a personal reflection: through endurance & scriptural encouragement

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4

This was Paul's attitude toward the Old Testament. The scriptures existed as the source for instruction for Christians. The goal of the instruction of the scriptures was to have a real and firm hope. This was not hope in the sense we generally think of it, like "I hope I get what I want for Christmas". This was hope like a firm and unshakeable confidence. It was based on the knowledge of God in His holy Word. It is an indescribably real and sure thing, even though it is in the future and requires waiting and faith to receive.

The goal was hope, but the process was to understand and draw that hope from the things written in the scriptures. That is why I see as absolutely vital the process of doing what I do right now, and virtually every morning: I must be reading, studying, and filling my thoughts with the truth of God's Word. For me, the best time that I can achieve this is when I rise up early in the morning before the rest of my family. It would be easy to let that hour be filled with sleep. But it is best that it be filled with God's thoughts, which I can only find in an understandable form in the Bible.

I find that this practice creates regular and daily encouragement for me. There are times where I need constant encouragement. There are other times where the immediate effect is to help me encourage someone else. And there are times where sin in me keeps me from really applying the truth until I give in to the conviction of sin that the Word and God's Spirit bring, then confess and forsake it, and thus find the encouraging relief of forgiving mercy in God and sustaining grace.

All of those are experiences of encouragement and hope. And God's Word has never failed me in either category. I cannot say that about anything else in my life.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

when Christians disagree

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Romans 14:19

It is bound to happen. Christians are going to have disagreements and differences of opinion. And we are not left to our own devices when it comes to dealing with them. The God Who brought us together in the church will help us get along despite these differences. But that does not mean that the church has always done so.

One of the inevitabilities of two millennia of history as that a lot of people have done a lot of things. In the case of church history there is a lot that we have done right. But there is a lot that we have done wrong. Many of the problems the church has encountered through the centuries have been the result of not obeying the scriptures when it comes to settling disputes among ourselves. That is why Romans 14 is such a vital chapter. It helps us understand that not every Christian is at the same personal place. And some believers are weaker or stronger than others. Grace should lead us to defer to one another.

The overarching principle from this powerful yet small verse is that a driving motivation should direct the way Christians interact with one another. We should pursue peace by words and actions that encourage and build up one another. Sadly, that is not the first response we are inclined to have. There are clear cases where doctrinal heresy cannot be tolerate. And deliberate immorality is also to be clearly dealt with. But in all other situations (which is most of what we encounter in learning to get along in the Body of Christ) we are called to pursue peace. It is the defining characteristic that God wants for His church.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

...when in Rome?

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Romans 13:14

This verse makes a natural transition in the book of Romans. Paul has gone from a section detailing the practical results of personal sanctification (Romans 12) to a section describing the social impact by believers who do so (proper submission to secular authorities: Romans 13:1-7). From there he talks about how proper Christian practice ought to lead to behavior that is ultimately law-abiding and respected by the governing authority of the state (Romans 13:8-10). The chapter concludes with this verse in a context of contrasting sinful practice of the pagans with the holy lifestyles of believers (Romans 13:11-14).

It is this practical contrast that is worth thinking about. It is about replacement. The Roman believers were situated in a difficult climate for holiness. Really, any large city in the Roman empire was beset with immorality and idolatry. You can see the negative effects of this in the book of 1 Corinthians where Paul has to reprimand a church that has caved to the pressures. He has already noted that the Roman church has a stellar reputation known to Christians throughout the world. He aims to keep it that way by reminding them of the need to replace sinful behaviors with sanctified living. And that comes through their relationship with Christ. They were called to be Romans who lived like Jesus in Rome. And that meant that sinful desires could not be provided for, indulged, or exalted.

If you want to know exactly where the contrast was most apparent, just read Romans 13:13. Six distinct problems sins were to be replaced by life in Christ. And they sound like the Roman empire at the depths of its depravity: "Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy." Rome allowed for every kind of personal indulgence, particularly among the decadently wealthy. And it would easy to follow the adage: "when in Rome". But Christianity defines behavior by being "in Christ" and not "in Rome".

That principle is vital today. Every form of personal and sensual indulgence is available in our culture. How else can we explain that pornography is a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry larger than the Hollywood movie-making monolith? And sadly, Christians are being trapped by it. We have often lowered our standards at the cost of Christlike compassion and service to the world. It is time to make Romans 13:14 a meaningful commitment once again. I know it challenges me, because the lifestyle challenges of living in Rome are always present in my world. In fact they are less than a mouse click away in this digital age...


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

by testing you may discern

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2

I often see the main principle of this verse as a key component of my ministry of discipleship and counseling. I am called to work with the Word of God and the Spirit of God to help mature the church of God. This means that individuals have to be taught that their natural difficulty is conformation to the world around them. God wants to change them by transformation. And the primary agent of change for this transformation is the renewing of the mind.

This makes it sound like it is just a mental process, but it is not at all. In fact if the verse ended there, I suppose we could say that. But it does not. It goes on to explain that renewing of the mind results in certain actions. The first one is to "test in order to discern the will of God". We live out what we learn. It is not just mental assent or simple Sunday School quiz facts. Paul says that if it does not pass the test of being lived out as the will of God in our lives, it is not really transforming truth.

