Here is a good article by a friend who graciously gave me permission to post it. Please take a few minutes to check it out.
http://dlorimer.blogspot.com/2009/09/in-image-of-his-holiness.html
Archive Page 2
12
Oct
09
In Image of His Holiness
15
Sep
09
Law in the New Covenant
This post is in response to Joy, who commented on one of my other posts. You can review her comments to see what question I am addressing here.
Joy,
Thank you for your input and question. You did not offending me at all. Certainly you have a good question, and one that I have pondered much on as well. As to your point on keeping the Mosaic law, what you say has some validity. God did give the Ten Commandments to the Israelites as a part of the old covenant and not to us. II Corinthians tells us in 3:6, “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not one of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” And Romans 3:20 shows us, “Therefore no one will be declared righteousness in his sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin.” The law was a “schoolmaster” to bring us to Christ. This salvation by faith alone declared in Romans was the great theme that stirred Luther. Hebrews 8:10 confirms what this new covenant is, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.” Therefore we can never be saved by the law and grace at the same time. So is the law completely useless? Have the Ten Commandments no place in our lives? You had quoted Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” Jesus goes on in the rest of that chapter to discuss murder, adultery, oaths, love for your enemies, etc. Jesus was saying that He was not by-passing the Law, but completing it. In this chapter, it is interesting to note what Jesus commanded about these topics far exceeded what the Mosaic law required. For example, not only is the actually act of adultery wrong, but lust as well. We know that Scriptures teach us that God never changes, but is the same today, yesterday, and forever. God’s heart doesn’t changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament to today. At stake here is personal holiness or righteousness. Salvation by faith and walking in the Spirit does not eliminate righteousness, indeed it compels it. Listen to Romans 6:15,16 and 18, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? You have been set free from sin, and have become slaves to righteousness.” Later in chapter seven, Paul gives us in verse 12, “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteousness and good.” God’s commands are the same for all time, because they stem from His character. God simply gave us the law so we would know how futile it is to keep the law. Keeping the law was never the point, that is why we needed to be saved by grace. Back to our original example, Sabbath keeping did not originate with the Mosaic covenant, but with the Creation. The struggle is not law versus grace, but balance of the two. Keeping this tension is the question and issue of the ages. Salvation by faith alone, but slaves to God to perform righteousness. This I believe was the beauty of John Wesley and his movement. He propagated the message of Luther in salvation, and taught his converts how to apply righteousness in everyday life. Well, I hope I have explained my position clearly enough to be understood. I would love to hear you input, comments, and/or criticism. God bless~Seth
Another great post from Phil Cooke. I think he really may have a point. What do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments box.
Do You Change Culture or Does Culture Change You? | Phil Cooke and The Change Revolution
When a person first comes to Christ in salvation, they have an excitement about serving the Lord. There is love and joy in their hearts, and that spill out into their lives. But often after some months or years, that passion and zeal dies down. Why does this happen? Well, several things could be the reason for this. Of course, Satan has many devices to get us off the path. He will try to get us to sin, which causes us to fall. Another device he will use to derail us is a root of bitterness, especially toward another Christian. Worldliness and materialism are some of Satan’s choicest tools to draw us away from Christ. But what of those who are faithful, like the church in Ephesus who worked hard and stood for what was right, and yet lost their first love? Often the case with faithful devoted Christians is that their love for Christ is changed to a love for His things. It may be for a cause, organization, or doctrine. It may even be for acts of compassion or healing. But it is always from the person of Christ to His things. They are doing it for Him, but not because of a love and passion for Him. Such is the trick of Satan and danger for faithful, committed Christian people. Evaluate your life and ministry today, and see if your first love is intact.
21
Jul
09
A.W. Tozer
In my own being, I could not exist very long as a Christian without the inner consciousness of the Presence and nearness of God! I can only keep right by keeping the fear of God on my soul and delighting in the fascinating rapture of worship. I am sorry that the powerful sense of godly fear is a missing quality in churches today. The fear of God is that “astonished reverence” of which the saintly Faber wrote. I would say that it may grade anywhere from its basic element-the terror of the guilty soul before a holy God-to the fascinated rapture of the worshiping saint. There are few unqualified things in our lives but I believe that the reverential fear of God, mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and adoration, is the most enjoyable state and the most purifying emotion the human soul can know. A true fear of God is a beautiful thing, for it is worship, it is love, it is veneration. It is a high moral happiness because God is!
