My Church .... My Family!

This past Sunday, as we continued to walk with Mark through the life of Christ, we came across Jesus's somewhat puzzling words. They occur when Jesus' family comes to take him back home as they thought he was "out of his mind." And when Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were outside calling for him, this is how he responded: "Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35). As I pointed out, Jesus was not ditching his natural family here (evidence being he provided for the care of his mother as he hung upon the cross; his half brother James wrote the New Testament book of James). But what Jesus was saying was this ... that when push comes to shove, the "supernatural" family trumps the "natural" one. For even though we are related by blood to our "natural" family, the bonds which unite us as followers of Jesus are soaked in HIS blood! 

In light of Jesus' teaching here that the church is FAMILY ... let me ask you this: are you part of a local church community of believers? And if you can name a particular church as your "church home" - have you made that commitment public? Most churches have some sort of process on becoming a "member" of that church. So if you are engaged with a church ... then follow their process. Become a member. You (and your church) will be better for it!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

The Awesome Power of God's Creative Word!

From the very moment we open our Bibles and begin to read the beginning of this grand story of God . . . we are confronted with the awesome power of this God. The first words we read are these ... "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." So ... in the beginning when there was NOTHING (except God, of course), He created. He had no raw materials to work with. He had to make that as he went along. And how did he create? "And God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light." So he created out of nothing by merely commanding this vast universe into existence! Now that's one powerful God!

Concerning God's act of creation, author J.I. Packer states, "To say that he created 'out of nothing' is to confess the mystery, not explain it." Packer is right ... there is a lot of mystery here. Our limited minds find it very (extremely proably the better word) difficult to grasp the actions of the One who is infinite and whose being goes beyond our understanding of the reality of space and time. Yet .... praise HIM that he has revealed himself to us ... and makes himself KNOWABLE to us ... in His Word ... and in His Son! Yes, we will never fully know God in the sense that we will be able to understand all that he is. To do so would require us becoming God. But we can know him in such a way that we can enter into a loving and intimate relationship with him. Wow! To think that our Daddy is the Maker of all!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

The Enormity of Our Sin ... The Amazingness of His Grace!

Below is a quote from Jerry Bridges book, The Transforming Power of the Gospel.   After I read it ... these words of King David came to mind, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity" (Psalm 32:1-2).

Please take a moment and read what Bridges has to say about the enormity of our sin. Only by understanding that will we fully appreciate God's grace!

"Suppose you want a new rug to cover the wooden floor in your living room. Being of modest means, you go the local discount store and pay three hundred dollars for a rug. I come into your house with a bottle of black indelible ink and spill that ink on your rug. I have just ruined your three-hundred-dollar rug. But suppose you are a wealthy person and you pay thirty thousand dollars for an expensive Persian rug. If I spill ink on that rug, it is an entirely different matter. Why is that true? It is the same act on my part. In both instances, I have spilled black indelible ink on a rug. The difference, of course, lies in the value of the rug.6 This is the way we should view the enormity of our sin. God’s holiness cannot be compared to even the thirty-thousand-dollar rug. It is infinite. It is immeasurable. Furthermore, we do not accidently “spill” our sin on God’s holiness. For the most part, we rather pour out our sin; that is, we choose to act out our pride and selfishness, our judgmental attitudes, and our unkind words about others. And when we do that, we deliberately pour out our sin on the holiness of God. That is why our sin, be it ever so small in our eyes, is always an abomination to God. 

We need to be clear in our minds that the pursuit of holiness — that is, seeking to be holy as God is holy — is no light, incidental matter. It is central to the Christian life. The psalmist wrote, “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently” (Psalm 119:4). Diligently! That is the way we are to respond to God’s command “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16)."

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Warm and Inviting OR Cold and Forbidding??

Psalm 42:1  As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

I ran across a rather disturbing quote today by one of my favorite authors, Jerry Bridges. Please take a moment and read what he wrote ....

