This continues the discussion from the entry "The Person of the Cross". We talked about how Paul's life was forever changed by his encounter with Christ. Paul turned from being the chief persecutor of the early church, to being one of its leaders. How could this radical change take place in a person? Yet this is what we see in Paul. As Paul deals with the many theological issues and questions about life in general, he always comes back to Jesus on the cross. Paul knew the person of the cross and he knew the power of the cross. The cross in Paul's time was an object of shame. It was a place of weakness. No one would have worn a cross around their neck. If you were to have had a family members crucified, you would never mention it to anyone. Yet we see Paul boast in the cross, because for Paul it was a place of liberty. Paul saw the cross as the source of freedom, freedom from self, freedom from the flesh, freedom from the world around him.
In the cross Paul recognized the source of its power rested in the humility of Jesus. Jesus who was God, humbled himself to the point where being God wasn't something to be grasped. He humbled himself to the point of becoming human servant. As a servant he was obedient to death, death on a cross. Paul saw this and was greatly humbled. When we see Jesus on the cross we should hear him saying, "I am here because of you, it is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying!" In light of this, the cross is the ultimate source of humility. At the foot of the cross we all shrink. In doing so we are freed from the burden of self, flesh and the world. How can we live our lives selfishly knowing what Jesus did for us on the cross?
The power of the cross that changed Paul, it is also what drove Paul. In the letter to the Galatians he said this, "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." (Galatians 2:20 NIV) If we want to live the life God has called us to live, we must be crucified with Christ, and he must live through us. The way we allow that to happen is to understand what he did on the cross. Jesus loved you and gave himself for you, that is the power of the cross. In this we find the ability to live out our lives to the glory of the Father, which will bring us to the next point in this line of thought, "The Purpose of the Cross".
-ps
Friday, January 8, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Lot Hesitated
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is found in Genesis 19. In it we find Lot and his family living in the wicked city. Angels appear to sleep in the square and Lot is concerned. He begs them to come in and sleep in his house. The Angels agree. Men both young and old start to assemble outside his door. They want the two visitors brought out so that they can have sexual relations with them. Lot begs them not to carry out this wicked deed and even offers his daughters to the mob!
The Angels see what is happening and rescues Lot and blind the crowd. They tell Lot to get his family out of the city imminently. He contacts his two future son-laws and they think he is joking. The Angeles start to insist on Lot to leave the city now, but Lot "hesitates".
Lot is in the middle of a terribly sinful place and yet he hesitates to leave. The Angeles have to take Lot and family by the hands to get them out of the city! Several thoughts go through my mind. First Lot had lived so long in the city that he was more like the people than a person of God. Secondly, Lot must have liked what he had in Sodom. He like his house his wealth, the people knew him. Lot was no longer shaping his environment, but was being shaped by it. Lot was no longer a witness of God!
Can you see where I am going? I think there is a lesson for us here in America. We have everything and we like what we have, so much so that we are willing to give up our witness to keep it. I see it all around us. We turn a blind eye to sin so that we don't 'rock' the boat. We keep quiet because someone might label us hateful or a bigot. So we hesitate, so we keep quiet, so we are silent.
There is only one problem with this and it's the Word of God. Jesus said, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38 NIV) We are not to be ashamed of our Lord. We are to live our lives in such a way that we shape our environment around us not vice versa. Lot was rescued despite his hesitation. God rescues us from the world around us. He has placed his Holy Spirit in us. Peter says, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3 NIV) God gives us the ability to stand up for his name sake. He helps us when we hesitate. We just need to let him lead us by the hand!
-ps
The Angels see what is happening and rescues Lot and blind the crowd. They tell Lot to get his family out of the city imminently. He contacts his two future son-laws and they think he is joking. The Angeles start to insist on Lot to leave the city now, but Lot "hesitates".
Lot is in the middle of a terribly sinful place and yet he hesitates to leave. The Angeles have to take Lot and family by the hands to get them out of the city! Several thoughts go through my mind. First Lot had lived so long in the city that he was more like the people than a person of God. Secondly, Lot must have liked what he had in Sodom. He like his house his wealth, the people knew him. Lot was no longer shaping his environment, but was being shaped by it. Lot was no longer a witness of God!
Can you see where I am going? I think there is a lesson for us here in America. We have everything and we like what we have, so much so that we are willing to give up our witness to keep it. I see it all around us. We turn a blind eye to sin so that we don't 'rock' the boat. We keep quiet because someone might label us hateful or a bigot. So we hesitate, so we keep quiet, so we are silent.
There is only one problem with this and it's the Word of God. Jesus said, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38 NIV) We are not to be ashamed of our Lord. We are to live our lives in such a way that we shape our environment around us not vice versa. Lot was rescued despite his hesitation. God rescues us from the world around us. He has placed his Holy Spirit in us. Peter says, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3 NIV) God gives us the ability to stand up for his name sake. He helps us when we hesitate. We just need to let him lead us by the hand!
-ps
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
2009 Review
Here it is 2010. As I look back over the last year, it was most likely the greatest year of spiritual growth I have ever had! It all started with a phone call from a doctor in April and the word cancer. Doctors had discovered growths on my neck and after a battery of test I got a call from Dr. Cushard himself. I can still remember the conversation like it was yesterday. He said I had tumors and they needed to come out immediately. He then proceeded to tell me I was being refereed to a surgeon at the Sacramento Cancer Center. Which prompted me to ask the question, "Do I have cancer?", to which he responded, "yes". The weight of that moment was incredible, I paused and said, "ok, I'll do whatever I have to do". At the end of the conversation I walked out back and sat down and opened my Bible, I was speechless. Right about then I read this verse "He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return" (Psalms 78:39 NIV).
