Chew on This

Last night I read Amos 8:11, which at some point I had underlined in my Bible: “‘Behold the days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord’” (ESV). While this prophecy had an immediate application for Israel in that age, I think we can see some signs of the famine today as well. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

The difference now seems to be that people don’t know they are starving. Like a person dying from lack of a certain nutrient, they don’t know how sick they are. They are filling up on spiritual junk food. Many who go to church don’t realize that they are not hearing the words of the Lord. The message sounds nice and makes them feel good, but it has no nutritional value for spiritual growth. Many others go to church and take in good content, but they never allow it to digest and take effect in their lives. They never move beyond their need to be spoon-fed.

I’ve heard “sermons” that had no scriptural content. I’ve heard others that I’m still chewing on long afterward. I don’t want to find my spiritual growth lagging or declining because of a famine of the Word. One necessary “treatment” for this condition is getting into the Word for myself. An article today on the Desiring God blog asks, “What if you had to pay five dollars every time you read your Bible? What would your Bible budget be this month?” I suspect most of us would come in under budget every month. Studying Scripture regularly not only contributes to spiritual growth, but it protects against the lies and fluff that are promulgated from so many sources.

The other essential ingredient is to pray both for the people preaching or teaching the Word of God in my local church and for my own receptivity to the Word. I know there have been many times when I have attended church prayerlessly and have gotten nothing out of the message. Sometimes the person behind the pulpit has not delivered the Word, but I have been equally guilty in not hearing the Word. If there is a single sentence of Scripture shared, there is something worth thinking about. The rest of the sermon may be meaningless babble, but God’s Word is never empty (Isaiah 55:11) and is always profitable (2 Timothy 3:16). Prayer may not improve the way a message is delivered, but it can certainly change the way I listen. Alistair Begg said this week,

“I can preach the same sermons if you would pray harder and they will be ten times more effective… Because for a meaningful preaching event, you need an expectant, praying preacher, and you need an expectant, praying congregation. And when the expectations meet at the throne of grace whereby both preacher and listener are looking to God rather than one another then suddenly there’s a divine chemistry that takes place there.”

That is a convicting thought. How many church members would be strengthened by prayerful listening to the Word of God? How many churches would be greatly improved by just a few more people praying for their pastor? How many church conflicts could be avoided if people chose to pray rather than complain?

Lord, forgive me for taking Your Word for granted. Forgive me for settling for spiritual junk food. Forgive me for failing to pray consistently for myself and for my pastor. “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law… I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life… I open my mouth and pant, because I long for Your commandments… Let my soul live and praise You, and let Your rules help me” (Psalm 119:18, 93, 131, 175).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

Mercy, Fools, and Losers

This Sunday in Sunday school we were discussing 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Verse 13b in the ESV says, “I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” Other translations say “I obtained mercy,” which seems to me to be a poor translation. Mercy is not something you can obtain like a 4.0 GPA or a rental car. Mercy is by definition something that is unearned. You can’t buy it, work for it, or even repay it. All you can do is ask for and accept it when it comes. Mercy is God’s gift to give as He pleases.

Verse 16 takes it a step further, “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost [sinner], Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.” God doesn’t grant mercy and save people because we are so deserving, or because He feels sorry for us, or because He’s lonely and wants companionship. He saves us because it glorifies Him. It magnifies His love and dominion. Everything He does is for His glory alone.

Amazingly, God doesn’t stop at granting us mercy and forgiveness. He goes on to give us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Other verses give even broader descriptions:

• “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
• “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32).
• “For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).

God is the Creator and Owner of all things, and in Christ we have access to all that is His. But again, there is nothing we can do to earn it, pay for it, or lay claim to it except through the blood of Jesus Christ. As we were reminded in the sermon from 1 Corinthians 3:18-23, God has redeemed us and restored us to our proper Owner. This world doesn’t own us, and God doesn’t exist to serve our purposes. God owns us, our lives, and our church, and the world exists to glorify Him. Everything of value is ours in Christ, but we are recipients, not achievers.

We have no reason for pride or judgmentalism. Secular learning and achievements have no lasting value and can’t even be compared to the depths of wisdom that come from the Holy Spirit. Our life in Christ and the things that we value because of Him won’t make sense to the rest of the world, but that shouldn’t bother us. We may be seen as fools, but we know the truth because we know the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

As Daniel Hochhalter wrote in Losers Like Us: Redefining Discipleship After Epic Failure:

“Where we see a lack of experience and polish, God sees leadership potential. Similarly, human credentials were notably lacking in the twelve losers on whom Jesus built his church. What made them world-changers was not their credentials, but simply their willingness to follow him… So why has Jesus always, then and now, chosen losers to lead the kingdom? I think there are four main reasons, all closely related: teachableness, lack of ego, brokenness, and empathy. These are the areas in which losers truly excel.”

