Random devotionals that I must share

God’s will for us is unfathomable. We might not understand all the reasons why He allows certain things to happen. Sometimes God will open doors; other times, He will close them. And we simply just have to trust in the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord, that His ways are always better than ours. My friend shared that there are times when God would open doors, just ever so slightly, so that we can get a glimpse at what’s behind it, and then shut that door in our face. Why? Why would God do such a thing? Maybe, God wants us to see that this is not the path we truly want. Maybe God wants to reveal to us a dark secret of our heart. Maybe God simply is teaching us a lesson of trust.

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You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Psalms 16 starts out almost like every other psalm, with David praising the Lord. Sounds like 40% of the book of Psalms. But at the end of Psalm 16, the very last verse, verse 11 hit me. It struck a string in my heart. That one verse suddenly brought life to this entire psalm.

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peace.

Righteousness Of God

The LORD is in his holy temple;

the LORD’s throne is in heaven;

his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

The LORD tests the righteous,

but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Let him rain coals on the wicked;

fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the LORD is righteous;

he loves righteous deeds;

the upright shall behold his face.

(Psalm 11:4-7)

Have you ever thought about the implications of the righteousness of God? For God to be righteous, it means that He must love good and hate sin. Not only that, but if God is righteous AND He is also judge, then He must honor the righteous and punish sinners.

Now think about that, and think of your own life. What do you see? SIN. We are all sinners before this holy and righteous God. We cannot escape that fact. And if you willing to accept that you are indeed a sinner, then the passage above, Psalm 11, must scare you. The righteousness of God must scare you. Because by accepting that you are a sinner, then you also have accepted the fact that you deserve “fire and sulfur and a scorching wind.”

Here is then, probably one of the greatest dilemma in history. God loves us. He really does. But He is also the Righteous Judge. So how does He save us whom He loves, when we deserve death? It’s like a judge in a courtroom, reciting a long list of crimes that the defendant is guilty for. Murder, rape, stealing, the list goes on. Then the judge looks up, and sees that this man, this criminal, is his very own son. Oh how the judge wants to save his son from the punishment for his crimes. But, the judge can’t just let his son go free. That goes against the righteousness of the law. It goes against His own righteousness. How does the judge, then, saves his son, without breaking his own righteousness?

Thankfully, God has a plan, a plan that is able to save those whom He loves while preserving His righteousness. And that plan is Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God is able to lay upon His wrath, not on us, but on His only Beloved Son. Through Christ, God is able to exercise righteousness by placing all punishment for sin on the holy and pure Lamb of God. And as a result, we gain not only a clean slate, but we gain the righteousness of Christ, himself.

That’s grace beyond grace. When we deserve wrath, fire, and punishment, we instead received righteousness, love, and mercy. While we receive blessings, God made Christ “a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). Guys, I encourage you to think about the implications of this. The righteousness of God demands a punishment for sin. The righteousness of God demands the death penalty for our crimes. But that righteousness was shown when Jesus hung on that cross for us. 

Who are we, then, to deny that Jesus Christ is truly our Lord and Savior? Let us go then and worship Him.

Pious Jew

I’ve been talking about Romans 7 and the two views that can be taken on this passage. My previous post covered the “struggling Christian” view. This blog post will be about the “pious Jew” view. Again, here’s the passage:

 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 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. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.

(Romans 7:7-25, ESV)

Let me begin by saying this: The reason the pious Jew argument exists is because Paul’s argument here in Romans 7 doesn’t fit with its surrounding context unless Paul is talking about his previous unconverted state. Let me remind you that Paul was a Pharisee. A man who was zealous for God’s law, but not zealous for God’s heart. A man who knew Scripture, but did not know Christ. And all that changed on Damascus road.

So Paul, before, was a pious Jew, or in other words, a legalistic law-follower. And if you read Romans 7, you can almost see that. This man is determined to follow the law, as if his life depended on it. However, it is obvious that he is struggling. And sin, through the law, is trapping him in a corner. He’s stuck. He’s chained. He’s… a slave..

Whoa, now wait a minute. Didn’t Paul, in Romans 6, just said that we are free from sin and slaves to righteousness? So why does Paul, all of a sudden, sound like he is enslaved by sin again. Look at verse 15: I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. That sounds like he’s trapped. Like he’s in bondage, not to righteousness, but to sin. Therefore, Paul, in Romans 7, can’t be talking about struggling Christian. A Christian is supposed to be free from sin.

However, that point alone is insufficient to support this argument. We must look again, to other context clues. Here is where I feel the greatest support for the “pious Jew” view comes into play.

Romans 7:5-6 is very interesting. Both verses are distinctly opposite of each other. In verse 5, we are still unregenerate, living in the flesh, captive to our sinful passions. But in verse 6, we are released from the chains of sin, and free to live by the Spirit. Very very different lifestyles. Very very different types of people.

What we see here then in Romans 7:5-6 is Paul, giving us his thesis statement, before giving us the details of it. Paul is basically describing what it means to be free from sin. I mean, you’ve got to wonder, after reading chapter 6, what does it exactly mean to be free from sin? And Paul answers it. Right here.

And so, here’s how Paul’s argument works:

1. Romans 7:5 - we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions - supported by the details of Romans 7:7-25. We were indeed enslaved to our flesh, to a point where we do the very thing we hate.
2. Romans 7:6 - we are released from the law… and serve in the new way of the Spirit - supported by Romans 8:1-11. We see Spirit come up multiple times, and the fact that we are free to set our minds on God.

Looking at this closely, we see that Romans 7:7-8:11, seems to fit under Romans 7:5-6 perfectly. Behind these context clues, we see that Paul’s view in Romans 7 isn’t one of a believer, but one of a non-believer, a man who is still struggling with his sin.

However, the most important truth to take away from this view is the fact that no man can save themselves, no matter how closely they try to follow the law. Everyone is enslaved to the sin that dwells in them. But for those who are in Christ Jesus, for us Christians, we are set free from our sins, because Christ took our sins and nailed it on the cross. The result: we gain a righteousness that we’ve searched for and long for. Isn’t that amazing? Christ sacrificed it all, and we gained all. That, my friends, is called grace.

Struggling Christian

I’m writing about the views on reading Romans 7:7-25. Basically, when you read Romans 7, Paul is either talking about his previous life as a pious Jew, or about his current life as a struggling Christian. You can read my introduction to this subject in my last blog post. Here’s the passage:

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 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. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.

For this post, I will be discussing the details of the struggling Christian view. It’s actually quite simple. With a quick read over the passage, almost everyone would think Paul is talking about himself as a struggling Christian. The reason being is that most of us have experienced the same struggle with certain sins in our lives. We know what it feels like to have sin entangle us, trap us, and suffocate us. We understand the guilt and shame that comes afterwards, every time we fall to temptation. And we read this passage, and we say, “yes, we can identify with that, Paul.”

Supporters for this view also back up their claim with the following reasons (only listing a few that I feel stands out):

• The change to present tense.
• The clear distinction between I and flesh. This shows separation. That though I am free in Christ, my body is still trapped in sin.
• The fact that sanctification is a process that is not complete until you die.

However, the biggest reason why I see a viable argument for the struggling Christian view is the progression of the book of Romans. If you start from Romans 1 and travel down all the way to Romans 12, you basically see the progression of a non-believer becoming a believer.

Here’s how the progression breaks down:

1. Romans 1 shows how unrighteous human beings naturally are.
2. Romans 2 tells us that sin will be judged by God.
3. Romans 3 first shows how we are unable to save ourselves. Then it tells us that only God can justify us.
4. Romans 4 informs us that we justify by faith.
5. Romans 5 describes to us the details on how we are saved by faith through Jesus Christ.
6. Romans 6 describes the effects of salvation, that we are free from sin and slaves to righteous.
7. ***Romans 7 (under this view) tells us that we will struggle with sin still, though we are saved.
8. Romans 8 tells us how we have hope in Christ, though sin still entangles us.
9. Romans 9 describes how that hope is certain because of God’s sovereignty.
10. Romans 10-11 then diverges into details about God’s plan of salvation for us Gentiles and Israel.

As you can see, if Romans 7 is referring to a struggling Christian, it fits perfectly into the scheme of the book of Romans. Paul would then be truthfully describing how Christians will still face the struggle of sin, and will continually face that struggle until they receive their glorified bodies (Romans 8). Romans 1-12 then becomes an outline of the Christian faith.

Therefore, what Romans 7 is really describing is sanctification. The pursuit of holiness. The fight against sin. And that is something that is very real in our lives. But we must remember that though we will fall to temptation many times in our lives, we can always get back up, because of the blood of Jesus Christ. He died in our place for our sins. He died so that we don’t have to face the same judgment and condemnation he faced. Therefore, we can always continue to strive and pursue holiness with hope, knowing full-well that our salvation is guaranteed by God.

