How did your day dawn?
Many years ago when we were living in Puebla, Mexico for a semester, a lady there often would ask me the first thing in the morning, "¿Cómo amaneció?" meaning, "How did your day dawn?" I was just learning Spanish and seldom knew what to say so I would just tell her, "Bien, bien." meaning "Well, well–or ‘fine.’" And of course that is always accurate for a Christian, "All is well. All is well."
But I’m thinking this morning, "What are your very first thoughts in the morning?" Is it a day you are anticipating because of something you’re planning to do? Or perhaps dreading because you don’t want to take that examination or do some unpleasant chore or talk to someone about some responsibility that is not being met? Is the weather bad and you have to go somewhere? A lot of good thoughts are possible as you rejoice in the fact that you know the Lord and so do others in the family. Do you have food and clothing and shelter for today? Are you thankful for those gifts?
What if you have terminal cancer or some other dread disease? [And we’re ALL "terminal cases" if you stop to think about it! . . . .]You’ve been asleep and all of that is out of your mind. And then when you wake up, the remembrance suddenly hits you again, "This cancer is literally killing me and I’m dying" and the consciousness of the pain and the somber reality floods back into your mind. How do you handle that??
In my research for the book I’m writing I came across a letter from one person dying of cancer to a friend whom she was trying to comfort and help him live his last days with peace from the Lord and rejoicing in Him despite what was happening to his body. For those of you who know them, my wife Minnie wrote an e-mail to Billy Bennett on October 23, 2008. We didn’t know it at the time but Billy had less than two months left to live here on this earth (though he continues to live, of course, with the Lord in heaven.) But how was he going to make those last few weeks?
Minnie told him. He must live it day by day, one day at a time, constantly looking to the Lord and rejoicing in Him. Here is how she concluded her letter, "My Daily verse is ‘This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.’ I try to live that way, not worrying about the future, but enjoying Him and the ones he has put in my life each day. This is my prayer for your sweet family. Love, Minnie"
". . . enjoying Him and the ones he has put in my life each day." People were more important to her than the outward circumstances. Jesus often told His disciples to love one another and to serve one another, doing even mundane things when necessary, including washing one another’s feet. And I can tell you as my testimony that being my wife’s care giver for three years was almost the greatest task God ever gave me in my life. And He poured His love into our hearts just as He promised, "God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." Romans 5:5 Minnie said several times in her last few months, "I love him more now than even when we first got married." She wrote to our granddaughter Julie on September 25, 2008, "Tomorrow will be our 53rd anniversary. How wonderful to grow old with the love of your youth--and I love him more today than then. It just gets better and better." And we both knew where that love came from. God gave it to us and we were thankful for it.
But don’t miss the first part of her statement, "enjoying Him . . . each day." It was in fellowship with the Lord that she found her strength. She went "from strength to strength in the Lord" "Wait on the Lord and He shall strengthen your heart." "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31
Take your focus off what's causing you anxiety and worry and put your focus on the One who will either 1) bring a solution or 2) give you the grace to endure and go through the trial. As your day dawns with the Lord, so He goes with you through each valley, and in the end you know His promise, "Lo, I am with you always. . . even unto the end of the world." Mt. 28:20
–Pastor Burnside
Friday, May 13, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Grace Sufficient for Every Trial and Suffering: 2 Cor. Ch. 12
One of the most remarkable truths of scripture is that instead of making life easier for us by supernaturally removing the causes of our discomfort and difficulties, God instead gives us more grace and strength to enable us to go through the painful, difficult stages of life and painful experiences that are part of living as fallen creatures in this fallen world. After all, this world is not our home; we’re on our journey home and God is preparing us for the place that He has already prepared for us in heaven. We would much prefer that God remove "the thorn in the flesh" or take away "our cross" from us but God in His wisdom, says "No." And He seldom explains why, but we see the end result as He makes us more like Christ and floods us with His supernatural peace.
Do you remember the old hymn, "He Giveth More Grace."
"He giveth more grace when the burden grows greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.His love has no limit; His grace has no measure;
His pow’r has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!"
