A picture from one of the many trips to Emmaline Lake, this time with my good friend, Omar Herrera.

Verses of the past week

This week's verses for me were Psalm 27:4 and Psalm 119:18. 119 was particularly striking and apropos for me, given the upcoming talk on Friday at 02. I desperately needed to hear from my Lord and His Word, as do all of us (fortunately!). It is so evident to me when I haven't prayed or submitted my heart to Him before I enter His Word. My mind simply does not comprehend the meaning, only "seeing" words and not the meaning.The necessity of taking my thoughts captive never had so much appropriateness as in those instances. Psalm 27:4. Ok, ok, so I stole this verse from Jerry Bridges and Helen Roseveare at the Desiring God conference, but the Bible doesn't mind, right? :) I love this verse. To dwell in the Lord's house, to bask in His presence, every single day is such a comfort to me. To yearn to just be near Him and that the closeness of God is my good spur me on to seek out and cherish those times away. "To inquire in His temple" makes me think of entering a library, earnestly seeking the answer to a question, or guidance in a sticky situation. Pointed to the right book, the answer is found, but only after hours of study and meditation. Incidentally, my footnote says that "to inquire" also means to "meditate". I hope these thoughts encourage you as they did me! Press on!

11.16.07 O2 Message: Perseverance

Here's the transcript of my talk at O2 on 11.16.07:

Perseverance

Good evening! Tonight I’d like to pass on some wisdom I heard at a conference earlier this year in Minneapolis. It was a Desiring God conference in conjunction with John Piper’s ministry of the same name. The overall theme for the conference this year was “Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints.” I thought it particularly appropriate for tonight, as we all head towards the end of this year and semester. Because of this, what I share here is as much for me and my benefit as yours, but my sincere hope is that each of you will be able to learn from this message. Specifically, I am going to address the issue of perseverance, and how critical it is to a maturing believer to not only grasp the concept and impact of it, but to embrace it as a lifestyle. Let’s pray.

Let me start by defining perseverance.

Def.: to persist, go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of difficulties.

I had the opportunity to delve into Scripture this past summer, to find out what it said about this topic, which might give us something of a foundation to build on. In the Bible, I could only find “perseverance” in the New Testament, a total of 32 times. There are several Greek words for perseverance, but the one I used was hupomone. It was important for me to look at the Greek because it is the original language the New Testament was translated from, and so by knowing the Greek words, a closer approximation to what I was looking for could be found. What made me want to look up this word in the first place was that it is spoken of so much in the New Testament, and I had just never taken the time to look into it. It seemed like an aspect of our Christian walk that was important to the people of the first churches, and especially stressed by Paul, James, Peter, John and Luke. Why did these men, the leaders of the first churches, encourage perseverance so much? Because there was a need for it-it was a necessity for those just starting out in their faith, and also for those who were mature, to push on in the face of seemingly impossible and insurmountable challenges as Christianity grew, flourished and took root. The same goes for today-nothing has changed, except for the years on the calendar.

I once heard an analogy that goes like this: imagine three houses next to each other. The first is made out of straw. It holds up well enough, and provides some shelter. The second is made of wood, and is significantly stronger than the straw one before it. The third and last house is made of marble, and is easily the strongest of the three. Now imagine an intense heat coming upon these houses for a period of time. What do you suppose happened to each of them? The straw one was completely destroyed, and only traces left that showed anything ever existed there. The wooden house faired a bit better, however, only a few stray blackened logs were strewn about. The third? It was untouched, not even a small scorch visible on it. This analogy can describe our walk – essentially, what we do in our life after the point of justification, of salvation. Do we see our salvation as a “ticket to Heaven”, and stuff it in our back pocket and go on our way, indifferent to our Savior and what He has done for us? Or do we embrace our salvation and begin the journey to pursue our Lord and get to know and love Him? For a long time I was very much of the former mindset. I thought, well, Jesus died for me and my sins, what else is there? I was oblivious to the fact and reality that my father, my Lord, my Savior wanted an intimate relationship with me, and indeed, each one of us. It’s only really been over the past ten years that I have honestly pursued God, and every second has been worth it. Hebrews 10:32-39: “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” So, in light of this passage, what can we do? Jump in with both feet. And not hang on to the side, but to let go. To quote Paris Reidhead, a preacher and missionary from the 40s and 50s: “I have talked with people that have no assurance of sins forgiven. They wanna feel saved before they’re willing to commit themselves to Christ. But I believe that the only ones whom God actually witnesses by His Spirit are born of Him, are the people whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this: “Lord Jesus, I’m gonna obey You and love You and serve You and do what You want me to do as long as I live even if I go to hell at the end of the road simply because You are worthy to be loved, obeyed and served. And I’m not trying to make a deal with You.”

