MiM - Lesson 4

Man in the Mirror (p. 109-128)

Chapter 7
Broken Relationships

Morley begins Chapter 7 discussing the way in which we can be drawn into shallow relationships because we think that they may bring us financial gain. The problem is that these types of relationships may substitute for substantive relationships God. If God has called me to relationships in my family and the Church then I could be distracted if I’m spending too much time in a professional or recreational organization.

Men often don’t focus well on relationships. That is why we sometimes do the “deer in the headlights” impression when someone who is more relationship oriented (like your wife) has a strong negative reaction to our ignorance. Being ignorant and unaware of it is a dangerous way to function in your family.

Morley points out that we (men) are often more task oriented. We can find work and hobbies to be a refuge with clear goals. Developing relationships can be an open ended. Developing milestones and measures of progress with performance targets is not really what relationships are all about.

Relationships are fundamental to your relationship with God. In the first century AD it was a normal process for someone who had no children to adopt a son of good character so they could become an heir and perpetuate the family name. The remarkable thing about us is that God, by grace, adopts us with our bad character to become a “joint heir with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

Our justification by the blood of Christ makes a way for our adoption. If you have received Christ then you are adopted. And can you be “un-adopted”? What is your memory scripture for this week? Romans 8:38-39 makes it clear that you are in a relationship with God that you can trust.

He will keep you as the apple of His eye (Psalm 17:8). That would be the central part of the eye and not (as common modern usage) something we particularly like the look of. In other words the likelihood of someone violating God’s will in your life is roughly equivalent to them poking God in the eye. It simply isn’t going to happen. He will not let it happen.

God changes our moral nature by regeneration but then adoption results in a new relationship. God wants His children whom He loves to have His character. Regeneration, adoption, and sanctification are all God’s actions in our lives to make us over in His image giving us new life.

The natural outpouring of God working in our lives is that our behavior, as our sanctification increases will change the way we view and treat others in our family, the body of Christ, and the world at large.

Francis Schaeffer gets at the importance of this in our lives. He makes the connection back to God and points out that even as sinners saved by Grace we are able to grasp certain truths about God because of our relationships ...

“And when I talk about love existing in the Trinity before creation, I am not talking gibberish. Though I am very far from plumbing its depths when applied to God Himself, yet the word love and the reality of love when Christ spoke of the Father loving Him before the foundation of the world, has true meaning for me … The validity and meaning of love rest upon the reality that love exists between the Father and Son in the Trinity. When I say I love, instead of this being a nonsense word, it has meaning. It is rooted in what has always been in the personal relationship existing in the Trinity before the universe was created. Man’s love is not a product of chance that has no fulfillment in what has always been.” (Francis Schaeffer – A Christian Worldview; Chapter 2 Verifiable Facts and Knowing)

This is the positive aspect of living as men on the earth. We have a basis for understanding our Creator. However, as fallen creatures we have some problems entering into the fullness of what God has for us in relationships. In fact, in what may be a bit of our cowboy nature coming out, we can see people accept Christ as Savior as an individual thing. We forget about the corporate relationships into which we enter as we enter the Body of Christ. Once again, while it may be brief, our fellowships use of Body Life Journey is a stab at preventing that error.

Schaffer makes a good point about the way our sin nature broke relationships in every direction. He says:

When man fell, various divisions took place. The first and basic division is between man who has revolted and God. All other divisions flow from that. We are separated from God by our guilt — true moral guilt. Hence we need to be justified upon the basis of the finished substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it is quite plain from the Scriptures and from general observation that the separations did not stop with the separation of man from God. For, secondly, man was separated from himself. This gives rise to the psychological problems of life. Thirdly, man was separated from other men, leading to the sociological problems of life. Fourthly, man was separated from nature.

The man whose rebellion results in him denying God must substitute something to give meaning to life. That is artificial and you can’t really get to the chief end of man (to Glorify God and enjoy Him forever) from that position. Relationships with other men are impacted causing all sorts of sociological problems. And our stewardship responsibilities are not received. I’d suggest Vigen Guroian’s Inheriting Paradise if you’d like a meditation on that topic.

Biblically, I think if you want to meditate on relationships then you may find it profitable to focus on Samson (Judges 13-16) for the negative and Jonathan (King David’s friend; 1 Samuel 16-31; esp. Chapter 20) for the positive. Samson lived his life without developing relationships and it creating problems repeatedly in his life. Jonathan on the other hand was a remarkable individual who valued God and right relationships with others throughout his life.


Chapter 8
Children: How to Avoid Regrets

While studying the life of C.S. Lewis I was really struck by how tragic the death of his mother was. He was 10 and it was a common practice to send your child to a boarding school. He was sent to boarding school with a certifiable loon. The teacher was fairly fond of Lewis so it wasn’t as horrible for him as some others but Lewis left in a couple of years after the school closed down due to lack of students and the instructor died a couple years later in an asylum.

C.S. Lewis’ father had difficulty handling the death of his wife and his two sons so he sent them to boy’s schools each year. Since C.S. Lewis went on faculty at Oxford he really lived his life in the company of men. He had so little experience of healthy relationships between men and women that only late in life after his salvation did he find some balance.

I was watching a show on fly fishing a few days ago. They were fly fishing in New Mexico on the San Juan river. San Juan being St. John who had the time to lean back against Jesus every chance he got. The show revolved around a guy name Mike Mora who loves fly fishing and knew the details of bugs and fish needed to be very successful. The striking thing about the show was the way he and his sons and his dad fished together. The tied ties together and then went out on a snowy day to wade in the river and fish. One boy was with the father and one was with the grandfather. The father focused on teaching and encouraging his kids. I’m not sure I remember him actually fishing but his kids were pulling them in. He certainly modeled that attitudes needed to nurture boys. I certainly enjoyed the times I took my son fishing but I don’t think I realized how important those times were at the time.

I was reading a article in “The Tie” with the title, Show Yourself a Man by R.L. Stinson. The Tie is the Southern Seminary Magazine (Winter 2005, Volume 75 Number 3). Stinson has a list of challenges for us as men as we lead ourselves and our households. He says we need to communicate the following:
1) Vision: This is where we are going,
2) Direction: This is how we get there,
3) Instruction: Let me show you how,
4) Imitation: Watch me,
5) Inspiration: Isn’t this great (of your family),
6) Affirmation: You’re doing great (of individuals),
7) Evaluation: How are we doing? and
8) Correction: Let’s make a change.

Stinson makes the point that evaluation is a real challenge for us. We (men) don’t think we really need to do it. We tend to figure we have it all good enough and we think more highly of ourselves that we should. If you are going to lead your family then you need to keep a critical eye on the way you prioritize all the resources you have control of and especially your time and behavior.

Making needed corrections is something that we are charged with as well. Sometimes it will only involve you and sometimes it will involve the rest of your family. You are a servant leader but you still need to provide leadership.

