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Philippians 3:3

The Performance Trap

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 17, 2024

Living by the flesh is to put my trust and confidence in my own strength. Living by the Spirit is putting my trust and confidence in the Lord. There are many hypnotists in the world today who will put us in a trance and cause us to act in ways contrary to our true identity as saints, the children of a loving God. It’s interesting that the Jews often referred to gentiles as goyim or dogs. In Philippians 3:2, Paul tells the believers to “look out for the dogs…” But his use of the term refers to those who would put you under the slavery of religious rituals. Because circumcision was the rite that identified Jews as the children of God, some insisted that all converts to Christianity had to be circumcised to be acceptable in the family of God. It was the same focus on “doing deeds” to win acceptance. But Paul says, “No! Those who insist on such and such a ritual or such and such of performance in order to be acceptable are the dogs, not those who are living by grace through faith.” He says in verse 3, “For we are the true circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

 Max Landers, in his commentary on this passage in Philippians, tells a great story and makes a powerful application. He writes: “A number of years ago, I was in Mexico City, visiting the central square. This huge paved square is surrounded by grand buildings on three sides. On the fourth side is a great cathedral. I saw something on that visit which, I understand, is not all that unusual but which made a deep impression on me. A peasant woman was crawling across the great square, palms, and knees being gouged by the ancient stones which pave the square. After she had crawled a while, she would stop, rise to her knees, pray a while, and then begin crawling a little farther. The slow, painful crawl seemed to take forever as she tried to appease God through her self-inflicted suffering. I saw a similar sight in Guatemala. People brought gifts to the church and lay them on the altar. They knocked on the wood of the altar, trying to get God to notice them. They lit candles and poured wine as an offering, seeking to merit God’s favor.”

Max continues: “These incidents are sad examples of how far people will go to win God’s favor and earn his grace. Yet, we often fall into similar bondages as we try to please God. We fear that if we get irregular in our Bible reading and prayer, God will punish us. Or we feel that if we don’t give money to the church, God will not bless us. Or we get into the performance trap in our efforts to be accepted by God. We volunteer for everything and never say no because we fear that God will not fully love and approve of us. If you have trouble believing that God accepts you, if you have difficulty resting in the fact that God loves you, if you feel you have to do something to earn acceptance in God’s eyes, then you have something in common with the woman in Mexico. You are crawling across the painful, rocky pavement, trying to earn God’s favor. These performances are a terrible burden because you can never know if you have done enough to appease him.” Hebrews tells us that only “faith” will please God.

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Jeremiah 3:22

Who Would You Follow?

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 16, 2024

It’s difficult for us to believe that God continues to love us while we are still sinners. Yet, that was the condition under which God demonstrated His love for us according to Romans 8:1, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” as a demonstration of God’s love for us. Isn’t God’s love like our own love for each other, conditioned by the way we give and take? No, it’s not. God’s love is totally unconditional. We treat Him poorly, but he never stops loving us. In the book of Lamentations, Israel was experiencing the consequences of turning their backs on God, but even then, God was preserving His people because of His love. Jeremiah writes in chapter 3, verse 22, “God’s compassion never ends.” It doesn’t matter how bad we’ve been or how much we’ve offended Him or hurt Him. He never stops loving us. The verse goes on, “It is only His mercies that have kept us from complete destruction.”

From Mike Greens’ Illustrations for Biblical Preaching comes this little story about unconditional love: One Sunday, a little boy looked up at his dad and asked, “Daddy, how does God love us?” His father answered, “Son, God loves us with an unconditional love.” The lad thought for a moment and then asked, “Daddy, what kind of love is unconditional love?” After a few minutes of silence, his father answered, “Do you remember the two boys who used to live next door to us and the cute little puppy they got last Christmas?” “Yes.” “Do you remember how they used to tease it, throw sticks, and even rocks at it?” “Yes.” “Do you also remember how the puppy would always greet them with a wagging tail and would try to lick their faces?” “Yes.” “Well, that puppy had an unconditional love for those two boys. They certainly didn’t deserve his love for them because they were mean to him. But, he loved them anyway.” The father then made his point: “God’s love for us is also unconditional. Men threw rocks at his Son, Jesus, and hit him with sticks. They even killed him. But Jesus loved them anyway.” Richard Halverson, former Senate Chaplain, put it this way, “There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His love is Unconditional, Impartial, Everlasting, Infinite, Perfect!”

If you’re linked up with new social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, and probably others, you know what it means to “follow” someone.  You stay in touch with them and find out what they’re doing and are reminded frequently of their activities. Jesus said to those he called, “Follow me.” If you had to choose to follow one with the greatest analytical skills, the sharpest mind, the greatest set of gifts, the largest bank account, or a person who would love you unconditionally, whom would you choose? Me too! And guess what? The one who loves us unconditionally has all the rest as well.

 

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1 John 1:7, Hebrews 9:22

Cleansing Power!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 15, 2024

In 1 John 1:7, we read, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” It has true cleansing power. The Greek word for “cleanse” is “Katharidzo.” I always thought this Greek word would make a great name for a laundry detergent. My wife’s name is “Kathy.” All forms of that name usually refer to the idea of “the pure one” or the “clean one.” It’s the word that’s used in the Gospels for “cleansing” lepers as well as external washing. The Pharisees, for example, “cleansed” the outside but left the inside rotting like a corpse in a tomb. Hebrews 9:22 says, “Under the law, everything was ‘cleansed’ with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.” It’s also the word from which we take the medical term for “catheter.” It’s the tube that is attached to our urinary system to help cleanse the poisons from our system. The blood of Jesus can cleanse us from our sins and guilt. When we cauterize something, we purify it. When we speak of a catharsis, we’re talking about a cleansing.

One of the key identifying characteristics of a Christian cult is the blurring of the divine nature of Jesus. Whereas the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus’ conception and birth were miraculous, resulting in a divine presence of God “with us” and a unique physical composition of all man and all God at the same time. It was this miraculous birth and the nature of His being that made the shedding of His unique blood capable of cleansing us all of all our sins. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement, said, “The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon ‘the accursed tree,’ than when it was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father’s business.” As with most cults, the true supernatural nature of Christ is denied or ignored, yet it’s that divine nature that provides the cleansing power for our sins. Just as Jesus calls the lepers, he calls all sinners to come to him for cleansing. He will wash away our sin and guilt! He will make us whole again. He can because of who He was and is!

The late James Boice wrote, “The gospel of the crucified Christ has been preached in palaces and halls of state, and the mighty of this world have come to him. It has been preached in the dirtiest and most dangerous of the back alleys of our cities, and the weak and outcasts of this world have come to him. It has been preached to Americans, and Americans have come. It has been preached in the nations of Africa and Asia and South America, and citizens of those nations have come. It has been preached to children, and children have come. It has been preached to the aged, and the aged have come. It has been preached to the intelligent and the not-so-intelligent, to the socially favored and to the socially disadvantaged, to blacks and whites, to Jews and Moslems and Buddhists and total pagans, and men and women from each of these groups have turned to Jesus as the One who is able to cleanse from sin and lead them in the way everlasting.” One of my favorite old hymns of the faith is “Are You Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb.” You won’t hear this song in churches very often today, unfortunately. The idea of “blood” is too offensive to some.

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

 

Are you washed in the blood,

In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?

Are your garments spotless?

Are they white as snow?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

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1 John 1:9

God’s Wake-Up Call

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 14, 2024

Through our connection with Christ, the great judge finds us not guilty! In Romans 3:21-24 he writes, “Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us ‘not guilty’—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God declares us ‘not guilty’ of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.” Yet, the reality in our lives is that we still struggle with guilt often. Phantom guilt, guilt that comes when there really isn’t anything to be guilty about, is the product of too strenuous a self-standard or a failed attempt to live up to someone else’s standard. But there is still true guilt, even for a believer. True guilt is that sense of shame and sorrow when we do something we should feel guilty for. This guilt is truly God’s “wake-up call.” He uses His Spirit in various ways to open our consciences to the wrongs we do so that we get them right again. He has made a way, “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). True guilt can only be “cleansed” with a true confession.

