Justified freely - not just dry theology

If we hold that God is the Creator, the Source, the Giver of Life – there is a question that begs an answer.  How can I know Him?  Why would we not want to know the Being Who made us, to discover – in Him – the answers to questions about our purpose in existence? Paul tells us, in the opening passage of Romans, that God announces Himself to humanity in the grandeur of what He’s made, that He writes His moral code into our consciences.
 

But, is it enough to just say there is a Divine Being and then to conclude that He is unknowable?  We need not make that sad choice to live in ignorance of the Holy One. Why? Because, He has revealed Himself to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, and through the pages of the inspired Scripture; and He invites us to know Him.

That revelation includes an astounding declaration about how we can find freedom from that sense (which is real) that we are separated from Him, from the guilt and unworthiness that comes when we approach Him in worship. In the following passage, we find the heart of the Good News, the statement about how we are set right with our God, restored to our Father, and enter into eternal life. 

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice . . . so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26, NIV)

Justified! Does it matter? Is it a word only of interest to theologians?  It should not be. It is the heart of the Gospel, the great news that we who have wandered far can come home, not abjectly begging for a place among the hired help, but as children in the family, heirs of the Father’s life and riches!  The amazing part is that there is no initiation fee, no arduous pathway to His altar. There is an invitation to believe and receive!

Many find it just too good to be true. Insisting there must be something they must do, they straddle the fence of their own goodness, their own religiosity, and the grace of God. They say that they have faith in Christ and but hold high their baptism as the trophy that makes them right.  They add many things to ‘faith in Jesus’ – church membership, attempts at impeccable morality, humanitarian service, benevolence  … it is a long list. 

All the while God says we are ‘justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’  Yes, Jerry, but …  I must be good enough for God. And that is the lie that makes sons into slaves. God asks us to take that decisive step, in faith, to leave behind the human religious systems that are so appealing to us and commit ourselves to Jesus Christ alone.

The completed thought of being set right with God (justified!) is that we will become people useful to His purposes, we will find the joy of serving Him,  we will grow away from sin and into holiness that is beautiful, whole, and full of love. 

Are you attempting to act like a Christian without actually becoming one? Are you trying to earn your way into the favor of God, to build a legacy of good that is sufficient to erase your sense of guilt?  If so, you have taken on a task that is impossible.  Would you be willing to just believe what He says to you, to accept His invitation to trust Christ as the complete and total reason for your acceptance at the throne of the Holy One? 

The word from the Word today states the glorious freedom of the children of God. Pause and invite the Spirit to open your heart and mind to the Truth. Then, read on.  "By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover, at the same moment, that He has already thrown open His door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise." (Romans 5:1-2, The Message)

Yes, we are justified (set right with our Father)  solely by faith in the Savior who gave His life to buy us back from the slavery of sin and the certainty of death. Only trust Him!

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Reckless Love

(worship with this song about His love)

Before I spoke a word
You were singing over me

You have been so so good to me

Before I took a breath
You breathed Your life in me

You have been so so kind to me

O the overwhelming never-ending reckless

Love of God

O it chases me down fights 'til I'm found

Leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn't earn it I don't deserve

Still You give Yourself away

O the overwhelming never-ending reckless

Love of God

When I was Your foe still Your love fought for me

You have been so so good to me

When I felt no worth You paid it all for me

You have been so so kind to me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

Caleb Culver | Cory Asbury | Ran Jackson

© Watershed Publishing Group (Admin. by Watershed Music Group)

Bethel Music Publishing

Richmond Park Publishing

CCLI License # 810055

That Quiet Confidence

“What’s going to happen to me? Will I be … what if?” Those questions have visited my mind many times throughout my lifetime. Confronted by change, I have a choice to make –  to trust God to lead me into the future or allow an awful anxiety to drive me to desperation.  How well I remember the choices I had to make when confronted with the evidence that my wife of 40 years was terminally ill.  There were parts of me that wanted to run and hide. And God, the Spirit, was present, inviting to remain steady – caring for Bev in her hour of crisis and trusting Him for a whole new future. Is that easy? Silly question! Was it a once and done decision? Not at all.   

Faith was a quiet confidence that I settled on God, that waited, that renewed day by day, that wavered, that found strength in support of friends and family. Faith was found then, and still is, in my willingness to release control of tomorrow to the One who is eternal.

Dramatic events tend to raise our consciousness of our faith (or lack thereof) but the truth is that genuine Christianity is a life of faith that owns us from the moment of each day’s awakening.  Our most basic daily decisions, if we claim to know, love, and serve Christ Jesus will be shaped by faith in what is beyond the perception of our natural eyes.  "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. … It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6, The Message)

Faith is not just discovered on the day of a diagnosis of terminal cancer, when circumstances go wildly out of our control, or when some critical question demands an answer. Faith leads us to shape the way we work, the way we spend our money, the way we use our time, and forms our most basic identity. It boils down to this – God owns me and secures my future through Jesus Christ or I am master of my destiny. There can be no middle ground.   