Because of these truths we should be grateful for God’s saving grace, humble recipients of His mercy, and willing witnesses to His glory.

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine… Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life… Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made… You are My witnesses” (Isaiah 43:1, 4, 7, 10).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

Fightings and Fears

One day recently while reading a fictional story, I encountered the sentence, “Don’t try to fight alone.” As I moved on through the paragraph, I realized what I had heard in my mind was, “Try not to fight alone,” and I knew that was a very different idea. It’s not unlike the line in a Casting Crowns song that I often misremember as “You’re on your own, keep holding on…”

Isn’t that how we tend to live though? “Look out for yourself; take care of number one; God helps those who help themselves…” It sounds good until you start comparing it to Scripture.

• “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God” (Isaiah 50:10 ESV). 
• “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6). 
• “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” (Exodus 14:14). 
• “For the Lord your God is He who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory” (Deuteronomy 20:4). 

It is not God’s intent for us to fight alone or to hang on by our own strength. Rather, He will do the fighting and will hold onto us when we have no strength of our own. Trying to stand alone is what often leads to fear. We recognize that we are weak and we need someone bigger and stronger. Edward Welch writes in Running Scared:

“Search Scripture and find that our fears are not trivial to God. ‘Do not be afraid’ are not the words of a flesh-and-blood friend, a mere human like yourself. They are not the hollow words of a fellow passenger on a sinking ship, who has no experience in shipwrecks, can’t swim, and has no plan. These words are more like those of the captain who says, ‘Don’t be afraid. I know what to do.’ When the right person speaks these words you might be comforted. Remember, ‘Do not be afraid’ are the words of the One who can match speech with action. He is the sovereign King who really is in control. The efficacy of the words is directly related to the authority, power, and love of the One speaking them” (62).

Whether the command is “Fear not,” “Be still,” “Wait,” or “Don’t fight,” we can trust the authority of the One who is in control of every situation. He will fight for us. And because He is a good Father, He also gives us the other members of His Body to walk with us through the hills and valleys of life. We don’t need to walk alone or to fight alone.

I can’t help but think of Matt Redman’s song “Never Once,” which is a great reminder of God’s faithfulness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1bXG4WIesA

“If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:9-10).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.

Ministers of Reconciliation

The following was written for our denomination's Prayer Emphasis Month blog:

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV).

I don’t know where the idea came from that our faith is solely a personal and private thing. Perhaps that is part of the Western independence that insists no one else can tell me what to do. But it is clear in Scripture that Christians are to live for God, and therefore we must be united and working together as the Body of Christ. The cross of Christ means that we are not our own kings, but we belong to the One who died for us. We were bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20).

It’s interesting how often we take 2 Corinthians 5:17 out of context, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” Faith in Christ isn’t just for personal transformation, but for a whole new way of relating to the world as a new entity called the Body of Christ.

The result is that we are therefore ministers of reconciliation. It’s not that we “ought to be,” but we are ambassadors whether we act that way or not. We don’t receive the gift of faith just so we can be sure of our eternal destiny, although that is one benefit. We receive it so it can be worked out in daily life through our actions and words, and so that others might come to know Christ as Savior.

We can quickly think of public figures who claim to be Christians but whose lives belie that claim. We may even think of many within our own church or family. However, none of us are perfect representatives of Christ. We try with varying degrees of effort and success to say and do what is best. Thankfully, it is not our effort that brings results, but it is “God making His appeal through us” (v. 20). His purposes will prevail, as the cross of Christ has already proven.

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.

Draw Near

One evening recently I was asking myself as the psalmist did, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God" (Psalm 42:5 ESV). Although I didn't have an answer for that question, I was reminded of Jesus' words in the Garden of Gethsemane: 

"My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with Me" (Matthew 26:38).

Through that I was reminded of a couple things:

1) Jesus knows every feeling we experience because He has been there too. He experienced sorrow, loss, deception, accusation, pain, torture, and death. So when it feels like no one could understand, He does. He understands what we can't even explain to ourselves. He not only watches with us, but He watches over us. 

2) Jesus asked His disciples to stay nearby and keep watch, but in their human weakness, they fell asleep on the job. Although the church today has the same calling to watch over one another, there will be many times when we fail one another. We won't hear the cry for help; we won't ask the hard questions because we don't want to intrude; we'll fall asleep when someone needs us to abide with them. 

