Acceptance – 9

Text: Romans 12:1-21, Job 12:9-16

Look at her. She’s got life all figured out, and everything is going right. She’s got a family, a thriving business and a large ministry and it’s all perfect. Why can’t that be me?

Have you thought those things before? I certainly have. Sometimes it’s a daily struggle. I would guess that’s a pretty normal thought process for most of us. But I’d like to ask you, along with me, to shift your focus.

That’s her. That’s not you.

We saw last session how God has a specific plan for you. You. And He’s guiding you through your story. Yours, not hers. Not anyone else’s.

If you haven’t yet today, please read our text from Romans, especially Romans 12:3-7, our text from Job – all eight verses.

We’ll talk about the Job passage first.

Q: According to verses 9-10, whose hands are we in?

Very capable hands, I would say. Those same hands who planned the universe, orchestrated the perfect balance of the planets, the chemistry in our air, our water and even in our bodies. The wisdom and knowledge beyond anything we could ever comprehend (Romans 11:33), even planning and preserving the generations of mankind and the birth of Jesus Christ for centuries before it happened. That Birth, I might add, that would never have been necessary if we hadn’t screwed things up by trying to do things our own way, I might add. Those same hands and mind who planned all of that… that’s who’s got us. That’s Who’s in control of our lives.

I don’t know about you, but that’s definitely a comforting thought to me.

Read over the Job passage again, looking especially at verses 13-16.

Q: Is God wise? Write your answer in a full sentence. (verse 13)

That may seem like a silly question, but isn’t that the very truth we question when we question His will? When we question the way our lives are playing out, and when we question the situation we find ourselves in?
So I ask again, is God wise? Do you truly believe that? As we’ve mentioned before, trusting can be very difficult, especially when we can’t see the bigger picture.

But He is no less in control when we’re at the bottom of the hill looking up than when we’ve reached the top and can see the beautiful vista. He was wise, understanding, and in control of it all every step of the way.

Even the difficult ones.

But do you see in verse 13 the second quality that was named?

Q: What characteristic of God was named along with wisdom?

Did you say strength? Might? Power? Depending on your translation, you might have any of those answers. But isn’t it the truth? Along with wisdom, He is strong and powerful. Such a perfect combination. Because without the power to do anything, His wisdom would prove worthless.

In case you take the word lightly, I’d like you to look with me at its Hebrew root, gĕbuwrah: strength, might, valor, bravery, mighty deeds of God; which is from gibbowr, a stronger form of gabar: to be strong and mighty; to prevail. source

So, in my estimation, pretty much the strongest this word could get. And we have that power to help us along the way. So, no, you don't have to always be strong in and of yourself - you've got God on your side!

As children of God, when we question His plan I believe that’s Satan trying to mislead us. Wouldn’t that make sense?

But take heart, and read Job 12:16.

Job 12:16 “With Him are strength and prudence.The deceived and the deceiver are His.” NKJV emphasis mine

So even the Deceiver belongs to God, and must answer to Him. (Like we read a few sessions back)

Now that we know where the doubt is coming from, let’s analyze our own heart, thoughts and motives.

Please re-read the Romans passage.

Switching mental gears back to where we started this session today, answer the following question.

Q: Do you or have you in the past compared yourself to others and the proverbial greener grass on the other side of the fence?

Q: Or do you have tendency in the other direction – almost getting uppity about God’s plan for you, and how your calling is so much better than someone else’s?

In this passage, we see just a little taste of the bigger picture God sees. He knows we each only can see from our own eyes, from our own perspective. But He gives us this glimpse at the whole puzzle. We, the puzzle pieces, get to look at the front of the box for a moment. God says we each have our own roles. Our own gifts, talents and purpose that He has designed especially for us. And just like pieces of a puzzle, we wouldn’t really fit in any other spot. Not without damaging the bigger picture, and likely damaging ourselves and the surrounding pieces in the long run.

Read verse 10.

Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.” NASB

We are to show preference to the other person – not ourselves – and not vie for position. Let them have their place in the puzzle, and accept our own; where God has placed us. It goes back to trust again.

