Luke 5:8 – But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
In Luke 5, we see a glorious miracle of Jesus, and we see a proper human response from Peter. What has my attention is that Peter’s response is so very different than the response of most people today.
When Peter saw the power of the Lord Jesus, he bowed before Christ and said what we see above, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter saw the power of Jesus, and he recognized that he was in the presence of the Holy God. Peter was terrified.
Think about the conversations that you have with those who do not know God. If you talk about God, many of them assume that they are standing pretty well before the Lord. They assume that God is just so darn nice that he would not ever be upset with them for who they are or what they do. The one thing that you never hear in these conversations is fear that being in the presence of the Almighty might lead to their doom.
Now, think about the conversations that you have with Christians. You know what is missing? The same fear that Peter had before Jesus is missing. Yes, as children of God, we have been forgiven and have been made clean in Christ. Yet, is it not appropriate for us to also recognize that we are forgiven sinners, not forgiven good people. We deserved God’s wrath. We are allowed to enter the presence of God in Christ with freedom and confidence (Eph 3:12), but we also must come into God’s presence with right reverence and gratitude for being welcomed as unworthy but graciously forgiven sinners.
People are not saved by God’s grace without first grasping that they were worthy of and in danger of God’s wrath. It is this holy fear that drives us to our knees, crying out to God for mercy. Once we are saved, however, let us not forget. Let us remember that God is holy and we, by nature, are not. Yes, we have been made holy in Christ, but we still have done nothing and will never do anything that would make us earn God’s favor. We are sinful. Christ is holy. Let us love his grace as we remember his greatness and our need.
An Interesting Take on Affliction (Psalm 119:71, 75)
Psalm 119:71
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes.
How often do we assume that the only good thing for God to do for us is to keep us from affliction? As several people have pointed out over the past few weeks, our prayers are too often that God would keep us from pain instead of to make us more like him. Psalm 119:71 gives s a better way to think about our afflictions than we often recognize.
David, writing in this glorious psalm in praise of God and his word, says that it is good that he was afflicted. Why? How could being afflicted or troubled ever be good? David says that being afflicted helped him to better know and love the law of God.
John Piper, at T4G 2008, pointed out that he has never met a person who says that the time they grew the most or went the deepest with God was during the time of ease. Piper pointed out that it is in the dark times, in the troubled times, in the times of near despair that many people find their faith growing the most and being the most strengthened.
How do you respond to adversity? Do you assume that troubled times means that you are in sin and being chastised by God? Do you assume that something has gone horribly wrong? Can you stretch your mind around the possibility that God could have a plan for your affliction? And is your faith strong enough to acknowledge that growing closer to God and loving his word more is reward enough to say that it is good that you were afflicted? David said being afflicted was worth it so that he might love God more through his word. We too should have that kind of attitude toward our Lord.
[Update[
Add this verse from the next day’s reading:
Psalm 119:75
I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Gospel and Wrath (1 Kings 9:6-9)
1 Kings 9:6-9 (ESV)
6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’ ”
The gospel seems to find its way into every book of the Bible. In fact, one can come across the gospel in the most surprising of places.
Take as an example the above passage. As God answers Solomon’s prayer for his blessing on the people and on the newly built temple, we see something of how God will judge people rightly. God told Solomon that, if the people of God are faithful to worship him, he would bless them. If, however, the people of God turned away from him and chased after false gods, God would destroy the temple. All who saw the ruin of the temple would know that what God had done was right, for all would know that for a person to turn away from the living God is to earn for one’s self the wrath of God.
How is this the gospel? What we see here is the perfect wrath of God. When men turn away from God, they will find their souls eternally ruined because of their refusal to come to God and serve him.
But wait a minute, isn’t the gospel all about people coming to God through saving faith in Jesus. Absolutely it is. For all who come to God through saving faith in Christ, their eternity is glorious. For all, however, who turn their backs on Christ and choose to find their own way—to worship their own little false gods of self-sufficiency, money, power, etc.—they will find that rejecting Jesus is rejecting God. God will always do justice. He will always give right recompense to all who turn from him and to false gods. The only way to come to God rightly is through Christ. Anything else is a false god.
The way that I can say that the gospel is in the above passage is that it shows yet again that God has a way to please him. To reject God’s way leads to death. However, it is also well-known that to come to God in his way, according to his terms, leads to eternal blessing.
Only God Knows the Hearts of Men (1 Kings 8:39)
1 Kings 8:39
then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),
There are two points that have my attention as I look at this prayer of King Solomon. First is the fact that only the Lord truly knows the hearts of men. So often we see people acting this way or that, and we make judgments. We assume that we can figure out why it is that people acted. We think we know what was in their hearts.
However, God reveals to us here that only he knows what is in the heart of a man. Only God can tell the motivation of a person. Only God knows why people do the things that they do. Only God can see past a person’s actions to see the why of those actions.