Now if you read those words, you might be wondering why I found his words to be disturbing. More than I would like to admit ... I don't find those words "warm and inviting" describing me (at least not nearly as much as I would like). I can get awfully grumpy and critical at times, complaining about this and that to anyone who might want to listen. So as I thought about that ... it made me see that I am not spending enough alone time with God. So ... with that said ... I am signing off to do just that.

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Making the Doctor Call!

Sometimes I have the most difficult time making the call to go see the doctor when I am sick. As I thought through why this is the case .... I came up with the following: I don't really want to spend money on the cost of the office visit and the medicine that he will most likely subscribe. I simply hate sitting in a waiting room with a bunch of people who appear sicker than me. In addition, I detest taking the time to do so when I have a mountain of tasks calling my name. Finally, I figure if I wait long enough my body will be able to fight off the illness on its own.

Well I tried waiting my current illness out. But after at least two weeks of doing all the home remedies that I could think of ... I finally waved the white tissue of surrender. So later this morning ... it's off to the doctor I go.

All too often, I do the same think in the spiritual realm (and I am guessing you do this, too). I try to grow in my faith more or less on my own ... giving little thought to the divine partner that God gives to each one of us. I am referring to the Holy Spirit. The night before Jesus was crucified, he stunned his disciples by telling them that it was for their good that he was leaving them (John 16:7). And the reason it was for their good (and ours as well) is spelled out clearly by Jesus. If he had not gone, he would not have been able to send the Holy Spirit to them. And of course, we could not live the Christian life if it were not for the Spirit's enablement (Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 5:18).

All this said, I have a loooooooooong way to go in learning what it means to "walk in step with the Spirit." I am praying that God will teach me and that I will be a good student! How about you? It's not an issue of how much of the Holy Spirit you have ... it's an issue of how much of YOU the Spirit of God has!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Know Your Name, Christian!

My 2 1/2 year old grandson is named after his two grandfathers ... "John David." However, he was also given the nickname "Jack." So most people call him Jack. However, I do not want him to lose sight of the reality that his given name is "John." So I play a little game with him. I'll ask him, "Where's John?" He immediately pats me on the arm. Then I ask, "Who else is John?" And without batting an eyelash he taps himself on the chest. So ... even though he answers's to "Jack," he knows that his REAL name is "John!"

I wonder how many followers of Christ lose sight of their "real" name (and I am not talking about some mysterious, mystical name that God will reveal to you if you ask him to do so!). No ... I am referring to our names that God has ALREADY revealed to us in His Word! For starters he calls us "my child" (John 1:12), "friend" (John 15:15) and "my sheep" (John 10:27).  And that's just the beginning.

It's easy living in such a harsh world (where we get called a lot of unflattering names!) to forget how God views us in Christ. We are his children, his friends, his sheep ... and there is nothing that can change that (Romans 8:1; Romans 8:38-39)!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj

Man's Response to His Guilt before a Holy God

This morning as I was reading J.I. Packer's Concise Theology, I was struck by the following quote which comes from his section, Guilt: The Effect of General Revelation: 

The apostle Paul begins his magnus opus (greatest work), the book of Romans with these sobering words:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up. . ."   (Romans 1:18-24a ESV)

Man does all he can to suppress the revelation that speaks loudly and clearly that "Yes, Elizabeth (and everyone else), there IS a God!" (see Psalm 19:1-5)  Humanity also takes the revelation of God and exchanges it for a lie ... the lie being, "There is no Creator. WE can become our own god!"  And why does man do this? Packer hits upon it when he uses the word "escape." Man wants to put out of his mind any thought of a future reckoning before an Almighty, Creator God. And so he supresses God's truth and exchanges it for a package of lies. 

But there is hope for humanity. And it does not lay on this path that Paul describes in Romans 1. Rather man's hope is, as Packer rightfully points out, only and solely in the gospel (good news) of Christ. And if you want a brief explanation of that gospel, click right here! 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 

pj