The knowledge and apprehension of God's love for us is beyond the capacity our minds and hearts to measure. It is, as St. Paul wrote, peace that passes understanding...a wisdom that is unfathomable. God's forgiveness is in some real way "an offense" to the iron-forged pride of the human heart. It is an offense to our torqued sense of justice.

 

It is shocking...some call a scandal...that God has done for humanity what it could never deserve nor ever ever achieve.

 

In talking to a young woman about this grace Tim Keller writes, “I was intrigued. I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: “If I was saved by my good works—then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace—at God’s infinite cost—then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.”

 

Keller states, “Properly understood, Christianity is by no means the opiate of the people. It’s more like the smelling salts.”

 

From God's point of view, there is nothing hindering all humanity from returning "Home" to His heart. What holds people back is the fact that they must turn from going their own way and return to God by means of receiving what He has done for us in Jesus Christ. He has provided the grace and even empowers the faith to receive what is a singular and unique Gift of forgiveness, a whole new heart and a new life for the moralist and the immoralist. Both need salvation by grace!

 

Last Sunday morning in the adult study time, Tim Keller spoke about the two sons in the story we know as "The Parable of the Prodigal Son". One son was into "self-discovery" throwing off all restrains, diving headlong into hedonism and the other was a "moral conformist"doing everything right. Neither son had a relationship with their father. They both wanted what their father could provide, but didn't want him.

 

He writes in The Prodigal God, “Our Western society is so deeply divided between these two approaches to life (moralism, self-discovery) that hardly anyone can conceive of any other way to live. If you criticize or distance yourself from one, everyone assumes you have chosen to follow the other, because each of these approaches tends to divide the whole world into two basic groups. The moral conformists say: "the immoral people -- the people who 'do their own thing' -- are the problem with the world, and moral people are the solution." The advocates of self-discovery say: "The bigoted people -- the people who say, 'We have the Truth' -- are the problem with the world, and progressive people are the solution.”

 

Neither way brings one into a relationship with God. Both methods of laying hold on "life" fail. There must be someone who does for us what we could never do. Tim Keller states, “Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn't mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness.”

 

God has forgiven us of ALL our sin...not in "part" but the "whole" of it...from our first breath till our last...for all time and human history. The Cross of Jesus Christ has, by death, destroyed death. The veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The way to approach God has been opened through the torn Body of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as He hung on that Roman cross as the Lamb of God. He has taken away the sin of the world.

 

That is why in his second letter to the Corinthian church St. Pauls calls followers of Jesus Christ "ambassadors for Christ"...God making His appeal through us for people to be reconciled to Him. The forgiveness of God came at infinite cost paid for by an infinite love demonstrated through the Eternal, Infinite, God the Son, the Word Who became flesh, taking on our humanity to rescue us.

 

In Psalm 103, King David sings, "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west." You know that you can only travel so far north before you begin to travel south again. However once you start traveling east, you will always travel east. Then, if you turn around and travel west and keep traveling, you will always be going west. God has thoroughly removed our sin by His singular act of redemption in Jesus Christ!

 

Think about how God has forgiven you. There is no ground left for us to refuse to forgive as we have been forgiven. The one who "merits forgiveness" doesn't NEED it. 

 

One more thought from Tim Keller relating to forgiveness and grace: “Jesus' teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.”

 

That is real cause for repentance and grace from the Lord to do as He did and to say what He said.

Empowered to Follow Jesus

Empowered to Follow Jesus

I want to look at what happened on the Day of Pentecost carefully. What is written there for us is crucial if we are to understand our life together as followers of Jesus.

120 followers of Jesus were gathered in what is known as the “Upper Room”. It was a place in Solomon’s portico at the temple in Jerusalem. They were waiting with others to celebrate Pentecost

The Jewish Festival of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover was the traditionally a joyous time of giving thanks & presenting offerings of the new grain of the summer wheat harvest in Israel, 1^st fruits. It was also associated with the giving of the Law by God to Moses and the children of Israel.

The 120 followers of Jesus who had received the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit on the evening of Resurrection Day were waiting like the good Jews they were to celebrate Pentecost.They had been in waiting for ten days after Jesus ascended for the promised baptism with the Holy Spirit that the Father would send in Jesus name. I don’t believe they expected what was going to happen after they gathered in Solomon’s portico. They were baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The church was empowered to follow Jesus!

John the Baptist had given this witness: "I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from Heaven and resting upon him. I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, He told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God." (John 1:32-34).  Luke records that John the Baptist saying, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16)

Jesus is the Baptizer. He is the One who baptizes His followers in the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not some kind of "second blessing". It is part of the inheritance God has for all those who belong to and follow Jesus Christ. This was normative for the early church. After believing in Jesus Christ and being identified with Him in His death & resurrection through water baptism, hands would be laid on the new believers.