Now, think about that truth as you consider how you make judgments. Do you often think to yourself, “I know what he was really thinking?” Do you ever assume that, though a person says they did something for one reason, you know that they really did it for another reason? Only God can see into their hearts, so be very careful assuming you can see where only God can see.
Now, let’s see one more point—a theological one—that is very significant. Only God can see into the hearts of men. What then do these verses tell us?
John 2:24-25
24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Matthew 9:4
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?
Luke 9:47
But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side
Only God knows the hearts of men. Jesus knew the hearts of these men. Jesus knows what only God knows. Jesus does what only God does. Jesus is God—not less.
So, you do not know the hearts of men, because you are not God. Jesus knows the hearts of men, because he is God. Do not assume you can judge the motivation of others, because you cannot see into their hearts. Know, however, that Jesus can see your heart, so do not think you can fool him at all.
A Better Way to Discern Your Spiritual Gifts
I’ve never liked those spiritual gift inventories. They just seem far too unspiritual, unbiblical, and unhelpful to me. One need not be a Christian to take one of those tests and have a score that would indicate a particular gift in his or her life, even if one is not yet filled with God’s Spirit through his saving grace.
Instead of spiritual gift inventories, the church should be affirming spiritual gifts in one another through simple encouragement. Ponder the following paragraph from Ed Welch:
“One of the bad fruits of an ‘I’ church is that we don’t tell people when they bless us. If someone has taught Sunday school and helped us understand a passage of Scripture, then we should tell the person and encourage his or her gift. If worship leaders left us rejoicing that we have been with God’s people in his presence, then thank them for the specific ways they blessed you and the church. No one should have to ask what their gifts are; we should tell people their gifts as they minister to us.” (Edward T. Welch, When People are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997), 205.)
Welch is right on the money. The way that one identifies his or her spiritual gift is not by taking a personality type test. Instead, the way to know what your gift is would be for you to serve in the local church and allow others in the church to let you know, to affirm for you, how it is that God uses you.
Think it through. A man does not find out his gift is preaching by the result of a test. Instead, he opens the word for people, and the body of Christ tells him that, when he speaks from the word, they understand it better, they are challenged, and they learn and grow. A person with a gift for leading worship is not going to find this out in a lab. No, a gifted worship leader will find this out through experience and through the clear affirmation of other believers.
If this is true, if we learn our gifts through the affirmation of the body, then it would also be true that you, as a believer, should be communicating your affirmations to others in the church. If a Bible teacher makes the word clear to you, let him know. If a worship leader helps you to approach the throne of God, let him know. If a friend praying for you truly encourages you or comforts you, let her know. If a couple has shown you genuine hospitality, let them know that you sense what God is doing through them. This is not for the purpose of patting somebody on the back, but to rightly affirm the way that God is using people in his church.
Whose gifts do you see? Out of love, tell them. Help them to know how God is using them.
Trophies of Grace (Ephesians 2:7)
Ephesians 2:7
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 1:1-1-0 is a glorious passage in which every Christian finds his or her personal testimony written in the Scripture. Verses 1-6 have shown a picture of us in our sin, dead to God, and how God then made us alive in Christ. We saw that God saved his children out of his love, which is one of the reasons for our salvation, though not the only reason.
Verse 7 is yet another reason why God chose to do all that he has done for us. Ask yourself, “Why would God save me? Why did he raise me up? Why did he give me a place in heaven?” The answer to such questions is in verse 7, and it may be different than you think. Paul says that God did all this, “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” God saved you in order that he might demonstrate something. He wanted to demonstrate the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness.
Just imagine this for a moment. Two angels are walking around in heaven. One looks to the other and says, “How great are the riches of God’s love and mercy and kindness?” The other angel would turn to the first, and he would not have to say a word. He would only have to point. He would point to me. Perhaps he would point to you. And, by pointing us out, he would show the ultimate evidence for anyone to see that God is loving, merciful, gracious, kind, and good. Why? I am a sinner. I have failed God time and time again. For God to forgive me my sins is glorious. For God to give me a place in heaven, that is more than glorious, but I don’t have a word to express how great that is. His riches of mercy and kindness to me have been immeasurable. And, so if anyone wants to ask at any time if God is merciful, God need only point to me. I am a demonstration, a proof, an evidence of just how gracious he is.
Take a moment to ponder that for yourself. When a sports team wins a championship, the members of the team get medals or trophies. The trophy proves for all to see that you were a part of the winning team. You, if you are a believer, are a trophy. You will live as an eternal proof and demonstration of the great love and kindness that God has demonstrated in Jesus Christ. You, if you are saved, are a trophy of the grace of God.
