What a Blessing it is to be Saved!

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Jude 1-2

Jude begins his letter by reminding us of three truths about the believer... and these three truths relate to our past, our present and our future. 

First, Jude reminds the Christian something about our past. He tells us that we are those who have been called to salvation. Jesus makes the same point strongly in John 6:44 when He says “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them...” If you are saved, you’re saved because at some point in the past God called you to salvation. Your salvation didn’t begin and end with you. It began in the heart of God.

The second thing Jude tells us about ourselves relates to our standing before God in the present. If you are a Christian, then you “are loved in God the Father.” You do not stand before God any longer as an enemy who is under His wrath, but as a beloved son or daughter whom He has clothed in the righteousness of Christ. While it is true that God loves all people, He loves believers in a special way. There's a special love that the Father has for His children. God loves you!

The third thing Jude reminds us of has to do with our future. He tells us that we are “kept for Jesus Christ.” That word ‘kept’ means ‘to preserve’ or even ‘to guard.’ And in the context of there being false teachers who are trying to distort the gospel and lead us away from Christ, this is especially encouraging. Sometimes the idea of persevering in the Christian faith and of not giving in to doubt when we live in a world of doubt… can seem like an impossible goal. So, it’s encouraging to be reminded that we do not have to keep ourselves in the faith by our own power. You are kept for Jesus Christ. God Himself is guarding, keeping and preserving you from the strategies of the enemy.

And because of these three truths, you also have mercy, peace and love in abundance. You have abundant mercy, in that God has withheld the punishment your sins deserve. You have abundant peace as a result of your being put back in a right relationship with God. And it was His abundant love toward you that accomplished all of this on your behalf and that keeps you for the day of His coming.

Have you ever stopped to consider how great a blessing it is just to be saved? If you didn’t have a dollar to your name, no food, no possessions, no family, no nothing… if all you had in the entire world was your salvation; you would still be immensely blessed solely because you could say you were called, you are loved and and you are being kept for the day of salvation. If you had nothing else, you would still have mercy, peace and love in abundance. So, praise the Lord for the great and gracious gift of your salvation today.

A Debt We All Owe

In a very well-known passage in John 13, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. And then in John 13:14-15, Jesus gives His disciples this command. 

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. - John 13:14–15

That word that’s translated as ‘should’ in “you also should wash one another’s feet” is a word that refers to debt. It means to owe. Jesus is explaining to His disciples that since He washed their feet, they now owed Him a debt. And His desire was that they repay that debt by washing one another’s feet.

It’s the same with you. Because Jesus laid His life down for you, you now owe Him a debt. And His desire is that you would repay that debt by regularly serving and laying down your life for His children, for the church. You are commanded to serve other believers… in the most humble and helpful of ways.

Far too many people come to church expecting to be served instead of looking for a place to serve. Far too many people want to complain about what others are not doing, or they want to complain about how others are doing what they are doing, when they ought to be finding some way to humble themselves and serve.

So, let me ask, are you humbling yourself to serve other believers at church? Or do you go expecting to be served?

Soulless Worship

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:24

There's a question of how best to interpret this verse. When Jesus says that we must "worship in spirit" is He referring to the Holy Spirit or to our spirit? If He's referring to the Holy Spirit, then He's saying that in order for your worship to be acceptable to God you must approach the Father through the Holy Spirit. 

Many believe that is what Jesus means, but it seems like an odd interpretation to me. While I do believe that we gain access to the Father only by salvation which is a result of the finished work of Christ and is mediated to us by the Holy Spirit; I don’t think that is what Jesus is talking about in this passage. Jesus is talking to the woman at the well both before He died and before the Spirit was sent, so I’m not sure how she could even hope to worship rightly if that was Jesus’ point.

No. To me the second interpreation option make more sense. If Jesus is referring to our spirit, then He is saying that true worship isn’t merely an act of the body. It isn’t going through the motions or performing a ritual. In order for your worship to be acceptable to God, it must engage not only your mind and your body but your soul as well. Worship that is pleasing to God is an activity of the soul.

Looking back at the verse, you'll notice that Jesus grounds this principle in the fact that “God is spirit." His point is that it isn’t where you worship but the manner in which you worship that matters to Him. To worship God, you need to engage the part of you that is most like Him. He is a spirit, so you must worship Him with your spirit. 

If we aren’t careful, we will fail to do this. You can go to church every week and go through all the right motions but do so without engaging your spirit in any way. If you aren’t careful, you can leave the very heart and soul out of your worship and offer up to Him a kind of soulless worship that is only an empty shell of right thoughts and right action. Jesus tells us that is not pleasing to Him.

Don’t make that mistake. When you worship God, worship Him from your spirit. Don’t just think right thoughts and do right actions, worship Him from your heart. In other words, put actual worship into your acts of worship. Offer to Him the worship that comes from deep inside, from your very spirit. That’s the kind of worship He desires.

