Mercy over Sacrifice

Despite my previous post on New Year's Resolutions, I started a Bible Reading Plan and for the umpteenth time I started reading Matthew and Genesis, as well as Acts and Ezra. Surprisingly, it's been two weeks and I am still reading. Even though I've read Matthew many times, this time I noticed a phrase that I don't remember being there. It was “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” I didn't really pay attention until it cropped up 3 chapters later.

They are both said by Jesus, quoting Hosea 6:6, and both times it is said in rebuke. It comes at the end of a well known passage in Matthew 9, “But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”” Then in Chapter 12 it says, “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” Because both are directed at the Pharisees, they clearly had not learned in the time between when the verses were spoken.

So what does it mean? Mercy, in Hosea, is the Hebrew word Hesed which is translated “steadfast love”. Sacrifice in this instance is a reference to religious rituals, or sacrifices. So Jesus is telling the Pharisees, that Jesus and also God, that steadfast love for sinners in more important that mere rituals, or being “religious”. Too many Christians are just going through the motions, thinking that all it means to be a Christian is doing the right things, saying the right things and knowing the words to the right songs. Christianity is more than just a Sunday occurrence and our “good works” and perfect church attendance won't get us to heaven. We need to love, like Jesus loved, those around us.

I cannot remember the last time I shared the gospel with someone. How about you? If I were to cut through all my excuses and backsliding about sharing the gospel, my only excuse/the only reason I can find that I don't do it is because I don't love the sinners around me. If I believe that I know the good news, the only way the people around me are going to be saved from an eternity of suffering apart from God, and I do not not share it with them, isn't that the great lack of love I could show? I am keeping the best most important news they could ever hear from them because of my fear and lack of love.

I need a heart full of love for the lost around me, informed by Christ's love, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, never failing to show love by sharing what Christ has done for me and can do for them.

So, show some steadfast love today.

Why Resolutions Fail

Source:http://lifehacker.com/5726305/why-your-new-years-resolutions-are-doomed-to-fail

Ray Williams, writing for Psychology Today, points out that setting a resolution is a form of "cultural procrastination" because people fail to set realistic goals and aren't ready to change their habits. This makes a lot of sense when you think about the most common resolutions: reduce debt, lose weight, stop smoking, and so on. All of these goals are fairly broad, and few of us take a step beyond defining what we have resolved to do.

Chances are if you want to quit smoking, you've wanted to quit smoking before the new year. An excuse—in the form of January 1st—isn't going to help you do it. What it will do is give you an entire year to plan to quit smoking with no real set course of action. This makes it very easy to procrastinate. Before the new year you'd simply wanted to quit smoking soon. Now you want to do it this year. The only thing that's actually changed in this scenario is the time frame. While "soon" isn't specific, chances are an entire year is a lot farther off than "soon."

None of this even accounts for how easily you'll forget your resolution if you allow yourself such a lengthy amount of time to solve a fairly simple problem. Instead of making resolutions this year, start making an actionable plan to solve your problems one by one, as they come up. Don't be overly ambitious or you'll run out of energy, but make a concentrated effort to solve problems for the sake of solving your problems and not because the date has changed.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. The only reason New Years Day gives me cause to celebrate is because it is a testimony to the faithfulness of God to bring me through another year and that January 1st has come again. Really every other reason is arbitrary and resolutions are wasted on me. In my very limited experience, I've found when I get all inspired and fired up for something, like most people are about their resolutions, the experience quickly fades and the day to day takes over, leaving the resolutions forgotten and nothing really all that different. Too many times I've hear a sermon and felt conviction and inspiration to change and too many times I've found myself cursing at the car that cuts me off after church, or falling into lust on Monday morning.

That's why this year I make no resolutions other than to make no resolutions. The Christian life is just that, a life. It isn't about short bursts of “spirituality” but rather a life of committed faithfulness to Christ. The life doesn't require perfection but growth and a true believer will see growth over their life, by God's grace alone. If you live day to day, you may not see a marked difference in your life but you must trust that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion, because the will of God for you life is your sanctification.

So why should we use January first as the date when we start something? We should resolve every day to live for the glory of God, knowing that He is faithful, even when we are not. We will not be perfect, we will not always see the growth but trust is an everyday choice and His mercies are new EVERY morning.

