Jesus is Coming, Perhaps Today!

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

I Thessalonians 4:16

Growing up in the city of Rochester, New York my family lived, for a time, in my maternal grandparent’s home.

 Two doors down from us was a black family whose dad worked a day job but was also a Pastor

 of a store front church.

 I vividly remember a bumper sticker on their car that declared:

 “JESUS IS COMING PERHAPS TODAY”.

At the time that statement just seemed so foreign to me.

 I used to think to myself: "I wonder what it means, didn’t He already come to earth?”

You see I knew well the story of his life, death, even his resurrection but his return seemed to be a point that was never made with the same importance or perhaps just not the same impact on me.

Fast forward forty or fifty years in my life to a message I heard not too long ago.

The speaker made some comments as part of his bigger message that he felt strongly at the beginning of this year, unlike any other time in his walk with God, that this really could be the year that Jesus returns.

As I considered that point it got me to thinking that we, as believers, so often lose sight of the fact that, as the bumper sticker said so many years ago and as His word tells us so assuredly, Jesus is coming back.

What if it was today?

How would that change your schedule if you knew, at an appointed time, He was returning?

I know we have all been challenged with this thought before.

At least I have.

But maybe it’s time to re-consider the differences it would make in my life and your life if we were to daily consider that this could be the day.

Too often we go off on, what I would label as ‘theological tangent reasons’ to excuse away why it wouldn’t or couldn’t be so.

Let me give you something to consider today.

Take a moment and read I Thessalonians 5:1-11The question for us becomes: If His word is true (and we know it is!) how does it impact my life – or even more specifically – how does it impact my day today?

Suppose today – the day you are reading this article – is the day of His return?

How would your plans change?

What sin that you have been hiding would you turn from and truly repent of?

What promise to pray that you have made countless times in the past to someone would you finally keep? How fervent and urgent would those prayers be if you knew Jesus was returning in just a few hours?

How radically would your priorities shift?

What carried great importance in your life earlier in the day that would now seem so irrelevant?

Self examination is sometimes helpful.

So let’s examine our spiritual lives today in light of this thought:

Jesus is coming; perhaps today!

How “I Can’t” Becomes “I Can”

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4:13

Today we ask the same question we asked yesterday –

What do you need to do if you are going to live life through God’s grace?

Another area that we need to guard against in order to be able to live life through God’s grace is unbelief.

Unbelief says: “I can’t” but you can confidently replace the “I can’t” with an “I can”

when you are walking in obedience to God.

The “I can’t” response is one that comes from relying on self.

The “I can…” response is positive because it carries a ‘supernatural addendum’ –

“…do all things through Him who gives me strength.”

My faith does not rest in my capabilities but in His.

He is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent – just to name a few attributes.

So then with His wisdom, power and presence flowing through me because of Christ; I am more than able to do anything He asks of me.

Consider just a couple of servants who knew what it was to minister through His grace after some initial doubt.

“But Lord, Gideon asked, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family.”

Jeremiah questioned: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I said, “I do not know how to speak;

I am only a child.”

Both of them initially protested based on what they had to offer but

God countered their objections with who He is!

Someone a whole lot smarter than me once said that

“One with God is a majority!”

How true that is when our unbelief is forsaken and we come to understand

 “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” 

Which ‘R’ You?

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves,

 it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

As we look at the grace of God this week a question arises –

What do you need to do if you are going to live life through God’s grace?

Over the next couple of days we will look at that question and offer some answers.

Perhaps the greatest enemy of grace is ‘religion’.

His grace flows through me when I maintain a relationship with Him.

If instead, I make it all about my works, my abilities and what I can do; I have moved away from relationship and instead I am cozying up with religion.

In essence, I am cultivating a ‘working’ relationship with religion rather than with my Savior.

Religion is evident when His presence matters far less to me than what I can do.  

Religion robs but relationship with Christ rewards.

Religion steals away grace by replacing it with my efforts.

Relationship instructs and makes evident God’s grace in my life.

The abundant life from God flows through me as I remain in relationship with Christ through His Holy Spirit.

While religion will ‘puff us up in pride’, relationship ‘powers us up in His Spirit’.

Are you looking for more of His presence and grace to flow through your life?

Then guard against religion and instead draw near to God and cultivate that relationship that craves His presence more than anything else!

