"For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." - 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ESV
Wow. Wow... Wow
We expound on Christ, who He Is, what He has done and Is doing and our Messiah is a crucified Messiah. That message is foolishness unless it is accompanied by a 'calling' and that is an invitation to 'walk together'.
"And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' " - Matthew 4:19 ESV
"And Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.' " - Matthew 8:22 ESV
"And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." - Matthew 10:38 ESV
"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.' " - Matthew 16:24 ESV
That was Jesus 'Calling' His disciples and that is how He calls us. If we say 'do something' or demand wisdom from God that gives us the power we miss it but if we follow we get both and even more as time rolls out. We die to the old and grow in the new. Our Christ is a crucified One.
God's love and mercy are His weakness. He Is generous to the unworthy. He Is gracious. His weakness is stronger than men.
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Showing posts with label Co-crucifixion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Co-crucifixion. Show all posts
Monday, July 31, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
No Law Against Such Things
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." - Galatians 5:22-26 ESV
There is 'no law against such things' that is for sure with God. We don't strive to have them and there is no law against them.
Perhaps we have all seen (or even been) the person who gets a victory over a bad habit and then becomes this crusader of 'making good decisions'. We become conceited in our victory when it was really the fruit of the Spirit and some crucified flesh. God did something that we had the privilege of participating in but can claim no glory for... but we do and perhaps it creates envy in others.
I revel this morning in the effortlessness of the fruit of the Spirit and that my reckoning of belonging to Christ serves to crucify my flesh. Crucifixion is a past tense thing for someone who belongs to Christ.
God is not stopping or regulating love, joy and peace this morning. He isn't saying, 'You can only love in these circumstances.' or 'Please limit your peace to when these things happen.'
...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...
Thank you God. We don't want to limit or take credit for these things. You produce them freely. You get the glory for them if we have them. You are the mighty God and your Gospel is seed that grows up into this fruit. Thank You God. We belong to you. You purchased us with precious blood and knowing that moves our fleshly desires into the category of 'crucified'.
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There is 'no law against such things' that is for sure with God. We don't strive to have them and there is no law against them.
Perhaps we have all seen (or even been) the person who gets a victory over a bad habit and then becomes this crusader of 'making good decisions'. We become conceited in our victory when it was really the fruit of the Spirit and some crucified flesh. God did something that we had the privilege of participating in but can claim no glory for... but we do and perhaps it creates envy in others.
I revel this morning in the effortlessness of the fruit of the Spirit and that my reckoning of belonging to Christ serves to crucify my flesh. Crucifixion is a past tense thing for someone who belongs to Christ.
God is not stopping or regulating love, joy and peace this morning. He isn't saying, 'You can only love in these circumstances.' or 'Please limit your peace to when these things happen.'
...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...
Thank you God. We don't want to limit or take credit for these things. You produce them freely. You get the glory for them if we have them. You are the mighty God and your Gospel is seed that grows up into this fruit. Thank You God. We belong to you. You purchased us with precious blood and knowing that moves our fleshly desires into the category of 'crucified'.
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Friday, January 6, 2017
Survival Instinct
Wow. I love Watchman Nee. Every paragraph is so dense with truth...
'Do we crucify ourselves? No. “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin” (Rom. 6.6). It is not that we crucify ourselves, but that our old man was crucified with Christ at the time He himself was crucified. This is an objective fact. Your eyes must be fixed on the Lord. Were you to try to crucify yourself, you would discover how wicked you are and how impossible it is for you to die. The greatest mistake made by believers is right here: although the Bible says that I was crucified with Christ, I look at myself and find myself as hard and corrupted and undisciplined as I ever was. Even so, I try to crucify myself; yet I cannot make myself die. And that is where the mistake begins: you begin with yourself. You should keep in mind, instead, that all real beginnings lie with Christ. You do not die because you have seen yourself dead. You only become dead because you died when Christ died.' - Watchman Nee
The objective truth of the cross must become real in our subjective experience or else Christianity is utterly unmanageable. We say, 'I am dead to this.' but in truth we are very much alive and there is an instinct that kicks in to push us to keep ourselves alive.
God says that we died when Christ died and we were raised when He was raised. He is seated in Heaven and we ARE seated in Heaven. Can we mix faith with that truth so it will become alive in our experience? If we do then when the moment of temptation comes we will have practiced God's thoughts many times in preparation.
I have been deeply convicted this week. This clay pot has deep cracks. It isn't just cosmetic. My old man has incurable wounds. Situations just reveal that to be true but that is not my identity.
The believer is a new creature...
"For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them..." - Galatians 6:15-16a ESV
Let this peace and mercy be upon you today. It is finished. Jesus has done something objectively on the cross and the Spirit can take the veil off our eyes. We were blind but now we can see what God already sees if we walk by faith in what Jesus has done.
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'Do we crucify ourselves? No. “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin” (Rom. 6.6). It is not that we crucify ourselves, but that our old man was crucified with Christ at the time He himself was crucified. This is an objective fact. Your eyes must be fixed on the Lord. Were you to try to crucify yourself, you would discover how wicked you are and how impossible it is for you to die. The greatest mistake made by believers is right here: although the Bible says that I was crucified with Christ, I look at myself and find myself as hard and corrupted and undisciplined as I ever was. Even so, I try to crucify myself; yet I cannot make myself die. And that is where the mistake begins: you begin with yourself. You should keep in mind, instead, that all real beginnings lie with Christ. You do not die because you have seen yourself dead. You only become dead because you died when Christ died.' - Watchman Nee
The objective truth of the cross must become real in our subjective experience or else Christianity is utterly unmanageable. We say, 'I am dead to this.' but in truth we are very much alive and there is an instinct that kicks in to push us to keep ourselves alive.
God says that we died when Christ died and we were raised when He was raised. He is seated in Heaven and we ARE seated in Heaven. Can we mix faith with that truth so it will become alive in our experience? If we do then when the moment of temptation comes we will have practiced God's thoughts many times in preparation.
I have been deeply convicted this week. This clay pot has deep cracks. It isn't just cosmetic. My old man has incurable wounds. Situations just reveal that to be true but that is not my identity.
The believer is a new creature...
"For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them..." - Galatians 6:15-16a ESV
Let this peace and mercy be upon you today. It is finished. Jesus has done something objectively on the cross and the Spirit can take the veil off our eyes. We were blind but now we can see what God already sees if we walk by faith in what Jesus has done.
--
Monday, March 23, 2015
Motives Transformed By The Cross
"The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." - Romans 14:22-23 ESV
Ever condemn yourself later for doing the 'right' thing?
The moral man will say, 'No, Do right and you will never regret it!' but that is very naive. It is just the lesser of two evils and there can be great regret attached to doing the right thing when you discover later you were deceived about what was right.
Faith is different. Faith glorifies God. Biblical faith proceeds from God and is mirrored in us.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 KJV
When faith comes from co-crucifixion. Our mind may be darkened in time so that we regret actions that may seem to be linked with hardship but God is pleased by our faith.
The faith of the Son of God mirrors His life and attributes. Kindness and mercy are there. Grace is there. Love for people is there. Confidence in God's will was the hallmark of Jesus' life. Jesus' life of faith brought Him to the greatest hardship any man has ever faced... the cross. But, The cross was not the end. It was the beginning.
Our cross is our beginning also. Our cross is His cross. His death is what we must bear. The consequences for our decision right and wrong were born there. Good but faithless decisions that lacked all kinds of information and perspective and bad ones done in rebellion and full disregard for others. All of it was put on that cross by God.
"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him... Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." - Hebrews 11:6, 12:1-3 ESV
It's Monday and we don't have to go to work or any other place because it's the right thing to do. Our motives can be transformed once again. We can go by faith on a faith adventure. God can steer us in any direction He wants to when we are moving in an un-condemned momentum.
---
Ever condemn yourself later for doing the 'right' thing?
The moral man will say, 'No, Do right and you will never regret it!' but that is very naive. It is just the lesser of two evils and there can be great regret attached to doing the right thing when you discover later you were deceived about what was right.
Faith is different. Faith glorifies God. Biblical faith proceeds from God and is mirrored in us.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 KJV
When faith comes from co-crucifixion. Our mind may be darkened in time so that we regret actions that may seem to be linked with hardship but God is pleased by our faith.
The faith of the Son of God mirrors His life and attributes. Kindness and mercy are there. Grace is there. Love for people is there. Confidence in God's will was the hallmark of Jesus' life. Jesus' life of faith brought Him to the greatest hardship any man has ever faced... the cross. But, The cross was not the end. It was the beginning.
Our cross is our beginning also. Our cross is His cross. His death is what we must bear. The consequences for our decision right and wrong were born there. Good but faithless decisions that lacked all kinds of information and perspective and bad ones done in rebellion and full disregard for others. All of it was put on that cross by God.
"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him... Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." - Hebrews 11:6, 12:1-3 ESV
It's Monday and we don't have to go to work or any other place because it's the right thing to do. Our motives can be transformed once again. We can go by faith on a faith adventure. God can steer us in any direction He wants to when we are moving in an un-condemned momentum.
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