Do You Need A Blood Transfusion?

I now serve the good news because God gave me his grace. His power is at work in me (Ephesians 3:7 NIRV).

Paul establishes a clear connection between his service to God and the grace God gave him.  He concludes the thought with the statement that God’s power is at work in him to actually do the work God called him to do.

This verse highlights an attribute of grace that is often overlooked – its ability to instruct the saint of God to do right.  In fact, we find in Titus 2:

God's saving grace has appeared to all people.  It teaches us to say no to godless ways and sinful longings. We must control ourselves. We must do what is right. We must lead godly lives in today's world.

It makes sense all the more when you consider that we are not saved from hell, but from sin.  And that’s not just a matter of semantics. What happened in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve affected the course of all of mankind.  When they became separated from God through sin, they passed that fate to every human being afterwards.  The Bible says this about the Fall:

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous (Romans 5:18-19 NKJV).

So like the worst kind of hereditary gene, sin sits as a time bomb, slowly deteriorating our life while we are here on earth, and waiting to be triggered by death to claim us completely.  And there is only one possible cure from the deadly disease of sin – a blood transfusion.  And that blood had to come from someone who was not separated from God, which was Christ Jesus. 

Jesus did not die to save us from hell, but to cure us from sin because Hell is the eternal destination for those who have never received the cure. Without the cure, we die still separated from God and any place devoid of God is Hell. 

While still on earth, we have a window of opportunity in which to decide if we choose to be separated or joined to God.   When we accept the gift of God’s grace, poured out through the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf to right the wrong and cure the disease of sin, we enter a new life, one joined eternally to God, and one that is empowered by grace to teach us the culture of Heaven.

Today, I will celebrate God’s grace in my life and be thankful for the many ways in which God’s grace has changed the course of my path from destruction and damnation to a hope and future in Christ.

It's Personal

Here is the mystery. Because of the good news, God's promises are for non-Jews as well as for Jews. Both groups are parts of one body. They share in the promise. It belongs to them because they belong to Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6 NIRV).

Wikipedia gives this definition of “good news”:

The Christian message of good news is described in the Bible …. It relates to the saving acts of God, centered upon the person of Jesus and his atoning work on the cross and resurrection from the dead. Its context is the storyline of the Christian Bible as a whole, which tells of the creation of humanity, humanity's rebellion against God, and how people from all nations are restored to relationship with God through the person of Jesus. A key theme of the Christian good news is that God offers a new life and forgiveness through Jesus.

So, when we look at the big picture, we see that although God called a man after the fall and from him developed the nation of Israel, the Apostle Paul now reveals that the work God was doing on earth was not just for the sake of this one nation, but also for the sake of the whole world. 

So, why choose a nation at all?  I mean if at the end of the day, God was just going to do what He did to save the whole world, what was the purpose of the calling of Abraham and the creation of the nation of Israel as His chosen people?

Oddly enough, it has everything to do with the personal nature of God.  Yes, He could have just sent His Son to die on a cross without choosing one specific man and creating one specific race of people with whom He intimately interacted throughout the ages to accomplish this purpose.  But, that would not have been characteristic of a God whose entire reason for creating mankind was for relationship. 

The unique connection with Abraham – and ultimately Israel – was to highlight the intense love that God has for His creation.   His desire and design for us is personal.  From the removal of Adam and Eve from the Garden to the burning bush of Moses to the cross on Calvary – every step of God’s interaction with mankind has been riddled with His sovereign love and plan.  Taken as separate encounters, it is easy to dismiss them as allegorical stories that are not real.  Yet when you string the entire story together, it is impossible to deny the evidence that points to a very real God, divinely orchestrating a master plan, on behalf of a wayward wife He is ultimately wooing back.

God chose to work through a specific people group so that we would never look at the “Good News” as a generic act of goodness on the part of a benevolent dictator, but as a desperate act of sacrificial love on the part of an incurable romantic. 

I must never allow the gift of my salvation to become devoid of the intentional and personal touch of the God who calls Himself the protector and guardian of my soul (1 Peter 2:25).

Timeless Mystery

The mystery was not made known to people of other times. But now the Holy Spirit has made it known to God's holy apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:5 NIRV).

Some call it coincidence; others serendipity; the Bible calls it providence.  No matter what you call it, timing is a key factor in life.   From the lightning bolt that hit Benjamin Franklin’s kite, to the exact moment in time when the God of the Universe stepped into time in the form of a tiny, helpless baby, the orchestration of circumstances surrounding events all go into making something the right “time.”

So, why was this now the time to make known the mystery of the Gospel?  Why had God waited until the lifetime of Paul to explain the key connection between the story line of the Old Testament and the story line that would be written through the New Testament? 

There may be many reasons, but the one that is most obvious is that the main character had finally arrived on the scene and the final curtain on His performance had set the stage for the revelation of the greatest romance story every written.  And now, 2000 years later, we all know the mystery:

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him (John 3:16-18 MSG).

I can remember, like it was yesterday, the first time this mystery became known to me.  And while it was almost 30 years ago, the magic of that moment is revived every time I think about it.  No wonder the Bible tells us to remember our first love – the first moment it dawned on you that Jesus was not just an historical figure, but a living, loving, live person who was madly in love with you. 

