Category: Devotions

Today are you going to try and be the best Christian you can ever be? Why? You now you will fail!

Why try and be what you already are?

Why try to do what He has already done for you?

“What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” (Romans 7 v 7-13)

When you try to achieve God’s law the result is always failure, “I am a sinner”.

People with no knowledge of the law may know they have done wrong but they do not know it is sin, the law tells them that it is.

Whatever part of the godly lifestyle you set your aim on it will only show you how far short you have failed to keep that standard.

The law of God was never meant to be a means of salvation but always to establish guilt for sin.

So why try to become free through effort to keep what we will never be able to keep? Why become enslaved again by trying? Why say we have tried when Jesus has died for our freedom?

Don’t set yourself up to fail. Live in freedom He has won for you.

So instead of trying and failing to please God we have stepped into a whole new way of life. Paul calls it the “new way of the Spirit”.

“But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”(Romans 7 v 6)

We allow the Spirit the freedom to move in our lives, to breathe, grow and bear fruit.

We focus on being and the Spirit focuses on the doing.

The result is that the Spirit declares the righteousness of God in our lives in a greater way than all of our trying.

We are released to serve by simply being. Come Holy Spirit!

How many times do you try to be good but fail?

How would your life be if you never felt discouraged by your failure to be good?

“Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7: 1-6)

Our old life, the life we lived before Christ has died (this first husband). What was that like? It was a life of trying to be good, trying to keep the commandments of God but breaking them, trying to be someone who God is pleased with but never feeling successful. But something happened: But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.The commandments/law of God has not died, it still declares the lifestyle that pleases God, but we are dead to trying to please God by trying to live up to that lifestyle. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.We have come away from and out of that control of trying to keep what we could never keep and trying to be good when we never could.

How do we know this to be true? So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ.

Jesus Christ was born under the law of God, lived under the law and died by the law becoming a curse of sin and death. (Galatians 4) The cross of Christ has been placed on top of the law of God. The law is still relevant and Paul has many lists of do’s and do not’s in his several letters. However, our attempts of trying to be good are filtered through the death of Christ. We have died in Christ and we have been made righteous. The evidence is not our achievement but Christ’s.

Let me tell you about my week last week. But first …

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life inChrist Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

The saddest part of my week last week was sitting down with a preacher and his wife as he confessed to being a serial adulterer. His marriage was dying, his ministry had died, his credibility, testimony and trust had died and his children’s relationship with him was dying and would die as they grew up to realise their father was not the man they thought he was.

I sat in the place of death, it stank, it was depressing, it was the wages of sin.

The best part of my week last week was hearing once again of one of my churches that in the last 18 months has grown from zero to 30 people on a Sunday. I was told of a young couple who had just committed their lives to Christ and were being baptised (this church has had more baptisms in the last 18 months than it had for a decade!) and opening their home for a small life group to be held there. As I listened my heart was encouraged listening to the gift of God and the eternal life being experienced in that place right now.

Because God did we do.

Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

Can you imagine Christians experiencing this? Can you imagine a different global Church than the one we see now?

Can you imagine a Church that does not grieve the Holy Spirit set in the context of how we treat one another?

Can you imagine a Church that copies God and loves like He loved us at the cross?

Can you imagine a Church which pleases the Lord?

Can you imagine a Church that truly knows the will of the Lord rather than what benefits it?

Can you imagine a Church filled with the Spirit?

Can you imagine this for you?

Two years ago as we entered into the lockdown I wrote this prayer for the Church. It is still my prayer as we are emerging out of this season.

We want to move not drift.

We want to step into purpose not be stuck in the default.

Renew us for radical mission.

Reform us to unlock the possibility.

We commit to the pathway of the gospel.

We commit to carry the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We come down from the victorious mountain to the valley of compassion.

And as we do we ask for the renewal of the 5-fold ministries so that the lives of men and women, young and old, are equipped and the body of Christ is built.

We are in times of:-

Clarity so open our eyes

Urgency so open our doors

Flexibility so open our stubborn hearts

Opportunity so open our understanding

This is YOUR time

This is HARVEST time

This is the SPIRIT time

This is OUR time.

We are ready to change

We are ready for a new Kingdom positioning

We are ready for the advance

You call our name and we say YES to your call.

Amen.

My desire is for that prayer to be answered; for the formation of Christ to be seen and known in our lives and for the Churches to emerge transformed from this lockdown season.

It was Paul’s desire:

^“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6 v 19-23)

What are we pursuing? How are we offering ourselves?

I know a Church which is sadly losing members weekly. They are resigning and walking away from their friends and ministries because the Church no longer provides for their needs. They might have good reasons to feel this way but their actions are not justified.

We need to stop pursuing through manipulation our personal gain and benefit.

We need to stop promoting ourselves as being the most important.

It is hard to be a slave of righteousness when I am the centre of attraction.

If being a slave to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness is in other words living a life where I am focused on Me. Then being a slave of righteousness is when I am focused on Him.

What would it look like if every decision a Christian made was not for their gain but for Jesus Christ and other people? Why can’t we resign gain to the place of being freely blessed, a grace favour, rather than something we have grabbed, desperately manipulated for or made a prophetic grab at? We could and if we did then perhaps we would see holiness and eternal life.

Be careful today is April 1^st! The world celebrates April Fool’s day. No one knows why though they speculate, however, many will try to play tricks, pranks and jokes on one another today. Even on broadcasts such as in 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees. Not everything you see and hear today is accurate so be careful!

But let me tell you what is true, accurate and as relevant today as the first day it happened.

Jesus Christ has set you free. There is an eternal declaration in heaven and hell, written in the blood of Jesus Christ that says, “The sinner is officially free.”

When was it made? At the empty tomb.

How was it made? At the cross of Jesus Christ.

God has declared the believing sinner righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work on the cross.

It isn’t a process it is an act on a given day.

God does not make us righteous He declares we are.

You are free.

From every power of sin, the flesh, the world and anything the devil will throw at you.

You are free from every addiction.

You are free from every fear.

You are free from all guilt and shame.

You are free from your past.

You are free in the present.

You are free tomorrow.

Whether you feel this or not it does not matter. It is a binding contract, an act of God, it is true, sustaining and finished.

Now let’s read our next verses:

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6 v 16-18)

Obedience is so important. But it doesn’t flow towards freedom it flows from freedom. It flows from what God did and has given. “Thanks be to God …” We “…used to be…” trapped, enslaved into a life of sin but we are not there anymore. Our allegiance was “claimed” and we live our life for Him from Him who has done it all.

Just before I wrote this blog this morning I was asking an African Church Planter where they lived because I was sending them a gift for the work. He told me where he was at that time but didn’t understand that I was wanting to know his home address linked to his Mobile Money account. Where he was and where he lived were different and it impeded him receiving the gift. Where you are and where you live can be different. Where you spend most of your time and where your home is can be different.

My address is not under the rule of the Law of God which only reminds me I am a sinner. My address is His grace, His unmerited favour. That’s where my home is. But the question is where do I live?

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6 v 12-14)

If my home is His grace why would I choose to live under the law?

Every day, I bring my mind, my words, my heart, my actions and indeed every part of me, as an offering to Him. For there are times when I find myself in a place/position where the surroundings are difficult. There are times when looking ahead to the weeks and months fills me with gloom. I wonder if I can get through those times that lie ahead. But what I have is today. Whatever takes place today I remind myself of my home address, the place where I truly live and I offer myself to my master, my Lord again knowing that I will need to do it again tomorrow and the day after.

God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.

God in my sleeping,
God in my waking,
God in my watching,
God in my hoping.

God in my life,
God in my lips,
God in my soul,
God in my heart.

God in my sufficing,
God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul,
God in mine eternity.

(Ancient Celtic oral traditions – Carmina Gadelica)

We have learnt how to accommodate fears and sins, addictions and anxiety because these things have a deceiving comfort by focusing on ourselves rather than living our lives in freedom which causes us to think of other people’s problems.
We have left Egypt but Egypt hasn’t left us. We decided to let go of things but things would not let go of us.
We are told we are free so why do we still feel chained to the past, to our fears, to our feelings?
How do we break free from this cycle?

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6 v 8-11)

Every day I need to continually take what I know of the work of Christ and apply it to my life. This is the meaning of the word ‘count’ which is in the present tense. I must daily claim what Christ has done, for me and by doing so sin no longer characterises me but Christ’s work does.

There are times when we are more aware of our sin than our Saviour.
For vast periods of our lives we have been more aware of what is wrong with our lives than what is right.
Do you know? Do you truly know the impact of the cross?

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6 v 1-7)

In the previous section of this letter (chapter 5) Paul has told us how God has secured our salvation from His judgment in the future. But this is not suggesting all we do now is wait for that day to come. Paul rather moves into the impact of our relationship to God in the present.

Is it true we can live free? YES!

In using the illustration of baptism Paul is showing us the identification change that took place when we first started to follow Jesus.

“…don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

We were dipped into the same scene of the cross. There was blood, a slaughter, our crucifixion, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him…”

Crucial to our understanding is this: sin and death was not overpowering Jesus on the cross, Jesus was overpowering sin and death.

The blood of Jesus overpowered all fear.

The blood of Jesus justified us.

The blood of Jesus redeems from the hand of Satan.

The blood of Jesus totally forgives.

The blood of Jesus gives access to God.

That’s the scene: the overcoming of all fear, justification, redemption, forgiveness, access, freedom.

That’s the scene we were dipped into.

We then went where Jesus went. “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death…” We were dead.

Therefore, His resurrection then becomes our resurrection. His new life becomes ours. His power becomes our power.

Do we really know this?!

One of the privileges of my life has been to journey with church members and friends through their terminal illness into their death. They died as I will because that is what happens to us. We are in ADAM (it means man). Because we are human beings descended from the first genes of humanity we will all die. That’s an accepted fact.

But the privileges of my life that I refer to is seeing these church members and friends not die because they are in Adam but be made alive in Christ. They go through their death into Life because they are in Christ and were made new men and women, a new humanity.

The difference between dying in Adam and dying in Christ could not be more opposite.

This is the Gospel message. And when we are despairing of this life the most it is our greatest comfort.

The Apostle Paul is moving in his letter to expand more about the connections between the first ADAM/MAN and a second ADAM/MAN, Jesus Christ.

“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5 v 18-21)

Adam committed a trespass by disobedience in the Garden.

Christ committed a righteous act by obedience (on the cross).

The result of Adam’s sin was that many were made sinners and were condemned.

The result of Christ’s righteous act is that many will be made righteous and be justified.

Why is this important to us?

When Adam/MAN disobeyed the law in the Garden that was every man taking that forbidden fruit. That was you. That was me.

BUT when Christ came as a man/ADAM and was placed on that cross that was also you and me. I have been crucified with Christ and raised 3 days later a new man in Christ.

This is the Gospel!