Moving Forward

The longer I live, the more I begin to see the frailty of human heart, my heart.  Lately one of the areas where I see this more clearly is our penchant to look back.  We look back at failures, successes, situations and our old life.  We look back not necessarily to learn from them, but to still live in them.  The problem with that is that we are called to move forward, to move on in Christ.  Yes, we learn from the past, but we are not to live there.

The Wilderness Generation (WG) had so much unbelief in God's character and Word (about the promised land) that they wanted to go back to Egypt, to all that they had known before:

Numbers 14:4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Looking backward to the old way of life before Christ - is not real life, but a pretend one that is no longer real, but a mirage of somewhere we once lived.  Unbelief looks back at the Old Life with a complaining and blaming heart.  Unbelief is grounded solely in man ways. 

I am reminded of the how the life of faith should go from Paul:

Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

The life of faith moves forward embracing the character and Word of God.  The life of faith moves on toward Christ because Christ has made us His own.  The life of faith moves forward with lessons learned from the past, but never wanting the old life, just more and more of Jesus.

Let's move forward.

What If the World Had Ended? What then?

Well, I woke up this morning and I guess you did as well since you are reading this.  I guess we are relieved, but should we, since this is not really our home.  It is the land of our sojourn.  So, I had some thoughts about what if the world had ended.  What would that mean for us?  Well here are some thoughts:

We Would Have Been Changed  - I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52

We would have seen Him as He is and been just like Him  - Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.   1 John 3:2

We would be where He is forever  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.   John 14:3

We would have seen the Holy City  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  Revelation 21:2

We would have experienced the great "No Mores"  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4

I could go on and on.  Honestly, while I love my family, church, and friends.  I feel like Paul did in Philippians, "I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better".  Philippians 1:23 ESV.  So, if were to all end, for we who know and love Jesus, we step into a new life beyond our imagination.

Not a bad future that awaits us.

Contented Gratefulness

Last night, scripture had a profound impact upon my life in regard to God's provision.  The wilderness travelers of Israel, for 40 years, saw the Hand of God move over and over -  where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.  Hebrews 3:9.  I don't want to be like them in any way.  You know, the kind of people who want the best and can never find a place of grateful contentment.  Read below and see God's provision and then how they ultimately saw His provision among them. 

God’s Goodness and Israel’s View of It

                  God’s Care for them in Wilderness

Deuteronomy 8:3-4 - And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

                 

Nehemiah 9:21 - You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.  Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Exodus 13:20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Psalm 105: 39 He spread a cloud for a covering, 
and fire to give light by night.40 They asked, and he brought quail,
 and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. 41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
 it flowed through the desert like a river.

Deuteronomy 29:5 - I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.

Deuteronomy 2:7 - For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

(Numbers 11:7-9 ESV)

Joshua 5:11-12 - And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.  And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

                  Israel’s View of God’s Goodness

      All of this happened for them and they continued to complain.

·       When the Egyptians pursued them at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:11)

·       When they had no water at Marah (Exodus 15:24)

·       When they had no food in the wilderness of Sin (Exodus16:2-3)

·       When they had no water at Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-3)

·       When they prepared to enter the Promised Land (Num. 14:1-4)

Numbers 11:4-6 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

Exodus 16:1-3 - They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Numbers 14:26-35 - And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

Numbers 32:10-13 - And the LORD's anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’ And the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone

What To Do with Jesus?

          What are we to do with Jesus?  For all of us who claim to be a Christ-Follower, the answer to this question, to be honest, unfortunately varies.  Why is that?  Why is our pursuit of Him not marked by the same thing?  Why does it look so different?  We could say it is because of denominations, personalities, traditions, or current personal struggles.  For me, I have used some of those in my description of what I am doing with Jesus.  I wonder if we have really missed the true reality of what it really means to be a Christ-Follower.  What should this following mean, fundamentally?  What should this following look like?  As with all things, let's let the scripture define this for us.
          In Hebrews 3, the writer asks the reader to "Consider Jesus".  What does this mean?  In the Greek, this word means to gaze at something for the purpose of getting the real and inner meaning of something so it can be learned and known.  So...the writer says that the priority for us is to gaze at Jesus until we get the real and true meaning.  How long do you think this might take?  Obviously, a lifetime.  So, the question is, is this what the fundamental essence of following Christ is marked by?  Again, let's let the scripture define this for us more (bolder emphasis mine):

• Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.    Philippians 3:8-11 ESV
• Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel    2 Timothy 2:8 ESV
• For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.                         1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV
• And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  John 17:3 ESV
• Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.  Psalm 25:4 ESV
• But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18 ESV
• Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.  Luke 10:41-42 ESV

These are just several of many verses about what the foundation is concerning following Jesus.  There is nothing greater that we can do than think on, gaze on, talk about, read about, be quiet before, meditate on - the greatness of Jesus.  This is what the common thing should be.  We cannot get around this!  Someone can't say, well "I'm a missions guy" or "I'm a family ministry person", etc. etc.  All of those, must flow out of knowing Christ.  That is the foundation of this relationship with Christ.  Everything flows out of this.  A strong missional and family life is built on knowing Christ.  This must be the one common thing about us.  After all...Jesus has called this life before Him as the "good portion which will not be taken away".  Why should we not be all about the this "portion" then?  It is a must for this to be the main focus of our lives.

Is this what Christ-Following looks like in our life?  It should.   What are you and I willing to do to move our life in Christ completely in line with KNOWING CHRIST?  Whatever it is, let's get it right now!

Excel Still More

     Living in an age where with greater and greater frequency there is so much pursuit of more and more things for self, I find it quite interesting that in regard to godliness, the pursuit of more and more of righteousness seems to be waning.  At times it appears that we are content to get to a certain level of godliness and then we stop the pursuit of more.  I fear we don't get the real reality of Biblical faith as we embrace our own version of faith's definition and limits.  If our culture wants to get lost in worldliness, then why don't Christ-followers want to get lost in righteousness?  It is a question that I am asking myself in these days.  One would think that if we really believe He is the treasure, then we would desire to spend our life pursuing the enjoyment of "His pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11)  Again, we seem to just not get it.
     I am reading an epistle a day and today I found myself in 1 Thessalonians and 2x in 1 Thessalonians Paul deals with this idea of wanting more, or excelling more in our faith.  Here are the two verses in their context:
1 Thessalonians 4:1
Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

1 Thessalonians 4

⁹ Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,

In 2 areas he says that we should excel more, that we should not arrive at a place of contentment.  Here are a couple brief thoughts with each:

1. Excel more in walking to please God - There should never be a stopping place in our desire to live in such a way that God is pleased.  The limits of what is pleasing to Him cannot and must not be established by us.  The limit has been established and it is the life of the Lord Jesus, so until we are totally like Him, then we are to be striving to excel more and more.
2. Excel still more in loving others - The message is clear again that we don't decide how much love we give to others, but that we just love.

These two things are a great reminder for you and I today, that our desire is to excel more and more in two very important areas.

 

God-Hungry Men

One of the great blessings in my life has been some of the old books my grandfather gave me.  Several of them were by the great Revivalist preacher named Leonard Ravenhill.  In reading this morning in Ravenhill's book - Meat for Men, I found myself greatly challenged by the opening of Chapter 2.  Here is what Ravenhill writes.  Enjoy the challenge...

"God hungry men find God.  As the deer pants after the water brooks, so the souls of the Upper-Room crowd panted for the living God.  Spiritually naked, they fled to Him that they might be clothed upon with the blessed Spirit.  Empty, they craved to be filled.  Powerless, they tarried until they were endued.  Bankrupt and beggar-like, they pled the riches of His grace.  Then this fear-filled crowd became fire-filled messengers.  Though swordless, these soldiers of Christ fought the might of imperial Rome and won.  Though without eccelesiastical prestige, they opposed the frozen orthodoxy of sterile Judaism and pierced it to the heart.  Unlettered, they unblushingly declared the whole counsel of God and eventually staggered the intellectual Greeks.

Without question, the greatest need of this hour is that the church shall meet her ascended Lord again, and get an enduement that would usher in the revival of revivals just before the night of nights settles over this age of incomparable corruption.

My guess is that the waiting host in the Upper Room never anticipated the rushing, mighty wind, were staggered by the tongues of fire, and were all amazed that they had utterance they could not define.  To say that these folk were all backsliders awaiting another touch from God is to twist truth.  Backsliders are the most joyless fold in the world, but these disciples, having seen the Master recently ascend to heaven in a cloud, had returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  They had fled to the Upper Room to await the promise of the Father.  That meant they were obedient; backsliders are disobedient.  After Christ's ascension they worshipped Him; backsliders forsake Him.  No, let's get this straight: these were a happy people, an obedient people, a worshipping people, a praying people."

Leonard Ravenhill - Meat for Men, pp. 19-20.  Bethany Fellowship, Inc.  1961.

Where We Stand

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1