Prayer Request

    Well, tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow I leave my beloved Republic of Texas for Italy to compete in the World Taekwondo Championships. So, that said, I will be away from my computer for two weeks. Yes, that means no blogging. So, if you just can't stand being away from here for this long, look up some old posts!

     In the mean time while I'm gone, I can't tell you how much I would appreciate your prayers, both for safety in traveling for my dad and I, and for safety (and success) at the tournament the 26th-31st. Please pray that I would represent my country, my school, and all the people who have supported me with encouragement and prayers well, and that I would keep Christ as the center of my focus during the whole time!

     Go Team USA!!!

Good Quote

    I was recently given a 1942 book by George Wiseman called Life Begins with Jesus, counterpart to his earlier book Life Begins with Faith. Here's a great quote I ran across tonight while flipping through it.

    "Of course He recognized the value of physical relaxation. He rested and insisted that His disciples do likewise. But this invitation was different. It was not the spirit of repose, but rest in the midst of turmoil. Work we must do. It was not His spirit to encourage laziness. He knew that this was the source of weariness. There is nothing as boring as an empty life. He was continually calling people to do something, and His commands were always hard- far harder than that which the most active and alert wanted to undertake. But in Him rest can be found in the midst of the most exacting toil. That is more in keeping with the Spirit of God and the life of the Master than a shiftless, indolent existence."

                                                        -George Wiseman, Life Begins with Jesus

Live Dangerously (Part 2)

    Well, my previous post (here) turned out to be one of my post popular articles yet. So, since I didn't put everything I wanted to say into that post due to a lack of time, I thought I'd put out a follow-up post detailing some other things I wanted to say.

    First off, Ryan from over at A Message for the Messenger shot me a quick email bringing up something I had thought of but hadn't addressed. Hebrews 11 brings up an incredible number of what we as Christians would consider the heroes of the faith. The first half of the chapter details all these incredible tales of faith, courage, and miracles. We walk away from v. 1-34 feeling like we could walk on water and swim through land. Seriously, v. 33 says that they, through faith, "conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight."

    That's quite a list of incredible things, times God came through for His people in incredible ways. Think of David's mighty men. These were men who God used so mightily that He would use a single man to turn back an entire army. Samson who God used to crush the power of the Philistines. Or Gideon who God raised up in order to annihilate the Midianite hordes with a tiny band of farmers. Moses, a terrible public speaker, who stands up and defies the Pharoah in his very own thrown room. Joshua, who marched a nomadic group of fearful men into a land dominated by over 30 different kingdoms, and destroyed them. David, a teenager who killed a giant, then turned warlord who dominated the war-torn region of Canaan for forty years. Shadrach and his friends who walk through flames with the Son of God and testify before world conquerors of His greatness.

    But then the chapter changes focus. The final six verses are much less up-lifting and much more sobering. Rather than listing a long list of miracles and great acts of valor and victory, we see instead a list of tortures, stonings, beatings, mockings, imprisonment, and martyrdoms. Horrific tortures and terrible deaths, listed and catalogued for us to read.

    "But, Taylor," you say, "you said God will come through for us if we trust Him." I did say He'd come through for you. But not necessarily in the way you meant. Or wished. God never promised to fulfill your desires, but His.

    We place ourselves in a position of risk, positions that place our comfort and security outside the realm of our control, and then what? We wait on God. We rest in Him, and the knowledge of His goodness. Yes, that includes the terrible thing listed in Heb. 11.

    When I say that God will come through for you, I don't mean He is my celestial errand-boy who I summon for aid whenever I'm in over my head. Rather, we should knowingly place ourselves in positions of risk that demand God's aid, and if He chooses to give it in the manner I would rather, excellent; and if not, it is to His glory, that He might be preeminent in all things!

    So, how can we focus on doing risky things, crazy things even, for Jesus if we're not guaranteed safety, just His presence? Well, the author apparently is following the same thought process because, as chapter 11 closes, chapter 12 opens with these words in v. 2. "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart."