Regular, Everyday Christians

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.... Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Acts 8:1, 4

Did you notice who was scattered? It wasn’t the apostles. It was everyone else. It was the regular, everyday Christians who were scattered by this persecution. And what did they do as they packed up and left Jerusalem? It says they, “preached the word wherever they went.”

The first major spread of the gospel in church history was the result of these normal, everyday Christians taking the gospel with them wherever they moved to avoid persecution. God ordained, that it wouldn’t be the few apostles, but the thousands of everyday Christians who would begin taking the word out with them beyond the walls of Jerusalem to the edges of the earth.

Why? Because the job of taking the gospel to the nations was never intended to be accomplished by the 12 apostles alone. It's too big a job for that! And you know what? It was never intended to be accomplished by preachers and missionaries alone either. It's too big a job even for that.

Sharing Jesus with lost people is a job God has given to all Christians in all times. And as we see in these verses above, often it isn't preachers or missionaries whose lives make the difference in bringing people to Jesus but normal everyday Christians. You can take the gospel to places that no pastor and no missionary will ever get an invitation to. And you will probably be more successful than we ever would be anyway. So, share Jesus everywhere you go. If the believers in the early church could do it, then you can too!

No Going Back

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him... So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

1 Kings 19:19-21

When Elijah called Elisha to be his successor, it wasn't exactly a great time to be signing up to be a prophet of God. Sure, Elijah had just won a major victory on Mt. Carmel. But, besides Elijah only 100 other prophets remained, and they were all hiding in caves. Queen Jezebel had killed all the rest of the prophets and had promised to kill Elijah. By signing up to be Elijah's apprentice, Elisha is putting his own life at risk. Yet, Elisha embraces his new calling fully and without hesitation.

Notice the act of total commitment Elisha uses to confirm his acceptance of this call. He slaughters the oxen he was just plowing with and uses the wood from the plowing equipment to cook the meat. Then he uses that meat to feed his friends and neighbors and family and himself. This is a beautiful symbolic action. There's no going back to plowing now! Elisha is fully committed. He closes the door on his past life as he steps into his new one.

Christians are called to do the same when we get saved. In order to walk with Christ, we must leave our old ways of living behind. But we often struggle to be as decisive and final as Elisha was. Are there any bridges you need to burn, any old ways of living you need to sacrifice, any doors you need to firmly close and lock between your current calling and your past life? 

Being fully committed to living for the Lord in the present and future requires you to firmly close the door on how you used to live. What door do you need to close? What old way of living do you need to sacrifice? What bridge do you need to burn to make sure that you never go back to your life before Jesus? Fully commit to living for the Lord today.

Nothing Belongs to You

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

Psalm 24:1

This simple verse from the psalms tells us in no uncertain terms that everything and everyone belongs to the Lord. Donald S. Whitney drives the import of this verse home to us in his powerful book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life when he says... 

The house you live in, is God’s house. The trees in your yard are God’s trees. The grass that you mow is God’s grass... The car you drive is God’s car. The clothes you wear and those hanging in your closet belong to God… You don’t own anything. God owns everything and you are His manager… You are just a temporary steward of things that belong to God.*

We don’t use the word ‘steward’ very often, but a steward is someone who has been entrusted with the care of something that does not belong to them. It’s not their property, but they are responsible for managing it. And they are held accountable by the owner for what they do with it.

Whether you know it or not, you are a steward! You manage and safeguard and even spend that which does not belong to you. And, just like any other steward, one day you will have to stand before the Owner and give an account of how you managed what He entrusted to your care. As Romans 14:12 says, “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”

If you had to stand before the Lord and give an account of your life today, would you be happy with how you have used the time and money God has given you? Has God been glorified? Have lost people heard about Jesus because of you? Has the church been strengthened? Have God’s people been encouraged in their faith because of what you did? Have you spent your life in service to the Lord or in service to yourself?

If you aren't so sure that you have been a faithful steward of what God has entrusted to your care, then make today the day you start doing better. 

*Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. (NavPress: Colorado Springs, CO) 2002, p 141.

Devoted to Prayer

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Colossians 4:2

The great Reformer Martin Luther once said, “As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.”*  But many simply don’t! And those who do, often don’t dedicate any real time to prayer. They don’t pray fervently. They don’t pray earnestly. They toss short, half-hearted prayers up to the Lord here or there, but that’s all.

Colossians 4:2 says that God expects you to be devoted to prayer. When you’re devoted to something, you make it a priority. You make sacrifices for it.** 

David Brainerd sets an example for us here. He was a man devoted to prayer. Brainerd was an 18th century missionary to Native Americans. He used to go outside to pray in the woods. He would kneel in the snow to pray. By the time David was done praying... a big ring of snow would be thawed all around him from his body heat alone.*** That's devotion to prayer! 

Are you devoted to prayer? Do you consistently set aside time just to pray? You should! Let me encourage you to establish a regular practice of prayer. Start with 5-10 minutes a day of focused prayer. Pray for your spouse, for your children, your grandchildren, your church, yourself, and for the lost. You may never know what great tragedies are avoided and or what great victories are won simply because you made time to pray.

