I am pleased to announce the availability of a new booklet to introduce people to the gospel. It's entitled: How Can I Know Eternal Life? Click on the title above for a description and preview of sample pages.
"How can I know eternal life?" Shouldn't the question be, how can I have eternal life? Isn't salvation something believers possess?
"Have" would work in the title. After all, the sure promise of eternal life is precious to those who have trusted in Jesus Christ. The joy of sins forgiven stands as a gift, offered from the gracious hand of God to all who will repent and believe. Removal of sin's guilt that renders us odious before a holy God, deliverance from sin's power that pulls us down into the pit of hell, provision of the cloak of spotless righteousness earned on our behalf--the gospel of life in Jesus Christ contains all these. That gospel is a gift and the hope of its recipients stands as a present possession.
Yet the gospel is more. It brings something greater than a treasure trove of gifts. It brings us the Giver Himself. In His high priestly prayer recorded in John 17 that showcases the glory of the gospel and the personal involvement of God in all its facets, Jesus surprises us with His description of eternal life.
"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (v. 4)
Eternal life involves not just having. It reaches to the redemptive heights of knowing God, knowing Him in restored, reconciled relationship. The Christian life embarks on the journey of growing in the grace and knowledge of this God, where goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of our God forever, not as guests but as His children, not temporarily but for eternity.
(Below is the third (of 3)installment of the CHOP Ministry Manual (p. 12), preparing participants for involvement in strategic prayer outreach to those among whom God has placed them.)
As we look to embark upon a ministry of reaching others for Christ what bearings are we given? The land we survey gives us a panorama of grace, a grace that has swept us up in its current, a grace that oxygenates and invigorates our existence in this world, and a grace that qualifies and empowers our role as ambassadors of Christ. We enjoy the standing we do only by the grace of God. His grace sustains us each and every day, leading us away from self-focus and self-dependence to find our strength and sufficiency in Christ (Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7). His grace has given us new hope, a new identity and a new home and His grace will lead us home.
With these bearings, as ones who have received every spiritual blessing in Christ because of the grace of God and who are stationed as His witnesses in this world, we turn to how we can be faithful to carry out that role. CHOP is a tool designed to equip, engage and encourage us in faithful service to our Lord as instruments of grace in His hand for the spreading of the sure hope of the gospel.
(Excerpt from Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual, Outreach Orientation, pp. 11-12)
As part of this new kingdom of hope, joy and peace, we enjoy not only the blessings of heavenly citizenship, we find ourselves as subjects and servants of a new King, workers in His vineyard, soldiers of His kingdom. No longer is this world our home. Rather we are citizens of heaven, aliens and pilgrims in this world, not occupied with building our own kingdoms or enhancing our own reputations but concerned with Christ’s kingdom priorities and values, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. In this sojourning our Lord calls us to be ambassadors of hope, declaring to those around us without God and without hope (Eph. 2:12), the sure hope of the gospel wherein a perfect righteousness is found in Christ apart from our own efforts at obedience to God’s law (Rom 3:19-24).
Our lives bear witness to this God of hope both in word and in deed. The character of our lives is to point others not to how great we are but to how great is our God (1 Pet. 2:11). That our behavior might not point to us or to any notion that salvation is by our good behavior, we are to give interpretation to our deeds as the Lord provides opportunity by verbal explanation for the hope we have (1 Pet. 3:15). Our lives are governed by the reality that Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds we are healed. We were as sheep gone astray, but now by the grace of God we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. (1 Pet. 2:24f; cf. Is. 53:4-6). Our lives are His and we live for Him.
We are a nation addicted to junk food. In this I count myself chief of sinners. As big a concern as that may be, it pales in comparison to its spiritual parallel.
The psalmist spreads before us the feast of God's love:
"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds to men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things." (Psalm 107:8-9)
We understand those "good things" as God's redemptive mercies and the glories of his grace bound up in Jesus Christ. In her Magnificat, Mary reveled in the realized promises of God, declaring that God her Savior had "filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty" (Luke 1:53).
Who are these hungry? They are those longing to be filled the Bread of Life, whose spiritual palate has been awakened to God's provision of enduring Manna. Isaiah speaks to those so awakened, giving both promise and warning:
"Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Isaiah appeals to those aware of their need, bringing the invitation of God to take and eat.
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Yet the empty calories of the world's offerings compete and attract.
"Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David." (Is. 55:1-3)
We are to listen intently to God. As we do we find the issue is not physical nourishment but spiritual. The richness of the food speaks to the substance of salvation, bound up in the Son of David, the Chosen One, the sole covenant keeper, Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, the one Mary was told would inherit the throne of his father David and whose kingdom would never end (Luke 1:32f.)
