Biblical Theology for Transformation - 26th Posting

Patience.

You'll notice that this post, unlike previous postings, does not have a Bible verse at the top. Well, this one is far more personal for me and I titled it as "Patience" because that is exactly what God is developing in me right now. I have a long ways to go, but I have realized some very important things in the last few weeks about patience. I am really going to open up here and just write to you straight from my personal journal. Below is what I wrote in my journal recently about God's dealing with me and my lack of patience. I did not intend to post this journal entry. I was simply encouraged by my wife to write down the things we talked about in dealing with patience. I journal often, so I went to my journal and what you will read is my conversation with God and myself.

12/20/11

God continues to reveal to me that I am lacking a great amount of patience. All of my sin seems to come back to my impatience. I get frustrated because I am impatient. Angry because of my impatience. I am constantly wanting immediate results in behavior from my children. When I don't get those results, I impatiently explode! What is that teaching them? God is not selling our home yet which also tests my patience. But as I see those truths more and more, I realize I have a lot of patience to gain. The thing about patience is that it has to develop. Patience is a process. You can't just realize you need patience and you're good to go. Patience, by virtue of its definition, requires time to develop in us. So even though I realize that God is not selling my home in order to develop patience in me, that is not enough just to REALIZE it. I actually have to endure the time period of waiting with patience. I have to actually endure to gain patience.

As I look into Scripture about patience, it's almost always connected to suffering. James and Peter mention patience in suffering (James 5:7-12; 1 Peter 3:8-20). The charge in Scripture is always to patiently endure your sufferings. Paul makes the connection of endurance and suffering in Romans 5:3, when he wrote, "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character." Not all sufferings take a lot of time, so how can Paul say suffering produces endurance unless he assumes suffering causes the sufferer to be patient. Some people may not agree that not selling my home is a suffering. But for me and my family right now...it is. So we must endure this temporary suffering and develop patience.

But HOW we endure is also key. Paul says in Romans 5:3, "We REJOICE in our sufferings." Paul's conclusion is that our joy in our sufferings makes perfect sense because the character development in suffering is eternal, though the suffering is temporal. What a great joy that we get to earn eternal hope and character through a pain or suffering that will shortly fade away. So finding joy in difficult times is ESSENTIAL for our development in patience. Part of the reason I am letting my impatience hurt me is because I have no joy! My lack of joy in my difficulties causes me to sarcastically say, "Really God?!?!" My lack of joy for God's development in me through trial is only producing in me a lack of confidence in His sovereign plan for my life. But when I am joyful and rejoicing in my trial and suffering, I am producing confidence in God's good work in me. I can trust Him more and know that the result is for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28). Asking for patience is asking for trials.

Biblical Theology for Transformation - 25th Posting

"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2

What do you consider the greatest knowledge you have? If you're a teacher, maybe you learned the best teaching techniques from a prominent university. If you're a carpenter, maybe you learned the most advanced way of reconstructing broken down homes. If you're a salesman, maybe your greatest advantage is knowing how to read people in order to sell your product. Whatever you consider to be the most advantageous piece of knowledge you possess...it pales compared to knowing the truth of Jesus Christ.

That is what Paul is really trying to say to the Corinthians in this text. Paul tells the Corinthians in 2:1, "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom." What Paul is really saying, is that he didn't have to sugar coat the gospel. He doesn't need to have a degree in public speaking from the best university in the world to accurately and effectively preach the gospel. All Paul wanted to portray was Jesus Christ and His gospel.

So what does this mean for us? You don't have to be an eloquent speaker to share the gospel. You don't have to be a brilliant communicator to effectively preach the gospel. All you need...IS THE GOSPEL!

But Why? Isn't someone with great speaking ability, like Billy Graham or John Piper, more successful at making disciples or converts? Though men like Billy Graham may be effective in their speaking, it is not their ability to speak that brings about results...it is the power of God's Word that makes the hearers hear!