    How can we keep hope when we place ourselves at risk? 1.) Fix your eyes on Jesus. Imitate Him. Follow Him. Watch His every movement.

    I was out running tonight in training for upcoming World Championships, and I began thinking about training. What do I use to motivate me? I mean, seriously, I've pushed until I've cried, thrown up, bled, and so on. What is it that pushes me to do that?

    On a lesser level, it's things like family and friends. I push myself for them. They're praying for me, they're encouraging me, I owe them this. On a larger scale is my pride and my country. This competition, I'm representing my country against other countries. My country is relying on me to train my hardest and do my best.

    But, the ultimate reason I train so hard is for one simple reason... I want to win! I want the medal! The prize is worth it the blood, the vomit, and the sweat that I've invested. The risk of losing or injury is worth it to me because the prize is worth having.

   But how much sweeter is Jesus Christ! So the first method of staying the course and daring greatly for God is to fix our eyes on Jesus. Adore Him. Emulate Him. Study Him. Fix our eyes on Him.

    The next method? 2.) Consider Him. Think about the cross. Never let the gospel fade out of your mind, because without it, our focus switches to something else, something less important. And when we consider the cost to Jesus that His death cost Him, it puts the cost of our own abandonment to Him in perspective.

    So, God calls us to live dangerously, like the men I listed earlier. It may mean God will use you to accomplish great things for Him, like Joshua or David. Or it may be that you'll die at 15 like Rachel Scott at Columbine High School, before you get the chance to do those "great" things you've dreamed of.

    But it's not about the size of the things we do for Christ. It's the service, the love, that counts. It's our love for God, our desire to serve Him, and our fixed consideration of the gospel and of Jesus Christ that pushes us to hazard all to follow Him.

Link

    My friend Lauren over on defyingdepravity posted an excellent post today on overseas missions! I thought I'd put the link out over here. Way too often we consider our acts of service or love for God to be something I do when I'm older and finally doing what I feel to be my "calling". But what we often do instead is put off serving God during the time now, where I'm at this point in life. God doesn't call us to serve Him only in the future and in other places. He calls us to serve Him now, here.

    https://defyingdepravity.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/my-thoughts-on-overseas-missions/comment-page-1/#comment-150

Excellent Sermon

    Hey, y'all! I haven't felt like posting a long, in-depth post for several days, but I thought I would post the link to a really good sermon I listened to tonight by Pastor Scott Kay from Atlanta. It's the sermon entitled, "Only the Good Die Young". I know most of y'all (if not all) don't have the time to listen to an hour long sermon, but for those of you who do, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

    https://enjoygrace.com/listen-online/?sermon_id=539

P.S.

    I ran across this quote last night that fit perfectly into what I was saying with yesterdays article. Maybe Francis Chan can say it better than I did!

    “But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.”

                                 -Francis Chan, Crazy Love

Live Dangerously

    In case you hadn't realized it from the three posts I've already written about my trip to Malawi (here, here, and here), my January missions trip to Malawi deeply affected my life and my relationship with Christ. I learned a ton that I could not have learned as clearly in the USA. It truly was extraordinary.

    I'm going to tell a fairly long story below, so bear with me, because there is a point I am trying to make with it!

    When I first voiced my desire to go on this particular trip, the missionary heading up the team that was going asked me what I intended to do there. My first thought was, "Huh?" I hadn't prepared for that (thinking back, what did I think he was going to ask, my favorite food? I mean, c'mon, Taylor!).

    So, I told him that I could help teach youth and help with some school evangelism projects. I've done several such youth ministries in the US, so I figured I could do the same there. Ha! I had not correctly estimated this particular missionary's drive to push me outside my comfort zone!

    Somehow, when the words came out of my mouth that I wanted to teach youth, Mr. Kershner heard that as "I want to teach pastors." (I have the greatest respect for Mr. Kershner, by the way. None of this is negative toward him, just a part of the story.) So, three weeks before I leave for Malawi, I'm on vacation over Christmas at my sister's house, and I get an email that tells me to prepare for about six hours of preaching to pastors!

