There is an economy in God’s Kingdom that sits upon His perfect Order.  This economy is of rewards – both positive and negative – that involves every human being ever to exist.  The rewards include Damnation for unrepentant sinners, as well as the rewards of Salvation/praise/responsibility/Crowns/His Joy for the redeemed.  The Shepherds He appoints over His flock oversee their wellbeing – instructing, correcting, protecting, and guiding them until they meet the Lord for their Judgement.  Paul tells of the women who in faith before the Cross strove for ‘a better resurrection (Heb 11:35-38); He also offered his example of striving for the prize, finishing his race well (1 Cor 9:24-27); And Jesus encourages us to strive for His rewards (Matt 10:40-42).  1Peter 5 is written to guide and encourage those Shepherds, reminding them of this economy and encouraging them to labor well towards the Crown their Lord will include as their reward.

^​1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, ² shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion, but willingly, according to God; and not for dishonest gain, but with eagerness; ³ nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you, but being examples to the flock.

After addressing the Saints to persevere (1 Pet 4:12-19) Peter turns to instruct and encourage their Shepherds.  Peter establishes himself as a direct witness to Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection.  He also stands alongside them as their peer as they (and we) await the glorious Hope of His appearance. (Titus 2:11-14)

We look at the character of these men as the ones Paul prescribes to Timothy.  Peter instructs them to lead in their true nature as servants endowed by the Holy Spirit, avoiding the use of the forces of the flesh for control or self-gain.  These are neither weak nor ignorant men, but men who would be courageous in guiding and defending their people in both spirit and flesh.  True, our Jesus is often described as meek and mild (Isa 53:7), but He is also the Lion of Judah, the One Who allowed the created to murder the Creator for their own rescue, the only One worthy to open the Scroll (Rev 5:5).  It is a mistake to see His countenance as evidence of weakness, but instead we see the Strongest One bravely muting His passion and power in obedience to the Father that the Sacrifice would make way to save us.  True Shepherds given responsibility over His Flock, emboldened and endowed with His same Spirit, are not weaklings who’d shun away or brutes who’d use cowardly force to control.  These are expected to be ‘men above reproach’ (1 Tim 3:1-7). A portion of His flock has been allotted to each of them; They have been intentionally given to their care by God.  They are not to dominate and guide by force, but exercise their authority as given by God, as God would.

They are not to see their responsibility as a burden thrust upon them, but serve God by shepherding willingly.  And, they certainly are not to be driven by self-enrichment of any sort but instead be motivated and encouraged for the sake of serving Him.  This last point is particularly important.  Anyone in authority faces opportunities of some sort of ‘gain’, be it recognition, praise, monetary, control, etc.  As the ‘worker is due his wage’, all of our works result in reward, either immediately or later, as a pay for service.

The contemporary use of the words ‘gain, wage or reward’ implies a positive outcome, yet the Biblical use is both positive or negative- IE: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23a), and,“The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin.” (Prov 10:16)  Jesus also warned against seeking public acknowledgement (Matt 6:1-6), as this immediate gain is a bad exchange instead having the reward secured in Heaven ‘where neither moth nor rust destroys’. (Matt 6:20)

^​1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. ² “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. ⁵ “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-6)

⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

A straight reading of Jesus’ Revelation to John, and supporting statements by Jesus and Paul, indicate the sudden and immediate gathering of the Church (John 14:1-4, 1 Thes 4:13-17), followed by Christ’s Bema Seat Judgement of the resurrected New Covenant Saints (Rom 14:10, 2 Cor 5:10, 1 Cor 3:11-15).

The Rapture

¹ “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)

 ¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4:13-17)

The Bema Seat

¹⁰ But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you view your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. (Rom 14:10)

¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5:10)

¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³ each man’s work will become evident, for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. ¹⁴ If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Cor 3:11-15)

Peter encourages the Overseers of the Church, that following the appearance of Christ, He will judge their work and reward them accordingly.  Amongst the reward to be given to Saints found worthy are five crowns listed in Scripture, the Shepherd’s being the ‘Elder’s Crown’, the Crown of Glory:

Incorruptible Crown (The Victor’s Crown)

²⁵ Now everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. (1Cor 9:25)

Crown of Rejoicing (Soul Winner’s Crown)

¹⁹ For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Lord Jesus at His coming? (1Thes 2:19)

Crown of Righteousness (Those who love His appearing)

⁸ In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Tim 4:8)

Crown of Glory (The Elder’s Crown)

⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Pet 5:4)

Crown of Life (The Martyr’s Crown)

¹² Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (Jas 1:12)

¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Rev 2:10)

⁵ You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. ⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ CASTING ALL YOUR ANXIETY ON HIM, because He cares for you.

The younger men who do not yet have opportunity to shepherd, but are still growing as disciples, are to submit to the authority of the older ones towards that same goal (v5).  Together, the elder and the younger are reminded to humbly submit to the other under Christ, avoiding the common hurdle and sin of pride, that together they would cooperate under His Hand.

⁸ Be of sober spirit, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ But resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished among your brethren who are in the world.

The Enemy’s goal isn’t primarily our suffering, but our deterrence.  This may include suffering, but whatever his devices, he wants to destroy our faith and turn our eye away from our Sovereign, loving God.  He wants to lull us into not noticing the Almighty, lead us to believe God isn’t concerned of our heart and actions since we’re under Grace.  Satan looks to steal the rewards the Lord would give us if we would engage in the opportunities He puts before us (Ecc 9:10a, Col 3:23-25).  Paul counters this with his exhortation to join him in a steady and dedicated cadence.

¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might (Ecc 9:10a)

²³ Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. Serve the Lord Christ. ²⁵ For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. (Col 3:23-25)

The thief, the Enemy, turned from smooth talk to Eve towards a campaign of open deception that still prevails upon us.  While his methods are often subtle, the Bible explains a furious interference is underway by the Father of Lies.  He wants to undermine the confirmation of our faith, deprive us of an essential measure of comfort we’d have in resting in the God Who delivers, destroy our assurance He is still in command.

Our Elders are tasked with helping to us resist in the faith, as they also resist for themselves.

¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, strengthen, confirm, and ground you. ¹¹ To Him be might forever and ever. Amen.

These challenges too shall pass.  Our Father, in His Grace, allots and secures every last follower of Christ – He will prevail and we will find our rest in Glory.  He will make us perfected (restored), established (strengthened), and settled in our Foundation (confirmed).  Deeply grateful, we praise His eternal might that will see us delivered to His goals.

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; ¹³  but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

While Peter is addressing the believers in Asia Minor (Turkey/Türkiye) who are facing harm, the threat yet to come for the greater Church under Rome will be even more severe.  The Ten great Roman Persecutions of the Church beginning in AD 6 through AD 310 sought to eliminate believers through most grotesque measures.

At the time of his writing, perhaps AD 64-65, the greatest religious/rebellion turmoil continued in Israel.  The nation was a hotbed of revolt against the Roman occupation with a succession of replacement Procurators charged with keeping the uprisings of religious and political fanatics at bay.  Self-proclaimed prophets would rise and gather followers who hoped for the coming of the Kingdom that would violently throw the occupiers out.  The Romans would bring crushing force upon the groups often killing by the thousands and crucifying the leaders.  Political treachery, bribery and assassination were employed by both the Procurator and appointed leaders.  One faction of fanatical patriots called the Sicarii tasked themselves with the removal of political opponents by sly and unobserved public assassination with a dagger.  The Sicarri murders were so frequent that no one felt safe as they even killed Jonathan the High Priest with the quiet approval of Felix (AD 52-60).

The Romans almost seemed to encourage rebellion so as to give excuse to kill the troublesome Jews.

“The first rebellion against which Ventidius Cumanus, A.D. 48–52, had to contend was occasioned by the coarse insolence of a Roman soldier. This man had the presumption at the feast of the Passover, when to maintain order and preserve the peace a detachment of soldiers was always situated in the court of the temple, to insult the festive gathering by assuming an indecent posture. The enraged multitude demanded satisfaction from the procurator. As Cumanus, however, attempted first of all to hush up the matter, he too was assailed with reproachful speeches, until at length he called for the intervention of the armed forces. The excited crowds were utterly routed; and their overthrow was so complete that, according to Josephus’ estimate, in the crush which took place in the streets in consequence of their flight, 20,000 (!) men lost their lives.”

Schürer, Emil. A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (p. 314).

Add to this climate of tyrants, zealots and rebels the appearance of the sect of Jesus.  Amidst a parade of new prophets and patriots, Jesus had clearly demonstrated His legitimacy in miracles and teaching as the others could not.  But to the leaders of Israel He was still yet another threat to the fragile power balance between Rome and Israel.  It is no surprise that Saul was given rights to hunt down the followers of Jesus.

By the time of the writing of 1Peter, Nero had burned down Rome and laid blame on the Christians, seeing many Christians executed in various gruesome manner.

^13b…so that also at the revelation of His glory (1 Corinthians 15:51-53, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) you may rejoice with exultation. (2 Corinthians 5:10 , 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, Hebrews 11:35)

The Lord will meet us midway in the clouds at the First Resurrection, beginning the Tribulation.  The Bema Seat Judgement of Christ will follow for the raptured Church Saints, where our works will be tested and rewards granted.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 ⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words.

2 Corinthians 5:10 ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 ¹⁰ According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³ each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. ¹⁴ If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Hebrews 11:35 ³⁵ Women received their dead — they were raised to life again. Some men were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection,

¹⁴  If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Luke 6:22-23 ²² Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. ²³ Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.

¹⁵  Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; ¹⁶  but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.

In the tumultuous environment of Procurators, soldiers, assassins, patriots, rebels and zealots – do not be involved.  But suffering as a servant of the Lord in this – for all that might mean – you will glorify God. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹⁷  For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

With Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, Jesus had prophesized that God would soon judge the nation and Jerusalem. (Mark 13:1-2) The city, the surrounding strongholds, and the Temple would be destroyed by the Roman Titus who would breach the last walls of Jerusalem on August 10 70AD.  During the siege, three Jewish rebel factions inside the city fought each other ferociously while killing innocents in their path, even shortsightedly burning the common grain stores that the others wouldn’t have it.  Before this happened, the Christian community had fled Jerusalem “in consequence of a divine admonition” to the pagan city of Pella in Perea.

For about six months Titus’ army used battering rams to push through the successive walls surrounding the city.  By August 8 the final siege had begun; by the 10^th the Temple was destroyed.  Though Titus wanted to preserve at least the inner court of the Temple for Roman use, it was inadvertently set ablaze by his soldiers and was a total loss.  The Roman slaughtered without discrimination, and the rest of the city was set ablaze.  Two of the three Jewish rebel tyrants still holed up in the upper city continued to murder and rob.  By September 8, the whole city was under Rome’s control.  The entire city was leveled to the ground except three gates and the wall on the West.  The rest of Israel’s strongholds would be subdued by AD 73.

With this began the dispersion of the Jews to the world until Israel would again become a recognized nation in 1948.

Mark 13:1-2 ​¹ As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

¹⁸  And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?

The difficulty does not refer to perils faced in achieving Salvation, for this is secure in Christ.  Instead, the difficulties are the trials that believers face that Sanctify or even threaten to destroy.  All of these are under the administration of our Sovereign God (Romans 8:26-28), also see Proverbs 11:31.  Conversely, those who would be damned, living without God and His corrective staff, may have ease now but will suffer immeasurably more in their punishment. (Luke 16:24-25)

Romans 8:26-28 ²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Proverbs 11:31 –  ³¹ If the righteous will be rewarded in the earth,

How much more the wicked and the sinner!

Luke 16:24-25 ²⁴ And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

¹⁹  Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

Jesus showed us how to suffer righteously under a Sovereign and loving God as He prepared to face His death.

Luke 22:41-44 ⁴¹ And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ⁴² saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” ⁴³ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. ⁴⁴ And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

1 Pet 3:8-22

Period of Grace – 1 Pet 3:8-9a

Peter concludes his instructions to Believers, explaining life in this present time of Grace.  This period we’re currently in following the Cross will continue until He retrieves (snatches up, 1 Thess 4:13-18) His Church, beginning the time of Wrath.  Until then, Peter explains grace towards others as we “were called for the very purpose that (we) might inherit a blessing.”  1 Peter 3:9

This blessing is the Holy Spirit given to us in Salvation, through faith – “…in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”  Galatians 3:14

Harmony with Others – 1 Pet 3:9b-12

Citing Psa 34:12-13, Peter explains how to employ a blessed and Saved life while we still live amongst sin, with a reminder that the LORD watches and hears the righteous and opposes those doing evil.  The same is taught by James, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”  James 5:16b

Paul wrote this same declaration to Titus:

“¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, ¹² instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”  Titus 2:11-14

Stand Firm under Christ, Suffer as He did – 1 Pet 3:13-17

Living in the reality of being reborn in God through Jesus – while still assailed by the sin that envelops us – Peter urges grace, grace, grace.  Emulating the same Grace as Jesus when suffering unrighteousness, we like Him shall strive to tamp down wrath and make as much way possible for the Spirit to do the work only He can do.  Our response should act in support of Him as we would be “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in” us, even patiently suffering wrongs against us “if God should will it so”.  The whole of the equation in this Period of Grace rests in making the case for Christ to sinners and staying out of the way to let Him do His Work.  When the Time closes, no one will be ignorant of the opportunity.