Piper draws from Romans 12 to indicate the key points of the character that we need to model as we seek to fulfill our roles in the Body of Christ. These traits are critical for our relationships with family but are also fundamental to functioning in the Body of Christ.

Verse 9 – No hypocrisy, generated by mercy in our fellowship
You can’t fool your family. Show mercy to them and ask for mercy from them. You’ll fail miserably if you try to fake it at home. Even young children can see a hypocrite. Dobson said that “Values are not taught to our children; they are caught by them” so if you are a fake they’ll know.

Verse 10 – Growing affection and honor
You express affection and show respect within your family in obedience to God. Even to the little ones. When Mora was teaching trout fishing to his young son he was just as polite and showed him just as much respect as I could hope for any adult to show me as he taught me something. This is not just a “son” thing either, your daughter needs to see how you honor her and love her.

Verse 13 – Meeting needs and being hospitable
I’m really bad about ignoring others around me at home. Can you remember to include your children when you go to get a snack? It is more natural for women to think about relationships when they are getting chips and salsa but that doesn’t mean it is impossible for us.

Verse 14 – Returning good for evil
Now if you want to shock your kids then respond in an opposite spirit when they are rude and short with you. I’m not saying to avoid correcting your children. I’m just saying to correct your children without anger and in a spirit of love.

Morley says that microphones in an experiment showed that fathers were spending 37 seconds a day with their 1-year old children. Life is a busy thing but we need to fight for more time and engage when we are with our parents. We cared for a family once as the father had a meltdown. His kids were very “engaging” but he could be present in the room without engaging his kids. He would come for a visit and you’d wonder why bother? He had a little girl at about 5 who would just crawl up on your lap with a book or ask you to play Barbies and I would. Three out of four had given up on him and the fourth was too small to know. He had a real uphill battle and he stumbled uphill a little but not a whole bunch. His kids today are testimonies to the Grace of God.

One tremendous challenge and opportunity that is presented to us with our children is to lift them up before God in prayer. It is a challenge because we’ll be tempted to forget or be slack in the pursuit of prayer. Pray for your children. Pray the prayers for them that Paul prayed in the epistles.

A prayer that I wish I could remember to pray everyday for my children is that God would bless them with the Grace that He has blessed me with. That undeserved blessing from God is the greatest gift they could ever receive.

Walter Payton

Chicago just won the NFC championship and will go to the Super Bowl. I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for the Bears (or da Bears) for about over 20 years. The soft spot was created by one man. That man was Walter Payton who played for the Bears between 1975 and 1987. His durability and accomplishments were enough to make him a natural for the football hall of fame. His accomplishments are not why I’ll always stop what I’m doing to watch an old film of Walter Payton whose nick name is “Sweetness”. What makes me stop and watch him was his attitude on the field. First, he would do whatever was needed on the field. He was a running back but he also served as blocker, receiver, emergency punter, and quarterback. Secondly, he played with all his heart. He said, “I want to be remembered as the guy who gave his all whenever he was on the field.” Thirdly, he met the end of the play head on. When he had run out of time and room and was going to be tackled, he didn’t turn away from the defensive player. On the contrary, he turned into the defensive player and would meet his tackler on the field. He died from a rare liver disease. He didn’t turn and run there either. He needed a transplant but he wouldn’t use his fame to get a special place on the transplant list because he knew that meant someone else would die.

Football players have often found Walter Payton to be an inspiring player. I pray that we could find ways to bring the attitudes that Payton brought to the football field to our field of spiritual battle.

1) He was willing to do whatever was needed as long as he was involved. Can we say to God with all our hearts that, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!” (Psalm 84:10-12).

2) He played with all his heart. Can we say to God that we obey when He says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).

3) He didn’t turn aside when he was face to face with his opponent. Can you say to God that you hear Him and believe so that you are “not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:28-29).

I don’t know if the Bears will win the Super Bowl but there will be a DMSSC party at my house that night and maybe during the pre-game show I’ll get to watch some 22 year old video of someone who played the game with his whole heart.

MiM - Lesson 3

Man in the Mirror (p. 66-106)

Chapter 4
Significance: The Search for Meaning and Purpose

Morley begins Chapter 4 with a quote by H.D. Thoreau in which he says, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.” As a teenager I remember reading that and asking myself, “Why?” At that point in my life I didn’t have a framework for understanding why someone would live in a way that made them desperate. I didn’t think Thoreau was necessarily wrong but I couldn’t figure out why he would be right. As I got older I realized that people could find themselves in a life without meaning and without a roadmap to find any meaning or purpose.

The problem that Morley develops in Chapter 4 is the problem of finding meaning and purpose in our lives and how being disconnected from purpose in our lives can cause a desperate feeling in men. This is true in women too but it is especially pronounced in men.

Morley talks about the Howard Hughes and he certainly had a number of successes while ending in a life of not so quiet desperation. His panic was well known and his money and success didn’t buy him peace. A little closer to home is Ted Turner. I remember a few years ago he made a substantial donation and when questioned about it he indicated that he was buying mourners for his funeral. I thought that was an odd reason for making a charitable donation but I guess if you reject God then it is a very honest answer and about the best he could hope for. As Morley indicates, when you answer the “Why do I exist?” question then you’ll either answer with an 80 year answer like Ted Turner or you’ll answer with a view to eternity.

You can search for purpose in the wrong way. Morley lists fame, possessions, and power as means of seeking for purpose that will ultimately fail since they are “80-year answers” to an “eternity” problem.

Purpose in this life must involve other people and especially the Church. Everything else is going to be lost. The children of God will go on forever in fellowship with Him. The only eternal impacts you have will be those impacts you have in the lives of others. Nothing else will last. As Piper says as he begins his book “Don’t Waste Your Life” … “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last” and Christ will tell you that the greatest is the servant of all. If you want eternal impact then it is an obvious conclusion that your life must be spent in service to others as God leads.

Significance is a deep need for mankind. Morley gives a good summary test for an action. You can test it by asking, “Does what I’m about to do contribute to the welfare of others in a demonstration of faith, love, obedience, and service to Christ?” I’d add that should you come up with a positive answer then as you proceed pray that God would make it possible for you to do the work in His time, in His way, and with no thought but for His glory.

Chapter 5
Purpose: Why Do I Exist?

In the Westminster Confession of Faith they state that, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” I remember hearing that statement when I was in high school too. At the time I thought they just didn’t want to really work on a good answer so they just said that. Now I’ve come to think they had it right. At one time I thought that I had to do something to win God’s blessing or that He needed me to do something. In reality, I was born in sin and He had to send His Son to die so that I could have God’s blessing and He didn’t and doesn’t “need” me to accomplish His will.

