Redeem: Part 2

Do you ever struggle to hear God’s voice?

This last week, I really needed to hear from the Lord. I needed an answer from Him—and yet, I felt so uncertain.

The more I tried to hear Him, the more anxious I felt. Am I hearing you? Is this you? Is this me? What is the problem?

Later, when I was still and my heart was ready, I did hear from Him. I got my answer, and I got His peace.

But in that moment of anxiety, I needed to be redeemed.

I told you last week that God’s word for me this year is REDEEM. We already talked about the ultimate redeeming act—the exchange made at the cross to give us righteousness and grace.

But redeem is more than the one time finished work.

One definition notes that redeem means to compensate for fault or poor past performance.

Yep—Jesus does that all the time for me.

Some synonyms for this definition include save, vindicate, absolve, atone, deliver.

The other definitions I love deal with an exchange:
- “Gain or regain possession in exchange of payment.”
- “Exchange (coupon, voucher, etc.) for merchandise, a discount, or money”
- “Pay the money to clear a debt”

Some synonyms here would be exchange, cash in, clear, honor, discharge, reclaim, retrieve, recover, regain.

And my all-time favorite definition—“To fulfill or carry out a pledge or promise.”

He always redeems His word. He “makes good” on His promise.

It’s easy—and encouraging—to think of these definitions as each relates to salvation or justification.

But every day, we are being sanctified too.

Every day I still need His redeeming help.

Maybe I need to ‘reclaim’ who I am in Christ.

Maybe I need to ‘regain,’ ‘retrieve,’ or ‘recover’ my thoughts to be the thoughts God thinks toward me.

Maybe I need to be ‘discharged’ or ‘cleared’ for my mistakes or shortcomings that day—the offense I took, the angry response I had, the pride, the insecurity, etc.

“Forgiveness restores the standard of holiness.” That’s my favorite Kris Vallotton quote right now.

Even if I mess up, he still redeems, and I am restored to a place of honor.

And, of course, my favorite:

Maybe I need to be reminded that He redeems His promises.

When I feel anxious like I did last week, He redeems my anxiety for His peace. What a better exchange.

What do you need to exchange—to be cleared of or discharged from?

What do you need to retrieve, reclaim, or regain?

What can He redeem for you today? (Click to Tweet)

Redeem: Part 1

The word God gave me for 2016 is REDEEM. A dear friend of mine (yep—the same friend) gave me a necklace with this word on it, so I can wear it every day as a reminder.

As I’ve mediated on this word, I feel like the Lord continues to show me a new facet of meaning.

Redeem is literally an exchange—and usually money is involved.

We redeem something in exchange for something else. If I have a coupon for 30% off at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I will redeem my coupon for the discount on my total purchase.

I receive the purchase. I’ve redeemed the coupon.

As believers, we are redeemed. We know that He is our Redeemer.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. My church did a sermon series a while ago called The Exchange—and it’s the exchanges that took place at the cross.

This morning, as I was reading through Romans 5, what we received in that exchange really stood out:

Because of the cross, we have

• Peace with God
• Grace
• Hope of the glory of God
• God’s love in our heart
• The Holy Spirit

We are now

• Saved from God’s wrath
• Reconciled
• Saved (Greek word: sozo – literally, to save, to heal, to deliver) 
• Righteous

Through Jesus, we receive grace and righteousness. Receive. It’s a gift.

Our only job to receive this gift is to believe—believe in Jesus, in the finished work of the cross.

So often, we present the gospel like this: You’re a terrible sinner, you’re worthless, you’re nothing without Jesus—you need to confess your sins, right now! (Or go to Hell.)

I’m not denying the truth of those statements. We are sinners. We do fall short of God’s glory apart from Jesus, etc.

But Scripture says to confess that Jesus is Lord.

What we confess is our belief in Jesus—in what He accomplished for us on the cross. What we repent from is the law of sin and death, from works righteousness.

We don’t focus enough on the exchange, on what was redeemed—that our new nature is righteous, literally, made right. It is as it should be between God and me.

Never again will I be separated. By faith, I believe this.

If we make salvation only about confessing sin and needing a savior, we miss the power of the cross. Because the next day, we are still powerless to sin.

When we make salvation an exchange—an unmerited exchange, a free gift received by faith alone—now it’s more than forgiven sins. It’s a new nature. I am a new person: righteous and full of grace.

Salvation is easy. Getting saved is actually easy. Our part is very light: Believe. That’s all His word says—confess and believe that Jesus is Lord, and you will be saved.

What is hard about following Jesus? Well...

• Walking through life. (“In this world, you will face troubles…”)
• Believing all that He says He is and all that He says you are in Him. (Sometimes that's hard.)
• Submitting my will to His. (Yeah, that’s also hard.)

Being a disciple—a follower of Jesus—is the challenging part. Receiving His promise is not.

When we present the gospel, we should be clear on these two points:

• We don’t work to be saved.
• We don’t work after salvation.

But we do choose to believe. We do choose to submit. We choose to be a follower.

Next week, I want to look more closely at this word, REDEEM, for our everyday life: it’s in His nature to redeem; what can He redeem for us in this season?

But this week, let’s be grateful as we remember the greatest redemption story—how he redeemed us from our sin and in exchange made us righteous and free. (Click to Tweet.)

The Habits of Marriage: Guarding Against Temptation

Today we finish our final post for The Habits of Marriage series: Guarding Your Marriage Against Temptation.

I could say so much about this topic—and temptation in itself is very broad. But this week, we’ll get really real.

Let’s talk about sexual temptation in our marriage.

We cannot be passive when it comes to sexual temptation. Pornography is accessible, private (e.g. secret), and free to everyone.

But it cannot and should not be permissible in your marriage.

Porn and shame go hand in hand. They are two sides of one cycle. A man (or woman—because it’s not just men) feels no value, maybe from work, maybe at home, maybe in the bedroom. He or she feels worthless.

Porn—and other sexual temptations—are a fantasy world, a place to escape, where the person not only feels valued and accepted, but also in control.

But I’m convinced, despite the fact that 67% of Christian men and 30% of Christian women confess to looking at porn regularly*, no one actually feels good about it.

And so comes shame.

Shame reinforces what the person already believes about himself or herself—and so we go back to value and worth and identity, etc., which leads to more porn and to more shame, and so on.

How can you guard yourself and your marriage against this cycle?

First, we would say—COMMUNICATE!  Shame lies in secrecy, but there is powerful freedom when you communicate with someone else what’s going on inside of you.

Talk to your spouse—be open and honest. And then seek wise council, someone you trust who can pray for you and help you. (We would love to talk to you! J)

The other thing we would say about this topic is this: to overcome ANY temptation, we’ve got to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Once we tap into the power of the Holy Spirit and begin walking in who we are in Christ, then we experience real freedom.

In Christ, we are covered in righteousness. We are accepted, complete, whole, valuable, etc.  Righteousness shouldn’t be an excuse for sin, but it IS a powerful, new identity that helps us break off shame and guilt.

Our world is full of temptation—especially sexual temptations. Guarding your marriage against temptation means:

- Praying for your spouse and your marriage

- Communicating openly and honestly (Shame lies in secrecy.)

- Staying connected physically

- Believing who you are in Christ

- And letting the Holy Spirit fill you and empower you

Click to Tweet: Want to guard your marriage against sexual temptation? @Grace2Write and @G2Whubs share how! #MarriageMonday

*Source: http://www.christianpost.com/news/pornography-invades-the-church-53257/

Trusting God with our dreams AND our finances: God's 'how' with our 'what'

On Sunday, our church had a message on finances, and I was struck by one comment in particular: finances fall under the law of sowing and reaping.

You see, we make financial choices today, good or bad, but we may not feel those effects for years to come. I've been thinking about that. We are pretty budget-conscious when it comes to our finances. We tithe, give, and save from 30% of our budget, and we try to pay our bills and live on 70%. We're not perfect, and we're not debt-free, but this practice has worked pretty well for us. 

There are days, however, when it's so tempting to think, man, if we could just use this for this, then we could have X outcome, maybe pay off X amount of debt; man, if we could just have a little more here and there, we would be set!

And that's the danger. Not the planning, the budgeting, certainly not the savings--but the mentality that if we can get to X place, we will be worry-free, our future secure. 

The danger lies in who controls your finances, in where you place your trust, in how you lean when uncertainty arises. 

The danger is forgetting that all we have is His. 

In our culture today, we like the law of immediacy, the law of "I snap, and it's done." And we look around to see where everyone else is in comparison to where we are. There's a reason keeping up with the Joneses is still a thing. 

But it's such a trap, with no long-term reward. 

I've been reading Psalm 37, and David describes two time frames: the right now and the future. Over and over, he is saying, now, it looks like this, but then, it will look like that. 

What does the future look like for the righteous man*? His righteousness will be brought forth (v. 6); he will inherit the land (vs., 9, 11, 22, 29, 34); he will have abundant peace (v. 11); he has a heritage that lasts forever (v. 18); he has abundance in the days of famine (v. 19); he is generous (now and then) (v. 21); he is not forsaken; his children are taken care of and are a blessing to him (v. 25 - 26); he is preserved (v. 28), not abandoned (v. 33), defended (v. 33). 

What an incredible list of promises! But it's a future list, not a present-day list. It's about sowing today for a harvest tomorrow. 

So what does the righteous man sow today? 

• He trusts in the Lord (v. 3, 5)
• He does good (v. 3)
• He delights in the Lord (v. 4)
• He commits his ways to the Lord (v. 5)
• He is still before the Lord (v. 7)
• He waits for the Lord (v. 7, 9)
• And he gives generously (v. 21)

That last bullet is not an accident. The big idea of last Sunday's message was that we cannot follow Jesus if we are out of balance with our finances. The righteous man in Psalm 37 is a faithful, patient, surrendered servant of the Lord. He does not compare himself to others (v. 7). He is not worried about the Joneses. 

He keeps his eyes on God, and he continues on the path before him. 

We've been reading The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson, and we have been dreaming some pretty big dreams, asking God for the impossible, the unlikely, circling desires we only whispered about as silly pillow-talk before bed. 

Big prayers don't scare God. They scare us because it's not the what but the how: how could we do that? 

And when it comes to the how, it often returns to money. That's why I think Sunday's message was so timely. Finances operate under the law of sowing and reaping. You know what? So does prayer. We sow prayers today that may not be answered for 5, 10, 15, 20 years. 

The how is God's place of miracles; the what is our heart of dreams. 

The what puts us on a path... 

Sometimes, we forget that we are 28 years old. It's okay that our savings isn't overflowing with tens of thousands of dollars (or even the Ramsey recommended 3-times your monthly expenses!). It's okay that our kids' college funds aren't fully funded (yeah, we don't have any kids yet; I think we've still got time!). And it's okay that our combined retirement funds don't even equal one-third of what we make in a given year. 

God's got all the time in the world. 

Our job is to dream big, pray big, and say yes when He asks. May we be patient, trusting, giving servants today! 

*If you're a woman and the list of 'man promises' here is hard for you, I always insert she when I read (i.e. She will inherit the land; she will have abundant peace, etc.). God's kingdom is full of righteous men and women. :) 

Desiring Mercy and Not Sacrifice

“Go and learn what this means, for I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Matthew 9:13

“But if only you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Matthew 12:9

The Pharisees couldn’t get what Jesus was saying—first to “go and learn” and later “if only you had known.” With all their knowledge of scripture, with all their rules, with all their duty and obedience, and with—in their mind—their righteousness, they could not understand this truth. Jesus’ words did not compute with their tradition.

Sometimes, if we’re not careful, we can have the same tendency to desire sacrifice more than mercy. What does this mean? As I’ve said elsewhere, we are bent on works because it’s more natural. It’s more natural to do than to be.

As long as I’ve been saved, I’ve loved the Word of God. I’m highly analytical and can spend hours reading scripture and commentary and translations and the original Greek or Hebrew meanings. But, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.”

Knowledge without mercy is a dangerous state.

To know scripture is important, but before we can receive fully, before we can fall in love with God’s word, we have to first fall in love with its author. When we are so filled by the love of God, His love and grace becomes a lens through which we can read and receive His word.

Here Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6. The full verse is this: “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

The knowledge of God is not mutually exclusive to mercy. And while He desires mercy not sacrifice, He desires knowledge more than burnt offerings. Under the Old Testament covenant, God is not negating or replacing what must be done for atonement. We know from Romans 3 that in His forbearance, He passed over their sins, yes, but their account was not settled.

So why does Jesus not quote—in both places here—the full verse from Hosea? Is it because knowledge of God is no longer important? Of course not. The problem is the Pharisees had all the knowledge in the world.

But under the new covenant, we get to know God in a different way. Because of the finished work of the cross, we have a mediator, who is Jesus, and we have the Holy Spirit. And that revelation—when we believe in what the cross accomplished—that changes how we know God. We, with unveiled faces, get to behold Him. And it transforms us.

I’m doing the 40 day reading challenge, reading through the New Testament for 40 days of Lent, but my heart must be bent on loving God and discovering Him in His Word. When it becomes doing or duty or an item to be checked off, then I’ve lost sight of what it means to desire mercy and not sacrifice.

Lent: Not Giving Up but Giving More

Lent is about giving up, about sacrifice—and as one who tends to love duty, as one who craves to do lists and tasks to obey, I secretly love self-discipline and the rewarded feeling at the end of 40 days when I've accomplished my "task," whatever it is I've chosen to give up: “Yep, I still got it.”

This year, as many of my friends begin thinking of what to fast, what to give up, I feel God gently whispering: don’t give up, give more—more of your time, more of your energy, more of yourself to me and to others.

Don’t give up TV or soft drinks, give up your life for me.

If Lent is about preparing our hearts for Easter, about reflecting on the great exchange: my guilt, my sins, my shame—my ashes for His beauty, then may the next 40 days, for me, be about reflecting on Him: on who He is and what He did and who I get to be when I’m hidden in Christ, when I’m made righteous, when the work of the cross is finished—really finished—and I get to be made whole, complete, perfect, lacking nothing.

Not because I’m those things, but because He loves me so; He loves me so much; He loves me so much that He gave.

And if I’m to give anything these 40 days, let me give of myself fully.

I’ve read some blogs today promoting Margret Feinberg’s 40 day reading challenge, and although (if I’m honest), I get excited when I see little check boxes (That feels like a “to do” list for me to accomplish! Yes!), I have decided to focus these 40 days on the New Testament, as Feinberg encourages—not as something to do, but something to reflect: the story of the cross, of redemption, of the great exchange.

If you’re interested in joining me, you can read more here or print the reading plan here.

May the challenge for me—and perhaps for you, too—not be about legalism or about what I can accomplish with the right motivation and all the wrong motives; may these 40 days be about pouring out all of me and pouring in more of Him. 

Righteousness and Justification through Faith

Romans 1 – 4

1:18 – 3:20

It is important to look at these verses in context. I have known for a long time that the Romans 1 chapter was the “homosexuality” chapter, and many point to this as the confirmation that God sees this as sin even in the New Testament. But I noticed a few insights today:

1. God gave them over to their wickedness. The phrase “God gave” is in vs. 24, 26, and 28. God is still in sovereign control here, but this is also a great picture of the free will He has given us: the will to choose Him or not (whether we have knowledge of Him or not—vs. 21). 
2. That said, the point of Paul’s introduction was not to condemn those practicing sexual immorality (among other sins). They are not his audience. His audience is born-again believers in Rome, primarily Jews. 
3. So, Paul begins by painting the worst picture of sin (sexual immorality) (Ch. 1) only to bring to light that the Jews are as guilty as the Gentiles (Ch. 2). He is setting the scene for Ch. 3—that all fall short of the glory of God. 
4. The statement “There is no partiality with God” (2:11) becomes key here. Both that Jews and Gentiles are equal, but also that the sins of each group—those who do not know the law and break it, and those who know the law and break it—are likewise equally judged by a just God. 
5. And finally, to set up the fullness of the impact of Chapter 3, Paul again raises the point both that God is not partial and that their Jewish traditions were not what would save them or exempt them from judgment. We already know they have broken the law, but then Paul goes one step further—now their circumcision likewise will not save them. 

In other words, the message for Chapter 1 and 2, for Jews and Gentiles, for circumcised and uncircumcised, is that all are equally condemned under the law. In short, all have failed—all are under sin.

The law provides knowledge of sin (3:20). But the law does not provide righteousness.

3:21 – 4:25

Only God is righteous, apart from the law. And through faith, His righteousness is revealed to those who believe. Paul notes, “There is no difference” (3:22).

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23)!

It’s only through Jesus that we are redeemed; we are justified.

Here is the key, though, to the Jews who think they have followed the law (but are equally guilty):

1. God sent His son to justify us to demonstrate His righteousness, to show the gap that had existed all this time (v. 25-26). 
2. In the past, God had passed over the sins that were committed, in his forbearance (v. 25). This word suggests not just His patience or His longsuffering, but also His tolerance. And even if we think of the picture that the first Passover creates whereby the Jews put blood over their doorposts so the Angel of Death would pass over—even then, this is a picture of tolerance, of excused sins. This is not justification; this is not an impartation of righteousness. 
3. In the present, now, God sent His son to justify and redeem our sins to demonstrate His righteousness, “that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (3:26). 

These words are so contrary to what the Jews likely knew and believed. Paul is telling them that even though they have the law, even though they are circumcised, they are guilty under the law. They are not righteous; they are not justified on judgment day.

And if they think they were or are righteous under the law, they are wrong. They have fallen short—and all this time in the past, God was merely tolerant to “pass over” their sins and unrighteousness—as God’s chosen people.

But Paul’s words are not to condemn but to speak truth that only through faith in Jesus can we be justified; only then is God’s righteousness revealed; only then do we receive His righteousness through faith.

His righteousness must be through faith because if it were not, not only would we be in the past phase where God was merely tolerant of our sins (and passed over them) according to our obedience to the law, but also it would mean righteousness comes through the law and thus, through works.

Abraham’s faith was accounted to Him as righteous (Ch. 4) not because of his works or the law—but because of his faith to believe in the unseen, to believe in the promise of God, to believe despite his circumstances that God would do what He said He would do (4:18-22).

God’s promise to Abraham was through the righteousness of faith, not the law, because again, if our heir-ship is of the law, then “faith is made void and the promise has no effect” (4:14).

So—again—the law provides knowledge of sin, but the law does not impart righteousness.

How then could we be made righteous? Only by faith are we made righteous; only by faith are we justified.

Paul’s purpose in Chapters 1 – 4 is not to condemn but to make the Jews (and Gentiles) understand that their righteousness is only through faith, not the law, not circumcision. I believe God wanted to humble them, which is why Romans begins by recognizing the sins of the people in that particular culture and that particular time—so that they might know apart from faith in Jesus, they are not justified; they are not righteous; and as such, they, too, are as guilty as those they judge.

For the Church today, we live in a culture and among a people where sin is rampant. And like the Jews Paul addresses, we seem to judge those sins as if we were sin-less. We, too, seem to forget that under the law—which provides knowledge of sin—we, too, are guilty, we who think we are righteous, according to the law.

And in our judgment, we have forgotten that all fall short; our justification, our righteousness is only through faith. It is not through the law, it is not according to our deeds, it is not by works.

How then can we boast? In what can we be proud? From what of ourselves do we have the right to judge if we, too, are guilty under the same law?

It is “the goodness of God that leads us to repentance” (2:4)—in other words, it is the revelation of all that He’s done despite all that we deserve (His mercy that doesn't punish us for what we deserve; His grace that offers us what we don’t deserve). Let us, in our humility, remember this, lest we boast or pridefully believe ourselves to be better than they who have not yet received the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ, our redeemer in whom alone we are justified.

Seek First

Some thoughts on money and needs from Matthew 5-7:

1) Make sure your focus is on Heavenly things

• Store up treasures in Heaven (6:19-21)
• Serve God, not money (6:21)
• Seek His Kingdom, His righteousness (6:33)

2) Ask God to provide for your needs

• Ask, seek, knock (7:7-11)

Matthew 6:33

Jesus tells us that we aren't to be anxious about anything in this life, but certainly not when it comes to meeting our financial needs. Not only does worrying not add an hour to our life (6:27), but it also displays a lack of trust in the One who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the grass of the fields. Thus, Jesus ends his mini-sermon on being anxious with the command to "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." (6:33)

When I was younger, I remember taking this verse to mean "Seek God," and in some ways, that's pretty close. But having really focused on kingdom principles lately in studying the gospels, Jesus is actually giving two commands:

1) Seek the Kingdom of God

2) Seek His righteousness

The first, I believe, is related not just to seeking "God in Heaven." The Kingdom is now; the Kingdom is here. We are in His Kingdom, with a purpose. I believe that is part one of what we seek--our calling, our place in His Kingdom. How can I serve? How I can I be a witness to those outside the Kingdom? Or, to use the word Jesus had just spoken, seeking the Kingdom of God is simply stating, "Your Kingdom come [here, in this place you've given me to rule], your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven" (6:10). It means not focusing on your problem at all, but focusing on eternal things, focusing on how you can be used, and focusing on how you can be selfless and loving toward others.

The second part, then, goes all the way back to chapter five--righteous living: His righteousness. Jesus gives a new law in these three chapters that steps up the standard. If it seems hopeless and discouraging that we could be righteous, it's not. It may seem impossible, from our limited view, to think that we can be useful in His Kingdom or that we can be selfless and loving toward others--as He has commanded us--but we can. That's another blessing, another gracious act, that Jesus delivered on the cross: "For our sake, He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (1 Cor 5:21).

In seeking the Kingdom of God and in pursuing His righteousness, Jesus promises our needs will be met. But, as we saw from psalm 62, the trust and hope that we must place in Him as our source of security is absolutely necessary.