Christ’s Work/Actions Between Bodily Death and Resurrection, Ascent – 1 Pet 3:18-22

Christ’s Work on the Cross was not the end of His Work.  What was seen on this side of the Creation:

⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:50-53

On the other side of Creation unseen, while between His Body’s death and His Ascent to the Throne, Jesus in Spirit preached the Word to the most disobedient spirits in the underworld prison called Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4).  These are not the fallen angels of Satan but the ‘sons of God’ in pre-flood Genesis 6 who fathered the Nephilim giants.  They will be taken straight to the White Throne Judgement. (Jude 6-7, Rev 20:11-15)

The Gospel is vital and relevant to all, both the Quick (for Salvation) and the Dead (for Judgement).  Jesus also preached to the disembodied souls of Hades (not the final place of eternal torment, the Lake of Fire) emptying the Paradise side (Abraham’s Bosom/Lazarus) to bring them to the Heaven that still awaits us who sleep in the grave before the Rapture.  Post-Cross, the souls of the Saints proceed to the same place immediately to the Lord (2 Cor 5:8)

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says,
“WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” ⁹ (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:7-10

Jesus’ total domination and reclamation of all Authority given by Father would be settled.  As He already demonstrated His being the perfect Prophet, and is now exercising the office of High Priest, we await His return as King of all Kings ushering in the end of the kingdoms of Man.

¹⁷ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 1:17-18

Baptism in Allegiance to Him – 1 Pet 3:21-22

”Corresponding to that”, the chapter closes out with the reasoning for a Believer’s Baptism.  While a physical act, it no more enacts a spiritual outcome than does fasting or a shorn head (Acts 18:18).  Instead, it reflects an inner conduct of the heart that God recognizes.  Baptism is a show of surrender to Christ the Lord.  Fasting demonstrates a devotion to Him and a denial of the flesh to amplify the spirit’s focus.  A vow is in devotion and obedience to God despite protests in ourselves.

The only Ordinances given by Moses – Circumcision and Temple Sacrifice – have been rendered obsolete and unnecessary by the New Covenant, entered through our death in Christ and so a release from the Law.

The Good and Beautiful Life,
Chapter 7 – Love Your Enemies, Discussion Questions

Kinship Group Discussion
Questions – 4/3/2020

An additional observation to
Chapter 7.

The Human heart and the motives that proceed from it are
powerful.  In the Original, right way it
was a force of Good that enjoyed the backing of the blessings and resources of
God.

This Heart learned disobedience and sin, yet it is still
formidable.  Further, God continues to
respect each Soul’s personhood.  In other
words, God will not force anyone to do anything.  True, He uses circumstance and His managing
of our Hearts to achieve His Goals – but no one has ever found Salvation and
said “This is not what I want, it was against my will.”

We can strive to follow the commands of Jesus concerning
loving those who hate us, without any further consideration as to why.  True, this is one of His expectations, and He
arguably owes us no explanation.

But, we enjoy a God Who offers us charity by oftentimes
explaining why.  It’s not because His
commands need justification, but instead it can help us to see His depth and
Character, and maybe even help us see ourselves.

The sinful Human Heart is a fortress, and it’s respected
by God.  Consider Rev 3.20 – “Behold, I
stand at the door and knock: if any man hears My voice and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”

All of us are given the reserved right to choose to
respond to Him.  On top of that, He alone
can move and quicken a Human’s Heart.

If these things are so, perhaps we could consider the
Human Heart – in its current, ‘natural’ state – to be a locked up
fortress.  Only the occupant can unlock
the door and open it from the inside. 
While God could surely force His way in, He instead beckons and makes
way to convince the Rebel to let Him enter.

With all of this, if we turn to Jesus’ commands on how to
love and respond to those who (like us) have selfish tendencies that hurt
others, His prescription appears to show that we are participating in His Work
to beckon the Rebel.  1 Cor 13b is one
example of Scripture that assures us the greatest force amongst faith, hope and
love, is, love.

Showing love towards offenders is powerful because that
loving response does nothing to add to the fire of the rebelling Heart.  Instead, the Love and provision of God
demonstrated through Christ in us is the overwhelming force that calls to the
Rebel to open the door.

In our responding as Jesus commands, we are:

1. Not adding to the problem
2. Reflecting Christ as His vessel, and
3. Exposing the Rebel to the greatest force God has
   created against the sin that enslaves Mankind

Discussion Questions

1. What have you experienced after “Turning the
   other Cheek” or any other show of love towards an offender?
2. How about your experience after doing the
   opposite?
3. Have you found it difficult or easy to follow
   these precepts?

Discussion Questions                                                                                                                     03-06-20

The Good and Beautiful God

Chapter 6 – Learning to
Live Without Lying

Definitions

Lying: marked by or containing untrue statements

           : An intentional violation of the
truth.

Scripture

Matthew 5:37 – But let your
‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from
the evil one.

Genesis 3:4 – Then
the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

Leviticus 19:11-12 – ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one
another.  And you shall not swear by My
name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

Proverbs 19:5 – A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies will
not escape.

John 8:44 – You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you
want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Luke 8:17 – For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden
that will not be known and come to light.

Luke 16:10 – He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he
who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Colossians 3:9 – Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with
his deeds,

James 5:12 – But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by
earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,”
lest you fall into judgment.

Ephesians 4:15-16 – but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him
who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by
what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every
part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in
love.

Liars of another sort in
Scripture include:

Rahab to the king of Jerico – Josh 2.4-6 (but also see Heb 11.31)

Abraham to Abimelek – Gen 20.20

Egyptian Midwives to the king of Egypt – Exod 1.17-21

David to Ahimelek – 1 Sam 21.2

Peter to the servant girl – Matt 26.72

The Lord uses confirmed
false prophets to advance His purposes:

Prophet Micaiah’s vision reveals false prophets lying to king Ahab – 1 Kings 22.17-23 – Then he
said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no
shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his
house in peace.’ ”

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you he would
not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”

Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord
sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right
hand and on His left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that
he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke
in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said,
‘I will persuade him.’ The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will
go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord
said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ Therefore
look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of
yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”

Questions

“But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is
more than these is from the evil one.”

1. All things considered, do I lie?
2. Have I learned a few things about discretion in
   truth, in love?
3. Do I commit Q#2 when it might actually be Q#1?
4. Why do I lie, how do I justify it?
5. How does my Narrative differ from one expected
   as a member of Father’s family?
6. How will my new Narrative actions play out from
   here?

How does Radical Honesty compare
to “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and also to bless”

Thoughts in Considering Anger

Consider (1):  Anger itself is not sin, but its exercise
either in or out of God’s sanctions.  Are
not food and sex similar?  They
themselves are not sin, but whether exercised according to God’s sanctions.

Consider (2):  Judgement is the foundation of anger.  At its core, is anger a response to a
judgement of that which opposes our expectations?  Is anger a force we use against what opposes
us, that what opposes us would come to meet our expectations?  Doesn’t judgement precede our anger?

Example:  My anger rages against [him/her/that] which
will affect the outcome [loss/gain/circumstances] I want.  I have judged this, and hate what brings this
outcome.

The Problem:  God governs all circumstances and
interactions, so He is exercising His judgement.  He also dictates how we should view and
respond.  Anger is rightly expressed
toward that which opposes God, to as far as we are responsible to judge.  However, anger expressed outside of our
responsibility, or outside of God’s expectations, is sin.

The Solution:  Understand the bounds of your responsibility.  Surrender all opposition to God, and strive
to understand, repent, and obey.  Refuse any
expectations you find that oppose Him, and allow Him to overrun your heart.

Jude 1.9 –
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about
the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but
said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

Mark 3.1-5
– He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was
withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal
him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man
with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And He said to
them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a
life or to kill?” But they kept silent. After looking around at
them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the
man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand
was restored.

John 2.13-16
– The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and
sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And
He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple,
with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves
He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house
a place of business.” 

Matt 23.1-4, 29-33
– Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The
scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of
Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do
according to their deeds; for they say things and do not
do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s
shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much
as a finger.  //  “Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in
the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the
blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves, that
you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then,
the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You
serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence
of hell?

Judging
Others

Matt 7.1-2 – “Do not judge so that you will
not be judged. ² For in the way you judge, you will
be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Judging a
Fellow Servant

Rom 14.4 –
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he
stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

In the Lord’s
Prayer

Matt 6.12
– ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

God Speaks
Now to Job

Job 38.1-4 – Then the Lord answered
Job out of the whirlwind and said,

² “Who is this that darkens
counsel
By words without knowledge?
³ “Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the
earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,

Kinship Group
Discussion

The Good and
Beautiful Life – James Bryan Smith

Chapter 10
Discussion Questions

6/7/2019

Q1:  How would you define ‘worry’?

Q2:  How do you deal with your worry?

Q3:  What are the top 3 issues that threaten you
with worry?

Q4:  The Apostle Paul wrote:

“You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no
opportunity.  Not that I am speaking of
being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be
content.  I know how to be brought low,
and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the
secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”

What
are your thoughts on his statement?

What is Worry?

Worry is a difficult one,
because the issues that lay seed to our worry are potent and numerous.  The interesting thing about worry, though, is
that it is always a concern for the impact of a future event.  Worry is a fear about a bad consequence to
come, and is usually joined with a concern for a current circumstance that
might effect the future consequence.

Jesus teaches that our concern
is in the here and now, and we are not to look ahead and ‘borrow trouble’.

Matt 6.34 – So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care
for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Shall we be attentive to
future goals and events, shall we plan for possibilities and hope for good
outcomes?  Of course – the future of
seeing the Lord in person is a chief example that this is right.

2 Tim 4.7-8 – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that
day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

However, planning for the
future is much different than fearing the future, as anything forthcoming is
under His realm, not ours.  We can
attempt to control future outcomes, but He alone knows and directs those outcomes.  Worrying and fighting against His dominion is
illogical and wrong.  Seeking His
direction and proceeding in faith and peace is His goal for us.

By God’s Word, worry is a
sin.  Before we hear ourselves say ‘I am
only human’, let’s acknowledge that this is true, and that the Lord is
sympathetic and forgiving.  However,
let’s also ask how we believe that God sees us. 
Are we failures who have slipped from perfection into the sin of worry,
or does He find us crippled beggars who He is nurturing to conquer worry and grow
towards the perfection He desires for us?

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn
the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  (Jn
3.17)

As God has said “do not worry”
(Luke 12.22,
25-26), and has also said “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deut 31.8, Heb
13.5), and also calls us “His workmanship” (Eph 2.10), we see His command,
His promise, and His goal.  It is sin to
worry, and it is His stated intent to carry us through any trouble, and His
stated goal is to make His children grow and trust in Him.  Therefore, worry is a sin of mistrust of God
and His ability and intent.

Resisting
Worry

When facing a situation or
dealing with an issue, His is not just one of many advising voices to
consider.  God is Almighty, we are
dust.  He is love and wisdom; we are
broken, naked, blind.  Discussing God’s
opinion of issues with our peers may be appropriate, but what the Lord speaks are
commands that He will enable us to obey – if we seek Him, trust Him, and
cooperate.  Our understanding and actions
must always begin in awe of “Thus says the Lord.”

Obeying requires us to
understand the instruction, decide if it is right, and doing so when the
occasion comes to follow through.  If any
of the parts – understand, decide, follow through – are missing or out of order
when the trial appears, we will fail. 
Fortunately, our Lord is kind and understanding, and He
encourages/enables/trains us to walk that path in an increasing success.  Our failures as we learn, as we are
sanctified and grow in holy obedience, are what His Blood was shed for.  We can effectively hear Father God saying
“It’s ok, child, you’re getting there – let’s get you back up and try again.”

Growing Past
Worry – Trust and Obey

Our ultimate rest is always in
our relation to God, as His child, adopted through the work of Jesus.  He tells us that if we would know, observe
and obey His ways, we will make the most of His means that He makes available
to us.

Knowing, observing and obeying
are not the source of His blessing.  He
is.  Yet, He makes it clear that His
advantages will not, cannot be expected outside of our actions in faith in His
truth.

Lk 17.5-6 – And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our
faith.”  So the Lord said, “If you have
faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by
the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Heb 11.6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for
he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him.

James 4.2b-3 – You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do
not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on
your pleasures.

Deut 7.9-10 (to
the Israelites) –  “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is
God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations
with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate
Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates
Him; He will repay him to his face.”

This is not to be confused
with a ‘prosperity’ gospel, which at its worse is a focus on the gifts with an
inferior worship of Him.  Instead, His
Gospel is one of ‘know, trust, and obey Me – for I am worthy and willing.  Do this, and you will do well.’

Jesus’ time here was the
perfect example of a life done well, as well as Paul’s life as he followed
Jesus.  It is not a promise of a life of no
wants, no trials, no loss.  It is a
promise of peace in a resting trust of Father God, Who declares/can/will
respond to each individual child as is necessary to preserve and grow our
faith.

Peace, not
Worry

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who
loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him
and (reveal) Myself to him.  If anyone
loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come
to him and make Our home with him.  (John 14.21, 23)

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as
the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid.  (John 14.27)

Peace is the opposite of worry,
and peace overcomes worry as surely as light makes the darkness flee.  A child of God who is growing in peace is
doing so because he is on that ancient Path of a corrected understanding of Who
God Is, deciding what is true, and proceeding through life in faith, under His
care as we know Him.

We lack peace if we are afraid
of the outcome under the Sovereign God – be it that we don’t know what to
expect from Him, or are afraid of His response, or believe that He isn’t paying
attention.  However, if we are firm in
our Biblical faith of His character, ability, and intent – that He is good and
loving, presides over all things, and seeks to preserve and grow our faith in
Him – then the only logical conclusion is not to worry but to have peace in our
faith.

