Alpha and the Omega
I have heard of the verse I will reference, but did not know the context before. It is important to know the context when giving. In Revelation 21:6, the vision starts and says it is done. These are the same words Jesus spoke on the cross (John 19:30). Then he says he is the Alpha and the Omega. These are not just some really cool words that sound cool. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek Alphabet and Omega is the last letter in the same alphabet. Jesus is the beginning and the end. All things are summed up in him. There no need for anymore or any less. And then he says that he will give a free drink to those who have thirst. That drink will come from the "spring of the water of life." This is obviously not physical thirst but a spiritual one. If there is a spiritual thirst, Jesus can help quench it.
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Fellowship and Confession
1 John 1:6 and 1 John 1:9 show us what it is to be honest about our fellowship with God. We can say we unite with God and walk with Him, but yet we live in darkness. Well, what does that mean? Living in darkness would be along the lines of 1) understanding what it means to be in unity with God and 2) actually doing it. If I meet someone and I say to them I am a manager of a job I have, knowing that manager is not in my job title or description, yet I give off the impression to others possibly to impress them that I am something that I am now, then I am lying. I might have similar responsibilities to a manager, but I am not the manager. So, when I say I walk with God and seek to be in unison with His will, someone would be able to see it by my actions and my words and compare them up against God's will. In addition, verse 9 isn't as deep with a diagnosis, yet it is just as important. Confession of sins is important as it shows us that our way of handling things, saying things, thinking and behaving isn't always in unison with God's will. Being in God's will is the focus. When we act outside of His will, we express selfishness and we sin. When we confess that we have sinned, we are admitting to God, "hey, I didn't get it right. I messed up, but I wanna be back in your good graces." When you can humble yourself and tell God that you want to try it again and get back on the right track, that shows God that we are willing to be humble and seek His ways over our own.
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Grace Doesn't Expire
I have had far too many conversations with people who only have so much grace for people. They really don't understand or see how much grace they have been given for things they say and do, or even more the grace that God has for them and their missteps. We give grace to people until we don't feel like it anymore. Our graces runs out, but does God's? First, we know that if it was not for God's grace there would not have ever been a Jesus for us. It was not because of the work we did or the bad behavior we didn't do. We didn't earn God's grace (Ephesians 2:8). Also, remember 1 John 14:9 that we love because God loves us first. He gave us Jesus. Think about it. We have received Jesus and still mess up. God still loves us. So, if God still loves us when we mess up (which He does) then why can't we have grace for others?
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God's Grace is Free
Grace is a wonderful thing. It is an important intangible. Grace is not something you earn. It is given freely. It is a gift. A gift that we all need in our relationships and in our relationship with God. In Romans 11:6 we understand that when it comes to our salvation (our eternal existence in Heaven) that the only reason why we get that chance is grace. The grace comes from God freely. We literally do not have to do anything to receive this grace, other than accept. You don't have to serve 50 homeless people for 10 years. You do not have to memorize 40 Bible verses and wrote 6 essays. All you have to do is accept God's grace that is free to you in order for you to have salvation.
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Near to the Throne
Hebrews 4:16 can be broken down in several ways. First, we can have confidence when we draw near to the thrown of Grace. We have been tempted as Jesus was tempted, so since he has experienced the same as we have, his grace and mercy does not expire. He has empathy and understanding for us as our experiences have been his also. Second, when you draw near to the throne that is how you can receive mercy. You do not have to drag those sins with you throughout life. God's mercy and grace through Jesus has relived us of that if we desire to believe that and follow Jesus. Not only do we need grace in various times but we can also give grace when needed to others. I need it. You need it. They need it. We need it. God gives it.
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Jesus Eats with Sinners
In my many travels (read this article) I came across an image with some text that seemed to be saying that Jesus would endorse/support sin because he ate with sinners. I may have gotten the message a bit mixed up (I doubt it though), but I do think and know that there are people who believe that because Jesus ate with sinners, that it must mean that he accepted their sinful ways as okay to live in and would encourage these sins to continue. I beg to differ and scripture would disagree with that too (that is what is most important). Jesus does not endorse sin. Many look at Jesus and forget why he came to earth and what his purpose was while he was here. I hope I can remind people today that Jesus would not encourage or endorse sinful behavior.
