Why is Judgment Our Default?

Near the end of my message on Sunday, I commented that it is easier for us to understand judgment than mercy. We like to receive mercy, but judgment makes sense to us. Following the message I was asked: Why does judgment make sense to us? Why is judgment our default setting?

In thinking about that question, I was reminded of something I had just read a few days in the book, Faithmapping by Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper. They noted how “American audiences have a deep love for tales of revenge.”[1] For examples of this love they offered Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Supremacy, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, NBC’s Vengeance, The Godfather, and Taken.

Why do we watch those kinds of shows and go to those kinds of movies? Montgomery and Cosper suggested that though we might be slightly twisted in wanting revenge, our desire for revenge is connected to a God-given sense of justice. Within us, there is a desire to make sure that wrongs will be set right, that justice will be brought. Our default setting for justice is something that God has given us.

Our God-given desire for justice is in part a pointer for us to God. Ultimately, God is the One who will bring judgment. We may want judgment, but it is not our job. It is God’s job, and He has promised that He will set everything right (Rom. 12:19).

Something that is amazing to me, a very clear statement of God setting everything right – 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 – is found in the chapter in the Bible that highlights the Gospel, that speaks very directly to us about Jesus’ death and resurrection. God’s judgment and dealing with evil is not separate from His grace and mercy. Judgment is part of our default setting, but mercy and judgment are a part of God’s default setting.  Perhaps as I receive God’s mercy, I will find that not only is judgment a God-given desire, but so is mercy.

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[1]Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 69.

Prayer Resources

On Sunday, January 1, we will be looking at 1 Timothy 4:7. A major command of the verse is that we need to train ourselves for godliness. One of the ways to do that is to follow the example of Jesus in Luke 5:16, and develop the habit of prayer. To help encourage you in prayer, here are some links to some prayer resources.Please check them out, use them, and share them with friends.

Operation World
If you would like to pray for different countries around the world, this site will provide you with information to guide your prayers.

Help Articles from Operation World on Prayer

Central's Missionaries
If you would like to pray for Central's Missionaries, here is a listing of our Missionaries.

Article on Prayer Walking by Donald Whitney

Bible Reading Plans

On Sunday, January 1, we will be looking at 1 Timothy 4:7. A major command of the verse is that we need to train ourselves for godliness. One of the ways to do that is to invest yourself in the Bible. To help encourage you to get into the Bible, here are links to a number of Bible reading plans. Please check them out, use them, and share them with friends.

Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers

Donald Whitney's Bible Record Reading Plan

One Year Chronological Reading Plan

Ten Reading Plans from the ESV
The ten plans from the ESV provide you with RSS, iCal, Mobile, Print, and Email options.

Two Year Bible Reading Plan

Middle Road?

Tomorrow in the worship service, we will be looking at Matthew 7:13-20. The first two verses talk about the narrow road and the wide road. Jesus seems pretty clear that there are two roads. In this video clip Francis Chan talks about a third road that we seem to want to add: the middle road. It is kind of "nice" combination of the other two. The problem is Jesus did not say that there was a middle road. I kind of wonder if our interest in a middle road is really a desire for us to re-name the wide road. Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

Francis Chan on the Middle Road

More on Fasting

On Sunday, we briefly talked about fasting. in Matthew 6:16-18, the Lord Jesus communicates the expectation that we will fast as followers of Christ. The concept of fasting is something that many of us know very little about. If you would like to know more about fasting, below is a link to a free ebook on fasting and prayer by John Piper. I thought it might be helpful if you want to learn more about fasting and how fasting may be a useful discipline as you seek to deepen your relationship with God.

http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/free-resources-pastors/148739-free-ebook-a-hunger-for-god.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Update

Video of Living with a Pure Heart #2

If you would rather watch and listen to this blog posting instead of reading it, please click the link below:

Living with a Pure Heart #2 Video

Living With a Pure Heart #3

Here is another one of the ideas that I mentioned at the end of the message on Sunday about work out your salvation. The big idea was walking by the Spirit from Galatians 5:16-25.

Paul starts out this section by telling us if we walk by the Spirit we will travel in a very different direction than if we follow our flesh or sinful nature. Verse 17 explains why we need to work out our salvation. Before meeting Jesus we were governed by our sinful nature. That nature is in opposition to what God lovingly commands us to do. When we repent and trust the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters our lives and we have in the midst of our sinful nature, the Holy Spirit directing us in a very different direction. If we are going to follow the Holy Spirit we will need to walk away from what we used to do, what we naturally did and follow the Holy Spirit.

The contrast between our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit are expressed in verses 19-23. The sinful nature wants to lead us toward actions that are destructive and damaging. In contrast, as we follow the Holy Spirit, He creates us within us this amazing fruit that is to ooze out of our lives.

For us to look like verses 22 and 23 instead of verses 19-21, at least two things need to happen. First, from verse 24, we need to understand that when we trusted the Lord Jesus, we took our sinful nature and crucified it. We declared we wanted it dead. We wanted to be separated from it. There is a challenge with verse 24 and crucifying our sinful nature. Though crucifixion is a certain death sentence, it is a slow death sentence. Our sinful nature is still clinging to life. That means we need to not simply recognize that we crucified our sinful nature if we want to work out our salvation

The second thing we need to is to live out verse 25. We need to walk by the Spirit. The word picture idea would be a military term or a football term since I am going to a football game in a couple of hours. Walking by the Spirit means that we follow the cadence of the Holy Spirit. Working out our salvation does not mean that we do whatever we think is best or right. It means we need to listen to the cadence, the direction of the Holy Spirit and follow Him. Listening to that cadence means that we need to pray and read the Bible. It also means that we should talk with mature followers of Jesus and ask for their insights. Through those kinds of things, the Spirit will share with us.

Why would we want to listen to His cadence? The first part of verse 25 gives us the reason why: our life, our new life comes from the Spirit. Working out our salvation means that we live out the life that the Holy Spirit has given us.

Living With a Pure Heart #2

Near the end of the message on Sunday, I mentioned three ideas on how to work out your salvation. In the next few posts I would like to unpack those ideas, because frankly, I think they are important.

My first suggestion came for Colossians 3:5-11. If we are going to work out our salvation, one thing the Bible calls us to do is to get serious about sin. Being serious about sin does not mean that we work really hard to sin more. To be serious about sin means that we seek to put sin to death. In Colossians 3:5 Paul tells us to put to death stuff that belongs to our earthly nature. To be direct, the things he then lists are sexual sins. If we are going to work out our salvation, we need to say no to all sin, even sexual sin. We live in a culture that makes a big deal about sex, particularly self-serving sex. Sex in the content of a one woman/one man marriage can be a great thing. But sex outside of that needs to be put to death.

To get practical, we need to take a look at our lives and ask if we are serious about put this kind of sin to death in our lives.  If I am going to put this sin to death in my life I need to watch what I watch and listen to. I probably should take stock of the jokes that I laugh at and the images that I look for. If we are going to live out our salvation, some changes will need to occur in our lives.

There is more to working out our salvation than that though. In Colossians 3:8, Paul tells us to dump a bunch of stuff connected to anger and things that flow out of our mouths because of anger. Destructive attitudes and actions do not help us work out our salvation and live with pure hearts. If anger is an issue in your life, please address it. if any of us allows anger, rage, malice or slander to hang around, marks will be left in our lives and the lives of those around us. And they will not be the kind of marks we would want left.

Dumping anger, malice, slander and rage may not be easy, but we need to do it. Is anger an issue that you are struggling with? Do you get frustrated and snap often? Do you cover those things up, but inside you are seething? If we are going to work out our salvation, we need to address those kinds of things. We cannot afford to play games with anger and malice.

The Bible touches on the kind of theme in a number of other places too. If you want to think through this idea of taking sin seriously, please take some time and read Romans 6, Romans 13:12-14 and Ephesians 4:22-24. Working out our salvation, though empowered by God, will involve effort our part. We need to heed the words of 1 Timothy 4:7

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

We need to get serious about sin and becoming godly. That requires disciple and training.

Living With a Pure Heart #1

Yesterday in church the message ended by briefly talking about how to live with a pure heart. I want to review that information briefly and then in the next few postings unpack what was quickly touched on in the message.

When a person repents of his or her sin and trust in the Lord Jesus as his or her Savior, that person receives a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26-27). In Acts 15:9 it says God cleanses our hearts when we trust in the Lord Jesus. Because Jesus came to earth, died for our sins and rose again, we receive pure hearts when we trust Him. But how do we live with pure hearts?

One of the ways the Bible answers that question is found in Philippians 2:12-13:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Living with a pure heart is a combined effort. Philippians 2:12 is a command to us. We need to work out our salvation. We need to make choices and take steps to live out the incredible gift of salvation that God has given us in the Lord Jesus. But we are not alone in that effort. In fact verse 13 is telling us at least three important things:

•  First, God is working in us
• Second, God is working us to will to want to work out our salvation. God, through the Holy Spirit in the lives of His followers, is stimulating us to act.
• Third, God is also working in us to act, which means that God gives us the power or energy to work out our salvation.

When I read those two verses in Philippians 2, I come away with a sense of awe. I have been given the gift of salvation, a gift that leads to my life being transformed.  It can seem a little intimidating to hear that I need to work out my salvation. But before I can even say, “Hey how can I do that?” God communicates His involvement in the process. We can live transformed lives because of who God is and what He is doing for us.

Over the next few days there will be additional postings that will focus in on things we can do to work out our salvation and experienced the pure and transformed hearts that God gives us in Christ.

Hungering for God

I suppose it is a very obvious statement to make, but life is not always perfect. In fact, this side of eternity it will probably never be perfect. We will have some very good days, but we will still encounter challenging stuff. And though I can grasp that from reading history, hearing people sharing some of their life stories, or even to a small degree, from my own life experience, the challenges of life are often very hard for us. Life can cause us to have to wrestle with issues and ideas. Sometimes that wrestling involves our ideas of God, or even with God Himself.

I believe that the Beatitudes listed by Jesus in Matthew 5:3-10 are descriptors of followers of Jesus. As a follower of Jesus I am to hunger and thirst for righteousness according to Matthew 5:6. Part of what that means is I am to hunger and thirst for God. But how can I hunger and thirst for God when I wrestle with life and I am not always able to see God’s hand in it?

I mentioned in church yesterday that for me, when I am struggling I with hungering for God, I run to the cross. Often, I cannot make sense of life. But to be honest, I am not sure that I can fully make sense of the cross.  Yet that does not stop the cross from communicating some incredible things to me about God and about God’s character and His love. I think the cross has helped a lot of people keep hungering for God, even when life doesn’t fully make sense. Charles Spurgeon said over 100 years ago, “If I cannot trace His hand, I can always trust His heart.” Raymond Edman, a former president of Wheaton College said, “Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.”

Hungering for God in an imperfect world is not easy. But going to the cross helps me keep hungering. The cross tells me about God’s heart and it is a profound statement of God’s goodness that brings light even when things are dark.