This, of course, challenges us
all.  It is in direct conflict with our
Human nature.  Yet, without a correction
of our understanding of His character, ability, and intent, we remain
helplessly enslaved to our warped and broken understanding and respond
accordingly.  And so, in this seemingly
insurmountable mess, we find our Lord Jesus, Who says “Follow Me.”

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matt 11.29)

His is the work of growing and
protecting our faith, of leading us to grow in our following God, of tasting
and seeing that He is good.  Jesus is the
Bridge, the High Priest Who has sympathy for us, Who has assured our adoption
into the Family and has relieved us of the costs of the sins we commit as we steadily
learn to trust and obey.

Kinship Group Discussion

The Good and
Beautiful Life – James Bryan Smith

Chapter 1 Discussion Questions

4/5/2019

In the section titled How to Ruin Your Life (Without Even Trying)
– The Six Steps to Ruin:

Q1:   How would you describe seeing any of the
individual definitions in yourself?

Q2:   Could we find ourselves progressing in the
‘steps’ in order, or can we begin somewhere else in the list?

Q3:   If I want to reverse the problem and grow in
the Lord, how would I do it?

Q4:   How do you describe the
topic/discipline/pursuit of Discipleship, or Spiritual Growth?

Q5:   What might it look like if we don’t pursue
Discipleship, or Spiritual Growth?

Q6:   What might we gain if we do pursue it?

Tozer, A. W..
Meditations on the Trinity: Beauty, Mystery, and Glory in the Life of God .
Moody Publishers.

COMMUNING WITH THE SPIRIT

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love
of God,

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2
CORINTHIANS 13:14

The Holy Spirit is a living person, and He can be
known in an increasing degree of intimacy. Since He is a personality, He can
never be fully known in a single encounter.

One of the great mistakes we make is to imagine that
by coming to God in the new birth and receiving the Spirit of adoption we know
all we can know about God! Similarly, those of us who believe in being filled
with the Holy Ghost after conversion also make a mistake in thinking that we
know all there is to know about the Holy Spirit.

Oh, my friend, we are just beginning. God’s
personality is so infinitely rich and manifold that it will take a thousand
years of close search and intimate communion to know even the outer edges of
the glorious nature of God. When we talk about communion with God and
fellowship with the Holy Spirit, we are talking about that which begins now but
will grow and increase and mature while life lasts.

Actually, I do find Christians these days who seem to
have largely wasted their lives. They were converted to Christ but they have
never sought to go on to an increasing knowledge of God. There is untold loss
and failure because they have accepted the whole level of things around them as
being normal and desirable.

The Holy Spirit is a living person, and we can know
Him and fellowship with Him! We can whisper to Him, and out of a favorite verse
of the Bible or a loved hymn, we hear His voice whispering back. Walking with
the Spirit can become a habit. It is a gracious thing to strive to know the
things of God through the Spirit of God in a friendship that passes the place
where it has to be kept up by chatter.  TS264–265

Father,
forgive me for not cultivating my relationship with the Holy Spirit as You have
wanted me to. Draw me closer to Him and give me the grace to respond to Him
when He calls. Amen.

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                           10.06.17

The Good and Beautiful God

Introduction, through beginning of Chapter 1

Summary

Our new book deals with how we might move into a life of intimacy with
Father.  We acknowledge (read: Millennia
of pondering) that Jesus did this with perfection – but what does this show
us?  His successful navigation as a Human
is a banner for us to learn and follow. 
Perhaps His chief goal, after Salvation, is to help us understand how to
live in the Kingdom of God, now.  His
reliance upon and trust of the Father He knows was His success – and should be
ours as well.

Key points

Prelude  We usually strive to do the ‘right thing’ in the eyes of God, but
why?  The first answer should be to
glorify Him, but who can’t say the notion of peace and success isn’t a
motivator?  Fair enough, because among
the promises in the Word are our peace and success. Matt 6.19-20, Prov 3.3-4, Rom 8.28, Ps 29.11, et al.  As well
is our natural desire to avoid the opposite, pain and difficulty.  And therein lies the issue – we might reason
1. God is good; 2. He is Sovereign; 3. He says He intends to bless us; 4.
Difficulty comes; 5. We scramble to discover what we’ve done wrong, that it
would be corrected, and the pain would go away.

Confliction about God (or at least what He might do
next?)  If we
see things this way, it is not hard to come away confused and conflicted about
God.  The responses of God of the Old
Testament compared to the Father Jesus tells us about can add to the
issue.  How to reconcile this while
acknowledging both reports about God are true and of the same Person?  This is what the author addresses by examing
what Scripture says of Jesus’ understanding of Father, as He knows Him across
the Old and the New Testaments.  Jesus
shows us the full and true realities of the Father He knows, understands and
trusts.

Define failure and success  Aside from the ‘world’ that
doesn’t belong to God, ask a typical follower of Jesus to define success, and
he will rightfully include peace and prosperity.  But is this God’s economy?  Jesus was asked what was most important, and
He answered in Matt 22.36-38: “Teacher, which is
the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.  We are also told in Eph
2.10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them.  Father
intends for us to put Him first, and will bring us to do so as He works on us.

When do we tend to draw unto God; in plenty or in need?  Father intends us good, but will not suffer
being 2^nd in our ‘hearts’. 
And, as mentioned at our meeting, we often find we are left more useful
to Him – having a better understanding of Him – after trials test our faith and
turn us to Him.  Therefore, shall we call
our peace success, or is a higher success shown as a deeper reliance upon God
that results in true peace?

Jesus threw in  Jesus fully threw in to the Human condition, except for sin.  He navigated life following/relying upon
Father through the same means available to us. 
His success is the Banner we must follow – but how?  We must come to see, understand, and trust
the Father that Jesus knows.  We must
grow into His Narrative, and thus our perception – and response to life – comes
into line with His.  This is how we are
made like Him.

By all accounts, we are a lost cause. 
Sin has warped us and made our intentions patently against Him.  Our eyesight is incapable of seeing the Truth
without His intervention.  What seems up
is too often down, and vice versa.  Enter,
Jesus.  Our Savior not only won our
forgiveness, but He graciously demonstrated what life looks like in harmony
with and in full reliance upon Father. 
Furthermore, He personally attends to our schooling, making us ready to
be received and stand perfected before Father on that Great Day.

Big difficulties = bigger usefulness  We all know mature Followers,
those who have better expression of the Spirit’s Fruits (Gal 5.22-23) that
show as godliness, wisdom, usefulness to the Body.  How do they come to possess this?  The answer is through a learned familiarity
with His Word and Its application.  It
also hinges on a hands-on history of experience with God Himself, won through
the slow process of seeking Him, drawing close, learning dependence – through
knowing, understanding, and trusting Him. 
And this is all by His design, under His Sovereign care of the very
details and circumstances of our lives.

Can’t lead where you haven’t gone  So, what might be an excellent
use of the life God gives each of us? 
Line one of the common Catechism states our Chief Goal is to ‘glorify
God, and enjoy Him forever’.  The Great
Commission (Matt 28.18-20) includes making disciples and teaching them to observe Christ’s
commands.  Taken together, an excellent
life involves a more experienced soul helping a less experienced one.  Therefore, our job is to cooperate with God’s
teaching of us, growing in maturity, and helping others who have yet to embrace
more of Him.  This is our call to grow,
because who can lead where they haven’t gone?

Narrative is imperative  What we believe – that is,
embrace, not simply acknowledge – resides in the ‘heart’.  It is from here our actions play out, and is
therefore central to who we are. 
Scripture is replete with God’s references to our heart.  Jesus said in Matt
15.18a “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart”.  And consider A.W.Tozer’s observation; “Were we able to extract from any man a
complete answer to the question ‘What comes into your mind when you think about
God?’, we might predict with certainty the future of that man.”

If our narrative is key, then it reasons that we must fight for an
improving one.  Who better to inform our
narrative than the One who knows God best? 
Jesus not only went to great lengths to explain Father and the Kingdom,
but He also demonstrated the ties to the Old Testament, lived an example,
provided the Words for the New Testament, and continues to craft and shape us
even today.

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                          09-23-18

The Good and Beautiful God

Chapter 6 – God Is Holy

Summary

God’s Holiness cannot be underestimated or underemphasized.  This (RE)Cap installment will not be an
attempt to consider God’s Holiness, but instead thoughts on why reconsidering
His Holiness is imperative.

It is a mistake to see God’s love as the foundation of Who He is, for
God’s Holiness is the foundation. 
Misplacing these two results in a theology very different than His.  Compare these two viewpoints:

God’s Foundational attribute is love, followed by His Holiness:  God intends me to worship Him for His love,
to become increasingly loving, and I will escape Hell as a receiver of Christ’s
standing in love before God.  It is
through His Holiness that He will bring me to this outcome.

God’s Foundational attribute is Holiness, followed by His love:  God intends me to worship Him for His Holiness,
to become increasingly holy, and I will escape Hell as a receiver of Christ’s
standing in Holiness before God.  It is
through His love that He will bring me to this outcome.

At our last meeting, we discussed the Author’s approach to God’s
Holiness, and found his treatment lacking. 
This month, rather than backfilling his thoughts, let’s consider this
Bedrock Issue of God and His Person.

Key points

A thought about God’s Glory

If on a warm summer’s day, perhaps we could consider that the searing
nuclear source of the Sun is like Father God, and the warmth and the Sun’s
effect is like the Holy Ghost.  The One
who offers sunscreen, sunglasses through which we may look safely into the Sun,
Who explains the Sun to us and shields us from the destroying radiation if we
were to stand right in front of it – is Jesus.

We rightly enjoy the warmth of the Sun and the good it brings.  We rightly embrace the loving offer of Jesus
and all of the priceless and incredible benefits He offers.  What of our pursuit, recognition, worship of
God’s Holiness?   God’s Glory, His
Holiness, is the consuming
force behind all things seen and unseen, proceeding and outlasting
Creation.  If Holiness is central to His
Person, how do our priorities compare? 
What if we ask to enjoy the warmth but not the Sun?  What if we focus on the sunglasses or the
benefits, but not the Sun?  The warming
effect, our Friend Jesus, the Sun in the sky – all are to be taken
together.  Fixating on one at the expense
of the Whole is our loss, and it is not what He expects from us.

God is Holy

How much human effort has gone into considering and writing about God’s
Holiness?  Any honest treatment on an
attribute of God demands volumes of thought. 
In fact, as vast as God is, it can be argued that our efforts to capture
a full understanding will fail, as we are mere dust, mere fallen creatures
veiled from seeing Him.

“For now we see
in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but
then I shall know just as I also am known.” 
(1 Cor 13.12)

Yet in an effort to understand – which He endorses us to undertake –
consider John Piper’s definition:

God’s holiness is His infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally
perfect, permanent Person that He is and Who by grace made Himself accessible —
His infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, permanent Person
that He is.

Jesus was sent to us as one of us, that we might grasp the enormity of
God through a Person Who took on our form. 
Yet even the God-Human Jesus revealed the brilliance of His Holiness on
the Mount as Peter, John and James looked on:

As He prayed,
the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and
glistening. // But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and
when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with
Him.  (Luke 29.29, 32)

God’s greatest Attribute

God’s expression of love is the greatest aspect we currently see, in
Christ.  According to His Word however,
this is not His greatest attribute, but it must be His Holiness – the ultimate
seat of His Person.  Consider John’s
reaction to Christ’s revealing Himself in John’s vision.

And when I
saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me,
sayingto me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the
Last. I am He who lives, and was
dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys
ofHades and of Death.  Write the things which you
have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will
take place after this.” (Rev 1.17-19)

John’s reaction is not to Jesus’ love, but to His Holiness.  Also, consider the four living creatures attending
to Father’s Throne, who say “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is
to come!”  (Rev 4.8), and, the twenty-four Elders seated around His
Throne, who John observed “And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on
their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God”.  (Rev 11.16)    Jesus
shows us the God Who is Love, but this Message of love is built upon the truth
that His Love could not be perfect without His underlying Holiness.

Yes, His love is most excellent. 
Yet, we err if we conclude His love is the center of the God we are to
pursue.

Or do you
presume upon the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you
not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  (Rom
2.4)

He calls us to repentance to His Holiness.  The reason to trust His Person is His Holiness.  His intent, His ability, His guidance, His
grace, His Son, His Salvation, His promises, even His love – all of these rely
and rest upon His Holiness.

We are His Workmanship.  He trains us into Holiness.

As God values the prayers of the Saints, Peter tells us our adherence to
His command to be Holy effects His hearing of our prayers.  And what of our growth in submission to His
Holiness?  When do we often find
ourselves calling out the most to Him?  Christians
are pitched into learning to navigate a relentless struggle between our nature
of sin and His demand of holiness.  Don’t
we each soon forget God when we are at ease, then cry to Him again when need
arises again? 

Remove falsehood
and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches – Feed me with the
food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the
Lord?”  Or lest I be poor and steal, and
profane the name of my God.  (Prov 30.8-10)

If this is true – that we forget God, and that He intends to continue
our training in holiness until our time here is done – can we deny His
allowance of a steady diet of new challenges specifically tailored to address
where He sees we need to grow in Holiness? 
We have an endless need to grow in holiness and reverence.  Yet our pride, our misconceptions of Him, our
fears, our wrong use of reliance upon ourselves and others and objects – all of
these He commands against.  Our better
grasp of His Holiness offers answers to all of these sins.  As He sees fit, He crushes and He uplifts –
all under His Holy Throttle – to press out our sin and extract the wine of Holy
Worship.  We cannot afford to not grasp
His Holiness, and fortunately, He will not allow it.