In Mark 2:13-17, Jesus had called Levi to follow him. Levi was a tax collector and they were known to take more taxes and save some for themselves. While eating with Levi and other tax collectors, the Pharisees got upset with Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus told them that it is not the well, but the sick that needed doctors just as the sinners (the sick) are the ones who needed Jesus. Why would a sinner need Jesus? So that they can follow him. If you love Jesus and what he stood for then understand he was not just a good person, but a servant of God doing the Lord's will while loving the unloving and the sinners.
And remember that Jesus did not want you to sin. Remember the adulteress woman who the Pharisees brought to him to have her stoned according to the law (John 8:1-11)? After he made some markings in the sand, Jesus told the Pharisees whomever had not sinned could cast the first stone. The Pharisees one by one dropped their stones and walked away and could no longer condemn her. When there was no one left to condemn her, Jesus said he didn't condemn her either and that she should "go and sin no more." Jesus wants us to be united with God in Heaven and if we are accepting of God's grace and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior then we get who Jesus is. For those that think that Jesus just accepted everyone and was okay with everything, they still have some reading to do.
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Why Are You Saved?
We can forget from time to time and get haughty (prideful) about our salvation thinking that we deserve it, but in all honesty, we do not deserve salvation, i don't think there is any Bible reading believer that can honestly say scripture backs up the belief that we earned our salvation. The truth is, as we have seen through the life of Christ and the words of Paul, our salvation is a gift. You cannot brag to someone about something that someone gave you. A gift is given, while a prize is earned. So, did you earn Jesus through all of your hard work? Or was Jesus's blood shed due to God's grace? That salvation was a gift that you didn't earn. In 2 Timothy 1:9, Paul writes to Timothy about Jesus "who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began..." If that is the one thing I can teach you today, then I am satisfied in that, because in this time many of us have forgotten our gift from God.
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Be Consistent
If you have been reading along or have already read through the New Testament you may have noticed something that I think is remarkable. Some may say it is not, but to me it shows character. When Paul begins his letters to the churches (1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Romans 1:7, Galatians 1:3), he consistently opens up with "peace" and "grace" and shows what he represents in God and in Christ. To some, that is no big deal as he is just writing letters. You will see though that these letters are also letters of direction or correction. I know when some of us are correcting or directing others that we are in charge of, we can become tyrannical. Paul consistently sends grace and love. He does not stray off the path of being loving even when correcting or directing. Why? Because he represents Jesus. We could learn from Paul's example.
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A Good Work
The work has begun in you once you receive Christ through God's grace. That work is the Holy Spirit working through you to shape you to be more Christ like as the days pass. The time when that work will be complete is upon the Second Coming of Christ. This is what Paul is talking about in Philippians 1:6. He knows that God has started something good in the church (the people in the church) and that work will be completed upon Christ's return.
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Prayer for Spiritual Strength
Paul further cements previous points made about the church believing that they have power on their own accord. Paul tells them straight forward and then also shows them how to believe by demonstrating a prayer in Ephesians 3:14-16. Paul says "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father...that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being." Look at how Paul bows his knees before the Father. That is showing, honor and humility to one who is superior. He speaks on the riches of God's glory, not our own. It is easy to lose sight and think we can figure it all out and think we have all the answers, but to God be the glory. God grants us the strength and power through His spirit. It is not on our own.
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Saved By Grace Through Faith
You can take credit all you want for your being saved. You can say that you kept the commandments. You can say that God favors you over others. you can say that your sins aren't that bad. But, ultimately, you're wrong. It is not your works that led you to be saved. Yes, it is up to you to accept the grace given by God through the blood shed, death and resurrection of Christ, but it was God's grace that even allowed that to happen. If someone gives you a gift, not a reward, you cannot take credit for that gift. A reward is something you earn for doing something. A gift is freely given. That is what Paul tells us here in Ephesians 2:8-9. Paul says "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." You cannot brag about your being saved. Give glory to God.
