TRUTH BE TOLD

I WAS DEAD

I’ve walked with Christ for years now and sadly it’s so easy to get into a rut where the spiritual realties that once tasted sweet and fresh lose their flavor/become so familiar they drift away from soul stirring, worship inducing, holiness producing, reality and into the realm of dry conceptual long ago accepted facts. For me this always happens as a result of neglect. Neglect of God’s Word, prayer, serving others, etc etc. 

In my sanctification, God always has to do the heavy lifting for me. I say this not to dismiss personal discipline in pursuing Christ, but more to address the reality that I can be as disciplined as I  want, but ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit that enlightens my heart and gives me spiritual tastebuds. In being disciplined in seeking the Lord, I am making myself available to His filling, not filling myself. Getting under the faucet, if you will.

All that to say, these are the first draft words to a song He gave me and has had on my heart this past week or so. It has been giving me fresh life and reviving me to simple awe and thankfulness. Praise God. It’s from Ephesians 2. The truth: I was dead: but God. I was dead:but God. I was dead: but God. 

——

EPH 2

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

——

V1

my heart was dead and dark

your love sparked new life

my eyes were broken and blind

in love with a lie until You shined.

Pre

By no good of my own I’ve been saved.

I was deep in the debt of the grave.

C

You raised me to life and unchained me.

You raised me to life and remade me.

You raised me to life and embraced me as your own.

V2

These days I’m still at war

needing more and more of You

but some day soon you’ll split the sky

and I will fly home with you.

B

He pulled my dead soul from the depths of the sea

and there on the shores of eternity

He raised me to life and bid me go free

then beckoned me home to sit at His feast

My cup overflows and His favor flows down

once robed in such shame, He bestowed me a crown

Praise God O my soul for favor unearned

Praise God I’m living by life not my own

He Loves Colors

I met up with one of my best buds yesterday at his alma mater Wheaton College to play some basketball and share a meal. He is taking a grad level systematic theology class and is an all around bright guy, so the conversation naturally got deep relatively quickly. We sat in a crowded and clanging college cafeteria.

“Why do you think God created colors?” he said. “Well, I guess because he likes variety” I replied, knowing that my answer left something to be desired.

“You know why I think He did it?”, he said. “I think God created colors because He likes them. He delights in the vibrant. And He wants us to share in that. And, here’s where my mind really explodes”, he said, leaning back in his chair, “maybe, just maybe, if God delights in something so simple as colors, He actually delights in us. Like, maybe He doesn’t just put up with me, and have pity on me, but He really takes joy in me. Can’t get enough. Maybe we are the ultimate variety and vibrancy”

I stared back blankly, trying to seem deep in thought as I processed.

“We know so little about the ultimate character of the infinite God at the end of the day” he said. We know He is love, we know He is justice, and we have all of the “omnis”. That’s really about it. But I think we can infer, based on creation, that He is also a God who is full of pleasures.”

I drove home processing the conversation and chose to ignore common sense and basic traffic laws by checking my twitter on I-355. The first thing I read was a tweet from a pastor I deeply respect. It read;

“Love for God and love for the things of this world cannot coexist. Period. (1 John 2:15)

I noticed that the tweet had created a bit of a stir in christian cyber space. People responding, asking pointed questions like; “What about my wife?” “What about my family, am I not supposed to love them?”,  and “so, should I feel guilty about enjoying the things of this world?” 

1 John 2:15 reads: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Woah. My guilty conscience started running. “The love of the Father is not in him??? That’s the last thing I want! And I know I love some things in the world a ton. I love food. I love my friends. I love to play sports, and to spend time resting at home when I’m done. I love my wife. I love good art!”

I’d had enough of this heavy stuff. I got home and turned on the TV.

But I woke up this morning still processing the conversation I’d had over lunch and the passage in 1John. I made myself a cup of coffee and pulled up a chair at the kitchen table where I now sit typing. I have been working my way through 1 Timothy and this morning I fell on this verse:

1 Timothy 4:4-5: For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made Holy by the word of God and prayer”

One of the things I have learned over time is that Scripture always interprets Scripture. Basically it means that the Bible never contradicts itself, so you always use the Scripture to come to an understanding of how seemingly contradictory passages are actually quite harmonious.

“Nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving…It is made holy…” hmmmm.

“Do not love the world…the love of the father is not in him…hmmmm.”

“He loves colors…hmmm?”

My pen started moving in my journal, my mind scrambling for some resolve as to what the Scriptures are really saying here. Here’s what came out:

 “By enjoying Ice cream, tv, sports, a cold beer, a home, my family, I should be drawn deeper and deeper into worship. Drawn to God, who is good and kind and generous. By enjoying these things, I should be neither enraptured nor enthralled by their goodness, but by His. I should be tasting and seeing His heart, that He loves color, vibrancy, flavor, and all good things and that this is why He created them, to showcase and share His pleasures. My worship and love for Him should grow deeper, not more shallow. At dinner, I should not exclaim, “I love steak!!”, but rather “God is good!!”.