Pious Jew or Struggling Christian

Romans 7:13-25. What an interesting passage. On first read, without any context, many would think that Paul is talking about a Christian, struggling with his or her sin. However, if you exegetically break down the passage, with it’s context (Romans 7:4-6 and Romans 8:1-5), we can see how Paul might be talking about a non-Christian, or more specifically, a pious Jew (basically, a legalistic, hypocritical Jew). I bring this up, because it’s an interesting topic, and I recently just spoke a message on this passage.

However, to spend time showing details of both views is going to take more than one blog post. So I’m going to split this up into two: one defending the struggling Christian view, and the other defending the pious Jew view. I hope you would find this as interesting as I do.

That will be coming in the near future. As for now, I want to say this. Though both views are vastly different in the way you read Romans 7, both come to about the same conclusion, which is this:

NO ONE can save themselves.

Romans 7:24-8-1 answers that:

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Both the struggling Christian and the pious Jew are struggling with the battle between their mind and flesh. They are struggling with sin. And most of all, they are struggling with the guilt and shame that comes from that sin.

Therefore, who can save us from these sinful, fleshly, ungodly bodies of death? Only God can. Only God can save us. And He does so through His Son Jesus Christ. Only through Jesus Christ can we be saved from this body, and saved from sin. Jesus Christ came and died in our place, so that His righteousness can be ours.

The gospel is such wonderful news. For both the pious Jew and the struggling Christian. The gospel is what frees the Jew from legalism. The gospel is what comforts the Christian during hardships. The gospel is the single greatest news that can be brought to this world, because only through the gospel, can we receive grace and forgiveness.

Thanks be to God, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The Idol Of Ministry

I was talking to a friend recently about areas of ministry we have served at in the past, and just how wonderful of a time it is to serve people. And for me, just fresh off serving my college fellowships for the past few years, I feel ready to take on a new challenge. But my friend cautioned me, and advise me to watch my heart and my intentions in where I serve next.

You see, in my past experiences in ministry, I never really felt what it’s like be burnt out. I’m not saying that I’m some kind of super servant or something, but I just never felt the need for sabbaticals or time off from serving. I always told myself (and others) that it’s cause serving others is my joy. It’s what takes away my stress. However, I have to be careful of one thing: to not make ministry my idol.

Look at Luke 10:38-42. This is the story about Martha and her sister Mary. It reads:

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

What we see here is Martha, who is busily serving Jesus, doing this and that, while her sister Mary simply sat with Jesus, conversing with him the entire time. And surprisingly, Jesus commends Mary, not Martha, for her attitude. What Jesus is saying here is that spending time with Him, to know Him and be with Him, is better than to keep serving without stopping once to really know your Lord and Savior.

On a side note, I do want to point out that Jesus never said anything here against serving and keeping yourself busy. In my opinion, I think people take this passage out of context when they say that you have to rest, relax, and stop working so hard. That’s not the point of the passage.

The point of the passage is that we must remember Christ, know Christ, and see Him in all that we do. Jesus tells Martha to be free from worry and anxiety. But he never tells her to stop serving. You see, Martha, here, is probably worried about the dinner being ready on time. She’s probably making sure that everyone’s cups aren’t empty. She probably running around, worried that her best might not be enough for Jesus.

But Jesus isn’t looking for our best. He’s only looking for our hearts. He wants us to serve, but to serve with a growing knowledge of Him. How else can you explain why Apostle Paul was never rebuked by God, even though he has worked tirelessly for the spread of the Gospel? But Paul never made his ministry his idol. He always said that to live is Christ (Phil 1:21). Paul’s life may be characterized by his work in the mission field, but he never forgot that his life isn’t defined by his works, but by Christ, whom he consider as his pride and joy (1 Corinthians 1:31, Phil 3:8).

So Martha wasn’t doing anything wrong. Her heart just wasn’t in the right place. She didn’t need to please Jesus with her works. She just need to please Him with her faith and love for Him. That’s what Mary chose to do. Mary chose to spend time with Christ, because being with Him means more to her than anything else.

So I’m looking at my own situation, and I’m asking myself: am I making ministry an idol? Why do I love serving so badly? Is it even for sake of Christ? And for all of you who are serving, I ask you the same thing. Ministry may serve others in different ways, but its main purpose is to serve Christ. But not just to serve Christ with our best, but to serve Christ faithfully, knowing that our joy shouldn’t lie in the fact that we’re doing something for Christ, but our joy should lie simply in the fact that Christ is with us.

