Alternate Plans
Bible Order: 1 Sam 9–12
Chronological Order: Josh 14–15
Bear Fruit In Keeping With Repentance
I was reading along in today’s passage and had to stop when I came to John the Baptists words to the crowds that had come out to him to be baptized. A particular phrase of his reminded me strongly of words Jesus used with His disciples shortly before He was murdered. Below are the words John spoke:
Luke 3:8-9 ESV
“Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
As we will see, Jesus used the concept of bearing fruit numerous times in numerous ways to describe what a true follower looked like. For example:
John 15:5-6 ESV
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”
I definitely see a connection between John’s words and Jesus’ words; don’t you? This idea of “bear fruits in keeping with repentance” is pretty powerful. If you have truly turned your life over to Christ then there should be some evidence of that. If you are truly sorry for the self-centeredness of your past, how have you changed since you came to Christ? Bearing spiritual fruit is evidence of your repentance, it is evidence of you being, or abiding, in Christ. Do you have any such evidence?
Brothers, I don’t require evidence from you, and God doesn’t need it, He already knows. The evidence is important to you. Do you want assurance of your salvation? Are you who you think you are; who you say you are? If so can you point to the evidence? This is important stuff guys John the Baptist and Jesus both have touched on this topic. Start showing the evidence of your repentance, of your salvation, go forth and bear fruit. You are not saved by works but faith without works is dead.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Josh 1–4
Chronological Order: Num 29–30
He Loves You Enough To Say No
Self-centeredness is the seed of sin. It is from self-centeredness that all sin sprouts. We have a natural desire to focus on ourselves and please ourselves and make ourselves the center of the universe. In other words we have a natural desire to sin. Yes this is natural but it is not irreversible. With the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit one has the ability to overcome self-centeredness if one wishes to do so. In today’s reading we see James and John make a request of Jesus. (In their defense they did not yet have the indwelling Holy Spirit.)
Mark 10:35 ESV
“And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’”
Has a child ever done this to you, they ask you to commit to doing something before they tell you what they want of you? Usually this approach means that they know you are not likely to agree if you know what it is they are requesting upfront. These two disciples asked Jesus that they be allowed to sit at His right and left hand in His kingdom. This was a very self-centered request and Jesus didn’t grant it. He said that such a request was not His to grant. I don’t think this meant He didn’t have the authority to grant it but that such positions had already been granted to others. Remember that Jesus is God and He has known from the beginning exactly what will transpire.
Think about this, even as He was speaking with James and John He knew you and me. Mind blowing isn’t it? You see the Bible tells us that God knew us before He knitted us together in our mother’s womb. He knew what would become of James and John just as He knows what will become of you and me. He already knows what choices we will make and knowing this future He already knows what treasure we will have stored up in Heaven. I’m starting to get off my point here so let me get back to it.
I’m actually driving toward the issue of prayer. What do we ask for in our prayers? God wants what is best for us and the entire world. We are not god ourselves nor are we demi-gods and yet we often pray as if we are the center of the universe. God give me this. God give me that. What if granting what we request would require taking from someone else that which is rightfully theirs? We see here that such requests won’t be honored. Does this mean God doesn’t answer prayers? Does this mean that He has failed you somehow or doesn’t love you if He doesn’t give you what you want? Of course it doesn’t.
How often have you prayed and not gotten what you requested? I’ll bet the frequency of unanswered prayer is rather high for most of us. This is because we tend to pray in terms of our self-centeredness rather in terms of Christ-centeredness. God does promise to answer prayer and what we often take as an unanswered prayer has actually been answered – the answer is no. Now sometimes we ask for things that will eventually be answered in the affirmative in the proper time. This is a yes but not right now. We can be so like children at times “gimme, gimme gimme”. We can be incredibly impatient and get angry with God when He doesn’t give us what we want immediately. The problem isn’t with God but with us.
Praying from a self-centered place means that we are going to be disappointed. The power of prayer is found when we pray in a way that is consistent with God’s will. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that the cup of crucifixion be taken from Him, but He ended His prayer saying “not my will but yours be done”. You see, He was not afraid to take His desires and cares to God even when He knew the answer to His request would likely be no. This tells us that the attitude of His prayer was that His Father’s will be done.