Guilt is God’s alarm clock. Chuck Smith used that illustration to explain how God moves his people to repentance when they need it. He uses three alarm clocks. The first one plays gentle music. The second goes off a little later and has a more disrupting sound. If he sleeps through that one, the third one will wake the dead! It makes “a horrendous sound.” He compares this to God’s work of His Spirit that arouses us to our guilt. At first, there’s a gentle tugging at our spirits to see our wrong. If we fail to “wake up,” the Holy Spirit will cause a less pleasant experience.  Chuck Smith explains, “That’s what God did with David. The king wasn’t listening to the Holy Spirit’s prompting in his conscience, so God revealed David’s secret sin of adultery to the prophet Nathan and sent him to speak to David. David’s sin was exposed. It became public knowledge, and at that point, David turned to God in repentance. If that’s what it takes, that is what God will do.” But it even gets worse.  If we ignore or resist the first two “wake-up calls,” God will move more drastically to get our attention. When Pharaoh hardened his heart against God’s confrontation, God took direct action against all of Egypt and its people.

Chuck asks, “Which of these three ways would you like God to use to stop you sinning?” I know I’d like to wake up to soft music. I don’t want to have to be stunned out of my lethargy to sin; I want to be sensitive and open to seeing my failures. I sometimes don’t want to wake up in the morning, and I usually struggle with waking up to my sin, but if we don’t respond to God’s gentle nudging in our consciences, He’ll wake us up in a more radical way. Guilt is God’s way of reaching out to us in the gentlest of ways. It’s always disturbing, of course, but when God speaks to us through the guilt he arouses in us, it’s another expression of God’s wonderful Grace.

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Romans 3:21-24

Not Guilty!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 13, 2024

My Dad lost his right arm in an electrical accident when he was 56. Although the arm was gone, he could still feel the pain, and it often itched him. This is called “Phantom pain.” Like the phantom pain experienced by my Dad when he lost his arm, false guilt is produced by something that isn’t really there. We’ve failed to live up to the expectations of others, we’ve not met a standard that we’ve set too high for ourselves, or we’ve let God down in such a way that we can never be forgiven. Like my dad scratching the palm of his amputated hand, we often dig at the itching from past sins and unmet expectations.  Bruce Demarest, in “The Cross and Salvation,” explains the source of phantom guilt.  He writes, “Some Christians live in the legacy of a stern and legalistic upbringing, in the home or in the church that has imposed on them a stringent code of ethics with accompanying taboos. Unfortunately, certain Christian churches have been legalistic, more negative than positive, stressing personal wretchedness rather than God’s grace in Christ. Other believers may have imposed upon them the unrealistic burden of sinless perfection, which insists that God accepts them only on the condition that they be perfect.”

I’m convinced that God doesn’t want us to live lives overwhelmed by this sense of guilt. He not only wants us to be guilt-free, he wants us to “feel” guilt-free. But this is more difficult to achieve. Demarest goes on to suggest an answer to this problem. He continues, “The solution to this unreasonable sense of guilt is to recall that the omniscient Lawgiver and Judge declares believers “not guilty!” and, indeed, clothes them with the righteousness of Christ. Christians need to remind themselves that they are God’s forgiven, justified, and adopted children. The righteous God has pardoned, cleansed, and freed true believers from the burden of sin and guilt. Overly scrupulous Christians need to celebrate this glorious reality.”

I’m also convinced that this “glorious reality” doesn’t come by hard work. It can only come as we grow in our walk with God.  The more we get to know Him, the more His grace can overwhelm us and cleanse us from the misery of phantom guilt. Meditating on God’s Word to us can help with this process of stepping into this glorious reality.  After pointing out the sinfulness of every human being in the first three chapters of his letter to the Romans, Paul offers us the solution.  In Romans 3:21-24 he writes, “Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us ‘not guilty’—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God declares us ‘not guilty’ of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.”