I’d like to conclude with this thought from verses 6-8. Please re-read those verses again. Repeat is good, don’t you think? I know you’ve just read the same passage multiple times, but for me, it never gets old.

DO: If you write in your Bible, circle or underline the action commands.

Romans 12:6-8 “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” NLT emphasis mine

What do you see? I see a body of Christ doing what they should be doing. Living out that plan God has for them. And what more beautiful plan could there be? What more beautiful will of God for your life could you imagine?

Q: Which gift do you best see yourself in?

Q: Do you feel that’s the one God has given you, or is it the one you wish you had?

Q: Do you strive to live out the gift that God has given you? Why or why not?

In your prayer time, spend some time thanking God for your gift(s) – the one(s) he planned and designed especially for you. Pray also for His help to live out the gift(s) the way He intended.

You’re beautiful, sweet sister. And so is your gift.

Set Free 5 - Battling Perfection part 2

How did your list making go?

It makes a lot of our do-goodery look pretty ugly, if yours looked anything like mine.

No, not all the things, or all the time, but enough.

Today we will look at our inheritance.

Ours is special. Most times for an inheritance, someone we love has to die, and that which they left behind, even if it is great, has a limit.

With our inheritance, however, even though Christ had to die for us to attain it, He did not stay dead, and His Spirit lives in our hearts as a part of that alive-ness.

Romans 8:10 “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.” NLT

But yet, there’s no limit to the inheritance, and it will never run out.

Our inheritance is freedom. Our inheritance is grace. Free grace.

I ask you, did you do anything to get it?

No, of course not.

Q: So why then do we think we have to do and be so much to keep it?

Psalm 103:14 “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” NASB

So, dust-child, who did we think we were kidding? Not God, certainly. Ourselves, probably. Others? Most likely. Leave it to us to be so flawed even in our doing good. But He loves us anyway.

Let’s open with Galatians 3 and I’d like to highlight verse 3.

Galatians 3:3 “How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” NLT

Our text today is Galatians 3 and 4. (Specifically 3:1-7, 11-15, 21-29; 4:1-9, 22-31)

Look at Abraham. He was one of the “greats” right? A “good Christian” surely. But look at what saved him.

Not his lineage, not his place in the kingdom plan.

Q: What does it say in verse 6 that saved him? What made him holy in God’s eyes?

Please take the time to answer in your journal. I believe you’ll gain so much from physically writing it down.

So what saved him? His faith. That’s it.

And we can have that exact same thing. We can inherit the same, be accepted into God’s family the very same way. Faith.

Galatians 3:7 “The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.” NLT

Faith alone.

Jump down to verse 11.

Galatians 3:11 “So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”” NLT

Verse 12 says this is very different from what we’re used to, and that couldn’t be more true. Everything about what we’re used to is reliant on being better, doing more to rise higher.

But we are rescued from that.

Read that again and feel free to issue a sigh of relief. We are rescued from that. (Galatians 3:13-15). And nothing will ever change that fact. Praise Jesus!

So, you may ask, what is the law for? Why all the rules always associated with being a child of God?

Here’s our answer – find freedom in this. Read verses 21-29.

Galatians 3:24 “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” NASB

It is here to teach us of our need for Christ. Like the mirror in James 1:23, it is here to reveal a need.

We needed the rules to train us. To know this is how a child of God acts.

As a child, we were no different from a slave, in that we had to obey the rules, no questions asked. Because those are the rules. (Any moms out there said that line?) But when the right time came for each of us to be saved, and we received His Spirit, in that moment we were no longer slaves, but children of God. And heirs.

Romans 8:17a “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” NIV

Before that time, and in the old testament before Christ came to set us free, the people of God did need to do the elements. (The Greek word behind elements refers to marching in rank. The fundamental practices of a discipline) It was part of it, and they were required to do them. Yes it was still faith that saved them (Galatians 3:6, Romans 4), but they were required to do those things because Christ had not yet come.

Going back to the original discussion in Galatians (see our previous post) about circumcision. Again, you may apply this to practices we use today as our defining marks.

Before the time of Christ, to be that heir, that child  of God, to be adopted into the family, a mark (via circumcision) was required.

