John 11:25-26

Jesus got word that a good friend was dying. Though He was a good ways away, Jesus told His disciples that the illness "is not to death" and that it was actually for God's glory. He waited with His disciples for two days before he even began the journey to see His friend. When He got there, not only was Lazarus dead, but he'd been dead for four days. In Jesus' time, people who weren't dead were declared dead all the time. After a while, they learned to wait a little before burying someone. Even as recently as the Victorian Age in England, being buried alive was so common that people were often buried with shovels, so it's not for nothing that John noted that Lazarus had been dead for four days.

Lazarus' resurrection was not just another healing. John's gospel systematically escalates Jesus' interaction with mankind. First, He baptized and preached, then He healed the sick, then He raised the dead. But we don't understand. We're like Martha, who could be paraphrased as having said, "Lord, if you'd gotten here sooner, my brother wouldn't have died." We want a Jesus who heals the sick because we don't trust Him to raise the dead. Mary and Martha thought that as long as they could get Jesus involved before things got too out of hand, everything would be okay.

Jesus is out to prove one thing: even death is "not to death." Not to Jesus. Jesus has something serious in mind. When Martha came to Jesus, He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die" (John 11:25). If we're honest with ourselves, Paul's description of us in Romans 3 is dead on: ruin and misery mark our ways. We're more than sick - we;re falling apart. Actually, it's even more than that. We're dead. Jesus Christ is a God who does something so much better than heal the sick. He raises the dead to new life.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Philippians 2:12

There is no question that Christians are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12) and that the sanctification process will be both bloody and sweaty. Daily Christian living is daily Christian dying. Jesus likened the pain of Christian growth in godliness requires parting with things we initially think we can't do without.

There does seem to be some question, though, about the nature and direction of our efforts. And at the heart of this question is the relationship between justification and sanctification.

Some think that justification is just the first rung on the sanctification ladder, and that as you climb up and up, you never need to think about that "first step" again. Sanctification, in other words, is commonly understood as progress beyond the initial step of Justification. But while Justification and sanctification are to be clearly separated theologically, the Bible won't allow us to separate them functionally.

In her book Because He Loves Me, Elyse Fitzpatrick rightly says: One reason we don't grow in ordinary, grateful obedience as we should is that we've got amnesia; we've forgotten that we were cleansed from our sins. In other words...ongoing failure in sanctification...is the direct result of failing to remember God's love for us in the gospel...If we fail to remember our justification, redemption, and reconciliation, we'll struggle in our sanctification.

In other words, remembering, revisiting, and rediscovering the reality of our justification every day is the hard work we're called to do if we're going to grow. When Paul says to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling," he's making it clear that we've got work to do - but what exactly is the work? He goes on to explain: "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good purpose" (v. 13).

Sanctification, as someone once put it, is not something added to justification. It is rather, the justified life.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Isaiah 49:1-2

Imagine that you are an arrow in God's quiver. If you were to try to do God's work for Him, it wouldn't go well. An arrow can't do any good if it tries to wiggle away from the archer and do the work on its own. Even if an arrow could jump out of the quiver, somehow hop up to a target and hit it, it would just bounce harmlessly off.

Now imagine an arrow in the hands of a skillful archer. The arrow needs to do nothing but remain in just the form that the archer made it. It is the archer who sharpens the arrow and the archer who hides it away in the quiver. It is the archer who takes the arrow out of the quiver and the archer who puts it on the string.  It is the archer who uses his strength to pull the arrow back, and the archer who aims. Finally, it is the archer who decides when to release the arrow. Only then will the arrow hit the target and stick. The arrow needs the strength of the archer to accomplish its purpose. If I were to ask you who did the work, the archer or the arrow, what would you say? If I tried to tell you that it was the arrow that did the work, the archer or the arrow, what would you say? If I tried to tell you that it was the arrow that did the work, you'd call me crazy. The archer is in control at every point, from sharpening the arrow to sticking it into the target.

How isit that we are to be servants of God? How can the arrow best be the servant of the archer? The way for us to be the best servant of God is to realize that He doesn't need us to do His work at all. He chooses to use us. A true servant is used by the master, the same way an arrow is used by the archer, to accomplish his purposes. Thankfully for the arrow, it is the archer who does all the work. And Thankfully for us, it is God who is in control.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

1 Corinthians 15:36

John Brzenk (icon of the documentary Pulling John) became the world arm wrestling champion in 1983 and didn't lose an arm wrestling match for the next twenty-five years. Pulling John follows his decision about whether or not to retire as he approaches the age forty. The main story line of the film, though, is the collision course of Alexey Voyevoda (a demure Russian giant) and Travis Bagent (a bombastic American braggart), two young challengers to Brzenk's throne. Both men revere Brzenk and understand that they must each go through the other to get to Brzenk's level.