May God Bless 2011

A Quick Thought on Pride

Pride has been called the root of all sins so I decided to draw attention to, and hopefully lessen the power of, two ways pride has worked in my life. The first way happened before my conversion and the second has happened after.

The first manifestation of pride finds itself in a mentality of works. Before I had a right understanding of the process of conversion and salvation I thought that it was based on human efforts. Like Augustine, I felt I could earn my way to God. This is pride because it elevates whatever good works we might accomplish to the level or being good enough to stand in the presence of a holy and righteous God, who hates the sight of sin. All of our humans efforts do not get us anywhere close to God, it's only through the perfect work of Christ that we can hope to enter the presence of God.

So now that I'm a Christian and I know that pride is wrong and sin before God, I should be perfect and not struggle with pride right? Ha. No. This is, in itself, pride. In the past I have read the Bible, seen the standards laid down by God, seen my own sin and fallen into condemnation about my failure to attain the perfection God requires. The purpose of God's law is to show us how utterly imperfect we are, but then it is meant to point us right to Christ, who's perfection does what we never could. When I fail and let myself feel condemned over it, I am elevating my standards above those of God, which is pride. God doesn't require perfection for me because I claim the blood of Christ. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The condemnation comes when I hold myself to a higher standard than the one God does. When we realize this and repent of it, it leads to a greater freedom in Christ, not to sin as we please but to praise Him for His work and His grace and blood, which cover all of our multitude of sins.

We are all adulterers

Recently I saw myself as something I had never thought of myself as before, unfaithful. I had,for all intents and purposes, cheated on a girlfriend that I claimed to love and sought to marry. While our paths have since separated, I have seen some of the effects my infidelity has had on her; she was devastated, questioning every single word I had said and I whether I truly cared for her all along. Her self esteem was all but destroyed as she reasoned it was only because I was not attracted to her and sought beauty elsewhere. She was hurt in more ways than I can see all because of my selfish and sinful actions.

But there was another more hurt than her and it was due to my infidelity to Him. God, the sovereign creator of the universe demands my love and praise and honor and when I turn away and sin, I am being unfaithful. The book of Jeremiah is chock full of vivid, descriptive language equating Israel's sins against the Lord to adultery. Through many metaphors and sometimes blunt descriptions, it is shown that sin is, in it's essence, adultery from the true love we have in God. Jesus called the church his bride and we, as his bride, have been whores.

We have turned away each to his own way and there is none perfect, no not one. Just as with my girlfriend God is grieved when we essentially sleep around, but he is not grieved in humans termed. His self esteem is not hurt and he doesn't lose self confidence. He is hurt because of His love. He knows that everything we need for life and Godliness is found in Him and when we turn away, we are turning away from what we really need. If we are truly saved then nothing can separate us from the love of God and when He looks upon us, He sees the righteous of Christ given to us, however sin does create a distance with God.

When we sin, we are not any less saved but the Bible teaches us that we are to confess are sins and that God is faithful to forgive them. This doesn't mean that if we die without confessing every sin then we are going to hell but is to say that we need to humbly come to God in confession to restore the relationship we once enjoyed. Sin affects our ability to pray and our ability to discern and hear God's voice. It is only through that humble confession, when we admit we were unfaithful, that God is faithful and just to forgive those sins.

Going back to my situation with my girlfriend, if I were simply to come to her now with a bouquet of flowers and a diamond necklace asking her to take me back, it would seem disingenuous and would probably be unsuccessful. I cannot buy back the love and trust that I lost through my sin. Neither could I come with many words, promising change without any difference in the way I was acting. In the same way, we attempt to buy or earn God's favor by reading more bible or going to church. Our actions and obedience can never do enough to regain right standing with God because our sin condemns us in His righteous eyes. As the Bible teaches, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Supposing I were to go to my girlfriend and humbly confess my sins, admit that I was wrong and ask for her forgiveness. She would probably respond better than my attempts to buy her love and forgiveness. Because of her real hurts she probably would not be quick to forgive or trust me but she would have the option. God shows His love for us, and sets himself apart from humans, by promising and delivering on that promise to forgive us every time we confess our sins to Him. He is faithful to take us back every time we turn our lustful eyes on other gods that ultimately will never satisfy us. He is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him. Even when we defile the proverbial marriage bed, He still hold out His loving arms.

