What Is My Life?

I just finished listening to a series of messages by Alistair Begg through Truth For Life titled, "Seven Questions God Asks". The final question was taken from James 4:13-17, "What is your life?".

Something I appreciate about Alistair's teaching is that he finds and even makes every opportunity to present the gospel to his listeners. The text is a warning against boasting about worldly plans. And I would probably have just stopped with teaching about that. And perhaps I would have stopped at teaching that life is brief and that we should take every opportunity to live for God.

But Alistair sneaks in the Gospel message. Because without God's enabling power, we cannot stop boasting about tomorrow and we really cannot live for God. (what is below this is as close as I could transcribe the audio)

Tonight you may be thinking your life is worthless. The Bible is full of good news to those that think themselves as worthless. The Bible says that man, men and women, are the very pinnacle of God's creation. That God has made us in His image. That we are precious in His site. That we possess a dignity that is even unknown by the angels. And that image is marred because of man's sin. And that's why you feel the way you feel, and that's why people treat you as they treat you, that's why you treat people as you do.

But the good news is this. That the same God that made you has done something for you in Jesus and He has done something in Jesus so as to put the pieces of your picture back together again.

You may have been trying to fix it on the horizontal level. "If I can bridge the gap with her, if I can re-engage with him, if I can do this." And those are useful ventures. But the Bible says that first we must deal with it on the vertical axis, between ourselves and the God that has made us, coming and meeting him. "Well how can I meet Him? He seems so far away. It's as if His phone is off the hook." Well the good news is that we don't have to go and find Him. He is the one who will come and find us. And He has reached down to us in Jesus and offers to us forgiveness, died to bear our punishment, died to wipe clean our stain. Offers us a whole new family. Offers us a whole new future.

So that then we can ask the question, "What is my life?" We can then say my life is passing, that is without doubt. But my life is purchased. He purchased it. And my life is powerful, impact of a solitary life, lived for good and lived for God.

There's only one life and it will soon be past. And only what's done for Jesus will last.

Let us all, clergy and lay, take every opportunity to share this good news with each other and with others.

Testimony

My wife and I joined a local meeting of the Community Bible Study, an organization of interdenominational members that just want to study the Bible. It's quite admirable. This term includes Galatians and Hebrews.

In Galatians the second lesson focuses on Paul's apostolic authority, that the message of grace was given to him directly by Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:12-18). Paul deemed it necessary as to validate the message he was giving to the churches in Galatia.

Similarly when we proclaim Jesus to others, we should also be able to provide a mark of authority, which is our personal testimony. In the commentary of this study it says:

The change in Paul's life was dramatic, demonstrating the power as well as the grace of God. However, we must remember that every conversion comes by God's grace and power. When an honest, kind, and a good tempered person puts his faith in Christ it is no less a miracle than the conversion of Paul, even if it is less dramatic. Human nature, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, cannot understand or believe the gospel (1 Cor 2:12-14). Whether you came to know the Lord in your teens or as an adult or were nurthered by Christian parents so that you cannot remember a time when you did not know Christ as your Lord, the Holy Spirit was the agent of conversion. And though you may not remember it, for each of us there is a time when we trust Christ to provide forgiveness for the sin the Holy Spirit brings to mind.

This, along with hearing other testimonies has inspired me to write mine out and share it with any who wants to read it. This is my testimony of coming to believe the gospel.

He Is Strong

I've been incredibly inspired to know that it is not me who does God's work, but God through me. God has a purpose, and I can either be a part of it or despise it.

Often times I hear people say that God uses our talents . The Lord, indeed, honors those who glorify Him with their gifts. But what about those of us that are not so talented? This is what Paul said. "But he [the Lord] 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).

If you ever think yourself as weak and feeble, be sure to know that the Lord can use you in a mighty way, because it is not about our abilities or talents but rather about His power and might through the Holy Spirit. The following link is to a testimony by my old high-school classmate, Jeff Kuntz, who was disabled in a work accident 7 years ago. I recently met with him at our 20-year high school reunion. You cannot be around him without being inspired by his joy in the Lord. You'll hear how he glorifies God despite his disability. Please, if you have the time, listen to his story. Jeff's Testimony.

Jeff and Lisa Kuntz.

Look at Christ

I recently read (re-read) a Spurgeon devotional on Hebrews 12:2. The verse is about focusing our eyes on Jesus. Spurgeon says something profound. He said, "It is always the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan's work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ". (you can read the rest of message #1359 at this link.)

Long ago I met someone who was discouraged by what he seen in other Christians. My advice to him was to not look at Christians, but to look at Christ!

We've Done Evil

When we've done wrong our natural tendency is to run and hide from the Lord and be separate from Him. But that is not what the Lord desires. Indeed, the Lord sought after Adam and Eve after they disobeyed and hid from Him, our loving and kind Lord. (Genesis 3:1-9)

In 1 Samuel 12:20-25 it says
"Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away."

To note:
- even if we have failed and sinned, we should continue to serve the Lord
- we should not persist in doing evil, lest we be swept away
- the Lord's name is great
- the Lord was pleased to make us his own
- the Lord will not reject his people
- Samuel prayed
- Samuel intends to teach what is right and good
- consider the great things the Lord has done for you
- fear the Lord (reverence)

Let us not give up and turn away.

Free Will vs Predestination vs Simple Act of Obedience

Have you ever been in the great debate of predestination versus free will? Then consider this Spurgeon devotional.

To highlight a quote:

Human knowledge has boundaries beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this is true in the things that are seen and temporal, I can be certain that it is even more so in spiritual and eternal matters. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations about divine sovereignty and human responsibility?

And another quote:

The simplest act of obedience to Him is better than the profoundest knowledge.

The Message of the Cross

I had the rare occasion to listen to Alistair Begg in person at Mars Hill Church Thursday night. And here I'd like to highlight a few things.

To keep us at ease before he launched into what he anticipated a long sermon he told a joke which was by George Burns. George Burns says he knows the key to a good sermon. He said you should have a good beginning, and a very good ending, and that you should keep them as close together as possible.

His message is based on 1 Corinthians verses 18 through 31 in the chapter. And of course he followed it with a 3-part sermon with subtitles in alliteration. The subtitles were that the Message of the Cross is a) Central, b) Clear, c) Crucial.

One takeaway I heard was that if a church takes its eyes off of Christ on the cross, that church will have troubles.

Another takeaway was not in something that he said but in how it is said. He does not think he has accomplished much. Rather he is being accomplished by the Lord. He is humble. He is completely amazed that the Lord saved him. He expounds on the amazing grace. He doesn't just pass off message of the cross as "matter of fact", but passionately preaches that it is an amazing thing to keep our eyes onto, daily.

Finally, I'll mention one more thing he said about personal evangelism. In the Q&A part of the event a woman asked how one should address her very intellectual friends regarding the message of the cross and salvation through Jesus. And he answered with a short story about an intellectual, a lawyer, who looked at the Bible and Darwin's book and said, using court of law process he could not prove either. Later in life this man went to watch the ending program his child was in at vacation Bible school. And the sunday school teacher closed with a short message that to this man didn't make much sense to him, it was a lot of nonsequiters strung together. "But," the man said, "but I am convinced that that man is convinced of what he believes!" The point Alistair made is that you cannot address the Gospel with intellect. It's not in how the message is conveyed, how clever we can communicate, but in our personal conviction of the Gospel in our lives. And that the Spirit of God will do His work in people through that.

I hope you take time to listen to Alistair's messages, they are free, on TruthForLife's website. http://www.truthforlife.org