    Now, I'm going to take a second and explain some of the irony here. Somehow, I, a 16 year old American who had never preached more than a Sunday School lesson, was supposed to go to Africa and preach to pastors! Seriously? What am I supposed to say?

    So, at my sister's house, I took a little time by myself and began arranging some notes, getting some ideas and references, writing out some notes for myself. However, try as I might, I got one sermon outline done. I came back over the course of several days, and I could not get down what I needed to. My mind wouldn't focus, I couldn't think, and all in all, I was panicked!

    Fast forward a month. I'm sitting in Malawi with an American college student and a 23 year old accountant at a preacher's conference. And, I'm up to speak first. In the last few days, I'd been praying and reading the Bible a lot, but still no more lessons. So, walking into this, I was nervous. More like, downright scared.

    So, my first preaching experience was to a group of African pastors in a mud brick church during a thunderstorm. But what caught me off guard was that God led me completely off what I had written to say words I hadn't written down, and things I hadn't planned to say. I was flabbergasted (pleasantly)! Where was this coming from?

    I finished my sermon, and in true African style, there is no break. They don't get opportunities like this often, so when it comes, you better be ready for some preaching! Both my partners got up, and preached, giving me about an hour and a half to start internally sweating again. So, after my second partner preached, the pastor of the church got up and led us in one song before the next preaching section, which would be mine. Keep in mind I had nothing to say!

    There, during that song, God gave me a lesson. I've never had anything like that happen before. As I was listening to them singing, a reference came into my head. Then points, other verses, ideas, analogies, and so on. God not only gave me a sermon five minutes before I got up to speak, but he also kept me going, giving me words to say, for forty minutes. With about four sentences scribbled down as notes.

    When I got down from preaching that second time (what a way to get introduced to preaching!), I was empty. I was pushed to the max, emptied of myself, and exhausted. So, I went outside the church while one of my buddies preached, and walked through one of the cornfields, just crying out to God that I was done. I couldn't do it by myself. I needed him.

    So, when I finally came back inside the church, it was almost time to preach again. Yes, that's right, a third sermon. Keep in mind that I still had no idea what I was going to preach on. But now I had an inkling of what might happen!

    Sure enough, while the church was singing, a third sermon took shape in my mind. Verses, ideas, and thoughts came together into about four scribbled sentences that would serve as my notes during that final sermon. Once again, God supplied not only a sermon, but the ability to preach it and to keep speaking for about forty minutes.

    This was the highlight of my trip to Malawi. Not only was this my first preaching opportunity, but I had never had the Holy Spirit so actively work in my thoughts before as to guide me, while I was speaking, as to what I would say next. It was incredible.

    But it led me to begin thinking. My first thought was, "Why hasn't this ever happened before? Why haven't I ever experienced the Holy Spirit's aid, help, and comfort with such reality before?" At first, I felt as if God had somehow held back His guidance before. Why?

    But the thought process that started in Africa continued back to America. I've been thinking about it ever since, and I believe I've found the answer. It's really simple really. The Holy Spirit wasn't noticeably active in my life as Comforter and Guide in the past because I had never realized I needed it!

    Why would I need God's guidance and strength when I'm doing just fine on my own? Why?

    Why would God include so many promises that He would be with us, protect us, guide us, help us, etc. if He never meant for us to benefit from these gifts?

    The answer is very simple. God never intended us to spend our lives comfortably strong in ourselves. When we are strong in ourselves, we don't need Him. We nearly never put ourselves in a position where we are lost if God doesn't come through for us.

    But the vast number of promises regarding the idea of God's Holy Spirit's role as Comforter and Guide seem to reflect the concept that we should require God's aid. Unfortunately, what I do, and what most of us tend to do, is to live life that's so comfortable, laid back, and normal that I don't "need" the Holy Spirit. We don't ever put ourselves in a position of risk that requires God to come through for me.

    Think about Elijah's challenge with the priests of Baal. We see no promise from God beforehand that He would prove Himself. However, Elijah jumped forward, and placed himself in a position that would get him killed if God didn't come through for Him. He purposefully placed himself in a position that he couldn't get himself out of, and required God's aid.

