Inside Out Living

I received a great question from someone on Sunday in regard to level of graciousness in their life. It came from a brother who loves Jesus and yet recognizes that in his life he does not demonstrate the level of graciousness that he desires to demonstrate. I think many of us can relate with this so I started a list of simple (and not so simple) things that each of us can do to increase the level of graciousness in our lives. These are in no certain order. Please comment on what you would include on this list.

Ways to increase graciousness:

1. Buy a stranger a cup of coffee next time you are in Starbucks.
2. Buy everyone in line at Starbucks a cup of coffee.
3. Spend a Saturday serving someone who cannot repay you.
4. Serve a mean at a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
5. Buy a single mother some groceries or diapers.
6. Ask five people you know how you can pray for them, then do it and follow up and ask how they are doing.
7. Deliver meals to shut ins.
8. Volunteer at a nursing home.
9. Volunteer at a hospital for terminally ill children.
10. Buy a stranger a tank of gas.
11. Give blood.
12. Mow you neighbors yard when they are at work.
13. Shovel your neighbors driveway next time it snows.
14. Tell a service employee 'thank you' next time they serve you.

What would you add?

I was reading in Luke 5 this morning about when Jesus called Peter and James and John to be his disciples. I was quite interested in Jesus' response to Peter, after Peter realized that he was in the presence of the Lord.

At the start of this account, Peter, a fisherman didn't fully understand who Jesus was, even though in the previous chapter Jesus had healed his mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-41). On a side note, it could be that Peter wasn't all that thrilled that Jesus healed his mother-in-law, I don't know I am just sayin'. But now in chapter 5 Jesus does something that really gets Peter's attention. He demonstrates his power over the sea as he orchestrates the largest catch of fish that Peter has probably ever witnessed. Is there any surprise that when they are back at the Sea of Galilee after the resurrection that Peter immediately recognizes Jesus to be the stranger who told them to cast their nets on the otherside providing them with a big catch. I do find it curious that Peter appears to be more impacted by the tremendous catch of fish than by Jesus healing his mother-in-law from a bad fever. It just goes to show that catching a fish is far harder than recovering from a bad illness, not that I think that is the point of the story.

Ok, back to the point. When Peter realizes what Jesus has done, he quickly realizes who Jesus is. This presents Peter with a problem because he knows that he is a sinful human who is not fit to be in the presence of a holy God. He is probably envisioning Isaiah 6 in his mind as he realizes that he is face to face with God in the flesh. While Peter's reaction is appropriate (that is his understanding of his own sinfulness), Jesus' next statement to him reveals that Peter's sin will not prevent fellowship with Jesus.

Why does Jesus tell Peter not to be afraid? The reason he tells this to Peter is because it is not Peter's sin that will prevent him from having fellowship with God through Jesus. Now don't get me wrong here and think that I am presenting a concept of universal salvation, because I am not. Peter is fully lost in his sin and is eternally separated from God at the point that he encounters Jesus, but the point of Jesus statement is that he doesn't have to fear because his sin does not disqualify him from being able to receive salvation as a free gift.

This is because it isn't our sin that prevents us from receiving salvation, but rather it is our refusal to place our faith in Jesus that prevents us from receiving the free gift of salvation. Yes God does take sin seriously and there are eternal consequences for our sin, but the glorious message of the Bible is that Jesus has taken the consequences for our sin upon himself and that through faith we can receive the gift of eternal life.

"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was." - Muhammad Ali

"I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest." - Muhammad Ali

"It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am." - Muhammad Ali

Have you ever wondered why people are constantly concerned with who the greatest is? As I thought about the disciples discussion about which one of the them was the greatest, I couldn't help but think about the outlandish quotes from Muhammand Ali about his greatness.

It really does say something thing about human nature that we are constantly concerned with who the greatest is. In our conversations we are always debating who the greatest athlete, or politician, or actor is. We compare and evaluate peoples lives based on their accomplishments and accolades.

I think this is one of the greatest, pardon the pun, teachings that we have from Jesus about how God really views our lives. Life isn't about who the greatest human being is, because from God's perspective we are all but dust. We cannot impress God with how great and powerful and successful we are, because in reality all that we have comes from Him, and we only live because of the common grace that is extended to all of humanity.

I think that oftentimes our conversations and statements about success and significance deeply grieve our heavenly father.

What would your life look like if you actually believed Jesus words that "Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else." (Mark 9:35)?

How would you treat people differently? How would you speak to your spouse when you get home from work? How would you treat your secretary, your bus driver, your coffee barista?

If you cannot remember the last time that you served someone else without gaining anything from it (no publicity, no recognition) then I think you might want to reevaluate how you are living your life. I am now going to go home and eat my words and make my family some lunch.

“’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” – Amazing Grace by John Newton

In Jesus’ description of the time of tribulation, He mentions that there will be attempts “to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones” (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22). This statement by Jesus gets me thinking about the role that God’s grace plays in bringing about our salvation. As the words to Amazing Grace declare, “grace will lead me home.” How true.

God’s grace is efficacious in our lives, meaning that it will produce its desired effect in our lives once it has been given by God himself. Simply put, when someone is saved by God’s grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), that grace will absolutely guarantee their salvation. “And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those He has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day” (John 6:39).

May you stand confident in God’s grace, knowing that it will indeed lead you home.

“He who gives what he would as readily throw away, gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self-sacrifice.”
– Sir Henry Taylor

As Jesus and His disciples sat and observed the giving practices of those who came to the temple to worship, Jesus seized a teachable moment when the widow dropped in two small coins (Mark 12:42). In that moment, we see the principle of proportionate giving at work.

As Jesus noted, even though the rich individuals gave more money, the gift of the widow was considered far greater in the eyes of God because of her sacrifice.
Aren’t you glad that, in God’s greatest gift to us, He did not limit Himself to a small portion of His grace, but rather made the ultimate sacrifice in sending Jesus to die on the cross. God is truly generous with His grace, giving it to all who might come to Him. There are no restrictions, no qualifications, no prerequisites. There is only free grace that is offered generously.

Matthew 22:1-14 is the parable of the Great Feast. The parable illustrates how, because of the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews, God’s grace is then made available to the Gentiles. As I read this story, I find it remarkable that one of the guests would show up for the feast without the customary apparel. I would think that the gratitude of even being invited to take part in the festivities would result in the appropriate response by this particular guest.

The parallels in this story to the human predicament we face are clearly seen. All around us are people who are rejecting God’s invitation to enter into relationship with him. Hearing the call of grace, they reject the notion of their need for salvation assuming that their own righteousness is sufficient. Like the out-of-place wedding guest, they refuse to clothe themselves with the righteousness of Christ that comes by faith. Instead, they reject God’s grace, trusting in their own righteousness which, in the eyes of God, is like filthy rags.

The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge had fallen behind schedule because of a number of workers who had fallen to their deaths. Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Eventually, in spite of the enormous cost, a giant net was installed to catch those who might accidentally fall. After it was installed, progress on the project was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net, but were saved. Ultimately, all the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith in the net.

Knowing that we need not be perfect in order to avoid judgment removes a great fear for the one who understands grace. Grace is what allowed the tax collectors and prostitutes (Matthew 21:31) of Jesus’ day to be saved. The Pharisees, on the other hand, lived in constant fear of the law.

Like the workers on the bridge who no longer feared death resulting from a misstep, the Christian no longer fears the eternal judgment of God for a misstep.

Jesus never hid the truth of His purpose here on earth. Time and time again He predicted His death to His disciples, and yet they continually struggled to understand. In comparing His death to a kernel of wheat (John 12:24), Jesus makes it clear that His death will bring about new life for many. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “For God made Christ who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was able to serve as the perfect sacrifice making full atonement once and for all for the sins of mankind (Hebrews 10:12).

This sacrifice is what allows God the Father to extend saving grace to all who come to Him in faith for the forgiveness of their sins. As John said in 1 John 2:2, “He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins, but the sins of all the world.”

It is an irony that should cause us all to be humbled, that the horrific death that Jesus endured on the cross was the very event that allows for the beauty of saving grace in our lives.

The theme this week is grace. And as you may be able to tell, I had the lyrics to the wonderful hymn, Amazing Grace, running through my head as I wrote these devotional thoughts for you this week. Grace is a multi-faceted concept in Scripture and I hope that you thoroughly enjoy considering how God’s grace impacts our lives, both as human beings in children and redeemed members of God’s family.

Today's Devotional:

“I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see” – Amazing Grace

The beggar Bartimaeus received the gift of sight in today’s reading. While Mark is the only gospel that names the beggar, all three of them consistently show that the original request was for mercy. Why the connection between mercy and the receiving of sight? I think it is because the healing not only involved a physical need, but a spiritual one as well.

Without God’s intervention in our lives, we are spiritually blind and lack an awareness of our sin and we do not see our need for God. Until the Holy Spirit opens ones’ eyes to his or her spiritual need, they will not come to God for forgiveness and grace.

In His ministry, Jesus restored physical sight, but more importantly, He also restored spiritual sight. The Spirit continues on in this ministry, and our role is to direct those in whom the Spirit is working to the light of Christ that they might follow him as did Bartimaeus.

(Because devotionals didn't get posted over the Labor Day weekend this is the first of two devotionals for today)

Our God is a god of justice and righteousness who cannot allow sin to go unpunished. This has been very evident in the readings of the law where we see God’s high standards of holiness and moral living. However, our God is also “the merciful and gracious God.” He is “slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). I think that the concept of the cities of refuge is a wonderful example of these character traits of God.

In the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9, God declares that anyone who commits murder must be killed (Genesis 9:5b-6). Now in Joshua 20 we see God exercising grace and compassion on those who have killed unintentionally.

As Christian brothers and sisters we continue to live with a sin nature that creeps up on us now and then. Fortunately the Merciful and Gracious God who established the cities of refuge is that same God whom we can go to for grace and forgiveness when we sin.

