KingSHIP 002

'SHIP 002

James 4:7 ESV
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

"Submit."  We can find all kinds of soft ways to translate this word but in the final analysis it means, "to obey."  In a military usage it means to obey the commands of a superior.  In non-military usage it is a voluntary "giving in," or "cooperating."  Now which do you suppose is intended here?

For me the non-military usage would only result in a hypocritical obedience.  It is voluntary - a giving-in, a mere cooperation.  The military usages however is more to the point.  One does not "cooperate," with one's King and one only "gives-in" under pressure.  We are called to obey not cooperate.  We are called to kneel, fully acknowledgeing our sovereign Lord, not just give-in.

So we might consider actually putting in the word, "obey," to replace "submit."  Submissison/obedience is not something God asks.  It is something God commands - demands.  We can't satisfy this by just cooperating or givein-in.

Now along with the fact that God has every right to command our obedience there is the second side to this.  That is the command to resist the Devil.  This word means to oppose, to set one's self against.  It's more than a "No," it is a "Not ever!"  What part of "adversary" (1 Peter 5:8) do we not understand."

Now, many people may "resist" the Devil - they do not give in to the worse of their inclinations - but--BUT, they do not stand a chance because although they may be saying "No," there is nothing behind it.  We, on the other hand are first saying, "Yes," to God's commands and then we are opposing the Devil.  It is only the resistance of those submitted - under the command - of God whose resistance has any value.

Ok - we're not talking legalism here.  But, how any true believer can get around the need for obedience to the Lord God is beyond me.  To paraphrase Bonhoeffer, "Only those who obey beieve and only those who believe obey."  

Now, according to the Jewish rabbis there are 613 Law/Commands.  Well and good, no arguement.  But, having the full revelation of God we can begin with what Jesus told us are the two key commands.  Love God (utterly) and love your neighbor.  It is not beyond our abilities (guided by the Spirit) to start there and figure it out.  Is it?

But - God is really really good.  He has provided well:
Ephesians 4:11 ESV
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

Ok - we have no Apostles today (see the requirements in Acts).  Prophets?  Well that all depends upon how you define prophet.  We do not need any new revelations.  But we do need those called to warn us, to cajole us, to call us back to Him.  So if that's the type prophet you have in mind -Ok - I can go with that.

But we do have evangelists, shepherds and teachers (not to mention elders and deacons) who are all called to serve the Body in their callings.  So, we do not need to stumble around in the Word with no direction, guidance or help.  Actually I don't think we honor God when we forgo the ministry of those He has called for our instruction. 

We are commanded to renew our minds, to grow in His likeness and we are given those He has called to walk alongside us and guide us.  To me, to refuse their ministry is to be disobedient.  As I like to say, "There are no Lone Rangers is the Kingdom!"

So, let me ask you.  Are you under the guidance, shepherding, teaching, etc. of a godly and sound teacher?  And - are you part of a submitted fellowship where you are challenged in and by the sound teaching of the word of God?  Be careful here.  It's common in our day to suppose that we are becasue there are lots of people and we feel good about the sermons.  That is not the measure of soundness not godliness.  The Roman Circus always drew more people than the early church.

Are you convicted where you are?  I mean are you consistantly being called to holiness and realizing how fall short we all fall and are you challenged and encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to grow in your faith?  Or is it more a case of "I'm OK-You're OK - and here we are together?"  

The whole of the passage we're launching from in James reads:
James 4:7-10 ESV
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

I would draw your attention to verses 8b and 9.  Hello!  That should be a part of your Christian experience along with joy and peace and comfort.  No?  Mmmm curious, it was Paul's experience and he was a wonderful teacher.

Romans 7:21-25 ESV
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22] For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23] but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Submit - Resist > aptly describes the contenders for our attention and efforts.  

Peter’s Pen 1st Peter 1:20-21

1Pe 1:20-21  He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you  (21)  who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

It’s easy to read a verse like this and kind of say, “Yeah, duh,” but we do really need to read it slowly and carefully.

Breaking it down can help (as with many other verses).

(20) He was foreknown before the foundation of the world

but was made manifest in the last times

for the sake of you

(21)  who through him

are believers in

God,

 who raised him from the dead

and gave him glory,

so that

your faith and hope

are in God.

This verse sweeps away any confusion about who is in control of our redemption.  It makes it clear what the source of our faith is and nails not only why but how we have faith in God.

We always need to get very tired of laying the responsibility of our redemption on our own shoulders.  When we do, we are crushed.  But when we accept that all of it is of God – not only its beginning but its final result as well - we are free to praise and free to obey.

Oh what wonderful grace and mercy God has bestowed, is bestowing and will still bestow on those and through those for whom He made His Son the manifest Redeemer and Redemption.

As the lyrics to a great song says:

If I stand let me stand on the promise that You will see me through.

And, if I fall let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You.

Walk with P & Me 082612

Today is the lord’s Day and it appears He was working in hyper-drive.  Patti and I woke up kind of numb and sluggish and our concerns seemed so very distracting.

But, knowing there was no better place to be we got it together and went to join our brothers and sisters for worship.  Things got funky from there on.

A dear brother stopped by us and asked how we were bearing up.  I responded with my typical, “We’re hanging in there.”  For some reason he persisted in patting us and asking about us and to tell the truth, for a moment, I was a little irritated. 

But, I realized that while I was trying real hard to distract myself from our needs and worries, God was trying to comfort and encourage us through this brother.  That was a smack in the back of the head!  Here I am feeling sorry for myself and here’s God providing comfort and care through another and I’m being a fussy camper.