God sent a "thorn in the flesh," to Paul, "a messenger of Satan to buffet me." And he tells us why: to humble him. He said it twice, "to keep me from becoming conceited." 2 Cor. 12:7
The word in Greek is huperairomai literally meaning "to raise oneself over" another person, to become arrogant or to glorify yourself instead of God. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6
Do you need more strength, more grace to help in time of need? Scripture tells us how to get it: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16 ESV Go to God in prayer and go with confidence, but if you expect to get an answer, you’d better go humbly and realize who you are and who God is and then you can’t be proud. That’s what the verse says that I quoted in James, "But He gives more grace." And then it says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. James 4:6
Recognize that you are a created being, a finite creature who has no life in himself but is totally dependent upon God. Take your place as a finite person before our infinite, eternal omnipotent Creator. It’s a matter of simple logic: 1 Cor. 4:7 ESV "For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"
God did not take away Paul’s cross or his "thorn in the flesh," but He did give him grace and strength to "live with it" and be victorious in that struggle. He flooded his soul with the "peace of God which passes understanding."
And God’s answer to Paul echoes down through the centuries to us to sustain us as well. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 12 Cor. 12:8-10 ESV
Our problem is not that we feel inadequate to face the problems of living in this fallen world, our problem is that we are inadequate and totally dependent upon God for our strength and abilities, but He is sufficient. His grace is sufficient for us. "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God." 2 Cor. 3:5 ESV "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Cor. 4:7 ESV
So then we can say with the apostles, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. 4:8-11 ESV
Our lives should be a living demonstration that the risen Christ lives within us: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:19-20 ESV That’s grace. And it’s sufficient for us. Depend on Christ, not on yourself. Glorify Him, not yourself.
Do you remember the old hymn, "He Giveth More Grace."
"He giveth more grace when the burden grows greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.His love has no limit; His grace has no measure;
His pow’r has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!"
God sent a "thorn in the flesh," to Paul, "a messenger of Satan to buffet me." And he tells us why: to humble him. He said it twice, "to keep me from becoming conceited." 2 Cor. 12:7
The word in Greek is huperairomai literally meaning "to raise oneself over" another person, to become arrogant or to glorify yourself instead of God. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6
Do you need more strength, more grace to help in time of need? Scripture tells us how to get it: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16 ESV Go to God in prayer and go with confidence, but if you expect to get an answer, you’d better go humbly and realize who you are and who God is and then you can’t be proud. That’s what the verse says that I quoted in James, "But He gives more grace." And then it says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. James 4:6
Recognize that you are a created being, a finite creature who has no life in himself but is totally dependent upon God. Take your place as a finite person before our infinite, eternal omnipotent Creator. It’s a matter of simple logic: 1 Cor. 4:7 ESV "For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"
God did not take away Paul’s cross or his "thorn in the flesh," but He did give him grace and strength to "live with it" and be victorious in that struggle. He flooded his soul with the "peace of God which passes understanding."
And God’s answer to Paul echoes down through the centuries to us to sustain us as well. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 12 Cor. 12:8-10 ESV
Our problem is not that we feel inadequate to face the problems of living in this fallen world, our problem is that we are inadequate and totally dependent upon God for our strength and abilities, but He is sufficient. His grace is sufficient for us. "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God." 2 Cor. 3:5 ESV "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Cor. 4:7 ESV
So then we can say with the apostles, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. 4:8-11 ESV
Our lives should be a living demonstration that the risen Christ lives within us: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:19-20 ESV That’s grace. And it’s sufficient for us. Depend on Christ, not on yourself. Glorify Him, not yourself.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Take pleasure in life. God does. Psalm 16
Take pleasure in life. God does. Psalm 16 You will not have as much trouble with discouragement or depression if you learn how to rejoice in the Lord, be thankful to Him always, and learn to take pleasure in life and delight in the things that God Himself delights in. Search the scriptures that tell us what God delights in or takes pleasure in. There are MANY! And He also tells us that "the living God gives us richly all things to enjoy" [in His time and in His way, of course.] 1 Tim. 6:17
"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage."