God’s grace is a wonderful and beautiful gift. Deuteronomy 9:4-6 is a picture for us of God’s gracious gift. The Promised Land for Israel was God’s blessed gift to His chosen people. And it is for us a foreshadowing of our future in Heaven. Israel in the Promised Land was God’s chosen people living in a ‘perfect’ land, with God Himself dwelling among them in the tabernacle.

What we notice in Deuteronomy 9:4-6 is that God didn’t place Israel in this land because they earned it, but rather God was carrying out His promise to His chosen people.

God’s grace works in the same way for us. We have not earned the right to receive God’s grace. It is God’s choice to extend grace to those who come to Him in faith.
We experience a new beginning when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. It is a life that is begun through God’s grace, it is lived in God’s grace and it is culminated by God’s grace. You may acknowledge that you received new life through God’s grace, but are you living by God’s grace, or are you now trying to earn His grace through works and following manmade rules?

During this week you will read over two thirds of Deuteronomy. Some of it will be repetitive to portions of Exodus and Leviticus. This is where the name for the book comes from. In Greek deutero means second, and nomos means law, therefore the name Deuteronomy means second law or second giving of the law.

And our theme for this week is New Beginnings, for as Moses reiterates the law, Israel is on the verge of a grand new beginning in the Promised Land.

The first three chapters of Deuteronomy recap the last forty years of wilderness
wanderings. The whole book is Moses’ final message to Israel and, in this opening section, his purpose is to remind them of how they got to this point.

Remembering our past is an important part of moving forward into the future. For Israel, remembering what God had done was essential. When Israel forgot the mighty deeds God had done in rescuing them out of Egypt, His provision in the wilderness, and His placement of them in the Promised Land; then Israel would stray from their covenant relationship with Him.

Remembering is important for us too. Christians can forget how lost in sin we were before receiving Christ. This forgetfulness is dangerous because it can develop within us a sense of entitlement to God’s grace. Then we begin to see ourselves as righteous when, without the work of Christ, our righteousness is like filthy rages. Rather, if we can remember how sinful we truly are, then we will see God’s grace as the unmerited favor that it is.

God’s justice is not often talked about in our churches. We would much rather talk about His love and mercy and grace. The story of Korah, Dathan and Abiram is a vivid reminder that our God is a just God who cannot let sin go unpunished. These men were challenging the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and worse, they were in rebellion to the Lord.

For me, the difficult part of this passage is that the families were punished as well. This is an illustration of God’s very own description of himself in Exodus 34:7, “I will show unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so I do not leave sin unpunished, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.”

As unfair as it may seem we see the impact parental sin has on children lived out every day. Some will walk away from the Lord because of the sins of their parents. To those who are living with the impact of a parent’s sin, know that there is grace available in Jesus to break that bondage of sin.

In the instructions that the Lord gave to Israel through Moses, purity was greatly stressed. There were a number of reasons for this, and the one given in this passage is because the Lord dwelled in their camp.

Praise God that we live under a covenant of grace and not one of law as the Israelites did. And yet, even though we are called to grace, we cannot ignore the need for purity. God demanded purity because he dwelled among Israel. God now, through His Spirit, dwells in the life of every believer and in the community of believers as a collective whole. His expectation is still purity in the lives of believers and in the community of believers. As a new creation, we are made pure by the blood of Christ, and we maintain purity by confessing our sins (1 John 1:9). Unfortunately, some within the community of faith stop practicing personal confession and knowingly and willing engage in sin, thus defiling the church. As with Israel, the church must take action to remove those who defile the community (1 Cor. 5:5). However we must not forget that once purity is restored, through forgiveness and grace, fellowship is also to be restored.

This morning I was watching the Today show and they had an interview with the mother of the little girl who submitted a false essay to win a contest for Hannah Montana tickets. Turns out the mother actually helped the daughter write the essay. They now claim that they didn't know that the essay had to be factual and that they didn't intend to mislead anyone. Are you kidding me?

Now I don't really care about the tickets what really bothers me about this is the dishonesty and the unwillingness to just admit that they were wrong and got caught. For crying out loud she had a lawyer with her on the Today Show interview. There isn't even an ethical delimma here, there is no grey area for this mother to hide in. Even those among us that live in a land of moral relativism can clearly see that this deception was wrong regardless of their intention.

The Bible is very clear that this type of deception is wrong and is not approved of by our heavenly father. We are to let our yes be a yes and our no be a no. Basically meaning that we are not to deceive. You can also look at Ananias and Sapphira in the NT to see how God feels about deception. Another great example is King Saul in the OT when he spared the king of Amalek and some of the animals when God commanded him to utterly destroy everything. He reluctently took responisibility but it was too late. Compare Saul with King David who later when he deceived the nation by his sin with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah the Hittite was immediately repentant when confronted by the prophet Nathan.

Ethical standards are important for every person but especially so for Christians because we represent the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is also clear in scripture that God has an expectation of ethical behavior. Bear in mind that there is grace and forgiveness when we sin, but we need to acknowledge that sin and ask for forgiveness.