Morley addresses the utter lack of satisfaction that can come from things. Piper hits at the heart of our prostituting ourselves for things that don’t satisfy when he says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” I think some of us begin a career and assume that purpose and satisfaction will just happen and then we get really unglued when they don’t just happen. In 2004 we talked about calling as it relates to our jobs. It is a thing that bears repeating that you must remember your primary calling is in God. Think of it as the Westminster Confession says “My primary calling is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Then a couple things flow from that. First, my job is not my primary calling. However, my job is a secondary calling in God. He will never change my primary calling but He will almost certainly change my secondary calling. I’ve got to remember my primary calling or, at best, I’ll have difficulty dealing with a change in my secondary calling and, at worst, I’ll be subject to God’s discipline to get my attention. As Morley says, “We derive meaning and identity from understanding who we are in Christ … On the other hand, God has a purpose for our lives – a mission, a destiny – which is why we exist.” Or at least why we are still living.

At this time next year I could be doing what I’m doing now, I could be retired, I could be the boss here in Georgia or in Utah, or I could be working in Arizona. That is a bunch of uncertainty but if God is in control then I should be able to walk out the next year with at least some measure of peace. Our memory verse from 2 weeks ago is an encouragement (Jeremiah 29:11-14a) because it tells us that God has a plan for us. He promises that it is for wholeness and so that I’ll have a future and a hope. That hope in my primary calling is an anchor when things become uncertain in this world. Remember that in the first chapter of Colossians, Paul stressed that our faith and love spring from the hope that is stored up for us in heaven based on the Gospel. If I am going to walk in faith and love then it will not be a result of my job. Faith and love come from my Hope set in heaven. God has really direct instructions for us about how we are supposed to focus on our daily life.

Colossians 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

We have got to place our hearts in the right place. Uncertainty is difficult for a Christian and it can be hard to encourage a Christian has allowed their heart to be lured into a fixation on the things on earth but at least we have some common ground to start a dialog. A more difficult thing is to try to find something encouraging to say to someone who doesn’t know Christ and has a heart firmly set on the things of this world. All they have is the “80-yr” solution in mind and shaking their world will result in desperation.

Morley divides purpose into three arenas. First, those universal purposes that we all called to share can be thought of as what God wants us to be and do. He calls us all to purity in character and service to him. We are all called to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Secondly, we have personal purpose. Body Life Journey can give you a sort of left hand or right hand start on this. Morley suggests even writing out a purpose statement for your life. It is likely to be strongly linked to your gifting from God so that is why I’d suggest you might use Body Life Journey as a starting point. Your statement should be based on Scripture and something personal that you find in prayer and submit to God. This statement should be a general statement. Then thirdly, there are specific purposes in the application of your gifts with family, church, and job. You may want to spend time writing these things down or you may simply want to generally deal with these things without writing them down. Do what God leads you do to (Page 95-96 in MIM).

Chapter 6
The Secret of Job Contentment

When we talked about calling in the summer of 2004 we were able to focus on how important it is to know God’s primary call and yet to view our job’s as a calling. You really need to know that God is with you day by day as you do whatever God has called you to do.

Morley refers to the movie “Chariots of Fire” as a contrast between someone who knew God’s calling in everything and someone who had no knowledge of God in his life. Eric Liddell served God with his whole heart while Harold Abrahams served himself. It is a tremendous study in contrasts and if you haven’t seen the movie in a while I’d suggest you watch it again. Liddell’s life is an inspiration. Work is supposed to be a blessing and not a curse.

Who do you work for? Scripture is clear that we are supposed to serve God. In fact, we just studied that concept in Colossians. Not only are we to work with God as our boss, if we are supervising then we are to be servants to those we supervise, and we are to be good stewards of all the resources we are given knowing that we serve God.

Saul and David are a contrast in approach to God’s call in their lives. Saul served himself and not God. He became driven by what others thought about him. He was so controlled by his position that God removed it from him. He had a meltdown that was worthy of Howard Hughes. David knew where he came from and understood that his kingship was secondary to his relationship with God. He made plenty of errors and the Bible doesn’t hide his weaknesses but in the end he would not grasp for what God could give and could take away. He wouldn’t grasp for it while Saul lived. God could work with David but God couldn’t work with

You can not be lord of your own life. You can’t set your job above God even if you are King of Israel. God must have His place in your life.

MiM - Lesson 2

Man in the Mirror (p. 36-65)
Chapter 2 Leading an Unexamined Life

Last week we saw that one key problem of life was a materialism that extended even to the way we evaluate the Church. Success can be viewed as evidence of godliness even when Scripture offers plenty of warnings against that philosophy. Jesus’ warning that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:23-24), and the disciples amazement at His statement, show us that wealth was considered evidence of righteousness in the first century too.

This week we move on to another facet of the problem and that is living our lives in such a rush that we don’t stop to think and consider why we live the way we do. Just the speed of life can make it unlikely that we will stop and think about what and why we live. Tombstone pizza had an advertising campaign in which they put up billboards that asked, “What do you want on your tombstone?” I remember the ads because (if I wasn’t too hungry) they would make me think about the larger question of my life and what I really would want on my tombstone. Covey in his 7 habits teaching stresses the importance of beginning with the end in mind. A job that I’ve recently applied for stressed that they wanted someone who could think strategically. I hope they really understood what they were saying because the difference between tactical and strategic thinking in our lives is really an important thing. If you are not careful then all your decisions will be tactical decisions and you’ll do little or no strategic thinking. What do I mean by that? Well a strategic plan should give you an overall goal and direction. In your life, it should be established by core values and tell you where you are going. Tactical decisions should be made in light of your strategic goals. I make tactical decisions every day in light of my strategic goals but the problem is that I make tactical decisions every day without considering strategic goals. Yogi Berra said, “You gotta be careful if you don't know where you're going, otherwise you might not get there.” Yogi was on to something and we need a conscious awareness of our God given goals to direct our path.

One of our real problems is that we lose track of any strategic plan we have. Our Father in heaven doesn’t. Think about our memory verse for today (Jeremiah 29:11-14a). God knows that plans He has for your life. He is going to give you a future and a hope. With God as Lord we need to make sure that our tactical decisions are made in light of God’s strategic plans. Ignoring God’s plans for your life will me that you make wrong decisions and get corrected by God. Life is much less painful if we seek God and God promises in our memory scripture that we will seek Him.

Morley talks about how we live unexamined lives and how life views drive our decision making process. The problem is that we lose track of our values that set our strategic plans and start making tactical decisions without reference or connection to our strategic plan that represents our goals and values. Tactical decision after decision is made until we wonder how we got to where we are. Morley uses the example of the Christian couple who drift apart because they never examined their life to see if the decisions they were making were really consistent with their values.