Brothers, when you pray try to pray from God’s perspective. Pray for things that you believe are consistent with His will. It is alright to ask for things for yourself and your loved ones but do so with the faith and confidence that if God says no it is for the ultimate good of everyone involved. He loves you as His child, for you are His. He wants to give you wonderful things but if you ask Him to let you run with scissors or to steal from someone else He is going to say no. Don’t pout when He says no. Just be glad He loves you enough to do so.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans:
Bible Order: Gen 20–22
Chronological Order: Job 9–12
Deny Yourself And Live!
We continue today in our reading of the Sermon on the Mount. My Bible has editor supplied headings of “Retaliation”, “Love Your Enemies”, “Giving to the Needy”, and “The Lord’s Prayer” before certain sections within the reading. Breaking the Bible down in this manner, and providing such headings, can help us when we are trying to find a favored verse but can’t remember the exact chapter and verse. Such a breakdown, however, can also cause us to miss sight of the bigger picture.
As I mentioned yesterday, the Sermon on the Mount presents us with a higher standard than expressed in the Old Testament; a standard that we cannot hope to attain in our own power. We need the power of the Holy Spirit residing within us in order to attain such a level of perfection. Even with the Holy Spirit we often fail in our attempt at perfection and yet that is exactly what Jesus is calling us to.
Matthew 5:48 ESV
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Did you hear that? You and I are to be as perfect as God? How can we possibly do that? Again, you can’t if you haven’t submitted your life to Christ, but even after that incredibly important moment the pursuit of perfection is a process of discovery. That process includes the denying of ourselves and obedience to God.
Luke 9:23 ESV
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
The motto of this blog is “Dying to self, living to serve!” This is in keeping with the call of Christ on our lives. So, with this goal of perfection in mind what is Jesus asking of us? He is asking us to deny ourselves. In the first few verses of today’s reading Jesus tells us that we should not resist evil, that we should turn the other cheek, to basically refrain from a natural response to personal offense. This seems strange doesn’t it? Do you know what the root of all sin is? We can call that root by many names but I think those names all boil down to self-centeredness.
When someone cuts me off in traffic I get angry. When someone is disrespectful to me I get angry. When someone takes something that belongs to me I blow my stack. Now Jesus said earlier in this sermon that anger is as bad as murder. Is anger a proper response? We often try to justify our anger by saying that we have “righteous anger” and will sometimes use the story of Jesus overturning the Money Changer’s tables in the temple as an example of this. Jesus was angry in that situation but His anger was a reaction to an offense to God the Father not to Jesus the man. We don’t really tend to get angry at offenses to God do we? If we did we probably wouldn’t watch some of the TV shows we watch. No, we get mad when things don’t go our way. We get mad at what we perceive are offenses aimed at us.
What separates us from God? Sin separates us from God. If, as I suggest, all sin comes from our own self-centeredness, then our focus on ourselves is the thing that gets in our way. It again comes down to the focus of our heart. Is that focus on ourselves or on God? If it is on God then what does it matter what others do to us? Do you think God would rather we get “even” for an offense committed against us or that we model a Christ-like lifestyle that glorifies Him? The lost expect people to respond to personal offense in anger and retaliation; that is how their god, Satan, expects them to act. When you act differently you draw a sharp contrast between their father and your Father. When you act differently you cause the lost to face the truth of the Gospel.
Jesus denied Himself so He could save you and me. He showed us that our hearts and focus should always be on God rather than ourselves. This is what we are called to do today. Take a look at the sample prayer Jesus gives us. He doesn’t ask for a promotion, or to win the lottery, or for some other personal gain. He asks that His Heavenly Father’s will be done. He teaches us to ask for forgiveness in the same measure as we have forgiven others. How much are you willing to forgive others if your forgiveness is based on that measure?
