WHO IS YOUR SIN MANAGER?

God has a zero tolerance for sin. Every nuance of every violation of perfect love is seen by Him. If He turns a blind eye to it and has no reaction against it then He is not good. What is His reaction? "He passed over all sin to demonstrate His righteousness at the cross." (Romans 3:25f) This applies to Goliath, who mocked God and was killed by David, and to the people of Israel who died by snake bite for complaining against God. This verse reveals that the physical judgments on these people didn't really show how serious God was about sin. And this applies to all your sins and to all the sins of all those who mistreat you.

From the positive side we can say that God is perfect love and thus loves perfectly. He also requires continuous perfect love of all people, because that is what is good. How do you think I am doing? How are you doing? How are those who rub you the wrong way doing? We try to manager our own and each other's sins by the pressure of correction, criticism, reminders of failure, threats of various kinds, expressed displeasure, and more. Isn't improvement what we long to see? What does God desire to see? Perfect love.

I suggest that seeking to be my own sin manager results in self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and judgmentalism. And do you really appreciate me acting like I am your sin manager? If not, then why do you seek to be the sin manager for others? The way of freedom is not to pretend to not notice sin, but rather to point self and all others to what what God sees: perfect love required and offered as a gift in Christ. Wouldn't it be a relief when you fail, to have a friend to remind you of what Christ did for you on the cross? Then you could freely admit failure without a sense of condemnation.

I also suggest that the first step in helping others deal honestly with their failures is to admit that what we really want is for them to stop bothering us. A good second step might be a prayer of thankfulness that Jesus at the cross managed all sin and that it is a done deal for that person. Then the third step will naturally follow: to gladly point the other person to the finished work of Christ and the standard of perfect love. It might surprise us how quickly others will admit failure and the need to change in light of gazing upon their identity in perfect love.

ARE YOU CONFIDENT THAT GOD IS GOOD? A TEST

If you say that you trust that God is good, then I have a test for you.
True or False...

1. If God is good then all that He brings into your life is for your benefit and blessing.
2. All that does come into your life works for good because you know God.
3. Every criticism that you receive, even when false and unkind, is a blessing to you from God.
4. You gladly welcome all criticism as a blessing from God.
5. You know your tendency to resist criticism and therefore pray and ask God to bring you critics to help you overcome this tendency.
6. Since God is good and critics are His blessing to you, you regularly thank God for bringing them to you.
7. Since God is good, you rejoice in the Lord always while receiving criticism, realizing that you are worse than the critics declare.
8. Since critics are a blessing from God to help you see your need to learn to love, you thank your critics for offering their criticism--even when it is not valid--to honor their care for you.

If you trust that God is good then the above will naturally overflows from that trust. Have you been afraid to pray in this way? Are you thinking that God's answer might be out of your control? What does that reveal about your confidence that God is good? Here is a simple step forward in trusting the goodness of God. Will you take it? The Christians around you would be blessed if you did.

"Father in heaven, thank you that you are good in all that comes my way. Thank you that all my critics are a blessing sent from your hand of love to help me see my need to grow in love. Please bring me critics on your schedule as much as you think I need. Sooner is better than later for the sake of my family, friends, and church. Thank you for making Christ to be all my security when the critics come. Amen."

Decades ago an article by AW Tozer brought the above to my attention and I began to pray this way. It is easy and natural for us humans to see our critics as a problem. I suggest that we cannot overcome this problem, but can only suppress it. The good news is that God can overcome it for us. Since beginning to pray this prayer, all my critics have become an answer to prayer. By definition they are no longer a problem for me but rather a blessing to me. What a relief. God is so good! Let's celebrate...even with our critics. 

FYI: This applies to trials as well as critics. Feel free to make that application also.

CHRISTIAN OBEDIENCE IS NATURAL AND GLAD

Do you desire to honor God in all your thoughts, words, and actions? Is this even a good thing to desire? Is it a good thing to desire for others, too? If so, then where do you get the motivation and how do you motivate others? Is it ever good to use manipulative, deceitful, or impure motivational tools? Since the ends don't justify the means, we all need to be sensitive to the pressure away from good motivation. This applies in marriage, parenting, friendships, and life in general.

