August 8, 2009

"How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!" Psalms 74:10-11

There are a number of reasons why the Psalms are among the most revered and beloved of the Sacred Writings. Chief among those is the fact that they are so honest. The Psalmist struggled with the same emotions, frustrations and doubts as we do. But, unlike us sometimes, he was honest about them.

In my reading this morning I was in Psalms 74-76. Psalm 74 captured me today because in it he is struggling with the silence of God. He was not seeing God work as He had worked in former days. Knowing that God could come against their enemies and God could defend their cause, he couldn't understand why God was not moving.

There was no problem recounting the many deeds and exploits of God in times past. He lists them and longingly wishes to see God manifest His power and glory again.

Have you ever been there? Is that where you find yourself now?

What do we do when we don't see God move? How are we to behave? What are we to believe?

First, I would state this confidently, God is always doing more than what we know in ways that we do not see. He is a powerful, holy God Who cannot be denied. He cannot be idle. Situations and circumstances change whenever He shows up. As Charles Spurgeon once said, "When I can't see God's hand, I can trust His heart." Be sure that God is working even when you are seeing visible evidence.

Second, I have found that when God is not obviously working FOR you, He is certainly working IN. In the final analysis, which really matters most? Is it more important for God to change your circumstances or is it more important that He changes you?

Third, what develops faith better, seeing God work wonders or believing in Him when you don't see Him working? The Children of Israel saw God move regularly on their behalf but did they develop great faith? Faith is the "substance of things hoped for the evidence of things NOT SEEN."

Finally, would you rather know God's hand or would you rather know His heart? In Psalm 103:7 there is an interesting statement, "He made His ways known to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel." Would you rather know what God can do, or would you rather know Who God is?

Don't let your faith be defined by what you see and feel, let it be shaped by what you know - of God, His Word, His nature, and His amazing grace!

August 7, 2009

"Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?" Psalm 71:19

Indeed, who is like our God?

In my Bible reading I am in the Psalms for the O.T. portion and in Romans for the N.T. part. That is some good reading!

But, as I was reading this morning I kept coming back to verse 19 of the 71st Psalm. Sitting here at my desk and looking out at a clear blue cloudless sky, I am blessed by the knowledge that His righteousness reaches to the sky - and beyond! Even the vast universe is inadequate to contain His righteousness.

For someone who often gets it wrong it is comforting to remember His righteousness. He is always right! He can always show me the right way! He can even redeem the wrong I do and bring good from it!

For someone who has had wrong things happen to him, it is a blessing to know that his righteousness can make wrong things right.

In a world where so much seems to be wrong and where evil appears to be exponentially expanding, it is reassuring to know that His goodness is more powerful than all the badness that surrounds us. His rightness will have the last word in a world of wrong.

I want to take a personal privilege to testify to one of the right things God has done in my life. Today is the 34th birthday of my oldest son, Matthew. He is a great blessing to me.

Growing up without a dad, I wanted to have a son that I could be a father to. For awhile it looked like that might not happen. But they were wrong and God was right. He made a way for us to adopt a brand new baby boy.

He was born on August 7, 1975 and we brought him home on August 10. We named him Matthew, which means "gift from God". Indeed he was - and is! For 34 years now he has been a source of great joy and pride. I couldn't have asked for a better son. God did it right!

Matthew deserved a better dad, but for the things I did right, I give glory to the God whose righteousness "reaches to the sky". For the things I did wrong, His grace and power have made them right. How did he do that? Today, Matt is a great dad to his four girls and his son. He is the dad I wished I would have been. I am sure he learned from the mistakes I made. He will raise his son, to be an even better man.

Matt lives in the Minneapolis area and I don't get to see him nearly enough, but through the miracle of electronics, we stay close. He is a good husband and a successful business man. He's doing a lot of things right!

Matthew James Snyder, I bless you on your 34th birthday! I love you very much! And I bless the God, who in His great rightness, gave you to me!

August 6, 2009

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:28-39
 

I happen to be old enough to remember when cakes were baked from scratch. No, I am not older than Betty Crocker! But I have watched my mother put together a cake batter by mixing a bunch of ingredients that if eaten individually were awful - raw eggs, vanilla extract, flour, butter, etc. But somehow, when they were added together and beaten with a Sunbeam Mix-Master and placed in a hot over for 45 minutes - SOMETHING CHANGED! When it came out of the oven it was a delicious desert! And that was BEFORE the frosting!

 

When I read Romans 8:28 I hearken back to my mother mixing the batter. Individually bad tasting ingredients poured into a bowl, beaten up, shoved into a hot oven, and transformed into something tasty!
 

"All things work together for good" - the verse tells us. It does not say that "good things work together" it tells us that "all things" work together. That means that some unpleasant things and some bad things that happen to us can work out for good through the power of God. He has the wisdom and the power to make a masterpiece from our misery.
 

Do you believe that?
 

What is that masterpiece? What finished product does he desire? "He predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son". 
 

Wow! 
 

Would it be worth it to you to experience some difficulties and unpleasant experiences if it would shape you into the image of Christ?
 

That sounds like a "good thing" to me! 
 

What are some other "good things"?
 

1) God Is For You!
 

Of all the people you would love to have on your side - God is the main One because if He is for you - who can be against you?
 

2) Inseparable Relationship With God!

 

Talk about security! You cannot be more secure than knowing that you cannot be separted from God. NOTHING can come between you and Him - not DEATH, not DEMONS, not POWERS - NOTHING can separate you from Him! So for anything to get to you it must come through HIM!
 

3) You Will Be More Than A Conqueror!
 

What is more that a conqueror? What does that look like? 
 

It is one thing to conquer, it is quite another thing to keep conquering and live as a conqueror. And God promises to make you "MORE than conquerors"! I like that! The only thing better than a win is a winning streak!

 

God wants to put you on a winning streak! How does that sound?
 

Perhaps life is pouring a lot of unpleasant stuff into your life right now. Maybe you are under the Mix-Master at the moment. Has your life been shoved in the oven and the temperature dialed up?
 

Be encouraged! God is stirring your life to produce something more beautiful than you have ever imagined!
 

And for frosting, He will throw in some Christ-likeness!

August 5, 2009

Barbara and I were walking in downtown Fredericksburg awhile ago. We often do that. But on this day a beautiful Monarch butterfly caught our attention. He was flittering freely from place to place without a care in the world. He seemed to be following us so we got to observe him for several blocks.

We commented on how his life had changed. Once he had been a creepy crawling earthbound worm. Now he had wings!

He had been fundamentally changed by a tranformation of his nature allowing him to shed his "wormness" and sprout wings!

That is akin to the fundamental type of change that the Apostle Paul is talking about in Romans. It is that sort of drastic transformation that is required to deliver you from your sinful nature. You can no more rise to the level of your potential in God than the caterpillar could before his miraculous change.

The good news is that it is possible! If God can do that for an insect, He can certainly do it for you!

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." Romans 8:1-11

A worm crawls because he has to. It is his nature.

You sin because it is your nature. You aren't a sinner because you sin, you sin because you are a sinner.

But, by the same supernatural power that transforms a worm to a butterfly, you can be delivered from your sinful nature!

Are you tired of your "wormness"? Ready to soar?

August 4, 2009

"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members." Romans 7:14-23

A funny thing happens when I am preparing to hit my tee shot and looking down the fairway I see a water hazard. If my last thought is, "Don't hit it in the water!" Guess where the ball goes?

It is the same thing that happens when someone tells you, "Don't do that!" It makes you want to do it!

That is the nature Paul describes in Romans 7. He makes the argument that knowing the law causes you to break the law because the law says what you can't do. The does and don'ts in the law runs afoul with your rebellious sinful nature. His basic argument is "the law can't save anyone." It can't save the pagan (7:7-14), nor can it save the one trying to live by the law (7:15-22), nor can it even save the man with a new nature (7:23-25).

This explains why you or I cannot save ourselves. We cannot manage sin. We cannot regulate sin or control sin. We cannot escape the power of sin.

Paul describes it this way, "You are married to sin. Like a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives, so you are bound to sin as long as it lives in you."