This verse opened my eyes to reality, life is short and what are you doing with it? From that moment on I gave everything to God. It was the most freeing moment of my life. Over the next few months life slowed way down and I had to learn to lean of God everyday. I graduated from college on May 16th and the following week had surgery. Everything went great, better than expected. In the months afterward God had been strengthen me in ways I never knew. He lifted me out of the pit and put a new song in my mouth and praise song to my Lord. Is everything perfect not at all, but my out look is totally different. I see every day as a gift and I can't wait to proclaim Christ in my life and to the world around me.
So as I look back 2009, it was challenging to me in ways I never imagined and Christ carried all the way. As I look ahead to the coming year I can't wait to see what happens next, already things are happening. I have seen Christ at work in our church, people's lives are being changed and it's all because of Him.
Thank you Lord!
~ps
This verse opened my eyes to reality, life is short and what are you doing with it? From that moment on I gave everything to God. It was the most freeing moment of my life. Over the next few months life slowed way down and I had to learn to lean of God everyday. I graduated from college on May 16th and the following week had surgery. Everything went great, better than expected. In the months afterward God had been strengthen me in ways I never knew. He lifted me out of the pit and put a new song in my mouth and praise song to my Lord. Is everything perfect not at all, but my out look is totally different. I see every day as a gift and I can't wait to proclaim Christ in my life and to the world around me.
So as I look back 2009, it was challenging to me in ways I never imagined and Christ carried all the way. As I look ahead to the coming year I can't wait to see what happens next, already things are happening. I have seen Christ at work in our church, people's lives are being changed and it's all because of Him.
Thank you Lord!
~ps
Monday, January 4, 2010
The Person of the Cross
As I study the Bible and especially the writings of Paul, I notice something. Paul's answer to any question is always Christ, especially Christ on the cross. In our lives we are always looking for answers. We want answers about our families, about life. Why is there such evil in the world? Why are people the way they are? Why am I the way I am? The list goes on and on and we are no different from people of the past. From the very beginning we have struggled to find these answers and more. In Paul's day it wasn't any different and Paul's answer was always the same, Christ. Christ is the answer to all of our questions. He is either answer or the solution. Evil and sin are in the world, there is no denying it. Christ is the answer! Relationships are broken, Christ is the answer. We are selfish and greedy with our time, money and everything else, Christ is the answer. We are out of touch with our Father in heaven, lost and astray, Christ is the answer!
Paul also glorified the cross. The cross was the ultimate place of shame in Paul's time. No one would have ever worn a cross around their neck. The cross was a place of scorn and ridicule, yet Paul boasted in the cross, "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 NIV). The reason Paul could make such a claim is because Paul knew the person of the cross.
Paul had spent his life dedicated to becoming a Pharisees. He went to the finniest schools, he was up and coming. He prided himself in being the most knowledgeable, the most loyal, and the most 'religious'. If anyone could boast in his own righteousness it was Paul, in which he said he was 'faultless'. But on the road to Damascus all of that changed. In meeting Christ Paul's whole life was changed forever. He was never the same again, in fact in Philippians he would say this, "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" (Philippians 3:7-8 NIV). Paul looked back and considered everything he had learned, everything he had accomplished rubbish, trash, garbage! Compared to knowing Christ, nothing else mattered for Paul.
In my own life the closer I draw to Christ the more my life changes. I start to see people the way Christ sees them. In the battle with sin, I see my sin more like Christ sees my sin and I am disgusted and humbled. The person of the cross changed my life forever. I have never been the same and I can't live without him. Paul knew this and thus boasted in the cross and preached the gospel with boldness. In your life remember the person of the cross, Christ and boast to the world in knowing him.
~ps
Next we'll look at the "Power of the Cross"
Paul also glorified the cross. The cross was the ultimate place of shame in Paul's time. No one would have ever worn a cross around their neck. The cross was a place of scorn and ridicule, yet Paul boasted in the cross, "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 NIV). The reason Paul could make such a claim is because Paul knew the person of the cross.
Paul had spent his life dedicated to becoming a Pharisees. He went to the finniest schools, he was up and coming. He prided himself in being the most knowledgeable, the most loyal, and the most 'religious'. If anyone could boast in his own righteousness it was Paul, in which he said he was 'faultless'. But on the road to Damascus all of that changed. In meeting Christ Paul's whole life was changed forever. He was never the same again, in fact in Philippians he would say this, "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" (Philippians 3:7-8 NIV). Paul looked back and considered everything he had learned, everything he had accomplished rubbish, trash, garbage! Compared to knowing Christ, nothing else mattered for Paul.
In my own life the closer I draw to Christ the more my life changes. I start to see people the way Christ sees them. In the battle with sin, I see my sin more like Christ sees my sin and I am disgusted and humbled. The person of the cross changed my life forever. I have never been the same and I can't live without him. Paul knew this and thus boasted in the cross and preached the gospel with boldness. In your life remember the person of the cross, Christ and boast to the world in knowing him.
~ps
Next we'll look at the "Power of the Cross"
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