 

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1 John 3:19, Romans 8:1

Phantom Guilt

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 12, 2024

At 56 years of age, my dad lost his right arm just below the elbow in an electrical accident. He was rebuilding another old house on 60th and Pratt in Omaha (His 4th!), and he and mom lived in the basement while he rebuilt the kitchen above. It took some time for his arm to heal, and the worst part of the injury was what the doctors explained as “phantom pain.”  It’s the sense that his wrist and fingers of his right hand were burning or itching, and he couldn’t scratch them because they no longer existed. He would often dig at the stub to relieve the pain, but it didn’t help. It took some time to get over it.

Dr. Paul Brand, writing with Philip Yancey, told a story about a man named Mr. Barwick, who had a serious and painful circulation problem in his leg but who refused to allow amputation. But finally, the pain became too great for him to bear, and Barwick cried at last, “I’m through with that leg. Take it off.” He had developed an irrational hatred for his own leg, and after the operation, Barwick took the amputated leg and put it in a pickling jar. He installed it on his mantle shelf. He said, “Then, as I sit in my armchair, I will taunt that leg, ‘Hah! You can’t hurt me anymore!’” But the leg had the last laugh.  Even long after the wound healed, according to Brand, “Barwick could feel the torturous pressure of the swelling as the muscles cramped and itched and throbbed.”

Brand then made the comparison of phantom pain with false guilt. He writes, “Phantom limb pain provides wonderful insight into the phenomenon of false guilt. Christians can be obsessed by the memory of some sin committed years ago. It never leaves them, crippling their ministry, their devotional life, their relationships with others.…” False guilt is produced by something that isn’t really there. We’ve failed to live up to the expectations of others, we’ve not met a standard that we’ve set too high for ourselves, or we’ve let God down in such a way that we can never be forgiven. Many of us have our false standards, unmet expectations, and previous sins right up there on the mantlepiece. Jesus died for our sins and paid the penalty for them, and Paul reminds us that even though we have past sins and regrets, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). We still feel the pain of our failures over and over again. We dig at the stubs of our sins. But there really isn’t anything there. They’ve been removed by the great physician himself. In 1 John 1:9, we read that whenever our sins are confessed to God, He is faithful (can be depended upon!) to forgive us and cleanse us of our sins. But then in 3:19-20, It says, “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”

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Ephesians 1:1, Various

We Are Holy!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 11, 2024

As I’ve said in earlier writings, the Bible teaches me that I am forgivable! I am lovable! I am valuable! I am acceptable, and I am capable. It even teaches me that I am righteous. Paul writes to all the believers in the churches he planted, and his address to them is always the same. He addresses his letters to “all the saints” at the particular location. I’ll quote Ephesians 1:1 as an example, “To the saints who are in Ephesus.” The word for “saint” comes from the word meaning holy. It means set apart as something special. Things are holy, as we see throughout the Old Testament. Places are Holy also. What makes them holy is that they were identified as being set apart by God for a particular reason. He set Abraham apart. He set Isaac, Jacob, and all of Israel apart as His “holy” people. Tell teaches us that we are one with the special people of God in the Old Testament. God has grafted us into the branch. Just as His chosen people were special to him and set apart, so too are you and I and all those who believe in Jesus. We are holy people.

I don’t always feel holy, do you?  There’s no halo over my head! I often feel weak, empty, and sick of struggles that overwhelm me repeatedly. I’m tired of not being what I should be and letting temptations sneak up and trip me up and circumstances that get me down. I have to remind myself of God’s grace continually. I sometimes forget who I am. It’s hard to remember in the frey of battle that I am sufficient in Christ whether I feel like it or not. I am what God says I am, whether I feel like it at the moment or not. The circumstances and temptations that take me captive have no chance at all if I hang on to God’s truth about myself. Believing what the Bible says sets us free! That’s what the truth does! It sets us free. I’m saying these things out loud as I write them. I am forgivable! I am lovable! I am valuable! I am acceptable, and I am capable! I am righteous! It sounds funny actually to say those things out loud, but they are true, not because of any intrinsic goodness in myself, but because God says it’s true.

