Our God Reigns

 October 16, 2024

I’m going to take a break from Philippians for awhile. There’s so much good stuff in Philippians that we could hang out there till Christmas, but I don’t think you’d want to do that. So I’m going to take you on a short, but deep dive into Daniel, and look at time.

Today, I’ll set the stage with the first two verses of the book of Daniel.

“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.” —Daniel 1:1-2 

Notice two different perspectives in these verses. In verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar is the protagonist; he “came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” As far as he was concerned, he was in charge; he was the one who took Jerusalem. But notice the change in perspective in verse 2: “The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand…” This will be important in the story, and it’s important for us, too.

When you look around, you see powerful people seemingly running the show. Right now, two people are vying for power to be the president of the United States. They think they’re calling the shots, but if you look at it from God’s perspective, he hasn’t relinquished his authority or power. Neither of them can do anything apart from God’s permission. Neither can I. Neither can you. Our God still reigns! Hallelujah!

Eyes ahead

 October 15, 2024

I am too easily distracted. My mind wanders when I pray, and when I sit down to read my Bible, text messages and emails beckon. So Paul’s words here are for me. 

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

A couple days ago, I cautioned against celebrating victory before you cross the finish line. There’s another, similar danger: Don’t look around you. When our children were swimming competitively, if coach Johnson caught them glancing to the lane next to them, he would warn them. That side glance could spell the difference between first and second place. They had one job to do: keep their eyes on the goal.

With all the social media we’re exposed to, added to work environments, abusive home situations, even church contexts, it’s hard to ignore what others are saying about you. Much of the time, it can get pretty toxic, and if not toxic, it quickly descends into maudlin flattery designed to win you over to someone’s pet cause. So here’s my advice from Paul: Don’t let anyone tell you who you are except Jesus. He’s the only one who has that right. He’s the goal, so keep your eye on him. After all, he has his on you.

Today

 October 14, 2024

“This one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” —Philippians 3:14

Today grab a cup of coffee, sit down and relax; it’s story time. It’s not my own; I borrowed it from Jason Lowrance.

“The devil appeared to three Pastors and said to them: "If I gave you the power to change something in the past, what would you change?"

The first of them, with great apostolic fervor, replied: "I would like to prevent you from leading Adam and Eve to sin, so that humanity does not separate from God."

The second, a man full of mercy, said to him: "I will prevent you from straying from God and condemning you forever."

The third of them was the simplest and instead of answering the tempter, he knelt down, bowed his head and prayed: "Lord, deliver me from the temptation of what might have been and what was not."

The demon, screaming and trembling with pain, fled.

The other two were surprised and said to him: "Brother, why did you react like this?"

And he answered them: “First, we should never talk to the enemy.”

“Secondly, no one in the world has the power to change the past.”

“Third: Satan’s interest was not to prove our virtue, but to trap us in the past, so that we neglect the present, the only time God gives us His grace and we can cooperate with Him to fulfill His will.”

Of all the demons, the one that most holds men back and prevents them from being happy is “what could have been and was not.” The past is left to the mercy of God and the future to His providence. Only the present is in our hands. Live today loving God with all your heart. 

As Paul said, “Forget the past and press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Slacking Off

 October 13, 2024

I remember watching a bicycle race where the guy in the lead began to celebrate crossing the finish line just a bit too early and was passed by the man in second place. Because he let up his pace, he lost the race he thought he had won. Cocky boxers who taunt their opponent have often found themselves on their backs on the mat. 

It’s easy to get complacent. We’ve done this a thousand times before and imagine we can do it with our eyes closed. “I’ve got this one in the bag,” we say. It’s a dangerous place to be. The king of Syria boasted that he was going to wipe Israel off the map. The king of Israel wisely answered, “Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.” (I Kings 20:11) 

Paul was afraid of this very danger, and said,

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

—Philippians 3:13-14 

I thought faithful Christian living would get easier as I got older. After all, I’m wiser, know the devil’s tricks a bit better, and am not tempted by many “youthful temptations.” Here’s my word to you: “It doesn’t get easier; it gets different.” Slacking off on prayer, letting down the guard of my mind, filling my head with the thoughts and attitudes of this world instead of God, are as dangerous today as they were sixty years ago. 

Don’t let yourself get spiritually lazy. It will catch up to you sooner or later, and the results are never pleasant.

The Price

October 12, 2024

This is the last of my thoughts on these verses…promise! 

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” —Philippians 3:7-10 

“That I may know…the power of his resurrection…” Most Christians don’t think much about the resurrection until Easter Sunday, but every single Sunday is a resurrection Sunday where we gather, not to honor the founder of our religion, but to worship our Savior who died and is now alive again. We are so used to this thinking that we don’t realize just how revolutionary it is. People who have never heard of Jesus often live in fear, and always live in dread of death. It’s the end of everything for them. 

There’s something else about Christ’s resurrection: We are included in it.

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,” —Colossians 2:13 

But in order to be included in his resurrection, we must be willing to be included in his death by dying to our own dreams and aspirations as well as our sins. Resurrection is glorious, but costly. The only question is, “Are we willing to pay the price?”

 

Suffering Together

 “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” —Philippians 3:10 

Most Christians I’m acquainted with say they want to know Christ. We say we want to know the power of his resurrection. But when it comes to the fellowship of his sufferings, we draw the line. We know people suffer, but desiring it? That seems a little extreme! One has to be a fanatic or crazy to want such a thing! And yet that’s exactly what Paul says.

If you think about it, it’s not really as odd as it first appears. Paul speaks not just of suffering, but of the fellowship of suffering. If you’ve been through a particularly difficult experience—rejection, death of a loved one, depression, life-threatening illness, etc.—someone may come alongside you to offer comfort. They mean well, but only those who have been through a similar experience themselves can really understand. When they come alongside you, there is a depth of understanding that brings a measure of comfort no one else can offer. That’s what Paul means when he speaks of the fellowship of Christ’s suffering.

He wants to know Christ so deeply that he can in a sense, come alongside him with an understanding that is only available through his own suffering. And conversely, he wants to know Jesus so deeply that when he (Paul) suffers, he can experience the comforting Presence of Christ that’s only possible because Jesus went through the same, and more.

We don’t look for suffering like some masochist, but we desire to know the fellowship that only mutual suffering can bring.

Unbelievable

 October 10, 2024

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” —Philippians 3:7-10 

Sometimes it’s really hard to believe the Bible. That may sound strange coming from me, but it’s true. In the verses we’ve been considering, Paul states the unbelievable—that we can be righteous. I don’t know about you, but most of the time, I don’t feel very righteous. I don’t have to look very deeply into my heart to see judgmentalism, greed, lying, envy, pride…the list could go on and on. In spite of all I know is inside me, Paul says I possess righteousness, not from the law (ie. trying to do what’s right), but “through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

Hebrews tells us that faith is “the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith grabs hold of what I can’t see with my eyes, what I don’t see in my life now, and believes what God says about me instead of what I feel about me. I have to work at this kind of faith because what I feel and what I see are very real to me. I have to decide which is more real: my feelings and even sometimes my actions, or God’s promises in his Word. You must make that same decision if you want to experience grace, forgiveness, and life.