Toil Vs. Peace
Psalm 127
Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man who fills
his quiver with them! He shall not
be put to shame when he speaks
with his enemies in the gate.
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I read this Psalm the other morning and it was a significant experience for me. The night before reading this, Meghan called me out and said that she felt as though I had not been spending quality time with Isaac in recent weeks. Her reasoning was that I’ve been preoccupied with work, school, etc. and although I’ve been with him quite a bit, my attention has not been fully focused on him. At first, I responded defensively, but after a little while came to a place where I understood her position and agreed with her.
The next morning, I woke up and instead of reading my Bible and kind of playing with Isaac, I just sat at the little table with him and gave him all I had. It was in this brief window (an hour or so) that I realized just how right she was. The way he responded to me that morning was starkly different to the way things have been.
After this experience, I went to the Young Life office and decided to read some Psalms. I came to the one above (Psalm 127) and believe that God was speaking to me. It’s in vain that I go to bed late and rise early (Just last week I told Meghan that I was going to begin reading for seminary classes @ 9pm and go as late as I could go, hoping that God would give me the strength necessary to get it done. I was getting up last week @ 5:30 or 6am to get going, etc.). It says that this individual eats the bread of anxious toil (that’s me), but the Lord gives sleep to His beloved. Immediately following these verses, it goes on to talk about the beauty of children and that they are an inheritance from the Lord. Wow, what an experience for me.
Here’s my takeaway… The reason that I eat the bread of anxious toil and don’t get too much sleep is because I believe that it depends on me and my effort. Rest is found in the belief of God’s goodness, in His provision and that He will carry to completion all that He started. Psalm 130 eloquently describes this truth. Freedom is found here. It is about Him and we can rest.
Aroma
2 Corinthians 2:14-17
14But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
For the last few years now, this has been one of my favorite passages in scripture. I just love it, and I find myself drawn to it over and over. It is one of those passages that just continues to teach me new things over and over. I know that one reason I am drawn to it is because for me the sense of smell is very moving. More than any other sense, the sense of smell gives you a feeling and brings you to a place. The idea that I am the “aroma” of Christ is too good to be true. And, not that I am just the aroma of Christ among the saved or among the perishing, but that I am the aroma of Christ to God. That is mercy. I believe that small part of verse 15 is a beautiful picture of the gospel.
The God of the universe, the almighty, the holy of holies, the creator of all that is good and all that is beautiful, takes one whiff of my life and He smells Christ. How could this be? How could I, someone so selfish and impatient and short tempered and vain, be the aroma of Christ to God? Because, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). It is just that simple. The beauty and mystery and wonder of the Christian life is that once we place our hope and trust in Christ we go from being the aroma of death to the aroma of life, the aroma of Christ.
The aroma of death is the aroma of our own doing. The aroma of death is the aroma of all our efforts to be good enough, to be accepted, to be our own savior, to be counted as worthy, to be a hero, to be right, to be heard, to be adored. As long as we spend our lives doing those things we are the aroma of death to God and to all those around us.
Once we cling to Christ and he becomes our only hope and he becomes our first love, then out of that will inevitably flow the aroma of life.
(written by Meghan Orr)
All of Life is Repentance
Maturing Christians repent more often, not less. How? Why? Check out this article by Tim Keller.
The Offensive Blood of Christ
Per Meghan (my beautiful bride) –
A couple weeks ago I was watching 20/20 and the story was something that really stuck with me. It started out telling the story of a 10 year old girl named Brittney Bergeron. She lived, with her mom and step dad and half sister Kissy who was 3 years old, about 50 miles outside of Las Vegas. Her mom and step dad were both Meth addicts and spent most their time in a casino while their daughters were living in a trailer in the parking lot of the casino. On most nights they were trying to find food and just stay warm. One night after the mom had made a bad drug deal, the two little girls were attacked and stabbed several times by two teenagers. Kissy died and Brittney was paralyzed from the waist down, but survived the attack.