Back when I could beat a computer at chess (years ago) I noticed that they really weren’t very good at strategic planning. They made tactical decisions only. So I would beat the computer by making it pick between bad and worse every time until it was checkmate. Don’t let the enemy get you so distracted that all you do it pick between bad and worse. God has a plan for you. He plans for wholeness and not for evil. We really do need to seek for Him with all our hearts to find His plan and live according to our values.

It is hollow and deceptive philosophy that the enemy of your soul uses to oppose your growth in God. Don’t let your lifestyle (in which you make tactical decisions everyday) become inconsistent with your values and goals (in which you find your strategic plans). We really must take responsibility for these decisions. We always choose according to our strongest inclination at the moment. When we make decisions that are inconsistent with our values then it is because we valued something in the moment more highly than we should have. Peer pressure, lust, anger, love of money, love of pleasure, etc. are just ways of expressing our sin nature that wars against what God is calling us too.

We need to examine our lives as Morley indicates. My children are both very talented in the arts. One of the most striking things for me is to see things that my son draws. Morley uses an example in which the fish example and my son (Joshua) can really draw fish. He draws fish that you can recognize. It is obvious that he “sees” the fish. I’ve drawn and painted before and the first thing you realize is that you can’t reproduce it because you never really saw it.

I don’t know if any of you remember the TV show called “Combat” with Vic Morrow but they had one episode that I’ve remembered all these years. It was about a new guy (The new guy was always going to die. Don’t ever be cast as the new guy) who it turns out was a botany student and an outstanding one. He could see the snipers in the trees because they didn’t look like “tree”. He had really looked at trees and saved the lives of others. I remember Morrow’s character asked him how he did that. He said something like I look at the trees and the part that isn’t “tree” is sniper. I think part of why it was so striking for me was that I had tried to draw trees and realized I had never looked at them well enough to really see them. As much as I liked trees I hadn’t looked closely enough. You need to be able to see the snipers in the trees of your life. Look at your life. Examine your life. Jesus said if your eye or hand offends you to get rid of it. If you live a life in which your decisions are consistent with your values then you won’t need to worry about what it will say on your Tombstone.


Chapter 3 Biblical Christian or Cultural Christian?

Morley discusses false values that become adopted if we don’t examine our life. He identifies personal peace and affluence as the heart of an impoverished value system and then move to a discussion of “cultural Christianity” in which God is viewed as owing us personal peace and affluence. God is love but not holy in this watered down and impotent version of Christianity. I was a member of a local church that had a significant mixture of biblical and cultural Christians. The church had grown rapidly and was viewed as a good political and social place to be and it was certainly interesting to see so many people who were there because it was the “in” place instead of because of God.

The parable of the sower is used by Morley to help us understand that mixture of people that can make up a “church”. The seeds on the path are non-Christians, the seeds on the rocky soil are Cultural Christians but not saved, the seeds in thorns are defeated but saved Cultural Christians, and then the good soil are Christians who are real Christians, not defeated, and growing.

A term that has been popular from time to time is “carnal Christian” and I really don’t care for it. I think the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith is good on these points. Speaking of professing Christians the London Baptist Confession says:

And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves, yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end. - LBC:Chapter 17:Section 3
(Matthew 26:70, 72, 74; Isaiah 64:5, 9; Ephesians 4:30; Psalms 51:10, 12; Psalms 32:3, 4; 2 Samuel 12:14; Luke 22:32, 61, 62)
http://www.vor.org/truth/1689/1689bc17.html

Although the Confession calls this the “perseverance of the saints” as a title I think that it is best to use the phrase the “preservation of the saints” and they also use the word preservation in the text since it is God who does the preserving and not we who do the persevering except in His strength.

The key question is, do you, as a Christian, live like the rest of the world or do you live life differently. If you live like the world then, as the London Baptist Confession says, you’ll be subject to God’s displeasure, you’ll grieve the Holy Spirit, you’ll have blessings in your life impaired, your heart hardened, your conscience wounded, hurt others, and bring temporal judgments on yourself. It isn’t worth it.

We are not to be lukewarm. We are told to run with patience the race that is set before us. I’ve seen people who claimed to be Christians do what the world does and live like the world does. I know some are not really Children of God but I also know that some of them are. We can’t find the fruits of the Spirit when we live as Cultural Christians seeking personal peace and affluence. It is a position in which the enemy of your soul will attempt to lull us to sleep but, if we are Children of God, our heavenly Father will not leave us there because He knows the plans He has for your life. Plans to give us a future and a hope that causes us to call on Him and pray to Him. Like Piper says, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.”

MiM - Lesson 1

Man in the Mirror (p. 1-35)
Winning the Rat Race

This book (Man in the Mirror) was first copyrighted in 1989 and it is interesting that in 17 years that some of the cultural references are a bit dated but the meat of what Morley is saying is still relevant to our lives. It is characteristic that our cultural references change rapidly since that is part of the Rat Race that we live in. We’ve seen so much change in our lives that we don’t really notice much anymore. Years ago I would read about various computers and try to buy the best one because I was accustomed to my tools lasting for years. Now I just buy the next one and if I don’t like it then it won’t matter much because I’ll only have it a little while and then it will be gone.

Morley discusses the way consumerism has affected and ensured our participation in the Rat Race. We become at least subconsciously and sometimes consciously convinced that stuff will make us happy. This generally in spite of considerable experience to the contrary. Do you realize how foolish it is to ignore your experience that stuff doesn’t increase your happiness and continue to strive as if the next bit of stuff is special stuff that will increase your happiness? It truly is dumb.

I went out for a few groceries with my wife yesterday and on the way home we were behind a really pretty convertible corvette. It was moving slowly for a corvette. It had the license plate “JJIREH7”. I’m assuming that was intended to communicate that God (J = Jehovah) provides (Jireh = Hebrew for provides) completely (7 = the biblical number for completeness). Now I guess I was supposed to think it was a good witness. I had been working on the lesson and kept looking at it and thinking about it. I’m glad he was moving slow because it really took me a while to put my finger on what was bothering me about it. Of course the sentiment is good and I hope no one knows the owner. However, if it isn’t blasphemous to put it on a car then you can sure see blasphemy from where it is. Stuff, how dare we put something like that on a thing? Jehovah Jireh is a precious name for God. It comes from Genesis 22:8 and was given to us when Abraham was climbing up to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac asked where the sacrifice was and Abraham told him that God would provide. It foreshadows the Lamb of God. Jehovah Jireh means that God provides a sacrifice in my place. I admit that I’ve used the name to provide encouragement that God will take care of me and give me what I need. There are other scriptures that tell me that God will take care of my earthly needs. I pray that I’ll never again use Jehovah Jireh to mean anything other than what it means in a Biblical context. Nothing on earth deserves to have that name placed on it. Paul had plenty to be proud of but the following verse is what Paul said.