As we learn to trust Him with our future, our kids, our marriage, even our own sense of worth – faith grows.  Jesus uses some interesting metaphors to illustrate that growth.  “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds come and find shelter among its branches.” He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like yeast used by a woman making bread. Even though she used a large amount of flour, the yeast permeated every part of the dough.” (Luke 13:18-21, NLT)

Let’s not turn faith into a kind of magic wand. Let’s not allow a caricature of faith to convince us that we are in control as long as we say the right words or somehow “believe” enough.  Instead, will you join me in a quiet confidence in the Father, a willingness to work with Him, to walk where He leads – be it into a spectacular miracle or to formation of the steady trust needed to endure tempestuous times of change?  The ‘Faith Chapter’ – Hebrews 11 – is of two important parts. Most of us tend only to read the first, which recounts the amazing victories won by heroes of faith. But there is a second part that teaches a faith that is much less appealing but just as necessary. 

Read of the steady faith of those who did not find the miracle they desired in their lifetime. "Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless— the world didn’t deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world. 

Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours." (Hebrews 11:36-40, The Message)

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Lord, give us a Quiet Confidence,
a willingness to trust and wait, to hold onto hope,

to live with joy in the difficult days.

May we not surrender to apathy,

Nor demand what we must have to remain faithful.

Show us Your face,

Keep us near to Your heart.

Whisper to us that You are Master, Savior, and Friend.

In Jesus’ Name.

Amen

The truth can be hard

I have some faithful friends who show their care for me by telling me the truth. I don’t always appreciate it! Who really likes having shortcomings and failures pointed out or corrected? The notes of appreciation, the words of praise and affirmation – those I accept joyfully. But, when told about a gap in character, a failure of commitment, I am oh so human - tempted to deflect, excuse, or even deny it.  Yes, sometimes I become angry, wondering just who they think they are to say something like that. The wisdom of the Proverbs reminds us that "An open rebuke is better than hidden love! Wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy." (Proverbs 27:5-6, NLT)

In the letter to the Romans, Paul begins with hard words about the human condition apart from God. The opening chapters are a difficult read about sin, depravity, failure, and judgment!  My preference is to jump straight to chapter 5 where the hard truth resolves into the promise. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-3, NIV)  Hold on! We need to know why that gift of being set right with God (justified) is so precious.

After telling us that God reveals Himself in the amazing world He’s created and that He’s written a knowledge of His moral commands into our conscience, Paul goes on to remind those of us who might feel superior to those who sin more flagrantly of our own need for the intervention of God’s loving grace, stating the truth about our spiritual state apart from God’s grace..
"You may be saying, “What terrible people you have been talking about!” But you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Do you think that God will judge and condemn others for doing them and not judge you when you do them, too? 

Don’t you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin? But no, you won’t listen. So you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin. For there is going to come a day of judgment when God, the just judge of all the world, will judge all people according to what they have done." (Romans 2:1-6, NLT)

There is no need to wallow endlessly in guilt, to beat on ourselves with condemning words, or live in a state of spiritual defeat. However, we need to accept the truth about our desperate need so that we will gladly and faithfully embrace the gift that God offers us in Christ Jesus. If we minimize and/or excuse our own brokenness and sinfulness, we become abusers of His kindness and possibly sink into self-deception.  James says that a person who deflects the truth about his need for grace is like a man who sees his flaws in a mirror and walks away forgetting that image, pridefully pretending he is someone other than who he really is!  I don’t want to be ‘that guy,’ do you?

On this Monday morning, get real with God. Celebrate the goodness He’s given to you.  Develop the gifts invested in you. And yes, face the flaws, the unfinished, the broken, the thoughts that rebel against His mastery. It can hurt to look into the mirror when the Spirit convicts us of our sin, but oh the joy of knowing that His love is encompassing, that the One who knows us best also is the One who loves us most.  Here is a word from the Word. Own the hope today.

"The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51:17, NLT)

"Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, NLT)

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RESCUE

(the beautiful song by Lauren Daigle)

You are not hidden

There's never been a moment

You were forgotten

You are not hopeless

Though you have been broken

Your innocence stolen

I hear you whisper underneath your breath

I hear your SOS, your SOS

I will send out an army to find you

In the middle of the darkest night

It's true, I will rescue you

There is no distance

That cannot be covered

Over and over

You're not defenseless

I'll be your shelter

I'll be your armor

I hear you whisper underneath your breath

I hear your SOS, your SOS

I will send out an army to find you

In the middle of the darkest night

It's true, I will rescue you

I will never stop marching to reach you

In the middle of the hardest fight

It's true, I will rescue you

I hear the whisper underneath your breath

I hear you whisper, you have nothing left

I will send out an army to find you

In the middle of the darkest night

It's true, I will rescue you

I will never stop marching to reach you

In the middle of the hardest fight

It's true, I will rescue you

Oh, I will rescue you

Songwriters: Jason Ingram / Paul Mabury / Lauren Daigle

Rescue lyrics © Essential Music Publishing, Capitol Christian Music Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC