Enemy Mine: Indwelling Sin

Here are some helpful words from John Owen

When we realize a constant enemy of the soul abides within us, what diligence and watchfulness we should have! How woeful is the sloth and negligence then of so many who live blind and asleep to this reality of sin.  There is an exceeding efficacy and power in the indwelling sin of believers, for it constantly inclines itself towards evil.  We need to be awake, then, if our hearts would know the ways of God.  Our enemy is not only upon us, as it was with Samson, but it is also in us.

John Owen, Sin and Temptation, pg. 7

Nine Years Ago Today

It was September 28th of 2003.  I was 25 years old.  I had been married for two years.  My wife and I had just found out that we were expecting our first child.  And my church family voted to make me their Pastor.  God is sovereign and accomplishes his will despite us and our opinions, but knowing what I know now, I would have never counseled myself to accept the position, because in my opinion (as Paul says, "I'm speaking foolishly as a man") I was not ready for the task.  

I was young, immature, and ignorant of all that Scripture required of me, but I held on to the promise that my Dad used to quote often, "God doesn't call the equipped, but He equips the called."  I'm pretty sure that was an original quote from the late Adrian Rodgers. 

Over the past nine years I have made many mistakes: person ones (I won't make this a confessional), in my family (often placing them second, third, or worse on my priority list), and in the church.  As I look back I note people I was called to Shepherd that I hurt because of my pride and ignorance.  I note people who whether intentionally or unintentionally hurt me with their words, or by walking away.  I have felt burdens for people, so strong that I couldn't sleep at night.  I have said goodbye to dear friends who left our little church to go, all across the globe, plant or lead their own ministry.  I have officiated funeral services for some of the most Godly widow ladies you could have ever met.  I have grown in the grace and knowledge of Christ passage after passage, right along with the congregation.  I have experienced joy so deep and full that words fail to describe it.  I have learned that God's word is indeed sufficient, not because a professor told me it was, but because I have watched it's truths change peoples lives - mine included. 

There is no good way to sum up nine years of ministry at Meadowview, there are so many faces, so many mistakes, so many memories, days of pain and days of joy.  But the one constant for the past 3,285 days (Sorry, I didn't figure for leap year) has been Christ - after all it is His church, not mine.  I am so thankful that in all the relationships, decisions, and circumstances that make up the past 9 years God has been gracious and faithful to accomplish His good purposes in our lives (Romans 8:28).  And to be honest I'm more than a little excited to see what He does with the next nine years. 

Praise be to Him!  

Three Attitudes Towards Money & Possessions

There are three attitudes we can have towards money and possessions:

• "What's yours is mine; I will take it."
• "What's mine is mine; I will keep it." 
• "What's mine is God's; I will share it."

Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, pg. 91

Radical Christian - a "reblog"

This year at Meadowview we are focusing on Radical Discipleship (Luke 9:23) and the other day I came across this blog post that I found both encouraging and challenging.  The blog is titled "Radical Christian."  To get to the original blog you can follow this link. 

John Stott said that what dominated the mind of Christ was not so much the living of His life but the giving of it. Which of these is your mind consumed by? Another thought provoking question.

It seems to me when I think about people I know over a broad spectrum of life that most of them are consumed by living life. There is of course nothing wrong with thinking about summer fun, and ballgames, and picnics, festivals and graduation celebrations. Many of these things are on my list of things to do as well. However, as I meditate upon what Stott said I have to ask what my life is made of. What am I about?

When I first became saved I was all about the living of life.  Things were very important to me, I spent my weekends at the mall, I had to be home to watch my favorite television shows. I think I had 60 pair of shoes! I was out for me, what I could get, and how I could live the best life possible.

When I began to grow in my faith I discovered a desire to serve. Sadly, that desire was still more about me and about being recognized than it was about God. After time, enough growth took place that I realized that was the wrong motive. I wish I could remember exactly when that switch was hit, and the change took place... I do remember thinking I would take the classes offered at church on theology. I wanted to be prepared for whatever God would want me to do.

I vividly remember when I realized a deep and yearning desire to give and serve. This was not a snap decision nor was it a lightweight thing. I sat on the steps alone, and prayed asking God to reveal to me if this weight I was experiencing was the call to serve, the call of ministry. It was a time of heavy contemplation and much prayer.

That is when I am conscious of my life becoming about giving instead of living. I began to realize what the life of Christ was about, and it was service. The Gospels came alive in a new way as I understood that to be about serving was sacrifice. It was not about being thanked and recognized or appreciated, it was about hard work and invisibility.

Life that is Christ-centered is about giving. The giving is to be as complete on our end as it was on Christ's. So often the words of Philippians 2:1-8 come to mind:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

When you and I reach the level of giving that costs us our lives then we have done enough.

 So, are you living life or giving life?  

Dealing with Guilt

Jerry Bridges in The Discipline of Grace offers this helpful counsel on dealing with our guilt.

Justification is a completed work as far as God is concerned.  The penalty has been paid and His justice has been satisfied.  But it must be received through faith and must be continually renewed in our souls and applied to our consciences every day through faith.  There are two "courts" we must deal with: the court of God in Heaven and the court of conscience in our souls.  When we trust in Christ for salvation, God's court is forever satisfied.  Never again will a charge of guilt be brought against us in Heaven.  Our consciences, however, are continually pronouncing us guilty.  That is the function of conscience.  Therefore, we must by faith bring the verdict of conscience into line with the verdict of Heaven.  We do this by agreeing with our conscience about our guilt, but then reminding it that our guilt has already been borne by Christ. (The Discipline of Grace, 54)

A Stirred Up Spirit

This morning while reading through Ezra 1 I was struck by this phrase:

"...the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia..."

Then a few verses later it reads,

"...everyone whose spirit God has stirred to go up..." 

In the context the work that God was stirring Cyrus and Israel to do was to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. But, I like that phrase, "the LORD stirred."  Do you like it?  You see this is what I need; this is what you need; this is what Meadowview Baptist needs - we need the LORD to stir our spirits.

We need the Lord to stir us to continue growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18); But another big area is in our disciple-making.  We need the Lord to stir us to preach the gospel and make disciples (Matthew 28-18-20).  Would you pray with me that God would stir us (like He stirred Cyrus and Israel) to be about our duty of making disciples?

Reminder: we are having a prayer meeting this Friday night from 7-8 in the auditorium.  Here we will pray this prayer and I hope to see you there!

The Gospel

In his book The Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges outlines seven truths that we need to clearly understand if we want to understand the gospel.  Bridges derives these truths from Romans 3:19-26.

1. No one is declared righteous before God by observing the law (19-21)
2. There is a righteousness from God that is apart from law (21)
3. This righteousness from God is received through faith in Jesus Christ (22)
4. This righteousness is available to everyone on the same basis, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (22-23)
5. All who put their faith in Jesus Christ are justified freely by God's grace (24)
6. This justification is "through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (24)
7. God presented Jesus as a Sacrifice of Atonement, through faith in His blood (25)

What a message! And what a Savior!