Philippians 3:7-9
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

And we remember that “rubbish” here is a strong term that includes the excrement from animals and we should probably at least think “putrefied garbage” when we read “rubbish” here. We should also remember here that Paul’s context is an obedience to the teaching of the law and prophets. He had something that was worthless next to Christ but the education he had was used by God in the formation of the first century church. If we could have been in the room after Paul penned this portion of the Word and asked him, “Well Paul how would you rank knowing Christ in relation to the fastest camel in Israel or the donkey that could carry the most weight?” then he would look at us like we had lost our minds. Arguably maybe we have.

Why do I labor this point? I labor the point because it is at the heart of what Morley is trying to communicate to us. The surpassing worth of knowing Christ, the Lamb of God, makes all other things rubbish. God has blessed me with lots of stuff but it is truly “rubbish” in the Biblical sense compared with the Sacrifice that Jehovah Jireh gave in my place.

I challenge you to sit down and pray and ask God to free you from the idea that stuff will make you happy. Pray that you’ll repent from continuing to seek happiness from stuff in the face of abundant evidence that it will not bring happiness and be happy with what you have in Christ.

If you pay attention … advertisers make it clear what motivates us. At first I wanted to say “what they think motivates us” but they have experience and they are pragmatic. They test and measure and they know what motives us. It isn’t a very pretty picture for men. Maybe I should say a pretty picture is all it takes for men. We are so simple that they don’t really need to work very hard at all. They just insinuate that the hair product, cologne, vehicle, or any product whatever will make you more attractive to young extra healthy women or give you the new toy on the block or both and then we are sold. It is often subtle but it obviously works because they are pragmatists and they present products in the way that works.

Morley makes that point that it looks like men have been lulled into mental and spiritual complacency. How else could you explain being exposed to sales material that makes it clear that we are dimwits at best and not being offended? They have a transparent strategy. They connect sex and power to the product and you want it. They also know what works and they are pragmatic. If it weren’t true they would stop.

Even Mick Jagger had trouble sorting it all out. Remember the lyrics in “Satisfaction”?

“When I’m watchin' my TV
And that man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be
But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me” - Mick Jagger

There are a series of commercials right now with cavemen who are upset and meeting with the leaders of a company that keeps advertising that their product is so simple that, “a caveman can use it”. The cavemen are really upset but we don’t even seem to notice what they are saying about us.

Again, I challenge you to sit down and ask God to make you aware of aspects of your nature that are used to mislead you and misdirect you. Ask for sensitivity to the leading and direction of God that makes you independent from your sin nature and the cultural trash that piles up in our lives.

Wilfred M. McClay is a Senior Fellow of The Trinity Forum and is professor in humanities and history at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has written on the topic of happiness and points out that, “Happiness is a matter of having the right expectations.” Paul said;

Philippians 4:11-13
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. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul expectation was that God would strengthen him and use him to spread the Gospel. Some of the older translations have a misleading phrase in verse 11. They translate the verse as if Paul was saying, “I have learned in whatever situation I am, therewith to be content”. That isn’t accurate and it is misleading. Paul isn’t content with the situation. The situation isn’t part of the expectation. Paul believes that God will sovereignly guide and direct his life. When God leads me though the “valley of the shadow of death” I am not content with the valley. I’m content with God and His leading. When God blesses me in this world and I abound and have more than I need then I’m not content with abounding. I’m still content with Him and His leading. It sounds like a subtle difference but it is a world of difference in your heart.

The Madison Avenue lifestyle is bankrupt and will bankrupt your life. They talk you on to a treadmill with no easy way off and then distract you with promises of happiness while you run yourself to death. We are convinced by our culture that debt is the quickest way to happiness and we take on enough debt that we spend our lives servicing the debt. That is no way to live and as Christ works in our heart we can live with a different set of goals and values. Morley says that one of the chief reasons that a person fails after being promoted is because they keep doing the old job. Our hearts need to be yielded quickly to God so that He can place His values in our heart.

Wilfred McClay also pointed out that since expectations are central to happiness, “ideas have everything to do with happiness … ideas about life, death, God, nature, causality, moral responsibility, and human possibility … what we believe about the world’s structure and meaning will determine what we think happiness is, and how we can act to gain it for ourselves. What we believe provides the basic structure of what we expect.” We don’t study Biblical doctrine just for the sake of knowledge. Of course if God said it then that is a sufficient reason to memorize it and repeat it to each other but God in His gracious treatment of us uses Scripture to teach us how to live. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We are supposed to bear Joy as a fruit. Our relationship with God and our obedience to the teachings of the Word will produce appropriate ideas and expectations in life.

We studied Piper’s work “Don’t Waste Your Life” not too long ago and Piper said, “God is most Glorified when we are most satisfied in Him”. Piper isn’t saying that we should be satisfied with less. It isn’t less to enjoy the display of God’s glory in Jesus Christ. At the very core of our being the Christian finds joy and happiness in the glory of Jesus Christ. A corvette is a nice car but a tragically sorry substitute for that happiness. When you rejoice in Jehovah Jireh then you go ahead and rejoice for the Biblical reason.

Paul says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14).

Sometimes we sing a hymn for years and only on rare occasions hear the words. I’m sure that we’ve all sung “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” before but these words from Isaac Watts are precious and Isaac knew what was of value in his life. John Wesley said that he would give up authorship of all his hymns if he could say he wrote this one.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Isaac Watts

4 Epistle Review

Review of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians

------- Galatians: Sola Gratia -------

Antinomianism (against the moral law of God) and Legalism (seeking righteousness through the law) are opposite sins and a proper view of God commands is part of a normal healthy Christian life. Things that are neither forbidden nor commanded by God are known as adiaphorous. To teach as a command of God something that He hasn’t commanded is sinful, just like teaching that something He has forbidden is OK to do.

The letter to the Galatians is a defense of the truth that salvation is the gift of God’s grace, unearned and undeserved, to be received by faith alone.

Galatians 1:6-10
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

God’s grace comes to us at His initiative, by His call, and not because of anything we have done to deserve it. We must watch ourselves to keep from falling into this same error and thinking that we can add to something to the salvation that God offers freely as a work of His Grace. This can be a seductive heresy. We like to feel good about our own righteousness.

Those who add any additional requirements for salvation to faith in Jesus Christ, no matter how excellent their credentials, twist the gospel into another form. The preachers of the false gospel are under God’s condemnation. So if an angle named Moroni shows up with gold tablets and claims they are from God … then please do us all a favor and tell him to beat it.

Paul’s usual thanksgiving for his readers is here replaced by the threat of a curse, repeated for emphasis. God doesn’t repeat stuff that very often and this is a serious thing. This has serious implications for who we fellowship with. To seek “common ground” is a good thing but not if we allow it to compromise the Gospel. One of the most common points of departure is Grace. The mixture of Grace with works is always a red flag. Grace is a frequent point of attack by those who are drifting from God.