The following quote by James Denney--a pastor and seminary professor of a century ago, who couldn't imagine a sermon that wasn't a declaration of the love of God--declares that there is a motivation in the love of God that is so life-giving that no other motivation is necessary.

“It is through the assurance, given to faith at the cross, that so far as doing the will of God is concerned, a new and living way has been found. It is not the law in its old legal form—the law of statutory injunctions and prohibitions—which is to generate goodness in the sinful man; it is the law glorified in the atonement. The whole inspiration of the Christian life lies here, and it is an inspiration, not a statutory requirement. Nothing is to count in the life of a Christian which does not come with perfect freedom from this source. This explains the extraordinary emphasis which St. Paul everywhere lays on liberty. Liberty is the correlative of responsibility; man must be perfectly free that the whole weight of his responsibilities may come upon him.” -The Death of Christ, by James Denney, pp.190-191

The whole inspiration of the Christian life lies here.

Do you agree with Denney that the whole inspiration of the Christian life lies in the cross and its transformative power? Are you persuaded that the law was honored and glorified in the atonement and nowhere else? When you think of Christ, do you think of the weightiness of the law and of Christ gladly carrying it all for you? Are you persuaded that in Christ you are perfectly free from all obligation to do good? Does even just hearing of that possibility make your heart sing and  soar, or do you perhaps suspect and expect some laziness?

Let's get practical. Are you as a Christian bothered by your lack of motivation to do what is good? Are you bothered by such in other Christians? Is your solution to look at what is good for you and them to do and then to seek to do it? If so what is behind the motivation to seek to do it? This is the point of contention. A reason to act takes one of two general forms: either of obligation (have to or need to), or of gratitude for love or blessing received. You may declare that there is always a mixture of both. That likely is the human experience. But don't we all know intuitively that such is impure and akin to a business transaction? Business transactions are good but not in the place of a non-business personal interaction. We all may do this and do it often, but let's not pretend that God encourages it, as such isn't good. I suggest that the way to escape this polluted motivation is to take James Denney's advice and identity the problem as a lack of assurance in the power of the cross. Declare as true--and thank God often for it--that Christ in His death carried all your obligation to do what is good and that you are perfectly free, having no pressure of obligation. Denney is declaring that if you have any obligation to do good then your sense of responsibility to always do good will be diminished and impoverished. And that certainly isn't a good thing. If you are not convinced and think that you and others need at least a little pressure of obligation in order to be serious about doing what is good, then I have two questions for you. First, how is that going for you--I mean, compared to Christ are you obedient? And second, does God consider your imperfect performance as good?

I suggest that James Denney has clearly identified what God declares to be good and pure motivation--one that is untainted with human pride, competition, and failure. I also suggest that this motivation has sufficient force behind it to move me to proper action--done naturally and gladly. Jesus did say something like that: "He who forgiven much (and while perceiving it) loves much." It is crucial to notice that love in action isn't automatic, perception is necessary for it to flow naturally, freely, easily, and gladly. Lastly, I suggest that if Denney is correct here, then other sources of motivation are impure and thus not from God; they are worldly.

WHERE IS YOUR SECURITY?

"For in Him [Christ] all the fullness of Diety dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;" -Colossians 2:9-10

Every true Christian is complete in Christ, which means that they lack nothing and nothing can shake their identity in Christ. And since Christ is above all other authority, no authority can take away from that completeness. Neglect, misunderstanding, slander, mistreatment, or worse by anyone else cannot shake that completeness. True? Why then is it so common for us Christians to get impatient, offended, proud, angry, and worse with each other? Why this touchiness and defensiveness if my completeness has nothing to do with me or my critics? The whole issue is about setting your mind on Christ as your completeness. Every bad reaction you have is rooted in distraction, ignorance, or forgetfulness of your identity in Christ.