There was the expectation that they would receive baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is God's power given to us to be able to follow Jesus, continue His ministry & to proclaim His Truth.

You see it in Acts 8:16-17 when Philip had preached the Gospel to people in Samaria. They had believed in Jesus Christ & been identified with His death and resurrection, baptized in Jesus' Name. They had been regenerated by the Holy Spirit by grace through faith, but they had not received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them. Peter and John came from the Apostles in Jerusalem to lay hands on these new believers so that they would receive the Holy Spirit in power...and they did!

Again you see this in Acts 19 when Paul meets a group of twelve believers who had committed themselves to Jesus Christ. Paul could see something was missing and asked if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed. They had not even heard about the Holy Spirit...like a lot of people gathered in church buildings today. Paul declares the whole Gospel to them, they are baptized into the Name of Jesus Christ, he lays his hands on them & they receive the Holy Spirit poured as He was poured out on the day of Pentecost.

Even the Roman centurion, Cornelius, his household and close friends in Acts 10:44-48 have the Holy Spirit poured out upon them as He was upon the 120 believers on the day of Pentecost.

God's Word speaks about receiving a new heart and a new spirit in Ezekiel 11:19. God said He would put His Spirit within us. God's Word also speaks about pouring out His Holy Spirit upon us in Joel 2:28. It is clear that he puts His Spirit within us and then clothes us with power from on High.

Easter evening, Jesus breathes on His disciples and they receive the Holy Spirit within. They are regenerated, new creations in Jesus Christ. He then opens their minds to understand all that had been written about Him in the Law, Prophets and Psalms. They could prove from the Old Testament text that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Then Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem until they are clothed with power from on High.

Jesus says in Acts 1:4-5 "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends the gift He promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses..."

Jesus told His disciples on Easter evening in John 20:21 that He was sending them even as the Father had sent Him.

In Philippians 2:7, Paul states that Jesus emptied Himself of His divine prerogatives, laid aside His glory...not His Deity...and took on humanity to the full living as a servant. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary. He was God Incarnate. He became the Messiah at His baptism when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in full measure.

Jesus Christ did the work of the God the Father as a human being living in perfect fellowship with God the Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said over and over that the miracles, signs and wonders He was doing was the Father doing those works through Him.

Can you see that when you received the grace of God and the Holy Spirit united you to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ you became a new creation? God gave you a new heart and the Holy Spirit came to live out in you the very Life of Jesus.

You are now, in Christ, a human being living in perfect fellowship/relationship with God the Father by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Your sin has been taken away…made righteous before God.

           God intends that you have the Holy Spirit poured out upon you; for you to be     

     baptized with the Holy Spirit...clothed with power from on High. This is not some kind

     of metaphor. It is meant to be a reality. Jesus' Life and the ministry He has given 

     to His church cannot be lived out in human strength or by human wisdom.

Jesus made it clear that we were to become new creations by the Holy Spirit who would then be clothed with power, being baptized with the Holy Spirit. There is meant to be power, God's power, for living and following Jesus. Power is given so we might lay our lives down, deny ourselves and trust Him as Lord.

We are to take up our cross (remembering that we are not and never will be our own salvation) and follow Jesus doing what He had been doing. That was not a foreign idea to the early church.

           There is the expectation all through the whole witness of the New Testament that the

    Holy Spirit will manifest the power of Jesus Christ through those following Him. The 

    Holy Spirit would attest to the Gospel being proclaimed and lived out by Jesus' 

    followers by signs and wonders being done in the Name of Jesus Christ.

The Body of Christ is meant to display the Life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We are to look like Him. We don't make it happen; He does. We are not in charge of signs and wonders, He is. But He intends to continue His ministry to the world, in the world through His church!

My question is this, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? If you believe, the Holy Spirit is already living within you the life, righteousness and salvation that is in Jesus Christ. It is part of your inheritance to be clothed with power from on High, to be anointed by the Holy Spirit as the early followers of Jesus were, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

If you have not known this in your life in Christ, I encourage you to open your hearts and like those believers in Ephesus, receive that outpouring of the Holy Spirit today. It is received by grace through faith. Jesus promised, the Apostles couldn’t make it happen, but Jesus did.

 You are meant to be empowered by Him for the Life He intends to live both in you & through you. Jesus isn’t going to embarrass you, but He means to give you His power to live His life & ministry.

Will you ask Him to baptize you with the Holy Spirit? Will you accept this His gift of power for following Him by faith? I pray that you will…for He will!

Thoughts on this Eve of the Feast of the Ascension.