What is the difference between Biblical standards and convictions? Are all convictions personal? Is there even a difference? Terms can be confusing when we use them interchangeably and without defining them. A biblical standard is something in the Bible that we are called upon to measure up too, such as righteousness, holiness, purity, love, modesty, and so on and so forth. Just as a government sets forth standards for gas measurement, or food standards for restaurants, so we are given some standards in God’s Word. This differs from Biblical injunctions such as Sabbath observance. “Keep the Sabbath day holy” Exodus 20:8. These are clear commands that are unequivocal and unchanging. On the other hand Webster says that a conviction is, “A firmly held belief or opinion”. A conviction is a deeply rooted belief to do or not do something based on Biblical principles. When the Holy Spirit illuminates a truth in God’s Word, and then applies it in a specific way to a person’s life, that then becomes a conviction to be accepted or rejected. In a sense then, all convictions are personal, because unless a person follows them from a heart that is convinced of the truth, it is not a conviction, simply an opinion. As one preacher said, Biblical convictions are set up for us individually to help us remove things from our lives where Satan can tempt us. Now that does not mean that we can remove all temptation. Simply that we can remove some things from our lives that cause us to be tempted toward sin and possibly to fall. Convictions are guidelines that are put in place to help us to fulfill Godly standards, such as righteousness and holiness. Are convictions then to be chosen randomly according to how we want to live, or can we pick and choose? NO, God will convince us of certain things as we grow in the Word and apply it to life, and then God will probably add certain restrictions for us alone to follow, to help guide us on the right path. Convictions of certain truths and principles in the Bible are all about identifying us with Christ. A new believer may only be convinced that he is a child of God, but as he grows in the Word, God will convince or convict him of additional things in his life. We cannot expect the same out of him as a 50 year-old Christian. As Ravi Zacharias says, that if we change our convictions, we change the very nature of who we are. And as another author has written, “We don’t hold convictions, they hold us”. What convictions does God have for you today?
This is from Phil Cooke’s blog at www.philcooke.com.
It’s interesting that the debate about what we call the “Prosperity Gospel” continues. I’m not surprised because anything that sounds like hope is a tough thing to walk away from – whether it’s true or not. I have some mixed feelings because I understand that preachers of the post-World War II era rightly wanted people to understand that God is a good God. It’s hard today for us to understand the vibe from that era. Back then, most people believed more in a “God with a stick” than any real sense of grace. Writer Philip Yancey has written very eloquently about the toxic church he grew up in and the harsh view of God they taught. Many churches of the time were very dead places.
But today, on the other extreme, it’s really gotten out of control. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.” C.S. Lewis rightly understood that what seems to us good may not actually be good in God’s eyes, and what seems to us evil may not actually be evil. Therefore pain, suffering and disappointment may not be as bad or harmful as we assume. Likewise, prosperity, success, and accomplishment may not always be as good for us as we wish. Lewis always reminded us that we need to let God be God. Our thoughts are not His, and his judgments will often be dramatically different from ours. He admitted that we really know infuriatingly little about God and the way he works in the world.
Does God want what’s best for us? Of course. Will “what’s best” always line up with our expectations? Not hardly. I read a statistic recently about lottery winners. It said that within a few years, a significant number of big winners are right back where they started. In some cases, vast sums of money actually ruined their lives. I know many people who were much better off – and happier – when they were far less prosperous than they are now.
Let God be God. Encourage people, but seek a balance. Believe for His best for your life, but be careful assuming that God should live up to your expectations.
I was asked by one of my faithful readers to translate the the post below to modern English, and to provide a more understandable writing of the article by Thomas `a Kempis below. I hesitate to do this because I want to make such that his meaning and effectiveness are retained. However I have tried to do my best, so here is what I have come up with. You can compare it with the post below to see where I am.
“The Kingdom of God is within you”. By despising outward things, Kempis means things of this world, or earthly material things. Inward things are the work of Christ in the heart. The kingdom of God is the spiritual reign of Christ in the heart. Our hearts are the mansion he speaks of. The inward man is our spirits, and Christ has “sweet discourses, pleasant solace, much peace, and exceeding wonderful”. Christ abides with those that keep his commandments. Kempis says that trust in men is unreliable. A man may be our friend one day, and turn against us the next. In comparison, Christ is trustworthy and we can be inwardly united with Him in spirit. Heaven is our home so why should we look at earth as our permanent dwelling place? Thomas exhorts us to think on high and heavenly things of Christ, or if we cannot do that, to dwell on the passion and death of Christ. He then says that if we entered into the secrets of Christ, the Lord Jesus, and His love, we would not be bothered by our own convenience of inconvenience. We would even rejoice in being reproached for Christ’s sake. A man that has an inward life cultivated with Christ is not hindered in business or other things. “A man is hindered or distracted in proportion as he draweth outward things unto himself”. Kempis says that if we were thoroughly purged from sin, all things would turn out for our good, and progress. But because we are not dead to ourselves or earthly things, we are often troubled inside. Nothings so defiles or entangles our hearts as the impure love of earthly things. He concludes that if we would refuse to be comforted by earthly things, we would be able to contemplate Heavenly things, and receive joy in our hearts.