What we see here is that now, that mark, that sign, or thing that brands us as God’s people is faith. Faith becomes that public, no-going-back, change to distinguish us. Not our actions.

Faith is not a marching in rank kind of thing. It is a gift. A freedom, and a hope.

To wrap this all up, I’d like to ask you a question. Please answer honestly in your journal. If you feel comfortable, please also share here in our community.

Q: What have you been depending on as your defining mark to set you apart?

Is it your deeds? Attending church? Your language? Or is it just faith alone?

Please don’t remain enslaved by the “do”.

Galatians 4:9 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” NASB

We are heirs not because of what we do. We are not slaves. We are faith-children. (Galatians 4:31)

For more on this, you may read http://v3.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_Gal/Gal_004.cfm?a=1095008#anchor_Gal480

Don't forget to get your free printable of our memory passage here

The Painful Lesson 7 – Difficult People

Text: Jeremiah 22:7-9; Jer 25; Jer 51:1-5, 7; Romans 1:18-32, 1 Peter 3:4

We have no excuse.

Romans 1:20b-22 “We have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.” NLT

We took our Groom for granted.

And we are about to see what it is like without Him. Or maybe that’s where we are right now?

God has crumbled the clay.

Last session we talked about how He crumbles the clay by pulling out the velvet rug we’ve been sitting on.

Today, we are going to look at an alternate approach He sometimes takes, and maybe this fits your life a little better. Rather than punishment/teaching (the two really can be interchangeable at times, can they not?) by removal of something, sometimes God actually institutes “wreckers” in our lives.

Yep. I had to do a double-take too, but it’s plainly what God said. Look again at Jeremiah 22:7-9 and then turn over to chapter 25.

Jeremiah 22:7 “I will call for wreckers,    who will bring out their tools to dismantle you.They will tear out all your fine cedar beams    and throw them on the fire.”

Jeremiah 25:3-7 reminds me of what I’m memorizing in Romans. Romans 1:18-32 specifically.

Jeremiah 25:9 kind-of stunned me. King Nebuchadnezzar – God’s deputy? 

God appointed him? 

God appointed him?

This same Nebuchadnezzar who ordered the statue built of himself for everyone to worship (Daniel 3)? This same Nebuchadnezzar who ordered the death of those who did not? But there it is in verse 9.

Jeremiah 25:9 “I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy, I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.”

And God brought him against Israel.

No, sisters, God hasn’t handed over the wheel this time. He’s still got it. He’s directing all these turn of events, even when it has meant the demise of His Beloved for a time.

While this passage was directly spoken to Israel, about a time that has now already happened (just exactly the way God said it would, by the way – but then we shouldn’t be surprised, because He was the One who orchestrated it in the first place), we can definitely see application in our own lives.

It angers God when we stray. He must, as a Holy God, punish to bring forth a better, more faithful, beautiful Bride.

1 Peter 3:4 “You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” NLT

Has God brought a difficult person into your life? I know you can think of at least one difficult person you know. Maybe that person’s very presence in your life is an act of love.

Did you ever think of it that way?

God, up there in Heaven, sketching out plans for your life, and He artfully pencils in the presence of someone He knows will try you. Someone He knows will hurt you. Someone to bring you to your knees.

Because that is what He wants – is you on your knees. Even if it takes a bit of pain to get you there.

There are so many more treasures here, but we will stop here for today.

Until next time, do spend some time in thankful prayer for those people most difficult in your life. They are a gift from your Groom, a jewel on your bridal tiara.

Gift to the Bridegroom

Isaiah 62:5 “Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.”

Read Isaiah 62:1-5

Imagine: You are engaged to be married! Every waking hour, you are daydreaming about your fiancé. Anybody? Can you relate?

The closer the wedding gets, the more you yearn to be with him. And he yearns to be with you.

Christ yearns for that day too – that day when He shall be united with His Bride and live forever. Happily ever after.

There will be no “till death do us part” and only “for as long as we both shall live”; for, sisters, that will be eternity, amen?

Being that He is Royalty, the Son of the Almighty, All-Sufficient God. What on earth are we to offer as a gift to our Groom?