Galatians 2:16-21
know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Justification is a once for all monergistic (a single worker) work of God that brings you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. You were born again by the Grace of God. Sanctification is the work of God that is progressive (by the Grace of God) as He sets your life apart for His purposes and for a fuller fellowship with Him. Sanctification is synergistic (we work together with God) and brings us inline with the moral law as our minds are conformed to His.

Verses 2:16 is the key verse of Galatians. The point is that everyone (Jew or Gentile) is placed in a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ alone. By works of the law … no one is justified.

Historic Roman Catholic theology mixes sanctification in the definition of justification, making justification more of a process rather than a single decisive event. The Roman Catholic position agrees that faith contributes to our acceptance with God but adds that our works of satisfaction and merit must contribute too. Catholics see the sacrament of baptism as conveying the sanctifying grace that “first” justifies us. Afterwards you use penance to get additional supplementary merit through works since (in their view) justification is lost through mortal sin.

Of course this view means that you can’t really have confidence in your salvation. Our sins would therefore prevent confidence in our salvation since our merit is earned. Paul shows that we all are without merit and are in desperate need of free justification for salvation. A justification that needs to be completed by the recipient is no resting place.

1) Moral law differs from the ceremonial law. We as obedient children of God will obey the moral law but our obedience does not justify us before God. We obey to be pleasing children of God.

2) Our proper walk is between antinomianism and legalism with a correct view of the moral law in our lives.

3) Don't forget the principal of plucking out your eye if it causes you to sin but remember that doesn't mean that you go around pulling out everybody's eyes.

Galatians 3:1-5
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?  Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?  Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

The position that the Galatians held was so confused that Paul begins this line of argument as if they are under some sort of a trance. He asks if someone has bewitched them. Each of us needs to agree with Scripture that we became a Christian by faith and not by works of the law. However, we also need to be on guard against a sinful inclination to blend works into our spiritual lives.


------- Ephesians: We are One Church -------

“Nobody can emerge from a careful reading of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians with a privatized Gospel. For Ephesians is the Gospel of the Church.” - Stott

Often people think that the Gospel in particular and Scripture in general, are available for private interpretation. We tend to minimize the difficult and sometimes painful issues of how you fit with other members of His Body and are accountable to others in the Body of Christ. Paul intercedes for the Ephesians, he affirms their faith, and stresses the role of the Church in spreading the Gospel.

Ephesians 1:13-14
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Christ is the one who reconciles us together as one body. So you can wander into a church on the other side of the planet with Zulu Christians and know they are part of your body. I know because I’ve tried it. The answer to “why are you?” is always repeated, “His will, His glory”

Meditate on the fact that you are God’s possession. It is naturally to the praise of His glory but think about what it means to be His. Can anyone take you from Him? Will you behave as you did before you were redeemed? You are “for the praise of His Glory”! That is your answer to, “Why am I?” Now how are you going to live?

Ephesians 1:22-23
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

We see our Head, the Head of the Church, in supreme authority. We see His headship in the Universe but the point of being Head of the Church is to stress that depth of authority that is His and moves all the way to your heart. He is Lord of your heart. He is Lord of the fine detail not just the big and general. Stott discusses the phrase, “the fullness of Him who fills all in all” and his third option (that he seems to feel is most true to scripture) is consistent with what I’m expressing. Christ fills the Church in fullness or indwelling and fills every nook and cranny with His Lordship. If you’ve got any closets you might as well invite Him in.

Ephesians 2:17-22
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

As part of the Body of Christ I am a part of Israel by Christ’s work. I’m part of His household. It is better than just citizenship. The foundation that we are built upon is a rich foundation. Jesus is the chief cornerstone with a foundation of apostles and prophets. In a very practical way this means that we are built upon the scriptures.

This mystery was the union of Jew and Gentile to make a new Israel. The Jews were OK with God working with gentiles as long as they didn’t have to associate with them. Well God intended that we would be one body. The Jews didn’t like that. I don’t blame them and Paul was persecuted for that.

Ephesians 3:1-6
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Where is God’s Israel? You’re looking at part of it. And the black Zulu’s I spent Easter with one year are Israel and many Jew’s are Israel but they are not all Israel that are called Israel. Even though we (the Church) are Israel we still expect to eventually see a move of God there like He moved in our hearts. However, don’t let anyone call you a gentile because, if you are a believer, you’re not and it was bought at a great price.

Ephesians 5:8-14
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

So Paul hammers away at slack attitudes. He says that I’m supposed to live as a child of light (showing goodness, righteousness, and truth) and that I’m supposed to figure out what pleases God. In a strange way, our lives should be offensive to those who are outside the Body of Christ.


------- Philippians: Encouragement to Righteousness -------

In Philippians we don’t find the type of correction present in the other epistles. What we find in Philippians is encouragement. It is almost as if Paul becomes a coach encouraging the church and so it is a very encouraging lesson to us as well.

Philippians 1:8-11
God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

First of all Paul acknowledges that the basis of his pastoral care is the affection that is within him from Christ Jesus. Paul is always careful to acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit within him.
Secondly, Paul prays that they would abound in love. Paul is asking for a continual progressive growth in love. This means we are to be increasing in the fruit of love for all our lives.

Thirdly then Paul explains why we want to know and have depth of insight in the Love of God. It is so that we can discern what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.

Philippians 1:27
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel

To live in “a manner worthy” we must be engaged in the things of Christ. The means of Grace will be present and we’ll be running with patience. The Philippians would have understood this in the context of their Roman citizenship. They would have thought of the ways they functioned with the privileges and responsibilities of Roman citizenship and how this related to our position in Christ. They were privileged as children of the King of Kings and a member of the household of God. They were responsible to live a holy life and be true to the Gospel.

Philippians 2:1-2
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Paul identifies the key factors for our motivation:
1) encouragement from being united with Christ,
2) comfort from God’s love,
3) fellowship with the Spirit, and
4) tenderness and compassion.

Paul says our minds should be like this when we serve God and that we should have God’s love as we serve in one spirit and purpose. That is a high call. It is the knowledge and depth of insight impact from Paul’s prayer in chapter 1. Transformation comes from knowing the truth and having that depth of insight which causes us to grasp the significance of the truth.

Philippians 2:3-3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

He says to do “nothing” out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. That is another really high call in our service to God. God will back us off and slow us down when we are working outside His leading. That is what I mean when I say that “burnout” is a gift from God. He doesn’t leave us alone when we are running down rabbit trails. He will interrupt our lives and bring us back to an attention to the Holy Spirit, the comfort of His Love, and our ability in Christ. If we get puffed up then He knows were all the pressure release values are and he’ll deflate us for our own good. And … if you keep truth in mind then it is easy to look after the interests of others and not just your own interests because you’ll realize that the health of the whole vine or the whole Church is necessary for your health too. You’ll serve naturally because your heart will be right.