Thankfully I wasn’t so full of me that God couldn’t get through.  Or rather God was a lot bigger than the “me” I was full of and there was no way I was gonna get away with my little “pity party.”  Whichever it was He lifted my heart and my spirit all the while convicting me of my whining (and Oh was I whining).

Then a brother I really love came by and showed me his new I-pod.  He was so excited as it is a great tool for him in his work and ministry.  He was absolutely joyous.  Well, my first thought was about Patti’s computer which is ancient and holds a charge for about an hour and is still XP.  Then  I thought about how ai had planned to get her a new one and to look into a new tablet for me.  Needless to say my “joy” in my brother’s I-pod was at least a little less that sincere.

Bam – again I found my heart all stuck with “me.”  Conviction?  Oh yeah! 

Then we gather around the Lord’s Table – ouch – just what I needed, a reminder of my unworthiness.  But as we took the elements my mind and heart were turned to Him and His worthiness and my being His and what it cost Him.  I’m not saying that I experienced what we think of as a miracle but I did experience something comforting and correcting.

OK, then comes the message.  Let me give you a little background. 

The other day I was listening to Alistair Begg and happened to click on a message concerning evangelism.  Now I’ve never thought of myself as being an “evangelist.”  My gift is teaching so I left evangelism to the evangelist.  But this program – an evangelistic study of the Gospel of Mark caught my interest.  I began to form my prayers around its potential in Us In Him.

The message today – basically evangelism – the Gospel.  Ouch!!!  Not wholly convicted but close.  Now I’m (actually we are) praying about  this course as part of Us In Him.  We don’t know – we kind of think maybe – but we are being taught to wait upon Him.  And since He’ll have to provide the means for us to use the courses – we have some idea what we’re waiting for.

I write this because we rarely share this kind of experiences with one another.  Is it a big deal?  Well, it was for me. 

In one morning I went from numb and nasty to grateful and hopeful and He used both my sinfulness and His grace in others to change my mind and heart. 

I had this thought about the Marianas Trench out in the Pacific Ocean.  It is so deep that light never penetrates.  I am considering its relation to my heart.  I am discovering that there are depths to my heart I have never plumbed.  Nor have I asked God to do so – not really.  Oh, I’ve asked Him to heal my booboos and remove the most obvious and common corruptions but I’ve asked for what I find comfortable and not what needs to be done.

I found this and am thankfully hopeful:

Psa 36:1  Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. ff

Why?  As a former unredeemed “wicked,” person this was me.  I have been content to let God do a “detail” job on me (like you do a car) but I can’t remember asking Him to plumb those depths of my heart that rival the Marianas Trench.  It’s an awesome thing when you find those deep dark places.  You find them by what comes to your mind or jumps out of your mouth.

Today a couple of those weird darkness/bottom feeders rose close enough to the surface to be seen, recognized and taken to the only one who can deal with it.  I’m thankful for that and am looking to build a rememberance of it – maybe a pile of mental stones.  God has done good work for me,  but today I learned He has just begun.

Walking with P and me 10 Spiritual Detox

Walking with P and me 10 Spiritual Detox

My brother Sinclair down on the Toe of Texas has been writing about Spiritual Detox.  Yeah, it’s not exactly a biblical name but the concept is about as biblical as it can get.

I’ve worked with a lot of folks trying to detox and it’s tough.  In every way you can think of (and some you can’t) it’s tough.

Oh, I don’t want to start a fad here or add to all the weird stuff believers are encouraged to do.  Spiritual Detox, biblically, would be the removal of the world from you – another way of speaking of the battle between the spirit and the flesh.

What Patti and I are going through is very much a Spiritual Detox.  We are discovering how deeply the world has invaded our hearts, minds and affections – and how it works to remain there.

So much of our anxiety is over how people, believers or not, look at us in our present circumstances.  The “looks” we imagine are painful, humiliating, depressing, embarrassing – I could go on and on.  That’s one way and place the world has sunk its roots deeply.  Stupid, foolish, naïve – none of those are necessarily sins but the consequences, when viewed through the eyes of others, are devastating.

Hearing, “what people will say,” before they’ve said it is none the less painful for it just being imagined.  How do we know what they will say?  Shamefully I have to admit I’ve heard it said and I’m said it myself.  I have remained silent and opened my mouth in sin.  That’s how I know what people will say.

That’s a tough weed to root out – and rooted out it must be.  It’s dirty, hot, painful and exhausting labor.  Just as you think you’ve got it all – you find another little root.

There is no way to go about this work except with the aid of the Spirit.  He both convicts and comforts.  Without that comfort I’d quit.  Without His encouragement I’d quit.

The tough part is not wanting to ask for help or even share the need.  “What will people say?”  “What will they think?”  So we have to fight to share – all the while desperately hoping someone will come alongside to comfort and encourage as well as guide and advise. 

You don’t want to leave home once you’re there.  But at home, surrounded by all the (excuse me) worthless hooey you’ve surrounded yourself with just makes it worse.  I am actually praying to find a Yard-Seller extraordinaire to do a Yard Sale for us (we have no “yard” and aren’t savvy yard sellers). 

So if you leave homeyou might have to “tell,” and if you stay home everything around you accuses you.  Oy very – it’s tough.

This is just a piece of the Spiritual Detox we are in.  It’s icky to say the least – at times it feels hopeless.  It may well be hopeless – but we refuse to be.  Like any truly good thing it is hard to receive.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:11)