We tend to learn more of God’s Character when we are pressed into trials
that compel us to turn to Him for relief. 
Our desire for rescue brings us to consider our sin and His
response.  His response deepens our
understanding of His Character and value. 
This better understanding drives our worship further as we realize His
Holiness, love and care.

And what is promised to those who overcome, who succumb to the training
and overcome sin, embracing holiness?

To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is
in the midst of the Paradise of God. 
(Rev 2.7)

He who overcomes
shall not be hurt by the second death. 
(Rev 2.11)

To him who
overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a
white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him
who receives it.  (Rev 2.17)

And he who
overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the
nations  (Rev 2.26)

He who overcomes
shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the
Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His
angels.  (Rev 3.5)

He who
overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go
out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of
My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I
will write on him My new name.  (Rev
3.12)

He who overcomes
shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  (Rev 21.7)

And this is rooted in pursuing Him and learning holiness through the
direction of His Word.

Behold, I set
before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the
commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if
you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the
way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not
known.  (Duet 11.26-28)

Shall we sin, neglecting Holiness, so that grace
and love abounds?

God loves us, and we are invited to flee to Him and His rescue through
Jesus.  Jesus’ offer and Work is the
means to the end – our journey does not end at the Cross, but instead begins
the road to holiness, the road to overcoming sin, free of condemnation for our
mistakes and disobedience.  He beckons us
first to the Cross, and next He says ‘Follow Me.’

To loosely quote Spurgeon: Are we no longer accountable to His Standards
of Holiness?  We under Christ are no
longer under His Law, but under grace (Rom 6.13).  Jesus said not a jot or tittle would pass
away, so the Law remains – but for what? 
Under the Blood, the punishment for disobedience – death – is quenched,
but not the command to follow it, nor the benefits that obedience to Holiness
brings.  The Law reflecting His Holiness
has been shifted from the outside of our rebellious hearts and moved, written
on a new heart of flesh desiring to follow Him. 
The Law is there to become instilled, soaked through, to increasingly
become the controlling factor in the believer’s heart.  It is His living command, the right road to a
Holy life.  The promise from our Holy
Guide ‘involves lifelong security: Salvation at once, guidance unto our last
hour, and then endless blessedness’.

This affects how we view, approach, respond to, and
pursue God

Beware of simply making God’s kindness to us as the seat of our Worship,
for this aspect of Him is not the source of Who He is.  True, this is an essential part of Him, but
it is fully and absolutely His Holiness that exceeds all else.  The Apostle John, who dwells on God’s love
extensively, first confirmed of His Holiness, upon which he built his
Epistles.  For if we rest finally on
God’s love, and mistake it for His final and defining thought towards us, where
will we be when He rightly decides to correct us?  Will we, in the worst of experience, question
Him and Who He is?  Will we question His
love, even His existence, if we conclude the outcome He conducts is not
loving?  Yet, if we conclude His outcome
is Holy, we stand on firm ground. 
Consider Job and how he settled this issue, following his great loss –
he praised God for His Holiness, and as that was the unquestionable basis of
his worship, Job was clear to give thanks to God for both giving and for taking
away.  Job valued His Holiness.

“The Lord gave,
and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  In all this Job did not sin nor charge God
with wrong. (Job 1.21a-22)

This also affects our stance on the teachings and Worship music we sit
under.  Are we fed a constant diet of His
kind treatment towards us, or are we exposed to a Biblical proportion of the
High Church sort, of His Glory, Honor, Holiness?  Singing week after week about our woes and
how He loves us is a poor nutrient by itself. 
But including the right portion of His unquestionable worth, glory,
majesty keeps us in a right posture towards the unseeable, otherwise
unapproachable God.  It is then, knowing
more of our utter lowliness, that we can rightly value Christ in His bridging
this incredible gap.

Jesus left a greater position to stoop down and become flesh.  Yes, His Labor at Calvary was magnificent,
His Work pure and sufficient.  It was out
of the vault of Father’s Love and Glory that Jesus was sent to us on loan.

Consider too, Jesus’ appearance was normal and typical, “He had no form
or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.”  (Isa
53.2a)  Yet at the
Transfiguration on the Mount, he allowed His burning Glory – His Holiness as
God – to be seen.  Jesus revealed the
core of the true God, a Holy Glory otherwise unbearable without Jesus as our
Shield and Reconciliation to the Holy God.

He certainly accomplished the utmost more than any son of man could, because
none of us could ever qualify as the sinless Lamb nor bear the burden of the
Cross.  However, this gargantuan Love cannot
be God’s greatest attribute.  It must be
what undergirded His ability to carry out this Task – it must be first His
Holiness.

God shows us a Holy God first, followed by holy Love:

“Teacher, which
is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he
said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This
is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a
second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On
these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matt 22.36-40

I am
the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of slavery.  You shall have no
other gods before Me. – Exod 20.2-3

Honor your
father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that
the Lord your God is giving you. – Exod 20.12

Both passages demonstrate the order of Holiness first, followed next by
love.  In the Ten Commandments, the first
half are of the Holiness of God, the second half of loving others.

The Pendulum Swings?

Many of us have been exposed to ‘Fire and Brimstone’ ministers who
almost exclusively focus on God’s Wrath (attached to His Holiness) and the need
to repent.  Perhaps we’ve also been
exposed to the ‘Love and Grace’ ministers who almost exclusively focus on
forgiveness and peace (attached to His Love). 
For those who have experienced a lopsided diet of either, predictable
problems arise – that God is impossible to satisfy and I will likely be lost
(heavy on Holiness), or, God winks at my sin and has no expectations whatsoever
(heavy on Love).  In fact, both halves
have truth in God’s character, actions and intent.  But of course, one half of the ingredients
won’t make a cake.  A Biblically
proportioned view of His Holiness – expressed in Love – underlies the entirety
of His Word to us.

The obvious solution is a clear representation of the whole truth, as
God tells it.  Ministries that have taken
this tact have predictably flourished. 
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

But it’s not.  The Heart is tricky
(The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?– Jer 17.9); Accordingly, our motives
and understanding are flawed (Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on
your own understanding.  – Prov 3.5); It is therefore easy
to misrepresent God, Who holds leaders to a high standard (Not many of you
should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be
judged with greater strictness.  For we
all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is
a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. – Jas 3.1-2), and Who takes the issue very seriously (For I testify
to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to
these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall
take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book. – Rev
21.18-19)

Coming off of the recent swing of ‘Fire and Brimstone’, it is argued
that we’ve fled to the ‘Love and Grace’ side to appeal to an injured or perhaps
more stiff-necked public.  Yet, in
considering how Jesus would approach this question, we can conclude He would
take it on the whole, straight down the middle. 
As we read the Gospels, we see that is exactly what He did.  Yes, He was killed for it, but none the less,
He accepted Father’s driving Holiness to be tantamount, and refused to swerve
to the left or the right.  Father called
this good and accepted His Work.

Thanks and praise to a Holy God, Who loves us relentlessly.

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                          06-15-18

The Good and Beautiful God

Chapter 5 – God Is Love

Summary

It is true.  God’s love is central
and core to His Person – we cannot read His Word and conclude otherwise.

We’ve all been schooled on the problems of ‘romantic love’, the idea
that love centers around often blind, warm feelings.  Is this a true basis of love?  Perhaps not, if we look to the essential
issue behind love – a willful commitment, per God’s law, to another who we have
no expectation to repay us.  Consider
Jesus’ discourse in Lk 6.32-36.  It ends with the commandment to “be merciful,
just as your Father also is merciful.”

The last time we met, John walked us through the problem of assuming
that Father’s love is as performance-based as the fallen-Human love around us, expressed
in the way our world teaches us to expect to be treated.

In this (RE)Cap, let’s look at an aspect of our Father’s willful
commitment and mercy towards us.  Let’s
look at how a devoted love is expressed to a people who can’t but fail to show
Him a worthy response, and who by our very nature, often begin our trek to the
Cross kicking and screaming against Him. 
We go to the Cross for the first time, even as His enemy.  Against all of this, He demonstrates how His
devoted and merciful love overcomes the worst we have to offer.

Spoiler alert: God’s Offer, in love, has conditions.

Key points

Conditional love is usually cruel – but why?

Life, and our peers, both teach us about the often conditional use of what
is called love and acceptance.  This is
no secret.  But, let’s also recall Paul’s
words – he knew of God better than most anyone – that we see through a glass
dimly (1 Cor 13.12, Job 36.26).  Let’s recognize that starting even now, the
remainder of our existence in Christ will be spent pondering our God and
shedding our misconceptions about Him. 
We grow to see His worth.

We could likely agree that conditions for acceptance can be distasteful
to us.  But why?  It’s likely due to fickle or unfair terms, or
perhaps a person’s disingenuous motives that result in our being rejected.  But, are conditions and their use the
problem, or could it be that the one in charge of the conditions misuses them?

We approve of conditions with those we call friends, those we invite
into our home, or share personal information with, or give help, money, care,
love.  God Himself prescribed conditions
for guests to join His people Israel in worship and even nationhood.

While God’s Offer is conditional, His resultant relationship-Love is
unconditional.  This flawless,
God-branded love is possible through Christ’s fulfilling those conditions and
sharing (imparting) Father’s satisfaction of those conditions, to us who accept
the Offer.

The conditions of Father’s Offer cannot be cruel,
because He’s not cruel.

We might recognize the conditional nature of the relationships around
us, and see inconsistency and inequity. 
The chain of relationship between us and Father is also conditional, but
with an important difference – the conditions required for our relationship
with God have been borne by Jesus.  The
conditions were God’s intent even before Creation, before we existed.  As God unilaterally carries His Covenant with
Abraham (Gen 15.9-11, 17-18a),
Jesus also is the sole Author of our Salvation once we have answered His
irresistible Call.  We who will accept
the Offer were already intended to be included without a chance of
failure.  Father ensured we could not
escape, that His Goal would be met, by His assuming responsibility for His
Conditions.  Father’s demand for sin’s
payment, and the sinless Man-Vessel Who would satisfy Him, are non-negotiable
to us.  To answer that Condition, He
specifically gave Jesus to accomplish the job of Sacrifice.  Father’s terms being ‘finished’, Jesus revealed
the New Covenant allowing us forgiveness, and so satisfaction of God’s Wrath
against us who accept.  Father intended
the overall plan before anything began. 
Jesus alone would perfectly satisfy Father’s Wrath and impart the
benefitting result to us.  Jesus, as our High
Priest, will protect and keep us safe us in that Covenant.  It is God’s to Offer – but He will never,
never take it away from His children, once received and cemented in His holy
Salvation.

So, yes, conditions exist in all relationships.  The difference between the relationships we
know with our peers and the one we know with God are that God is perfectly
wise, righteous, loving, and without sin. 
Our peers, fellow sinners like us, are not.  Therefore, we cannot rightly project our
peer-relationship expectations upon God. 
We must shed what we think we understand of relationship, embrace the
truth of His Conditions, and believe Him – even when we fail Him, even when the
Enemy tempts with “Did God actually say..?”.

Conditions from God can’t be confused with conditions
between peers.  We are not God’s peers.

Does Father have Conditions over our eternal life with Him?  Yes: We would choose Jesus, else we will
suffer Judgment and endless torment in Hell.

Are a Fireman’s conditions of “Climb down the ladder from the burning
building – only the ladder, there’s no other choice available” – cruel?

Does Father have Conditions over His children adopted under the Blood of
Jesus? Yes: He fully accepts us into His family and loves us no matter
what.  Bound tight under His love and
life’s Sovereign circumstances, is escape from the call to trust and obey
possible?  We are, as glad bondservants
of Christ (Eph 6.6b), conscripted
into learning obedience to His ways as His Law is written on our new heart.

There are no conditions excluding us from God, once
we’ve met The Condition of confessing Christ.

Will He swivel from us and turn away? He cannot, because He adheres to
the Conditions met by the Son He gave, into Whom we can be grafted.  Does He tend to us, watch us, correct us?  Does He sit with us as we mend from the hurt
of life, either anonymously at the hands of a fallen world or from
self-inflicted pains as we went the way He didn’t hope for us? Yes: He is our
Father, He loves us, He won’t quit us.  (2 Sam 7.14-15, Heb 12.5-11)

Disappointed with His children?  Apparently, not possible.

Devoted to His reputation and to seeing His designs
through?  Absolutely.

Is God ever disappointed with us? 
Perhaps a strong argument could be made that the answer is no.  Consider Webster’s definition of ‘disappointment’: The feeling of dissatisfaction that follows
the failure of expectations or hopes to manifest.

Disappointment happens when the expected, doesn’t.

Note:  Disappointment is different
than yearning or longing.  Consider
Jesus’ appeal in Matt 23.37 – “O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are
sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See! 
Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me
no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”  Jesus demonstrates His knowing the future in
saying ‘you
shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord!’.  He also states His desire
to see this sure end brought forth in ‘How often I wanted to’.  This is not disappointment, but His urging
the people forward in a knowing, patient concern.

Is disappointment possible for a God of Omniscience – all knowing, including of future
events – Who knows the end from the beginning? 
If God cannot be surprised, that would mean His hopes cannot be dashed
when something doesn’t happen.  He
already knew that would be the case. 
And, no, this doesn’t give us license to do nothing – we’re here under
His sanctified training for our benefit, not God’s.  He needs nothing from us, but intends to use
life and opportunities to teach us obedience and peace.