Philippians 2:14-18
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

As a further explanation of working out our salvation Paul tells us to never complain or argue. That would include all arguing and complaining about being told not to argue and complain. The purpose is not related to being justified before God. Remember that you can’t add to the justification that is completed by Christ in your life. We are called to obedience so that we’ll become blameless and pure, children of God without fault. We are called to be different in a fallen world that doesn’t serve or love God.

Philippians 3:1-3
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

Sola Gratia … we are saved by Grace alone. On that last day I pray none of you will be clinging to something that you have done for God. I pray that you’ll be singing “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus”. We have no claim to stand before God except for the work of Jesus on the Cross by which our sins have been forgiven and His righteousness has been imputed to us. God judges me to be in right standing with Him because of Jesus and His work alone.

One of the key questions used in Evangelism Explosion to clarify a person’s position with regard to the Gospel is “If you were to die tonight and God asked you why He should let you into heaven then what would you say?” If someone answers “Nothing but the blood of Jesus” then they may have an understanding of Grace. If someone answers, “Because I’ve been a pretty good person all my life and God grades on a curve” then they probably don’t understand the Grace by which we are saved. As the set of Laws given in Old Testament scripture came to an end as a means of obtaining righteousness then those who had always relied on them had a major hurdle to overcome in the Gospel. The Apostle Paul probably had the highest hurdle of anyone but the Holy Spirit radically changed his concept of where righteousness came from and why God should accept him.

Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Letting go of our failures and defeats is a hard lesson to learn. Even in sports failures can seem to build. We get a problem stuck in our head and we have trouble leaving it behind. We fail repeatedly and lose confidence that we’ll ever succeed. We can’t fix the past. We may have unrepentant sin in our past. You can fix that and need to right now. Once we have repented from past sins then the failure we must avoid is letting past failure stop us from following God today. Think of Paul. Think of what he did to the church. He was so bad people that people were scared to fellowship with him after he was saved. Paul was there when Stephen (the first martyr) was killed. Paul had worse things than you have to forget and leave behind. Life is too short to waste time (no matter how long or short) thinking of past failures. If you do that then you are disobedient to God because He is telling you, through Paul, to suck it up, shake it off, and get on with it.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Our feelings are not as easily corrected by God as our thinking. God can command with His revelation in Scripture and we can obey. When God tells us to rejoice He isn’t telling us to generate a feeling of happiness. He is telling us to “rejoice in the Lord” or to rejoice in what we know to be true in Scripture. Even when I don’t feel happy I can rejoice in my salvation and my right standing with God and a whole list of God’s promises in scripture.


------- Colossians; The Gospel is a Complete Revelation -------

This is a very encouraging epistle. The Colossians wanted to be holy and they just needed to be pointed back to the Gospel and assured that they were in right standing with God. They were being told that they didn’t have a full revelation of the mysteries of God and Paul wrote to encourage and confirm that the Gospel they received was the full Gospel.

Colossians 1:3-8
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

The Colossians were told that their faith and love are known by Paul and the other Church leaders in Rome. They were also told that their faith and love spring from hope stored in heaven. Sometimes we have this the other way around. We think of our faith and love generating our hope in heaven. In the sense Paul is using these terms, our hope in heaven makes it possible for us to live lives of faith and to love others with God’s love as we are called too. We are not doing things in faith here on earth and loving people here on earth in order to secure a place in heaven. Our hope in the completed work of Christ provides the drive to be faithful and loving children of God. Paul is turning the Colossians away from a serious error.

Paul doesn’t address the false teaching in Colossae directly by outlining the false teaching. We know they had some false teachers who were probably at least influenced by Gnosticism and the Colossians were being told they needed more for salvation and that they didn’t have the whole story. This is still a standard line of argument for cults and false religions. The idea of special knowledge or revelation is a current trap used by the enemy of your soul when he comes disguised as an angel of light.

Colossians 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Christ is that perfect representation of God. You can’t ask Jesus to show you God because Jesus will just tell you that if you’ve seen Him then you’ve seen God. It is a request that simply shows your ignorance … Jesus said to Philip, ““Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9). In his commentary, Calvin observes that “we must be careful not to look for Him anywhere else, for apart from Christ whatever offers itself to us in the name of God will turn out to be an idol”.

The primary take home lesson is that there is no spiritual authority above Christ. The Gospel is a clear expression of the highest and best. There is no “secret” you must learn to gain spiritual maturity apart from Christ. There is no part of God in other traditions that you are missing by following Christ. If someone is having conversations with God that contradict the Gospel taught in Scripture then I pray they would stumble and fall so that they might know the truth. After establishing the perfection and completeness of God’s revelation in Christ then Paul moves on to explain what Christ has done for you specifically.

Colossians 2:1-3
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Notice again that Paul is stressing the fullness of our revelation in Christ and that “the mystery of God” is Christ. We know Him in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If I needed a red string to protect me from mean looks from people who don’t like me then He would have told me that. Christ did teach about turning the other cheek and loving those who don’t love you but nothing about doing it with red string wrapped around you.

Colossians 2:13-15
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Christ has done it all and to Him and Him alone you are a debtor. We were dead as a result of both our past sins and our sin nature. We are in need of a salvation with a double imputation (at least we’ll get that concept memorized by the time we finish this epistle). We need to be forgiven of our past sins and have a cure for our sinful nature. God made us alive in Christ with a nature that desires to be pleasing to God. We still struggle against our old nature but now we are alive in Christ. Our forgiveness is complete. He took it away and nailed it to the Cross. Christ took the wrath of God for the believer’s sins.

Colossians 2:20-22
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

We need to make sure we are free from thinking that our righteousness has any source but Christ. Our rules are a treasured but sinful source of feeling righteous and have been for thousands of years. We have all sorts of rules that we use to make ourselves feel righteous. Protestant churches have certainly had as much traffic in this arena as the Roman Catholic Church.

Be sure to separate in your mind things that are part of the moral law from things that are not part of the moral law. We are told in Deuteronomy 4:2 that we are not allowed to add to or take from the law of God. The moral law still has claim on us. The issue in question in Colossians 2:20-22 are those things which are known as adiaphorous. That means they are things that God has neither commanded nor forbidden. This now includes those things in the ritual law which were fulfilled in Christ and no longer have claim on our lives. For example, have you eaten ham lately? If so, it had no impact on your holiness before God. It may have increased your girth but it was not a sin unless you were gluttonous. In other words the ritual prohibition against eating pork is gone but the moral law commanding us to not be gluttonous still stands. I think that generally we don’t find this very confusing on a day to day basis but teachings regarding adiaphorous actions are common in cults and even in some Christian fellowships. The fundamental problem, aside from the sin of violating Deuteronomy 4:2, is that these teachings pollute our understanding of our justification before God and confuse the process of our sanctification.