    What about David and Goliath? Again, we see no promise from God that He would protect David. Instead, we see David put God to the test, walk out onto the field, and place himself in a position of danger if God didn't come through. David trusted that God would come through for him.

    So, what are we seeing here? That OT guys just trusted God more than we do today? Why?

    Well, because they put Him to the test! They placed themselves in positions that required God to come through, and when He did, their faith was strengthened. Why do I trust close friends of mine? Because they've proved themselves worthy of my trust! They've been trustworthy and reliable!

    How is God any different? As long as we go through life safely and comfortably, we will never be in a position to require, even demand, God's guidance/protection. So how would I ever develop a trust and faith in Him? As long as I never have to rely on Him, I will never learn to trust Him.

    As Christians, I believe we are called to place ourselves in positions that require God's help, positions that are risky if God doesn't come through for us. Because God will come through. But until we see it happen, and experience it ourselves, it's hard to believe.

    If we truly believe that God can do anything, and He wants us to serve Him above all, don't you think our lives might be a bit more radical and a bit less "normal"? If we truly thought that God would come through for us, don't you think we'd place ourselves in positions that would require Him to more often?

    I don't have this mastered, by any means! But it's something to strive for. Live dangerously for God. Learn to trust Him.

Good Quotes

    “Sometimes, I hear people talk about the different men and women of the Old Testament, and there is a hint of jealousy. They may say it, or just insinuate it, but here's what they communicate...'What would it have been like to hear God's voice and see him move in such powerful ways? I wish it was the same for us as it was for those whose stories we read about in scripture. When I get to heaven I can't wait to ask David, Elijah, or Moses what it was like.' But I think it will be just the opposite in heaven. Before we can ask David what it was like to slay a giant, to win the battles, he'll say, Tell me what it was like on earth to have the Holy Spirit inside of you, giving you strength when you are weak. We might say to Elijah, What was it like to call down fire from heaven before the prophets of Baal and to raise that boy from the dead? And I think Elijah might say, yeah, he actually ended up dying again. You tell me what it's like to have God living inside of you. What was it like to live life on earth with the Holy Spirit giving you joy when you're depressed or giving you the power to overcome that sin in your life? We might say to Moses, What was it like to follow the cloud by day and the fire by night? What was it like to meet with God on that Mountain? And Moses might say, I had to climb that mountain to meet with God. You tell me what it was like to have him dwell in you everyday. What was it like to have the Holy Spirit giving you directions when you didn't know what to do or where to go?”

    "These religious types were the fans that Jesus seems to have the most trouble with. Fans who will walk into a restaurant and bow their heads to pray before a meal just in case someone is watching. Fans who won’t go to R-rated movies at the theater, but have a number of them saved on their DVR at home. Fans who may feed the hungry and help the needy, and then they make sure they work it into every conversation for the next two weeks. Fans who make sure people see them put in their offering at church, but they haven’t considered reaching out to their neighbor who lost a job and can’t pay the bills. Fans who like seeing other people fail because in their minds it makes them look better. Fans whose primary concern in raising their children is what other people think. Fans who are reading this and assuming I’m describing someone else. Fans who have worn the mask for so long they have fooled even themselves.”

                                    -Kyle Idleman, Not a Fan

    It looks like I have another book to add to my reading list! 

Update

    Hey, y'all! I just wanted to keep everyone posted on here as to what was going on. I will probably be a bit sporatic the next few days with posting. I've gotten a bit behind in school, and I am trying to make a concerted effort these next few weeks to buckle down and get done what needs doing. I also have some life decisions to research these next few weeks too, so it will be a busy time. Plus, I'm coming down to the final couple of weeks of training for World Championships. I'd appreciate y'all's prayers immensely!

    Hopefully, I'll be able to post on Romans 8 soon. Until then, it wouldn't be a bad thing for y'all to get a head start and start reading Rom. 8 on your own. Just saying!