If He cannot be surprised, then God is not disappointed when His child
fails, due both to Christ’s Blood and His seeing it prior.  Our sin elicits His dissatisfaction, and
moves Him to correct us.  But, the Gift
of Christ’s Atonement has freed us from Father’s Wrath, and in exchange, we
have been bought into a relentless, loving path of Sanctification.  Our job is to pursue Him, repent and cooperate
with Him, learn to know and to trust Him, to live in the Spirit and not the
flesh – “I
thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh
the law of sin.  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit.  For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death.” Rom 7.25-8.3

Never surprised, but knowingly patient and diligent
in making us better Worshippers.

Jesus our High Priest has compassion for us and our failures.  Father intimately knows who we are, and we
never surprise Him.  This ‘program’ of
Salvation is not capable of nor is designed to put us under God’s
disappointment, (For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved.  Jn 3.17) but to allow boundless
room for us to maneuver under God’s instructive care (For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should
walk in them. Eph 2.10) and
learn how to see Him, ourselves, and Creation as He does.  We are granted time to learn what it means to
be a child of the King, and to grow in our capacity to love and Worship Him for
it. (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 Pet 2.9)

Therefore, as we will certainly discover ourselves opposing God
(sinning), let us believe Him and not the Enemy who lies and accuses.  Instead, we must search His Word for the
truth, reform our thinking to His, confess our fault, and move ahead in
already-assured love and forgiveness through our Brother and Friend Jesus.

A hard life, but not a hardened Father.

The Fallen world is a hard place to reside, but the difficulties
suffered by a child under his Sovereign God cannot be attributed to His turning
away.  Instead, ask:

Do I belong to Him through faith alone in Christ?

     If so, is this hardship the natural
outcome of not following Him?

         If so, He loves me and I
must still repent, obeying His Word.

If not of my own consequence, shall the clay question the Potter?  Shall we accept only the good and bemoan the
bad?  Instead, follow the Rabbi Who was
blameless and remember “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things
which He suffered.” (Heb 5.8),
learning of the Spirit’s Fruit, bearing instruction as He did, and asking Him
for the necessary peace and strength He promises to complete the task. (And He said to
me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in
weakness.”    2 Cor 12.9a)

Either way, I will not call Him a liar and question His devotion to His
child, and I will ask for and expect His sure help (Joshua
1.9, Matt 6.25.33, Phil 4.11-13, Heb 5b-6, Rom 8.28).  All the while, I know my God loves and cares
for me, working as the author and perfecter of my faith (Heb
12.1-2).

So, Christ follower – have you too skinned your knee (or broken your
leg) on Life, even crashed and burned, even found yourself opposing the God Who
loves you?  Seek Him and His directions,
know yourself, repent and ask forgiveness – and move ahead in the unconditional
love of the Father Who delights in the contrite heart of His child, Who He
intends to see succeed.  Let’s revel in
His generous conditions, and His boundless love.

Final thoughts to consider.

The above might read like a Calvinist’s TULIP tract.  Whether it does or not, let’s be faithful to
the plain reading of His Word and let the labels fall where they will.  In fact, Scripture threads together the
Effectual Call to the predestined soul, yet of a person who has
responsibilities as a free moral agent (who cannot escape God’s Sovereign
influence).  Our ‘heart’ is the only thing
in Creation that God allows to oppose Him. 
Perhaps, we have our choice of ‘will’, yet it is never outside of a God
Who steers it sovereignly: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the
Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever
He wishes.” Prov 21.1.  I suspect His joy is in capturing and winning
the affection of that otherwise hopeless, hateful heart.  In the end, God’s love conquers all.

His willingness and sure ability to suffer our rejection, even under
forgiveness in the Blood, is held in place by the Conditions He has offered, fulfilled,
and abides by.  Is that not the greatest
love, worthy of Worship?

Finally, if how our Father deals with us is true, then how might this
teach us to treat others – especially those who we are to love (everyone), yet
who disappoint us (everyone, given enough time and opportunity)?  The
parable of the ‘unforgiving servant’ is one good illustration (Matt 18.23-35).  I know I have (decreasingly?) been that
servant, and I praise God that He continues in loving patience to train, even
discipline, me to be like Him instead. 
Praise to Him whose love will never quit His children.

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                           05.04.18

The Good and Beautiful God

Chapter 4 – God Is Generous

A forward note

This chapter’s (Re)Cap is a bit different, in that we’ve considered a
scope of thought and Scripture beyond what the chapter addresses.  The chapter addresses God’s Generosity; the
(RE)Cap addresses God’s Wrath and His Generosity.  In one way, we might question having more than
a summary of filler thoughts to expand on this month’s discussion.  On the other hand, this subject as a whole
should burn in our souls, and it seems right to discuss it.  Many have observed that we suffer a
Post-Christian environment that threatens to strip us of our worship and joy in
God, because it’s easy to gravitate to the more attractive parts of His story
that this environment selectively promotes.

If we’re not very careful, every one of us, as mere humans, is prone to
settle into the parts of His story that bring us a false ease in a
grandfather-god – or an incorrect slavery to malicious-god.  He is neither of these, but He is instead a
Righteous God Who demands perfection, and Who offers incredible Love and Grace
beyond measure to answer His demand of perfection.

And so, He offers His Son.

I perceive our group is rather rounded in the Wrath/Grace mix.  This chapter (and perhaps this book) assumes
the reader has been overexposed to Wrath, and so promotes the Grace.  In this (Re)Cap we don’t take either part for
granted, but gaze beyond the Chapter’s focus, looking to include the balance of
Scripture’s mix in an effort to consider how Gracious God Is.  Proportions of anything that differs from
God’s Word only brings loss.  My hope is
that through considering this topic, we can grow in our reverence, hope, joy,
faith, love and trust in God.

Summary

I admire this book we are pondering. 
The author’s works have brought relief to many people as he reveals
topics on God.  However, his book is not
intended to be a complete work, but actually a nudge to awaken us to the basics
of knowing, understanding, and trusting Father. 
This is a book bringing some core topics to study, engage, and pursue in
the Word given to us.  In today’s Church,
the problem of Biblical illiteracy is often woeful, and the Body suffers
incredibly for it.  This book is not
intended to instruct on the Whole of God, but instead is a sampler platter to
whet the appetite.  Father wants us to
dig deep, Jesus made the way, and the Spirit stands ready to teach.   (Psalm 27:4)
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple”.  The issue rests on our willingness to engage
Him.

Key points

God is indeed Generous

A sense of His generosity through too narrow a view including only ‘He
loves me’, or simply ‘Jesus died for me’ – without acknowledging the whole
range of Truth He gives us in His Word – is a weak and incomplete foundation to
build an appreciation of His generosity. 
How much more is a cup of water to a man who knows he is dying of thirst
than to another who is just a bit parched? 
To have a better appreciation of His Generosity, we need to step back
and seek full sight of His care, beyond a view of only our personal concerns
that naturally occupies the majority of our thoughts.  We are rightly concerned about our life and
circumstances, but it is easy to make this the center and whole of our
attention.  Yet we are not the majority
and center of God’s Goals – there is far more at play.

Immutably Holy, God’s Wrath towards sinners rightly burns, demands to be
satisfied.  His Wrath is inescapable,
inevitable, necessary.  As God cannot
change – and as there is no reason to do so (great news) for He is complete and
flawlessly Perfect, and as He is the Source and Basis for everything because
nothing is above Him – everything under Him must be brought into agreement with
Him.  Sin must be purged, the sinner’s
right wage must be paid through death, His Realm must be purified, and
everything out of His Perfect alignment, removed.

Hinge Verse: Rom 2:4 – Or do
you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do
you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

It’s easy to miss what lies below the surface

Ice – both bergs and cubes – show only 1/7 of the whole in plain
view.  The majority of the reality lies
hidden under the surface.

God’s Word reveals the whole of reality He would have us understand,
including that beyond what we would otherwise perceive.  For this we are given His Word, reliable and
true.  It is not completely everything
about God, but completely everything God would reveal to us.

His Word is reliable

So how can we hope to know the truth about God’s Realm and His
involvement, about the whole of what’s in play, in Creation and beyond?  God graciously has provided us with
everything He knows we need to have, to understand His views, expectations and
promises.  Is the Word reliable?  While there is an exhaustive number of
reasons we can say ‘yes’, consider:

Of everything recorded during Mankind’s history, Scripture is uniquely
reliable:

–     No
parts of the Bible are found to be contradictory to the Whole

–     It
continues to be supported, not disproven, by history and archeology

–     Later
duplicates of original Scripture are found to be true to more ancient editions

–     The
Hebrew duplication processes was exhaustive, ensuring true accuracy

–     The
number of prophesies made prior to their fulfillment are numerous

–     Mankind
has realized a high degree of universal agreement, in accord with the effort and
faith invested, of wisdom/guidance/peace/relationship.  This is called Orthodoxy.

Another good starting point is Moody’s Erwin Lutzer, who is one skilled
scholar addressing this in ‘7 Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible’.

Biblical unawareness and its consequences

We willingly live with Biblical unawareness and disregard for God.  This doesn’t have as much to do with one’s
capacity to understand, but instead an unwillingness to strive to understand
all one can in his capacity.  God offers
to teach and enlighten us, and the Holy Ghost is promised to always help us
when we seek Father’s Wisdom – If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (Jas 1.5), and  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you. (Jn
14.26), and Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.  Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You
are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. (Psalm 25.4-5).  Our
Enemy encourages disregard and unawareness, tempting on all fronts.  Trials in our lives give opportunity to
withdraw from God, to seek substitutes, to stoke our disregard.

We can agree that God is perfect, with no speck or blot.  We can also find agreement He loves us in
Christ, reconciled to Him.  But what fills
our understanding between Him and us?  The
more narrow our understanding His Word, the more unproportioned we see
ourselves.

Filling out the reality of God’s perspective with
Scripture

Does God possess anger?  Is He
right in having it?  Who will receive it?

Directed
towards His People, Israel:

Deut 32:22  For a fire is
kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the
earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Isaiah 33:14 
Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless “Who
among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual
burning?

Deut 9:7-8  Remember! Do not
forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the
day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you
have been rebellious against the Lord.   Also
in Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry enough with
you to have destroyed you.

Warned of after
the Cross:

Matthew 3:12 
“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His
threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn
up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 10:28  “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul;
but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9  …dealing out retribution to those
who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of
the Lord and from the glory of His power…

Shown to John,
in the Revelation of Jesus:

Revelation 14:9-11a 
Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone
worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on
his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence
of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their
torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night….

Revelation 20:10 
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be
tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:11,13-15  Then I saw a great white throne and
Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And
there was found no place for them…The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and
Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged,
each one according to his works.  Then
Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of
Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Does God offer Grace?  Is He generous
in giving it?  Who will receive it?

Conversely,
consider Scripture of God’s Realm and Grace:

Ephesians 6:10-13 
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might.  Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places.  Therefore take up the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done all, to stand.

Eph 1:13-14  In Him you also
trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in
whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, to the praise of His glory.

Revelation 21:1-5 
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be
his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their
eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying,
nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was
seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am
making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are
trustworthy and true.”

John 3:16  “For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life.

We all face inescapable Realities where God is concerned – and this is
everywhere, because He is Sovereign.  The
great news is Jesus’ offer to bring us into Father’s family, fully recognized
as His Children, with Christ not only as our Savior, but as our Brother.

God’s patience and Jesus’ forgiveness are the key
issues, but we make a mistake when we view them as the sole issues

Paul explains through Scripture that the New Covenant replaced Moses’
Law, providing the Pathway to reconciliation – yet remember, it does not make
God wink at sin, but satisfies His Wrath. 
His intent – to cast out sinners, unrepentant – remains, and will
happen.

Jonathan
Edwards, on the unbelieving Israelites

In Jonathan Edwards’ notable 1741 sermon on the Passage ‘Their foot shall slip in due time’, “Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God” observes that the Hebrews were the people chosen
by God, protected by Him, sustained by Him, and under miraculous display.  Edwards illustrates the reality of their
precarious situation, if not for God’s generosity:

• They were always exposed to destruction; as one
  that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall.
• As he that walks in slippery places is every
  moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or
  fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning.
• They are liable to fall of themselves, without
  being thrown down by the hand of another.
• The reason why they are not fallen already and
  do not fall now is only that God has graciously upheld them.

One takeaway from Edwards sermon is this:  Unsaved sinners are in a precarious,
dangerous position.  But, God graciously
cares for us out of His Love and His commitment to His promise to do so through
Salvation in Christ.  We have a hard time
seeing the true risk we face, but an easier time enjoying the general and
specific results of His care – even to the point that we see the results but
fail to recognize how much from God takes place behind the scenes.  And even if Saved through Christ yet not understanding
this, we risk becoming glad receivers of Grace who can fail to appreciate and
worship the God Who is responsible – even contributing to Spiritual Idolatry
and disregard.  It is available to read, or on audio.

One final thought on His Generosity – Inclusion at
someone else’s party

The Jews, The
Church, and our Jewish Savior

Finally, consider that the Church has not replaced Israel, but the
Church instead benefits from God’s Covenant with Abraham:  Gen 22.18 – In your seed
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My
voice.

Paul states in Romans 11:11
& 14 – I say then, have they (Israel) stumbled that they should
fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy,
salvation has come to the Gentiles.  For
I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify
my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh
and save some of them.

We are the grafted branch, not the host tree, per Romans
11:17:  …you, being a wild olive tree,
were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and
fatness of the olive tree…  Verse
24 demonstrates that we, while equal in Christ, are subordinate to Jews per the
Covenant with Abraham:  Romans 11:24 For if you were cut out of the
olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a
cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be
grafted into their own olive tree? 
All who receive Christ will have Salvation.  The Gentile Church is a big part of His
Plan.  Yet, the Jews have the first seat,
not the Church; they alone are the chosen people, saved by a Jewish Messiah (Jn 4:22b – (Jesus to the Samaritan
woman) …we
know what we worship, for salvation is
of the Jews.)  With incredible generosity, He has included us
to their ‘party’.

God IS indeed Generous!

Can we grow to see the larger scope of what’s in play, and how His
generosity is full from top to bottom – not just within a narrow view of the
life we live and see?  Knowing,
understanding, and trusting God to our fullest ability stokes our Worship, and
rightly belongs to such a loving and generous Father.

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                           03.02.18

The Good and Beautiful God

Part 3, Chapter 3 – What is your Cup?

Summary

The topic of trials and sanctification is core to the human experience
under Father God – and is perhaps only second in importance and difficulty to
the understanding His Theology.  Our
difficulty comes from many directions, including an inability to understand His
mind (“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. Isa 55.8), that our perceptions and affections are directed
towards us and not Him (Haughty eyes and a proud heart – the unplowed field of the
wicked – produce sin. Prov 21.4),
and we fall short if we do not progress in learning surrender and trust to Him
in the circumstances He allows (…you know that the testing of your faith produces
perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and
complete, not lacking anything. Jas
1.3-4).  The question ‘What is
your cup?’ can illuminate our understanding of God and our alignment with Him.  Yet, we can learn faith and peace in it all,
because ‘we are all God’s handiwork’, and He loves us recklessly.

Key points

Two perspectives, yet only one must prevail.

It is very understandable that we as fallen people favor our view from
our perspective.  In the moment that ushered
in the Fall, mankind’s gaze swung from God to ourselves – and every human since
then born of an earthly father has suffered the consequences brought upon us by
Adam – The seeing of ourselves as more important than God.  This is a Theological fact, demonstrated
through billions of life experiences throughout history.  The only Human to escape the consequence had
to be “born
of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might
receive adoption to sonship.” (Gal
4.4b-5).  Jesus was born of
God the Father: “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will
be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke
1.35).  Coming from a lineage
outside of our ‘sin-infection’, Jesus arrived Holy.  This Holy Jesus, being and knowing God
personally, explained to us the reality of our situation and how we can be
rescued.  “For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3.17)  Our perspective – self focused and incorrect
– may be countered with His perspective – God focused and true.  And as God is Sovereign, His perspective will
prevail.  The question is, will we strive
to understand and cooperate?

Head and Heart Knowledge

A ‘head knowledge’ is inferior to a ‘heart knowledge’.  A reformed heart is His goal because the
‘heart’ is the root and seat of character, not the head.  Consider:

For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt 6.21)

And He said to
him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. (Matt 22.37)

But what comes
out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. (Matt 15.18)

And I will give
you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the
heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezek 36.26)

Head knowledge is necessary to advance towards a faith in what is true,
but unless that knowledge lands on a contrite and willing heart by faith,
knowledge does no good.

“Then Jesus said
to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on
Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they
do. For they preach, but do not practice.” (Matt 23.1)

“…but that
Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in
reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it
were based on works.” (Rom 9.31-32a)

The (otherwise) incorrigible heart

And so, our otherwise irredeemable problem.  Contrary to current and popular opinion, we
are not a race that is inwardly good, and can choose wrongly.  Rather, we are inwardly wrong and, save
godliness, will also choose wrongly. 
Corrective glasses are of no use to a blind man.  And as the eye must first be repaired, so too
our heart.

This is, aside from the work of God, an impossible task to us. “Can the
Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?  Then also you can do good who are accustomed
to do evil.” (Jeremiah 13.23, sarcasm by
God intended)

Faith comes from God alone (Jas 1.17),
through our hearing His Word (Rom 10.17),
asking His understanding (Jas 1.5),
and stepping forward on His statements before we would see the results
appear (Jas 2.17).  Consider: The moment before you found an
assurance of Salvation, had you ever tasted it beforehand?  No, each of us learned we needed it, heard
and understood His promise of it, and asked Him in faith believing He would
answer as He said He would.  This would
have been your first taste of His reforming an otherwise irredeemable
heart.  And so the boot camp of the rest
of our lives in Christ began.

Sweating it out of us

Now faith is the
assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Heb 11.1)

By faith Noah,
being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear
constructed an ark for the saving of his household. (Heb 11.7a)

And whatever you
ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. (Jesus, Matt 21.22)

The faith God intends to increasingly forge in us will always focus on
Him (Mk 11.22), fully grounded
in His Character which is explained to us in His Word (Ps
119.142), and affirmed in His response (John
14.21).  God and the faith He
intends is not the problem, our blind and stubborn hearts are.

So, how would He inform a heart that can’t understand Him, or penetrate
the callouses on a heart that is free to defy Him?  Ask any parent, and hear that a child’s error
might be from either ignorance or from disobedience.  Do we use the same correction for both
cases?  Both cases are to be instructed
to the degree they can, and grace tempers the response.

Father holds unquestionable love, the gift of faith, the sovereignty
over circumstance, and the wisdom to instruct. 
All of these He employs in our training. 
We commonly call them trials.  And
so, knowing what He is achieving, why He does it, that He loves and protects
us, and that He intends us to know/understand/trust Him – we can embrace James’
command:

Count it all
joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the
testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its
full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (Jas 1.2-8)

Is James alone in this admonition? 
Consider:

Peter – “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their
souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” (1 Pet 4.19)

and, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the
proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He
cares for you. (1 Pet 5.6-7)

Paul – “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…” (Phil 3.7-9)

and, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever
situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to
abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing
plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” (Phil
4.11-12)

and, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness
of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave
me.  But He said to me, “My grace is
sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will
boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest
upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I
am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2
Cor 12.7-10)

As Creator, Father has a right over us and an obligation to us.  This is the consequence of coming into His
family, of becoming His child.  “Whoever spares
the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” (Prov 13.24).  This is a corrective rod of love, one that
refuses to see His child turn back to the slop (Lk
15.16) and to protect your faith (2
Thes 3.3, Heb 12.2).  And so,
does the Potter have no right over the clay? 
(Rom 9.21)  Doesn’t Jesus offer us a yoke? (Matt 11.30)

This is why it is imperative to learn the Character of God, because He surely
will prevail over you, His child.  The
excellent news is that He is loving, patient, merciful, kind, wise, and righteous.  True, our trials are often utterly painful,
but should we expect it to be an easy exercise to dislodge the opinions and
beliefs of a blind or stubborn heart that conflict with a holy understanding
and trust in Him, an understanding and faith He insists upon?  To this point Peter points out that it is
surely a difficult task for us and for God – “If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Pet 4.18)

But more so, we have assurance of His intent and love for us through
these difficulties, which glorify Him and benefit us: “And we know that for those who love
God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to
his purpose.” (Rom 8.28), and
that we “might
obtain a better resurrection”.

Praying for help

Shall we pray for relief, peace, or faith in deliverance through the One
behind it all?  The Word tells us to pray
for all of these.  However, praying only for
the parts we want instead of what Father intends will not get us very far.  True, Scripture reports many, many times
where removal of the problem occurs. 
However, is there in any of Scripture this response without the
inclusion of faith in the Deliverer?  It
is easy for us to go right to the pain and ask that it goes away, but if it is
not faith building, can we expect God to do it? 
He wants peace for us, but never at the expense of faith in Him (remember Paul,
2 Cor 12.7-10).  Father intends us
to learn and rely upon and expect peace through faith in Him, as a child.  An early removal of the circumstance He
superintends is counter to what He tells us to expect, if it removes His
opportunity for us to grow.  So, we pray
for relief, faith, and peace in Him.

He knows each of His children intimately and crafts life to fit each one
of us unto His end goal.  Learning to
trust Him can truly only come through experience, else it would only be head
knowledge.  He loves us and perfectly
protects our faith.  His purpose will be
realized for each one of us.  In all of
this He calls us to learn Him, to trust Him, to find real peace.

A Personal Note

Several years ago, I found myself deep in the weeds in trials – it was
heading into the hardest point in my life and I felt almost hopeless.  Struggling towards Father, I asked Him for a
lifeline, and He gave me a reprieve I hope to always remember.

Our family went to the theater see a movie, and before the show they
played the following Pixar short film. 
As I watched it, I thanked God for His care, and wept.  He graciously helped me begin putting things
into His perspective.  God answers, and
He can show up wherever He pleases.  He
encouraged me to be still and know He had everything covered.

Hint:  Father God drives the truck, the Jackalope is a Jesus figure 🙂

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                           02.02.18

The Good and Beautiful God

Part 2, Chapter 3 – Father’s Character

Summary

What is more useful to understand about a person – his past actions in a
given set of circumstances, or his overall character that resides behind his
actions?  The record of a person’s
actions might be an indicator of his character, but knowing his actual character
is far superior in predicting what he might do in circumstances that have not
yet happened.  Given endless
possibilities, a universe of circumstances we might face, the best way we’d be
able to have reason to trust him would be based upon his character – the fiber
of his personality and from which his responses would come.

Key points

Nature and Nurture

In our previous discussion, we considered the influencers in our
lives.  We asked whether these people had
helped, hindered, or left neutral our knowing, understanding, and trusting Father
God.

In the debate of nature versus nurture, we are born with dispositions
(nature), yet must learn command over our actions.  Actions are filtered through our beliefs, our
Narrative, shaped by our influencers (nurture). 
We cannot escape the truth that our interactions with persons who play a
role in our life make impressions that color and steer our viewpoint.  Yes, we alone are responsible for our
actions.  Yet, the basis of who we are that
informs our actions are shaped much by these influencing people in our lives.

Sizing up our influencers

So, consider your influencers, the people who have closely interacted
with you, those who have helped shape you.

How would your influencer compare to the following description?

(S)he is someone who I believed had a clear view of the truth, conducted
their life very well without mistakes, had a steady hand and never failed in
responsibilities, always put my interests first regardless of mood or
circumstance, never failed to seek reconciliation nor held a grudge, could
always be trusted to be near to respond, and always protected me despite the
cost.

This would be an amazing person. 
And, if an influencer, would be a priceless and mighty force in your
life.  Yet, the truth is that a person of
this sort is rare, and by strict definition, impossible.  Placing the measuring stick next to the best
person you have ever known, experience shows us that real people traverse the
scale, all the way down to the despicable.

Sizing up Father

Now, carefully consider that statement again, and rather than a view towards
your human influencer, look through it towards Father God:

Father is someone who I believe has a clear view of the truth, conducts
His life very well without mistakes, has a steady hand and never fails in
responsibilities, always puts my interests first regardless of mood or
circumstance, has never failed to seek reconciliation nor held a grudge, can
always be trusted to be near to respond, and always protects me despite the
cost.

The statement reflects this month’s study which included restatements of
the Lord’s Prayer:

God is near, present

God is pure, Holy

God is powerful and the King Who rules His realm

God cares, provides for us

God pardons our sins against Him

God protects, rescues us from trials and evil

Our Father in
heaven, hallowed be Your name,

Your kingdom
come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today
our daily bread.

And forgive us
our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:9-13

Who He Is; Who we believe He Is

Do you sense any hesitance in seeing Him that way?  If so, you’re a fellow, fallen human.

The goal of this exercise, and more so the Goal of the Lord Jesus
Himself, is to help us see the inconsistencies of our heart in relation to the
truth He tells us about the Father He knows. 
This is the Father Who strives to rescue us, to bring us back to our
intended place before Him.

Last month, we read that the models (influencers) in our lives, good or
bad, can be a blessing – if we take care to test our narrative and weigh it
against the true Model.  Jesus taught the
Prayer to reveal Father to us, and also to help us see the inconsistencies
between our views and Reality.  His Goal
is to help us know, understand, and trust the Father He trusts.  This long transformation is our
Sanctification.

Can we believe Jesus’ explanation of Father?  Can we realize the contrast between His (and
our) Father and the influencers who have shaped our expectations of God?  Here, we are to see the truth about Father,
and repent of the notions that might stand in our way:

God’s fatherhood
must define what human fatherhood ought to look like, and not the reverse.
(James Bryan Smith)

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                               1.05.18

The Good and Beautiful God

Part 1, Chapter 3 – God is Trustworthy

Summary

Just because someone has attributes, it does not automatically equate to
their intent and treatment toward you.  A
wise man might give his thoughts or keep them to himself, a wealthy man could
give or keep money, a violent man may choose or not to rob you.  Knowing God’s Character is foundational, but
trusting Him and His response is another issue.

Beginning Chapter 3, we start to have a look at how trust works, why it
develops, where it can fall off of the rails, and why it is important to
consider our stance before Father.  His
intent is to show and convince us that He is Trustworthy.

Key points

Understanding someone’s character is an important
issue.  Knowing what to expect from that
character and trusting it is a whole other issue.

Perhaps one of the main, universal drivers shared by every human is a
desire for the avoidance of pain. 
Beginning at that premise, we can possibly trace the beginnings of every
behavior, decision and hope.  And perhaps
this is because the existence we experience in life is the polar opposite of
the state of existence for which we were intended – one of peace surrounding a
perfect God Who knows no deficiency.  We
just weren’t made for this falleness.

Found both in Scripture and the hopeful tales spun by mankind, in
‘Heaven’ there is no need, pain, loss – only joy, gladness, provision,
peace.  It seems in the end, we are all
drawn to this.  Even the Lost hope for
the dead to be ‘in a better place’.

A correct understanding of Scripture will repair the fallacies we
attribute to God.  Yet, the Goal of God
and His Word are not simply to rescue us from Hell – it is to move us
increasingly into relationship with the God with Whom we will reside, once the
wrath we’re due has been addressed.

The report of Creation heralds perfection.  Everything began “very good” (Gen 1.31).  Scripture is replete with assurances of God’s
goodness.  We are told He is right, fair,
full of mercy, even good intent.  There
is little room for argument concerning His Character.  However, to varying degrees we are faced with
a disconnect between God’s Character and how we trust He will respond to us.  Now, ‘varying degrees’ is an enormous
understatement.   As we consider Jesus’
trust of Father and learn to compare it to our own warped state and outlook, we
face a seemingly bottomless chasm of mistrust. 
Father understands this, and His work is to continually invite us to bridge
that ravine with Truth and confirmation. 
We are His workmanship (Eph 2.10), and the works He brings us to walk in
only succeed as we engage these works trusting Him (Jn 15.5).  These exercises build our trust in His
Character and response.

For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph
2.10

I am the vine;
you are the branches.  Whoever abides in
Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do
nothing. Jn 15.5

Father calls each and every human towards a primary
Goal, and every Believer participates in their progress towards that Goal.

Father of course understands this, and goes to endless lengths to help
and to accommodate us towards the Goal. 
Laying a foundation of Who He Is through Scripture, the next course of
bricks begins.  He teaches us to trust
that He will not keep these attributes to Himself, but instead work to in us to
“taste and see that the Lord is good”.

Oh, taste and
see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is
the man who takes refuge in Him! Ps 34.8

God’s goodness is a given, yet not until we would taste and take refuge
are we blessed.  Why?  Because knowing of His Character is one
issue, while trusting His Character as directed towards us is a whole other
issue.

In the same way that an expert in a field who doesn’t have hands-on
experience is incomplete, so too are we if we thoroughly know the reports of
God in Scripture yet lack a trust borne out of an engaging experience with Him.

How will we grow to know what to expect from
Someone Who is unseen?

So herein lays the problem: How would we hope to grow in our
understanding of and trust in an invisible Person?  Without reservation, we can agree that a knowledge
of Him through the Scriptures is essential, lest we would know of and believe
in a God other than the One written of.  But
remember, we all begin this Walk ignorant of Him, and ignorant of the
Scriptures.

Consider the universal progression every human is called to tread:

• Recognize there is a God
• See the Scope of His presence and involvement
• See our core opposition to Him and His ways
• Hear His call and His demand to repent and
  return to Him
• Acknowledge our need for Him
• Ask for Rescue from our fallen state
• Recognize this newly reconciled relationship
• Cooperate towards a progressively changed
  ‘heart’
• Patiently help others to realize the same you’ve
  learned
• Prepare to meet Him

Notice that this cycle applies to us across the spectrum – whether we’re
not yet Saved, or if we’ve followed Him all of our life since Salvation.  The Lost finds rescue in the cycle; the Saved
finds progressing Sanctification.  In
both scenarios, the participant is called to and learns to trust Him.

The cycle of knowing, understanding and trusting Him is an upward
ascending and increasing spiral, like a spring small at the bottom growing
larger at the top.  As He nurtures us, all
steps of this cycle are played over and over again in an expanding
success.  We can even locate ourselves in
this progression before or after receiving Salvation – the cycle number you’re
on might be different, but the process repeats and remains the same because the
Goal remains the same.  It is a lifetime-long
road, but He is caring and patient.

To increasingly engage in the above requires trust in God, yet a God we
are to progressively know better.  And so
the question was posed:  Consider other
people in your life who represented an influence over you.  For instance, what characteristics did
(presumably) your Dad have, and how do you recognize the effects your view of
God the Father?  Why?  Because we begin life ignorant of God,
perhaps first learning about influencing characteristics from our Dads.  In traditional families, we will first know
more of our Dad’s/Influencer’s character before learning Father’s.  This foundation preemptively colors our
understanding and attitude about authority, grace, God, and how we can expect Him
to respond.  Not intended in the least to
be psyco-babble, nor an excuse for our choices, we cannot seem to escape what
even Sesame Street teaches toddlers – to know something new, build upon
something similar you already understand.

From Scripture, we are also instructed to learn from parallels in the
same way – Moses’ instructions of the Tabernacle and Laws were a shadow (Heb 8.4-5),
sound leaders are to be imitated (Heb 13.17), and we have Jesus’ example to
follow (1
Pet 2.21).

Now if He were
on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer
gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly
things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God,
saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown
you on the mountain.” Heb 8.4-5

Remember your
leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their
way of life, and imitate their faith. Heb
13.17

For to this you
have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example,
so that you might follow in His steps. 1
Pet 2.21

The Influencers in our lives, good or bad, can be a
blessing – take care to test your narrative and weigh it against the true
Model.

We trotted out the question concerning our Dads’ influence on our view
of Father, and got answers across the spectrum – good characteristics leading
us to God, bad traits informing us of a problem in contrast to His traits, and even
a neutral influence neither good nor bad. 
In our group’s case, they all influenced our path to God.  Perhaps we all know of someone whose Influencers
have helped to spin them off into destruction, or even a very good person who
has still failed to embrace God.

If we agree that the universal progression every person is called to
tread listed above is true, and that our view of God is effected by our Influencers,
then we can acknowledge it is imperative to run all influences – what we read,
hear, associate with, believe – through the sieve of Scripture.  We must derive what is called right by the
Truth, and repair our perceptions.  On
the topic of trusting Father, what things are snagging you?

A personal experience.

I was gently asked, “I notice you refer to God the Father as
“Father”.  Would you please explain
that?”

After more thought, my answer is that I conclude it is Scriptural (Rom 8.14-17),
a term of glad submission and endearment, and an expression of a personal
relationship He beckons me to.

For all who are
led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba!
Father!”  The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then
heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in
order that we may also be glorified with Him. 
Rom 8.14-17

I perceive a godly Dad as one who strives to be wise, provides
instruction and direction, protects, and insists on God’s way in patience and
love.  Imitating Jesus, he would do
everything he could to live up to his role in the world (not just in the home, and
beyond being only a ‘spiritual leader’) as prophet, priest, and king.  All of these attributes and responses are
perfectly declared and demonstrated by Father God.  I love His Pure dealings with me, and His
forging of these same attributes in me as His child.

Those who have influenced me throughout my life have not been many of
these things – both persons of bad character overall, and even fellow fallen
Believers who are learning holiness like I am. 
But in a clear and absolute way, I recount how God has increasingly been
that perfect Father for me.  It is not
that He has increased, but instead He has helped me increasingly embrace Who He
fully Is and recognize His dealings with me. 
The outcome of any progressively Sanctified heart includes a repaired
understanding of Him, and with repentance, an ever wider lens that sees
Him.  Father, our Heavenly Father, works
towards fulfilling His intent to grow each of us this way.  He has been consistent and true to me, and
this is why I choose to reverently call Him Father.

Consider early Church father Polycarp’s response to those who would have
him deny Christ.  There stood a man who
had learned to trust God, and I want to know Him in the same way.

The proconsul then urged him, saying, “Swear, and I will release thee; —
reproach Christ.” Polycarp answered, “Eighty and six years have I served Him,
and He never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, Who hath
saved me?” At the stake, to which he was only tied, but not nailed as usual, as
he assured them he should stand immovable, the flames, on their kindling the
fagots, encircled his body, like an arch, without touching him, and the
executioner, on seeing this, was ordered to pierce him with a sword when so
great a quantity of blood flowed out as extinguished the fire.

My privilege of a growing closeness to Father cannot be special or
unique – I read in the Word that this relationship is intended for every human
being who would embrace Christ, obey the Spirit, and trust Father.

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                           12.01.17

The Good and Beautiful God

Chapter 2 – God is Good

Summary

Most any Christian you ask will agree (confess) that God loves us, that
He is Love, that love showed itself on the Cross.  In the midst of good fortune, we often hear
about His blessings.  During the hard
times the common anthem is “He has a plan”.

While all of the above is very true, we have an opportunity to discover
that these statements are actually topical – just the tip of the iceberg – if
we’ll take time to further consider His Word, His explanation and demonstration
of His Character.  Chapter 2 introduces
us to a bit more of the topic “God is Good”.

Key points

Prelude

Our Author Smith began his walk no different than any of us.  He recognized God as Ultimate, confessed his
own sin and need, and called on Jesus for His offer.  He also, until one day, had little direct
experience with God outside of a quiet Christian life.  To this point in his walk, he
agreed/confessed of His love.  But, when
real trial was visited upon him and his family, the next leg of his walk began
as the Lord helped him understand a bit more of His Character and Intent. Early
on, Smith discovered that there are many degrees of depth – as well as a range
of opinions – on how God deals with us. 
But most importantly, he came away with a personal report, an
experience, of God’s care for him.

This is uncomfortable, what do I need to do to make
it go away?

Removing ourselves from uncomfortable situations (or placing ourselves
into pleasurable ones) isn’t difficult to appreciate.  Our world, from day one, is a constant
reinforcement of cause and effect: If it burns my hand, move it away; If I’m
cold, put on a jacket; If I’m hungry, eat; If I don’t want a ticket, don’t
speed; If I don’t want to be struck in the nose, show respect.  Conversely: if I don’t want to be fat, eat
less; if I want to get there faster, speed; If I am in jeopardy, take
preemptive measures.  Our lives are
replete with taking care of business and responding in some sort of action.

So, when difficulty visits us, it is natural to seek a way to avoid, or solve,
or endure the situation.  Pain, fear,
loss, death – all of these are not what God left us with on Day Six of
Creation.  It’s also not what we can
expect once everything is straightened out in the End. He will wipe away every
tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Rev 21.4)

But for now, in this Age before the Gathering occurs, we are in a place
of tension.  Somehow we have to reconcile
a natural desire for peace and comfort v/s understanding God’s Character and
Intent towards us v/s how we are to respond to trails and heartache.

Who sinned? 
Or, How does God see things and how should I respond?

This Chapter shares the Smith’s experience following the diagnosis and
the ultimate death of their daughter.  He
shares the responses of other Jesus followers, and the range of theology about
God is sadly lacking.  We also shared
around the table our own experiences with responses given to us like this.

Ask 10 people to explain something abstract (as opposed to the answer to
a math equation) and we can expect 10 different viewpoints.  And, the more complicated the topic, the
wider ranging (read: the farther from the truth) the answers might be.

Now, ask 10 people, even Christians, about an aspect of Almighty
God.  But wait, in His case it doesn’t
mean there are no definitive answers – this is why He has given and protected the
Scriptures, and has given the Spirit, and deals directly with each of us
personally.  The answers from those 10
people will directly correlate to their exposure and experience with Scripture,
Spirit and personal experience.  Perhaps
it is even safe to say that any number of people, if thoroughly experienced in
these three things, will come to much the same conclusions about that aspect of
God we’ve asked them about.  Why?  Because He is seamless, pure and consistent
in His expression of Who He is.  Yes, the
ways He demonstrates it to us as individuals might be different, but the Truth
behind the demonstrations run true to His Character.

God is Good and He loves me.  This situation is terrible.  Can this be reconciled?

Sink low enough into a difficulty, or spend enough time suffering an
injustice, and we might likely find that our comfort in ‘God loves me/He has a
plan’ is challenged.  Have any of us ever
found ourselves boxed into this problem?

1. God loves me

2. God is Sovereign and all powerful

3. This is a horrible pain/injustice/your need here

Is it possible that even the most devout Follower could come to a place
where he would ask God “Why haven’t you fixed this for me?”  After all, He has the means to, and He says
He loves me, right?

What is God working to accomplish?

At the most basic and simple human level, if I will show my love to
someone it will probably revolve around their comfort and pleasure.  This is the stuff of romance novels, the
sweeping off of feet.  But what of a love
with a deeper view, perhaps something like wanting our children to learn how to
handle a budget?  In this case the result
might sometimes be they can’t immediately have what they want.  Parents would likely see the degree of pain
the children experience as reasonable and necessary.  This parent would be loving, yet there is
pain.

What is God’s main, bottom line goal in Creation?  That He would be acknowledged, praised,
glorified, worshipped as the One and True God. 
What is Father’s main, bottom line goal for us and Creation?  In the Westminster Catechism, the answer to Question
One is a common – and excellent – answer: That we would glorify God and enjoy
Him forever.

Both cases contribute to His goal. 
As we are involved in this, and as we are lacking as fallen people, and
as He loves Himself and loves us, we enter Salvation to begin our training out
of our wrong beliefs/actions, and into our understanding, faith and trust of
Him.  As a child learning to budget
experiences pain (followed perhaps by financial peace through godly obedience),
should we not expect pain as Father teaches us through difficulty while keeping
the End Goal in view?  If so, our list
might now look like this:

1. God loves me

2. God is Sovereign and all powerful

3. This is a horrible pain/injustice/your need here

4. I know and am learning He is Good and Trustworthy

5. He will even provide me comfort as I suffer His teaching trial

6. As I learn to trust Him, I too can learn to say I ‘Count it all joy’ (Jas 1.2-4)

This is why we have Jesus to lead the way, even when we would ask God
“Why haven’t you fixed this for me?”  For
He too asked Father this same question:  “Father, if you
are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be
done.” (Lk 22.42), and again
in obedience on the Cross “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk 15.34)

Even Jesus, perfect, learned as a Man to trust and obey Father: “Although he
was a son, he learned obedience through what he
suffered.” (Heb 5.8).  Can we expect that our course would be any
different than that of the Second Adam, Who we follow and have Salvation
through?  If Father loved Jesus, and He
also loves us, then we have hope of reconciling the ‘God is Good and He loves
me / This situation is terrible’ issue. 
Because, remember He also tells us:

The eternal God
is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms;

Deut 33:27

The steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall,
he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.