The Holy Spirit encourages us through Ephesians 3:5 to not let the mystery of this message become mundane just because the revelation is 2000 years old.  Remember that for many people every day the mystery is just being revealed.

I need to be vigilant to look for the circumstances that may be lining up for the perfect timing in the lives of those around me for the mystery of the Gospel to come alive.

The Mysteries of God

By reading it you will be able to understand what I know about the mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3:4 NIRV).

It is one of the subtle hazards of being a Christian for more than five or ten years – we can start to take the Bible for granted.  We often read a section of Scripture and think, “Oh yeah, I know that.  That’s a great principle . . .” and move right along with our day.  That would be a mistake. 

The Word of God is exactly that – the inspired, timeless, powerful, and prophetic words of our Heavenly Father to His family.  It is not a bunch of stories, principles, dos and don’ts, linked together with a few poetic books, and a very scary final chapter that seems to have no relationship whatsoever to life on planet earth right now (except of course for that earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the boiling over of the middle East, the impending cashless society, and the possibility that we just might be the great Babylon that is falling – oh, but I digress). 

The Word of God is, in fact, the unveiling of God’s master plan and as it so boldly proclaims about itself:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17 TNIV).

The power of God’s Word, however, is not in the mere reading, but in the doing.  That’s why the Apostle James states:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like.  But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continue in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do (James 1:22-25 TNIV).

We have the very mysteries of God explained to us in the Word of God.  If we truly believe that God is the Sovereign of the Universe and Jesus is our Lord and Savior, why would we not avail ourselves of the benefit of knowing God’s plan and purpose for our lives?  How else are we to get in alignment with the master plan that is unfolding at this very moment? 

Lord, help me to maintain a fresh appreciation for the treasure I have at my fingertips in Your Word.   And grant me the wisdom to understand the mysteries of Christ and to put them into action so that I will stay in step with Your Spirit on the narrow path towards the goal of the high call in Christ Jesus.  

Playing It Safe or Making a Difference

how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already (Ephesians 3:3 NKJV)

Before you start to envy the profound insights of the Apostle Paul, consider soberly the price tag: 

. . .  For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:48 NKJV).

While Paul may have been gifted by God to explain mysteries hidden from the foundation of the earth, he was also hand picked by God to “suffer many things for the name of Christ.” He mentioned just a few:

²⁴ From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—(2 Corinthians 11:24-27 NKJV).

It is our human tendency to want the gain without the pain, the glory without the gut-wrenching trials that create the kind of character that can rightly handle fame and fortune.  We pray earnestly for God to use us for His glory, yet many times when the first inkling of suffering comes our way, we are begging for a way out.  We are very different from the first church, who after being beaten for the sake of the Gospel, prayed for the courage to speak God’s Word more boldly so that the Will and Power of God could be made manifest on earth.  We live in one of the safest and most blessed countries in the world, yet our prayer lives are consumed with requests for safety, comfort, and more blessings.  We don’t often pray that we would be counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.

I am so guilty of being a comfortable Christian who does God’s will when it is convenient and continues to request the high road.  Lord, please help me to deny my flesh’s craving for self-gratification, and grant me a spirit of sacrifice that will deny you nothing you wish to do in my life and that will allow you to have a heart in me dedicated to the trenches. 

The Calling of Grace

I am sure you have heard that God appointed me to share his grace with you (Ephesians 3:2 NIRV)

Paul was chosen, appointed, and equipped to share the message of grace with the Gentiles.  Big deal, so what?  Without taking into consideration what this meant to Paul, personally, that could easily be your response.  However, when you stop to think about who Paul was and look at the brief description he pens about himself to the Philippians, it begins to take on more meaning:

circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless (Philippians 3:5-6 NKJV).

Paul wasn’t just any old Jew.  He was from the most elite group in Israel.  His claim regarding no blame means that his every waking moment was spent observing the law – the very law that forbid him from ever being affiliated with a non-Jew.  So, here we have the quintessential picture of God’s grace – taking everything Paul held holy and lawful and subjugating it to the law of love.  God was blowing the doors off the Jewish corner of His market and opening wide the gates of Heaven to the Gentiles.  This was no small thing – and especially to a Pharisee of Paul’s standing.  It would be the modern day equivalent of sending Billy Graham to preach the Gospel to the Muslims. 

Yet in the midst of this master plan is the majesty of grace. Mercy is being spared from the punishment we deserve, but grace is being given something we could never earn or deserve – adoption into the family of God; restoration from sinfulness to a righteous position with a Holy God.   No amount of lawful observance could ever put someone in that position and no one knew that better than Paul.  That’s why he was the perfect choice for the job.

What is it that you have discovered about your own walk with the Lord that makes you recognize God’s grace in your life?  That’s the exact calling in which God wants you to walk.  For me, it is in marriage.  After four failed attempts, God uses my current marriage to remind me daily that in me no good thing dwells.  If I have a great relationship with my husband, it is all because of God’s grace.

Lord, thank you for the grace you have given me to experience the unity that you designed for marriage.  And grant me the mercy when I fail to realize that my ability to get back up is found in your grace because it restores me to You and in You I can do all things.