repent

Hope Within the Uncertainty

February 22, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah 6:1-7

It has been said that one should never meet their idols, for they never live up to the lofty expectations that we build up in our heads. As with any form of idolatry, the created will always pale in comparison to the creator, no matter how brightly the created shines. In times of great uncertainty, it is natural and human to look to our political leaders for guidance. Yet today, when we see our political divide continually fomented by the very officials we purport to idolize, we are sorely perplexed and often left disappointed.

Isaiah begins in a time of political upheaval as King Uzziah, the ruler of the kingdom of Judah for 52 years has died. 52 years of relative peace have come to a screeching halt. However, Uzziah is perhaps best know for his pride as he entered the temple and burned incense to the Lord, a prerogative reserved only for the priests (2 Chronicles 25:18). We would be struck leprosy as a result of his disobedience and forced to live in isolation until his death, with his son Jotham ruling in his stead. It is in the midst of this political chaos and uncertainty that Isaiah has his vision.

When we humbly come into the presence of God, two things become immediately apparent. First, we see Him for who He really is. He is holy, set apart. He is omnipotent. He is righteous. And He is alone is the ruler of creation, which testifies to His glory. Secondly, we see ourselves for who we really are. The illumination of His holiness exposes our lowliness. We are unclean. We are unworthy to stand in the presence of One so glorious. Not only do we see ourselves for who we really are, we see others around us in the same light and recognize that we are no better.

But the omnipotent ruler of creation is also a merciful judge. When we acknowledge our lowliness in the light of His holiness, we are compelled to confess our sin and He is faithful to forgive our sin. It is interesting that the apostle John evokes this image when he writes “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) It is interesting because rarely do we perceive forgiveness as justice, but John makes it clear that He is faithful (consistent) and just to forgive us when we humbly confess our disobedience to Him. He is just because mercy and grace always carry an element of being undeserved. We cannot earn mercy or grace. We simply receive it. We cannot make others earn grace or mercy, because then it is merit.

Grace and mercy are just because the punishment is still fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. It is only when individuals place their trust in the atoning sacrifice of Christ that we can experience true grace and mercy that is faithful and just. My favorite analogy of the cross is this simply picture: it is the intersection of the stake of God’s judgement – from His holiness to our lowliness – with His outstretched arms of mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love. Grace and mercy still require payment to balance the ledger. That payment was meted out in the blood of Jesus on a hillside outside of Jerusalem on Friday afternoon in 33 AD.

If you look into the genealogy of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 1, you will find an interesting list of characters. Adulterers, murderers, foreigners, prostitutes, and even unfaithful kings, including Uzziah and his son Jotham. The genealogy that Matthew records is to prove the fulfillment of the promise of the eternal King of kings in Jesus as prophesied in Genesis 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, not the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

The Fruit of Your Life

July 1, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“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. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:20-23)

I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere Louisiana called Pine Grove. The town got its name for obvious reasons. Much of the publicly available land was owned by the local paper mill. The home I grew up in was surrounded by a forest of pine trees, great oaks, sweet gums, black walnut, dogwoods. All of these trees bore some kind of fruit: pine cones, sweet gum balls, acorns, black shelled walnuts, dogwood pods. Pine cones were sharp and woody. Acorns were left for the squirrels. Sweet gum balls and black walnuts were better used as propellants to hit my brothers in the shins.

I remember when growing up, my parents planted a couple of plum trees and and a peach tree that may have produce a couple of fruit here and there over the years, but we didn’t really take proper care of them and they eventually died.

My grandmother and my brothers and I would often spend the summers picking up fallen pecans in 5 gallon buckets from beneath the row of pecan trees that were in the field surrounding her home. We would then spend the next few days and weekends shelling those pecans and filling her freezer. She would then use those pecans in baking pecan pies and her famous chocolate pecan sheet cake.

We also would go over to a friend’s home and pick some mayhaw fruit that she would process into the most amazing jelly – subtle flavor, but sweet and delicious. To this day, that jelly is my favorite, but living in Texas I rarely see it anywhere.

While most trees bear some sort of fruit for the sake of reproduction into other trees of their kind, not all fruit produced by those trees are fit for consumption. That begs the question, if you were a tree, what kind of fruit would you bear? What kind of “trees” do you surround yourself with? Whatever fruit you produce is always going to be designed to reproduce in others around you. Whatever fruit you consume from the “trees” surrounding you, will reproduce within you soon enough.