When Jesus finished giving instructions to His apostles by the Holy Spirit, He told them to remain in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on High. He promised that they would be baptized in the Holy Spirit; that they would be clothed with power for the life and ministry He was giving to them...to all who would follow Him.

Jesus wants all His followers empowered to truly live the life He died & rose again to give them. The Father, through the Son, was going to pour out His Spirit on Jesus' followers. It would be the sign that Jesus Christ had been glorified again in the Father; seated at the Father's right hand. 

Jesus Christ, our Eternal High Priest, ascended to the Father’s Right Hand and sat down! Doing that confirmed that Jesus’ work of redemption & rescue was complete & thorough. Jesus sat down…a picture of rest; work all done; salvation fulfilled for whosoever would come to Him in faith and receive the free gift of eternal life…a gift given by grace and received by faith.

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords has ascended the throne where all authority in both heaven and on earth has been given to Him. That’s why we go in His Name, with His authority & He does what He has always done...setting people free and filling them with Life, power and peace. 

You know those who live under the rule of a king are called his “subjects”. They are subject to his rule: his word, his decrees, his laws, and his ways of doing things.

Now, think about the Church today in general. It can be rather disconcerting when people look at the church today or its individual members. They may be hard pressed to see evidence that Jesus Christ is, in fact, Lord of it. We tend to be much like the disciples when they asked Jesus, "Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?"

We tend to want to do things our way…the way we have always done them. We seem to want the same accolades the world looks to as marks of success and the evidence of power. People still fight with their Christian brothers and sisters for position, prestige & worldly success. “How big is your congregation?” Or we want our political affiliation to be blessed by Jesus as the “only way”. We tend to forget that Jesus was hated by both the religious liberals & conservatives of His day.

That is a far cry from the Word of our King that whoever wanted to be the greatest in the Kingdom of God should the servant of all…the foot-washer in the crowd. Jesus said that those who followed Him would deny themselves, take up their own cross and would follow Him. It’s not about doing “my” thing, but a complete change of reference in the way I live.

It would seem that we would be engaged in what He was doing rather than doing "our own thing". It would seem that the subjects of King Jesus would be more concerned with justice & mercy for those broken & marginalized by sin that than with self-interest or making a name for our self.

This yearly celebration of Feast of the Ascension is a challenge our assumptions as to how Christian life is to be lived out.  Jesus Christ made it very clear that He expected those who call Him “Lord, Lord” would be doing what He had said. As they went proclaiming the Gospel, in the power of the Holy Spirit they would be feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick & ministering to those in prison…both spiritually and naturally…neglecting neither.

I'm challenged, in light of having no fear of God’s wrath and knowing His eternal love and grace, to look at my life to see how I am actually living the Life He has given me. That Life, eternal Life, is a gift I will never deserve and have received not due to merit, but by grace through faith. The Life each and every Christian has been given is actually the Life of Jesus meant to be lived out in each of us, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ expectation (knowing the power of the Life working in us) is that prisoners be set free, sick people healed, lepers cleansed, demons cast out & the dead raised to new Life in Him.

We have a King whose power and dominion are absolute, eternal and perfectly good. He wants the whole human race to know the effects of His gracious reign. That is why we are called “ambassadors of Christ.” The Lord Jesus intends to make His appeal through us to a world He has redeemed by His blood.

He wants them to know that sin has been paid for, the enemy of our souls has been defeated and the way of returning to God and life as it was always meant to be lived has been opened for all. He wants them to know that they can turn from broken, finite self, turn to Him so that they can be healed, receive life-transforming forgiveness and begin to become all God created them to be.

Jesus Christ is absolute Lord…reigning…eternally good, just and merciful. Our King has prayed for us. He has revealed Himself to us. He has not left us as orphans, confused and lost. It's not about our kingdom...it's about His Kingdom. That gives us incredible freedom! We don't have to "make something up". We just need to follow Him!

It will put us in direct conflict with those who base their standing with God on their moral performance and judge others by their own personal spiritual score-card. It will place us in direct conflict with those who don’t mind Jesus being one of many good moral teachers but hate the very thought of Him being both Lord and Christ…God’s singular answer the whole human race; all of us regardless of ethnic make-up, language, gender, culture or color.

 

You don’t have to act like a religious ass to experience this multifaceted conflict. You simply have to follow Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit’s power continuing the ministry He initiated…that same ministry He first gave to His Church, His people, His Body to continue in His Name. His Kingdom looks like Him. 

People totally unlike Him liked Him. They saw in Jesus Christ that God both knew them through and through, accepted them where they stood & promised that His love would not leave them there…but would transform life, giving it meaning, purpose, peace and a joy that circumstances could never shatter…a wholeness within…an artesian spring of goodness from which to draw every day.

I would bow my knee to such a King…and I have.