Got MIlk? - Pt 2

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3 ESV). Thousands of people live year after year without much passion for God or zeal for his name or joy in his presence or hope in his promises or constancy in his fellowship and feel like that’s just the way it’s supposed to be. They just settle in to the mediocrity of lives that bear no resemblance to that which God desires for his children. As I wrote yesterday, our reading from the Apostle Peter contains a command from God for not to be spiritual fatalists. Peter says, "Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" (v. 2). The word for "long" here is very simply the word "desire," it's a command to desire.

What this means is that if you feel stuck because you don't have the kind of spiritual desires that you should, this text says, you do not need to be stuck! It says, "Get them! Get the desires you don't have." If you don't desire the milk of the Word, start desiring it! Now, isn't that amazing!? A command to desire? A command to feel longings we do not feel? A command to feel desires we do not have? Is anything more contrary to spiritual fatalism than that? Fatalism says, I can't just create desires. If they're not there, they're not there. If I don't feel things the way the psalmists seem to feel things when they say, "As a deer pants for the flowing streams so my soul pants for you, O God" (Psalm 42:1). If I don't feel that way toward God, then that's that. I just don't. I'm not like the psalmists. That's what spiritual fatalism says. But God says, "Desire the pure milk of the word!" (v. 2). Now before you raise all kinds of objections, like, “How can you command me to have a desire?” or, “What can I do to obey a command like that?” or, “How do I just produce a desire? My whole problem is that I don't have the strength of desire I want. And you just tell me to desire. You may as well tell a lame man to walk.” John Bunyan wrote a few verses that illustrate an essential truth. It's one of the best statements I have ever heard about the difference between the law and the gospel: Run, John, run, the law commands But gives us neither feet nor hands, Far better news the gospel brings: It bids us fly and gives us wings. In other words in the old covenant God gave commandments, but did not give the power that overcomes the depravity and rebellion of the heart. But in the new covenant, God gives even harder commands, and he also gives the power we need to fulfill them (cf. Romans 8:4-6). We are duty-bound to run, even though our feet are willfully frozen in the ice of sin. The gospel is not different in having no commands, no conditions. In fact, flying is harder than running. The gospel brings much better news than a mere command. It bids us fly and gives us wings!

Got Milk? - Pt 1

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3 ESV).

The slogan "Got Milk?" was licensed to the National Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) in 1995 to use on their celebrity print ads, which, since then, have included celebrities from the fields of sports, media and entertainment posing in print advertisements sporting a "milk mustache" and employing the slogan, "Where's your mustache?" According to the Got Milk? website, the campaign has over 90% awareness in the United States and the tagline has been licensed to dairy boards across the nation since 1995. Got Milk? is a powerful property and has been licensed on a range of consumer goods. And, milk is good for you. It is no wonder that the apostle uses this image when he encourages his readers to “grow up into salvation” (v. 3). So, as we continue to read through Peter’s first letter, I want us to look at our reading today and make some important observations concerning our growth. One of the great threats to our growth toward salvation (v. 2) is what I would call spiritual fatalism. This is the belief that you are stuck with the way you are now. It is that constant buzzing voice that says, "this is all I will ever experience of God—the level of spiritual intensity that I now have is all I can have; others may have strong desires after God and may have deep experiences of personal pleasure in God, but I will never have those because, well, just because. I am not like that. That's not me." This spiritual fatalism is a feeling that genetic forces, family forces, or the forces of my past experiences and present circumstances are just too strong to allow me to ever change and become more zealous for God (cf. Titus 2:14). Spiritual fatalism is tragic in the church. It leaves people stuck. It takes away hopes and dreams of change and growth. It squashes the excitement of living, which is growth. It's like saying to a gawky child who feels like their body is all out of proportion: “Well that's the way you are, and you will always be that way.” When the fact is they are meant to grow and change. That would be tragic to convince them of this kind of physical fatalism. So it is with the spirit. Only spiritual fatalism is much worse. Because greater things are at stake, and because we never do get to a point where we've arrived at the final stature like we do in our physical bodies. It robs us of our passion for life. It negates the abundance in life Jesus has intended for us. The answer is “pure spiritual milk”! We’ll explore how to get that more. Today, commit yourself to drinking it when you find it!

A Son or a Slave? - Pt 3

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:12-17 ESV).