Says who? Says the law!

Living with sin is like living in a bad marriage. You can't be happy and you can't get out. The Christian can be the most miserable because there are two natures warring within. He is double-minded and unstable.

So, what's the answer? Death of that tyrant is the only way out.

How many times have you heard someone try to justify their own goodness by claiming that they "keep the commandments"? Maybe you have said that.

How many religious people try to save themselves by doing good works? The hope is to tip the moral scales in their favor by doing more good things than bad things. Is that you?

A desperate problem requires drastic action. Your sin nature has to die. The spiritual nature must live and grow. Nothing else will work but complete surrender to the Holy Spirit of God.

Are you ready to empty yourself to be filled with Him?

August 3, 2009

Read any good books lately?

I am reading one right now - Romans! This morning I am in Chapter 6. To summarize it I would say, "If you don't die to sin - it will kill you!"

Here's the skinny.

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him." Romans 6:1-8

"What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:21-23

Paul lays it out pretty clearly and simply here, doesn't he? You can live in sin and die, or you can die to sin and live forever! You can live in sin and be a slave to sin or you can live in the righteousness and holiness of God and be free.

He even tells you how to do it! Baptism is the key!

The sacrament of baptism is the symbolic act of dying to sin, being buried under the waters, and then rising to new life in Christ. Baptism is identification with the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Baptism allows you to fully appropriate the grace of Jesus Christ. When you die to selfishness and self-will (which is the root of sin), then you live in amazement over the mercy and grace of God toward you through Jesus. When you live as a slave to your selfish desires you will abuse the grace of God - using for your selfish ends as a license to sin. That is despicable!

If you have been baptized as a believer and yet you still are giving yourself as a slave to sin, you are abusing the grace of God. You made a public vow before God and the church that you died with Christ and identified with His resurrection. How can you then still live for selfish goals and desires?

The grace of God is the gift of life given to those who are dying to have it! Grace is the gift of freedom for those who have died to sin. Is that you?

Are you living up to the commitment you made at your baptism?

Then die to sin before it kills you!

August 2, 2009

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned - for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was the pattern of one to come." Romans 5:12-14

Many present day philosophies and worldviews claim that people are basically good and that bad or immoral behavior is the exception. The implication of the "people are good" worldview is that good people don't need a Savior.

History would call that notion into question.If you examine the atrocities perpetrated by people within the last century, you find a huge number of murders. Adolph Hitler killed 6 million Jews prior to and during the second World War. Joseph Stalin killed 20 million Soviet citizens between 1929 and 1939 because they were not politically correct. Mao Tse-tung killed 34 to 62 million Chinese during the Chinese civil war of the 1930s and 1940s. Pol Pot, the leader of the Marxist regime in Cambodia, Kampuchea, in the 1970's killed over 1.7 million of his own people. These do not include all the people killed in "legitimate" wars.

Some might object to this analysis, since they could claim that these atrocities were perpetrated by only a few individuals. However, these individuals could not have done anything if they were not backed by others, who agreed with their "values." The vast majority of Germans willingly followed Adolph Hitler and gave their consent to his policy to get rid of the "Jewish problem."

You may further object by saying that I have chosen extreme examples that in no way apply to you or anyone you know.

Let me ask you this, "Have you ever entertained hateful thoughts toward another person?" If so, Jesus said you are guilty of murder. "Have you ever allowed yourself to have lustful thoughts toward a member of the opposite sex?" Jesus says you are an adulterer.

Here in these few verses, St. Paul challenges any notion of people being basically good - "even those who did not sin by breaking a command".'

One of the basic doctrines taught in this great Book of Romans is that we are not sinners because we sin - but we sin because we are sinners by nature.

Fish swim. Dogs bark. Birds fly. People sin. We are all slaves to our nature. You can no longer change your sin nature than a dog can become a cat.

What can transform your nature? Only something - or Someone - supernatural. Someone like Jesus, the Son of God.

When you get tired of lying to yourself about your goodness or when you get sick of your badness, Jesus is patiently waiting to save you from yourself.