Insight from our Singing - part 9

This week we return to my journey through a hymnal and the discussion of how and what we should learn from what we are singing.  I am often struck by how we sing something that seems to contradict what we are doing or feeling without even thinking about it.  Have you ever sang, "Lord I lift up my hands. . . " with your hands in your pocket?  I know that I have.  Or sang the words to a song and never really fully realized what you have been saying.  There is a song that I have sung quite a few times in my life and can honestly say that I have never really followed the lyrics!

Jesus I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou art
I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, and thy beauty fill my soul
For by thy transforming power thou has made me whole.

I am sad to say that I have never sung this song and realized fully that I am made whole in Christ!  I always tend to focus on the things that are lacking in my life.  I never have enough time, I never have enough energy, I tend to focus much more on my failures than what is true - I am complete in Christ. 

Think of it.  In the most important area of who we are - our relationship with God - Christ has made us complete!  God cannot love us any more than He does in this moment because He loves us like He loves His Son because when He sees us, we have the righteousness of Christ. 

Think of it.  Christ has made us complete.  Complete in righteousness, complete in His holiness, complete in our standing before God.  We are assured of our eternal home because our debt has been paid for us.  We have forgiveness, we have peace, we have joy, we have Christ living in us and the Power of the Holy Spirit working out our sanctification.  We are complete. 

While we focus on our inadequacies, Christ reminds us that we can do ALL things through Him.  While we focus on our failures, Christ reminds us that we are forgiven and whole. 

May I live this day and the next and every day from this moment forward as though I understand the truth that I am complete in Christ!

Freedom

The 4th of July is nearly upon us.  A day when we celebrate the freedoms that we have in this great country of ours.  As I think about freedom, I am reminded of a number of recent conversations that I have had related to the to concept of freedom.  Most of these have centered on the relationship between human freedom and divine Sovereignty.  Allow me in the blog today to get a little philosophical.  First of all, I will in no way do justice to this deep and weighty topic, but I want to introduce a few thoughts that hopefully will help to shape our understanding of what the Scriptures say on this topic.

We as people tend to focus on free will.  We want to believe that we have a choice and that if we are held responsible for our actions that we had total responsibility for these actions.  This is a faulty understanding of free will.  This view is often referred to as Libertarian free will - the freedom to choose whatever we want.  And it is rare even in practice here on earth that we have this kind of free will.  Think about a simple choice that you made today.  What did you have for breakfast?  At initial glance this seems like it was all your choice.  You could choose to eat whatever you wanted or nothing at all.  That is a completely free choice right?

Now consider the following circumstances that actually not only influenced but in some cases controlled your seemingly free choice.  You were bound to choose between only the options that were available to you.  You could not eat anything for breakfast.  For instance if you wanted caviar or Chicago Style Deep dish pizza, chances are you did not have that in your fridge and it was not within you ability to purchase it in time before you went to work.  You were confined to what was available.  But that is not the only thing that controlled your decision. Time also strongly influenced what you had to eat this morning.  If you woke up 20 minutes late for work already you did not make Eggs Benedict.  You grabbed something quick and rushed to work.  If you had all the time in the world, chances are you had something larger than a granola bar. 

These two things, time and availability influenced and even controlled your choices.  And that is not even talking about many of the other things that did the same.  Consider your history and what you like and don't like.  The things that make you ill or that you are allergic to.  Consider if you had to make breakfast for just yourself or for your family.  All of these things and many more were factors in your decision.  You did not think about these factors, you simply chose something to eat.  Because of your practice of making these decisions, it seemed second nature to simply eat and so you did.  But the decision was not free in the Libertarian definition of freedom.  You had a defined freedom - freedom within a select set of confines.

So here is the question.  Was your decision this morning any less free because it was influenced and even controlled by a variety of factors?  Did you feel robotic because you knew the limitations that you faced when you made your choice?  Of course not.  It felt and was a genuine choice. 

The fact that we talk about the sovereignty of God being a limitation on human freedom is not something that eliminates human freedom.  In fact, as you study Scripture, it is because of the sovereignty of God that we can even talk about human freedom.  But that is a topic for another blog.  Perhaps in the future we will do a series on the topic.

Do you have a topic that you think I should cover?   Leave a note in the comments below!