Psalm 16:6 Or, "delightful inheritance" (NIV) Be thankful to God for the heritage He has given you in this life as well as the inheritance that is yet to come "reserved in heaven for you." 1 Peter 1:4 Be thankful and enjoy what comes to you "from the good hand of our God." This "song promotes contentment with the arrangements of one’s life, seeing them as providentially ordered." (ESV Study Bible note)
Then King David rejoices in God’s constant Presence with Him. The Living God, Creator of heaven and earth, actually indwells us after He caused us to be "born again" into His family after we had been alienated from Him by our sins. "Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’" John 14:23 ESV Our real home is in heaven "in my Father’s house" but during the time of our sojourn on this earth, God’s Presence goes with us and "Christ in you the hope of glory" and presence of the Holy Spirit surely brings joy as well as strength and peace and love and the "fruit of the Spirit" to all who know Him. If we have God dwelling with us, "His divine power has given us all things we need for life and godliness." 2 Peter 1:4 And He has promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Heb. 13:5 Nothing can separate us from Him. Romans 8:38-39 A dear friend wrote to me just a few minutes ago, "My favorite part of
that passage is the word "life." Life can't separate me from His love."
And then the Psalmist, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, adds a Messianic promise, "nor will you let your Holy One see decay." That is interpreted in the New Testament as referring to Jesus’ resurrection in Acts 2, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact." Acts 2:32 His resurrection was the first step in bringing to pass the hope or certainty of eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection was the "firstfruits" as an historical guarantee that we, too, continue to live after death and our bodies shall be raised from the dead.
We can take pleasure in God’s Presence, in God’s works, in God’s providence, and in the inheritance He has laid up for us, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. The hope–meaning "expectation" or "anticipation"–of everlasting joy fulfills "the human yearning to be near to God and to know the pleasure of His welcome forever, beyond the death of the body. . . ."
–Pastor Burnside "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:7-8 NIV "Therefore"–because of God’s constant presence, "my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave. . . ." My wife’s body is in the grave in a military cemetery in Washington State, but Jesus immediately took her spirit to be with Him in heaven when she died: "absent from the body, present with the Lord." 2 Cor. 5:8(ESV Study Bible note) "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11
"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage."
Psalm 16:6 Or, "delightful inheritance" (NIV) Be thankful to God for the heritage He has given you in this life as well as the inheritance that is yet to come "reserved in heaven for you." 1 Peter 1:4 Be thankful and enjoy what comes to you "from the good hand of our God." This "song promotes contentment with the arrangements of one’s life, seeing them as providentially ordered." (ESV Study Bible note)
Then King David rejoices in God’s constant Presence with Him. The Living God, Creator of heaven and earth, actually indwells us after He caused us to be "born again" into His family after we had been alienated from Him by our sins. "Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’" John 14:23 ESV Our real home is in heaven "in my Father’s house" but during the time of our sojourn on this earth, God’s Presence goes with us and "Christ in you the hope of glory" and presence of the Holy Spirit surely brings joy as well as strength and peace and love and the "fruit of the Spirit" to all who know Him. If we have God dwelling with us, "His divine power has given us all things we need for life and godliness." 2 Peter 1:4 And He has promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Heb. 13:5 Nothing can separate us from Him. Romans 8:38-39 A dear friend wrote to me just a few minutes ago, "My favorite part of
that passage is the word "life." Life can't separate me from His love."
And then the Psalmist, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, adds a Messianic promise, "nor will you let your Holy One see decay." That is interpreted in the New Testament as referring to Jesus’ resurrection in Acts 2, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact." Acts 2:32 His resurrection was the first step in bringing to pass the hope or certainty of eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection was the "firstfruits" as an historical guarantee that we, too, continue to live after death and our bodies shall be raised from the dead.
We can take pleasure in God’s Presence, in God’s works, in God’s providence, and in the inheritance He has laid up for us, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. The hope–meaning "expectation" or "anticipation"–of everlasting joy fulfills "the human yearning to be near to God and to know the pleasure of His welcome forever, beyond the death of the body. . . ."
–Pastor Burnside "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:7-8 NIV "Therefore"–because of God’s constant presence, "my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave. . . ." My wife’s body is in the grave in a military cemetery in Washington State, but Jesus immediately took her spirit to be with Him in heaven when she died: "absent from the body, present with the Lord." 2 Cor. 5:8(ESV Study Bible note) "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Parable of an Azalea Bush
Parable of an Azalea Bush
How do you prepare for the disasters of life in this fallen world? In one sense you can't really "prepare" for them in the sense that you can take preparations like sandbagging a flooding river because you don't know what is going to hit you nor when. But in another sense God prepares us for the traumas of life by building our strength little by little as He causes us to go through hardships and difficulties. And He teaches us that He is in sovereign control not only of the weather but of every detail in life so that not a sparrow falls without the Father. And thus we learn to rely on Him and not on ourselves or on other people. We're thankful that God in His providence uses many human means to help us but when they fail, we know God is still there and still in control of everything.
I saw an example of that principle a couple of weeks ago when I planted an azalea bush the day the winds started. And they kept getting harder and more fierce and more persistent for many days. And I looked out at the azalea bush, wondering how those flowers kept clinging to the bush. And I noticed how the wind bent the branches and behind the azalea bush the slender young maple tree bowed in front of the wind.
And what was happening to that tree and that bush while they were being pushed and pushed by the wind? Well, below the ground, their root structure was developing and in the formative months those roots grow stronger when they are subjected to strong winds because they have to hold tighter to the place where they're planted. Look at the rugged hardy trees on a windswept coastal plane. They bend in the wind but they hold their place. So we, too, must have strength and stability as we endure the storms of life. And we get that strength from the Lord. We go "from strength to strength" as we learn to depend on Him and cling to Him. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." Psalm 84:5-7
Yesterday Timothy sent me an article by Charles Spurgeon that says much the same thing though he wrote it 150 years ago. Read it and be strengthened for the storms of life.
Thinking of Jeremiah 17:17 "Thou art my hope in the day of evil," Spurgeon wrote,
"The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen." Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope." (emphasis added)
--Charles Spurgeon, 1834-1892
--Charles Spurgeon, 1834-1892
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter--"Was it not necessary?"
"Was it not necessary?"
One of the most fascinating parts of Easter is the story of the two disciples on the Emmaus Road walking and talking with Jesus for maybe two hours as they walked those seven miles together. "Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us along the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?" Luke 24:32 And one of the things that Jesus said is most striking, "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" 24:26 NAS & ESV
"Necessary" is the literal translation from the Greek, but in what sense was it "necessary" because Jesus had said, "No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." John 10:18 So Jesus’ death was completely voluntary. But His suffering was the only way that He could accomplish eternal redemption for us. And if He had been unwilling to suffer and die, we would still be lost instead of forgiven and on our way to be with Him in the glory of heaven.
It was also the Father’s will that He should suffer and die for us and He was following His Father’s will. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. . . . " Romans 8:31-32
He did it "for us all," to give us eternal redemption, forgiveness, and eternal life. The cross was the only way that our Holy God could be both "just and the justifier of the ungodly." The "wages of sin is death" and Jesus paid the death penalty to pay for those sins–your sins and mine. And the penalty included intense suffering.
And what motivated Jesus? why would He go through that intense suffering? And again God in His grace has made it clear. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10 God’s love and grace was why Christ suffered–and that was reason enough. Nothing good in ourselves; it was all of grace, all because of God’s grace.
Think of what Jesus achieved in His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. He defeated Satan, hell, and the grave and obtained eternal redemption for those who turn to Him in repentance and faith, trusting in His finished work on the cross.
Now since God achieved so much through the suffering on the cross, don’t you think He is also achieving something through your much-lesser suffering in your life? He is indeed. And we can see part, but not all, of what God is accomplishing through your suffering. He is in the process of making us more like Christ! "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18
We have another indication that God is achieving good through our sufferings in several other verses. 1) Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
2) "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor. 4:16-18 We see not yet all the glory that awaits us, but the present sufferings are working for us; they are doingsomething. They are accomplishingsomething eternal and glorious–though we do not see it all yet.