*John Blanchard comp., Gathered Gold (Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England: Evangelical Press, 1984). page 2. Quoted in Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Coloardo Springs, CO: NavPress, 2002) Page 68.

**Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Coloardo Springs, CO: NavPress, 2002) Page 67.

***https://footstepsinthedeep.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/the-life-and-diary-of-david-brainerd-by-jonathan-edwards/

Give It Time

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

John 2:11

When Jesus changed the water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, His discples believed in Him right away. They knew this was something that no ordinary man could do. They didn't need to process that miracle or sign. Right away they understood that it meant that Jesus was the Messiah.

But later in the same chapter Jesus does something that took the disciples longer to understand... a lot longer. Jesus made a whip out of cords, drove the sheep and cattle out of the temple courts and scattered the coins of the moneychangers. When the Jews questioned Jesus about this He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19). In the moment, no one (not even the disciples) understood that Jesus wasn't talking about the massive temple complex but about His own body. But, John 2:22 tells us something that I think is important. 

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:22)

It wasn't until after Jesus was raised from the dead that His disciples understood and believed what He had said. That particular saying was too hard for them to receive at that moment. They couldn't understand it and therefore they couldn't believe it. They weren't ready for it. They needed time and further revelation from God to make sense of it.

Sometimes it's the same for us. Sometimes we read something in the Bible or hear the Spirit whisper something to our spirit and we just don't understand it. We aren't ready to receieve it. We can't bring ourselves to believe it... yet. 

In those moments, I want to encourage you not to give it more time. As Christians we don't reject what we read in the Bible and don't understand. We give it more time. It's okay to admit that you don't understand something that God says or does. Keep chewing on it. Keep thinking about it. Give God more time to help you  understand and believe it. 

Some parts of the Christian faith are easy to accept, and some... take time.

Plant Yourself by the Stream

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

This passage says that God’s Law (or His Word) is like a stream of water that refreshes and strengthens us. If we'll plant ourselves beside the Word and meditate on it day and night, then we'll be like a tree planted beside a stream. A tree whose leaves never whither and whose fruit never fails. This analogy tells us that we can grow and prosper endlessly in our faith if we will only ensure a steady flow of God’s Word into our lives. 

Never underestimate the importance of God’s Word in your life. Never believe the lie that you have grown beyond needing to read it. The Bible is endlessly refreshing and nourishing. Its treasures are never-ending. You always need more of it.

But notice that we need a steady flow of the Word, not an occasional dumping. Imagine a tree planted in hard ground. If a big raincloud dumps a bunch of water on that tree all at once, most of the water will run off that hard ground. Very little will have time to saturate the ground and get down to the roots where the tree can take it in and retain it. The tree benefits very little from that kind of rain.

We often make this mistake in our Bible reading. We rush through our Bible reading. We do it quickly just to get it done. And because of that we get very little benefit from it. Instead, I encourage you to read your Bible slowly. Give it time to sink in and saturate your soul and produce life change. 

Often, I will read the same chapter of Scripture everyday for a week and only then move on to the next. This helps me to make sure I don't miss anything in the chapter. It gives me time to think about and understand the more difficult parts of the passage. And it makes it much more difficult for me to ignore the parts that I don't like. Try it in your own life. Here's a Scripture Meditation Plan I am using this year. I invite you to read the Bible slowly with me in 2025.

W.o.W. Rewind- Laid Bare

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:12-13

God’s Word is living and active. It doesn’t just lie there. It has power to accomplish God’s purposes. 

God’s Word is like a double-edged sword, so sharp that it can cut through the most minute dividing lines. It can divide joints and marrow. It can even divide soul and spirit, two things which we often think are the same. So, God’s Word is like the sharpest and most exacting of blades.

The passage goes on to say that “everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” That phrase “laid bare” is really interesting, and it’s a beautiful picture of what happens to you and I when we come face to face with the power of God’s Word. Laid bare is the same word that was used of animals when they were sacrificed. It describes an animal being led to the slaughter with its head thrown back and its neck (the most vulnerable part of its body with the largest arteries) exposed before the sword of the slaughterer.

Now, that’s not a very endearing metaphor is it? But the truth it drives home is this... we all lie fully exposed and vulnerable before the greatness of our God and His powerful Word. God’s Word is living and active. It overpowers us and cuts us like a double edged sword. But, we serve a good and loving Father who puts us in that position of vulnerability not to harm us but to heal us. Like a surgeon with His scalpel, God uses His Word to cut the cancer of sin out of our hearts. But in order for Him to do that for us, we must first be “laid bare” before him completely exposed and vulnerable.

So if you are tired of being overrun by sin and if you are willing to climb on the surgeon's table, then get more of God's Word in your life. Here's a link to the Bible Reading Plan my church is doing in 2025. Why don't you join us?