Lessons From VBS

We started VBS at our church this week.  It is an exciting time, and those organizing the whole week have done an excellent job of organizing the people and material that are involved in making a successful VBS.  I am excited by the number of children that we have attending from our church, from other area churches, and glad that we have students that to my knowledge have no church that they presently attend.  This is truly a good thing that is happening.  And yet, every time that I see a VBS sign, I am reminded of the original purpose of VBS and the decline of biblical Christianity and its perception in our world. 

There was a time not too long ago where the church was the center of a community.  If there was an event to be had - it was happening at the church, or it was in another location but sponsored and organized by the church.  And while the church in whatever time period we are commemorating was not perfect, it was perceived in part by the community as a whole to be a benefit.  This is not just my church, this seems to be the history of the majority of churches in America.  There was a "glory days" some 30 - 60 years ago in which each church hit its stride and was making progress in reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The gospel was seen as something that had impact into the lives of every man, woman and child.

Now we live in a different age.  The church has both freely given and had taken away much of its centrality in communities.  And we have a gospel that we get excited about sharing with the kids who come to  VBS.  But then we go to work and we forget the gospel is not for kids alone.  It is for their parents and grandparents.  The gospel is for their mom, their dad, their step-mom, their step-dad, for all the members of their family.  It is for our co-workers, it is for our friends, it is for our neighbors, it is for all those with whom we come in contact.  But perhaps most of all, the gospel is for us. 

This is the lesson that I learned from VBS today.  It was a reminder that not only was I preaching the gospel to the kids who came.  I was preaching the gospel to myself.  I needed to be reminded that I can find my righteousness only in the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I needed to be reminded that it was only by the gift of this righteousness, freely given in grace by God, that I can stand before God and be right.  The gospel is no less for the lost as it is for the redeemed.  And we must stop thinking that only the lost, and only the kids, and only those in other parts of the world need the gospel.  Perhaps the reason that we are not sharing the gospel as we should is that we have forgotten how important it is to us.  And when we forget that, we lose the urgency to share it with the world around it. 

Today I was reminded that I, a Baptist pastor, 37 years old, father of three, husband of one beautiful woman, I need the gospel more than anyone.  And praise be to God that His glorious Gospel is for me!

Changing the Heart

I am going to take a break from the "Insight series" as this week I am a little contemplative.  Every year around Father's day I begin the process of looking inward and evaluating myself and who I am in light of who God created me to be.  It is interesting that when we do this, we tend to look at the superficial things.  "How do I look?"  "How well am I liked?"  "Have I achieved the level of success that I desire?"  I am reminded in these moments that ultimately in the eyes of God, none of these things matter in the slightest.  This is why 1 Samuel 16:7 is so interesting.

"But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Apparently there is a fundamental difference between how we see others and ourselves and how God sees us.  And here we are told what the fundamental difference is - God sees the heart.  Man sees the outward. 

This is not really surprising when we think about it, after all, the only heart I have any ability to truly know anything about is my own.  I cannot see your heart.  You cannot see mine.  We lack the capacity to see to the inner man and even our insight into our own inner self is skewed.  But there is no such lack in God.  In fact, it clearly says that God looks past the outward appearance to see what is truly there.  This thought is echoed in many ways in the Scriptures.  God does not want mere outward conformity, he wants heart change and inner change. 

So at the end of the day, if I am more concerned with my outward appearance than my inner appearance, it is a fairly good sign that I am more concerned with the will of other people in my lives than I am with what God wants of me.  If I am more concerned with how my inner man looks, than I am valuing what God says about me more than what people around me say.  May we all seek to please God first and foremost and worry a little less about the outward appearance and work on allowing God to change our hearts. 

Insight from our Singing - part 8

"You need this car."
"This pair of headphones was created with you in mind." 
"Everyone else has one but you."
"You are not anyone unless you have this stereo."
"Everyone will notice you when you wear these sunglasses."

Every day we hear hundreds of thoughts that tell us that this world is a place that was here for our existence and pleasure.  We think from a very early age that the world revolves around us and that everyone else is here for our pleasure.  Honestly, we all want the world to revolve and think that when people disagree with us, they are clearly not on board with the program! 

We need a corrective to this, and for many that corrective is the golden rule. Our president recently cited this rule to accommodate immorality.  The problem is that the golden rule will not ultimately solve our problem because at the end of the day we use the golden rule to correct the behavior of those around us because we have not fundamentally solved the problem at the core of who we are.

This is why we need songs like "All Glory Be to Christ."