Sadly our sinful hearts are prone to lesser, easier loves. When I drink a beer, I am prone to fall in love with a feeling, a taste, an experience, and in turn to look away from God and enter into sin. Still, beer, sex, food, and leisure, are not the problem. They are holy and good, made holy by the word of God and prayer. But I am depraved. I defile them when I shift my worship off of God the Creator and retreat into my own consumeristic pleasure in the objects themselves. They subtly drift from being life giving gifts and reflections of God’s kindness and joy, and become deadly slave masters and thieves of the true joy that can only be found in the worship of God the Creator.”

—

Even as I wrote I could hear the skeptics voice in my head. “What about drugs then? I can worship by smoking weed?” Then it hit me. There is no absolute line. Grey does exist. On a certain level, this is largely subjective, an issue of conscience. For some, alcohol will and should be taboo. Reason: it puts them in a frame of mind that can’t possibly draw them into worship, but rather pulls them away. It leads them not into thankfulness and worship, but to forgetfulness and indulgence. And without question, there are certain substances that rest firmly in the black in that they alter the human mind and body in such a way that you could never have the wherewithal of reverence, thankfulness, and worship while partaking, not to mention they are illegal and lead to an unbiblical dependance on something other than God to feel “ok”.

 Perhaps I digress here, but I felt it was important to say.

The point is this. God’s word clearly instructs us to enjoy and delight in His creation. After all, God Himself was the first to call it all “good”.  And though broken at the fall, common grace has preserved a remnant of the original God injected goodness of the garden.

But the end goal of the enjoyment of creation is much deeper than it may seem: it is the glory of the Great I AM; The soul stirring, taste bud stimulating, eyelid peeling, ear drum slamming, thankfulness saturated, absolutely sensational heart soul and mind level worship of a vividly experienced and ultimately treasured Creator, who is to be equally experienced in the unseen places and quiet whispers of our souls, and in the deafening roars of a waterfall and the restful enjoyment of a meal in peace filled home.

So, do not love the world and the things in it. If you do, you are missing an unspeakably bigger opportunity to delight in the very heart of delight. And by putting creation over Creator you make yourself an idolater. But by all means, enjoy the gifts the Lord delights to give you. With thankfulness in your heart, rejoice that you have a God who delights in everything He has created and is glorified when you enjoy His goodness in them. 

And this is not to be taken lightly. If our immediate response to all of this is “Well not me, I don’t struggle with loving creation…”, beware, for “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9)

Oh that we would see God for all that He is and love Him unspeakably. Oh that we might find true joy that is unshakable and firm in Christ Jesus, the rock that is higher than high. Oh that we might come to see that He delights in us, and in turn, delight in Him alone.

— 

“He’s a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a facade. Or only like foam on the seashore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure. He makes no secret of it; at His right hand are ‘pleasures for evermore.’

CS Lewis “The Screwtape Letters

Ps 16: 4,5,11

The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.

You make known to me the path of life.

In your presence there is fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 34:8 

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

chandler on subtle drift from Jesus in our churches. good.

We’re aware the assumption exists [ that our churches are already Jesus centered], and are burdened by it…

Drift is always subtle, personally and corporately. We have to be vigilant to honestly evaluate the spiritual health of our community and culture. For instance, is your church a safe place to struggle? Is there an atmosphere of grace? Does the believer struggling with sin feel compelled by the culture of your church to wear a mask and promote an image? Or is there a healthy culture of confession and repentance? Is there a welcoming spirit of hospitality that exudes the hospitable nature of Christ to both the member and the guest? Is there an evident heart for the nations and missional living? Does your children’s ministry promote morals and virtues apart of the reality and empowerment of the gospel? Are sermons laced with Jesus and the promises of his gospel, or is he strangely absent? Is there a culture and pervasive spirit of prayer, or are most decisions pragmatic in nature?

——

read it all here:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/mobile/article/tgc/jesus-drenched-churches-matt-chandler-on-gospel-culture

 

why a kaleidoscope?

my wife has a blog. this is it. love her.

brookemmiller:

A kaleidoscope is full of ornate colors and shapes that are continually changing as the lens is twisted.  It is intricately comprised of mirrors and an assortment of vibrant beads so when light shines through a florid masterpiece arises.  Every twist and turn creates a new image, a new pattern, igniting a new awe within the onlooker.  

