the newness of the Spirit. (Romans 7:4,6)

14. The law is holy, just and good. (Romans 7: 12)

15. The law is spiritual but I am fleshly. (Romans 7:14)

16. When I would do good, evil is present in me, that is in my flesh. (Romans 7:18, 21)

17. I am now not under any condemnation because I am in Christ. (Romans 8:1)

18. I am free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

19. The sin in me was condemned in the atonement of Christ. (Romans 8:3)

20. The righteous requirement of the law will be fulfilled in me as I walk according to the
Spirit. (Romans 8:4)

21. If I live according to the flesh, I'm embracing death, I'm an enemy of God, and I cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8)

22. I have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

23. As a Christian, my body is dead because of sin, but my spirit is alive because of righteousness, and the Holy Spirit will also give life to my mortal body some day. (Romans 8:10, 11)

24. I am not a debtor to the flesh to follow it. I don't owe it anything! (Romans 8:12)

25. If I live according to the flesh, I will die, but if I put to death the deeds of the body by the power of the Spirit, I will live. (Romans 8:13)

26. The Spirit will be victorious over the flesh. (Galatians 5:17)

27. The one in me is greater than the one in the world. (1 John 4:4)

28. God will not allow me to be tempted or tested above what I am able. (1 Cor 10:13)

29. God will finish what he started and conform us to the image of Christ. This is a certainty. (Phil 1:6; Romans 8:29)

30. Under the New Covenant I've been given a new heart, new spirit, God's Spirit and motivation to do right. (Ezekiel 36:26)

31. God will discipline me as a loving Father so that I will share in His holiness. Without that holiness I won't see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:10, 14)

32. Having been sanctified and perfected, my conscience has been cleansed once for all. (Hebrews 9:9; 9:14; 10:2; 10:22; read all of chapter 10 carefully)

Final Victory

Last time we saw that the Bible describes sin as dwelling in our bodies. Our living spirit along with he power of the Holy Spirit are to put to death the deeds of the body and to set our minds on spiritual things. This is the method for gaining victory.

In this last post on this subject I want us to look at the promise of ultimate victory. In Romans 8:9-11, Paul writes these words, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

What he is saying here is that even though the body is dead and dying, the Spirit of God who lives in us will ultimately give life to our mortal body as well. The place where sin has found a refuge will be replaced by a new body where righteousness rather than sin will dwell. In the mean time, we groan, eagerly waiting for our adoption, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23).

It's interesting to see that the Bible calls our current physical body a “soulish” body (1 Corinthians 15:44). The word translated “natural” in most translations is the word pseuche which as we have seen before is the word for soul. So Adam was made a living soul and he possessed a soulish body. But there is also going to be a spiritual body. Christ was a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). He tells us that both a soulish body and a spiritual body exist but the soulish comes first and then the spiritual. When our soulish body has been replaced by a spiritual body, then our redemption will be complete. Sin wil no longer have a foothold.

1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Put to Death the Deeds of the Body

The answer to defeating sin and living a life that is pleasing to God is to use the power of the Holy Spirit within us as believers to put to death the deeds of the body. This is what Paul has told us in Romans 8:13. The motivation is internal and the life is internal. He describes this method as the newness of the Spirit as opposed to the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6). Instead of an external law that has to be obeyed by shear natural human effort, we now have the resources within and the law written within as the resource we need to be victorious.

But why does he speak of putting to death the deeds of the body? How is the body the problem? As I mentioned in a previous post, we are composed of body, soul and spirit. A Christian has a renewed spirit. The soul has been damaged by sin and so the mind, will and emotions are not what they were originally created to be. The body is weak and subject to sickness and death.

I don't want to get too complicated, but let's see if this is understandable. We know that there is more to us than our physical nature. In other words, we have a brain to think and experience emotions. Emotions also involve our hormonal system. These are all intertwined with each other. But the Bible teaches that when we die, we will still have thinking capability and we will still be able to love God and praise him, so it must be the case that part of these functions now as we are in the body are immaterial and part of these functions are due to physical processes. I believe that in the physical side of our being we have developed sinful habits and sinful methods for dealing with life. These become ingrained in our physical nature. This is where sin continues to reside.

In Romans 7 Paul writes these things: “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death (verse 5).

If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good (verses 16-21).

So you see, he is attributing the problem to sin that is in his members or in his body. The Bible doesn't portray the body itself as sinful or evil the way a gnostic would, but it describes the body and I believe the physical parts of the soul as the seat where sin has taken up residence in a Christian. And this is where it needs to be attacked. Therefore we are told to put to death the deeds of the body. We are told not to yield the members of our body as servants to sin and unrighteousness. We have the inner capability to do this because of our living spirit and the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Mind of the Spirit vs. Mind of the Flesh

In Romans 8:5 Paul told us that walking according to the Spirit means setting ones mind on the things of the Spirit, whereas setting ones mind on the things of the flesh means setting ones mind on the things of the flesh. Last time I gave you a list of examples for each category. Verse 4 has told us that the righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us if we walk according to the Spirit and set our minds on the things of the Spirit.

Now in verse 6, Paul makes a stunning statement. He says that to be fleshly minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The fleshly mind is at enmity with God and cannot please God. In verse 13 he says, “If you live according to the flesh you will die.” That means if my normal mode of life is to have a mind set on the kind of things in the flesh list I shared with you last time, I will die. He had written back in chapter 6 that if I yield the parts of my body to sin and disobedience, the result of that will be further disobedience will ultimately result in eternal death (Romans 6:16-23). He wrote the Galatian Christians and told them that they would reap what they sow and then he gave them two examples. He said that they could either sow to the flesh or they could sow to the spirit. If they sowed to the flesh, they would reap corruption (Galatians 6:7-8).

So this is a pretty strong warning to me. Yielding myself to the things of the flesh, to the kind of things I listed for you earlier, puts me on the road that leads ultimately to my eternal ruin. I for one do not want to be on that road! So it behooves me to be setting my mind on the things of the Spirit which results in life.

He says in Romans 8:13 that if we through the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. That is the answer right there. Christians have within them the Spirit of God as well as their own revived spirit and so we are to use the power of the Spirit within us to put to death the deeds of the body and in so doing, we will live.

Hymn of the Week - Crown Him With Many Crowns

1. Crown him with many crowns, 
 the Lamb upon his throne, 
 Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns 
 all music but its own. 
 Awake, my soul, and sing 
 of him who died for thee, 
 and hail him as thy matchless King 
 through all eternity. 

2. Crown him the Lord of life, 
 who triumphed o'er the grave, 
 and rose victorious in the strife 
 for those he came to save. 
 His glories now we sing, 
 who died, and rose on high, 
 who died, eternal life to bring, 
 and lives that death may die. 

3. Crown him the Lord of peace, 
 whose power a scepter sways 
 from pole to pole, that wars may cease, 
 and all be prayer and praise. 
 His reign shall know no end, 
 and round his pierced feet 
 fair flowers of paradise extend 
 their fragrance ever sweet. 

4. Crown him the Lord of love; 
 behold his hands and side, 
 those wounds, yet visible above, 
 in beauty glorified. 
 All hail, Redeemer, hail! 
 For thou hast died for me; 
 thy praise and glory shall not fail 
 throughout eternity. 

Resources Available to Combat Sin

A Christian has the internal resources to live a life pleasing to God. He has a new heart, a new spirit, God's spirit and internal motivation to be obedient. The question becomes, will we use the resources we have to live a life that is pleasing to God and that honors and glorifies him?

In Romans 8, we have several keys to help us understand how we are to use what we have been given to live victorious and obedient lives.

First we have the umbrella of protection that I've already discussed and that is that a Christian is under absolutely no condemnation or judgment from God. His sins have been completely forgiven and will never be brought up again. He does not fear the judgment because God has declared him completely righteous. This is not because he has been righteous, but because the very righteousness of God has been imputed to him and placed on his record.