One of the ways we know we are the children of God is that God has sent his Spirit to lead us. He leads us into warfare with sin, and he leads us into paths of righteousness. Notice our reading again: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” This prompts us to leave our rags behind. The Apostle Paul said, “Whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him” (2 Corinthians 5:9). He did not mean “Our whole futile, aimless, pointless Christian life is a failure since nobody can do it.” He didn’t mean that. He meant what he said in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: “[God fulfills] every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Don’t call that magnificent, grace-based Spirit-work filthy rags and displeasing to the Lord. Christ did not die just for our justification. He died for our sanctification. He did not die just to remove the guilt of sin, but the power of sin as well. Sons of God revel in forgiveness and trust the Spirit of the Father to do good. If there are imperfections in our Spirit-empowered good deeds, which there are, that does not make them filthy rags. They are the fruit of the Spirit, and our Father is pleased with them. The day of perfection will come. Oh, it will come. But until then, God knows what he’s working in his children. Mark that: God knows what he is working in his children, and he is pleased with what he is working. “[He is] working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:21). Do you see how that sets us free to serve? There is a huge difference in how this produces contentment and peace of mind and heart.

A Son or a Slave? - Pt 2

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14 ESV).

I want to linger a bit on the first statement of yesterday’s devotional. We really do need to begin to stop acting and talking as if we are slaves instead of sons of God. A part of the propensity toward this error is in how we have seen ourselves before being redeemed. We have been taught, correctly, that we are all as an “unclean thing” (cf. Isaiah 64:6). We even sing it in some of our hymns. We’ve also been taught that about every one of our good deeds as a Christian. That’s not what the Scripture says. Isaiah is not describing the good deeds of the genuine believer, good deeds done in the power of the Holy Spirit. Those were the religious acts done by unbelieving hypocrites. When Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works” (Matthew 5:16), he did not mean “that they may see your filthy rags.” He just didn’t. When Paul said that Christians bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Holy, Holy, Holy Spirit, he did not mean that the Spirit produces filthy rags. When Paul said, “[Christ] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (v. 14), he didn’t mean Christ died to create filthy rags. What has happened in our grassroots theology is that, in our zeal to clarify the pervasiveness of sin and the perfection of justification, we have undercut the Spirit’s work in sanctification. But the Spirit’s work is very real and very precious and should not be called filthy rags. The Spirit “bears witness that we are children of God.” That witness he bears is his power in us to do things that are no longer filthy rags. He also gives us a sweet assurance that we have an all-caring Father, “Abba! Father!” When that cry rises from the heart in childlike need, it is the Spirit in us. Here’s the key to a non-slave, sonship relation with God: Get to know God in his word. You are no longer slaves who do not know what the Father is up to. You are in the big house. Your slavery is over. You may walk into the Father’s study at any time and interrupt him. His book is 1,200 pages long and full of gold and silver and honey for his children. That’s where you know him and meet him, in his word. Realize that because he gave his Son, your sins are forgiven, and his Spirit enables you to please him.

A Son or a Slave? - Pt 1

[Jesus said] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:12-17 ESV).

There are two very important words in our reading today. The first of those is “servants” (v. 15a). The Greek word is doulos. While the ESV translates it as “servants,” a better translation in our modern use of the words would be “slave.” It describes someone who has been taken into bondage, either with or without their consent. They are completely subservient to another, without choice or compensation. The second word is translated “friends” (v. 15b). This is an accurate translation of the Greek word, phileos. It speaks of that warm, unbreakable tie of familial relationship. It is the deep love of a brother. It can only come from one who is related by being a legitimate member of the same family with the same father. The statement of Jesus is clear. We are also sons and daughters of God just as He is. We are His brothers and sisters, not slaves. I find it incredible in our day that this truth is so often misunderstood or ignored. Over the next few days we will be looking at this principle of behaving like a Son rather than a slave. The first step in not living like a slave but like a son of God is to stop saying mistaken, slave-like things about our Father. One of the marks of a slave is that we act like we live way out on the edge of the plantation in the slave quarters, where nobody knows what the master’s plans are. When you don’t know what the master’s plans are, how he does his business, you can easily say false things about him. One of the first marks of a son, or a friend, is that we know him. We’re brought into his councils. We see how he works. We see how he makes his decisions. We see what he’s up to. We begin to understand his ways and how he goes about running the world. We stop saying things about him that are not true. Just one of those expressions comes in the midst of the pain that often occurs in our lives. Please hear my heart today. I say this out of love. We need to lose the thoughts and words used when we say things like, “I often struggle with knowing in my heart that no good work can ever be enough to please God.” That sounds like we are saying no good work can ever be enough to please God. That is slave talk; that’s not son talk. We are not the prodigal goat, or the prodigal servant; we are the Father’s sons!