Interesting Video

Romans 7

    I very rarely post twice on the same day, but I posted earlier and I still want to get into Romans tonight (why do I never get to post until late at night? Are there pills for that? :). I really enjoy this series anyway for my personal quiet time, because it makes me think through a lot of what I would usually just glance over as a verse I've read many times before. I think it was Einstein who said that if you can't explain something to a six year old,  you don't truly understand it. In trying to write it down in a clear, explanatory fashion, this series is making me learn Romans much better!

    Romans 7 is such a fun read. Many of you are probably like me, and have always been amused when this passage of Scripture is read at church, because it sounds as if Paul is purposefully joking around. Seriously, I don't do what I want to do, and what I want to do, I don't do, but I still want to do it, even though I don't do it, and those things I don't do are what I want to do! Until I took the time to actually read this passage several times, it was just confusing!

    In reality, chapter 7 is where Paul continues speaking of the results of our justification. If you remember, chapters 1-3 were proof of man's guilt before God and need of atonement, chapter 4 was how the atonement is given, chapter 5-7 are the results of that atonement. Romans is surprisingly orderly!

    The first part of this passage (v. 1-13) speak of our unification and joining with Christ through His substitutionary death. In taking our place, we are joined with Him. V. 1-3 uses the analogy of a woman married to a man, and is bound by Levitical law to him, until he dies.

    The same is true of us in our sin. Before Jesus, we were bound to the Law, with nothing in our power to enable our escape. Now, however, we are dead to the Law that we might be joined with Christ, in place of the Law! We have been made free from the judgment that comes from examination under the Law, and have instead been joined with Christ (v. 4-6).

    So, the logical question that follows from the discussion Paul has been initiating about our freedom from the Law is: why did the Law ever have to exist? Why bind anyone under it?

    The answer is one we've seen before in Rom. 5:20. The law exists to condemn all mankind, and to force us into the realization of our error. Naturally, the pride of our human hearts leads us to believe we are better, purer, and holier that we really are. Only when looking at it through the glasses of God's high demands through His law can we see our own shortcomings and failure.

    V. 7-13 begins another strain of argument, namely: if the law is brought in to condemn me, is not the law sin? Paul is very clear, the law is righteous. The fault is not with the law, but with my own flesh, whose very nature it is to break the law and act contrary to it. It is not the law's fault I fell (although that was it's purpose, to force me into a recognition of the failure that would not have occurred without it), but through the law, I have fallen, and I can now see my error through the eye-opening work of Jesus.

    I have to warn any staunch non-Calvinists reading this that this is where the reformed doctrine really starts coming through loud and clear. Feel free to point out below (cause I know some of you out there have voiced your disagreement with these views before) where I'm wrong and please feel free to give your own interpretation to the passage.

    V. 14-25 are some of my favorite verses ever written by Paul, and if he has thus far failed to convince you that man is his natural state is fallen, in complete rebellion, and unable to come to Christ on his own (as I see clearly taught in Rom. 3:9-12), this should seal the deal. This is where Paul clearly speaks of the war between his two natures. He is clearly speaking of after salvation, since before salvation Rom. 3 was clear that man did not want to do right, as Paul claims he does in v. 15.

    First off, Paul says that the Law is spiritual, but he as a man, sold under sin, is carnal, thus unable to keep the law. Even when Paul desires to, he can't. He doesn't have the strength in himself. It would be really easy to walk away from v. 14-21 saying that there is no point to even trying to do right. What's the point? Even Paul failed!

    But we're missing a pivotal point here. Look at the difference between Rom. 3 and 7. In three, Paul gives a glowing account of the condemnation we have brought on ourselves, saying that we have done nothing righteous. But in seven, Paul opens v. 18 with the statement that while he doesn't have the power to follow God's commands in his own strength, he now has the desire.

    Here we see one of the gifts of the regeneration from God. In chapter 1-3, we see no such desire for good. We instead only see man's evil actions and intentions. When God turns man over to the intentions of their hearts in chapter 1, man's inclination is not to turn to God, but instead to turn deeper into sin.

    But when we get to chapter 7, we have been made new! We now desire to do good, even if we still can't. Now we have the want to serve God, something that was completely lacking before.