Anger, hatred, fear, and any number of similar emotions don’t come from God; they come from self-centeredness. When you experience these emotions do you feel peaceful or happy? No you do not. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and He came to give you His peace. You find that peace by denying yourself and forgiving others. You find that peace by being obedient to God. As you live every day more and more like Christ you will glorify your Heavenly Father more and more. This is a virtuous cycle that leads to perfection in Christ. So brothers, start denying yourselves and start really living!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Chronological Order: Gen 8–11
Bearing Fruit in Keeping With Repentance
In yesterday’s post I mentioned the political precariousness that induced Herod to murder all the male babies in Bethlehem 2 years old and younger. I can understand the fact that he felt threatened but I don’t understand how a person can be so evil as to order such a genocidal act. God warned Joseph, Jesus’ earthly, but non-biological, dad to take Jesus to Egypt in order to save Him from Herod’s wrath. I think this raises a lot of questions. If God knew this was coming why didn’t He stop it? Why didn’t He cause some horrible thing to happen to Herod before he was able to commit this horrendous crime? How can a “loving” God allow such horrible things to happen? This is a question often posed by non-believers but we Christians seem to struggle with it from time to time as well.
Remember that God had planned for us to live in the Garden of Eden with all our wants and needs provided. We would walk with Him in the cool of the evening and there would be no disease, hate, hurt, or want. We threw all of that away because we wanted to be our own god. Well that is the world we live in today, a world where man views himself as god. Man runs around doing anything and everything he wants and when the inevitable pain and suffering results he blames the one true God. God gave every one of us free will. Each of us can choose to do good or evil. Unfortunately the overwhelming tendency of our hearts is self-centeredness which is the foundation of sin and evil.
Disease, natural disasters, war, pain, hate, all of these are a result of our decision to be our own god. When man fell, all of nature fell with him. We live in a world we perverted and we are to blame for all the pain and suffering in it. That is the bad news. The good news is that God saw our hopeless state and He provided a solution; He has thrown us a lifeline. Each individual can now make a decision to submit their life to Christ and thereby be saved, by His bloody sacrifice, from the natural consequences of their sin. So God interfered in the evil designs of Herod only to the extent of ensuring His purpose of salvation. Blame Herod for the slaughter of the innocent and thank God for salvation through Christ Jesus.
I wanted to pull one verse out of today’s reading to comment upon and it is as follows.
Matthew 3:8
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
That comment was made by John the Baptist. I find this interesting since Jesus referred often to the concept of being fruitful during His earthly ministry. This concept referred not to earning ones way into heaven but to being in right relationship with God. When one is in right relationship with God one is fruitful. Fruitful means one is doing what God has asked of you. Fruitfulness is the natural consequence of obedience to God. That is why John says “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
We think of salvation as a free gift which in one sense it is, but that gift is offered only to those who truly repent of their sin – that is to say that one feels great remorse for ones sin and decides to turn their back or close the door to sin. If we are going to turn to God we must naturally turn away from sin. Turning to God results in fruitfulness. So, what are you waiting for, keep your back turned to sin and continue to grow in right relationship with God. As you do, your life will be filled with eternal, spiritual fruit. The fruitful life is the life Jesus died to give you. Enjoy!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Godliness Is Not A Means Of Gain
What do you desire? It dawns on me that this is an essential question with devastating consequences for a wrong answer. There is only one right answer. That doesn’t make sense does it? I just asked an opinion question didn’t I? How can there be only one answer to an opinion question? Each of us is put together differently and faces different challenges; wouldn’t each of us have some kind of unique desire based on who and where we are?
That is human logic speaking and it actually misses a bigger picture. What I desire is a matter of what I am. Am I a child of the Living God or am I a god unto myself? If I am a god unto myself then I desire any number of things that I hope will make me feel good. If I am a child of the Living God then I desire only to obey my Lord and Savior, to be His faithful servant in everything I think, say and do. Now, before I go further let me say that I have a pain in my heart as I read those words for I must admit that not everything I think, say, and do is faithful to God’s standard for my life. Does this mean that I am not really a Christian? No it does not. I actually do desire to be God’s faithful and obedient servant. I often fail in this but God is not finished in His perfecting of me.
I can have a desire to get a perfect score on the math test and still get a few wrong when the test is graded. How do I respond to this failure? If my desire remains to be perfect in my math test taking then I will resolve to work harder to achieve my goal. On the next test I may not get that perfect score for which I toil but I’ll bet you I get a little bit closer. My advancement toward my goal is completely dependent on my desire to attain the goal.
My sense of fulfillment in attaining my goal, however, is actually dependent on my reason for seeking the goal. Do I wish to attain this perfection because I will be puffed up with pride? Do I wish to attain this perfection because it will allow me to gain a better job and thereby make more money? Do I wish to attain this perfection because chicks really dig mathematical brainiacs?