Do you produce edible fruit in your life – fruit worthy of consumption? Or do you produce poisonous fruit that leads to death? Do you produce succulent fruit but leave it languishing on the branches, not pruning the tree until it eventually withers and dies from neglect? Or do you produce fruit that is transformative and sweet to the taste, reproducing into other trees that also bear good fruit?

The fruit you bear not only indicates what kind of tree you are, but also what kind of seed you spread. If you cross-pollinate with trees that are not compatible with your fruit, then it will produce fruit that is not edible. If you surround yourself with incompatible trees, you will find yourself not producing much fruit at all until you wither away. But if you bear good fruit, take care of the tree from which that fruit grows; then it will produce a reproducible harvest in the appropriate time.

The fruit of sin has a natural consequence of poisoning the relationships around you and destroying yourself in the process. Sin leads to death. It’s inevitable. But the fruit of righteousness “leads to sanctification, and its end, eternal life” – a life that is sweet and characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

So again, I ask you, what kind of fruit are you producing in your life? Is it worth reproducing? What kind of “trees” are you surrounding yourself with on a consistent basis? Is their fruit worth consuming into your life? I encourage you, be intentional about the relationships you build. Such cross-pollination can enrich the fruit you produce, or it can corrupt and choke it out. “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)

The Grace of Repentance

June 9, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:1-4)

One of the great tragedies of the modern church is that we have allowed the humanistic philosophies of the Enlightenment to color our interpretation of God’s Word, instead of taking His word for what it is – the truth. We have abandoned truth in favor of our own morally relativistic perspective of life that disregards God’s definition of sin and have compromised our understanding of what it means to be disciple of Christ.

In fact, we have gone so far as to no longer publicly discuss the basic spiritual principle of repentance. The prevailing gospel message of the last several decades as been if we simply pray a prayer of forgiveness and get baptized, that is all we need to do in order to obtain our “fire insurance” and avoid hell. However, now we find ourselves even denying the existence of Hell. If Hell doesn’t exist, then why did Jesus even go to the cross to reconcile us to God Himself. If God is holy and just, then it necessitates the existence of an eternal punishment for those who defy His Word. The question then is “Is there salvation without repentance?”

Our salvation is not dependent upon our works. Ephesians makes this clear that we are saved through grace, not works. But repentance is the evidence of the transformation that comes from genuine salvation. Repentance comes as we are motivated out of gratitude and love for our Abba as we seek to please Him. Repentance means turning away from a harmful path to a path that is designed for our betterment. Repentance is the choice to walk in His way because we know our way was not working. If there is no transformation, there is no salvation.

Recently I was watching a few of our grandchildren at a small park on a river in Belton, Texas. We were near a pizza restaurant and there were some concrete stairs about 5 feet high going down towards the river from where we were about 200 feet away. As I was watching our grandchildren play, I noticed the youngest (17 months old) curiously taking quick steps towards the stairs going down. Fearing for her safety, I took off running as quickly as I could, but her dad saw me running, assessed the situation and took off as well and beat me to her before she could tumble down the stairs. And then he walked her back to where the rest of the family was gathered.

This is the picture of repentance and what it means to “walk in newness of life.” Left to our own devices, we were and are heading towards disaster with nothing forward but the potential danger and pain. But the Father comes along and he scoops us up to save us from our own curious devices and carries us to safety in His arms. And He brings us into a family that is there to help guide us and keep us safe from the dangers of this world.

Sometimes we may not like it. We want to scream and throw our fits and still do our own thing, but Jesus is the better way. The holy way. The grace way. He loves us enough to give us boundaries by which to live. He loves us enough to discipline us when we cross those boundaries. And He wants us to trust Him and His way.

The Reward of Repentance

May 29, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork in in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11-12)

I grew up in the country, the grandson of a beefmaster farmer, so I know a little bit about agriculture. I remember nummerable summers hauling hay bales onto the back of a truck and trailer, stacking them high and building forts. I remember picking a long stemmed grass with wheatlike fruit on the end and chewing on it while we worked the fields. The green stem of the grass was the chaff and the seeds would branch off near the top of the chaff in multiple directions but looked like wheat, but it was not. When this grass would age, it would even look like wheat at first glance, with its beige hue. This would eventually be cut down with the rest of the hay field and included into the bales that we would provide for the cattle to eat. It was a good source of protein for them, but not really something fit for human consumption. This was what is commonly known in scripture as tares.

