Who Are You?

There is a very interesting habit that God has in scripture.  Often, when He encounters an individual, He ends up changing his or her name.  This happens twice in Genesis 17.  In verse 5, The Lord says, “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.”  Again, in verse 15, “And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.”  There are at least a couple more occurrences of this in Scripture.  God changes Jacob’s name to Israel (Genesis 32:28) and changes Simon’s name to Peter (Matthew 16:18).

Each of these name changes come in the context of an individual having a life changing encounter with the living God.  Their new name represents who they are NOW.  This leaves us to draw one conclusion:  an encounter with the living God is a life changing, character changing event.  Anyone who has come face to face with the living God can never be the same again.

Do not be mistaken, if you have come to the point of surrendering your life to Christ you have had such an encounter.  You are not the person you once were.  Scripture tells us all of the old is gone and all things are new (2 Cor. 5:17).  Allow God to continue the process of shaping you into His likeness.  Do not allow Satan to tell you that you are the same person you always were.  In Christ, we are a new creation.  Just as God had appointed each of the previously mentioned individuals for something unique, so too does He have a unique call on your life.  Do not consider yourself disqualified when Christ Himself has qualified you.

Sufficient Faith

Genesis 15:6 – And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and he (God) counted it to him as righteousness.

This is a familiar passage that is quoted in the New Testament as well.  Romans 4:3 reads, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”  The question that must be answered is, “What is so essential, or key, about this belief?”  Obviously, this is not a simple belief in the idea or concept of God.  James 2:19 makes it clear that such a belief is not sufficient, “You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe – and shudder!”  So what sort of faith is Abraham exemplifying here?

The faith that God saw in Abraham was a belief unto action.  It was the sort of faith that affected the way Abraham lived his life.  This is the sort of faith that causes people to repent (change the direction of their life) and pursue God and His will.

To believe the testimony of scripture, whether it is speaking about Christ, the character of God, or God’s promises, must change the way we live our lives.  A simple cognitive knowledge of the existence of God is never enough.  To truly believe in God is to abandon all that we are and pursue all that He is.

As you go about your day, put Christ first.  Live your life in such a way that it reflects the instruction of scripture.  Allow your thoughts and emotions to be rooted in the promises of God.  Allow your goals to be submitted to the will of God.  True saving faith is a faith that impacts our lives.  A faith that makes no impact on our person or our character is an insufficient faith.

Grace and Repentance

Matthew 4:17 - From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.”

In recent days I have struggled with the balance of grace vs. holiness.  We do not often hear the words repentance, holiness, or even hell these days.  Our message has become one that is much more focused on grace, which is an important doctrine, but are we guilty of an unbalanced approach?

As a man who stands in the pulpit each week, I struggle with these issues.  Obviously, people do not come to church to leave feeling guilty or bad about themselves.  However, just as is the case when I go to the doctor, certainly we want to leave with the truth, not just feeling good about ourselves.

I find Jesus’ words in Matthew 4 comforting, though challenging.  The first word of Jesus’ gospel message is “repent”.  If the first word of Jesus’ gospel message is “repent,” then certainly the first word of “our” gospel message should be repent.  Not only should the first word of our message be “repent,” but the first word of our practice ought to be “repent”.

It has been said many times that the word “repent” is a military term that means “about face”.  This definition is accurate but we are given much more in Matthew 4…we are given an example.  Jesus says to Simon Peter and Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.”  We are then told that “they left their nets at once and followed him.”  The scripture continues, “A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets.  He called to them to come, too.”  Their response, “They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.”

The call to follow Christ is a call to repentance.  It is a call to stop what we are doing, leave it all behind and follow him.  To be saved does not come by praying a simple prayer.  To be saved is to recognize that Christ is who scripture describes Him to be, to recognize that He is who He claimed to be.  To follow Christ is to leave behind the life I have known and follow Him.  Grace is real and it is available to all who will repent and follow Christ.

Don't Sell Out

Matthew 4 records the three temptations of Jesus by Satan.  The first temptation (v. 3) was to turn stones to bread (to meet Jesus’ need for food).  The second (v. 6) is to jump from the highest point of the Temple (as if to test God’s faithfulness to Christ).  The third (v. 9) is to bow and worship Satan (in order to gain power over all the kingdoms of the world).  All of these temptations make an appeal to the core of who we are as humans.  The first two temptations are prefaced with “if you are the son of God,” as if to say, “prove who you are.”  The last makes an appeal to the lust for power, “I will give it all to you if you will kneel down and worship me.” 

The thing that stands out about these temptations, whether they appeal to a physical need like hunger or an egotistical desire like power, is that Satan was trying to tempt Christ with what Christ already possessed.  God has promised to meet our physical needs, Christ already possessed all the kingdoms of the world, and certainly there was no reason for Christ to prove who He was.  Of course, because of Christ spiritual strength, His closeness to His Father, and His all surpassing wisdom, these temptations went nowhere.

Over the centuries, Satan’s game plan has not changed.  On a daily basis he will seek to tempt the best of us.  He will use the ideas of happiness, contentment, fulfillment, and the like.  He will try to make us think that we can have now what we will never have if we keep following God’s rules.  He will try to make us think that God has forgotten us, that somehow we have been passed over.  Don’t fall for it.  Just as he tried with Christ, Satan will try to tempt us with the very things that are already ours.  The void that we so often think our sin is going to fulfill can also be filled in a right relationship with Christ.  Don’t sell out.  Don’t rush things.  Allow God the time to bring about, in the right way, His will and His plans for your life.

Hide and Seek

Genesis 3:9 – Then the Lord God called to the man, “where are you?”

In the story of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve disobey God and partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Immediately, we are told, they realize that they are naked (3:7).  In short order, Adam and Eve hear the Lord walking in the garden and they hide themselves (3:8).  It is at this point that God ask Adam, “Where are you?”

This is a question that has always intrigued me.  It is not as if the All-Knowing God lost Adam.  He knew exactly where Adam was.  If you play a game of hide and seek with God, you lose.  I really think this question was not one of inquiry, but rather a question of reflection.  God wanted Adam to consider where he, himself, had gone spiritually.  Why had he come to this point that he was hiding from God?  What was it that he had done, not only in disobedience, but to his relationship with God?

This account causes me to wonder, “How often do I hide from God?”  It is not as if He doesn’t know when we sin.  God sees where we are better than we do.  God knows what is going on in our heart with more clarity than we ever will.  Maybe we would serve ourselves well to ask ourselves the question, before God does, “Where am I?”  The answer to that question might be difficult at first, but in the long run it is the very question that will lead to our freedom.