So Which ‘R’ You – Religion or Relationship?

An “Entitlement” Grace

“Why should any living man complain

    when punished for his sins?

Lamentations 3:39

 

Today’s blog title is, of course, an oxymoron.

And, despite the comic I read this week which humorously presented it as such, an oxymoron is not a very stupid ox!

It is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms are combined.

We are not entitled to God’s grace.

That is to say it is not a right or a claim we can demand.

 While it might seem like Christianity 101; allow me to remind you of

Romans 3:23 and 6:23 below:

 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We deserve death, not grace.

You, me and everyone else on the planet.

I think we sometimes forget how marvelous His grace is and we can subtly

begin to cop an attitude that grace is “owed” to us.

That is not a wise place to be.

Grace is a free gift from God to us that we, of course, do not deserve.

I can, and should, do good works as a believer.

But when we begin to lose sight of the fact that those good works are a fruit of God’s grace in us and instead we begin to take credit for our salvation or, at a minimum, consider redemption a “joint effort” between the work of the cross and my works; it’s time to re-visit those verses in Romans and re-visit the work of grace wrought in Christ.

Entitlement is a ‘hot topic’ in some circles but never let it be so for believers.

My sin “entitled” me to an eternity in hell without God.

His wonderful grace paid the price to rescue me!   

Grace So Amazing

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

   II Corinthians 9:8

What is grace?

Grace can be defined as God’s supernatural enabling for me to be and do all that He asks of me. It is God’s desire to lavish you in His grace so that your life is fulfilled.

That fulfilled life we all desire is only fully realized through His grace.

Works won’t lead you there.

Religion won’t lead you there.

Pedigree or purse strings can’t take you there.

His grace will.

Some men and woman live their whole life looking for fulfillment,

but pride keeps them from admitting it is His grace and not their works.

Don’t allow the many traps to keep you from receiving and growing in the grace of God.

The Bible is filled with the stories of men and woman who knew that enabling power.

Joseph, Moses, Gideon and Daniel to name just a few.

That same grace is still available for me and you too!

Don’t turn away from the abounding grace.

Open your heart wide and make a place.

God’s grace for willing vessels fills; 

Into lives you touch, it spills!

Surrendered Skills

“The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing person skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command.”

I Chronicles 28:21

What set of skills do you bring to the table?

Are you valued for your financial acumen?

Can you form metal or wood into useful products or works of art?

Perhaps you’re an orator whose speeches would impress even Cicero.

But what is productive for you can become counter-productive in the Kingdom of God

God doesn’t need your skills nearly as much as He desires your surrender!

Notice in today’s verse that it doesn’t speak of every skilled person helping but rather every willing person skilled in any craft.

If I have honed my skills such that I am in demand far beyond others with the same set of skills I risk reaching the pinnacle of pride and self-congratulatory satisfaction.

I risk becoming useless for the Kingdom instead of useful!

Noah did not suffer from such pride.

He certainly was no expert in predicting the weather.

As a matter of fact, he likely had no idea what “rain” was.

Shipbuilding?

Certainly not a trade he had learned growing up!

You see, Noah came to God (and God used him) not with all his skills but instead with all that he was willing to surrender to God: faithfulness, obedience and service. 

God may anoint skills but what He is really after is our willing faithfulness, obedience and service.

God can take the man who stutters (but surrenders) and use him to speak to Pharoah.

God can take the shepherd boy (least impressive of Jesse’s sons) and use him to slay the giant.

God can take the impulsive Apostle who denied him three times (Pete, in case you were wondering) and empower him to lead 3,000 to Christ in one day.

So the servant best suited to advance the Kingdom of God is the one whose skills are willingly surrendered in service and not paraded in pride!

Stand Up AND Stand Out!

“This is the account of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.

I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”

Genesis 6:9, 11-13

Noah was a “peculiar” man long before he started building an ark of Cypress wood. 

He stood out as a righteous man in a wicked generation.

As a matter of fact, we are told he not only stood out but he also stood alone as a righteous man.

He was probably mocked for being a “goody-two-sandals”.

God’s command, then, to build an ark was certainly not going to win him any new friends in the neighborhood. He couldn’t alienate anyone else with his backyard DIY (do it yourself) project because everyone else probably already considered him to have long ago gone off the deep end.