When harvesting wheat for the grain stores in Biblical times, once the wheat was brought into the storehouse, a worker would take what is called a winnowing fork to harvest the grains of the wheat and separate it from the chaff so that it might be processed into flour for bread and other wheat-based products. A winnowing fork is essentially a primitive form of pitchfork where the harvester would pick up wheat, toss it into the air, and the wind would then separate the smaller wheat grains from the chaff. Once the wheat grains were separated, then the chaff was removed from the harvesting floor and thrown out into the fire since it was no longer of any use.The fruit of the wheat chaff – the grain – would then be used for multiple purposes, but primarily it would be ground into flour and then used for making bread.

In our Scripture today, we begin with the baptism of water. In the ministry of John the Baptist, the immersive baptism was symbolic of the washing away of our sins as a result of individual confession and repentance. The act was a total immersion within the water as a means of ensuring complete cleansing from head to toe so that no part of the body was left dry and unclean. The symbolism of baptism changed after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ to represent believers being buried with Christ and raised again to new life (Romans 6:4).

But John mentioned a different baptism by Jesus whereas He would baptize us with the person of the Holy Spirit and with fire, a spiritual fire that will burn away the chaff, the useless parts of our lives that are no longer needed once the fruit of the Spirit has ripened for harvest – the fruit of repentance.

Additionally, in keeping with the context of John’s criticism and condemnation of the hypocritical religious leaders in the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Holy Spirit would in effect be the “winnowing fork” that would separate the good wheat from the tares. He would separate the good fruit from the waste.

The heart of repentance is one that demands and inspires holiness. Grace also demands and inspires holiness. Grace by definition is the imparting unto us that which we do not deserve. This definition implies that we deserve something much worse. Romans 6:23 declares “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The old Hebrew word for death and even the Greek word represent a separation from life. The root definition implies a separation in relationship, but the context implies a deeper separation – a broken relationship with our Creator. A relationship broken by our sin. But a relationship that can be restored supernaturally as a result of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.

It’s not enough to simply pray a prayer of forgiveness and then go about your life unchanged. If you still bear no fruit of the transformative power of grace, it is because repentance has not taken root in order to bear that fruit. In which case, when the time of harvest comes and the grains of wheat are sifted from the chaff, which pile will your life end up on?

Will you remain on the threshing room floor so that you might undergo the transformation from wheat to bread? Sure, it’s going to be a painful grind, but the end product is what provides nourishment to a world starving for the Bread of Life.

Or will you be tossed in the wind with the remainder of the chaff, separated into the pile of waste, to be burned away and forever separated from the saving knowledge of a relationship with the harvester of souls? Yes, hell is a reality. The lack of belief is not evidence for the lack of existence. Like Pascal, I’d rather gamble on the reality of spending eternity in the arms of my Savior. For if I am wrong, and there is no hell, then I have lost nothing. But if I am right, and I choose to reject Him, then I have lost everything.

The Call of Repentance

May 28, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

As I have sat in quiet, grieving, pensive reflection over the events of the last few weeks that have our nation in turmoil, I can’t help feel the grief that must grip the heart of God. We have seen fear ravage the world and isolate us from one another. We have seen racism divide our hearts from one another. We have seen the threat of war divide us from within. And we now see the culmination of all of the division escalating once again into violence upon ourselves. And I can’t help but weep for the heart of God above it all.

If we ever hope to see peace in this world, we must all repent.
If we ever want to see hope in this world, we must all repent.
If we ever want to experience grace in this world, we must all repent.

We must “bear the fruit of repentance”, not the acts of religion.
We must “bear the fruit of repentance”, not the acts of government.
We must get to the heart of the matter, because all that really matters is the heart of mankind.

Until the heart of mankind repents and learns to live in a spirit of mercy, grace, faith, hope, and love, division and strife will always stand between us. Until the heart of mankind repents and learns to hold one another accountable to God’s Word, evil will always strike. Until the heart of mankind repents and seeks restoration and reconciliation, evil will always be revisited upon evil.

It’s a vicious cycle that is unending and continuously churning in the same direction towards our ultimate destruction. Unless we turn around and repent, this same path will forever dominate our human destiny.

