Read the last chapter!

Spoiler alert! You see this warning in a review of a book or play when there is about to be a revelation of a critical turn in the plot. If you don’t want to ruin the story for yourself, you stop reading, right? Occasionally a writer will show you the end of the story and then turn time back to unfold the drama that led to the conclusion that you now know.  I’ll admit that sometimes I read the last chapter in a novel first. Silly? Maybe, but it’s something I do.

God told us the end of the story, the promise of eternal life, the defeat of evil, the joy of Heaven in His Book. I am so glad He did! Why? Because sometimes, in the middle of this thing we call life it all looks overwhelming, doesn’t it?  Whether we are talking about world problems – and there are plenty of those; or the more local challenges of our situation – and at least in my life there are enough to keep things ‘interesting;’ or even our personal struggles, we are encouraged to remain faithful to Him because we have assurance that He has our lives in His hands.

The closing passage of Romans 8 is packed full promise!  It’s a sort of spoiler alert for our lives, but in the best sense. Because we are called and justified in Christ, "we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. …After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? … Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. … None of this (death, demons, etc.) fazes us because Jesus loves us." (Romans 8:37, The Message)

On this Friday, perhaps you have had a tough week.  My heart has been full of concern this week, perhaps more than usual, for the people in my pastoral care – for those with broken hearts, for those with unrelenting pain, for those battling addiction, for those who are wondering if it’s worth the struggle, for those trying to make sense of what seems senseless, and more.  I will confess that these concerns have kept me awake in the night, have heavily weighed on me. Some of my prayers have just been sighs, knowing that the "Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." (Romans 8:26, NIV)  Yet, I pray those heavy prayers with faith in the promise – He has made us ‘more than conquerors’ through Christ Who loves us.  I know the end of the story, ‘cause I have read the last chapter.

Fighting the good fight? Never quit. Don’t settle for apathy or resignation.

Here is a word from the Word. My prayer is that the Truth will infuse us with courage, stamina, and vision, for the Glory of God, now and forever. "And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will anything be cursed. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever." (Revelation 22:1-5, NLT)

Jesus says, “See, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay all according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:12-13, NLT)

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O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)

O come all ye faithful

Joyful and triumphant

O come ye O come ye to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him

Born the King of angels

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord

Sing choirs of angels

Sing in exultation

O sing all ye bright

Hosts of heav'n above

Glory to God all

Glory in the highest

Yea Lord we greet Thee

Born this happy morning

Jesus to Thee be all glory giv'n

Word of the Father

Now in flesh appearing

C. Frederick Oakeley © Words: Public Domain

Living to your God-given potential

On that Sunday morning in 1977 when Bev and I dedicated our first-born son to the Lord, I sang to him: “You are a promise, You are a possibility… you are a great big bundle of potentiality.”  (Bill Gaither)  My head was full of questions that day 4 decades ago. Who would he become? What choices would be made to shape him? How would he use the gift of life? Would he allow God, the Holy Spirit, to develop his abilities and choose a path that would honor the God who made Him?  (I am proud of the man he is today, by the way!)  

My own father spoke often to me as I grew up about potential and promise: about the importance of our choices and God’s gifts, about becoming a person who contributes to the world and remembers the higher purposes of the Lord.

When the Spirit calls you into the family of God, when you are reconciled to your Father and made alive through Christ Jesus, there are expectations of you, too. God sees each one of us as a ‘big bundle of potentiality!’  Yes, there is a whole new way of life opened to us when the Spirit of God takes residence in us, as we are ‘born again’ becoming children of God.  Look at this passage that speaks of the new things that are possible in us and through us. "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (Romans 8:14-17, NIV)

• You have an identity!  Don’t be confused about who you are, where you belong. You are God’s own child. My own children clearly knew who they were. They were connected to a family, that was part of a larger family. From the stories they heard they learned about who they were, where they came from, and how to live.  As God’s child, you too, have an identity. You are shown, in Christ Jesus, how to live.

• You enjoy access and closeness to Him! I hope that despite my imperfections as a father, that my children never needed to wonder if they were loved. I tried to be a Dad who was available to them, interested in who they were, ready to hear their stories and help them work through their struggles. Some of my most precious memories of fathering are formed around times when I was able to encourage, pray, and help them made the difficult choices that helped them to grow on.  Paul reminds us that we are not slaves of fear, as we once were. We are God’s kids who come eagerly to Him, “Abba.”  That is a word of deep respect and personal intimacy, a way of saying “My Father!”

• You have an inheritance.  For us inheritance is about something received after death, in the settlement of an estate. That is not what Paul is writing about in this passage. The declaration of paternity in that time made a son one who shared in the family’s wealth, though it was not yet in his control. As heirs of God, we are given riches (please think bigger thoughts than money!) so that we can live without a sense of lack. We live with the knowledge that He has made us to share His love and life, not as recipients of charity but with full rights as children!  And as we stand with our co-heir Christ Jesus, remaining faithful in times of suffering, there is an unwavering assurance that we will ultimately enjoy the glorious existence that is prepared for us in the Father’s house.