Read More

“I hate pride and arrogance!” Proverbs 8:13

What a monster of pride is man! How full of that 
cursed venom, is human nature! We cannot receive any 
grace or blessing from the Lord—but corrupt nature is 
prone to be proud of it—and to boast in it! No one is 
exempt from this. I appeal to your hearts. I refer to 
your experience. When your heart has been enlarged 
in prayer; when your soul has been carried out in 
humblings, meltings, longings, aspirings, etc.; when 
you have heard the Word with warm affections and 
heavenly joy; when your tongue has with sweetness 
and liberty, talked of Christ to others; when your hand 
has been stretched forth to do any good work; now in 
all these—have you not found pride very busy? Have 
not you been ready to stroke yourself with pleasure, 
and to reflect with delight: “Well, now the Lord loves 
me indeed! Surely He loves me better—now that I
find myself so holy—and feel myself so heavenly!” 

But where is our precious Jesus all this while? We have 
looked at ourselves—until we have lost sight of Him! 
We have been admiring our vile selves for our 
graces—instead of being in raptures with Christ, who 
is altogether lovely, in whom all fullness of grace 
dwells, and out of whose fullness we receive grace 
upon grace!

“The Lord detests all the proud of heart!” Proverbs 16:5

- william mason

—-

Lord help me.

the praise of the praiseworthy: the gospel

It’s been a while here folks. But I have a rant.

I need the Gospel every hour. Every minute, of every day. 

I’ve actually heard people say that the word “gospel” is over used. Gospel? Overused? Never! Abused, misunderstood, spoken in vain, almost certainly. But never overused. I’d love to see us try though. 

The second I take my eyes off of the cross of Christ and the justification afforded me in Christ, and I literally mean the second, I lose sight of everything good. I plunge back into every vice Christ died to pull me from. Back into insecurity, back into pride, back into fear, back into license and law.

“The praise of the praiseworthy is above ALL rewards”, says Captain Faramir to Frodo in Tolkien’s The Two Towers. And how true it is. We live our lives chasing it. Entire lives are spent in pursuit of it. Climbing the unending ladder. Fighting to feel worthy, to feel beautiful, to feel skilled, to feel significant, to feel…justified.

This is why I need the Gospel. I have to have the praise of the praiseworthy, I will search it out…somewhere. In the Gospel alone I am counted worthy, beautiful,and loved by the ultimately praiseworthy Creator of all things praised.

Only at the cross is my exhausting pursuit of praise ended. Only at the cross is the nauseating sense that I am just not good enough run through. Only at the cross is the vague promise that the praise of man, that success, money, comfort, will bring me joy exposed for the dark and crippling lie that it is. Only at the cross can I rest myself.

Only with the cross in sight am I freed to create for the simple joy of creating, to work without fear of failing. Only in knowing that God adores me through the sacrifice of Christ, can I begin to truly find myself.

Give me Gospel. Every second. Every minute. Every word. Let us bless the Lord together. Let us remember all He has done. Let me tell you, and please please tell me, that we are redeemed, purchased, bought back from sin. That we are delighted in by a holy God through Christ. That our efforts can get us nowhere, and Christ already did the work. Let’s sing and speak the works of God and find freedom and joy and love and peace and self forgetfulness. And if I may be so bold, preaching anything but Gospel seems a bit nearsighted to me. Only by the gospel is my heart melted into a holy longing for God that brings joy through obedience.

Take me to the cross. Please. I’m begging you.

Do not think me gentle
because I speak in praise
of gentleness, or elegant
because I honor the grace
that keeps this world. I am
a man crude as any,
gross of speech, intolerant,
stubborn, angry, full
of fits and furies. That I
may have spoken well
at times, is not natural.
A wonder is what it is.

-Wendell Berry

wow. just wow. and also, yes.

Thanks for sharing josh.

“Oh God of the Open Ear” - a puritan prayer - w/some random thoughts

Below is a beautiful and challenging prayer. Full surrender is so uncomfortable until your soul sees that He is the only trustworthy resting place and that hope in the world’s promises end in death; physical, emotional, spiritual, temporal, and eternal. He is teaching me to hope in deeper things.

I have recognized in myself, as of late, intentional daily acknowledgement of God’s holiness, glory, and grace, and yet felt only in isolated instances any true adoration or awe.

Worship runs deeper than conscious acknowledgement, it happens by the Spirit when I least expect it, and how sweet it is. I am learning.  Lord, help me to see you, trust you, wait on you, love you, move past conscious acknowledgment and into free delight, that I might stand in awe and find the rest of worship today.

————————-

O God of the open ear,
Teach me to live by prayer as well as by providence,
for myself, soul, body, children, family, church.

Give me a heart frameable to Your will,
so I might live in prayer,
and honor You,
being kept from evil, known and unknown.

Help me to see the sin that accompanies all I do,
and the good I can distill from everything.

Help me not only to desire small things
but with holy boldness to desire great things
for Your people, for myself,
that they and I might live to show Your glory.

———

Thanks Josh.