Category Archives: The Grace of God Towards Us

“The Word Was Made Flesh and Dwelt Among Us”

by Michael

Jesus-washing-feetBehold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58:4-7 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

 

In 1979 I was all about ministry “out there.” I was a “prophet” on the make and the kingdom of heaven was all about me and “my ministry.” During this time many elderly saints came to me with the same message, “Go home! Tend to your wife and children. They need you,” Then one day God got my attention with the above passage. These words of Isaiah are a rebuke to religious people who think that they can get God’s favor by fasting, all the while hiding their sins under a cloak of religiousness and “ministry.” God showed me that by my thinking that “ministry” was out there– always something to be done outside my home to be seen of men– that I was “hiding myself from my own flesh,” my own flesh and blood. My household was out of order and I had no business trying to “minister to” the saints of God until I took care of the first things first.

There seems to be two extremes that Christians fall into. One is that of thinking all service to the Kingdom of God is done outside our homes and that our kids and spouses will just have to be satisfied with the crumbs that fall from our table, thus neglecting our first God-given responsibility (see 1 Tim. 3:4-5). And the second extreme is becoming so taken up with Bible study and introspection (spiritual navel staring) that we never get out and mingle with people that really need help and a touch from the Lord through us. In a way, this also is “hiding from our own flesh”… those who are members of the body of Christ and people in general who need a personal touch from Jesus in us. Selfishness takes on many forms.

In the first chapter of John we read…

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men… That was the true Light, that lights every man that comes into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name: Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14 KJ2000- emphasis added)

Here we read about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who dwelt with God and was used of God to make all creation. Christ could have continued to live at the right hand of the Father, but God had a plan to send His Son into a world that had gone bad from trying to live their lives without Him. Though Jesus thought it not robbery to be equal with God, He came down to earth and took on the form of an infant, born in a stable to a poverty stricken couple. Not only that, but He took on the form of a servant to all mankind, not a high and mighty king or even a temple high priest. Jesus did not cloister Himself away from humanity, but dwelt among them as a lowly servant. He was not a holy hermit out of touch with the sufferings and rejections of fallen man, but rather, “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Not only that, but the Word of God was among us full of grace and truth! In Hebrews we read,

For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses; but was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16 KJ2000)

Jesus was full of grace and truth while He abode among mankind here on earth. How did that grace manifest itself? He fed the hungry, clothed the naked, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, cast out demons, and forgave sinners. Today He continues to be our fountain of grace at the right hand of the Father where He ever lives to make intersession for us. Jesus was not only Living Truth before all who saw Him here on earth, but He is still God’s word of truth. He speaks through His Spirit and continues to lead us into all truth just has He promised. The Word became flesh in human form and dwelt among us 2000 years ago and He still lives among us in Spirit form today if we will receive Him. He continues to serve those who are in need and He, the Word of God, continues to speak and lead us into all truth if we have ears to hear.

In Hebrews chapter two we read,

For verily he [Christ] took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the nature of Abraham. Therefore in all things he had to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help them that are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:16-18 KJ2000)

As we find ourselves becoming over-comers as we abide in His grace and help, we should also be available as instruments so that His grace can flow through us to others who are in need. We who are Christ’s are members of His body here on earth.  He wants to reach out through us to those who need His touch. This takes sensitivity to the prompting of His Spirit in us. On the one hand, He may be telling us to “go home” and not hide ourselves from the needs of our own flesh and blood, our spouses and our children. And on the other hand He might be telling us to mingle with the saints of God and be there for our neighbors and fellow workers on the job. We need to be aware of His divine opportunities that He gives us in our daily lives.

There is no such thing as a “holy hermit.” The love of God has always compelled Him to be in touch with His creation. The love of the Father in Christ has always compelled Him to be there for everyone in need. Yes, Jesus would go aside into the wilderness for a few days, but it was only so that He could be with His Father, pray, and hear His will as to what He wanted Him do. Jesus was above all a Servant and we as members of His body are called to be servants as well. He told the disciples, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and lay down His life for many.” Our lives IN Christ are not all about us, but rather about Him and His will for His creation.

Jesus was such a Servant that finally He offered up His own body and blood that we might be saved saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me… This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20 RSVA). Like the woman with the alabaster box of precious ointment, He was broken and poured out for us and the fragrance of His sacrifice is meant to fill His whole household with sacrificial love… YOU “do this in remembrance of Me!” His love compels us to be broken and poured out for the needs of others, whether they are members of our own families or those who He puts us in touch with as we go out into all the world with His Good News.

“Love it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way [does not seek its own]; it is not irritable or resentful [does not resent being pushed in on by the needs of others]; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends… but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away… the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:5-13 RSVA – emphasis added)

Father, put your heart of love within us and let us be poured out just as your Son was poured out for others as He lived and finally died on that cross. Let your resurrection Life dwell in us and let that Life be the light of men. Amen.

Empowered by Love

by Michael

pardonwomanJesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34 KJ2000). In Hebrews chapter seven we read that Jesus is our great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, not Levi. It also say that where there is a new priesthood there must be a NEW law. The old law was filled with commandments like, “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not..” But we have something all together NEW in the New Covenant. In Hebrews the writer continues,

“For finding fault with them [the Hebrews under the Old Covenant], he says, ‘Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” (Heb 8:8-10 KJ2000).

God knew that sinful man could not keep His commandments so He sent His Son to not only be our propitiation for sin, but to empower us by removing from us our hearts of stone and putting in us a new heart with His New commandment written in them. In Ezekiel we read,

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Eze 36:26-27 KJ2000)

God sent forth His Son to do it all for us and in us. All we need to do is yield to His wonderful grace by faith and be empowered anew from above. Walking in His love fulfills the whole law of both the Old and New Covenants (see Gal. 5:23 and 1 Tim. 1:13-14). First Jesus did this among the worst of sinners and then He empowered us to do the same. It is no longer an outward straight jacket of law keeping, but an inward motivation from a new God given heart that enables us to walk out His love in this dying, love starved world just as He did. We are so blessed.

Our End from the Beginning

by Michael

earth

Which Came First, the End or the Beginning?  This might seem like a trivial question to some. But if God is not bound by time for He created it, isn’t the beginning and the end both the same to Him as far as His purposes go? He declares the end from the beginning. Isaiah prophesied,

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isa 46:9-10 Webster)

God also declares things that are not as though they are…

It is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.”(Genesis 17:5) God considers Abraham to be our father. The God that Abraham believed in gives life to the dead. Abraham’s God also speaks of things that do not exist as if they do exist. (Rom 4:17 NIRV)

 

Oh, how wondrous are the ways of God! I have been pondering these above passages for a long time. God not only knows all, knowing the things that will happen in the end of days as well as the past and present, but He has known it all from the beginning! This same God who through His Son, Jesus, spoke creation into being also had declared what the end of it all shall be from the beginning.

Here we have to deal with two concepts that are beyond our own human limitations. One that God creates all things simply by speaking them into existence. And two, He is not bound by time or any other human limitation as we are. Man can make nothing without first starting with something that God made and man does nothing without being subject to the limitations of time so these two concepts of making something from nothing and not being bound by time are a real stretch for us to comprehend. Both matter and time were the result of creation and God rests in a timeless state outside of His creation ever since it was completed. Yet, He sent Jesus to this earth to become subject to both time and matter. Christ was subjected to all the human frailties and weaknesses just as we are, yet in it all He was in perfect obedience to His Father and many of His acts defied both time and matter such as raising the rotting body of Lazarus from the dead.

Now, consider this passage:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:28-31 KJ2000)

God foreknew each of us who are His in a special way. Not only that, He predestined us not just to be born, to live on this earth and to be saved from our sins, but to be totally conformed to the image of His Son! What image? The image of the babe in the manger? How about the image of the Teacher walking around doing good and miracles? How about the image of Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places? Just what does it mean to be IN Christ? Paul went so far to say, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Co 5:17 KJ2000).

God KNEW our end — being conformed into the image of Christ — from the very beginning of creation. In the New Testament we read that Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered. We also read that He was crucified from the very foundation of the world. Jesus subjected Himself to the hand of the Father from the beginning as the perfect obedient Son of God. I believe that all these wonderful thoughts are wrapped up in the council at the beginning of Genesis where we read these words, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness… male and female made He them.” God knew what it would take from the very beginning to create many sons (and daughters) unto His glory and put creation in motion from day one with that end in mind.

In the above passage from Romans we see this wonderful progression designed by God to produce His desired outcome in the words; foreknew, predestinate, called, justified and glorified… the divine progression to a desired end starting with foreknew and ending with glorified. He knew our end (glorified in the image of God) from the beginning (foreknown and predestined). He not only foreknew who would be His, but He foreknew what it would take to get us there and incorporated us into that divine plan.

