"Get Him Up!"

"Christians must focus on Christ every second of their lives. And when they come together for corporate worship, they must set their hearts to join together in radical Christocentricity. To this end, E.V. Hill, pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, told of the ministry of an elderly woman in his church whom they called "1800" because no one knew how old she was. On unsuspecting preachers "1800" was hard because she would say, "Get Him up!" (she was referring to Christ). After a few minutes, if she didn't think it was happening, she would again shout, "Get Him up!" If a preacher did not "Get Him up!" he was in for a long, hard day. Dear old "1800" was no theologian, but her insticts were sublime. True worship exalts Jesus. It cannot fail to "Get Him up!" because both Testaments lift Him up.

There is nothing more important, and more salutary for the church, that Christ-centered worship." -- R. Kent Hughes

Asking and Not Receiving

Matthew 7:7-12 [7] “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. [9] Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? [10] Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? [11] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Experientially this verse does not always seem to "play" out the way it is stated. We have all asked the Lord to answer our prayers and have at times have had them denied or go unanswered. Why is this so? A couple of thoughts on why this may be so: (1). God is lying or (2). We have failed to fully understand or have altogether misunderstood what Christ is saying. Since Scripture says that God cannot lie, I opt for #2.

The Apostle Paul gives us a peak into why God sometimes does not answer our prayers even though those prayers may be very godly and from our perspective seem to be in line with God's will. It is always good to allow Scripture to shed light on other passages that may seem to present problems for our faith. In this case 2 Corinthians helps us to understand Matthew 7 a little better.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. [8] Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. [9] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God desires for His power to be made known. He desires for His glory to be displayed in ways that maximize the glory of Christ. Although Paul prayed for the "messenger of Satan" to be removed, God deemed that such an answer to prayer would result in God's power not being on display. Our prayers, though they be focused on that, may be prayers that, if answered, would result in less glory for Christ. God, in His wisdom, will do all to exalt His Son to the greatest degree so that our joy may be in seeing His power and might fully displayed.

I, for one, am glad that God is smarter than my desires and wiser that my prayers. Although we are taught how to pray in the word, we must always realize that even our prayers are a fallible, yet a necessary and commanded part of the Christian life. But be sure to always have the glory of Christ in mind when you pray to your heavenly Father.

John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

The Natural Man

At what point does the natural man understand the things of God in order to trust Christ for salvation?

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

If the natural man does not understand the things of God and can not understand the things of God, then it must only be the spiritual man, the regenerated man, the born again man, that can understand the things of God. On what basis then does a person become regenerated, spiritual or born again?

John 3:6-8 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must
be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

It's grace, marvelous grace. We are born again because of the will of God, not our wills, for a dead man does not have a will. Once given spiritual life, we can believe, receive and adore Christ as Savior and Lord.

John 1:12-13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Thank our gracious, almighty Father for giving spiritual life to us that we may understand spiritual things, believe in Christ, be saved and brought near to our heavenly Father by the power of the Spirit.

i don't have to LIKE...

Have you ever heard this:

"I have to love (insert person's name), but I don't have to like them."

Well that has always bothered me. How is that possible?
I'm not saying I love people perfectly, I'm just saying that the phrase doesn't make sense.
This sunday John MacArthur was reading through Romans (the weekly pre-sermon reading of the Word)
He happened to read this passage which reminded me of the above phrase:

Romans 12:10: "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."

There are a couple of words/phrases that shoot down the "i don't have to like" statement.

1. "Be devoted" : Usually, when someone says "i love them, but i don't have to like them" it is usually accompanied with a statement about not having to be around them, or not having to be friends with them. Well "Be devoted" is a command that would make that idea impossible.

2. "brotherly love" : This idea is more than friendship. It is a strong family tie. This also knocks down "i don't have to be friends..."

3. "honor one another above yourselves" : This is pretty much self-explanatory. "above yourselves"... Honestly... this doesn't mean saying "well they don't like me either, so i'm loving them by not hanging out with them." No, what it means is that you are loving them and serving them in a self-sacrificing way that would cause a loving response.

Think about it... we were enemies of God. What did he do? Unleash a furious, righteous wrath on us? Nope, He unleashed a furious, righteous wrath on Christ because of His love... and yes, that means He LIKES us too.


(photo: my friend b.j., i like him)

titus.

I've been reading through Titus for my Pastoral Epistles class and it's been more and more encouraging each time I read it. Both the background and the individual truths of the book are insightful.

My knowledge of Paul's journeys goes hazy after Acts. However I've learned that when Paul ended up in prison at the end of the book, he actually eventually got out. He went on more travels and was later recaptured during a more intense persecution when Nero took power, and eventually killed. However during that time, He visited the island of Crete and left Titus (a young man who he had led to Christ on his 2nd missionary journey) on the island to build up the churches that were started. The epistle to Titus was written to encourage and instruct Titus (and therefore indirectly give Titus public affirmation and a stamp of Pauline approval) in order to build up those churches so they would have an effective evangelistic presence in an unbelieving world.

There is so much to take away from this epistle, but I'll just mention one thing briefly. Paul opens up the epistle with a remarkable statement (after his usual introduction about how he is an apostle and such).

"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,"

I love it! Knowledge of the truth is effectual. What is the effect? Godliness. At times we can be frustrated with fellow believers that lack drive and obedience. We can tell them over and over "WHAT" to do... but the "what" isn't effectual. That's why sermons that simply pull Christian principles from the text and repackage them into a step by step, how-to message (the "what") doesn't lead to godliness. In fact that promotes moralism, which is a false truth. Sinners don't need to hear doable do's. They need to hear the rich truth of WHO God is and WHO we really are... They need to hear that the "do's" are not doable. They need to hear that God is just, holy, omnipotent, sovereign, and wrathful. That Christ did the "do's" to perfection. That Christ took on himself EVERY sin and also took on the full wrath of the just, holy, omnipotent God. That Christ "finished" the work. That Christ conquered death. That we take on the perfect record of "do's" with a faith in the finished work of Christ and the submission to Him as our sovereign King. That He IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This is effectual. This leads to a supernatural heart change that grows crops of spiritual fruit.