The idea of "testing that you may discern" comes as a translation of one Greek word in the text. It is a critical word. It translates dokimazo which is a word that means to find the worth of something by putting it to use or testing it. So this is a very accurate translation in the ESV. It means that biblical truth is transforming as I accept the challenge to my thinking scripture creates and then act on it in my life to see the difference. It is a critical kind of living, not just a wishful kind of mental exercise. It is the end result of scripture creating in me a biblical worldview. I must now live it.

So in the end, good disciples are critical thinkers who take God's truth seriously enough to make real lifestyle choices and changes based upon the challenge to our thinking that is in scripture. We know its value by living it out. We discern the truth by also living through the implications of believing it. Discerning disciples test the truth and are changed by it.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

where the glory goes

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:36

You are where the glory goes
when things go well
when life seems sweet
happiness is all I meet

You are where the glory goes
when more like hell
is what I greet
pain and trouble trip my feet

You are where the glory goes
in good or bad
in joy or tears
in confidence or trembling fears

You are where the glory goes
when I achieve
more than I should
only because God is good

You are where the glory goes
when I fail
and need relief
grace, confession renew peace

You are where the glory goes
when morning's light
shines a new day
promising to guide my way

You are where the glory goes
when weary night
takes me to bed
with You I rest my head

You are where the glory goes
loving the story
saving faith in the WORD
saving life in my Lord.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

the heart of belief

...because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:9-10

This is one of the most encouraging and motivating of all the scriptures for me. This is not because I consider myself any kind of stellar evangelist. I find it to be core for my experience of commitment as a follower of Jesus. It begins at the very core of who I am as a person. I am first and foremost a sinner who needs to confess surrender to the Lord God my Creator and Savior. Without that kind of simple start, all my priorities are out of whack. With that confession, life starts to get into proper perspective.

The scary part of confession is that there is a public element to that to one degree or another. While it is true that I may make that confession in private before God, ultimately, it will show. Others will know by what I say and what I do that I confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Master of my life. And that will put me under scrutiny by those who aren't serious in that matter before God, at least not serious enough to let it reorder their relationships, commitments, priorities, and lifestyle. But confession of a Savior is supposed to be the start of that new life. And it has to be known to some degree to truly be a confession "with the mouth".

The second personal element in this passage is the heart. It is the center of personal belief. I believe that something fundamentally and monumentally important happened with Jesus' death on the cross. This is evidenced by the resurrection. Paul makes it clear that it is the resurrection that is the centerpiece of faith. If I believe God has raised Jesus from the dead, then I accept that as validation of everything He said and did, taught and modeled, including His claim that His death would accomplish an eternal atonement and solution for the sin problem for humanity at an individual level. That is why atheists and skeptics want to attack the resurrection, even more than any other Christian doctrine. It is the blood and marrow of our faith. Remove it and we are just dry, stale, and lifeless.

A final point of observation from this passage: We act in confession and faith, but then God acts upon that. We actively believe and confess, but then we receive salvation. And that is the greater work. We still depend upon God for our salvation even when we take those steps of faith and confession. Paul does not try to settle the tension of that truth. He simply states it as fact. None of us could be saved from death and hell by our own belief alone. But God will not save someone who does not confess and believe either. Both are what is necessary for the gospel to impact us for salvation.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

the ultimate determiner: a merciful God

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Romans 9:16

Human will, though powerful, is not the final master of our destiny. Where we are, who we are, what we are and how we are... belong to God's grace and mercy. We cannot save ourselves. We are limited. God is not. And it is His mercies that give us the lives we have.

Paul is talking about the really big picture when he says this. Romans nine through eleven deal with God's overarching purposes for the nation of Israel. Paul chose to talk about this to Rome, the center of the Gentile world, because he wanted them to understand that God moved on cosmic and grand scales, not just on the personal level. And Rome represented the grandeur of imperial power. It was the center of the political and military world of its day. And God was bigger, as evidenced with what He was doing with His people Israel. The only reason anyone receives any chance at life that pleases God is because God is first merciful. That is the initial understanding of His sovereignty that all of us need to know.

Paul does not negate human will by this teaching. He just sets it in its place. The main problem with human beings is that we tend toward a pride that makes us think we are the penultimate deciders of our own fate. But being mortal, that cannot be. Being moral creatures, that cannot be. We must answer to our Creator.

I do not believe that God's mercy or His will prevent us from exercising and knowing true free will choices. But I also do not believe that any human choice or set of choices ever catches God by surprise or is beyond His power. He is merciful to us, allowing us much freedom in our lives, even to the point of having a will that can choose to disbelieve Him. But He is still sovereign over even human sin and disbelief... which is why Hell is a real place. Christ in His mercy died to take the keys of death and Hell in grasp for us. But our hope and faith and future depend on God's mercy ultimately, and not our own efforts to correct sin in us. And I am thankful for that, because I know my efforts in that regard are weakened by a sinful flesh to the extent that without God's mercies, I would never stand a chance of living the life I have in Christ. Thank God He is merciful. The gospel abounds with it!


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13