We belong to Christ so we must share in His sufferings--sufferings that will come to His body, the Church. Col. 1:24 "The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children . . . seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." Rom. 8:16-17
Jesus suffered and now He has entered His glory. We, too, shall suffer in this life. Jesus told us that, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Easter is a time of great joy, but it came only after intense suffering. So be of good cheer, your suffering, too, will end and joy will come in the morning. So rejoice even in the midst of your sorrow or suffering.
And keep your eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross. Remember the glory which is yet to come.
Love in our Lord,
Pastor Burnside
One of the most fascinating parts of Easter is the story of the two disciples on the Emmaus Road walking and talking with Jesus for maybe two hours as they walked those seven miles together. "Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us along the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?" Luke 24:32 And one of the things that Jesus said is most striking, "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" 24:26 NAS & ESV
"Necessary" is the literal translation from the Greek, but in what sense was it "necessary" because Jesus had said, "No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." John 10:18 So Jesus’ death was completely voluntary. But His suffering was the only way that He could accomplish eternal redemption for us. And if He had been unwilling to suffer and die, we would still be lost instead of forgiven and on our way to be with Him in the glory of heaven.
It was also the Father’s will that He should suffer and die for us and He was following His Father’s will. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. . . . " Romans 8:31-32
He did it "for us all," to give us eternal redemption, forgiveness, and eternal life. The cross was the only way that our Holy God could be both "just and the justifier of the ungodly." The "wages of sin is death" and Jesus paid the death penalty to pay for those sins–your sins and mine. And the penalty included intense suffering.
And what motivated Jesus? why would He go through that intense suffering? And again God in His grace has made it clear. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10 God’s love and grace was why Christ suffered–and that was reason enough. Nothing good in ourselves; it was all of grace, all because of God’s grace.
Think of what Jesus achieved in His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. He defeated Satan, hell, and the grave and obtained eternal redemption for those who turn to Him in repentance and faith, trusting in His finished work on the cross.
Now since God achieved so much through the suffering on the cross, don’t you think He is also achieving something through your much-lesser suffering in your life? He is indeed. And we can see part, but not all, of what God is accomplishing through your suffering. He is in the process of making us more like Christ! "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18
We have another indication that God is achieving good through our sufferings in several other verses. 1) Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
2) "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor. 4:16-18 We see not yet all the glory that awaits us, but the present sufferings are working for us; they are doingsomething. They are accomplishingsomething eternal and glorious–though we do not see it all yet.
We belong to Christ so we must share in His sufferings--sufferings that will come to His body, the Church. Col. 1:24 "The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children . . . seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." Rom. 8:16-17
Jesus suffered and now He has entered His glory. We, too, shall suffer in this life. Jesus told us that, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Easter is a time of great joy, but it came only after intense suffering. So be of good cheer, your suffering, too, will end and joy will come in the morning. So rejoice even in the midst of your sorrow or suffering.
And keep your eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross. Remember the glory which is yet to come.
Love in our Lord,
Pastor Burnside
Friday, April 22, 2011
Good Friday
Good Friday is a good day to think about death–your death and how Jesus conquered death when He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.
Listen to Charles Spurgeon commenting on Jesus’ prayer to the Father the day before He died: "That they may behold My glory"
"We love God’s people. They are exceedingly precious. Far too often we look on their deaths as a grievous loss. If we could confer immortality, we would never let them die. But it would be cruel to deprive them of a speedy entrance into their inheritance. We want to hold them here a little longer. We find it hard to relinquish our grasp, because the saint’s departure causes us much pain. We are poorer because of the eternal enriching of the beloved, who have gone over to the majority and entered their rest."
"Yet know this, while we are sorrowing, Christ is rejoicing. His prayer is, ‘Father, I desire that they also, whom You gave Me, may be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory which You have given Me’ John 17:24. In the advent of every one of His own to the skies, Jesus sees an answer to that prayer. We are grieving, but He is rejoicing. Their deaths are painful in our sight, but ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.’ Psalm 116:15
"Tears are permitted, but they must glisten in the light of faith and hope. ‘Jesus wept’ John 11:35, but He never complained. We may weep, but not ‘as those who have no hope’ 1 Th. 4:13. There is great cause for joy in the departure of our loved ones."