After surviving the attack she was placed in a foster home with the Himmel family. The Himmels were known for taking some of the most wounded, difficult, and needy children. Their home is filled with children with needs as severe as a vegetative 18 month old girl; and children as broken as a 12 year old girl who lost her ability to walk, her little sister, and had spent most of her life being abused and neglected by her mother. The Himmel family embraces all these kids with an unconditional love and their home was described as a warm and inviting atmosphere where all kids love to be. The family loved Brittney and encouraged her to grow and do everything she dreamed she could never do. At the end of the episode it showed that he Himmels adopted Brittney and that she would now be their daughter for the rest of her life.
Here’s why I love this story so much. It is because I am just like one of those foster children. My needs are so severe. My brokenness is so ugly. My wounds are grotesque. I have done nothing to merit any kind of reward. And yet, I have been adopted by God into his heavenly kingdom through the death of Christ.
As I compared myself to these children, children rejected by society and often deemed worthless, it can be difficult to admit that I am just that needy and just that worthless; and actually even more so. It is the plight of all mankind that we continue to strive to prove our worth, our value, and to win a great reward based on what we have done or not done. This is exactly why the blood of Christ is often so offensive. The blood of Christ is offensive because it was shed for us while we were still sinners, and not once we proved we could earn it. The blood of Christ is offensive because there is nothing that we can ever do to deserve it. The blood of Christ is offensive because it is our only hope and that means we have no hope in and of ourselves.
And for all those same reasons why the blood of Christ is offensive, it is even more unbelievably beautiful.
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
The Freedom (to Be)
My greatest fear in life has been that I would die before achieving some level of excellency or performing something of serious substance. Why? Because more than anything, I long to hear God look at me and say that I am his boy, that He is so proud of me and that He is so in love with me.
Can you relate?
Sure, God loves us and if you are in Christ, he forgives us, but do you long to hear this as well? Well if you do relate then I guess that you can also relate to the tiredness, the burden, the anxiety that comes with living in such a way. Reading 1 chapter in the Old Testament gives enough laws to keep you busy for a while and to keep your guilt fired up for an eternity. Saved by grace, but need to get it done for the rest of our lives to hear our Father say “Well Done!”
If you are tracking with me and you feel my pain, I’ve got some good news. If you are tracking with me and have already found relief, I hope this will encourage you as you are reminded of the most blessed, amazing, wonderful, life-giving, burden-relieving, joy-giving truth. If you have accepted Christ, the moment you placed your faith in Him, God is so perfectly pleased with you, He is so proud, He is beaming with contentment and joy, He is satisfied, He feels the same way about you as He does about Jesus, He says, “Well Done!”
The “Well Done” is not a pending thing, dependent on how you live, etc. NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!! It is all about Jesus. It is all about the life He lived and the death He died in our stead. It is not about us. We cannot satisfy the demands of the law and the people that strive to hear God say ‘Well Done’ end up bitter, tired and heavy burdened. It’s not about us striving! It is about Christ and that He strived (if that’s a word) and did it perfectly and did it in our place!!! WE SIMPLY NEED TO PLACE OUR FAITH IN WHAT HE DID AND THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST IS PLACED OVER US AND GOD BEAMS OVER US IN CHRIST!!!
I just heard the story of a man who experienced this joy, freedom, etc. and it speaks to this. His name was William Holland and he was listening to Charles Wesley read from Luther’s Commentary on Galatians. When he heard a certain section, his burden was loosed and tears came to his eyes. Here is what he heard read to him that day:
So then, do we do nothing to obtain this righteousness? No, nothing at all. Perfect righteousness is to do nothing, to hear nothing, to know nothing of the law or of works, but to know and believe only that Christ has gone to the Father and is no longer visible; that [H]e sits in heaven at the right hand of [H]is Father, not as a judge, but is made by God our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption; in short that[H]e is our high priest, entreating for us and reigning over us and in us by grace. In this heavenly righteousness sin can have no place, for there is no law; and “where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15).
Christ frees us from ourselves. In my own life, the moment that I experienced this radical grace and joy was when I heard that whether I am doing really good or really bad, God feels the same way about me as He does about Jesus (when you are in Christ). This set me free from myself. Right now, He’s saying Well Done because of Christ. Amen. Praise be to God. Wow.