I was given a bunch of books this week. In putting them on the shelf today I came across an older book by Thomas ‘a Kempis. This chapter is called Of the Inward Life. The language is a bit antiquated but I think it will be benefical.
“The kingdom of God is within you,” saith the Lord. Turn thee with thy whole heart unto the Lord, and forsake this wretched world, and thy soul shall find rest. Learn to despise outward things, and to give theyself to things inward, and thou shalt perceive the kingdom of God to be come in thee. “For the kingdom of God is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,” which is not given to the unholy. Christ will come unto thee, and show thee His own consolation, if thou prepare for Him a worthy mansion with thee. All His glory and beauty is from within, and there He delighteth Himself. The inward man he often visiteth; and hath with him sweet discourses, pleasant solace, much peace, familiarity exceeding wonderful. O faithful soul, make ready thy heart for this Bridegroom, that He may vouchsafe to come unto thee, and to dwell within thee. For thus saith He, “If any man love me, he will keep my words, and we will come unto him, and will make our abode with him.” Give therefore admittance unto Christ, and deny entrance to others. When thou hast Christ, thou art rich, and hast enough. He will be thy faithful and provident helper in all things, so that thou shalt not need to trust in men. For men soon change, and quickly fail; but Christ remaineth for ever, and standeth by us firmly unto the end. There is no great trust to be put in a frail and mortal man, even though he be profitable and dear unto us: neither ought we to be much grieved, if sometimes he cross and contradict us. They that to-day take thy part, tomorrow may be against thee; and often do men turn like the wind. Put all thy trust in God, let Him be thy fear and thy love”He shall answer for thee, and will do all things well, and as is best for thee. Thou hast not here an abiding city; and wheresoever thou mayest be, thou art a stranger and pilgrim: neither shalt thou ever have rest, unless thou be inwardly united unto Christ. Why dost thou here gaze about, since this is not the place of thy rest? In heaven ought to be thy home, and all earthly things are to be looked upon as it were by the way. All things pass away, and thou together with them. Beware thou cleave not unto them, lest thou be caught, and so perish. Let thy thoughts be on the Highest, and thy prayers for mercy directed unto Christ without ceasing. If thou canst not contemplate high and heavenly things, rest thyself in the passion of Christ, and dwell willingly on His sacred wounds. …. He that knoweth how to live inwardly, and to make small reckoning of things without, neither requireth places, nor awaiteth times for performing of religious exercises. A spiritual man quickly recollecteth himself, because he never poureth out himself wholly to outward things. He is not hindered by outward labor or business, which may be necessary for the time” but as things fall out, so he suits himself to them. He that is well ordered and disposed within himself, careth not for the strange and perverse behaviour of men. A man is hindered and distracted in proportion as he draweth outward things unto himself. If it were well with thee, and thou wert thoroughly purified from sin, all things would fall out to thee for good, and to thy progress. But many things displease and often trouble thee, because thou art not yet perfectly dead unto thyself, nor separated from all earthly things. Nothing so defiled and entangeth the heart of man, as the impure love of things created. If thou refuse outward comfort, thou wilt be able to contemplate the things of Heaven, and often to receive internal joy.
01
Jun
09
Can Christians be Holy?
To all my faithful readers: I haven’t posted for about three weeks. Seems like I have been busy for this weeks with various things. I realize it isn’t good to go this long without posting, so I hope to be more regular this summer. God bless each one of you.
There are a great many voices in the Christian world today that proclaim that man cannot live above sin in righteousness and holiness here on earth. They say that we are forgiven by Christ, but because of our humanity, we are prone to sin. They equate humanity with sin or sinfulness. However, this is a distorted unbilical view, as I shall show. First of all, humanity or the human body is NOT sinful. It is good created in the image of God. Jesus had a body here on earth, and yet was without sin. So humanity is not sinful. It is true however, that sin has corrupted humanity. Humans became infused with sin at the fall of Adam and Eve, and everyone after that. Sin then controlled our bodies from our birth. Paul make this very clear in Romans 6:6 that we are the servants to whom we yield ourselves. But yet God commands us to be holy, as He is holy. (I Peter 1:16) How can this be? I have a little book in my library titled, “The Sincerity of God”. The premise of this book is that what God has commanded in His Word, He gives us the grace to obey. If God commands us to be holy, then He has the grace to make us just that. Those who do not believe this make God out to be either a tyrant for commanding it, or incompetent for not being able to do it. We must not fall into the trap however of thinking we can make ourselves holy in any way in and of ourselves. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their self-righteousness. We can be holy only as the Spirit of God makes us holy. As we yield body, soul, spirit, mind, will, and emotions to Him, He takes these things, and uses them as instruments of righteousness and holiness. This is the great duty and privilege of every true believer.