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Forgiveness, Grace, and Prayer
Wednesday's message was on turning worry into prayer. As stated previously, we worry about many things and try to figure out problems in our lives. There is nothing wrong with problem solving, but we have to remember to go to God too, first even, as we ask for guidance. But, what about that person who hurt you the most? That person who broke your heart. That person who did something so devastating that it occupies your thinking more often than it should. I ask you this, did you forgive them? You may say "They don't deserve forgiveness." That is not a thought of Christ, He would not say no one deserves forgiveness or grace. No one is saying you cannot feel hurt, but free yourself by graciously offering forgiveness knowing that God forgave you for your sins and that we are to forgive others their sins too (Matthew 6:14-15), whether they are sorry or not.
Have you ever heard that not forgiving is like drinking poison in hops to kill the other person? We are all imperfect. We have all done things that have done damage to others, ourselves and our relationship with God. That feeling of regret is needed in order to seek reconciliation of a relationship and to repent and not sin in that way again. Paul teaches us in Ephesians 4:32 that we should be kind to one another. He teaches that we should tenderhearted. He also says that we should forgive others as God in Christ forgave us. God forgave you and you never asked. God still forgave you. Your friends stole from you, broke your heart, and ruined the friendship. You have to forgive them. God commands it in Matthew 18:21-22. There was no limit to forgiveness, but continued forgiveness which give the allowance of grace.
One way that I heard Pastor Rick Warren say is a good way to learn to forgive is to pray for people. Yes, pray to God for Him to work in that person. It is VERY difficult to be mad at someone when you are praying for God to use them. In 2008 I was having an issue with a couple of people, two different situations. The relationships had faltered or were getting worse. My heart grew bitter and angry. I began praying for each of them. Initially, the prayers were quick. I made sure to do it during times I was not distracted. Eventually the prayers grew in length and strength. I also felt a change in myself where that bitterness was not there anymore. I was following what is found in James 5:16. We are not not only confess our sins to our brethren in Christ (I was doing that), but also pray for them so that we can be healed. Hanging on to bitterness breaks us and we need to heal from that. If you want to heal, forgive someone. Pray for them, consistently. When you start to get bitter at them, pray for them again. Know that Satan attacks all of us. Don't let Satan win.
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Redemption
Let us not forget, not matter how bad we think we are or how far apart from God we feel, that we can be redeemed to God. How does that happen? In Ephesians 1:7 the redemption is through Christ's blood. Christ shed his blood and became the sacrifice for our sins. When we accept Christ, our sins are forgiven because of God's grace. We don't have to be perfect, we just need to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.
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Slaves and Sons
Being under the law instead of under grace makes you a slave. A slave to the law. As I stated before, when it came to the law, you basically had to be perfect. There is no grace in the law. It is just the law. Either you broke it or kept it. There is no "well just this time" or "if you do it one more time" kind of warnings or grace. It was the law, so there was no space for grace. In verse 7 we understand that we are no longer slaves (under the law) but we are sons (daughters and offspring) of God and therefore heirs to the kingdom. In verses 21-31, Paul breaks down the difference between the slave son (law) from Hagar and the son of a promise from Sarah (grace through Jesus) and which one was blessed.
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Law or Grace
In Galatians 3:10 we read " For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” That means, if you are not accepting of Christ and his sacrifice then you are under the law. The law basically requires perfection. Christ does not require perfection but obedience to or submission to God's will through Christ. You can either be forgiven or keep striving for perfection. As I have stated before, you can be married and honor your spouse because you are married, or you can honor your spouse and your marriage because you love you spouse. As with Christ, it is not about religion but a relationship. As with marriage, it is not about the title of marriage but the honoring of the one you are with which represents that relationship. Christ has redeemed us by dying in our place and dying for our sins. The law was cursed and Christ became that curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Talk about total sacrifice.
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Christ Lives Through Me
We have to understand, as Paul tells the Galatian church, that it is not us who are just so great, but it is God working through us. Paul said that he died with Christ. His statement was answering a question that he would have been asked from the Galatians. His point in saying that he died with Christ was that he died to the rules of the law when Christ died in his place. Christ died in all of our place. He died for our sins. So, when Paul says "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me", he is saying that because he accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior, it is now the Spirit of God that lives through us and guides us (Galatians 2:20).
