Uncommon Faith

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14

Without holiness NO ONE will see the Lord…  this is a frightening thought for a Christian.  If a true believer is truly in Christ they will desire to see Christ and obey Christ.

I want to see Christ.  I trust you want to see Christ.  And the pursuit of holiness in Christian life should never be a doubt.  The concept of antinomian living (without law) should never be a consideration.  After all, Paul wrote Romans 6.  He made it clear.

If a professing Christian pursues sinful desires and has no conviction there is a problem.

The question really becomes how does a Christian strive for and pursue holiness?   It can easily become imbalanced.  In an effort to swing the pendulum away from antinomianism guess where it ends up landing?

It becomes legalism.

It’s important to understand, as Sinclair Ferguson wrote in his book The Whole Christ, that antinomianism and legalism are not opposites but they are twins.  Neither position is right. Mankind has a natural proclivity to run toward either position and this is a grievous mistake.

Lawlessness might feel good for the one that says since I have grace I can do what I want and not worry about it, but the legalist feels accomplishment in his rule following.

If the goal is to stay as far away from the line as possible it ends up pushing you in the other direction.  Notice the speed limit sign.  The speed limit is 70.  But hello McFly, there is also a lower limit of 40.  If you stay as far away from the sin of breaking the law by going 71 that sends you toward 39 and you are still in sin.

Now what?  Do you reach a happy medium and drive 55?  Sammy Hagar couldn’t do it, why do you think you can?  Is that the right answer?  No, and a thousand times no…

The ditches on both sides are steep and difficult.  An antinomian life is no better than a legal life.  They are both slaveries.

Are you exhausted?  I am.  But there is great hope.

His name is Jesus.

He accomplished on the cross the legal demands of the law.  He crushed sin and death and He has given us sweet freedom in Him.  In fact, and this is a BIG deal.  He is the source of our holiness.  Will we strive, but not in your own efforts because you can’t, you won’t, and it will be defeating and debilitating.  It will crush your hope and destroy your spirit of joy.

If you lack joy and hope in the Christian life perhaps you are burdened with the thought of your own sin and your lack of ability to move forward in holiness.  If that is where you live, then stop trying to be holy, and approach the throne of grace, where Christ promises to be your great high priest.  He will intercede for you.  He will be your hope.

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.  1 Thessalonians 3:11-13

Kevin

 

 

 


I love that commercial, have you seen it? This big biker looking guy is getting a tattoo and it says “No Regerts” Oops… What are your big regerts in life? Oh, we all have them, don’t we?
I have more than I dare say, but one that is front and center to me is some of the things I’ve written on this little blog of mine. Yep… I’ve made a lot of mistakes here. In fact, I’ve removed some of my mistakes, but like that tattoo, they are still lingering in my mind, like a tattoo removal that you can still see ink.
Oh, let me count the ways…
But there is a really cool doctrine about God called immutability. What does that mean? It simply means God never changes. Why is this so significant? Because, He is our measuring stick, our plumb line, our due north. Everything else is askew without Him.
So when I grow, or I mature I can now see where I hadn’t yet grown, or where I was… dare I say… “Immature”. Oh yes, friends, we are all so immature at times but the point is that we need to move on. To not stay there, but to recognize our mistakes and attempt to fix them or move past them. It’s never easy. I look back with a grimace and sheepish smile.
“Oh what a foolish thing I did, I said, or acted out.” Yikes, Lord forgive me. I really didn’t know what I was doing.
For godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
The Apostle Paul is highlighting different types of regrets. We all have regrets but what do we do with them, or how do we handle things moving forward. Godly regret produces a change. It causes us to turn from the sins, hate the sins and live differently in the power of the Holy Spirit. You can try hard on your own but you won’t get it done by yourself. And while I’m really tempted to talk about holiness, that is a future post. Hopefully coming soon.
Suffice to say that even God is the root cause of our holiness. Man-Made, manufactured holiness just circles right back to the worldly grief that never produces true repentance.
Let’s move on from our regrets in this world, giving them to the Lord, that He might grow us in true love producing no regret in us.
Kevin

“I just wish I made progress faster …and wish I had started earlier.”