"Death itself is not precious; it is terrible. It cannot be precious to God to see the highest works of His hand torn in pieces, to see His skillful embroidery in the human body broken, defiled, and given to decay. Yet to the believer, it is not death to die. It is a departure out of this world to the Father, an entrance into the kingdom." –Charles Spurgeon, 1834-1892
Beside Still Waters: Words of Comfort for the Soul, p. 235
I’ve read those beautiful comforting words many times in the past few months thinking always of my dear sweet Minnie and thankful that the Lord gave her to me for 54 years on this earth–and even more thankful that we will be together again before long. For all of you who have been separated by death from someone you love very deeply, try substituting that person’s name for some of the personal pronouns in that passage of scripture and in that devotional. Like this:
"I love Minnie. She is exceedingly precious. Her death leaves a gaping hole in my life. I am VERY thankful for the 54 years the Lord gave us together but it seems so short to me now that it is past. But I rejoice greatly that she is with the Lord and has entered her eternal inheritance, which I will share with her ‘ere long. I find it hard to relinquish her and let her go because her departure causes me so much pain. I am so much poorer without her, but she is so enriched to be with the Lord and in glory."
John 17:24 applies to Minnie. She is included in Jesus’ prayer and can be singled out this way: ‘Father, I desire that Minnie also, whom You gave Me, may be with Me where I am; that she may behold My glory. . . ." Minnie’s death is painful in our sight, but "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15
For Minnie it was not death to die. She is still alive. "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. It was a departure out of this world to the Father, an entrance into His kingdom. "To depart and be with Christ is far better" and so we rejoice for her, if not for ourselves. Jesus promised, "He that believes in Me shall never die." And she didn’t. She merely passed from life through death into eternal life. It was the gate by which she entered heaven itself.
Put your own name in all these marvelous promises that you read in scripture and realize that they are for you and not just for "other people."
And ponder anew how Jesus conquered death by His own agonizing death on the cross on Good Friday so many years ago and His triumphant resurrection on the following Sunday. "Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise," He told the thief on the cross. And we have the same promise to look forward to. Today–this day–Minnie is actually with Jesus in paradise. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
–Pastor Burnside
Listen to Charles Spurgeon commenting on Jesus’ prayer to the Father the day before He died: "That they may behold My glory"
"We love God’s people. They are exceedingly precious. Far too often we look on their deaths as a grievous loss. If we could confer immortality, we would never let them die. But it would be cruel to deprive them of a speedy entrance into their inheritance. We want to hold them here a little longer. We find it hard to relinquish our grasp, because the saint’s departure causes us much pain. We are poorer because of the eternal enriching of the beloved, who have gone over to the majority and entered their rest."
"Yet know this, while we are sorrowing, Christ is rejoicing. His prayer is, ‘Father, I desire that they also, whom You gave Me, may be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory which You have given Me’ John 17:24. In the advent of every one of His own to the skies, Jesus sees an answer to that prayer. We are grieving, but He is rejoicing. Their deaths are painful in our sight, but ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.’ Psalm 116:15
"Tears are permitted, but they must glisten in the light of faith and hope. ‘Jesus wept’ John 11:35, but He never complained. We may weep, but not ‘as those who have no hope’ 1 Th. 4:13. There is great cause for joy in the departure of our loved ones."
"Death itself is not precious; it is terrible. It cannot be precious to God to see the highest works of His hand torn in pieces, to see His skillful embroidery in the human body broken, defiled, and given to decay. Yet to the believer, it is not death to die. It is a departure out of this world to the Father, an entrance into the kingdom." –Charles Spurgeon, 1834-1892
Beside Still Waters: Words of Comfort for the Soul, p. 235
I’ve read those beautiful comforting words many times in the past few months thinking always of my dear sweet Minnie and thankful that the Lord gave her to me for 54 years on this earth–and even more thankful that we will be together again before long. For all of you who have been separated by death from someone you love very deeply, try substituting that person’s name for some of the personal pronouns in that passage of scripture and in that devotional. Like this:
"I love Minnie. She is exceedingly precious. Her death leaves a gaping hole in my life. I am VERY thankful for the 54 years the Lord gave us together but it seems so short to me now that it is past. But I rejoice greatly that she is with the Lord and has entered her eternal inheritance, which I will share with her ‘ere long. I find it hard to relinquish her and let her go because her departure causes me so much pain. I am so much poorer without her, but she is so enriched to be with the Lord and in glory."