Imperishable, Undefiled, Unfading - Pt 2

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV).

The believer’s inheritance is “reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (vv. 4-5). We need never fear the loss of our inheritance, since it is under God’s own watchful care. Not only is God watching over our inheritance, but He also is doing so in the safest of all places: heaven. That’s where “neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” (Matthew 6:20), and where “nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever [enter], but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). No one will ever invade or plunder heaven. Therefore our inheritance is eternally secure. Many Christians are confident that God is able to guard their inheritance but doubt that He can guard them. They fear they will somehow lose their salvation and forfeit God’s promises. That’s a popular view, but it overlooks the fact that God does pledge to protect us as well! Peter said, “You . . . are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (vv. 4-5). The word translated “protected” (phrouroumenous) is a military term that speaks of a guard. Peter used the present tense to indicate that we are continually under guard. Implied is the idea that we need ongoing protection because we’re in a constant battle with Satan and his forces. It is God’s omnipotent, sovereign power that guards us and guarantees our final victory. God, the ultimate Judge, has justified us in Christ, made us heirs with Him, and has given us His Spirit to ensure that the good work He started in us will be perfected (cf. Philippians 1:6). He is able to keep us from stumbling, and to make us “stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy” (Jude 24). Not even Satan himself can condemn us (cf. Romans 8L33), so rather than fearing the loss of our inheritance we should continually rejoice in God’s great grace and mercy. No matter what our circumstances might be, consider your eternal inheritance. Meditate on it. Let it fill your heart with praise to the One who has extended such grace to you. Let it motivate you to live to His glory. Don’t pursue the quick fix—some worldly solution to the passing problems of life. This world’s trials aren’t even worthy to be compared with our eternal glory. And always remember that you have Christ, who is all-sufficient in everything now and forever.

Imperishable, Undefiled, Unfading - Pt 1

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV).

Last year I received an orchid in appreciation of some work I had done with a couple. They really gave the gift to Mary, though I was to be the caretaker. In the past I haven’t had a very good track record with orchids. I could keep them alive; however, I could never get them to re-bloom. The one pictured here is that same gift I received on its second round of blooms. It is actually even showier than in this picture as all of the buds have bloomed fully. I have decided it certainly can be described as an “overachiever”! Over the next few devotionals I am going to take us through parts of Peter’s first epistle. Our first look is an examination of what it would be like to have endless riches stored up for you—a future reward that could never be taken away, but that could be enjoyed forever? If you are a Christian, that is an accurate description of the inheritance God has stored up for you. He has made it possible for us to “re-bloom” in a way that the apostle describes as “imperishable,” “undefiled,” and “unfading” (v. 4).  The Greek word translated “imperishable” (aphthartos) speaks of something that is not corruptible, but permanent. The word evokes the image of a land ravaged by a conquering army; so Peter was saying our eternal inheritance cannot be plundered or spoiled by our spiritual foes.  “Undefiled” (amiantos) means unpolluted or unstained by sin, evil, or decay. Unlike this world, in which nothing escapes the stain of sin (cf. Romans 8:20-23), our inheritance can never be contaminated, defiled, or in any way corrupted. It is unblemished and unstained by the presence or effects of sin (cf. Revelation 21:27).  “Unfading,” comes from a Greek term used of flowers. In the context of 1 Peter it suggests a supernatural beauty that time cannot diminish. Peter used the same word with reference to the unfading crown of glory that faithful elders will receive when the Chief Shepherd appears (v. 4). Those three terms—imperishable, undefiled, and unfading— picture a heavenly inheritance that is impervious to death, sin, and the effects of time. Considering the corrupting, damning influence of sin on the world, it is wonderful to know our inheritance in Christ is timeless and will never diminish. That is the life we have in Christ! And, no one, or no thing, can take that away from us once we have it!