Often when we strive to achieve a goal for the sole purpose of some personal gain, we experience disappointment once the goal is achieved. We can achieve all for which we strove and find that we are still left with an unfulfilled emptiness. Why is that? I believe it is because we have struggled to fill a whole in our hearts that only God can fill. I don’t know about you but the most fulfilled I have ever felt after achieving a goal was when my goal was based on pleasing my parents. There is something about the pleasure my parents took in certain achievements that swelled my heart. I realized that those moments were so fulfilling because they were not about pleasing me but pleasing my parents.
Self-centeredness is the root of all evil – all sin. Now this sounds like a paraphrase from today’s reading doesn’t it? Have you heard the saying “Money is the root of all evil”? That saying is also a paraphrase of a verse from today’s reading. Take a look.
1 Timothy 6:10
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils….”
Notice that it is not money that is the problem but the love of that money. Notice also that it is not the root of all evil but a root of all kinds of evil. The things we “love” seem to always be based on what those things can do for us. That is not godly love, it is self-centeredness. We love what we can gain from some thing or someone. Now some act godly for what they believe they can gain. They accept Jesus because they want Him to heal them or enrich them in some way. They “love” Christ for what He can do for them rather than for what He has already done. This is the self-centered path to an empty faith.
Below Paul gives Timothy a warning to watch out for this kind of professing Christian.
1 Timothy 6:3-9
“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”
“Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Are we content with food and clothing? Is there more that we desire? Why? The things of this world cannot fill our god-sized hole. Only God can fill that hole. Having been saved from Hell, and having been granted an inheritance in Heaven, what more is there for us to want? Contentment in godliness comes when we no longer love ourselves but rather God, not for what He can do for us, but because of what He has already done for us. When our desire is no longer for ourselves but for obedience to our Savior we will find godly contentment.
If you are a Christian but have not yet found godly contentment, don’t quit. God is working on you through His Holy Spirit. He is bringing you to fullness in Christ. Keep taking the test. Keep striving to do better. One day you will find perfection and contentment in Jesus Christ.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Does The Love Of Christ Control You?
The life you live – do you live it for yourself or for your Savior? Do you live it just for what you can get out of it? Do you profess to be a Christian so you can get blessings from God, or do you live your life as a Christian for the sake of the One who died for you? Let me share a couple of verses from our reading today.
2 Corinthians 5:10
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
I find a double meaning in the word “body” in the verse above. We will receive what is due for what we have done in our physical bodies but we will also receive what is due for what have done in the Body – the Church. Now Paul is writing to fellow Christians so it is presupposed that the readers of these words are saved. Paul indicates, however, that we Christians are still held responsible for what we do or don’t do even after salvation. I don’t mean that we will lose our salvation but that our life in eternity will be affected.
So let me ask you, what have you done in the Body – the Church? Are you a “self-centered Christian”? I find that phrase to be a bit of an oxymoron. Christians have died to self so how can we be self-centered? And yet as I look around our churches I see everywhere self-centered people. One could look at me and see my moments of self-centeredness as well. You see battling our self-centeredness is part of our process of sanctification. Every day, if we make the effort, we are becoming more and more like Christ. I don’t know about you but I still have a lot of work to do. Do you know the best way to get about doing that work? We become more like Christ when we are doing the work of the Church, when we are active in the Body. Our motivation for becoming like Christ and doing the work of the Church should be our love for Christ. Here is what Paul says on the matter.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
Does the love of Christ control you? If you belong to Him it does. That love compels you to no longer live for yourself but for Him who died for your sake. I know you are not completely there yet and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for failure. Failure, if you are earnestly seeking to be like Christ, is simply an opportunity to learn how to do better. I know we are grown men and we feel like we ought to be able to achieve quickly that which our Heavenly Father asks of us, but it is important to remember that from God’s perspective we are but children. The good news is we are His children.
You’ve heard me say many times that we are brothers in Christ, that we have been adopted into God’s family. I wasn’t making that up, it is scripturally based.
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
God is our Father. He sent His son to die for us. The love we feel for our Father, and the sacrifice of His son, should control our lives and slowly force self-centeredness away from us. Every day we should be living our life for Him rather than for ourselves. I’ll tell you a little secret – you’ll be much happier if you will truly live your life this way. Why don’t you give it a try!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Luke 3
