Jun 28

Jesus, All For Jesus

Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ 2 Comments »

 

Yesterday we sang a song during our weekend worship services that truly captured the heart and message of the book of Hebrews – “Jesus, All for Jesus”

Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.

For it’s only in Your will that I am free,
For it’s only in Your will that I am free,
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

As we pursue a vision of the supremacy of Christ in all things, this is what it looks like… surrendering all of our ambitions, hopes, and plans to Jesus, knowing that it’s only in His will that we are truly free. Where are those areas of your life where you’re giving Him free reign? Ask for more of Him in those areas. And where are the areas where you have yet to give Him lordship? It’s not as if He needs it, but give Him full permission to take over all of your life. Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. As we walk with Him, through Him, and for Him, those areas of become increasingly apparent and painful and we long for His grace and presence in every place of our heart and lives. “Jesus, all for Jesus. All I am and have and ever hope to be.”

Tagged with: • • •
Jun 20

Unstable or Unshakable?

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Theological Musings No Comments »

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” ~ Hebrews 12:11

Here’s the reality about spiritual formation: the forming in “formation” is painful. Forming always means change.  Let’s face it, we often don’t like change. The way that God changes us involves removing things that aren’t about Him… removing our unstable, earthly values and replace them with and forming in us His unshakable, eternal values.

Everything that He does and allows is for our greatest good, for our spiritual maturity, and for our everlasting joy. I know that’s difficult to believe, especially when we are going through difficult seasons in our lives. And that’s why we live by faith… even and especially when we don’t see and we’re not sure of what God is up to in our confusion and crises. As He removes the unstable and replaces it with the unshakable, we walk and live by faith, believing that God is who He says He is and that He does what He says He does.  But remember that in the moment, it’s not pleasant. It’s not always filled with immediate joy. That tends to and seems to come afterward.

Here’s what A.W. Tozer wrote about the pain of true spiritual formation in The Pursuit of God:

The ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize it as springing out of self-pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart.

Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all Those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Where in your life is He removing the unstable to form the unshakable?

Tagged with: • • • • • • •
May 02

Profiles of the Spiritually Immature & Mature

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Sermons, Theological Musings 3 Comments »

This past Sunday I preached on Hebrews 5:11-6:20 in our Hebrews: the Supremacy of Christ series.  This passage is one of the most controversial theological passages in the New Testament.  The interpretive challenge centers around a possible loss of salvation.  But after studying it, praying through it, and preaching it, I think the heart of the passage points to growing in our life with Jesus move than losing our life with Jesus.  It’s an exhortation and encouragement to keep growing in our life with Jesus as we move from spiritual immaturity to spiritual maturity.

Spiritual Immaturity is marked by Impatient Pragmatism & Shallow Faith. The American Church is rife with these two characteristics.  Impatient pragmatism says, “If following Jesus doesn’t bring immediate results for me right now, I’m done with it.”  The spiritually immature tend to treat Jesus like a personal servant rather than the Lord of the Universe.  Here’s the way Michael Horton explains it in Christless Christianity:

[In the American Church] everything is measured by our happiness rather than by God’s holiness, the sense of our being sinners becomes secondary, if not offensive.  If we are good people who have lost our way but with the proper instruction and motivation can become a better person, we need only a life coach, not a redeemer.  Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups. My concern is that we are getting dangerously close to the place in everyday American church life where the Bible is mined for “relevant” quotes but is largely irrelevant on its own terms. God is used as a personal resource rather than known, worshiped, and trusted. Jesus is a coach with a good game plan for our victory rather than a Savior who has already achieved it for us. Salvation is more a matter of having our best life now than being saved from God’s judgment by god himself.  And the Holy Spirit is an electrical outlet we can plug into for the power we need to be all that we can be. (compilation of quotes from pp. 15-19)

When life gets hectic and the world gets hostile, the spiritually immature tend to wither because of a shallow faith.  We have a tendency to dumb down the Christian faith, not wanting to talk about the more difficult, complex, and mysterious things of God and faith because they are difficult.  And we like it easy.  But the problem is, when life gets tough, easy doesn’t cut it.  Easy doesn’t last.  Easy and shallow faith wilts and withers.  This is the profile of the spiritually immature.

Spiritual Maturity is marked by Patient Perseverance & Deep Faith. Those who are spiritually mature persevere whatever comes their way with patience.  Here’s why: their deep faith has nurtured them and matured them to understand and know more deeply the character and nature of God.  People who are spiritually mature have a resiliency and a resolve in their life with Jesus because they believe in the gospel and promises of God. They want to understand more and more deeply who Jesus fully is and what He has done on their behalf.  They want to mine the depths of God’s Word.  And in that process of going and growing deep with Jesus, they develop deep roots that keep them from wilting and withering when the storms and droughts invariably come along.  This is the profile of the spiritually mature.

Where are you on the spiritual continuum of immaturity to maturity?  Where are those areas of your life where you seem stuck, unwilling to move forward? How can you see Jesus Christ for who He fully is, the crucified and risen Lord, and grow in your depth, love, and worship for what He has fully done on your behalf?  Keep going and keep growing in your life with Jesus as you move from spiritual immaturity to spiritual maturity.


Tagged with: • • • • • • •
Apr 02

Passion Week (Good Friday): Crown for Crown

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Passion Week & Good Friday, Passion Week 2010 No Comments »


“But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:9

Tonight is the night… the night where we experience the exchange of crowns.  We begin with the crown of shame, the woven thorns piercing the brow of God.  But we lean into and look forward to the crown of glory, the radiant splendor that King Jesus is given because of His obedience and great sacrifice. Tonight we fully enter into the tension of these two crowns fully knowing how the Great Story ends.  I look forward to seeing you tonight at our Good Friday services (6:30 or 8 pm).

Crown for crown, we’ll exchange
Crown for crown and Name for name
One of life and one of shame
Crown for crown, we’ll exchange

That crown of thorns
That He wears upon His brow
Was meant for me
But my Savior wears it now
Painful crown, full of shame
For it’s written with my name

That crown of life
That was only meant for Him
He gave to me
When He took away my sin
Joyful crown, without shame
For it’s written with my name

From “Crown for Crown” by Guy Gray

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •
Apr 01

Passion Week (Thursday): The Power of the Cross

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Passion Week & Good Friday, Passion Week 2010 No Comments »

“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” Hebrews 2:14-15

As we saw yesterday, the cross is scandalous.  But as we discover today, the cross is powerful.  As we near Good Friday, we revel in the fact that this cross of death becomes the place of life.  “High King of Heaven, my victory won” because this King, through His death, pronounced death dead and the dead alive through and with Him.  Because the Divine became human, disillusionment becomes triumph and death becomes life. This is the powerful truth of the cross, and it is this great truth that has set us free.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Tagged with: • • • • • • • •
Mar 31

Passion Week (Wednesday): The Scandal of the Cross

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Passion Week & Good Friday, Passion Week 2010 No Comments »


“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:8

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

A wall in my office is adorned with crosses.  This seems strange in that the cross is the most horrifying instrument of death ever known to humanity. The Jewish historian Josephus called crucifixion “the most wretched of deaths.” The Roman philosopher Cicero said, “it is altogether so disgusting and shameful that Romans and Greeks should not even speak of it because it is not fit for good, decent people to even mention it.  It is unsuitable for polite conversation.”  According to the Jewish law, anyone who was crucified died under the curse of God.  And yet Jesus submitted Himself to this execution.  The cross is the way that Jesus Christ chose to die the death we should have died, paying the price we should have paid.  Truly Jesus paid it all.

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him
My robe His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down
All down at Jesus’ feet.

Tagged with: • • • • • • • •
Mar 31

Passion Week (Monday): The Crown of Thorns on the King of All

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Passion Week & Good Friday, Passion Week 2010 No Comments »

John 19:1-15 tells the story of the crown of thorns on the King of All…

Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Our first passage draws us into the tension of the Passion Week.  There Jesus, the King of All, stands before Pilate and his soldiers wearing the crown of thorns.  The King has come down to seek and save us, but those He came to rescue mock and scourge Him.  It might be easy to remove ourselves from the scene, blaming Pilate and the Roman Empire for what happened to Jesus.  But in reality, we were there.  Our sin led Him to this place.  Our treason against the King crowned Him with blood.  Yet the mysterious grace of God is present in that moment… “and by His scourging we are healed.”

Tagged with: • • • • • • •
Mar 29

Thoughts on Fasting this Passion Week

Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Northshore Baptist Church, Theological Musings 3 Comments »

This past Sunday I invited Northshore to fast this Passion Week in preparation for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  In my message I said, “simply skip meals for a day.”  Some of you had questions like “is it really that simple?”  Fasting means forgoing something for a moment to reorient and focus our hearts on Jesus.  Most often, we fast from food.  If you’ve never fasted before, you can begin by skipping a meal or two or going without food for the whole day.  If you’ve fasted before, you can fast for a day or more.  If you are skipping a couple of meals, take the time that you would spend in meal preparation and eating to pray and focus on Christ.  My invitation to Northshore was to specifically fast and pray for our Good Friday and Easter services this coming Sunday, and especially for those that come that do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The key to fasting is your heart.  You fast not because you’re trying to impress God or anyone else.  You fast to deny yourself the pleasure of food (and even the need for food for a time).  And when you feel the hunger coming on, you are reminded that Jesus is the Bread of Life.  He is our ultimate sustenance.  He is the Provider of all our needs.

For more information on fasting, see http://www.gotquestions.org/fasting-christian.html

See you Friday evening (6:30 or 8 pm) and Sunday (8, 9:30. 11 am or 5:45 pm)!

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •
Mar 21

The Painful Joy of Soul-Pruning

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Sermons, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

My wife put me to work in our backyard yesterday.  It’s that time of the year… time to prune and shape our trees for the coming spring growth.  I got my college degree in horticulture, so I like nice shaped trees and a well manicured landscape.  So it means I have to cut things back for growth.  And when I make those cuts, the tree looks pretty bare.  It looks scraggly.  And at times, I wonder if it’ll even grow back.  I wonder if the tree finds it painful or does it know that it needs these intentional wounds to grow healthy and full again.

To be honest with you (and I wish this wasn’t so), this seems to be the way Jesus prepares us for growth.  He prunes us.  He removes the old wood in our lives that keep us from being shaped by and for Him.  It’s what He talks about in the famous vine and branches passage in John 15:1-5.  There’s another passage that talks about pruning, but here it’s called discipline in Hebrews 12:7-11

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Notice that last phrase… “afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”  As we allow Jesus to prune those places in our lives that need to go, those places that cloud our vision of Him, those places that rob Him of glory and us of good, there is a fruit borne… a fruit filled with righteousness, wholeness, and delight in Him.  He is gracious to prune us because He loves us so.

Tagged with: • • • • • • •
Mar 14

The Legalist & The Loser

Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Sermons, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

Today’s message from Hebrews 1:4-14 resonated especially with our “religious tendencies” to gravitate and vacillate between The Legalist and The Loser.  Here’s what the Legalist believes: “Because I’ve got my stuff together, I can come to God.”  And here’s what the Loser believes: “I’ve got to get my stuff together before I can come to God.” Both don’t understand the gospel or fully grasp the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Both religious extremes tend to make much of ourselves and little of Christ.  Both the Legalist and the Loser are living in a works-based salvation that doesn’t comprehend the depth of our depravity or the extent of God’s great grace through Jesus Christ.  So the gospel confronts both.

The antidote to gravitating to and vacillating between these two religious extremes is listening to the gospel daily.  Great gospel passages like 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:23-26, and Romans 8:31-34 confront our religion and call us back to the cross.  So this week, take one of these great gospel passages, memorize it, meditate upon it, pray through it, listen to it, and rehearse God’s great grace for you.

Finally, here’s a humorous yet sobering picture of our “goodness” apart from Christ:

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you, when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color or politics,
Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.

Thank goodness that our goodness is found in the great grace of Jesus Christ.

Tagged with: • • • • • •
Previous Entries
preload preload preload