God Does Not Need Anything
Here’s a great excerpt from Dane Ortlund’s blog. The whole post can be found here:
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Today I discovered the most beautiful description of God’s love I’ve yet read in Edwards, on Rom 5:8 – ‘But God shows his love for us in this . . . .’ One of many quotable portions explains that loving Christ does not add to our existence; it is our existence.
Christ loved us when he could receive no addition by us if we are added to him. He is not the greater or the better, for he is infinite and all-sufficient and can’t be added to, though he is graciously pleased, having set his love upon us not to look upon himself complete. But if we love Jesus Christ, it will be on the contrary exceedingly. If we love him and he be ours, we shall not only be added to, but we shall be made. We shall come out of nothing into being. It will be a far greater exaltation than if we were from beggars turned to potent monarchs.
–”The Dying Love of Christ,” in The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2003), 291
Denial
Romans 3:9-20
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
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People who deny they have an ailment or issue (a bad marriage, an injury, loss of hearing or sight, cancer or aids, etc.) do not get healed. This principle applies to things of faith as well. We do not see or recognize our sinfulness, in-ability, insufficiency and rebellion to God. Therefore, we don’t believe that we deserve to be separated from Him. We deny our sinful reality. Granted, many Christians will acknowledge that they believe this, but our lives show otherwise. How so?
There is a lack of joy in Christians (and non-Christians). I point out Christians because this simply should not be the case. The first step towards joy is owning our wretchedness and recognizing that we are no better than the people we condemn. It is by grace that we are saved and it is by grace that God continues to reveal himself to us and sanctify us. The most mature Christians repent more and see their sinful nature rearing it’s ugly head on all occasions. I pray that we will grow in humility as we come to grips with who we are apart from God’s grace and loving-kindness.
As Romans 3:21-26 lay out, our sinfulness is certainly not the end of the story. God’s righteousness made known in Christ saves the day, but unless we see our need for Jesus and what we deserve, joy will not break out. I heard that Charles Spurgeon’s church was so melted by the gospel (our utter sinfulness yet absolute acceptance) that the joy they experienced brought them to the brink of death on a particular week or weekend. They had to ask for God to hold back his love, otherwise they would surely die. My pride is in the way and I hope that God will melt it away and allow me to see just how great his loving-kindness really is.
According To His Own Mercy
Titus 2:11 – 3:8
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
The Silence of the Substitute
The following is an excerpt from a post on Justin Taylor’s blog, Between Two Worlds. You can read the whole article here.
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Why was Jesus silent? Is there more to this than meets the eyes?
Indeed there is!
He was silent because of every word that has proceeded from your lips; because of every word that provides adequate reason for God to damn you for all eternity, because you have cursed him or his image.
The Lord Jesus came into the world to bear the judgment of God against the sin of our tongues. When he stood before the High Priest and the judgment seat of Pontius Pilate, he accepted a sentence of guilt. But that was my guilt. He bore in his body on the tree the sins of my lips and my tongue.
Have Mercy Upon Me, O God
The following is an excerpt from Morning by Morning, by C.H. Spurgeon:
August 29th “Have mercy up me, O God.” – Psalm 49:1
When Dr. Carey was suffering from a dangerous illness, the inquiry was mad, “If this sickness should prove fatal, what passage would you select as the text for your funeral sermon?” He replied, “O, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is unworthy to have anything said about him; but, if a funeral sermon must be preached, let it be from the words, ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.’” In the same spirit of humility, he directed in his will that the following inscription, and nothing more, should be cut on his gravestone: –
William Carey, Born August 17th, 1761; Died –.
“A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, On Thy kind arms I fall.”
Only on the footing of free grace can the most experienced and most honored of the saints approach their God. The best of men are conscious, above all other, that they are men at the best. Empty boats float high, but heavily-laden vessels are low in the water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry for mercy upon their unprofitableness. We have need that the Lord should have mercy up on our good words, our prayers, our preachings, our alms-givings, and our holiest things. The blood was not only sprinkled upon the door-posts of Israel’s dwelling-houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar, because, as sin introduces into our holiest things, the blood of Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement. If mercy be needed to be exercised towards our duties, what shall be said of our sins? How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, to restore us, and make our broken bones rejoice!