Are you persuaded that this is true? God loves you and delights to help you learn this lesson of love. All your critics and all your troubles are HIS messengers to help you notice and keep focused on your identity in Christ. The last time you were disagreed with, criticized, mocked, or neglected by a fellow Christian, did you embrace such as grace from God, giving Him thanks for your and your critic's completeness in Christ? Did your critic receive a warm saintly welcome from you and maybe even an invitation to expand on the criticism? Did you embrace such as a good opportunity for YOU to learn more about YOUR own weaknesses? Did you see God's smile of delight on that dear saint WHILE you were being mistreated? Or, did you think in terms of your own rights, and respond defensively? The truth about your completeness in Christ while you are being a jerk to others, is also true of others WHILE they are being jerks to you. True? If you thank God often that this is always true for all Christians, it will be more natural for you to remember it in the heat of the moment.

Practice remembering your security in Christ and watch your reactions change.

Love: The Wellspring of Mercy and Grace

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" 

-Ephesians 2:4-6

Have you ever wondered how the love, mercy and grace of God fit together? The Christian life should be marked by "joy inexpressible and full of glory" and probably would be if we meditated continually on this question. His love for us is simply His disposition, inclination, habit, desire, and tendency to do good to us. Mercy is a demonstration of love toward one who is an adversary, something we certainly qualified for with God. Scripture declares that God's mercy abounded toward us. One would expect that from a heart full of love. Now self-focused human hearts can be stingy in extending mercy. This looks ugly, somewhat like tolerance of one who is undesirable—not exactly an enemy anymore, but certainly not a friend either. Grace goes beyond mercy because it is favor. While mercy is related to the alleviating in part or in full punishment that is deserved, grace is a change in the relationship to one of favor and blessing. Humans can give grace only in degrees because we are all flawed and weak. But God's glory shines because His heart is wide open toward sinners and His limitless love overflows in perfect righteousness through the sacrifice His dear Son.

John declares that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). He is eager to do good to us—continually! Because of this, mercy has flowed like a river from His heart. There is absolutely no stinginess with Him. The depths of His love could not be contained in mere mercy. His love filled up the measure of mercy and overflowed into grace (favor and blessing). This favor and blessing is beyond anything we see in human relationships. There is almost always some sense merit or hesitation in human relationships. Look again at Paul's words. Do you notice any hesitation on God's part for intimacy with sinners? We do NOT read that He gave us new life alone at a safe distance from Him so that He could maintain His holiness. Rather we read that His love for us is so great that when we were dead in our sins He made us alive together with Christ, raised us up together, and made us to sit together in Christ in the heavenly places. This is a done deal for all who know Him, or rather are known by Him (Gal 4:9). Do you see His heart of favor for you? There was absolutely no hesitation on His part to reach down into filthiness and lift you up and give you every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenlies (1:3).

The question is: do you trust His declaration of His unwavering love, even when trials buffet you, or do you heed the voices of the world that judge God by human desires for comfort or rules of fairness? This is the spiritual battle line. On page two of my Bible the serpent slandered God's favor toward Adam and Eve. They heeded Satan and their souls were thrown into darkness. They hid from God, who had only favored them. But God continued to favor them . . . He sought them out, moved into their darkness and declared what He had already planned, that one day the woman's Son would crush the serpent's head. The rest of the Bible is the unfolding of God's lavish grace (favor and blessing) on rebellious mankind.

Have you tended to rejoice that you are out from under God's wrath by simple faith without any works? Of course that is wonderfully true. But that is really just mercy. Favor is far more than that. God's grace is so lavish that we can doubt it, misunderstand it, and even forget it and it still remains all of our life and hope and glory. He has favored us with a life of intimacy with Him—the one who first loved us. So even if we only see His mercy we still have His grace. This is an amazing grace from the heart of love beyond our understanding.

WHY LOVE OTHER PEOPLE?

"He who is forgiven much loves much." --Jesus of Nazareth

Those of us who think that this is true have no excuse for our lack of love for other people, but we do have a reason for it. Are we paying attention? According to Jesus, I have no one to blame but myself for not loving the most obnoxious person around. Active awareness of the greatness of God's forgiveness for me would move me to overwhelm that obnoxious person with love. Apparently Jesus knows something we don't want or like to think about--that our Irritation, frustration, and lack of gladness toward others is caused by our lack of vision of the immensity of God's forgiveness toward us and even toward that other person. Let's get over ourselves and learn to laugh at our failures and those of other people. At our best moments we all are weak. Forgetfulness of the cross is the Christian's great enemy. For the non-Christian ignorance of the cross is the enemy.

An Example of Loving a Very Difficult Brother

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protests, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 
-1 Corinthians 13:4-7

WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE

In the 1800's, in a small town in England, in a very poor neighborhood, there lived a kind old pastor, Mr. Robert Chapman, who was well known, even outside England, for his loving and humble character. The church that he pastored for 70 years was very divisive when he moved to that town. As the years passed, he patiently loved these saints and taught them to love one another. Many years later, a short conversation was preserved which gives us a window into the soul of a man marked by unusual humility and love. Let us pay attention to his attitude that we might see higher into the heavenlies.

A Christian man moved to town and joined the church pastored by Chapman. Years later an enquiry was made about that man by someone from his previous church in another town. The enquirer was curious about how Chapman got along with him as the man had been very difficult to deal with. "Chapman replied that he was a valuable brother, a very valuable brother; and added: 'We did not know our need of patience till he came among us.'"

DO YOU WANT TO GROW IN LOVE?

Did you notice Chapman's attitude? He considered the very difficult brother to be God's instrument to reveal the church's need to grow in patience. Chapman clearly learned that lesson of love well, seeing the man as a "very dear brother." Do you want to learn to love? Are you willing to welcome the difficult saints in your life as God's chosen instruments to reveal you need of patience? If not, what does that reveal about your real desire to grow in love? Does this bother you? How wonderful it is that our loving Father is patient with us when we are not so with each other.

Reading about God's gracious work in and through Robert Chapman has been a great blessing to me. The first post on this blog is a recommendation of Agape Leadership: lessons in spiritual leadership from the life of RC Chapman. If you want to grow in love, or become more sensitive to your lack of love, this books would be a great help. You friends would benefit from you reading it, too. The above excerpt was taken from a book recently reprinted entitled: Robert Chapman, by Frank Holmes
"Father in heaven, help us to see the difficult people around us as a blessing from your hand of grace to show us our need of more love. Convict us when we only tolerate them instead of loving them. Please do this soon. Thank you for loving us even when we neglect to love. Amen."

God's love in Kenya: preaching while cycling

"Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." 
-2Timothy 2:2

Pictured below are two of the brothers we encourage prayer and support for in Nakuru, Kenya. Benson Nganga (with the big smile), who directs the Fiwagoh Mission Orphanage Minnistry, was in our home last year. The other brother, Kennedy Nyakundi, a dear friend of his, has spent much time walking in the hot sun to villages to preach the gospel and encourage the believers. In January we sent $100 to purchase a good quality bicycle to speed Kennedy on his journeys. God was not slow in opening doors for Kennedy with the bicycle. Following is from an e-mail he sent January 29. I have clarified it a bit.

Mighty things are happening through the gift of the bicycle you gave me. I was coming home from a fellowship of a church that I started early last year— 2/5/2007. I came in contact with a man who had a bicycle on the highway, and I started sharing with him while cycling the bicycle. I introduced myself and he also introduced himself. I said to him I am a pastor and he said that he said that he was a medecineman [witch doctor?]. For a long time I shared with him the gospel. I asked him if can give his life to Jesus, he agreed and we stopped our bicycles on the roadside and he gave his heart to Jesus. Praise the lord! .......When I asked him where he comes from, I discovered that he is one from the neighbourhood where we have the church. Now he is coming to the church. Dear brother Brad the bicycle is making the gospel go faster. Many people have given their lives to Jesus in one of the markets in the city of Nakuru. Last week I was sharing in the market why Jesus came [John 10:10-12] and 13 people gave their lives to Jesus, 9 women and and 4 men. I will be briefing you what is going on here. May God bless you.
Your brother in Kenya,
Pastor Kennedy Nyakundi




Please pray for God to move these brothers (and their co-workers) to preach with great love and boldness. May God add many to his church there. Among these brothers there are still several evangelists who walk to the villages because a $100 bicycle equals two months wages. Pray that God would move saints here to sent money to equip the evangelists with bicycles to speed the gospel on its way. If you want to be part of the answer to that prayer, you can get a tax-deductible receipt by sending your donation to:
Community Christian Ministries
PO Box 516
Moscow ID 83843
Attach a note specifying for Oasis Books-Kenya Orphanage-bicycles

If you don't need a tax receipt you can contact us directly by mail or phone at:
Oasis Books
25 W Center
Logan UT 84321

Either way 100% of the donation will go to Kenya.