Before I move on to the teachings from the conference, let me tell you what Zondervan’s Exhaustive Concordance defines hupomone as: “the characteristic of a man (or woman) who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.” My earnest prayer for us is that-to cling to God through the thick and thin, the exciting and the mundane.

It is a great honor to be able to pass on what was taught at the conference three other men and myself were able to attend in September. The first message I’d like to cover is from Jerry Bridges, entitled, “Four essentials for standing firm, enduring to the end, and finishing well.”

#1 is to have a daily time of focused personal communion with God. If you consider a naval vessel, be it a small boat or a large aircraft carrier, they both need to regularly check their course heading, to make sure they haven’t been pushed from it. The same is true of our lives-we need to regularly evaluate them and make sure we are headed in the right direction. Psalm 63:1 “O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You; as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 42:1-2 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” We need to have a thirst and a hunger for God that can only be quenched and satisfied by Him, and Him alone. Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.” “To inquire” also means to “meditate”. We need to have a plan that directs us to Him, whether it’s the One-Year Bible, a devotional, anything, but a time that is set aside each day to spend with Him, to get to know Him.

#2: a daily appropriation of the gospel. To approach God every day as a sinner, thanking Him for the sacrifice of His son. This is important, because it affects our view of our self-in that we have assurance of right standing with God. Romans 5 speaks of our salvation and justification as a past event , and we are still justified today, in present reality, as Galatians 2:20 puts it “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Also important to note is that our works, the good things we do, are not a means of justification, but an outflow. That we do them because we have His approval already, not to earn it in the first place.

#3 is to have a daily commitment to God as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” If you think back to Old Testament times, the Levite priests had to offer sacrifices to God for sin penance. And that was pretty much the only way that God would interact with the Israelites. We don’t have that restriction any longer, but there are four unique characteristics about sacrifice applicable even today: first, the entire animal was consumed as a whole burnt offering; second, the animal was offered as a continual burnt offering; third, the animal was always presented as an offering; and fourth, the animal was not on loan to God in any way, it was given up completely. Accordingly, we should give God our whole life, continually, without asking for anything in return. The Levite priests didn’t keep what was left over after it was burnt and then eat it-that would have been unthinkable to them. Why then do we only give God a part of our lives, and not all of it? 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

#4 is to have a firm belief in the love and sovereignty of God. Lamentations 3:37-38: “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” God is sovereign, meaning “one that exercises supreme, permanent authority.” Psalm 135:6 puts it similarly: “Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in Heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” Many of you will remember Steve’s message this past Sunday, on this topic. So this passage may sound familiar: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my Name might be proclaimed in all the earth." So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills.” Romans 9:14-18. We can also be infinitely thankful that God will always be on our side, if He is our Lord and Savior. Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God will never take away the Gospel, He will never take away His promises.

James 1:2-4 sums it up like this: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The second message I have the honor of passing on is from Helen Roseveare, a dear woman in her 80s, who was a missionary to the Congo. Out of all the speakers at the conference, she was my favorite. She spoke with confidence and with tenderness of her Lord and Savior and ours, Jesus. After 60-plus years on the mission field and working in Belfast, Ireland in the church, she still is as much in love with the Lord, if not more, than her first day of conversion, as she called it. Three points I’d like to touch on from her talk revolve around how we think chronologically of our lives, and our walk: one thing I know (the past), one thing I do (the present), and one thing I ask or seek (the future). We owe our whole lives to God. If He willed it, we could cease to exist here on Earth and instantly be with Him in Heaven. That clearly is not His will for the time being, we have a job to do, and there are people who do not know our Lord yet. And so it helps to have a mindset that is firmly grounded in the present, but reflects on our past and hopes for the future.

One thing I know (past tense): John 9:25 “The one thing I do know is that I used to be blind and now I can see!" He has saved us from a life of futility, of meaninglessness, and ultimately of condemnation! Thank God that He decided in His great mercy to save us from an eternity separated from Him!

One thing I do (present tense): Philippians 3:13-14: “this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” Also Matthew 10:22, “you will be hated by all for my Name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” To endure, like that verse says, by telling people what we know and what He has done-no one can refute that: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."” Isaiah 52:7. She shared a hymn of hers that is not sung any more-I’ve never heard it, anyway. It is called, “My goal is God Himself.” The 1^st verse goes like this (I’m not sure how it sounds, so bear with me…) “My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God; ’Tis His to lead me there--not mine, but His-- At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.”

And one thing I ask or seek (looking to the future): Psalm 27:4, which I’ve shared before, but I love it, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple.” Four questions we need to ask ourselves are 1) Do I keep the Sabbath? We keep the other 9 commandments, but not this one, why? Do we love Him more than the things that keep us from fellowshipping with His people? Will we take time out of our schedule for a Sabbath, where we can worship Him, get into the Word without distraction, spend time with our brothers and sisters without anything else as the purpose or reason? 2) Do I love the Word? Love reading it, hearing it, meditating on it, sharing it? 3) Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? By living a life that pleases my Lord, I can bring Him honor. And 4) Do I find Him, Jesus, my Savior, my Lord, lovely, and am I becoming more like that? 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” 1 John 3:1-2, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” I don’t know about you, but that is both exhilarating and terrifying-that we will someday see God as He really is!

The last message I will pass on is from John Piper, entitled, “Getting Old to the Glory of God.” Now, I know none of us are old, some barely in our 20s, some already there, but I thought this message appropriate for its challenge to our mindset; how we perceive this life and act accordingly toward our God. He said that the key to this mindset is to keep God as our highest treasure. That the fight to cling to Him is that it is not just the desire to do things for Him, but to delight in Him. He added that there are two deadly mistakes we can make as we consider our perseverance in our faith. The first one is that “perseverance is unnecessary”, in that perseverance in faith and love is not necessary for salvation. Mark 13:13 “And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Also Hebrews 12:14: “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” The second mistake is this: that “perseverance puts or keeps God on our side.” At the moment of Justification, when your life was given over to God through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross, God became for you 100%, because Jesus did all the work of making a way between our fallen selves and God’s perfection. As I said at the beginning tonight, perseverance is not the way in which we garner God’s favor, but is the evidence of a life already bought and paid for by Him. As David neared the end of his life, he wrote this in Psalm 71:7-18: “I have been as a wonder to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent. For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, "God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him." O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt. But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” There is a man who lived his life for God, and even to old age his faith and trust in God and His promises burned brightly.

>Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

And so, tonight, my call to you and myself is this: that we would persevere. That our lives would be bound to God and that we would pursue Him, not because we’re told to or because we don’t want to look lazy, but because He deserves it. Because He loved us first and we want to show Him how much we love Him and are thankful for that sacrifice in return. Because we won’t see Him unless we do.

Would that we take our eyes off of the world and put them on Jesus, and as people in our teens and 20s pursue God and burn brightly for Him.

Let me end with this, as our charge: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2.

Starting Out, or...I Just Began This Thing

Welcome to my blog! There will hopefully be many things on this site, some of them helpful - musings on a God-filled and God-bought existence to be the majority.