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Just read a great article on Christmas here and thought i would pass it right along.  If it is any incentive, i highly recommend it, especially if you or anyone you know refuses to celebrate this joyous season (or certain aspects of it) because of the supposed pagan roots…

“Some object to the celebration of Christmas on the grounds that it used to be a pagan holiday. But that’s ok. We used to be pagan too.”—Douglas Wilson

“Since the Savior’s advent in our midst, not only does idolatry no longer increase, but it is getting less and gradually ceasing to be. Similarly, not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer make any progress, but that which used to be is disappearing. . . . On the other hand, while idolatry and everything else that opposes the faith of Christ is daily dwindling and weakening and falling, the Savior’s teaching is increasing everywhere.”— Athanasius

When we talk about thanksgiving we can’t get very far before we must define our terms.  In society, the understanding and interpretations of definitions tend to evolve with culture and especially so in a post-modern society.  As believers we don’t take our cue from the outside, from the society, we base everything on Scripture, believing that it is the absolute authority on everything it addresses and that it addresses everything.  So the Bible is our absolute, universal standard, it defines everything for us and therefore our definitions don’t evolve, because the Author doesn’t evolve.

Paul in Ephesians begins his letter pointing to God and thankfully affirms He has ‘blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,’ (Eph. 1:3) and continues to affirm not only the sovereignty of God but also the Almighty’s degree of interaction, that is He ‘works all things according to the counsel of His will’ (Eph. 1:11).  This is going to be a helpful preface as we look further.  Ephesians 5:4-5,  “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”

A temptation may arise from carelessly looking at these two verses, which is a very superficial thankfulness—lip-service (Is. 29:13), but we see in what is shown to be ‘out of place’ in this passage as well as from other Scripture (Mt. 12:33-37) that we speak out of the abundance of our heart.  Essentially, our words are the litmus test to the character of our heart.  Foolish talk and crude jokes come from a foolish and filthy heart that worships idols, thankfulness comes from a heart that was given as a gift from God.  Paul affirms this again in Colossians 2:6-7, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Paul goes on in his letter to the Ephesians with a word of caution to be wise and not foolish because the days are evil (note: he is probably at least partially referring to divisions, and deceit from within the body of which he spoke earlier), and to be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another with spiritual songs, making melody to the Lord with our hearts, giving thanks always and for everything to God.  He ends his letter with a call to put on the armor of God, and we all know why one would be advised to suit up.

When we look at instances in Scripture of thankfulness, what we see from beginning to end is first and foremost that it is given to God.  We all ‘know’ this very basic and obvious truth but as we examine what the characters in the Script are specifically thankful for it may shed light on why.  Here are a few examples.

His love that endures forever (1 Chr. 16:41, etc.)

Due to His righteousness (Ps. 7:17)

Wonderful deeds (Ps. 9:1) & Faithfulness (Ps. 138:2)

He is our strength, shield and help (Ps. 28:7)

For [us] hearing the words of His mouth (Ps. 138:4)

For he was angry with us but now he comforts us (Is. 12:1, Is. 51:3)

He establishes us (Jer. 30:18-20)

For wisdom and understanding (Dan. 2:23)

For food and drink (Mt. 15:36, Mt. 26:27)

To God for ‘you’ (1 Cor. 1:4) & That ‘you’ have become obedient (Rom. 6:17)

Deliverance (Rom. 7:25) & Growing faith (2 Thes. 1:3)

His inexpressible gift (2 Cor. 9:15) & Grace extending to more (2 Cor. 4:15)

Qualification (Col 1:12) & Sanctification (2 Thes. 2:13)

For everything (Eph. 5:20)  & In all circumstances, for it’s the will of God (1 Thes. 5:18)

All of the things that we just reviewed have eternal implications, that is to say that all things are of Him, through Him and to Him, so we thank Him!  Our food, drink and wisdom, our qualification and all our circumstances; it is the gracious will of God.

Let’s look now to 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 and this is where we will finish up.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence.  For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

This is a pretty straight forward passage and one that should be know well by all believers.   It goes without saying, we are the jars of clay, He is the treasure.  But the fact that He possesses the surpassing power and it does not belong to us is something that is often ignored or interpreted poorly.  This is so incredibly important to understand literally, if we are to ‘abound in thanksgiving‘.  For if we are in control and something doesn’t go the way we want and believe it should, even must, a thankful response is impossible.  We are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, always being given over to death, but we are not crushed, not driven to despair, not forsaken, not destroyed, we carry the death of Jesus so that the life may also be manifested in our bodies—in our mortal flesh.  This is belief, this is faith, this is the why and the how for abounding in thanksgiving.  We have the same spirit of faith that brought us to resurrection in Christ.  So as His inexpressible gift spreads to more undeserving souls  so grows the confession of thanksgiving.  As one frenchman put it, “Faith is the mother of confession”.

Paul is saying this is why we don’t lose heart, we have won, we have success, we have eternal life, what can man do to me!  The fact that our outer self is wasting away and we are experiencing this light, momentary affliction does not diminish the fact that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, that He possesses the surpassing power, it is for our good because these afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.  So we go therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all His commands, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Seen and unseen, transient and eternal.  If we misplace our thankfulness—essentially our faith, upon the seen and transient we are not worthy of Christ, we cannot be His disciples.  Luke 14:26 says. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  I may be thankful to God for my health because God is preserving me, i know it is good, but if He takes it away my thankfulness is not diminish in the least because it wasn’t established in it but in God, and whatever happens is going to be for the good (cf. Job).  Believers are always thankful, for true belief and true repentance and every grace that brought us nigh (cf. Ps. 73).

Yesterday i picked up a book and randomly opened the page to find a quote by St. Augustine that said, “Love God and do as you please.”  As is my custom when something strikes me, i tweeted it.  I understood that this could be perceived as shocking and low and behold it caused quite a stir (and when i say quite a stir i really only mean double digit comments on this tweet and this tweet.)

I think that it is interesting and honestly i love the quote even if it is scandalous, it makes me think of how scandalous grace is.  This scandal that is grace however cannot be avoided and if we try to avoid it we have left the foremost tenet of the Christian faith. Our salvation is a gift – grace.  It reminds me of another quote, “For a legal heart, everything is law. For a gracious heart, everything is grace.”

This is an exhortation by Pastor Doug Wilson.  Seems quite significant for this generation.  Here is an excerpt, you can click the link to read it in it’s entirety along with comments…

When our Lord was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He answered with Scripture, as we all know. Three times He was tested, and each time He replied in the words of Deuteronomy. But this is sometimes misunderstood. We tend to think that Jesus was quoting Scripture at the devil, as though the devil ought to start obeying it. But this was not His intent. When the Lord cited the words of Moses, each time it was because He would have been disobeying the text of Scripture if He had followed the suggestion of the tempter.

And this, in its turn, shows us the Lord’s attitude toward Scripture—what He believed the authority of Scripture to be, with regard to Him. We know that Jesus was obedient to the will of God (as seen in His prayer at Gethsemane), but we sometimes miss the fact that Jesus obeyed the Bible. In the wilderness, Jesus was not relying on a hidden, mysterious hot line to the Father that only He had. No, He bowed His head and His heart and refused to do what was wrong, as wrong was determined and settled by the sacred text.

http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=7139

Living by the Spirit.

Text: Romans 7:18 – 8:11

When discussing life as a Christian, or when discipling believers, you are inevitably faced with, usually by very sincere, desperate Christians, the infamous question “How do i do that?”, “How do i just abide in Christ”, or “How do i walk in the Spirit?”. These question although possible to answer Biblically, are usually the wrong question to be asking, at least at first. That being said, they should not be casually brushed off because their reason for asking is generally because these sincere, desperate Christians at times find themselves presenting their members to sin (Rom. 6:13) and experiencing condemnation, shame, and guilt.  (*They could also be experiencing self-righteousness, pride, and arrogance but generally when Christians are having these experiences they are not asking anybody any questions because they think they have arrived.  I digress.)

The christian how questions, in my mind, are like someone asking me how to breath.  “How do you get the air to fill up your lungs? I get so out of breath and i just know that all i need to do is to take a big, deep, breath. You make it seem so easy, like you’re not even trying.”

To anyone who has ever breathed before, the question is pretty silly, even though there is a factual answer.

We generally link “things we do”, that are as important as breathing or living in the Spirit, with an absolute necessity for us to be sure and “get it right”.  With something this essential, yes it needs to be right that’s for sure but is it really a question of us “getting it right”.  Yes i can consciously take breath at this very moment but if i was responsible for every breath that i had to have every time i had to have it, lets just say we would have to seriously redefine things like cat nap, and multi-tasking, not to mention, concentration would take on a whole new meaning.

Think for a moment what it would be like if breathing was a conscious act with no natural instincts involved.  How would you even know when you needed a breath?

If we are breathing, we are alive.  If we belong to Jesus Christ, we are in the Spirit (Rom. 8:9), this is an eternal reality that cannot be altered – in Christ we are eternally alive (John 3:16, Col. 3:4).  When, however, we are not walking according to the Spirit when in fact we are living in the Spirit, we are being rebellious, wether it be conscious rebellion (we all know what this looks like), or subconscious rebellion (i.e. ignorant disobedience, dead works, etc.) it makes no difference because the remedy is the same – repentance, a changing or renewing of the mind and moving in the other direction.

Walking according to the flesh when we are in the Spirit is like holding our breath, when we are now created to breath.  Don’t quickly forget that there is no neutral, in other words, if we are not walking according to the nature that we now posses, it is active rebellion any way we try and spin it.

So when i understand the phrase “walking in the Spirit” for what it actually is – my new nature in Jesus Christ, i easily equate it to the second-nature, or automatic work of breathing, and yes it is an action, a work, which by the way isn’t a bad thing (James 2:17-18).

As we continue with the thought, holding our breath when we are now created to breath, is not something that can be subconsciously done (unless you are sick, in that case my point is simply reinforced), it is an active rebellion.  When we work in, and of ourselves trying to accomplish something, we are rebelliously holding our breath, now whether our motives are right or wrong at this point, it makes no difference because we are depriving ourselves of oxygen, we are disobeying our nature.  This is obviously not a good thing and can hardly be deemed accomplishing anything, and as we all know, it cannot be sustained for very long.  In fact it is impossible to hold our breath and die, we pass out and immediately start to breath again, it’s like a built in fail-safe.

For the sake of discussion lets say that holding your breath equals your fleshly “accomplishments” and the longer you are able to sustain yourself without oxygen the more you are “accomplishing”.  Now at the point of you passing out because of your hard work, you become un-conscious, and instinctively and completely apart from your will, take a breath.  Everything you had been working to “accomplish” is now destroyed and you are completely incapable of sustained control of the situation – being your life as it pertains to breathing, and it makes no matter how strong your will.

Read through the gospels and repeatedly you will see the words of Jesus proclaiming our fruitfulness if we belong to Him – if we are in Him, it is not a question of if we will bear fruit but rather when we will and very possibly how much we will bear (John 15:5, Luke 8:8,15, Mark 4:8, 20).

This is how the vertical or spiritual reality and the horizontal or natural reality correspond, the spiritual reality is worked out in our natural lives.  Our christianity, not might be, but will be perceived in one way or another by the world, not sometimes but all the time.

This may be alarming for some but the good news is if we have been born-again, made new creations in Christ Jesus through our death and resurrection with Him, we are abiding in Him, we belong to Him.  That is salvation, that Christ has saved us from ourselves (2 Cor. 5:17), from our first father Adam in whom all died (1 Cor. 15:22), and given us new life in Him (1 Cor. 15:22)  Dying so we may die, and living so we may live.

Everything in the natural order speak of, and glorifies Christ, and thus is directly tied to the spiritual reality.  The spiritual is always the foundational or original reality; it always comes first followed by the natural outworking.

This working out process is the same kind of work as breathing.  Paul in his letter to the Philippians sheds some light on this process.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you , both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:9-13

It is God who works in us for His good pleasure, this is how we work this reality of salvation out.  This is how we breath; this is how we bear fruit, this is how we abide, God in His grace, works in us for His good pleasure and we trust and believe that He is (Gal. 2:20, Gal. 3:3-6, John 6:28-29).  The same way that we trust and believe and even know that our next breath is going to come even if we forget to “do it” or even if we don’t will or desire it to.  We can rest easy knowing, trusting that our Head will keep our bodies doing what it must do to continue living.

Stop holding your breath trying to accomplish things, breath easy, knowing that it is God who is willing and working in you for His own good pleasure. If we have been made new creations – made to breath, we are partakers of that pleasure with every breath drawn.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?”  For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be glory forever.  Amen. Romans 11:34-36