Ps 37:23-34

If I say, “My
foot slips,” Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my
anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.

Ps 94:18-19

My help comes
from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Ps 121:2

He heals the
brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Ps 147:3

Fear not, for I
am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I
will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Isa 41:10

When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not
overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor
shall the flame scorch you.

Isa 43:2

And we know that
all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose.

Rom 8:28

And,

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give
you the kingdom.

Lk 12.32

The list goes on and on.

Some final thoughts.

And so, we can find reconciliation with His love and our suffering.  We can say “This happened because God had a
plan”, while also saying “Though this happened, God has a plan on what to do
about it”.

There is much more to consider on this topic.  John Piper, on the eve of his cancer surgery,
scribbled out his booklet “Don’t Let Your Cancer Go To Waste”.  In it, Piper makes a good argument that even
‘bad’ things are a gift from God.  He
reasons that as Sovereign, it isn’t possible for anything to pass Father’s
notice – He can stop an event, cause an event, or let an event proceed that
comes out of the fallen world.  Was
Piper’s cancer caused by God, or allowed by God, or not stopped by God?  Piper chooses to anchor his opinion in
Father’s Sovereignty and love, concluding that whatever reason He chose, He did
indeed choose it.  And on that, Piper
thanked God for His gift of cancer. 
Piper saw it as deemed proper and necessary for His child John, in
pursuit of God’s main goal of glorifying Himself and in helping John to see
things increasingly His way.  Piper
counted it all joy, and we can too.

(Re)cap                                                                                                                                                                           11.03.17

The Good and Beautiful God

Remainder of Chapter 1 – How We Change

Summary

Jesus offers a new life, one that is full.  One that is close to our intimate Father and
all that entails.  Stepping into the
Family is the beginning, but we begin a long walk of realization, of His
progressively showing us the things in us that interfere with this close
relationship He intends for us to have with our Holy Father.  This requires change in us, not on the
surface but at the ‘heart’ level.  But
how?  Who can change one’s ‘heart’?  The answer is God alone, and this chapter
explains the mechanics of who we are and how we might cooperate with God, find
true change, and begin actively growing closer to the One Who loves us best.

Key points

Prelude  God mercifully explains to us what mankind has strived to understand for
millennia – how are we made?  What makes
us tick?  Why do we do the things we
do?  And Who better to explain, than the
One Who made us?

A multitude of philosophies and approaches have developed through our
history on the topic of our behavior and how to see it change.  Questions have to be answered concerning how
we work before anything can be said of how to bring about change.  Consider the options:  Are people innately ‘good’ or ‘bad’ on the
inside?  Are we solely responsible, or
can ‘the Devil make me do it’?  Is change
a matter of shaping habit and behavior alone? 
Does God change and grow us, regardless of our participation (or lack
thereof)?  Our Creator provides us with
answers to these questions in His Word to us, his children.

Tossed about the sea of these questions, life can be miserable –
especially to the person who is aware of his faults, the outcomes of his
behavior, and the need to change. 
Misunderstanding how we are made leads to ineffective attempts to change
– and the misery of desperation, perhaps even disenchantment with God.  To be stuck in an awareness of need – and a
longing need for help and answers – leaves one with a miserable resignation to
a sad existence.  But it doesn’t need to
be this way, if we will follow our Lord’s instruction and position ourselves to
receive His help.

The Mechanics of the Human ‘Heart’  Jesus stated that “what comes out
of the mouth proceeds from the heart” (Matt
15.18a).  The ‘heart’ is described
as responsible as the seat of who we are, and what God is primarily concerned
about in us. Consider that a search for the word ‘heart’ through the Bible
produces 862 instances.  A few that are
relevant to Father’s concern of our heart condition include:

(Before the
Flood) Gen 6.5 “The Lord saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of
the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually.”

(To the king
Abimelech on not taking Sarah into his bed when warned by God) Gen 20.6a “Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know
that you have done this in the integrity of your heart”

(Given from God
by Moses to the Hebrews) Deut 10.12-13 “And now,
Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your
God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul,
and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding
you today for your good?”

(Jonathan’s
armor bearer responds to attack the garrison) 1 Sam 14.7 “And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am
with you heart and soul.”

(David’s plea) Psa 139.23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! 
Try me and know my thoughts!”

(God states) Jer 17.10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”

And, (Concerning
Father’s Work through the Spirit) Rom
8.27 “And He who searches hearts
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints according to the Will of God.”

Father calls the root of our person the ‘heart’, and shows much
attention to it.  Perhaps the clearest
passage attesting to this is 2 Chron 16.9a, “For the eyes
of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support
to those whose heart is blameless
toward Him.”

The ‘Will’ and its role in our behavior  What role do we think our ‘Will’
plays in our behavior?  Without God’s
explanation of our heart, it would be easy to assume that our Will is
responsible for our actions.  Consider
the terms ‘Will power’, or ‘setting your Will’ to do something, or the ‘Will is
weak’.  These terms seem to indicate that
our Will alone is responsible, but in consideration of the vast passages of the
heart, it cannot be held responsible.

Bending our Will to bring about change results in a short-lived
outcome.  Yes, we can do pretty much
anything for a while – some of us more so than others depending on the
circumstance – but in the end, we all eventually come back to show our true
colors, or the reality of our state of heart.

Our book’s author suggests that the Will is ‘the hinge on which decision
is made’, ‘responding to the impulses’ of the things that influence it.  Maybe a good description, but can we add that
the Will – while it can be strained for a while to affect behavior – is really
the outward-facing outcome we see as a result of the heart behind it?

Isa 50.7 states “But the Lord
God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I
know that I shall not be put to shame.” 
Using the Will to support a behavior and hold it in place for the time
being isn’t a bad thing.  Isaiah has a
courageous heart that rests in God’s help, and he sets his Will as a flint to
assist in his intent – but it is not the seat of his intent.

Influencers of the Will – what drives our behavior  Our author
writes that the Will instead responds to 3 primary, underlying influences: The
Mind, the Body, and the Social Context. 
These three things are all warped by our falleness, the result of the
sin of us and in the world.  Mind, Body
and Social Context are all creations of God, and were perfect when
created.  The introduction of sin warped
these things, and we now respond accordingly.

Jesus, too, possesses these three things.  In His sinless case, however, they remain as
the ‘Manufacturer’ intended – and so is the outcome of His actions.  Jesus’ Saving Work is the basis for seeing
these things redeemed back to their correct intent, and thus we can grow into
an increasingly closer awareness of God, and have a full life – “I came that
they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John
10.10b)

Jesus’ goal is that all three things in each follower would be brought
to heel, to increasingly be repaired and changed, back to the way Father
intended.  This change is a cooperative
act of each believer responding to the initiating Grace of God, Who states He
wants us to repent and return to our original purpose of seeing, trusting,
valuing and Worshipping Him.

Understanding the cooperative nature of change is important.  God does not change us without our
participation, and we cannot change ourselves without God’s Work of Grace.  He alone has the means to change the heart of
a cooperating believer of Christ.

Specifically, the Mind
relates to our worldview, our beliefs, our attitudes that drive our
responses.  Our part is to hear his Word
and embrace the challenges to our differing perceptions, then to repent.

God’s Grace = Giving of the Truth, His promise to help us gain wisdom. “If any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach,
and it will be given him.” James 1.5

Our cooperation = Read, strive to understand, work to recognize the use
of the Word. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of
your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is
good and acceptable and perfect.” Rom 12.2

The Body – be it the flesh, emotions, desires – influences our decisions, often
towards the wrong conclusions.  Aside
from the basic ‘sins of the flesh’ are pain-avoiding and pleasure-seeking
influencers as we seek shortcuts to a false peace, and thus play out through
the Will – Prov 30.7-9 “Two things I
ask of You; deny them not to me before I die: 
Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor
riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny
You and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the
name of my God.”, and, Prov 7.21-22 “With much
seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.  All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to
the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast”

God’s Grace = Jesus’ instruction (command) on choosing Him over
ourselves – “And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for My sake will save it.” Lk 9.23-24

Our cooperation = Choose to know Christ as superior to all other things
– “Indeed,
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not
having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes
through faith in Christ” Phil 3.8-9

Social Context – We are in large part a product of our nurture, the outcome of the way
we were raised, that we live, and what people and their ideas – contrary to
Father’s – that we embrace – Tim 1.3-4 “As I urged
you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge
certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves
to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the
stewardship from God that is by faith.”, and, 2
John 6-7 “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is
the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should
walk in it.  For many deceivers have gone
out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the
flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”, and, 1 Cor 15.33 “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good
morals.””

God’s Grace = A command that we separate from influences that we hold
more dear than God; that falsely inform us – “Whoever loves father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is
not worthy of me” Matt 10.37, and, “Whoever walks
with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Prov 13.20

Our cooperation = Choose friendship with godly influencers who also fear
and pursue God – “As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was
knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” 1 Sam 18.1, and, “A friend loves at all times, and a
brother is born for adversity.” Prov 17.17,
and including Jesus, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not
know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I
have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15.15

Father cares greatly about our Heart, because it is the seat of who we
are.  He seeks those after His own heart
(David, per 1 Sam 13.14a).  Our closeness to Him is in direct proportion
to our holiness.  Yes, we are forgiven
and can stand before Him on Christ’s Work. 
But consider a life of seeing Him now through an active cooperation of
knowing his Word, repenting and being changed, and expecting to see Him.  “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it
is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will
love him and manifest Myself to him.” John
14.21

                                                                                                            2-1-19

Summary

The Good and Beautiful Life may be a new book title, but it’s not a new
concept.  Rather, it is a message at the
center of Jesus’ ministry and embraced by the Church through the
centuries.  Yet, it has seemingly been
forgotten, beginning in the 20^th century.  The author Wilbourne recently wrote of his
growing realization of the chasm between the Grace he embraced and his
unchanging life in Christ –

“And yet, after a while, having heard this song of grace over and over,
and after singing it myself again and again, when I looked at my own life I
began to feel a growing distress. . . . The distance in my own
life between the grace I proclaimed and the life I was living—that gap was not
shrinking. Grace covered me, but why wasn’t it changing me?”

Smith’s book addresses an important aspect of this issue.  At our last meeting we began with the
introduction and a discussion about our overall place in the world, before and
in Christ our Lord.

Key points

Discussion Notes

This month I’m sharing my notes from our meeting
where we examined the ‘heart’, His Spirit, and how we understand Him.  While it’s not an expansion on our
discussion, I hope the notes can stand enough on their own to encourage our
thoughts and consideration.

1. Consider
   the correlation of the polluted World and Self, and the wet fish problem.

• Consider
  the command to Holiness and obedience to Scripture, which is contrary to our
  understanding and inclination.

• The
  Goal is learning and adopting virtue, a life of God’s understanding and
  practice, while still in the unredeemable problem suffered upon the world.

• Jesus
  tells us the seat of a person and his actions is the ‘heart’.  The problem is not only that our heart is
  warped, but aside from the protests of our God-given conscience (which we can sear),
  we have no other basis whatsoever to doubt if we are right or wrong before
  God.  This is the fish that cannot be
  unaware that it is wet – it knows no better until shown (and convinced) (and
  accepts) otherwise.

• It
  matters if we are right before God for at least two reasons – our alignment
  with our Creator’s intent for us, and His judgment of our worthiness on the
  Last Day.

• Show
  me a sinner who is content in his state, and see a man who fails to realize his
  plight now and on the Last Day.

• God’s
  Goal is to call us back Home out of this delusion of wrong content, learning
  and enjoying living in the Kingdom, now. 
  Jesus came to help, not condemn – He tells us the truth of God and
  us.  The Old Testament is a demonstration
  of His and our characters; the New Testament reveals the New Covenant and
  explains how to live in God’s realities.

• Aside
  from the conscience and His Word, His Spirit in us as followers of Christ is
  the truest exposure to God we have.

1. Luke 24.27, 31-32 – 27 And beginning
   with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the
   Scriptures concerning himself…31 Then their eyes were opened and they
   recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other,
   “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and
   opened the Scriptures to us?”

• Gal 5.22 – Love, joy, peace,
  patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

• Consider
  the difference between two postures of heart:

1. Prov 12.18 – There is one whose
   rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

1. Wherever we see the
   smoke of actions, words, thoughts that are contrary to the Character of God,
   the Fruits of His Spirit, we can know there is a fire of misalignment, sin.

1. This book goes on to
   help us see, understand, and seek repentant healing form blights of sin.

1. His Word, His Spirit,
   our understanding, our repentance, our conformity – all under His forgiveness
   and as His workmanship.  These are the
   makings of the Beautiful Life in the now, a foretaste in in our Saved lives
   today, and of the fullness we hope to have when we stand before Him free of sin
   in us and sin in the Creation we occupy.

1. John 14.21 – He who has My
   commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will
   be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.