The Spirit of God has opened our eyes to taste and see that the Lord is good, to savor the Savior. The question we need to ask ourselves, though, is, what is our daily diet? Or, to put it more pointedly, with what are we filling ourselves? Where are we trying to satisfy our thirst? Or perhaps more clearly, of whose love do we drink deeply?
Our heart hungers, our restless spirit searches. And we turn to the lures of evils on the internet to satisfy. The latest electronic gadget makes us salivate. Our eyes widen and taste buds pop as we read the sales circulars. We find "rich" food in the offerings of the world that at best offer empty calories and at worst poison for the soul.
Just as we find life in Christ, so we must feed upon Christ in communion with him, in delight of his blessings and in full enjoyment of his love. Only then will we be strong in the Lord and worthy instruments in his service.
As promised, here is the full text of the prayer of confession for our National Day of Prayer service, stemming from the idea that the best thing for America is for the church to be the church.
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On this National Day of Prayer in which the eyes of our nation are directed to you, the living and true God, we your church gather in the name of Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, to confess that
· we your people, called by your name, do not humble ourselves and pray but instead go about our business in prideful self-sufficiency and willful neglect of your commandments and decrees, unconcerned for the name of Jesus Christ that we bear and inattentive to his design for us as his disciples;
· we do not seek your face nor turn from our loveless indifference and worldly preoccupations, actually tolerating and even enjoying the corruptions of this world to the dishonor of you who has called us to be holy as you are holy;
· we are not salt and light to our nation, nor do we desire to be, content to dabble in “Christian” practice and use you for our ends;
· we do not seek first your kingdom and righteousness, instead looking to devote our affections and dedicate our resources to seeking first our own kingdoms and glory, happy to build bigger barns to hold our goods, forgetting that all we have comes from you our God and that it all, along with our very selves, belongs to you;
O Lord, our sin abounds. Yet your grace super-abounds. In Christ, our sins are forgiven, our guilt is atoned for and the wrath we deserve is spent. Yet shall we continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be! Work in us the grace of repentance and bring forth in us the fruit of that repentance. Make us to be a light to our nation, shining with the truth of your Word, glaring with the brilliance of your glory, conspicuous as a display of your grace.
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayers of your servants and to our pleas for mercy, and for your own sake. O Lord, make your face to shine upon us. Renew us. Refresh us. Restore us. Bless and transform this nation through our faithfulness to your purpose for us as your church.
Gracious God and Father, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, the disrepair of your church and the disability of the people that are called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy bound up in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your church and your people are called by your name.
For Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
As the National Day of Prayer (the first Thursday in May) draws near a buzz has been generated by the ruling of a federal judge declaring the day unconstitutional. But even if that ruling is upheld, what difference does it make? Should it stop the church from praying? Can it stop the church from praying? Not only can believers legally gather for prayer, even the most severe of government strictures cannot silence believers in their communion with God and petitioning of him on behalf of the nation.
Actually, when it comes down to restricting prayer, the church is doing a pretty good job all on its own. Often we don't pray, don't feel the need to pray, and the prayer we do engage in seems pretty anemic. In fact, this prayerlessness is one of the things for which we need to repent and bear the fruit of repentance in taking up the mantle of prayer given us by our Lord. In the service I prepared for my congregation for the National Day of Prayer, I include these confessions of our prayerlessness:
we your people, called by your name, do not humble ourselves and pray but instead go about our business in prideful self-sufficiency and willful neglect of your commandments and decrees, unconcerned for the name of Jesus Christ that we bear and inattentive to his design for us as his disciples;
we do not seek your face nor turn from our loveless indifference and worldly preoccupations, actually tolerating and even enjoying the corruptions of this world to the dishonor of you who has called us to be holy as you are holy;
we are not salt and light to our nation, nor do we desire to be, content to dabble in “Christian” practice and use you for our ends;
(I will post the whole prayer of confession after the May 6 service)
The buzz created by the judicial questioning of a national day of prayer and the ripples of rumor surrounding it should strengthen our resolve to pray, and not just on a designated day. But my guess is that it won't. Being up in arms will not translate to being on our knees. And that is to our shame.
I must admit in my unbelief I did not have high hopes that anyone in my neighborhood would respond to the invitations I gave out letting them know of a Christianity Explored study in my home. Christianity Explored is a 10-week study in the Gospel of Mark that addresses three basic questions: who Jesus is, what He did, and what that means to them. At first I didn’t hear anything. Then after a couple of weeks, I received one email telling me they’d like to attend, then another, then another asking if they could bring a friend. We started with six neighbors plus my wife and myself. As people got into it, they asked if they could invite others. We built from 6 to 8 to 9 and leveled off at ten. For some, they had never been part of a Bible study before.
Several weeks into the study, I received an email from the brother of one of the participants. He commented on how his sister was enjoying the time and then he said this: “I have been a Christian for 20 years now and have been praying for my family that whole time to give their lives to Christ and this seems to be a big answer.”