Isaiah 55:11 says, "So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." It is the power that belongs to God that makes His Word effective...not the speaker. Notice how in this verse in Isaiah, God says, "my mouth". Even when His Word is preached from a human, it is God who is doing the speaking. We are simply the instruments that God uses to share His Word. As John Piper said, "To be a conduit of God's grace, you don't need to be lined with gold, copper will do." What great truth! We don't have to be great speakers to tell people of the great grace and gift that God provides in Jesus Christ.

Be encouraged...God is willing to use you in ANY situation to share His gospel. You don't have to be a great speaker or even a preacher...you just need to say what God has already said.

"And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:14). It is our responsibility to proclaim the gospel, God has the results covered. Just a few verses later, in 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." Paul is referring to the preaching of the gospel. Paul and Apollos preached and proclaimed the gospel, but the effective results of salvation was wrought by God, not by those who proclaimed.

So do not hesitate to tell the world. Do not be discouraged. According to Romans 1:18-20, God has already begun the work in the hearts of ALL people. They have suppressed the truth. It is our responsibility to tell them about Jesus, His death and resurrection and let God unleash the truth they have hidden away in their wickedness. We should never be discouraged when we share the gospel and people persecute us or don't believe. Our faithfulness is to share, God will deal with the results of the gospel we proclaim. So there are no more excuses for us! Proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world. As Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

Please take this last piece of knowledge with grace, it is meant to encourage, not discourage. How willing are you to take responsibility for those you know that don't know Christ? When we don't tell them the truth, we are essentially telling God that we are comfortable with letting them suffer eternally in hell. True love for those people will tell them the truth, no matter how they might respond or how they will think of us after we tell them. Compassion for their lost souls is part of our motivation. If you don't have compassion for their lost souls, what motivates you to share? We desire to see all people worship the True Almighty God of the Universe. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Are we really ok with them falling into an angry God's hands? If you're not, then TELL THEM! Pray that God would create in you a heart of compassion and love for those who don't know God. And then watch as he develops a heart of worship in you that desires to see the lost come to the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ!

Biblical Theology for Transformation - 24th Posting

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." -Mark 1:14-15

What is the gospel? If you were to share the gospel to someone on the streets or a friend, how would you lay it out for them? That can be a pretty tricky question for some believers. Though they believe in the gospel, it may be hard to clarify exactly what the gospel is. The gospel primarily contains a few key truths that Christians stand on as fundamental truths.

"Jesus is both fully God and fully man. He was born to the virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit. He lived a perfect sinless life. He died on a cross for our sins, was buried and was risen by the power of the Father on the third day. He is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high and will return again one day to capture His people."

This may be a basic gist of what we sometimes share with people as we spell out the gospel for them. But in chapter one of Mark's gospel, Jesus' gospel seems to be a bit shorter. Mark's gospel is the shortest of the four New Testament gospel accounts and certainly the most active. Mark's perspective on Jesus' life (most likely rendered from Peter) is quick and to the point. Mark doesn't spend nearly as much time in discourse or explaining Jesus' actions and words as the other gospels do. Usually, when you find a text in Mark that is paralleled in the other gospels, Mark's is the shortest. However, in Mark 1:14-15, we have the longest version of what Mark calls, "the gospel of God." It is paralleled only in Matthew 4:17 and Matthew's version reads, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Let's build a little context to help us better understand this text. Jesus had recently been baptized. After His baptism, according to Mark 1:12, Jesus was then "immediately" driven out by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He went into Galilee. The next words in Mark's gospel are greatly important. Jesus entered Galilee and was "proclaiming the gospel of God." How often do we say, "We'll know what this means when we get to heaven and ask God"? Don't we long to know what God knows? Don't we long to ask God the tough questions? What are God's thoughts on....?" We are blessed, here, to know exactly what God calls His gospel. The words that Jesus preached in Mark 1:15 IS the God's gospel!

It seems so much shorter than how we would describe the gospel. Yet it is all encompassing of the truth of God's heart. The gospel of God in the words of Jesus are, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." The core command that Jesus preaches in regards to the gospel is that we REPENT and BELIEVE! It is short, but highly effective. Repent, turn from your sins and sin no more! Believe, trust in Jesus Christ as your salvation and place your faith in Him. "Believe" is merely one word, yet it holds so much truth. WHAT must we believe to be saved? The answer is: believe in Jesus. But don't the demons believe? Is it enough just to believe? "Believe in Jesus" may sound too general of a statement to be effective. But look at the words Jesus speaks just before saying "repent and believe in the gospel." Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is at hand." What does that mean?!?! In order to understand that, we must realize what his words prior to that statement mean. Jesus says, "The time is fulfilled."