If My people who are called by My name
(the Church is His bride, not our social club)
humble themselves
(abandon the sin of pride and self-centered aggrandizement),
and pray
(confess your individual and collective sinfulness)
and seek My face
(look to the God of Creation for your guidance)
and turn from their wicked ways
(REPENT!),
then I will hear from heaven
(our cries for mercy will reach His ears and pierce His heart)
and will forgive their sin
(forgiveness is predicated upon sincere confession characterized by repentance)
and heal their land.
(Your division will be restored and reconciled.)

What is the heart of repentance? Is it religion? Is it charitable giving? Is it works of service? No. It is a heart that is turned to the heart of God and abandoned to the desires of His heart.

“To do justice” – actively pursue justice in a manner befitting of the integrity and honor that would demand justice in return. It is not enough to simply “want justice”. Justice and vengeance are two very different beasts. Justice seeks restoration; vengeance seeks destruction. Do not repay evil with evil, but let kindness and grace have its perfect result. And justice will ultimately prevail. Be Just!

“To love kindness” – actively pursue kindness to your family, your neighbors, your friends, your enemies, the stranger across town, the person that wears funny clothes, the foreigner, the ethnically different. Put simply: Be Kind!

“To walk humbly with your God” – actively pursue God and His wisdom, knowing that you don’t have all the answers, but He does. Walk daily in obedience to Him and His word and seek His heart. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind into the Christlike person He always intended for you to be. Be Humble!

This is the heart of repentance. This is the heart we are called to pursue. This is the only heart that has the ability to change our world.

The Haunting Question

May 27, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“Then in Jerusalem and Judea and all the region about the Jordan were coming out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:5-6)

Recently, I explored the haunting question asked of Elijah by God as he was hiding out in a cave on Mt. Horeb: “What are you doing here?” (1 Kings 19:9) I say that it is “haunting” because it both challenges us and convicts us. Today I pose the same question to you for self-reflection: “What are you doing here?” And there are a variety of ways I could ask it:

“WHAT are you doing here?” – What is that you are doing with your life that is purposeful for advancing the Kingdom of God? If you aren’t doing anything to advance His kingdom on earth, then why not? If you are, is WHAT you are doing glorifying Jesus or is it drawing people’s eyes to yourself? Are you continually calling yourself to repentance? Are other’s around you inspired to repentance by your own behavior?
“What are YOU doing here?” – What is it about you that God has chosen to empower for His kingdom purposes? What gifts and callings has He enabled in your life that define your mission in a way that it defines nobody else in your circle of influence? What makes you unique within His design?
“What are you doing HERE?” – Are you where you know God has called you to be in your walk and ministry? Has God called you to be somewhere, but instead you are wasting your life isolated from His purposes? Are you sharing the love of God with your neighbor? Are you declaring His truth to your colleagues? Are you showing your friends what a life of joy in Christ really means? Are you advancing His Kingdom in your home, street, neighborhood, city, state, and country?

For the last question, I intentionally left out the rest of the world, because in keeping with the context of our focal passage, John the Baptist’s calling was not to the whole world, but to prepare the hearts of Israel for the coming of the Messiah.

It is often much easier to go into another place where you are unknown and share your testimony and minister the gospel of grace to those who do not know you intimately. But it is quite another thing to share grace and forgiveness with those who know you best. Those who know your weaknesses, your failures, your family history, and all the superficial things that bind us in fear from sharing the truth of the Good News of God’s restoration and reconciliation.

But Jesus calls us to minister where we are. In our city (our “Jerusalem”), in our state (our “Judea”), and in our country (our “region about the Jordan”). This includes going to the people that aren’t like you (Samaria). This includes the people that are your enemies (the Romans). This includes the people blinded by religious tradition (Pharisees and Sadducces). This includes men, women, and children. This includes liars, thieves, adulterers, blasphemers, and all other sinners as well.

We are all sinners in need of grace. And yes, grace offends the proud. But grace restores the broken. And we are called to prepare hearts for healing and spirits for restoration that only Jesus can provide. How selfish it would be if we were to hoard that healing vision for ourselves and not offer it to the beggar who doesn’t even know his need.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written [Isaiah 52:7], ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'” (Romans 10:14-15)

So I ask you again: “What are you doing here?”
And I also ask: “How can I help?”

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