    While I don't want to contradict the gospel many of the people on here have heard, I do feel it would not be entirely right of me to go through this series without addressing at least some of this. I want you to think about some of the logic of the salvation message some of y'all have heard. It usually goes something like this (summarized), "we have all broken God's law, and are thus under the judgment of God. But, if we decide that we want to be forgiven, all we have to do is confess and repent of our sins, and pray this prayer, and God will save you! Yay, you've just been saved!"

    Problem 1.) As we've seen, "broken" doesn't do justice to our status with God before salvation. We haven't just broken His law. "Broke the law" is anything from a mass murderer and serial killer to a dude with a parking ticket. We aren't just law-breakers; we have defied the law. We are completely contrary to it, dead in our sin (Eph. 2:1), and haters of God (Rom. 1:30). Mere law-breakers doesn't do us justice; we are dead men.

    Problem 2.) Try explaining the logic of a man dead in sin, hating God, and contrary to all His laws deciding one day that he needs God and he wants to accept him and love Him from that day onward. That makes no sense! When God turned the Gentiles over to their own lust and intentions of their hearts in Romans 1, what was their natural inclination? Not to turn to God, that's for sure! By our own human natures we will choose sin ever single time, because it is our nature to do so.

    Problem 3.) Where is God in all this? Rather than this being the gospel of grace it is presented as so often, this is simply a softer and better disguised version of self-help gospel. Rather than the Soli Deo Gloria gospel of the reformers (and the Scriptures), we have too often softened it to a cheap replica that relies on us to realize our guilt and do something about it. Cause we just naturally are longing for God. Huh? How did we get that from the Bible?

    What I'm trying to present here is that the gospel we have been taught and find ourselves teaching so frequently is man's default gospel, Pelagianism. Pelagianism is the belief that man can choose to do either right or wrong, either follow in the ways of Jesus or Adam, and thus has no need of grace. He can simply repent when he errs and return to Christ.

    But that's probably a little too radical for some of us. I mean, most of us realize we need grace, at least to some extent. So, we flee straight into the arms of semi-Pelagianism, our happy medium. Yes, we need God's grace, but we still come to God ourselves and recognize our need for Him on our own. As if haters of God will ever on their own decide to come to Him!

    But Paul is blowing this idea out of the water with Romans 7: 14-25! Even Paul is completely open that he cannot keep the law on his own. Without Christ, he is destined to failure, despite even his saved desires to follow Christ. Much less can a sinner follow Christ who has no such desires!

    So then, what is the conclusion? Is there hope for the saved, much less the sinner? The same hope for both, as Paul shows us in verse 24-25!

    What can save me from my own nature and carnal desires? Jesus Christ. He is the answer. Without Him, I can do nothing, not acknowledge His existence, not desire Him, nor come to Him. Without Him, I am bound by the desires of my nature contrary to the law. Only through Christ can I serve God while still resisting my flesh.

    So, what is the answer to the problems I spoke of above? What is the gospel that fixes those problems? It is the gospel of Christ alone, Solus Christus, as the Reformers would have called it if you asked. The foundation of the five Solas, through Christ alone.

    What is the answer to an over-emphasis on man and man's achievement? Christ and Christ's achievement. It is Christ who saves, Christ who draws, Christ who died, Christ who makes new, Christ who works in me, Christ who does it all! It is none of me and all of Him!

    If I come to Christ through my own strength of my own prowess, how then can the glory which is due Jesus come to Him? Instead, the glory should go to me for my wisdom in seeing the error of my ways over all the other poor sinners who had the same chance I did but still did not follow. But that is the pride of my sinful heart!

    Instead, I owe all to Christ. The very drawing of me from my sin and the desire to follow and love Him is due to Christ, not I. And I owe Him everything!

Missions Quotations

    I spent a little time this evening reading quotes from different missionaries, and I thought I'd share some of them here.

