Receiving All Jesus Paid For

For years I have had my eye on a Weber smoker, and this week I finally bought one.  One of the big selling points for me is Weber quality and customer service.  The first grill I bought after arriving in Australia was cheaply made (though not cheap in price), and rusted quickly as it was clearly unsuited for the humidity.  The quality components and strong warranty Weber actually honours is a big selling point.  It's true in this case:  a buyer gets what he pays for.

When you pay full price, it makes sense to expect to receive all the products and benefits promised.  As I have been studying the book of Galatians I am struck with the high price Jesus paid for salvation by giving Himself, and how far short we can fall from realising the indescribable benefits He has provided.  Through the Gospel Jesus has redeemed sinners from the curse of the Law and provided the blessing of Abraham, the "promise of the Holy Spirit through faith." (Gal. 3:10-14)  For the Galatians and many believers through the years it is like Jesus paid full price for the smoker, fuel, meat, thermometer, and cookbook, but all they took from this divine transaction was the owner's manual - a framework of belief, some "dos and don'ts."  They have mailed in the form to register their product of salvation, so to speak, but the grace of God hasn't been experienced.

How liberating is the grace of God, that salvation and justification are received by faith in Jesus alone.  I don't know it is possible for humans who cannot know the depth of their own wretchedness to understand and appreciate fully the kindness God has shown us by His grace.  We receive the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith, and then we are called to abide in Christ as we walk in faith led by the Spirit.  The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus.  Since God has delivered us from the ultimate results of the curse of the Law which is eternal death and separation from God in hell, Jesus has also redeemed us from every curse of the Law.  The next time you read a curse under the Law, you can know with all confidence the blood of the Son of God Jesus Christ has redeemed you from it.  Praise God for His salvation by grace through faith, and let us walk in the righteous freedom Christ gave Himself to provide!

Tragedy and Truth

God can use tragedy to bring realisation of truth because He is a Redeemer.  Circumstances we immediately judge as negative, pointless, and unnecessary God employs in His sovereign plans for good.  A situation in the life of Elijah presents an example.

The background is Elijah was a prophet of the God of Israel, yet king Ahab and many Israelites worshipped Baal:  the god of fertility, weather, rain, wind, lightning, war, and seasons.  Elijah prayed it would not rain, and through the ensuing drought and famine which lasted over three years it was evident Baal was powerless to bring the necessary rain.  God directed the prophet Elijah to live with a poor widow woman and her young son, and God miraculously provided for their needs.

Over the course of time the little boy became ill and died.  The heartbroken woman was distraught and 1 Kings 17:18 reads, "So she said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?"  In her grief the woman felt judged by God because of the unthinkable tragedy of losing a child to illness.  Perhaps she felt extending hospitality to a man of God ought to bring blessings, and the death of her only son seemed a curse.  Elijah took the body of the deceased child and placed him on his own bed.

1 Kings 17:20-22 says, "Then he cried out to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?" ²¹ And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him." ²² Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived."  James says the fervent prayers of the righteous avail much, and Elijah cried out to God.  The woman who kindly received Elijah lost her son to sickness, and for some reason God allowed it as the giver of life.  In his praying Elijah did not tell God reasons why He ought to answer, but cried out to the LORD for the boy to live again.  God heard the prayers of Elijah and the child miraculously revived.

The ways of God are higher than we can comprehend, yet one purpose behind God's revival of the child is found in the mother's response in 1 Kings 17:23-24:  "And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives!" ²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth."  The widow called Elijah a "man of God" likely sarcastically in derision before, but after the revival of her child she acknowledged the power of God, Elijah was God's prophet, and the word of the LORD spoken through him was truth.  As in the life of Jesus and His followers, the miraculous confirmed the truth of what they spoke.

When Elijah first met this woman, she was resigned to starvation because she only had a little flour and oil left.  Though she daily witnessed the provision of God by causing the meal and oil to last days, weeks, months, even years, she did not believe the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.  It seems it was only after her son died, her heart was crushed, and he was graciously revived that her perspective changed.  It took tragedy to make way for truth.  This passage had a happy ending:  not that the boy was raised from the dead (as awesome that it is), but the woman came to realise God is the LORD and His Word was true.  May tragedy cause us to seek and trust God more, not run from Him in denial.