Let me tell you a biblical truth that will set you free. Better yet, let me quote James M. Boice on the subject. Here is what he writes, “Are you a Christian? If so, you are a saint, and so am I—regardless of our station in life. We are so, not because of what we have done, but because we have been separated unto God in Jesus. An illustration of this truth comes from the life of the late Harry Ironside of Chicago. During the early days of his ministry, before there were airplanes, Dr. Ironside used to travel many miles by train. On one of these trips, a four-day ride from the West Coast to his home in Chicago, the Bible teacher found himself in the company of a party of nuns. They liked him because of his kind manner and his interesting reading and exposition of the Bible. One day, Dr. Ironside began a discussion by asking the nuns if any of them had ever seen a saint. They all said that they had never seen one. He then asked if they would like to see one. They all said that they would like to see one. Then he surprised them greatly by saying, ‘I am a saint; I am Saint Harry.’ He took them to verses of the Bible that say it was so. Sixty-three times in the New Testament, “all believers” are called saints. When we come to faith in Christ, He sees us as His chosen people. We are saints. Boice goes on to say, “Your name may sound funny when you preface it with the title ‘saint.’But you may rest assured that it does not sound funny to God—whether you are a Saint George, a Saint Lucy, or a Saint Harriet. God knows us all by name, and it is he who calls us saints in Christ Jesus.”

Saint Chuck

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Isaiah 43:25, Various

I Am Forgivable!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 10, 2024

During my many years in ministry, I’ve encountered people who have believed they have committed the “unforgivable sin.”  If you were to ask people what the unforgivable sin was, you’d get a variety of answers. Some, however, don’t have any idea what it is but still worry that they may have committed it. Some say that it’s murder! Some say that it’s adultery. I once counseled a young person who thought masturbation was an unforgivable sin. Is it Blasphemy, as many suggest? Maybe it’s having an abortion. Is it getting a divorce? I’ve spent hours talking with people about the issue of unforgivable sins. These ideas are all wrong. These are all forgivable sins.

Isaiah 43:25 says, “I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you.” Jesus did, however, say that there was one sin that was unforgivable. We read in Mathew 12:31, “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men…” That’s the first part, and it might be good to think about that for a while. Jesus asserts that every sin mentioned above and every other sin you can think of can and will be forgiven by God. The only exception is, as Jesus continues, “…but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” But what exactly does that mean? In the context of this verse, Jesus had just healed a man who was blind and mute. The Pharisees said that Jesus had expelled demons by the power of the prince of demons, Beelzebub. So, their unforgivable sin is attributing Jesus’ miracle, which was performed in the power of the Holy Spirit, to Satan. The unforgivable sin is to call Jesus and his divine power satanic. But the key issue in this statement is that people who do this would never go to Jesus for forgiveness, as they are saying he is of the devil. So, their sins will never be forgiven by God. The broader picture here also is that the root cause of the Pharisees accusing Jesus of having the power of Satan is that they refused the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit, which prompts people to receive Jesus as their Messiah.

I would argue that the one and only unforgivable sin is the sin of unbelief. Every other sin in the world can be forgiven. But if we fail to put our faith in God and what He accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary through the death of His son, Jesus Christ, we have no recourse to deal with our sins. Peter was once asked if he would desert Jesus, and he replied that there was nowhere else to go because only Jesus had the message of eternal life. When someone I know was struggling with having committed the unforgivable sin, they were told by an older believer that their concern was evidence that they had not.  One writer put it this way, “Anyone who is genuinely concerned that he may have committed the unforgivable sin has not done so. For such a person will ask God for his forgiveness. It is only the person who does not think that he or she ever needs God’s forgiveness who may have committed this sin.”  John 6:37 says, “Whoever comes to me (no matter what sin they have committed), I will never turn them away.” There’s an anonymous quote that puts it into perspective. It says, “There is only one person God cannot forgive, and that is the person who refuses to come to Him for forgiveness.”

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