Second, in verses 2 and 3 we are reminded that we have died to the law. The law no longer has jurisdiction because as we saw earlier, a Christian is seen by God to have died with Christ and to be raised with him and therefore there is no further penalty for sin. Sin requires death. I've died. Issue closed.

Romans 8:4 says, “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Here we begin to see how this works. The righteous requirement of the law will not be fulfilled because we try to be obedient to some external list of rules. The righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us as we walk according to the spirit. As I said yesterday, a Christian has had his own spirit made alive plus he has God's spirit in him as well as a God-given motivation to do the right thing and so these factors work together to provide internal obedience to the law of God. But it takes place as we walk according to the Spirit. That is we walk in unison or in step with the Spirit of God who indwells us.

Paul goes on to explain in verse 5 that a person who is according to the Spirit is one who puts his mind on the things of the spirit. The one who is according to the flesh is someone whose mind is on the things of the flesh. What are these things? A list of the things of the Spirit might include these kinds of things: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, tender mercies, humility, meekness, forbearance, forgiveness, thankfulness, truthfulness, selflessness, and compassion. Things of the flesh would include things such as these: hatred, contentions, jealousies, wrath, selfish ambition, dissension, heresy, envy, murder, drunkenness, covetousness, malice, blasphemy, sexual sin, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, filthy language, lying, stealing, corrupt speech, bitterness, pride, boasting, strife, and gossip.

So what Paul is saying here is that there are two mind-sets a person can have. He can either have his mind set on the things of the Spirit or the things of the flesh. The question we need to ask ourselves is what is our mind-set? Generally speaking where is our mind. What kinds of things do we think about and what kind of responses come out of us when faced with a sudden obstacle?

Do these two choices of spiritual or fleshly-mindedness represent possible choices for a Christian to pursue or are these distinctions between Christians and non-Christians? That is the question we want to look at next time.

Victory Over Sin

The Bible says that we are essentially made of body, soul and spirit. When God made man, he made him from the dust of the ground. When he breathed into him the breath of life, man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:57). The word for soul here is the word psuche from which we get our word psychology. The word for spirit is pneuma from which we get our words pneumatic and pneumonia. So when God breathed into Adam, he was breathing his spirit into him. Adam became a living soul when the breath of God entered him.

The problem however was that Adam disobeyed God and his spirit died. God had told him that the day he ate of the tree that God had forbidden, he would die. And he did die spiritually. Everyone born since then has been born with a dead spirit (Ephesians 2:1). In addition, our bodies are dying and our soul consisting of mind, will and emotions has been severely damaged by the effects and habits of sin.

Yesterday I wrote about the fact that when a person comes to Christ in saving faith, God gives him the righteousness of Christ which grants that person a right standing before God. God sees him as though he had never sinned as far as the court of heaven is concerned. He need not fear on judgment day.

However, we still have the problem of how to live out a life that is pleasing and obedient to God in our normal day to day living. In the Old Testament God promised a New Covenant that he was making with his people. In that covenant several things were granted. God promised to remove the old hard stoney heart we are born with, replace it with a tender, pliable heart. He promised to give him a new spirit. He promised his own spirit would come into the person, and he promised that he himself would provide the internal motivation to do the right thing (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Jeremiah 31:33). This new covenant was announced by Jesus at the last supper and initiated when he died and rose again.

What does that mean for a believer in Jesus Christ? It means that he now has the inner resources to be obedient to God. He has a new heart, a new spirit, God's spirit and internal motivation to be obedient. The resources are there. The question becomes, will we use the resources we have to live a life that is pleasing to God and that honors and glorifies him?

More tomorrow.

We Need Righteousness - God Supplies It

What is the answer to the dilemma posed yesterday? Sin at its core is the desire to reign in place of God. How is this problem solved, especially for the Christian who desires to do right but finds, like the Apostle Paul, that sin is right there inside?

We basically have two issues that need to be solved. Since God's righteous standard is perfection, we've already failed. There's no use thinking about how to do better in the future since we've already blown it. The goal of perfection has already been forfeited. The second issue is that if we can find a solution to the first problem, how can we live an obedient life that is pleasing to God? How do I do this? How?

