More Than a Lump Sum

Years ago, I had workmate who expended a lot of thought over what he would do if he ever won the lottery.  He was confused when I did not share his bizarre obsession and giddy preoccupation.  Many times he launched into a detailed explanation of the importance of receiving winnings in a lump sum and investing the money in various ways.  This guy had a serious plan for a vast sum of money (if he ever won big, of course), but I was never convinced buying the lotto religiously was the best investment plan.

In the parable Jesus told of the prodigal son, the younger of two brothers demanded his father give him his inheritance in a lump sum.  The father graciously did so, but despite the windfall the son was soon broke, destitute and homeless.  My friend imagined the lottery would simplify his life, and the prodigal son may have thought his life would be improved.  As I consider it, the idea of quick wealth in a lump sum is attractive.  Some view the Gospel this way and are glad to receive forgiveness of sins, salvation from hell and eternal life in a lump sum.  Like the prodigal left home after receiving his inheritance, some receive the Gospel and go their own way--neglecting to follow or trust Jesus Christ who died to save them.

There is also an attraction to give our lives to God in a lump sum--to go out in a blaze of glory as a martyr, a romantic notion to bravely lay down our lives for Jesus.  At the same time, we can find it hard to take up our cross daily, follow and obey Him.  James and John desired to be given the honour of sitting on each side of Jesus when He entered into His kingdom:  they requested heavenly honour in a lump sum.  Jesus asked if they were able to drink of the cup that He would drink and be baptised with His baptism.  J. Oswald Sanders writes in Spiritual Leadership, "To the Lord's probing question, they returned the glib answer "We are able"--thus betraying a tragic lack of self knowledge.  Jesus told them that they would indeed drink the cup and experience the baptism.  They must learn that for an influential ministry there would be a steep price to pay--and that it cannot be paid in a lump sum." (Sanders, J. Oswald. Spiritual Leadership. Moody Press, 1989. page 31)

The cost of following Jesus Christ cannot be paid in a lump sum, nor do we receive every blessing at once.  We are made new creations through the Gospel and given eternal life in a moment,  Jesus once for all paid with His shed blood to atone for the sins of the world, and in receiving Him we have all our needs met.   However, our lives are not given to us in a lump sum but are to be lived out day by day, and blessed is the one who faithfully invests in relationship and fellowship with God.  We have received this glorious salvation and acceptance into God's kingdom, we cannot wisely live our lives without constant reliance and guidance from Christ.  The one who daily seeks Jesus and serves Him will be better off than the wisest, richest king who ever lived--whose heart departed from the LORD.  For those who have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing, the best is yet to come.

Children of God

John the Baptist was quite a polarising figure in Israel.  He had a devout Jewish upbringing under the Law of Moses and was the son of a respected priest.  His lifestyle was strict and his devotion to God brought back memories of prophets of old--to the point Jews wondered if he could possibly be the Messiah!  At the same time, John spoke without respect of persons, rebuking those who came into the wilderness to be baptised by him.  His fierce upholding of God's word and his severe demeanor against wickedness gained him many followers.  Luke 3:7-9 says, "Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ⁹ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  Turn or burn, one could say.

John strongly denied he was the Messiah, but he came to prepare the way for Him.  He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness and preached repentance to the people, and many souls turned to God with expectancy.  Some left all to follow him as disciples, and others hated him and did not believe him.  Many went seeking John out of curiosity, to see a local celebrity for themselves, but being baptised was not repentance.  John's words challenged and rattled people who were confident in their heritage and righteousness under the Law, that their talk or undergoing ritual baptism was cheap without a change of mind, heart and life.  He was not satisfied by the droves of people who came to see him or the number of people he and his disciples baptised:  his preaching brought the acute realisation they needed a Saviour--even though Abraham was their father.  The preaching of John worked to shatter self-righteousness and self-confidence so people would see their need for forgiveness and salvation they would discover could only be found by faith in Jesus Christ.

One thing John said that impacts me as a Gentile is the line, "For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones."  To those who could not boast in Abraham being their distant relative, those with whom God made an everlasting covenant with, this is both challenging and encouraging.  It is likely John pointed to stones that littered the ground to make his point, saying God was able to raise up children to Abraham from stones even as God miraculously caused living water to flow from the rock in the wilderness.  God is able to bring life to something that has no life.  He is able to remove a heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that feels, is sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and is filled with love and compassion that did not exist before.  Do you believe God is able to raise up children for Abraham from stones?  What is encouraging about this is we have seen Jesus Christ fulfill this word, for Gentiles who were alienated from the kingdom of God have been born again by the power of the Gospel and accepted by grace.  As many as have received Jesus by faith, the same He has given the right to become children of God.

Take to heart this lesson from the stones that are inanimate, unfeeling, senseless, dense, hard and heavy objects.  The stones that lie on the ground and we dig up in the garden were formed long before we were born, and will likely remain unmoved long after our bodies turn to dust.  Stones seem permanent and that they can never be something they are not.  When Jesus Christ enters the scene, however, He brings hope to hopelessness and the promise of life where there was no life.  He is able to raise up children of God from stones, and those who have repented of sin and been born again by faith in Jesus are proof of His divine power and grace.  Paul explained this transformation of God's true people in Romans 2:28-29:  it is not by ethnicity but accomplished spiritually by faith in Jesus:  "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹ but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God."  God is able to raise any person to be a true child of Abraham through faith in Christ, and we better believe it!