He thanked me “for being there and for [my] obedience to following God’s lead.” While his words were very meaningful to me and a wonderful encouragement from God, they were just trickle added to the river of blessing I was receiving by God in getting to know these neighbors and being a conduit for Christ in their lives.
How humbling it is to think of our being an answer to others’ prayers! Yet should that surprise us? After all, it is not angels that God uses to reach our neighbors with the gospel of life in Christ. How urgent it is that we prove faithful to our call. Just as we might pray for unbelieving family and friends, asking God to raise up influences for Christ in their lives, so we might find ourselves that answer to the same prayer by others.
In studying the Bible, it's informative not only to look at an account of something, but where that account stands in the flow of events. In the Christianity Explored group I am leading, we looked at Jesus healing the blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26), the only miracle Jesus performed in two stages. As we pan back from that miracle we see it sandwiched between two incidents. The one prior to the miracle closes with Jesus' statement to His disciples, "Do you still not understand?" The incident after the miracle has Jesus asking who people say He is, gleaning an answer first of partial understanding and then of full understanding with Peter's statement that Jesus is the Christ. From there Jesus asserts His mission involving betrayal, crucifixion and resurrection.
Sometimes people have an accurate but incomplete view of Jesus, seeing Him as good teacher or a pious example, even as God in human flesh. Sometimes they have a partial view of the gospel, understand a bit about sin and need for forgiveness but lacking the whole. Part of our witness is listening to a person's view of Jesus and the gospel and looking to how we can complete it.
Interestingly, that listening actually serves to do the same thing in their lives as we are talking about in our study of Scripture. It asks what knowledge they have and where on the continuum between partial and complete they are, where we can meet them to advance that knowledge.
To illustrate how it works, think of the knowledge you had of Jesus and the gospel before coming to a saving knowledge. You saw distorted truth, just as the blind man saw people as trees walking around. But it was the Spirit of God who convinced you of your sin and misery, enlightened your mind in the knowledge of Christ, renewed your will and enabled you to embrace Jesus Christ fully and freely offered in the gospel--the miracle of spiritual sight.
I met with a Christian brother recently who has been vigorously trying to get the Community Houses of Prayer ministry started in his local church. I've always admired this brother for his administrative skills and wizened ways. He knows the patience and perseverance involved in establishing new ideas, and he has exhibited this approach with CHOP in his church--starting small, building an enthusiastic nucleus, trying to bring influential leaders on board, working with appropriate committees. So far he has some enthusiasts who have seen the power of prayer, experienced the heart of God and transformed their mentality as witnesses for Christ through the CHOP ministry. But overall he has encountered apathy and even annoyance.
It seems his church has a mentality of mission that looks to foreign soil. Mission affects them as supporters of "missionaries." There is little sense of or interest in personal witness and how God might use them for the sake the gospel. Complicating matters is the academic approach of the church that is happy to be instructed in theology but reluctant to be involved in its practice. Discipleship stops at education at the expense of being equipped and engaged in service to Christ.
I'm sure these are generalizations and it would be wrong to paint each member of that church with the brush that colors the whole. However, it does highlight a problem with the church militant and the forces of Christ for the sake of gospel and advancement of kingdom of our Lord. It seems to me the culprits are lack of love for God and neighbor, absence of commitment to Jesus Christ and an obstinate view of the church as an outpost of Christ's kingdom.
I would value my readers' thoughts and opinions on the subject. I would also enjoin each us to importunate prayer, giving God no rest until He restores His church to the action of faith that believes the gospel is the only hope of salvation and that we are His appointed conduits.
"I have sinned ; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord."
"We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord.... Pray to the Lord."
Two admissions of guilt. Two requests for mercy. The first came from the lips of Pharaoh in Exodus 9:27, asking Moses to intercede for him. The second was uttered by the people of God in Numbers 21:7. Pharaoh would eventually face the judgment of God in the depths of the Red Sea. For His people, God would tell Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole that everyone bitten may look upon it and be spared the death he deserved.
What was the difference between Pharaoh and the Israelites that God should act as He did? The only answer we can find is that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. The only reason God provided a way of escape from judgment for the Israelites was that He had set His love upon them for His own reasons.
In the provision of the fiery serpent, God shows us Jesus, whom He sent in love that whoever looks to Him in faith may not perish but live, eternally. Jesus is offered to the world, Jew and Gentile alike, but offered for His sheep.
That we believe casts us upon the electing purposes of our God. We deserve mercy no more than the next guy, and we deserve judgment every bit as much as any other sinner. Our response has to be shock and awe at such amazing love and condescending grace.
May this amazing love grip our hearts and compel our witness that we might be the ones to hold up Jesus that everyone who sees Him and believes on Him might gain eternal life.