Ends To All Things: God’s Glory

Lately, I’ve been thinking about theology, thinking about God and His ways, about God and His will. And man, every where I go, everything I hear, read, see, all leads to the glory of God. It’s simply the ends of all things. The point of evangelism, sanctification, fellowship, preaching, marriage, family, serving, leading, life, death, all of it leads to the glory of God. That is the only purpose of our existence.

Even God Himself works for His glory to be shown. He doesn’t need to. But what else is God going to do? There’s no greater purpose, no greater joy in this universe than to see God glorified.

2 Corinthians 4:4-6 exemplifies that. It reads:

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Look at this passage. It’s amazing. We got the “light of the gospel (aka knowledge of God)” coming from two of the same source: from “the glory of Christ” and “the glory of God.” Christ’s glory and God’s glory. That’s two persons. But the glory is the same glory of the same source. How so? We have Christ, “the image of God” and God, “in the face of Jesus Christ.” In other words, their glory is reflecting off of each other.

God’s plan throughout the gospel is to bring glory to His only Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. And Christ’s obedience, joy, death, and purpose is to glorify God the Father. Two entities of the Godhead, one glory magnified. (*side note: if you read Jonathan Edward’s essay on the Trinity, you’ll see that the Holy Spirit in essence is the love and joy being reflected back and forth between the Father and the Son, thus God the Spirit is being glorified here as well.)

If God’s main purpose is to bring glory to Himself, then we should have no greater purpose than to give all glory to God as well. And this truth fills me with great passion (understandably)…. and fear. I mean, it scares me. Does it not scare you?

I think about what I’m doing now, every day. Before, it was just going to class, studying hard, serving at fellowship or church. Now it’s work, and church. Am I able to glorify God with my current life routine right now? What is my purpose every day? I try to ask myself that, every morning.

It humbles me to think about this, and to think about how selfish I really am. How my life is all about me. How all I live for is my glory. At AACF banquet, as worship began, we began to sing “We Fall Down.” And I couldn’t sing the words. I just couldn’t. I felt like a hypocrite saying those words before God.

I’m looking for ways to live my life radically for God. I’m not sure yet how exactly God wants to use me for His glory, but I’m searching and listening for His will. How are you living your life? What is your purpose? Why do you do what you do? If God is working for His glory, shouldn’t you be too?

The Gift of Adoption

One of the greatest gifts that came as a result of the death of Christ is the fact that we, as Christians, are made as sons of God. J.I. Packer calls it the highest blessing that can ever be granted. It’s amazing how wonderful God’s love is shown in this. I think of the prodigal son. He disobeys his father, runs off and stumbles into darkness, comes back, and finds his father welcoming him with a warm embrace. His father welcomes him back as a son, a glorious son. What amazement is that. How great is that love.

And this love is the same as God’s love for us. We were “sons of disobedience… and were by nature children of wrath” (Eph 2:2-3). But God, in His love, “predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:5). It doesn’t say that we were predestined to be saved. Not predestined to go to heaven. But we were predestined to be children of God. That’s amazing love indeed.

1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.” God’s love doesn’t just extend to forgiving us. God’s love doesn’t just shower mercy on us. God’s love doesn’t just justify us. God’s love adopts us. We are children of God. That should give us hope and comfort. Just as good parents will never forsake their children, a perfect and holy God will never abandon us. Romans 8:29-30 says:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Note that the word “glorified” is in the past tense. Paul here believes that God has us secured, that our future glorification is secured, that basically you can consider it as something that’s finished, even though it hasn’t happened yet. (hope that makes sense lol).

But though adoption leads us to comfort and hope, that does not mean we should stop striving for holiness. Note in the Romans passage above that God is working to conform us into the image of His Son. 1 Peter 1:14 tells us that we should “as obedient children” and stay away from the passions of our past sin. And just to make sure that we understand whose children we are, Peter goes on in verse 17 saying, “if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile…” That’s why we should strive to be holy, as God, our Father, is holy (1 Peter 1:16).

We must remember that as children of God, we have a high standard to live up to. But it’s not one without hope. For even the fact that we can be called children of God is greatest gift of all time. There is no greater love than this. That’s why striving for holiness is easy and hard. It’s hard cause we can’t do it, but it’s easy because we want to. It should be our desire to please God, for He loved us first.

I’ve always thought that the greatest illustration of love was displayed on the cross. That is still true. But the greatest result of the cross is that fact that we are adopted as sons of God.