It got me to wondering how many other “peculiar” people may be

“AWOL” (Away With Out Leave”) in this generation.

  I am not advocating that you or I do “strange” things simply for the sake of doing strange things. But maybe, just maybe, there are some people out there God has spoken to but they are less than willing to stand out and stand alone in their obedience to God regardless of what others may say or do. 

We don’t mind being called “Christian” when Christianity is in vogue but please don’t ask me to do something “odd” or to be peculiar.

Remember how many people left Jesus after he told them that unless they drank His blood and ate His flesh they had no life in them? 

He spoke something they could not understand so they parted ways.

Noah, Abraham, Moses and countless others have heard God command them to do things that just did not make sense to them at the time.

But they obeyed God.

That may have made them “peculiar” in their generation but a “stand out” to God.

Are you willing to be a peculiar stand-out or God?

Will you do what He has asked you to do?

The “Work” of Grace

“Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you

and your wife and your sons and their wives.”

Genesis 8:15-16

Most scholars agree that Noah and his family were in the ark with all of the animals for about a year.

The ark is often seen as a symbol of Christ.

We are “in Christ’ just as Noah and his family were in the ark.

Gods’ grace that was extended to Noah is available, through Christ, to each of us.

We are not saved by works, but by grace.

But after we receive God’s salvation by grace; part of the evidence of our lives being “in Christ” is our good works.

Noah’s time on the ark was hardly a luxury cruise.

It’s not like Noah could send the elephants outside to relieve themselves. I would also imagine that in the course of the year shut up on the boat there were some unusual needs to be tended to because of the animals. 

Serving God in our lives is not always neat and tidy.

Sometimes we are called upon to minister in the dirt and grime of people who have soiled themselves thru sin and just need to know God still loves them and makes His grace available to them as well. 

    Just as Noah found a lot of hard work needed to be done on the ark even after the grace of God shut him and his family in; we too will find that serving God means serving others when they may not be at their best and are far from ‘lovely’ and ‘well-behaved’. I wonder how many times Ham, Shem or Japheth had to remove the fox from the hen house!

In my life, and in yours, grace does not mean we cease from work!

Our works, however, now give evidence of the grace of God that is in our lives!

The Ark of Safety

“And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives

entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.”

Genesis 7:7



Yesterday we looked at the grace that Noah had found in the eyes of the Lord.

That grace kept him through the time of testing when he built an ark and because of that grace Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives entered the ark to escape the waters that would flood the whole earth.

Grace not only equips us, grace also protects and preserves us.

Noah and his family alone were kept safe in the ark when all the rest of humanity was destroyed.  

Some may read the account and say “How terrible!”

But there was nothing terrible about the preserving grace of God that saved 8 lives.

In chapter six of Genesis and verses 5 and 6 tell us the condition of man on the earth and the impact on God.

“The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” 

We find mans’ every inclination was only evil all the time.

There was no thought that was good, honorable or pleasing to God. 

This behavior filled the heart of God with pain.

Yet, in the midst of this hurt, God extended grace to Noah.

He was saved from destruction and preserved so that through Noah the promise he made to Adam and Eve would be kept.

The ark became an ark of safety and preservation because it was built by grace.

God’s work of grace in your life will protect you from the eternal judgment of sin and the death sentence that it demands.  

The cross of Calvary and the blood shed there by Gods’ Son becomes our ark of safety!

Only By His Grace!

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Genesis 6:8

 

Have you, like Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord?

You see it is only through His grace that we are saved and our lives are redeemed from destruction.

It is only through grace that we are set free from the bondage of sin.

It is only through grace that the sanctifying work of His Spirit is applied in our lives.

It is only through grace that we are called, commissioned and equipped.

The first part of verse one in Psalm 127 says this:

“Unless the Lord builds the house,
    its builders labor in vain…”

God’s grace builds the house that lasts and the ministry that endures.

Anything built in our own effort is built in vain.

Noah knew that lesson well.

He spent 120 years obediently building an ark.

It wasn’t because he was a skilled prognosticator on the culture of the day – it was because he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 

It wasn’t because he borrowed “Shipbuilders for Dummies” from his local library – instead he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

And it certainly wasn’t from others coming alongside him to offer encouragement – rather he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 

So too, the call of God in your life will never be fulfilled because you shrewdly see the future, or have the skills within yourself necessary to accomplish it or that you  belong to a club whose only task is to encourage you!