Celebrate God's Grace

Every day is a fitting time to celebrate the grace of God.  Appreciation of God's grace springs from the acknowledgement we are undeserving of any good thing.  If there is a moment circumstances fill us with the feeling "Life is good," it is only good because God is good and gracious.  When we feel like is a drag and a bummer, it is evident we have ceased looking to God and are either focused on ourselves or problems - something other than God.  In Jesus alone is abundant, eternal life, and He offers it freely to all who trust in Him.

The grace of God stands in contrast to all who clamour for rights, equality, and social justice.  Our very existence on this planet is by the grace of God alone.  These humanistic approaches claim all people are entitled to an arbitrary standard of living based upon what others have, not because of who they are:  people created and loved by God for Him.  The reach of human rights and justice is limited, but grace goes beyond what is required out of love.  Man's problem is seeking to make ourselves equal or superior to God, and when we do so we selfishly rob ourselves of countless blessings, peace with God, contentment, and divine provision to help others.  The reality of God far surpasses human idealism or legislation.

How gracious and good God is to provide eternal life when we deserve death because of sin.  We have all rebelled against God in our wickedness, but He has drawn near to us by grace.  1 John 5:11-13 says, "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."  What peace and joy we are given by God's grace, to have absolute security and certainty of an eternal, glorious future with Jesus.  He has provided everlasting life as a free gift paid for by an immense cost, for Jesus laid down His life on the cross for sinners.

The God who preserves our souls eternally will not forsake us during our lives on earth, knowing what we need to live.  David wrote in Psalm 37:25, "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread."  If God provides food for the birds of heaven, won't He supply the food we need by His grace?  He will not forsake us, and the infinite grace He extends towards us provides cause to trust and praise Him.  Psalm 37:1-5 tells us, "Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. ² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. ³ Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. ⁴ Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. ⁵ Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."

God is faithful and gracious, and as we delight ourselves in Him all our needs will be supplied.  He's sustained you many years to be able to read this, right?  Won't He continue to guide us and supply all our needs in a world where our only future certainty is our demise?

Christ In Me

We are studying through the book of Galatians at Calvary Chapel Sydney on Sunday mornings and it has been a privilege and blessing to put the talks together.  The letter was written by Paul to stand against legalism and emphasised how righteousness and salvation come by faith in Jesus Christ alone.  The Law never promised righteousness, but exposed the need of sinners to be forgiven.  The Law was like a schoolmaster who led us by the hand to our Saviour who could forgive and redeem us, Jesus Christ.

A portion of the book which has impacted me immensely is found in chapter 2.  Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20:  "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  Paul, through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on Calvary, was through the Law dead to the Law.  The risen and glorified Messiah Jesus now lived in Paul's life by faith in Him.  God is not just for us or with us:  He lives in us.  How awesome is this?

In preparing for the message I remembered The Saving Life of Christ written by Major W. Ian Thomas.  He wrote, "If you will but trust Christ, not only for the death He died in order to redeem you, but also in the life that He lives and waits to live through you, the very next step you take will be a step taken in the very energy and power of God Himself...You will have become totally dependent upon the life of Christ within you, and never before will you have been so independent, so emancipated from the pressure of your circumstances, so released at last from that self-distrust which has made you at one moment an arrogant, loud-mouthed braggart, and the next moment the victim of your own self-pity - and, either way, always in bondage to the fear of other men's opinions." (Thomas, W. Ian. The Saving Life of Christ. Zondervan, 1994. pages 15-16)

What a worthy reminder!  It is one thing to acknowledge God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and died on the cross and rose again, but a necessary step to believe He lives in us and waits to live through us.  No more can we pride ourselves on our maturity or growth, for it is Christ in us.  All mercy, self-control, love, and boldness for the sake of God's glory is evidence of Christ in us.  We refer to fellow Christians as being faithful or solid, but that is actually Christ in them.  As it is written in 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  Praise the LORD Jesus lives in us, and may we choose to surrender ourselves before God believing Him so His excellency might shine forth.