Should nothing of our efforts stand, no legacy survive,
Unless the Lord does raise the house, in vain its builders strive.
To you who boast tomorrow's gain, tell me what is your life?
A mist that vanishes at dawn, all glory be to Christ.

His will be done, His kingdom come, on earth as is above,

Who is Himself our daily bread, praise Him the Lord of love.

Let living water satisfy the thirsty without price

We'll take a cup of kindness yet, all glory be to Christ.

When on the day the great I am, the Faithful and the True,

The Lamb who was for sinners slain is making all things new.

Behold our God shall live with us and be our steadfast light,

And we shall e'er his people be, all glory be to Christ.

You see, it is not about me.  Or you.  It is all about Christ.  May we live the truth of this song and live to bring honor and glory to Christ alone.

Insight from our Singing - part 7

Every now and again I need a good reminder that Christ is victorious and reigns over all that is.  Even though that reign is yet to be finalized, it is no less real now than it will be then.  When we see the world around us falling apart, or when we experience the kind of pain and turmoil that causes us to question ourselves and the very quality of our faith, we need songs that remind us that Christ is victorious.  "Victory in Jesus" is one such song, but this song focuses more on the victory that I have in Christ.  Which is why I am so glad that I came across a song called "Onward March, All- Conquering Jesus".  Just think about that title.  Christ is marching forward toward the conquest of His campaign to have every knee bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  And we get the privilege of watching His glorious campaign unfold before our eyes. 

Sure, it often times does not seem as though Christ is winning.  After all, this feeling was no different for His disciples who watched Him hang on a cross, and yet it was no less true then.  And it is no less true now. 

Onward march all conquering Jesus, Gird Thee on Thy Mighty sword.
Sinful earth can ne'er oppose Thee, hell itself bows at Thy word.
Thy great Name is so exalted Every foe shrinks back in fear
Terror creeps through all creation when it knows that Thou art near. 

How my raptured soul rejoices that the Jubilee is near.

Every word will be accomplished, spoken by our Savior here.

North and south in countless myriads, from earth's darkest ends they come

With the dance and gladsome music, into heavens eternal home.

I want to draw your attention to the second line of that first stanza and ask if you believe it to be true this morning.  "Sinful earth can never oppose thee, hell itself bows at Thy word."  Take that truth and dwell on it as you look forward to the content of the last verse - heaven and an eternity spent with Christ.  The reign that Christ will have then we can know now if we will surrender our lives to Him.  Is Christ reigning victoriously today in your life?  Is He your King?  May we not wait until our knees are forced to bow, but instead willingly surrender our lives to the Conqueror of all things.  It reminds me of Colossian 1:18, "He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything."

"In everything."  That is what Christ is in first place and ruling over.  All things.  Even the things you are going through today.  Let Christ be Ruler!

Insight from Our Singing - Part 6

I have been thoroughly enjoying our traverse through some of the songs of the faith.  It is amazing how when we sing there is a deep connection between theology and feeling - perhaps unlike any other connection between these two.  If I mentioned that I wanted to talk about theology, few would listen.  But when I put theology to music, we not only sing it, but it stays with us!
The next song selection in our series will be one that I have enjoyed using as a theme song for a study we are working through in Nehemiah.  I believe that it captures the essence of chapter 9 although the scriptural quotes it uses are from Job.

Who has held the oceans in his hands?  Who has numbered every grain of sand?
Kings and nations tremble at His voice.  All creation rises to rejoice.

Behold our God

seated on His throne, come let us adore Him.

Behold our King.

nothing can compare, come let us adore Him.

Who has given counsel to the Lord? Who can question any of His words?

Who can teach the One who knows all things? Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds?

Behold our God

seated on His throne, come let us adore Him.

Behold our King.

nothing can compare, come let us adore Him.

Who has felt the nails upon His hands?  Bearing all the guilt of sinful man?

God eternal, humbled to the grave.  Jesus, Savior, risen now to reign!

Behold our God

seated on His throne, come let us adore Him.

Behold our King.

nothing can compare, come let us adore Him.

I love this song.  Perhaps no words ring truer than the ones in the third verse.  God has born the guilt of my sin through His Son who humbled himself to the grave!  And that same Jesus is risen now to reign.  Not to just live, but to reign.  Jesus Christ is the rightful ruler of all that is.  This gives me great hope even when things do not look so hopeful.  Jesus Christ, Savior of my soul is risen to reign.  But this means that I must surrender to His reign in my life.  Behold our God.  Come let us adore Him!