    “The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” -Henry Martyn

     “It is more important that you should know about the reverses than about the successes of the war. We shall have all eternity to celebrate the victories, but we have only the few hours before sunset in which to win them. We are not winning them as we should, because the fact of the reverses is so little realized, and the needed reinforcements are not forthcoming, as they would be in the position were thoroughly understood...So we have tried to tell you the truth the uninteresting, unromantic truth.”                                         -Amy Carmichael

    “God's command 'Go ye, and preach the gospel to every creature' was the categorical imperative. The question of personal safety was wholly irrelevant.” -Elizabeth Elliot

    "God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals who are willing to follow him."                    -Hudson Taylor

    And my personal favorite:

    "If ten men are carrying a log — nine of them on the little end and one at the heavy end — and you want to help, which end will you lift on?"             -William Borden

Another Good Quote

    Well, it's late at night here, and I really don't feel like digging into Romans 7. Hopefully I'll restart that series tomorrow. I just want to post briefly tonight because 1. I want y'all to know that I am still alive, and 2. I ran across some awesome quotes from William Borden. If you don't know anything about the guy, run a quick Google search about him. You'll learn a lot about what a radical looks like.

    In a nutshell, Borden  was the heir of a huge fortune, and while taking a high school trip around the world (that should tell you about the fortune), he was convicted about missions. Upon graduation from Yale, Borden left for Egypt where he died while studying Arabic at the age of 25. If you read anything about his life at college, you will soon see that he was a radical for Jesus Christ.

    However, one quote of his found in his Bible upon his death has outlived his name. Most people wouldn't know who said these words that most Christians in conservative circles have heard at one time or another. There, penned in the back of his Bible, he had penned on three separate occasions three little sentences.

    "No reserves. No retreats. No regrets." Just take a moment and ponder that. Go back and re-read it.
   
    No reserves. Hold nothing back. Pour yourself into the cause of Christ. What millionaire turns down phenomenal job offers to go study Arabic in Africa? A radical. Someone holding nothing back.

    No retreats. With the power of almighty God, we have been commissioned to spread Him and glorify His name throughout ALL the earth, teaching and baptizing disciples everywhere. We are here to proclaim His name, with boldness and without shame.

    No regrets. This from a young man with meningitis in Egypt. No regrets. This from a millionaire dying painfully in a desert far from home. No regrets.

    God calls us, in the words of C.T. Studd, to be "not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible." And while, as many told Borden, many may tell us that we are throwing away our lives, or we're crazy, God calls us. He calls us to be willing, to be ready to give up all for Him. And He is worth it.

Good Quote

    Many times, I find myself struggling with actually doing what I know is right. Yeah, I know things are wrong, but that doesn't mean I always try to resist as hard as I should. Yeah, I know I ought to do some things more, but that doesn't mean I always try as hard as I should. I think this quote from David Platt sums up exactly what my greatest fear in life is.

    “My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus' words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to Him. ”

    Let's practice what we claim to believe, people. It's so tempting, so very tempting, to be satisfied with accepted practices and cultural norms rather than Jesus Christ. It is so much easier to walk around with the name Christian stenciled on my chest while living a life no different from anyone around me. Let's not walk away from Jesus feeling good about ourselves, let's walk away realizing our need and dependence on God and our sacred calling to make Him known!

Romans 6

    Romans 6 is where we now get into what's going on after our salvation. We've been justified, now what? What changes? How are we different now that we are redeemed and made children of God?

    So, now comes one of my favorite topics, grace. So, we've been reading all these wonderful passages about how my status with God is dependent on Christ, not my obedience to the Law. What then is the natural human response? If I don't have to obey Christ's commands for salvation, why would I? Why not use grace, as Galatians puts it, for license?

    No, Paul states throughout v. 1-7 that we, having been put to death with Christ to our old natures, we should rise, just as Jesus did, with a new body. A body that wants to glorify Jesus and obey Him, not one that's trying to slip by with whatever I can.

    Throughout the NT, baptism is always closely associated with salvation (almost always following directly after the repentance and belief of the individual). We who have been baptized and thus identify with Christ have died with Him. His death put our sin to death. How do we then rationalize that we would then instantly return back to our sin? Instead, we have been freed from sin.