Philemon

Philemon 1-25
Chapters 19 in Lucas

Today we’ll cover an entire book of the Bible in one lesson. It is a very short book and it is natural to ask why a book like Philemon is included in Scripture. The epistle to Philemon is one example of what was probably an extensive set of personal communications by Paul. I think that wondering about why the epistle is in the Bible is a good way to approach this book. There is a story in Philemon that we need to learn from.

The apostle Paul wrote the letter to Philemon. The authorship has not been seriously challenged and that is probably because the letter is too personal to make anyone think it could have been written by anyone else.

This letter was probably written while Paul was in a Roman prison (maybe about 60 AD). It may have been sent to Philemon along with the letter to the Colossians. Philemon was a Christian living in Colossae. Philemon had a slave named Onesimus who ran away and apparently met Paul in Rome. Through Paul’s teaching, Onesimus became a Christian. Paul’s purpose in writing this letter was to ask Philemon to take Onesimus back as a Christian brother and not as a slave.

This epistle relates to our lives in two principle ways. First, it shows how the command to show Agape love is expressed in the lives of Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus. Secondly, this epistle shows us how accountability relates to our lives together in the Church.

Paul’s judgment appears to be that Philemon should either free Onesimus or receive him back without penalty because of the rule of Agape love in both of their lives. This is clearly a pastoral letter in which Paul has a very specific directive for Philemon. Paul is pretty clear here that Agape is the first rule of our actions and that Agape trumps emotion.

Philemon means kindly and has the root “phileo” which gives us another Greek term for love that means brotherly love and affection. The runaway slave, who has become a Christian brother, is named Onesimus and his name means useful. I guess that is a good name for a slave unless it is false advertising and apparently it didn’t apply in the live of Onesimus before his salvation. Onesimus ran away. It was customary for slaves under Roman rule to be able to earn a stipend and eventually buy their freedom. I’m sure it was an uphill struggle but it was possible. However, Onesimus took a short cut and simply ran away.

Philemon 1-3
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The authorship includes both Paul and Timothy and would certainly be received as authoritative. I appreciate that Paul never attributes his imprisonment to anyone other than Christ Jesus. He has such a confidence in God’s sovereign power that he isn’t worried. He knows that he is in God’s control even when he is in a Roman prison. It is also significant that Paul doesn’t use the word “apostle” in this salutation. He is addressing Philemon as a peer.

The Greek word that Paul uses for dear friend is “agapetos” and I suspect Philemon may have known what was up from this greeting. Philemon, whose name comes from a word with the same meaning as brotherly love, is referred to by a word that has the same root as God’s love. God’s love is not just a feeling but an action that is able to transcend feelings. I wonder if Philemon had an idea as to what was coming as soon as he was called “agapetos”.

Apphia and Archippus are probably members of Philemon’s household, since they are mentioned in addition to the church that met in his house. The early churches typically met in houses.

Philemon 4-7
I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

Paul mentions Philemon’s demonstrated faith and his demonstrated agape love. This letter continually calls for a move from the emotion of “phileo” to the purposeful action of “agape”. I’ve wondered if it was possible that Philemon didn’t share his faith with Onesimus before he ran away. Paul indicates that if Philemon is active in sharing his faith then he’ll have a full understanding of our blessings in Christ. Once again he mentions that agape love displayed by Philemon has given him great joy and encouragement. In fact, Paul expresses the concept (in the Greek) in a strong way that Philemon has refreshed the entire emotional being of the saints and produced spiritual fruit in other Christians.

Philemon 8-11
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

As a matter of accountability Paul could tell Philemon what to do. Our culture places a high value on individual freedom. We have a natural and cultural resistance toward biblical concepts that result in a high level of accountability. The levels of accountability to each other that spontaneously develop in our fellowship are precious and we should actually seek that out.

Paul appeals for mercy in the life of Philemon “for love’s sake,” not for his own sake. At this point, Paul gets to the point of the epistle by asking for Onesimus to be received by Philemon since he was converted through Paul’s ministry. Paul uses a play on words since Onesimus means “useful” or “profitable” and maybe he uses it to soften the impact on Philemon of being asked to take back someone who had cheated him.

Accountability within the Body of Christ is a constant subtext in this epistle. We have Paul’s position of authority, Philemon as a slave owner, and Onesimus as slave and new Christian. In all of these relationships, Scripture provides guidance.

For example:

Philemon to Paul:
I Thessalonians 5:12-13 "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to
esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake."

Onesimus to Philemon:
James 5:16a "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed."

Philemon to Onesimus:
I Peter 1:22 "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."

Paul to Onesimus
I Peter 4:8 "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."

No progress would take place without the accountability of each of these guys in the place God has put them. Paul gently exercised the authority God had given him. Philemon yielded to the authority and exercised forgiveness. Onesimus, newly empowered by love of the brethren and a desire to make amends for past wrongs, yields to the power of the Holy Spirit to “do the right thing”.

I pray that God would make it clear to all of us how important relationships are within the body. When you think of someone in the Body of Christ and/or in our class and pray for them or contact them in someway you are not doing something trivial. This is a vital part of being a Christian in the Body of Christ. I’m as bad as anyone for taking a cowboy attitude and deciding that I can do everything alone and everyone is on their own and we’ll all get together in heaven and see how we did. That is not a Biblical attitude and recognizing the problem is the first step to dealing with it.

Read Philemon 12-16
I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.

Paul wants Philemon to do the right thing without compulsion. His letter is designed to get Philemon’s heart in the right place and he clearly loves Onesimus and Paul even places his relationship of Philemon on the line to get Onesimus home where he can make amends for what he did.

Philemon 17-21
So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

Both Onesimus and Philemon owed their lives in Christ to Paul. As spiritual mentor to both these guys Paul was in a position to make this reunion and reconciliation happen.

Philemon 22-25
And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

It isn’t clear if Paul ever made the visit but just to reinforce everything Paul had said, he indicates that he was planning on coming to see that Philemon and Onesimus were living up to their names and Paul’s commands.

Coram Deo

v. 4 – Agape Love makes us grateful for the best in others

v. 10 – Agape Love seeks the welfare of others

v. 12 – Agape Love deals honestly with others

v. 18 – Agape Love bears the burdens of others

v. 21 – Agape Love believes the best of others

God’s Agape Love is active and has a purpose. It is not a love that sits around and demands good feelings before acting. This is the kind of love that makes you act in love toward others even when they may not deserve it and even when you may not feel like it. It is not an insignificant thing when you call a brother or email someone or go see them. It is a significant part of being accountable to others and letting them be accountable to you.

This is the type of love God calls us to walk out even if we don’t feel like it. While you were yet a sinner God loved you. He knew where he was taking Useful (Onesimus) and Kindly (Philemon) and He knows where He is taking you. You will grow in obedience to God and learn to serve with God’s love.