God's Love in Kenya: What One Christian Can Do

I would like to introduce you to some Kenyan brothers who minister the Word and care for orphans in Nakuru district of Kenya. Please pray for God's work in and through them.

Meeting a brother

"Oh how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity." -Psalm 133:1

About five years ago, Benson Nganga, a pastor in Kenya, called me. Someone there had given him a copy of my pamphlet, Thanksgiving and Confession: The Way to an Overflowing Heart. He wanted more copies to giveaway. I mailed to him a small box of encouraging materials in addition to his request. I sent him the pdf file of the pamphlet so he could print his own copies. He told me a little about God's call to him and his wife, Florence, to care for orphans. At that time, only a few orphans were in their care. Over the years we have prayed on the phone and corresponded.

What one Christian can do

In early 2008 God led him to travel to the U.S. to visit saints here who supported his work. He stayed with us for two days in June. We called some friends together to meet him, to hear his story and to hear a word from the Lord from him. His words were a great blessing.

Benson's parents died when he was a young boy. After a short stay with an aunt who had many children, Benson and his three older brothers were put out on the street. They slept under a granary and begged food from house to house. One day they they knocked at the house of a Christian man who told his wife to give the boys all their leftover food. He then told the boys to return the next day. Every day he gave them all the leftovers. He began to teach the boys the Bible and tell them of God's great love for sinners. He paid for the boys to attend school. The boys grew up to love God under this Christian man's care.

Benson sensed a great desire to care for the physical and spiritual needs of orphans as he had been cared for, and prayed for a wife who would want to give her life caring for orphans as well. God gave Florence a heart to join that vision as He brought them together. Benson and Florence began Fiwagoh Mission Orphanage Ministries. His brothers and others help care for the orphans. They also visit nearby villages to preach, give away Bibles and Christian literature, and give away food and clothing. They oversee several village churches. Currently they care for 85 orphans. Their new orphan home on 17 acres, which will house 400 orphans, is nearly completed.

Benson reminded us that we need to not underestimate what God can do through one Christian man--like that one who, with his wife, loved four orphan boys and taught them the love of God and instilled in them a love for God's Word.

May the great God of heaven raise up an army of Christian families in Kenya to love many of the 3 million orphans there. And may God give His saints across the world a spirit of prayer and generosity to support them in this ministry. May God receive much glory.

Love and humility: introduction

Love and humility are the two most glaring blind spots in the Christian church. This is true for individual believers as well as for assemblies of saints. It is true for me and it is true for you. Do you want to shrink your blind spots? Are you willing to have help? About fifteen years ago, God in his kindness and wisdom began intensifying the light of his holiness on these two blind spots in my life. He has given me much conversation with other saints about love and humility. This has blessed me. I hope over the coming weeks to share thoughts from scripture on love and humility not simply to inform but also transform us by the renewing of our minds. “Love builds up but knowledge puffs up.” Let us seek to “grow” in love and humility not just to “know” in love and humility. We can learn from saints who have gone before us. They are part of the great crowd of witnesses testifying to God’s faithfulness. God has granted me the privilege of being a full-time literature missionary in Utah for over 20 years. Much blessing has come to me from hearing from saints from various traditions and centuries–through books and The Book. I hope to share some of that blessing through book recommendations and stimulating quotations.

“It is better to lose your pocket book than your temper.”–Robert C. Chapman

Losing which of these bothers you more?

Agape Leadership is a short biography of Robert Chapman. It is filled with humor and piercing words. It stimulates the reader to a higher vision of Christ. It is a good book to read aloud as a family.