    In v. 7, Paul gives an amazing statement that at first glance seems pretty commonplace. We all know we've been made free from sin. But I want you to think of that in light of the case which Paul has built up to this point with the Law. Paul has built a very strong case that man is completely lost, an utter slave to sin, and if we bring in Ephesians, dead in it. To reference, yesterday's chapter, we are helpless in sin. It's hard to find too many more despondent words to describe us in our lost condition. We were in bad shape!

    But Paul proclaims that those of us who have find life in Jesus by dying with Him (through Him; substitutional atonement) have been made free. Alive. Found. All these things that were our curse from Adam are now our gifts in Jesus Christ. We are free!

    But it doesn't end with our death with and in Christ. We now live with Him (v. 8-11). We are now alive to righteousness, in stark contrast to our prior deadness in sin (Eph. 2:1-2). And since we are now alive in Christ, it should not be consistent with our new natures to love sin. We should no longer have the same draw toward sin. We still will have some (addressed in greater detail in chapter 7), but not with the same love we had toward it before, because we are now alive in Christ! We now love what Christ loves and hate what He hates. He is alive through His Body, and we are His body!

    Since we have now been made free from sin by payment from Jesus, we are now legally His (v. 14-20). Now, we may not like that thought of ownership. But, we need to grasp just how small we are on the world stage. We're not God, and we're not Satan. We're not one of the two powerful beings who control every soul on this planet. We are owned by one or the other, either by God or the enemy of God. If we try to stand with neither, we automatically take our natural position since the Fall of service to Satan.

    As slaves to Jesus Christ, we are now to live our lives as all the nouns Paul has used to describe us. Sons. Ambassadors. Messengers. Slaves. All of these share one thing in common. Every one of these except son are there to make the father known and great. Three of the four I could think of off the top of my head are there to serve the Father, to make Him known and famous.

    But, what does the son do? Does not the son not only receive the love and affection of the Father which the other three don't get? Does he not also represent the father in a way the others never can? Even a son is a father's representative, a loved, cherished representative, but still a representative.

    Thus, as representatives of Christ, we cannot do whatever pleases us and remain free of guilt. Because we have been bought with a price, sin cannot reign over us. We must instead remain forever subservient to and in submission to Christ and under His grace.

    V. 21 tells us very plainly that our desire for sin is foolish. What do we gain by sin, besides instant and fleeting pleasure? Death! Exactly what Adam gained by his rebellion, we gain through our rebellion. Our sin leads to the just conclusion, death to the rebel. So, when we have been made sons by adoption, how can we continue to act in rebellion against our Father?

    V. 22-23 make the final statement in regard to our sin as Christians. Since we have been freed from our old slavery to sin, we are now slaves to Christ, slaves to righteousness! Grace is not ours to abuse, but to enjoy. Grace is not a gift to allow us to sin, but a gift to cover our sin and free us from our old natures. Grace to love us despite our unloveliness and give us the ability to love others.

    I'm going to close with a quote from The Cure, a book which made a massive impact on how I view the grace of God. Many times we view the grace of God as something that allows us to get away with more, that simply gives me a Get out of Jail Free Card. But the motivation of a heart made clean by Jesus' blood is not to get away with anything!

    "Look, Jesus says we really are new people, completely righteous. Jesus became sin so we might be righteous. Jesus didn't become theoretical sin. He became real sin, in every possible way that sin can be sin. And if the corollary holds, then we didn't become theoretical righteousness. We became real righteousness in every possible way that righteousness can be righteousness... Now we're free. But it isn't the freedom to get away with stuff, to give ourselves permission to have three glasses of wine instead of one. It isn't the freedom to care less or walk the tightrope of right and wrong without remorse. The motive of a righteous heart isn't to get away with anything. The motive of a righteous heart is to be loved and to love!"

    Grace isn't our free card to do whatever we want. It could be treated that way, if our new man wanted to. However, if we truly want desire Christ, we should want to be loved by Him and pleasing to Him, and to love like Him. That is the desire of our new man! We are now slaves of Christ, His representatives.