I heard the voice of my daughter, coming from the kitchen, as she said this to my wife.  My daughter was heartbroken, she was frustrated, and was expressing her regrets.

Don’t we all have them?  If we could look back on our lives, despite what most say, wouldn’t we all change things?  Oh boy… I sure would.  Big time.  But we can’t.  So we take what we have been given, appreciate it for what it is and push forward.

My daughter walked past me and I said, “hey, come here…”  I hugged her and said, “remember when we went to San Francisco and saw those huge trees?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think they grew fast?”

“No.”

“Well the fast-growing trees are weak, the slow-growing trees grow strong and tall.”

“Keep at it, slow, steady progress. No shortcuts, this is the path to success in everything.”

My daughter plays the harp beautifully and she is very talented.  I have no doubt she will be at a very high level, well actually, I think she already is at a very high level, but there is always a higher level to achieve.

I regret my own personal level of achievement.  “Lord, why didn’t you save me earlier in life?”  I want to be a theologian, a godly man growing in the grace of the Lord at a faster pace, to achieve the highest level…  I’d love to have more time to study…  I’d love to this or I’d love to that…

But guess what?  He didn’t, He chose the time and the place.

Why should I regret that?  Why should my complaining spirit come through, my lack of contentment reign supreme?  That’s an easy question to answer.  But I really don’t like what it says about me at the core.

It really is a contentment issue after all, isn’t it?  “Oh, this wicked heart of mine, how I hate it.  Sometimes.  Ugh…”

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  – Philippians 4:11-13

Wow, Paul had to learn.  I have to learn.  You have to learn and my daughter has to learn, how to be content.  And what is the secret?  Christ.  He is the source of strength.

Press on brothers and sisters, you have a source that others don’t have.

Kevin

Since I wrote about suffering the other day and I know what a popular topic it really is, I thought I might offer a good reason why God uses suffering for His eternal purposes.

Since the summary of the Ten Commandments is to love God and love people then we should find great encouragement here.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God.     2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Let’s see if we can follow this.

God comforts us in our affliction.

The purpose of this comfort is so that we can comfort others in their affliction.

God provides an example in the way He comforted us.

Matthew Henry comments on this passage:

He is able to bind up the broken-hearted, to heal the most painful wounds, and also to give hope and joy under the heaviest sorrows.  The favors God bestows on us, are not only to make us cheerful, but also that we may be useful to others.  He sends comforts enough to support such as simply trust in and serve him.

Trials in life are inevitable.  We all face them and as a Christian, we have the opportunity to face them knowing that God is using them for a three-fold purpose.  Our good, the benefit of others and most importantly for His glory.

If you’ve ever been able to comfort another because you’ve walked through the same type of a trial previously there is nothing more rewarding.  In this God also gives us a wonderful sense of purpose in fulfilling the call to Christian ministry through suffering.

Go forward today knowing that your suffering is making you more like your Savior.

Kevin

Is it possible for me to encourage you today?

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

I’d really like to do that if possible.  I’m not sure how, perhaps you can message me, or call me if we are friends.

I don’t want to be an encourager in a Joel Osteen sort of a way where I tell you that God has great blessings in store for you.  Because I don’t know that’s necessarily true in the “mammon” sense of a blessing.

But what I do know is that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and that is better than anything I could ever offer you that is temporary.

But in this life, we need people to help us sometimes.  To guide us on the path.  To be a listening ear or on occasion a kick in the butt.  Without trying to be too sappy, which I’m not really a “sappy” guy, I do wish to offer opportunities to pray for you if I can.

If you ever needed to talk I’m always willing to listen.

Hey, I like coffee…  let me know if we can grab a cup and hang out.

In this dog-eat-dog world let’s find some space for kindness and compassion.  That is a Christian virtue after all.  It doesn’t always have to be setting you straight on your bad theology.

Anyway, I’ll stop there, hopefully, you got my point.

Kevin