Why? Why does He does this? Because of His love and because of the work of His Son, Jesus Christ. As I stated, our righteousness is not of our own doing but the work of Christ. We have turned to adultery more than enough times to condemn us to an eternity apart from a righteous God but God so loved the world that He sent his only son to die so that whoever believes in Him as their savor will not perish, but have eternal life.

Don't Read This Blog

I've realized something, I sound like I know what I'm talking about. The previous post on Psalm 51 was written like I had something to bring to the table, like I have everything figured out. Of course if you actually know me, then you laugh at the ridiculousness of that statement. I do not write this blog for my own honor or prestige or because I know what I'm talking about. I write to figure it all out. Writing stimulates my mind and my studies and forces me to come to grips with and defend what I believe. I write for my own benefit, hopefully to the glory of God, so please don't read this.

Psalm 51

Psalm 51 is one of the most well-known psalms because it is the response of a broken David following his affair with Bathsheba. It is the heartfelt pleas of a lowly man, humbled by God because of his sin but it can be helpful to study for any believer struggling with any sin, not just adultery. It lays out a helpful pattern for response to sin. To begin with, it is helpful but sobering to realize that David was a “man after God's own heart” who was coming off intense spiritual experiences, with the Living God, when he failed so miserably as to commit murder and adultery because of his selfish lusts. The remaining sin/power of the flesh is so great, even in believers that anyone is susceptible to it's lure, which should lead us to extreme care of our souls.

When we sin, which is inevitable, we can follow the example laid down by David in Psalm 51. Possibly the most important part of the Psalm is the beginning, when David does not try to “get his act together” and then come before God. He comes just as he is, and he appeal for forgiveness is not based on his own merits but the character of God. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. v2” David's worth is not even on his mind, in fact he's well aware of how unworthy he is, “For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. v3”

[6]Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

[7]Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

[8]Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

[9]Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

[10]Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

[11]Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

[12]Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

[13]Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

This section is vitally important to understanding our motivations for repentance. The emphasis is placed on the work of God in our lives and our primary motivation for asking God's forgiveness is a renewed and deep relationship with God. As believers our sin no longer condemns us before God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ but the effect of our sin is a change in our personal relationship with God. Paul shows us that we can “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 4:30) and “the Lord disciplines those that He loves” (Heb. 12). Just as an earthly father still loves his children when they disobey, our heavenly father continues in love and it is because of this love that He does not allow us to persist in our sins.

Therefore our main motivation is God turning His face back towards us and away from our sins but there are secondary motivations as well. In verse 10 David cries out for God to work within him for spiritual change. This same heart that was after God now needs to be made clean, but note that it is not David making it clean by his efforts or personal holiness but rather God's work in us that leads to a “right spirit”. Another attitude to be craved by believers is a credible witness to believers, as shown in verse 13. When God shows his faithfulness to us, we should use this as a way to witness to others and he promises to return sinners to Himself. We should crave the type of life that serves as a witness to non-believers but we can always extol the faithfulness of God.
Our confession of sin is not for self-abasement or flagellation but to return us to the joy that we have in the salvation of God. Verses 8 and 12 both speak of the joy that needs to follow the forgiveness of our sins because we can trust the promises of our faithful God that He will forgive our sins if we confess them. (1 John 1:9). This ties in to the final section of the Psalm:

[14]Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

[15]O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

[16]For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

[17]The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Our response to this forgiveness should always be the worship of God. We should see God's righteousness and forgiveness and “sing aloud”. The ESV Study Bible says, “The person who has used this psalm to confess his sins and to receive God's assurance of pardon is the one who can genuinely worship the gracious God of the covenant.”

David then again reminds us that God doesn't delight in our “sacrifices” aka our works but rather responds to our humility. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We cannot earn the forgiveness or grace but it is a free gift of God. He will not despise when we come humbly before him, admitting our failure and acknowledging our dependence on Him to grow, asking for His Spirit to change us for His glory and to being sinners to Him.