Yes, in Christ, possibilities are released in us and for us – identity, intimacy, inheritance.  Are you living in a way that invites the Spirit to lead you to discover the full expectation of Your Father?

Meditate on this word from the Word. Here the Spirit reminds that the amazingly wonderful truths about our adoption into God’s family are fully declared, but as yet, not fully realized. Pray for faith to accept what He has said, so that you will live to fully inherit His promise. 

"Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse.

 All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us." (Romans 8:18-23, NLT)

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No Longer Slaves

(worship at this link)

You unravel me with a melody

You surround me with a song

Of deliverance from my enemies

Till all my fears are gone

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

From my Mother's womb

You have chosen me

Love has called my name

I've been born again into Your family

Your blood flows through my veins

You split the sea so I could walk right through it

My fears were drowned in perfect love

You rescued me so I could stand and sing

I am a child of God

Brian Johnson | Joel Case | Jonathan David Helser

© 2014 Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055

Feeling guilty, like a convict?

 

Sleep eluded me, my mind a whirl of thoughts of regret and guilt. I lay there wondering, “Why did I say that, act in that way?” You probably know that middle of the night awareness of failure, too. The guilt can serve a good purpose in me, bringing me to change, causing me to open my heart to God and, as necessary, to go and make things right. There is a toxic response to the Spirit’s conviction that calls us to repentance; a lie which we must not allow to find a settled place in our minds. It’s called – condemnation! That is when we begin to believe that deception that insists we are too bad, too far gone, beyond the love and mercy of God.

Paul, after writing at length about how God sets us right with Himself through Christ Jesus, breaks out with a great declaration.  Take note of the transitory word, “therefore.”  The conclusion that we are about to read does not flow from human effort, from firm resolve, or from stellar religiosity! The freedom we can experience is provided solely by faith through Jesus.  Look at it. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2, NIV)  No condemnation!

Condemnation is a translation of a compound NT Greek word that literally means to ‘judge down.’ It was used of a court’s determination of guilt and subsequent sentence under law. The judge determined guilt, the matter settled. The offender then lived with that conviction, paid the penalty, carrying the stigma of that condemnation.  To this day, to be convicted of a felony (a crime more serious than a misdemeanor) is an awful thing with consequences extending the rest of life. That criminal conviction becomes a part of personal history, known to banks, employers, courts, and anyone who does a background check. Many jobs are closed to convicted felons, even long after they have served their time. Depending on the state in which they reside many rights are lost to felons.

Under God’s Law, we are judged, convicted sin, one verse reminding us that we are ‘by nature objects of wrath.’ It is a desperate situation. There is condemnation, a fearful expectation of eternal separation from God and good. If you don’t like that statement, your issue is not with me but with the Lord Himself. There is a brilliant phrase that shines into that dark place of hopelessness. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6, NKJV)

A convicted felon may be freed from the life-long stigma of his crime with a pardon. Certain of our elected executives are invested with the power, by law, to grant a pardon, erasing the conviction. There is no more condemnation! That is what our Father in Heaven did for us in Christ Jesus. The sin that condemned us, the judgment that destined us for destruction, the guilt that dogged us in the night – these are no longer necessary because we are, through Him, justified and therefore no longer condemned!

When guilt that calls for repentance morphs into condemnation that insists you are beyond the mercy of God, refuse it standing on the truth. No more guilty condemnation for you, for me. Why? We are pardoned, our conviction under the Law erased by Jesus.

Here is a word from the Word.  Read it prayerfully, asking that the Spirit will settle it into your mind and heart.

 "Yes, Adam’s one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness makes all people right in God’s sight and gives them life. Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God’s sight. God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful kindness became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:18-21, NLT)

Now, because of Him, no condemnation.

_______

And Can It Be

(the grand hymn of justification)

And can it be that I should gain

An interest in the Savior's blood

Died He for me who caused His pain

For me who Him to death pursued

Amazing love how can it be

That Thou my God shouldst die for me

Amazing love how can it be

That Thou my God shouldst die for me

He left His Father's throne above

So free so infinite His grace

Emptied Himself of all but love

And bled for Adam's helpless race

'Tis mercy all immense and free

For O my God it found out me

'Tis mercy all immense and free

For O my God it found out me

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature's night

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray

I woke the dungeon flamed with light

My chains fell off my heart was free

I rose went forth and followed Thee

Amazing love how can it be

That Thou my God shouldst die for me

No condemnation now I dread

Jesus and all in Him is mine

Alive in Him my living Head

And clothed in righteousness divine

Bold I approach th'eternal throne

And claim the crown through Christ my own

Amazing love how can it be

That Thou my God shouldst die for me

Amazing love how can it be

That Thou my God shouldst die for me

Charles Wesley

© Words: Public Domain