In verse 21, Paul validates what he stated before. Paul is showing the church that the law cannot save them, but only the grace of God through Christ. Paul says, "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." Paul's point is to say that the law cannot save someone for if it could, the Christ's sacrificial death was wasted.
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No Other Gospel
Paul opens up the letter to the Galatians with loving salutations. Then he gets right back at correcting the church for what they have done incorrectly. He wants them to know that there is no other Gospel other than one of Jesus Christ. They had turned to a different gospel which so many people do when they do not understand Jesus and his purpose on earth. We read the gospel and do not understand or allow for barriers to distort what we are to gather from the reading. Or we do not read the word of God and listen to what others tell us overlooking the importance for us to read on our own. In Galatians 1:10, Paul shows that he is bonded to serving God first and not man. Paul says "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." He is not trying to persuade God to think how he thinks, but show men/others how he will not try to seek man's approval over God's. He was not going to water the gospel down and deliver a different message as a people pleaser would do. He was going to give it straight to them as he was an apostle of God that was chosen by God's grace even before Paul was born (Galatians 1:15-17).
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Sufficient Grace
Paul continues discussing his short coming and his imperfections. He tells the Corinthian Christians about his experience in coming to Christ (but does not tell them it was him). In doing this he tells of this man's story and how it has inspired him, so to speak. Paul continues and says that he wanted his tormenting to be ceased and He asked God to take them away. Paul said God's response was that His grace was sufficient enough (2 Corinthians 12:9). We need to know that. We need to not focus on how "great" we think we are and give glory to God. I hear too much too often about who deserves what praise and who deserves what ridicule. If anything, we "deserve" ridicule for knowing the Lord and focusing back on ourselves and our greatness. Glory Be To God!
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Grace and Giving
In verse 7 Paul goes back on the sarcastic correction angle by reminding the Corinthian Christians, who have not excelled in faith, speech, knowledge and earnestness, that they should excel in in being gracious/giving grace to others. This could also have been Paul's way of saying "well if you say you have been excelling in these areas then I will take your word for it. If you excel in grace then you are following the example of Christ. Christ was very gracious unless someone was misusing the house of the Lord and twisting the word of God. That is when Christ was known to do more than just speak out.
In the next section (2 Corinthians 8:8-14) Paul deals with the topic of giving. While the Old Testament had a standard of 10% (tithe) we see in the New Testament examples of giving what you have available to give. Dave Guzik's commentary focuses on the idea of 10% being more of an expectation and being seen like a tax rather than a giving from the heart. This is where grace can abound in giving. We give graciously and not from rule or regulation but from the heart.When we go to church is out of obligation or because we want to? When we give to the church is out of what we can or is it just what we want to give? Heart check! It matters.
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Christ-like Valentine
Valentine's Day is this weekend, Sunday to be exact. This is the time of year that we tell our significant others how much we love them and buy them roses and chocolates and dinners and gifts and really try to impress them. We tell them that we love them. All those things are wonderful and you should absolutely tell those that you love, that you love them. But what about a real focus for Christ followers? Does your significant other have Christ-like character? That is something that we Christ followers need to look at.
When you communicate with your significant other, when you see them walk through life, is their focus on being of the same mind as Jesus? If you read Philippians 2:5 we see that we are to have the same mind as Jesus. This take effort, but overall through grace from God, it takes submission to God's will. Jesus was completely sold out for God and died as it was in God's will so that we could be redeemed through Christ with God. Is your mate completely sold out for God's will? If you are a Christ follower ask yourself that question. But also ask yourself, am I sold out for God?
Remember when Jesus gave us a new commandment? Do you remember what it was? It was that we love others as he (Jesus) has loved us (John 13:34). This isn't about religion and all of that, this is about dedication to Christ and being loving to others. Others is everyone. Loving others as God would have us love them. That means remove the condemnation. Remove the denigration. Remove the bitterness. Remove the hate. Add unconditional love. Add grace. Add respect. Add Christ-likeness to cover it all. If you really want to know if they are the "one" check their character against that of Christ. Check your character against that of Christ. If you are united in Christ's love that is a great start to this Valentine's Day as well as many others.
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