At the world championships in 2003, Voyevoda and Bagent met in the super heavyweight final. In a huge upset, Bagent soundly defeated the heavily favored Voyevoda. If you're familiar with stories like this, you know what happened next. Bagent got even cockier, while Voyevoda went back to Russia to work out. It's during these Russian post-loss scenes that Voyevoda discusses losing, what it means to him, and how acceptance of the loss can bring greater strength. At a critical point, one of his coaches says, "If you're strong, losing can make you stronger."

It is only from deaths that new lives are born. Voyevoda begins to know himself as someone who can lose, and, through that knowledge, gain strength. When he meets Bagent again, with the winner to face Brzenk, it's not close.

Martin Luther said that the cross was the end of us. Losing to Bagent was the end of the invincible Alexy Voyevoda. A new life was created. It was this new creation that dominated Bagent and moved on to face Brzenk.

It is when we are shown our need, which happens exclusively against our will, that we reach out for a Savior. Let us recognize that need today.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Matthew 11:29-30

In a 2010 interview with Stephen Colbert, reggae legend Jimmy Cliff was asked if he was currently a member of a religion. He answered, "No, I've graduated from them."  Colbert asked, incredulously, "You've graduated from religion?" and Cliff said, "Yes." Colbert then said that God is sitting up in heaven when we graduate from this life with a scorecard, and asked Cliff which scorecard (Christian, Muslim, Jew, Etc.) he wanted to be graded on. Cliff said he would like to be graded on the scorecard of "truth and facts." Colbert's inspired response?

Jimmy Cliff has decided to "graduate" from religion and wants to be assessed on truth and facts. Well, what are the facts? What is the truth? When the requirements are things like all of God's holy commandments, beginning just with the great Ten Commandments, the real truth would reveal that we're not doing so well. We can't graduate if we can't pass the class.

To be judged on the scorecard of truth and facts is a hard yoke and a heavy burden. Truth and facts lead to a heavy burden because it involves a righteousness required. Jesus, though, said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He was talking about a righteousness given, not earned. He was talking about faith and grace. Truth and facts mean we're judges on our own merits, or lack thereof. Faith and grace mean that we're judges on Jesus' merits, and judges righteous.

May we always rely on a righteousness that is given and never fear a righteousness that is required. And may we never, ever "graduate" from a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,


 

Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

On April 12, 2012, Philip Humber pitched a perfect game. That is, he retired twenty-seven batters in a row, three up and three down, every inning for nine innings. No walk, no hits. Only eighteen other men in the history of Major League Baseball have accomplished the feat. In November of that same year, his team cut him, making him available to any team in the league. What happened?

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Humber tried to explain it. The article is subtitled: For one magical April afternoon, Philip Humber was flawless. But that random smile from the pitching gods came with a heavy burden: the pressure to live up to a standard no one can meet."

The ladder of perfection has no top rung. There is no platform upon which we can finally rest. Whether our goal is to be a good father, a good Christian, or a good pitcher, each exemplary act carried with it the expectation of another. And another. "Being like Christ" is not like throwing a perfect game. It is like throwing perfect games every day of your life, while never being proud of the fact that you're throwing perfect games.

The quest for glory, the chasing of perfection, killed Humber's season. He never regained the form that mowed down all those hitters, and his team eventually gave up on him. In order to move on, Humber had to give up, admitting that "he's done chasing perfection. He's done trying to be the pitcher with the magical fastball and the unhittable slider. He knows he's a 30-year-old pitcher with a fading heater and a curveball that doesn't bite like it once did, and he accepts that."

Humber came to grips with his limitations, the truth about himself. He knows that, in order to be a good pitcher, he has to let perfection go. Let's remind ourselves daily, hourly, and by the minute that we can let perfection go, because it is a mantle that Christ has taken up for us.

-- Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Proverbs 30:8 - Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

What people want to hear from a religion and what they need to hear are two very different things. I want to hear that I am fundamentally good, fundamentally in control, and fundamentally on the right track. I also want to hear that the problems I experience in my life are the result of outside forces and can be overcome following a short number of simple steps. In essence, I want to hear that it's all good, and that if I start feeling life becoming less good, I can easily right the ship.

I don't think it's any coincidence that many large churches in America proclaim this kind of message. Tell people what they want to hear, then the people and the money roll in.

The problem with the "what I want" refrain is that it can't actually help me. When my life starts sliding off the rails, it's all well and good to go to the handy self-help manual, but it becomes decidedly less "well and good" if the manual let's me down. What happens when I follow ten steps and still find myself financially insecure? Or when I follow the eight steps and they only serve to further alienate my family?

As it turns out, I need something different than what I want. I need the truth.

What people need to hear from religion is an accurate diagnosis of their condition. Wanted Religion can't offer a profound solution because it refuses to diagnose a profound disease. Needed Religion recognizes our plight and can offer a weighty cure: a Savior who substitutes Himself for us.

It will probably always be true that Wanted Religion will rake in the money; it's offering a much more desirable front end. Needed Religion, however, will be there when the bankrupt devotees of Wanted Religion need somewhere to turn and have no money left to buy their way in. 

Today, revel in a God who gives us what we need: a Savior.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,