The flip side is that sometimes we'll fail to ask for help, prayer, and encouragement when we need it. Whether we are ashamed of our neediness or we don't want to bother someone, we choose to keep silent and suffer alone. And I'll admit I'm guilty of that more often than not. 

Ed Underwood writes in When God Breaks Your Heart: "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and those who are with Him will also be near" (73). If we say we want to draw near to God, then we should accept that it may mean a broken heart for ourselves or those who are close to us. Underwood writes about the death of Lazarus in John 11 and the fact that Jesus invites the disciples to go with Him, back to the place they were nearly killed just a short time before. They could have let Jesus go alone while they remained at a safe distance. 

Jesus invites us to go near to the brokenhearted as well. Jesus ministered to many thousands of broken people through healing, feeding, raising the dead, forgiving, asking questions, and sharing the Word. Sometimes He calls us to participate in His ministry, to watch what He is doing, or simply to be present with those in need. (Even Job's friends were doing good when they came to sit with him.)

Whether or not those in the church draw near, whether or not we choose to be honest about our own needs, remember, "Friend, Jesus isn’t ignoring your pain; He’s feeling it. He’s not ashamed of your tears; He’s weeping with you" (Underwood, 134).

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 146:3).

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8a).

© Dawn Rutan 2016. Photo by Dawn Rutan. 

A Wanderer No More

I wasn't going to post this since I've written similar things recently, but it occurred to me that if an idea is repeatedly stirring in my mind, it is probably doing the same to other folks.  So here's what's on my mind:

In Prone to Love, Jason Clark talks about the line in the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" that says "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love." He says that this should not be the testimony of a Christian. He writes:

"Because of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, and because I have said yes to Him, I am no longer prone to wander. Just the opposite, I am prone to love Him! The moment I said yes to Jesus, my very nature underwent a radical transformation" (164).

He lists several Scriptures to support this point:

• Romans 6:11 (ESV) "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

• Colossians 3:3 "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

• Ephesians 4:24 "Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

• 1 John 3:9 "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God."

The truth is that believers are no longer sinners prone to wander, but saints who have been set free from sin's dominion. Yes, we will still wander at times, but that is not our natural tendency anymore. Our new nature is inclined to love God and serve Him if we will listen to the new Master. 

I was thinking about this last Sunday as we celebrated communion, and I was reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote:

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4).

I've wrestled with Clark's comments. I have often sung "prone to wander" with great feeling. But I can see how that binds me and blinds me to think of myself in wrong terms. (I was prepared to skip that line when we sang the hymn this week, but we sang the version below.) If I want to walk in this "newness of life," it requires retraining my brain to remember my new identity in Christ. 

This idea is hard to grasp, probably because we know old nature, and we know how difficult the struggle against sin can be. But God is reminding us we are no longer sinners. We aren't even sinners saved by grace. We are saints, citizens of the Kingdom, children of the Father, and new creations in Christ. 

"For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

 

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my yielded heart to Thee.
Let me know Thee in Thy fullness;
Guide me by Thy mighty hand
Till, transformed, in Thine own image
In Thy presence I shall stand.

(Authorship of this verse is unclear but is assumed to be public domain. Please notify me if you know otherwise.)

© Dawn Rutan 2016.

Freedom

I wrote the following post for our denomination's blog for Prayer Emphasis Month.

After memorizing Romans 8 last year, this year I jumped back a couple chapters to memorize Romans 6. Verse 6 in the ESV says, “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Although we all cling to that fact that our sin is forgiven because of the cross of Christ, it is harder to grasp the idea of freedom from sin’s slavery.

This world is filled with all sorts of temptations, and sometimes they seem too powerful to resist. Just one more doughnut; just one quick glimpse at that picture; just a few minutes playing that game; just a little fib… And before long we’re exclaiming with Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). The fact is that Jesus Christ has already delivered us, but we haven’t yet learned how to live as overcomers and freed men and women.

Many of us can probably quote 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” We want to believe that, but it seems like when temptation comes it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to look for the way of escape. Thomas Chalmers wrote of “the expulsive power of a new affection.” He explained that we won’t choose to turn from sin unless we are turning toward something better—toward the only One who can deliver us. Unfortunately, sin often appears to offer a quicker “fix” than seeking God.

So what is the solution? It is a lifelong process of 1) believing and remembering that God has delivered us from the power of sin, 2) seeking a closer relationship with Him through the spiritual disciplines, 3) praying for the way of escape before temptation arrives, and 4) making no provision for the flesh to choose sin. There is no quick cure because the world, the flesh, and the devil will do everything possible to derail our good intentions. Thankfully, whenever we do fail, we can turn again to the cross of Christ and the One who is ready and willing to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

© Dawn Rutan 2016.