Paul begins Romans 8 with these words, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” This is God's answer to the first problem. We need a righteousness that is perfect and it needs to remove our guilt in Adam from us and it needs to cover us from the beginning of our lives to the end. What God has done is to provide us with his righteousness. His righteousness is perfect. Our problem is that we seek to establish our own righteousness rather than submitting to the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3). God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

If we flee to Christ and trust the provision he has made for our spiritual need, he gives us freely his own righteousness and takes upon himself our sin. That is what we mean when we say that Christ died for our sins. If we accept it, our sins are placed on him and because of that he had to die as a punishment for those sins, even though he had not committed them himself.

When that is true, we are in Christ and are under no condemnation whatsoever for any of the sins we have committed. And further, since we are in Christ, he has become our representative rather than Adam. Before we come to Christ, God sees Adam as having spoken for all of his offspring when he decided against God back in the garden of Eden. But as a believer, Adam ceases to be our representative and Christ becomes the representative for us. And how did he respond to God's commands? He responded perfectly obediently and thus God sees us as having responded obediently even from birth.

Next time we will look at the resources God has given us for living a victorious Christian life here and now.

Why Do We Sin?

If you've been following this blog at all you know that I have written a couple of series dealing with Romans 6-8 which basically gives us insights into sin and God's way of gaining victory over it. See part 1 here.) But that study has started me thinking about what causes us to sin or to want to sin.

The easy answer is that we are sinners or we have a sin nature. Romans 6:23 tells us that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Paul writes in Romans 7:21 “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.” But what I'm trying to think through is what it is in our psychological nature that causes us to sin. What do we think we need or what are we trying to get out of it? Why do I argue with someone in an effort to win the point? Why do I complain so loudly when I feel that I have been taken advantage of? Why do I want a nicer car than my neighbor has?

James asks a similar, but not quite the same, question. In James 4 he writes, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” In another place he writes, “Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

So what I see from these passages is that we are born with lusts which are very strong desires. The Bible characterizes these as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). The lusts of the flesh are lusts that are normal body desires, such as to eat, or for sex, which are then magnified to strong level. Lust of the eyes involve things we see which causes us to have a desire for those things when we don't necessarily need them. They look good. They are attractive. Television commercials often leverage this strong desire to get us to buy their product. Pride of life is the desire to be someone. To use what we have either in possessions or skills to set ourselves up higher than others.

Going back then to the James passages, we wee that the wars and fights come about because of these strong desires. Why would someone lie? In order to make himself appear better, more significant or more skillful than he actually is. Why do we covet something someone else has? Because of the lust of the eyes and often also because of the pride of life. Why should that person have a nicer car than I have? We have a strong desire to be higher, better and more envied than others. Why do we complain about the weather? What am I saying when I do this?

But what is the root of all of this? I think Romans 1 gives us the answer. Paul's indictment there is that we do not give God the glory he deserves and are not thankful (verse 21), and we worship and serve the creature, namely ourselves, more than God (verse 25). You see, I think the core problem is that we want to be God. Giving glory to the God of heaven means I need to place myself under him and recognize his rightful rule over me. Being thankful means I am acknowledging that what I have comes from him and that I am dependent on him. We don't normally want to be dependent on anyone. Paul told the people of Athens that God is the one who gave them life and breath and all things and that he is the one who made them and determined when and where they would live on the earth (Acts 17:25-26). If those things are true, then we are dependent on God for everything and that means we are not the masters of our fate or the captain of our soul as William Henley so famously wrote. And the problem is.....WE DON'T LIKE THAT! We hold our fist in the air and demand sovereignty for ourselves. That is the problem.

As a Christian I'm confronted with the fact that this rebellion is in me. When I would do good, evil is present with me (Romans 7:21). When I see the righteous demands of God's law, I realize that there is no way in the world I am going to be able to meet the standard and so I say with Paul, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

We'll look at God's answer tomorrow.