He only wants one thing.

You.

Beautiful, precious, redeemed you.

Isaiah 62:1a “Because I love Zion,    I will not keep still.Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem,    I cannot remain silent.”

He can’t even hold still He wants you so badly. He loves you, Dear One.

2 “The nations will see your righteousness.    World leaders will be blinded by your glory.And you will be given a new name    by the Lord’s own mouth.3 The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see—    a splendid crown in the hand of God.”

He yearns for you to take His name and wear His diamond ring of His glory, the one He fitted just for you so all the world will know we belong to Him and no one else.

4b “Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight”    and “The Bride of God,”for the Lord delights in you    and will claim you as his bride.”

Your new name will be the Bride of God. You bring Him such delight!

He claims you.

Bask in that sweet acceptance for a moment. It is wonderful!

Now, I do have an exhortation for you: Act like it. You are spoken for. You are wearing His ring. Be a faithful Bride.

Read Romans 7:1-4.

Now hone in on verse 4 where it says

"And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead."

We are bound to Him (and thank Goodness, for (Romans 6:21) without Him we could only be united with eternal doom), and so to let our allegiance stray, or to desire another is adultery. We are married to Christ for life. Eternal life.

Stay with me here. The gift He asks of us

is us.

He wants our heart, and doesn’t want us to give that heart to anything else – sin, greed, pride, selfishness.

Let’s bring it even closer to home: job, money, friendships, clothes, hobbies, family relationships… [fill in the blank]. He doesn’t forbid these things, but He does want our whole heart. As a faithful Bride, love Him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.

Matthew 22:37 “Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’”

Luke 10:27 “The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Deuteronomy 6:5 “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”

You are His greatest gift.

Isaiah 62:11-12 “The Lord has sent this message to every land:    “Tell the people of Israel,[a]‘Look, your Savior is coming.    See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.’”12 They will be called “The Holy People”    and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.”And Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place”    and “The City No Longer Forsaken.””

He is committed to you

Isaiah 62:5 “Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem,    just as a young man commits himself to his bride.Then God will rejoice over you    as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.”

Commit yourself to Him, that he may rejoice over His faithful Bride.

Gift to the Bride

The gift to the Bride

Read Isaiah 61

The big day has come. The Bride accepts her Bridegroom in eternal covenant.

^8b “I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering    and make an everlasting covenant with them.” NLT

Her heart rejoices, she feels a freedom, joyous blessing, and festive praise, overwhelmed by His love. (61:10)

Today, she is honored. (61:9) She is honored by receiving beauty for ashes. (61:3) She is honored with gifts as well; all she could ever need for her new role as a wife. But there is one gift that matters most of all. This is the one that she is going to cherish and hold close to her heart.

The gift from her groom.

¹⁰ “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!    For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation    and draped me in a robe of righteousness.I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit    or a bride with her jewels.” NLT

Is that not the greatest gift of all? We, the Bride of Christ, get that great gift. That righteousness. He laid down His life in order that we might experience that overwhelming joy, rapt with the blessing and wonder of it all.

For when the Lord has blessed someone they are blessed indeed.

⁹ “Their descendants will be recognized    and honored among the nations.Everyone will realize that they are a people    the Lord has blessed.” NLT

One last thing, dear one. Would we be a gracious bride if we just sat there, soaking it all in?

A friend of mine, whose entire life in Christ displayed God’s love through service, was truly a gracious bride. At her wedding, she and her groom stood at the food table and they served the guests.

Service. Driven by love received. So, dear Bride, how are you being a gracious bride today?

^{Isaiah 61:11b} “His righteousness {your gift from the Groom, remember?} will be like a garden in early spring,    with plants springing up everywhere.” NLT  

^{Hosea 10:12 “}I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,    and you will harvest a crop of love.Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,    for now is the time to seek the Lord,that he may come    and shower righteousness upon you.’” NLT 

^{Proverbs 11:18 b} “The one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.” NIV 

^{James 3:18} “And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.” NLT

Share it! Serve. Scatter seeds everywhere you step, that plants of His Righteousness will spring up everywhere.