What is fulfilled? The time of waiting is fulfilled. The time of waiting for God to send the Savior of Israel has arrived. Jesus is saying, after thousands of years of waiting, after all the prophesies about a coming Messiah, after all the preachers and prophets declaring the Way, finally, I HAVE ARRIVED! All the prophesies about the coming Messiah have now been FULFILLED! HE IS HERE! So when Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is at hand," He is saying, "I AM AT HAND." Or in other words, "I AM HERE!" When we put these parts of Jesus' gospel message together (at the risk of putting words in Jesus' mouth), He is saying, "I am the Messiah, the chosen one. The one that all the prophesies declared. I am here now, I have finally arrived to save my people from their sins. Therefore, turn from your sins and believe in me, trust in my work for your salvation. This is the gospel that My Father has sent me to proclaim!"

Why doesn't he just say that then? If you were a first century Roman Christian, as were the recipients of Mark's gospel, or a Jew living in Galilee, as were those hearing Jesus preach, you would have known about the prophesies and you would have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. So Jesus' words are not too brief, but perfectly effective for the listeners. Jesus doesn't shorthand the magnitude of God's gospel, He effectively wraps up the gospel in two powerful words; repent and believe!

Biblical Theology for Transformation - 23rd Posting

"And they glorified God because of me." Galatians 1:24

These are the words of the Apostle Paul. These are Paul's final words on his validation as an apostle called by God. I will admit, when I first read this, I was a bit taken back. They sound almost as if Paul is boasting in himself. Then I thought, "That can't be true...it's PAUL! The same guy who said five chapters later, 'But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" So what does this mean?

There was a need for Paul to validate that his ministry was from God and not from man. But that was not a selfish need for Paul to show just how important he was. His desire to authenticate his role as apostle sprang from a desire to validate the message he was preaching, the message of the cross. In verses 6-10, Paul says he is astonished that so many of the Galatians were quickly deserting God and the gospel of Christ. So Paul encouraged them with these words in verses 8-9, "If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." Paul repeated that phrase twice in those two verses, emphasizing his point.

The Galatians needed to know that the gospel message preached to them by Paul was THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOSPEL. In order for that to be recognized, Paul obviously felt the need to confirm his role as apostle, therefore verifying the message that he delivered.

As self-focused as Paul's statement appears, it stems from a desire to legitimize the MESSAGE. In order to validate the message, he had to legitimize the deliverer of the message...himself.

Once all these thoughts were cleared up in my mind, I still had to ask, why did they glorify God because of Paul? Can I truly say that of myself? Do people glorify God because of me? Is that selfish to ask?

Here's the reality of Paul's situation and what it means to you and me today. The people who surrounded Paul saw the MASSIVE transformation in his life. Paul, the greatest persecutor of the Church, who has now become the preacher of the gospel of Jesus. Imagine how amazing it would have been to see such a great change in a man like this. But Paul does not use this as an opportunity to magnify himself, rather, he uses it to magnify the work of Christ in His life.

Paul's message here is: This same gospel Paul preached, is the very gospel that transformed him from persecutor to follower. SO...how much more can this gospel be effective in YOUR LIFE?

Is the gospel of Jesus so evident in my life that people look at my life and see, NOT ME, but JESUS CHRIST? Can I say, "They glorify God because of me?" Not because I have done anything of value, but because the God of all creation and power has displayed that power in and through me to show Himself in my life. Therefore causing people to glorify Him because of Him who is in me?

As Paul stated, can you repeat, "they glorified God because of me?" Can you say, as Paul said in chapter 2, verse 20, "It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me"? Can you say, when they see me, they see Jesus?

So let me ask you; is the transforming work of Christ so evident in your life that others see you and glorify God? I think it's time we start praying for some change!