All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:

I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:

I talk of love –a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek–

But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.

I see the chasm. And everything you are was making

My heart into a bridge by which I might get back

From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls.

The pains You give me are more precious than all other gains.

C S Lewis

Rom. 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,  we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and  we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  5 and  hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

My Christian student highlighted to me recently that the often sung song ‘Therefore being justified by faith’ might not be a very appropriate song.  Besides the really cute but quite random chorus that goes ‘Chewy Chewy Om Ba Ba’, I was quite shocked when I realised there were many missing connecting ideas in the lyrics of the song, which I’m guessing comes mainly from Romans 5:1-5.

As I read this passage written by Paul, I can’t quite seem to shake away the relevance of what Paul is saying, how it is applies even now, and in every moment of our lives, everyday.

I’m humbled and reminded that I need to preach the Gospel to myself daily – that my sinful mind can remember a bit more often, how we no longer stand as enemies of the cross because of the love and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m encouraged and reminded that only in suffering do we learn endurance, that we might stand firm, assured in our convictions, unassailable by false teaching and false values. (Col 2:1-5)

And I have hope, hope that reminds me of my salvation – freedom from sin and slave to righteousness, a hope that is in all of us because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Read some news about how 3 pastors have been killed by those who have no love for Christ.  One I know died sharing Christ and enraging his killer moments before his death.  How do we respond to such situations, as their wives and children, as their church members and sheep, as fellow brothers and sisters-in-Christ halfway across the world?

We pray that we will live out Romans 5:1-5.

Luke 12:4 “I tell you, my friends,  do not fear those who kill the body,

and after that have nothing more that they can do.

Thank you God for your grace and mercy shown to sinners like us, for new life to live for you and your glory.  For suffering, for endurance, for character and for hope that we might see everyday your love and the work of the Holy Spirit in us.  Help us to rejoice and truly believe you love us and have a wonderful plan for our lives.  No matter the circumstances, and especially in the darkness of living in a world corrupted by sin.  Amen.

PS: to those struggling with our sinfulness and cmi-ness, remember the Lord is glorified thus.  His strength is perfect in our weaknesses.  This is the uniqueness of the Christian Gospel – the awesome power to save, to give life to dead men and to perfect men for eternal fellowship with God.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ,  to the glory and praise of God.

Phil 1:9-11

“Such is friendship, that through it we love places and seasons; for as . . . flowers drop their sweet leaves on the ground around them, so friends impart favor even to the places where they dwell. With friends even poverty is pleasant. . . . It would be better for us that the sun were exhausted than that we should be without friends.”

Abba Father, help us to love, practice truth and live as Kingdom people, as Jesus is our Priest, Prophet and King.   Help us to be sincere and without fault, exercising courage to deal with the challenges ahead. May we stand together, for all that is good, true and beautiful in Your sight and may Your Spirit help us grow in maturity for Your glory and Your glory alone. Help us to appreciate friends and each other always in following Christ, for this is true fellowship.

Thank You Father!

This post is dedicated to you.

Trust me, I have not earned your dear rebuke, -

I love, as you would have me, God the most;

Would lose not Him, but you, must one be lost,

Nor with Lot’s wife cast back a faithless look,

Unready to forego what I forsook;

This say I, having counted up the cost,

This, though I be the feeblest of God’s host,

The sorriest sheep Christ shepherds with His crook.

Yet while I love my God the most, I deem

That I can never love you over-much;

I love Him more, so let me love you too;

Yes, as I apprehend it, love is such

I cannot love you if I love not Him,

I cannot love Him, if I love not you.

This life is too temporal to love the transient.  Pray with me, that we will love God the most, and always have courage and willingness,  to do what is difficult and pleasing to God.

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

“We believe that when the Bible is taught clearly, God is seen in all of His majesty and holiness – hearts are conquered, minds are renewed, and communities are transformed.” – R.C. Sproul

Holy, holy, holy!  Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy!  Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

21 For to me m to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 n I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is o to depart and p be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 q Convinced of this, r I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your s progress and t joy in the faith, 26 so that in me u you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. Philippians 1:21-26

I have been thinking about these verses for some time.  The more I read, the less I’m convinced that Paul was thinking which option was better.

Paul was definitely clear which option was better.  What immeasurable sweetness it must be for the Christian to see his Lord face to face!

Paul, in his decision-making, was concerned about necessity.  And necessity as a criterion revolved around doing what was best for others to the glory of God.

I thank God that Paul recognized necessity more than his  personal desire (his desire was not wrong by the way!).  It was the same Paul that endured imprisonment that the gospel would reach Rome and Caesar and to many parts of the Gentile world.

All for the glory of God.

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From Col 1:15-20, a commentator writes:

The church’s real life is ‘hidden’ at present with Christ: like her Master, she will often now appear weak, despised and rejected. If we wish to see the ‘manifest glory’ of God, we must look back to the life and work of the historical Jesus. Or we must look forward, because one day this beloved Son will ‘appear’ again with manifest glory. Meanwhile the church lives between them in time. (This is where we stand)

A Conversation with Death on Good Friday

April 10, 2009  |  By: John Piper
Category: Commentary

CHRISTIAN:

Hello, Death, my old enemy. My old slave-master. Have you come to talk to me again? To frighten me?

I am not the person you think I am. I am not the one you used to talk to. Something has happened. Let me ask you a question, Death.

Where is your sting?

DEATH, sneeringly:

My sting is your sin.

CHRISTIAN:

I know that, Death. But that’s not what I asked you. I asked, where is your sting? I know what it is. But tell me where it is.

Why are you fidgeting, Death? Why are you looking away? Why are you turning to go? Wait, Death, you have not answered my question. Where is your sting?

Where is, my sin?

What? You have no answer? But, Death, why do you have no answer? How will you terrify me, if you have no answer?

O Death, I will tell you the answer. Where is your sting? Where is my sin? It is hanging on that tree. God made Christ to be sin—my sin. When he died, the penalty of my sin was paid. The power of it was broken. I bear it no more.

Farewell, Death. You need not show up here again to frighten me. God will tell you when to come next time. And when you come, you will be his servant. For me, you will have no sting.

O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)