Grace - How Does God Deal With Our Sin?

Check out this link:

http://escapetoreality.org/2013/03/15/how-does-god-deal-with-our-sin/

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Adam and Eve on the Road to Emmaus

In Genesis 3, God carries on a conversation with Adam and Eve.  They've just messed up by believing they could (or needed to) choose between good and evil for themselves.  This act brought sin into the world and created in them an orphan attitude:  a fear of their Father.  They were, of course, not without hope, because God prophesied a coming Savior (Gen. 3:15b "he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel).

I wonder...

if God's conversation with these two, Adam and Eve, should be compared with Jesus' conversation with His two disciples, Cleopas and his companion, on the Emmaus Road.  They knew what they had seen during the last week and a half:  Jesus' triumphal entry, miracle after miracle, and Jesus' arrest, trial and crucifixion.  Even the report of the disappearance of Jesus' body and supposed resurrection made all they had seen and heard all the more confusing.

Yet Jesus did rise from the dead, and I feel like somehow He ends a conversation with them that He started in the Garden of Eden.

It's as if He were to say:  "Adam and Eve, here's the consequences of your choice to not trust in Me.  A curse will come upon you and all creation, but I will one day redeem you from it."  And to those traveling to Emmaus (Luke 24), He might have said:  "My disciples, I've now taken the curse and sent away all sin under the Law.  This was written about Me and foretold by all the prophets.  The work of redemption and restoration has been completed."

But I have a question:  Why did Jesus at first conceal His identity to those disciples?

Let's suppose you are seated beside someone on a plane.  You and this person casually strike up a conversation and it flows very naturally.  Believing the other person to just be a "normal" person, you speak honestly and are not tempted to impress.  Some time later, you learn that the person you were conversing with is an internationally-known business-mogol whose ingenuity earned his company billions.  How would you feel now?  Like an idiot?  That the topics you introduced in your conversation were absurdly below the intelligence and wisdom of this person?

I believe that Jesus hid His true appearance from those two disciples so that they would not have experienced the same fear as Adam and Eve:  that "Oh, Jesus, we really messed up", self-deprecating, groveling reaction, which would have blocked their ears from hearing the good news of restoration and reconciliation.  Because Jesus was sensitive to this possible reaction to them, He hid His identity, enabling them to hear the good news of Him first, which, as the Gospel news should do in any person, caused a fire to stir in their hearts.  He then broke bread with them, and only then did He reveal His identity, as if to say, "I'm not angry or disappointed with you.  I just wanted you know what great thing I had done so you wouldn't leave Jerusalem and be discouraged for the rest of your life!"

I pray that you will believe that Christ Jesus (God's ability to Save) really did settle those issues that you return to time and time again; that you would no longer look back to what you once were and did, and would now see yourself fully restored, reconciled, righteous, sanctified and holy, and complete in Jesus.  Stop groveling and begin reigning.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Fatherhood Defined

The first-century Jewish hope of a Messiah did not include the idea that God would be incarnate in human flesh.  That He would be with them, yes.  But certainly not one OF them.  The Jewish people expected Messiah would be a man whom God anointed, much like Moses, David, or Ejilah.  However, His plan was much greater, but He had to disguise Himself, and He did so, as a baby in a lowly manger, as a young boy in Nazareth, and as a young man walking in and around Galilee.  When God revealed Himself in Jesus like this, NO ONE reacted in cowardice and fear, and for the first time since the Garden of Eden, God walked among His people

People were drawn to Him, not repelled.  His gracious presence allowed them to be real and thus find acceptance.  Jesus didn't want sinners groveling at His feet which, for us, has unfortunately become the model of holiness.  "Fear God because He is Holy!" is the trumpet call of slave mentality under the old covenant.

No, God is a loving God who has settled the sin issue:  Jesus said, "If you really knew Me, you would know my Father as well."  Such tender images are given to us to explain our Father's love and desire for a tender relationship with us, IN us:

Young children beloved by a gracious Father

The bride of an eager bridegroom

Friends dear enough to die for

Little chicks under the loving wings of a hen

When we see the reactions of sinners afraid and prostrating themselves before angels and manifestions of God, it has less to do with God's holiness, and far more to do with how sinful people naturally reacted to God.

How did Peter react to Jesus?  "Go away from me, Lord.  I'm a sinful man."  How did Jesus respond?  Did He say, "Yes, Peter, you're a lousy sinner.  Be grateful I don't vaporize you right now"?

No!  He elevated Peter to be a son, a co-heir, one who goes about the business of his Father!

So, stop groveling and start reigning!  God is serious about the intimacy and security of a relationship with Him built on love and trust.  And for those who think this is presumptive on our part, well, guess what, it was His idea, not ours!

"Finding a true friendship with the living God never demeans who He is.  It doesn't reduce Him to our level and allow us to treat Him tritely; it only defines His Fatherhood in ever more grandeur." - Wayne Jacobsen

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Moses Changed!

I want to share something in Scripture that I recently noticed.  We all know that Moses couldn't speak very well, right?  Here it is, Exodus 4:10 in his own testimony in two translations:

Moses raised another objection to God: "Master, please, I don't talk well. I've never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer." (MSG)

But Moses pleaded with the Lord, "O Lord, I'm not very good with words. I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled." (NLT)

But look at what must have changed when Moses is mentioned in Acts 7:22:

Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action. (NLT)

...and Moses was taught in all wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and in works.  (YLT)

What???

Well, I guess two things must have changed:  Moses' heart and speech.  It's obvious that Moses was not confident at all when called by God, but after spending time with God, Moses has experienced God's continual affirmation.  God blessed all that Moses did and He brought favor and honor to Moses.

Could it be that when we experience the Father-love of God, a confidence we've never known grows and influences not only our attitude, but also our (dis)abilities?  Could it possibly be that Moses, having become confident that God contended for him, eventually became the man whose speech was powerful, effective, and eloquent?

I pray that Grace will continue to show you who Christ is IN you and FOR you.

No limitations, for...

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - His Presence Gives Us Confidence To Go Off The Map

The following passage is taken from Bill Johnson's book "When Heaven Invades Earth".  Enjoy!

"History provides us with a lesson from a great military leader.  Alexander the Great led his armies in victory after victory, and his desire for ever greater conquest finally brought him to the foot of the Himalayas.  He wanted to go beyond these intimidating mountains.  Yet, no one knew what was on the other side.  Senior officers were troubled by his new vision.  Why?  They had gone to the edge of their map--there was no map for the new territory that Alexander wanted to possess.  These officers had a decision to make:  would they be willing to follow their leader off the map, or would they be content to live within its boundaries?  They chose to follow Alexander.

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit can present us with the same dilemma.  While He never contradicts His Word, He is very comfortable contradicting our understanding of it.  Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security.  None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit.  He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth.  But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map--to go beyond what we know.  To do so successfully, we must recognize His presence above all.

There is a great difference between the way Jesus did ministry and the way it typically is done today.  He was completely dependent on what the Father was doing and saying.  He illustrated this lifestyle after His Holy Spirit baptism.  He followed the Holy Spirit's leading, even when it seemed unreasonable, which it often did.

The Church has all too often lived according to an intellectual approach to the Scriptures, void of the Holy Spirit's influence.  We have programs and institutions that in no way require the Spirit of God to survive.  In fact, much of what we call ministry has no safeguard in it to ensure that He is even present.  When our focus is not the presence of God, we end up doing the best we can for God.  Our intentions may be noble, but they are powerless in effect."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy