Wilderness Wonderings

Wilderness Wonderings

Romans

The Identity of the Kingdom

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Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Matthew 7:21-23

Much has been said and written about our current American political climate and the apparent divisiveness that has characterized our national discourse over the last 20 years. We have seen bitterness and anger manifest itself in unimaginable ways. From racial discord to gender inequities to identity politics, we have been witnessing and continue to witness the undermining of the rule of law in the name of emotional humanism that elevates individual preferences over the standards of reality.

God did not make a mistake when He created you. He created you with a design in mind that suits His purposes for His Kingdom to our good. He designed you with special care and knit you together in the womb to prepare you for what He has in store for you in terms of His goodness and grace. We argue this until Kingdom come but the fact remains that there are only two genders: male and female. And you were genetically designed to be one or the other. No amount of superficial surgical intervention can change the fact that your genetic makeup, the building blocks of who God designed you to be, is immutable. It cannot be changed. You will always have either XX chromosomes as a female or XY chromosomes as a male. Gender is defined biologically, not emotionally.

In the same manner, just because you identify yourself as a Christian does not necessarily mean that you really are. Just because you said a prayer and got your supposed “fire insurance” does not mean you have received a ticket to the gates of Heaven. And the spiritual “genetic” makeup of who you are is not defined by your emotional responses to the gospel message. The only identity transformation that is part of our human design is your spiritual identity, and it is defined by the absence or the presence of the Spirit of God living within you. And the evidence of the His presence and His transformation of your mind and heart is demonstrated to the extent of your obedience.

In our American system of government, we elect representatives through a representative democracy, where representatives that we pick and choose democratically create our laws, enforce our laws, and interpret our laws – all of which we are bound by social contract to obey by order of the Constitution. You can scream to the heavens that the elected official is “not my president” or “not my governor” or “not my representative” all you want. That doesn’t change the reality that the elected official in question still retains the title and the authority that is vested in them by our system of election.

And you can scream to the Heavens that Jesus is not Lord all you want, but eventually you will bend a knee to him and confess that He is indeed Lord:

So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:10-11

It is an inescapable truth. And you can live your life in this world as you choose, but when that time comes, it won’t be what you know or even who you know that saves you. It will come down to Who know you. And Jesus makes it clear that His knowledge of you is predicated on His Spirit living in you to perform the work of righteousness in this world. Miracles can be counterfeited. We can even speak Biblical truth to our hearts’ content. But if we don’t live our lives in a way that is characterized by His grace, then it is all in vain.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-10

I beg you to examine your heart and mind and always be re-examining yourselves. Measure your life against the standard of God’s Word. Let His word be the plumb line that determines how straight the path is that you are walking. Your citizenship in Heaven is purchased by His blood, but it is evidenced by your submission to His law.

Dying for the Kingdom

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“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:11-12
Aftermath of the Sri Lanka Church Bombings, Resurrection Sunday, 21 April 2019
3 Christian churches and 3 hotels targeted, 267 people killed, 500 others injured

I find it interesting that in the Beatitudes that Jesus speaks three times to the issue of persecution, especially considering that it is so early in His ministry. He even hints at the possibility of an institutionalize, conspiratorial attack upon those who choose to not only live life in accordance with the dictates of God’s word, but for the simple act of following Him. Of course if the religious leaders of the day, the supposed representatives of God in the Sanhedrin would go so far as to beat Him in the midst of a mockery of a midnight trial who are we to expect any less of those who would elevate themselves up to be co-equal with God Himself? Who are we to think that we are any better than Jesus, whom they falsely accused of blasphemy and insurrection against Herod for declaring Himself King?

Mind you, these are not the pagan Romans of the day (at first), but the purported believers who wielded spiritual power and authority over the people in an effort to “keep the peace” with their Roman oppressors. And to take it further, the Romans took their cues from the Jewish authorities as they held their own mockery of a trial and entertained the false accusations and in fact found Jesus “not guilty”, not once, but twice in one night before Pilate casually washed his hands of the situation and released a murderous Barabbas to the raucous crowd. I also find it interesting that when they cried out to “give us Barabbas”, they were literally crying out “Give us the son of the father.” Granted the name “Barabbas” was a fairly common name in the first half of the first millennium, but the serendipitous irony is too much to ignore.

The first time Jesus speaks of persecution is in relation to our lives characterized by God’s righteousness. The second time Jesus speaks of persecution it is in relation to our lives characterized by our acknowledgement and devotion to Him. The third time is a comparison to the prophets that went before, who were persecuted and killed by the very people they were sent to declare God’s message to. The earliest mention of the killing of the prophets was when Jezebel destroyed the prophets and priests of God as she and Ahab instituted a nationalized fertility cult to Ba’al and Asherah – a religion characterized by ritualistic acts of sensuality and self-indulgence. And she wanted the prophet Elijah dead most of all.

Isaiah is said to have been sawed in two by Manasseh and buried by what is now known as the Pool of Siloam. Jeremiah died by stoning in Egypt, where he was buried and later reinterred in Alexandria (some believe that he was later re-interred again in Ireland during the Crusades). Ezekiel was martyred by the Chaldeans. Micah was martyred by King Jehoram. Amos was tortured by the priest Amaziah and the killed by one of Amaziah’s sons. Jesus even mentions that the prophet Zachariah was killed by the religious leaders of his day “between the temple and the altar” by stoning. And Jesus Himself would be mocked, beaten, stripped naked, humiliated, paraded through the streets of Jerusalem, and then crucified on a Roman garbage dump outside the city.

On Resurrection Sunday, April 21, 2019, the people of Sri Lanka began their day just like any other normal day. The minority Christian population of Sri Lanka entered into worship celebrating the reality of their risen Savior. Without any warning, in a coordinated attack, 6 suicide bombers attacked 3 Christian churches and 3 prominent hotels. The attack was timed to inflict maximum devastation of Christians in worship on their holiest of days and vacationers innocently enjoying breakfast at the hotels. In all, 267 people were killed and another 500 injured. This is what it is like to live under a regime that is hostile to the Christian faith.

And a time will come when we may endure similar attacks. We may have insults hurled against us for our faith in Christ as the only way to the Father. We may even have evil spoken against us and have false accusations levied that would even bring us into a court of law in an effort to smear our reputations, and thus the reputation of our God. While we are not currently here in America having to experience this on a institutionalized scale, it is happening already in many parts of the world that are hostile towards God. I pray that time is a long way off, but when that time comes, I pray you are prepared.

The prophets died for their devotion to the truth of God’s word. Jesus died for His devotion to you. Are you willing to lay your life down for Him? “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) The Kingdom of God grows because it is watered by the blood, sweat, and tears of the true martyrs of the faith. Those who lay their lives on the line for the gospel. Those who refuse to deny the truth in the face of death. I have not faced death for my faith, and I pray I never do. I know there are times that I have failed to stand up for the gospel in the face of mere jest and ridicule. And for that I am ashamed. I pray that I am bolder and stronger today than yesterday and that I will be able to stand on the rock that is greater than I if and when that times comes.

I pray that my faith does not become centered on me, but rather stays centered on the cross of Calvary. I pray that I do not mistake discipline for persecution. I pray that I do not mistake correction for assault. I pray that God will always give me the discernment that I need that is informed by the truth of His word for whatever situation He puts me in. And I pray that I have the endurance to stand where others have fallen.

The older I get, the less I fear death and the more I fear disappointing my Abba. The words that I most desire to hear on the lips of my Lord: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23) Anything less would be a life wasted in pursuit of less worthy goals. The only legacy worth leaving is that of being good, being faithful, and being a servant. Even if the whole world turns against me, I know that His eye will never leave me and I can always rest in the shadow of His wings.

The Spirit of Adoption

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“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:15-21)

They say that nothing worth achieving ever came easy. In a lot of ways, this is true. This is especially true of the Christian life. Living a life that demands that we sacrifice our selfish desires for the greater glory of the Kingdom by submitting to God’s authority in our lives is no easy endeavor. However, the rewards of hearing those words “Well done, good and faithful servant.” are well worth the experience.

Our current sufferings and trials and tribulations in this world are not a result of God’s doing. They are a result of God’s faithfulness to His Word. They are result of the corruption that enter into creation because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden. This corruption extended throughout all of creation and we continue to choose to submit to it.

But there is hope! God Himself has made a way for creation to “obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” One of the great lies that we have been conditioned to believe in this world is that “we are all God’s children.” The truth of the matter is simply this: We are children of God, not because we were born into this corrupt world. We BECOME children of God when we are born again of the Spirit of God. As a result we are adopted into His family as His children. Not because we deserve it. Not because we are entitled to anything simply by being born. We are adopted into His family as a result of His sovereign choice and will.

Nowhere in Scripture does it ever say that we choose Him. In fact, the words of Scripture very clearly say that He chooses us.

“Many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 12:14

“None is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

(Romans 3:10-12, Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3)

We become children of God through the “spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:15). As such, this implies that we were once the child of another, in this case a child of corruption, born into a corrupted existence. However, once we are born again by adoption into the family of God, we inherit all of the privileges and consequences that come with our new family status. We inherit His glory, but we also inherit His sufferings.

Our hearts rejoice with the things He rejoices in. Our hearts break for the things that break His. Persecution was, and is, and inescapable fact. If the religious and political leaders of the day would crucify the Son of the Living God on a garbage dump of a hill outside of a backwater town in the middle of the desert, can you possibly expect that the world would ever give you any leniency?

Let me be clear: I’m not talking about persecution. Suffering in this world is a part of life. But for us, who have a greater vision, our sufferings are often amplified by our perspective. But so are our joys and our victories. The question is do you focus inward at your circumstances, or do look forward with hope in spite of your circumstances?

Dear friends, I only speak the truth because of my great love for you. God speaks truth to you in His Word because of His even greater love for you. He wants you to live the life that He intended for you and the experience the joy that He created you for. Until we take Him at His Word, we will never truly know Him and the inheritance of truly being a child of God.

In Christ Jesus

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“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4)

In a court of law, the penalty for breaking the law ranges depending on the crime. In all states, the maximum penalty for murder is condemnation, either by separation from society or separation from life. From the beginning the penalty prescribed by God’s dictates for breaking His commands was condemnation – death. This played out in two ways: 1. separation from the Garden and the intimate relationship that was once experienced in the presence of Almighty God. 2. eventual separation from life through death as a result of the corruption of creation that sin had wrought.

Justice requires payment for transgression. Holiness demands death from sin. It’s an inescapable fact. It’s the consequence of natural and spiritual law of life. However, because of God’s great love for His creation, through His mercy and grace, justice is paid and holiness is satisfied in the cross of Calvary. Jesus Himself, having known no sin, was the spotless Lamb of God – having no blemish – stood in our place as the perfect, acceptable sacrifice for our sin as demanded by the law.

No more was the requirement of sacrifices at the temple, because the eternal Lamb had been slain “once for all.” No more would condemnation rain down upon those who are “in Christ Jesus.” But what does it mean to be “in Christ Jesus.” The very phrasing of the entire statement implies that there are some who are NOT “in Christ Jesus”, and as a result, condemnation is still reserved for them.

The ones who are “in Christ Jesus” are those “who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” The “flesh” in this case is simply those who live life according to their own appetites, instead of in obedience to the Word of God and the expectations of His righteousness. Not our own self-righteousness. Not the “righteousness” that is dictated by the world, but the righteousness that is spelled out in His Word. It is a different way of life because our old way of life before we were “in Christ Jesus” wasn’t working. It was self-destructive and leading to death and separation apart from Him. Why then would anyone who was “in Christ Jesus” want to continue to live life according to the flesh knowing that such a life leads to condemnation?

Repentance is the lost doctrine of the gospel that has been swept under the rug in the name of appeasement and self-aggrandizement. The Bride of Christ has become more interested in having the world like us that we have become conformist, rather than transformative. And this is indeed the great tragedy of the Church of today. If the “gospel” is not transformative, then it is not the gospel. Good news, truly good news, inspires action, celebration, and change. We act through repentance. We celebrate the good news through worship. We change through spiritual growth. But it all begins with the act of repentance. Without it, our worship is hollow and lifeless, and a lifeless existence cannot grow.

If you want to know for sure if you are “in Christ Jesus”, examine yourself. Examine your attitudes. Examine your habits. Examine your words. Examine your heart. Are you living life in accordance with God’s Word or in accordance with your own prejudices and desires that naturally conflict with His dictates? As Charles Haddon Spurgeon once put it “if I am a friend of God, I must be the foe of Satan and from this day I pledge myself to fight forever with Satan till I get the victory and am free from sin.” (“Consider Before You Fight”, c 1865)

It has been asked: “If you were ever on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I ask you, please, examine and consider your answer to this critical question. It’s not a matter of right or wrong; it’s a matter of life and death.

The Price We Earn

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“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

The dirty little secret that we all carry deep down inside of us is the simple fact that we are all sinners. We have all transgressed the law of the holy, omnipotent, and sovereign God. However, our pride leads us to rationalize our sin and minimize it in our vernacular with such phrases as “Nobody’s perfect.” Or “We all make mistakes.” The problem with that perspective is that when we rationalize our sin, we simple perpetuate the rational lies of sin.

I firmly believe that the fruit of the Garden of Eden was not an apple, but is in fact more akin to the pomegranate. While I don’t believe this specific fruit exists in the world anymore, the pomegranate itself is a very interesting fruit. It comes with a deceptively hard shell and has a crown on the top. Inside there a hundreds of smaller seeds, each subtly sweet, but with a hint a tartness.

Sin is much the same way – it is deceptive and feeds your sense of authority over your own life and actions. But most sin is mostly “small” things, subtle and attractive to the taste but with just enough tartness to make you recognize the sourness of the experience.

Sin is not simply a question of right or wrong. It is a matter of life and death. All the way back to the Garden of Eden, Adam knew the consequences of his sin before he even committed it. He was a creature made from dirt who defied God’s word because of the deceptive promise of the serpent that fed his pride and ego: “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The word “knowing” in this verse has multiple layers of meaning. First there is the intimate experience of knowing the difference between good and evil. This is the same word used to demonstrate the picture of Biblical intimacy between husband and wife – the intimate joining together in an eternal bond that redefines our existence as separate individuals. In this instance, Adam and Eve became intimately and eternally bonded to the consequences of their sin, and thus passed the curse down to their children and the rest of humanity.

The word also connotes an authoritative declaration. The word ya-da indicates that the person not only knows, but declares this knowledge publicly with authority. It is similar in scope to the declaration or decree of a king. The dictation of law by executive fiat. The self-declared definition of what is good and what is evil. This is the very definition of moral relativism as it exist today.

The fact of the matter is simply this: only God has the authority to define what is good and evil. He created this cosmos and by that reckoning, His holiness demands that authority. As a result of our transgression, we earn our consequences – both temporal in the here and now, and eternally in the hereafter. Our sin earned us our spiritual death and separation from our relationship with God. It also earned us our physical death and brought corruption into our existence by our own choice. We earned our consequences and we cannot escape it.

In fact, that is one of the biggest problems with the world today – the lack of understanding of consequences. As humans we act like our actions have no bearing on anyone else. We do not want to take responsibility for our “mistakes” or our sin. We simply want to experience grace, without anyone having to pay a price. But grace does come with a price, but it is a price that is paid by someone else so that you might be able to experience it.
The consequences still stand.

But we do not get to experience the gift of grace until we repent of our sin and accept His grace and forgiveness. He has taken the punishment for our sin upon Himself through His Son. We must recognize that He paid the price for our sin. He took the wages that we earned upon Himself in order that we might have the greater gift of grace. While the free gift of God is eternal life, it requires the acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is our Lord. There is no separating the two.

Sin is an act of our rebellion. Death and separation is the price we earn. Grace is an act of His sovereignty. Eternal life is the gift He bestows. And it’s life here and now as well as beyond this world.

The Fruit You Get

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“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” (Romans 6:22)

Recently my wife and I were traveling from Wichita Falls, TX back home to Austin after a long holiday weekend. As was our normal practice, we plugged our destination into our map app on my phone as began our journey. Within less than 30 minutes, we reached a point on the map that was easily confused and we found ourselves missing our turn and going down the wrong path. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before we were able to turn around and get back on the right path to our intended destination. Later on that same trip, we encountered a similar situation in Ft. Worth. Again, we missed our turn, but we our map app was able to adjust and get us back on track.

In the first instance, had we remained on the course we were heading and not turned around, we would have ultimately ended up 8 hours away from our intended destination. In the second instance, we were planning to make a special side stop to drive through and see the seminary located there. Had we continued on after missing the correct branch of the fork in the expressway, we would have missed this side trip. In both cases, we were able to quickly course-correct, thanks to our map that alerted us that we had missed our turn.

Scripture serves as a spiritual map, providing an opportunity to “course-correct” when we get off track in our lives. When we surrender our lives to Christ, we are in effect changing our destination from a path of destruction to a path that leads to eternal glory. This eternal change in our lives doesn’t mean that we don’t occasionally get off track, but when we saturate our lives with God’s Word, we are more quickly able to get back on track to our destination. If we choose to ignore the instructions of our “map”, the ultimate end of the road is a destination that is not what we intended.

Sin produces fruit in our lives, fruit that is rotten and spoils quickly. “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do[e] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:20-21) But the fruit of the Spirit, fruit that is planted by the seed of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and watered by the Word of God saturating our lives, and giving glory to the Son who is the Master of our lives, makes all the difference: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24)

I ask you, what “fruit are you getting” from the life you are leading? If your life is characterized by the “works of the flesh”, then I would implore you to spend some time doing some deep soul searching and really dive into the Word of God with an open heart. This will help you course-correct and get your life on a path that will lead to a more joyful life. But be forewarned: “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

If the “fruit you are getting” in your life is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, then I encourage you: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Nine times in the book of Genesis God reiterated this command. In the New Testament, Jesus put it another way: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

We are not called to make converts. We are called to make disciples. We are called to baptize. We are called to teach disciples to observe and obey all that He has commanded us in this life. But we are not alone in this journey, because He has promised to be with us to the end. And this is a promise that you can take to the bank.

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