You will only fulfill the call God has for you through His grace!

How about it then?

The same Lord who graced Noah has called you to a task that can only be accomplished by and in His grace.

Are you willing to believe Him and trust His grace to work in you?

“Jesus, I Hardly Recognized You!”

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25: 35, 36, 40b

 

I’m so sorry Jesus.

I didn’t see or hear you come in.

I was feeding some people who hadn’t had a meal in days and finding something for them to wear that wouldn’t let the cold, wet rain soak them through.

You see; there is no guarantee that they will have a roof over their head tonight.

If you read the passage quoted above in its’ entirety you almost get the impression that that it is possible to be so immersed in doing good to those who are in genuine need that we miss the fact that it is also blessing the Lord.

   And we can almost imagine the opposite extreme of that would be like taking every moment to make sure God was seeing all you are doing.

After all, you cannot let a ‘heavenly photo op’ slip by!

I said above that it was as if we missed the fact that it was blessing the Lord.

But here’s the wonderful part – any good works done in

His Name, for those in need, does not go unnoticed by Him.  

Sure, you may not receive immediate reward or recognition,

but rest assured He sees you.  

Maybe you had a little trouble recognizing Jesus in the stranger, the hungry, the naked, or the prisoner but He was right there as you compassionately ministered in His Name!

Don’t stop!

Doing Good While Waiting

“Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.

He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate,

proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.”

Acts 18:24-28

Well, you can stay hidden away in your house praying for God to reveal His will for your life or you can, as Priscilla and Aquila did, find something to do and do it.

Sometimes we are so ‘paralyzed’ in inactivity about being ‘out of the will’ of God for our own lives that, while we seek God for specifics, we fail to do anything.

Paul the Apostle spent time with Priscilla and Aquila.

No doubt some of that time was spent sharing and expounding the whole counsel of God to them and with them.

Their time together was mutually profitable.   

Apollos comes on the scene and Priscilla and Aquila open their home to him and mentor him in the teachings that were lacking in his life. We see, in them, people willing to receive from Paul and then freely give to Apollos. 

Afterwards, Apollos goes to Achaia and proves to be a great help in that place.

   We are not told that Priscilla and Aquila had a word, a dream or a vision from God to come along side Apollos and encourage and strengthen him in areas he was deficient. They simply did as we should do.

They saw a need and did their best to fill it. 

Because of that, Apollos had the ways of God more adequately explained to him and went on to minister in that wisdom to many others.

Priscilla and Aquilas’ obedience did not begin and end with Apollos.

It was multiplied through his ministry to others in Achaia.

Maybe you are seeking God for some very specific direction and guidance right now.

As you wait, work.

As you seek, do.

The Multi-Faceted Diamond of Worship

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Romans 12:1

Ask some to define the word “worship” and they reactively say: “singing”.

But to limit worship only to music or singing is to miss the multi-faceted dimension of true worship.

Part of the brilliance of a diamond is the ability to reflect light off of its many facets.

Worship, like a diamond, is multi-faceted.

It simply cannot be restricted to one “thing”.

Yes, worship is music and singing.

But worship is also (and especially) evident through our obedience.

Worship is seen through the sacrifices we offer.

Worship too, can be found in good works.

Jesus said that true worshippers would worship in Spirit and in truth.

He spoke this to a woman who tried to define worship based on where it took place.

Jesus pointed out to her that it was not a question of ‘geography’ or ritual.

It was more a question of obedience.

Some today still try to define worship with artificial boundaries.

They say that this ‘style’ of music is worship while that ‘style’ is not.

But to restrict worship to narrow definitions is to limit how we can

worship the God of all creation.

God is well pleased with that person of faith who recognizes that worship

is not simply singing a song or chorus but is instead a life of obedience

surrendered to Him moment-by-moment.    

That is our reasonable service! 

An Antidote for Slander

“Conduct yourselves properly (honorably, righteously) among the Gentiles, so that, although they may slander you as evildoers, [yet] they may by witnessing your good deeds [come to] glorify God in the day of inspection [when God shall look upon you wanderers as a pastor or shepherd looks over his flock].”

I Peter 2:12 Amplified

It’s such a well worn cliché that I hesitate to even write it.

It’s one we’ve all heard:

“Actions speak louder than words.”

In the verse above we read that our good works can actually silence the critics. 

We can refute their words of slander with good deeds.

You may hear their words, but let them see your deeds!

Ephesians 2:10 has this to say about ‘works’:

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Every so often you can read a “war of words” in the editorial page of the local paper or even between ‘friends’ on Facebook concerning this-or-that theological doctrine.

More often than not, it is a fruitless endeavor.

I cannot argue that there are times when a well spoken word will accomplish much.

The Bible has much to say about this.

But who can deny the impact of good works done in Christ’s name when no one is simultaneously working to build (or defend)their own name.

Can you imagine for a moment what it might be like if every slanderous word directed at a believer was countered, not with an equally slanderous word but, by a good work?

Might that draw a little bit of attention to the cause of Christ?

Don’t match them word-for-word; instead meet their words with good works!

Overcome evil with good!

‘Small’ Works Are Not Insignificant to God!

‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

 Luke 19:17

How many people were raised from the dead today when you prayed?

None, you say?

Good!

No, I’m not suffering from a bad attitude, but…

Sometimes we miss the will of God in the ‘small’ works while we meditate on the mighty works He never required of you today.

In other words, we are so busy daydreaming about how God might someday use us that we miss the small but no less important moments He wants to use you today.

Call it ‘faith procrastination!’

After all, Jesus said we would do greater works than He did, didn’t He?

Yes, but even Jesus spent thirty years growing in wisdom and favor before the Father used Him in ways evident to others.

You see, if Jesus was without sin, then that included being without sin in those thirty years when few eyes were on him and no public ministry had yet taken place. He was being prepared. He was growing.

I am convinced that much of our ‘learning curve’ with God (at least I am convinced much of my learning curve) is while he deals with our unbelief and our pride. Unbelief, in that God would use us and pride because we so very much crave the praise of man when He does use us.

  The will of God for my life, and yours, can most often be found in a hundred small, obedient tasks that cultivate, in us, the willingness to listen and obediently respond when no one but God is watching. Do you want to be used in mighty ways?

Then learn to obey in the “not-so-mighty” works He has called you to do!

You Have Gods’ Undivided Attention

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;”

 Psalm 34:15

Listen to the words of this old hymn:

"Pass me not, O gentle Savior
Hear my humble cry!
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Savior Savior, Hear my humble cry!
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by."

It is said that the words of this hymn, written well over a hundred years ago, were inspired by a visit to a prison. While ministry was taking place, prisoners called out to God that He would not pass them by.

It would be very easy to ascribe to God the constraints of mortal men and think that because of the demands so many place on Him, He may not hear my prayer.

We may know from experience that when our focus is divided none of the demands made on us get our best efforts applied to them.

We wrongly conclude then – it must be the same with God.

Of course, it is not.

I can humbly cry out to God in prayer never afraid that His response will be second best or diluted because He is tied up elsewhere.  

Some might say that it is the epitome of self-centered thought; to think I have Gods’ full attention.

But the truth is that God’s love for me (and you) is so great and that, individually, we mean so much to Him that He delights in hearing and responding to us.   

What a privilege it is to talk with God!

What an awesome revelation to know He listens attentively!

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Can You Hear Me Now?

“ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

II Chronicles 7:14

What prayer does God hear?

What ‘prayer’ does God choose not to hear?

As we discussed last night, God hears the prayer of His people when they come to Him in humility, when they seek His face and when they repent of their wicked ways.

God does not hear the prayer of the proud.

As a matter of fact we are told He resists the proud.

 God does not hear the prayer of the rebellious:

Psalm 5:10 tells us:

“Declare them guilty, O God;
    Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
    for they have rebelled against you,”

 The prayers of the unrepentant, unforgiving man or woman will not ascend to heaven.

God also does not hear the whiner when he prays; i.e. someone not seeking the face of God but instead crying crocodile tears.

When we approach the throne of grace as the righteousness of Christ and have been justified through His blood; we still can have our prayers hindered.

The attitudes listed above that have not brought to the cross hinder our prayers.

 Don’t let your attitudes of heart hinder your prayers before God!