God from the beginning knew that He would be sending His Son to live and die and rise again for us and to lead the way as the Captain of our salvation. Thus we see our faith-trek as His family starting out with Abraham, continuing down through the patriarchs to Moses, and through the Children of Israel to Christ Himself. All that history of Israel (and the linage of Christ) was set in motion to bring forth His Son upon this earth in such a way that man would recognize Him when He came. The whole Old Testament is filled with prophesies and shadows of Christ and only those who received Him by faith were able to read those writings and see Him in it all (see Luke 24:13-36). God designed all that history of the people of Israel so that Christ could come and not only die for their sins, but the sins of the whole world and become manifest to all His creation as the Son of God. He was the First Born of many brethren. In Christ, the Father would have a vast family of many sons and daughters and this was His plan from the beginning.

Now consider this, God not only knew what it would take to save mankind from our sins and conform us into the image of Christ who are called (in a collective sense), but He also knew what it would take to get EACH of us to our appointed end IN Christ. We each have a history designed by God that was set in motion from the day we were born. Think about the chain of events that had to take place to get you where you are today in Christ. We each have had divine appointments and events along the way that were integral to our becoming saved, filled with His Spirit, tested, tried, and becoming “more than overcomers” as we have learned to trust in our Lord for all things. He has got us this far and He will get us to the His desired end for us as the sons of God. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Heb 3:14 KJ2000).

God has declared the end from the beginning! He has spoken our divine sonship into existence from the foundation of the world and He is arranging our lives so that we will reach that goal. Paul saw that end and wrote,

 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Rom 8:35-37 KJ2000)

Yes, many things that happen in our lives do not seem to be ideal or perfect and often seem adverse to God’s end, but He knows our end from the beginning. Do you not think that He knew from the beginning when we would make a wrong choice or were attacked and also had that worked into His plan? He did not destine us to blow it or others to sin against us, but He did have a plan that would take even that into consideration and redeem us from our mistakes and sins. His mind is always on the end, HIS desired end for us and it is that end, many sons who would share His glory, He has known from the beginning.

Paul wrote,

 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:4-10 KJ2000)

Did you catch that? We are not going to die in order to go to heaven. We are ALREADY in heavenly places as we abide IN Christ as branches of the True Vine. We have been created IN Christ and this is the source of all spiritual fruit and good works… He is our very Life. It is ALL a gift of God. We are HIS workmanship and were created IN Christ from the foundation of the world. It is from THIS enfolded joint life IN Christ that all everlasting works which the Father set in motion from the foundation of the world happen. All we can do is rest in the Son and watch the faith of Christ in us work through the love of God.

So, dear saints, our faith, rest, works, love, life, and even our hope are all bound up in our existence IN Christ and have been from the foundation of the world. This gives the “eternal salvation” of God great scope. Can we grieve the Spirit of God? Yes. Can we fall short of all that He has for us? Yes. But if we continue to walk by faith and not by sight, relying on the Son of God as our hope and salvation, He will make sure that we reach our eternal goal as sons of God. “For it is IN Him that we live and move and have our being.”

 

 

Is It of Works of Is It Grace?

by Michael

jesus-calms-the-storm

In the gospel of Mark we read about a great contrast of Jesus resting in His Father’s will and the disciples fighting to save their lives all in the same place and at the same time…

And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him just as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the rear of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awoke him, and said unto him, Teacher, care you not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mar 4:36-39 KJ2000)

What and insult the fearful mind of man is to God. “Don’t you care that we perish?” The Son of God was in perfect peace and rest even as a great storm bashed away at the little boat they were in. He knew the end from the beginning. Didn’t He hear the Father say, “Go to the other side of the lake”? After all we know that He only spoke the words He heard His Father saying.

I think that the  second to the last paragraph in my last blog article “The Process of Faith…” has pulled a lot of us off coarse and I apologize for that. The heart of the questions that have come up regarding it seems to be this, “Is it of works or is it grace?

Paul wrote,

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7 KJ2000)

Wait a minute! I thought we were saved by faith? But here Paul writes that we are saved by grace! You see, God is the Prime Mover in our salvation and desires to be such in our lives as well. It is because of His mercy and grace that any of us are saved, not because we have worked hard enough to earn it. He even gives us the faith we need to believe in His Son!

So where do works come into the Heavenly picture? He has made us ALIVE with and IN Christ! The works are not our own, but of Christ in whom we dwell. As Paul said in Acts, “In HIM we live and move and have our being… for we are also His offspring.” We who are born from above live in Christ, move only in Christ for IN Him we have our very beings. If we are still living in and of ourselves all that we do, no matter how “good” the works we do might be, they will never satisfy the Father for only those works which are inspired by and come out from the Father and the Son have any eternal weight of glory in them. Yes, we have been saved by grace and the faith of Jesus which the Father has put in our hearts, but as we see in this passage, we are then MADE TO SIT in heavenly places IN Christ… that same Christ who was dying on the cross and cried out “It is FINISHED!” If we are not resting in the Father’s grace and Jesus’ completed work on the cross, we can NOT walk by faith.

Jesus said, “My Father works still and I work.” This is the only work that counts in the Father’s kingdom and for His kingdom purposes. To the natural man, the Adam nature within, grace is an insult. The old nature of Adam has been snake bit for that serpent of old said to Eve, “For God knows that the day you eat of this tree, you will be like God knowing both good and evil.” Oh, how the fallen adamic nature within wants to be “like God.” How we love our “good works.” It is all about the source of the works we do that makes the difference. Jesus said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up.” He did not say that it would never take root, but that it would be rooted up. So, our efforts to be “like God” in our state of rebellion (not abiding in Christ and His rest) leads us into doing all kinds of “good works.” But guess what, just as we have to be born from above by the Father, so all works that are done and are to remain, these also must be born from above as well.

God worked six days and then He rested on the seventh. Man was created at the end of the sixth day. Man’s first day began with creation’s seventh day, God’s rest. So in Hebrews we read, “For we who have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, they [the Children of Israel in the wilderness] shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb 4:3 KJ2000). God is timeless and He is not like us who are bound by our clocks and calendars. To Him a thousand years are like one day and a day is as a thousand years. His works were foreordained from the foundation of the world. He put the whole thing in motion and invited us who are His sons and daughters to enter into not only His rest, but also those works that He has foreordained to happen down through the ages. Hebrews goes on to say,

There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Heb 4:9-11 KJ2000)

In HIS rest we cease from our own labors and truly begin to walk by faith. Now that we are saved, do we become totally inactive? No, we become obedient to HIS workings as we are activated by the Holy Spirit, following His leading and being empowered by His grace to do those works that He has foreordained from the foundation of the world that we should walk in them. All of our imaginings are to no avail when it comes to  doing the works of God. Peter wrote, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1Pe 1:19-20 KJ2000). Do you see what I mean by timelessness in God? Christ was crucified in the mind and plan of God from the foundation of the world, but it was not made evident to man until 2000 years ago, thousands of year after the initial six day of creation. So it is with all His works that He seeks to manifest in and through us! To be in His rest is to be in-tune with His will.

We who are Christ’s have rested from our own works, the works of fallen Adam who tries so hard to be “like God” and a god unto ourselves. Oh, how the religious mind of man is deceived! How he fails to enter into God’s rest and move only by God’s grace. We watch church program after church program that leaders thrust upon their congregations  and what comes of them? Another failed attempt to prefect in the flesh what God has started out in the Spirit (see Galatians 3:3). Paul says it so plainly,

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8-10 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

Here in these two verses we see “not of works,” “His workmanship” and “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Which way is it, Paul? Is it not of works or is it unto good works? A Pharisee came to Jesus and said ,”Good master…” Jesus answered back, “Who do you call good?” Only one is good and He is our Father in heaven.” Our Christian lives are not about us or our goodness! Any doing that happens in us is not of our  works! In us dwells no good thing, unless that indwelling is the life of the Father which was put in us at salvation. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…” (Jam 1:17 KJ2000). So we must understand that the Father has created us IN His Son, Christ Jesus, and it is from abiding in Him, the True Vine as HIS workmanship that we bring forth good fruit (See John ch. 15). Do we imagine a “good thing” to do or set out to do something because we read about it in the Bible? NO! We abide in the Son IN whom we have been created and then the Father’s works which were ordained form the foundation of the world are ours to walk in. Without entering into HIS rest, we will never know those works, much less walk in obedience to the Father as Jesus did. Our frenzied minds which seek to cover our spiritual nakedness with religious garments of fig leaves must be crucified. We MUST have the mind of Christ or we will never know the Father’s works much less do them.

So, is it of grace or of works? Both… His grace and HIS works. We can not generate His grace and we can not generate HIS works. Father is our All in all.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14-19 KJ2000)