Be Transformed

The Gospel can do what nothing else in the world can:  it transforms us inside and out.  By faith in Jesus Christ, a sinner is saved and born again by the indwelling Holy Spirit who empowers us to do God's will.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Knowing facts, philosophy or even theology cannot save a person from death and hell, but Jesus can.  To people saved by grace through faith in Jesus Paul wrote in Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  It is only through the Gospel we can pass from death to life and be transformed today and every day.

The word for "transformed" is the Greek word from which we use for "metamorphosis."  This is a change of form and structure by an amazing process that takes place inside a chrysalis where the body of the caterpillar is dissolved and a new body forms and emerges with completely different behaviour, characteristics and diet.  In its larval form a caterpillar crawls around and eats leaves, and after shedding the chrysalis a butterfly has wings, antennae, eyes, mouth and genitals.  Butterflies do not eat leaves but drink nectar, a wonder of God's handiwork and incredible design.  Each cell is "programmed" to be digested at the perfect time to make the complete transformation possible, fueling imaginal discs to form a new, far more complex creature.  This is the finger of God, for only He can bring life out of death.

A caterpillar changes to a butterfly or moth by instinct designed by God, and people are born again by a conscious choice to repent of sin and trust in Jesus as Saviour.  At the moment of conversion we are born again and given spiritual life, yet we can continue to think and live as we did previously.  Thus Paul exhorted believers to "be transformed," suggesting that as we came to Jesus by faith voluntarily, we are also to choose to live by faith marked by obedience to God, freely choosing to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God willingly.  Having been made new creations by the power of the Gospel, our lives ought to reflect that inner, spiritual change that has occurred by the renewing of our mind.  Inspired by the wisdom of God's word and fellowship with other Christians, as we feed on God's word, think about it, and make changes to put it into practice, our lives will reflect this miraculous change God does and continues through our lives.

I have heard this testimony many times, that people came to faith in Jesus Christ because their spouse or a friend totally changed for the better by finding Jesus--who was seeking to save them and calling them all along.  It is curious to people in the world when lifelong addictions are broken, pride is dissolved by humility, and raging violence in a person is quashed with genuine love by simple faith in Jesus.  People who are not readers by nature suddenly are reading the Bible, understanding it and following it.  God revealed His word sustained His people more than the manna they ate in Deuteronomy 8:3:  "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD."  Countless hungry souls have found transformation, satisfaction and rest in Christ who is wisdom for us.

Praise the LORD for the His transforming power provided by His Gospel of grace.  Today is the day of salvation and the day for transformation as well!  Blessed is the man who seeks God and does His will, one who chooses to live like the new creation God has made us to be in Christ.

A Purposeful Reminder

We don't have to be the most intelligent human beings to tell the difference between something done on accident or on purpose.  When I was a boy, a friend of mine at school pushed down hard on a see-saw (teeter-totter or whatever those illegal schoolyard apparatuses are called nowadays) and smacked me right in the mouth.  I found myself lying on my back in a daze, blood pouring from a gash in my lip, glad I still had all my teeth.  He was mortified and very apologetic, and I thought or felt no ill towards him whatsoever:  it was an accident, and accidents happen.  There were plenty of times growing up the words and actions of others incensed me because they were mean and hurtful on purpose--even though they didn't involve stitches or result in a scar on the face.

This understanding of the difference between accidents and things done on purpose illustrates an important role reason plays in everyday life.  Because things exist that have intended purpose, by observation I am convinced life itself is filled with purpose.  Meaning and significance does not arise by accident.  What some would call coincidence or blind luck, those who believe God created the heavens and earth see His hand and wisdom at work in countless things.  I do not have the faith to say nothing created the universe, that the metamorphosis of a butterfly is a happy coincidence, or that reason and human understanding has arisen without a reason from random chemicals or cells.  Life cannot arise from non-life, otherwise I might suspect a rug or my couch could swallow me whole.

While I may be in the minority, I believe the only way anyone can experience anything good is because God is good.  Since I have a relationship with the living God who knows, sees, hears, speaks and can do everything, my eyes are at times open to His influence in my world--when I just know something was not done by accident but was on purpose.  As a child you could not have convinced me my friend intended to split my lip open, and there still remains no doubt in my mind since we talked about it later as middle-aged adults.  With childlike faith in a friend I knew truth I could not prove in a test-tube or laboratory.  

The title of this blog is "Marching Forth!" and the background is March 4th was my wife's favourite date because it was an action.  I was intentional to propose marriage to her on March 3rd so March 4th would be the first full day of our engagement.  There was a reason and purpose behind the title to this blog because it connected with the date I became acutely aware God was calling me to go to Australia after years of wondering:  yep, it was March 4th and can read about it on my post "Speaking in Symphony."  More recently God provided much needed encouragement for me in an unexpected way.  I had sent my U.S. passport in for replacement in January and I was wondering if there was a problem with my application because it was taking a long time.  Yesterday I received my passport, and guess what date it was issued?  March 4th!  It was a lovely way of God reminding of His faithfulness, His calling and His goodness.  He has continued being wonderful, awe-inspiring and glorious without fail.

To some people that would be a random coincidence or accident, but I'll take it as on purpose--a sweet reminder from the LORD He never has forgotten or forsaken me and remains faithful.  By God's grace may I remain faithful to Him, the God who creates life full of purpose and joy for those who trust Him.