John 17:24 applies to Minnie. She is included in Jesus’ prayer and can be singled out this way: ‘Father, I desire that Minnie also, whom You gave Me, may be with Me where I am; that she may behold My glory. . . ." Minnie’s death is painful in our sight, but "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15
For Minnie it was not death to die. She is still alive. "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. It was a departure out of this world to the Father, an entrance into His kingdom. "To depart and be with Christ is far better" and so we rejoice for her, if not for ourselves. Jesus promised, "He that believes in Me shall never die." And she didn’t. She merely passed from life through death into eternal life. It was the gate by which she entered heaven itself.
Put your own name in all these marvelous promises that you read in scripture and realize that they are for you and not just for "other people."
And ponder anew how Jesus conquered death by His own agonizing death on the cross on Good Friday so many years ago and His triumphant resurrection on the following Sunday. "Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise," He told the thief on the cross. And we have the same promise to look forward to. Today–this day–Minnie is actually with Jesus in paradise. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
–Pastor Burnside
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Suffering for Christ--2 Corinthians chapter 11
As we go into chapter 11, Paul "boasts" a lot, but he's "boasting" that Christ is working through Him. So the glory is to God, not to Paul. Paul disliked talking about himself; he wanted to talk about Jesus. The Corinthians were in danger of making shipwreck of their lives. And he must warn them. You, too, occasionally face those dramatic moments in life when you must warn someone--and how to warn a not-receptive person takes wisdom from God and direction from Him as to the timing and the circumstances. I could tell you some stories some time about how God used Minnie in that way. Dramatic moments, directed and empowered by God, but eventually saving the person from a great mistake and bringing glory to God in the process. She took the initiative and made the attempt to help the person only when she felt strong conviction to do so--and she did so gently and with great wisdom and insight that seems to me to have come from God.
Paul told the Corinthians, "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." 2 Cor. 11:3 ESV Notice the comparison to the Garden of Eden and the key words, "led astray." Satan was cunning and so were the devil's representatives in Corinth in the 1st century and in America today. Just as Satan appeared to Eve in a friendly, beautiful way, false teachers apprear friendly and attractive, but they contradict the Word of God and are distracted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus and commitment to Him.
When Jesus confronted Paul on the Damascus Road and brought him to faith in Christ, the Lord said to His servant Ananias, "This man is my chosen vessel. . . . I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name." Acts 9:16
And in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 Paul details some of that suffering for Christ. The list is so amazing that we know the only way any human being could have endured all that Paul suffered was through the special sustaining strengthening from the Lord. Listen to Paul: 2 Cor. "Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?" 2 Cor. 11:24-29
And in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 Paul details some of that suffering for Christ. The list is so amazing that we know the only way any human being could have endured all that Paul suffered was through the special sustaining strengthening from the Lord. Listen to Paul: 2 Cor. "Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?" 2 Cor. 11:24-29
Paul was joyful in the Lord and content to accept whatever came to him from the good hand of our God. He did not "lose heart" in the midst of his great sufferings. But he was concerned that people who loved him might be dismayed and discouraged by his troubles. So he wrote to the Ephesians, "So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory." Eph. 3:13 As difficult as all those hardships were, God's grace was even greater for it was indeed the grace of God which carried him through those so-difficult experiences. Christ showed Himself in all of Paul's sufferings and in the next chapter we'll see how they taught him to rely completely on Christ's strength. "When I am weak, then
He is strong in my life."
Paul had already written, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." 2 Cor. 4:7-9
One of the ways that Paul authenticated his apostleship was to show the many ways and times that he had suffered for Christ. And yet at the end of it all when he was ready for his "departure" to be with the Lord, he wrote, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Romans 8:18 ESV
The cross comes first and then the glory of the resurrection. First the crucifixion on Good Friday, then Easter Sunday. "Take up your cross and follow Me," Jesus told us.
--Pastor Burnside
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