Don’t Forget What Saved means (2 Samuel 22)
Has the word “saved” lost its luster in your eyes? When you, if you are a Christian, describe yourself as saved, do you feel truly saved, rescued, brought out of certain death? When you think of saved, is it a rescue, a heart-pounding, adrenaline-rushing, panting relief as you remember being delivered from certain death, certain destruction, certain ruin?
I can remember back to my teen years. There were times there when I did foolish things that should have cost me, at the least, great injury. There are times that I could have died. As I think through those scenes, if I will really let myself dwell on those moments, I can still feel the hollowness of fear in my stomach. I can still feel my face flush with the return of blood after it has drained of color. I can still feel my pulse quicken as I realize, without question, I could have been killed.
Have you lost that feeling when you look to your spiritual salvation? Has being saved become more to you about deciding whether or not to take upon yourself a certain religion? If so, you are either not saved, or you have allowed your mind to become dulled to the glory of what it means to be truly rescued.
Listen, if you will, to the words of King David. In this song, David describes being saved by God from physical threats. But the salvation language used by David should be the same language that we would use of our rescue in Christ. All the following verses come from 2 Samuel 22:
2 He said,
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.
5 “For the waves of death encompassed me,
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
6 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
7 “In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I called.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry came to his ears.
17 “He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy,
from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
47 “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,
When, Christians, have you last exalted the Lord who is your true Rock and Salvation? When did you last allow your heart to pound in your ears as you see that you truly deserved God’s wrath, you truly deserved hell, and God, the very God you were rebelling against, chose to rescue you and make you his child?
Christians, let’s not stop using the word “saved.” IT is a very good word. But let us also not lose the meaning of the word. Hear your rescue in that word. Hear your soul being pulled out of eternal death by the only hands strong enough to bring you to life. Let us sing, shout, and rejoice that our God has truly, amazingly, graciously saved our very souls.
one Command Summs It All Up (Galatians 5:13-15)
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Far too many of us think, willingly or not, about the Bible as a big, fat rule book. This comes in the kinds of questions we often ask of the Bible. What does it say about giving, about sex, about marriage, about divorce, about whatever else crosses our minds. We buy little topical books to help us utilize the Bible as an encyclopedia. But God never intended that his word would be for us a topical dictionary or guidebook for life, not at least, in the way that many of us want to use it.
It was making the Scripture a set of rules, of “Do this but don’t do that” commands that tended to bring out of Jesus and the apostles some of the strongest words. Yes, God has rules, standards of what is right and wrong. But those standards are not burdensome or illogical. In fact, those standards are summed up by Jesus and by Paul in one command, the command of love.
In looking at how we are to treat one another, Paul in Galatians 5, makes the rules fairly simple. Love one another. If what you would do to another person is unloving, don’t do it. There is no question about using a certain kind of language. There is no question about marital faithfulness. The point that Paul brings forward, the point which must govern our first thoughts about the rules we follow, is, “This action, is it loving?”
Think it through, you cannot gossip about someone and love them at the same time. You cannot cheat on your spouse and love her at the same time. You cannot have sex with someone without a marital commitment to them and love them at the same time. You cannot lead someone away from God’s standards of righteous living and love them at the same time. You cannot physically abuse someone and love them at the same time.
It’s not all negative, though. You can teach your children to follow God, and doing so is certainly loving. You can love your spouse and let others see that this mirrors Christ’s love for his church. You can care for your parents in their old age, loving them in good times and bad. You can put a stop to a gossip’s tongue both out of love for the gossip and for the one who is the target of the gossip. There is much that we can do, and will do, if we love one another.
Some, of course, would attempt to pervert this statement about love into license to sin. They might argue that it is unloving not to let them be as they naturally are, even if God has forbidden their natural behavior. Such license is not love. Love is looking out for someone’s best interest. Sometimes they will not appreciate that. Love is pointing people to God. Love is telling people that they need Jesus. Love is telling a person that sin robs them of their joy, no matter how loving they have made it seem in their own minds. Love does not let a person walk over the edge of a cliff, no matter how much they want to do so. Love leads people to Christ.
So, examine yourself today. How can you love others? What words do you need to say? What actions do you need to take? What conversations do you need to cut off in order to be more loving toward others? “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal 5:14).
The Offense of the Cross (Galatians 5:11)
Galatians 5:11
But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
In Galatia, the Christians were finding themselves misled by those who wanted to impose the Jewish law on them. These religious teachers told the Galatians that they had to surrender to certain religious rituals in order to truly be forgiven by God, to be saved, to be children of God.
Paul’s response to these men was one of great heat. The moment something is added to the cross of Christ, the truth of the cross of Christ is lost, denied. Every religion in the world believes that those who are made right with their deity are made so by their performance of right actions or duties. Christianity is the only religion in the world where the justice of God is preserved while not allowing for a person to earn their way to God by performing right actions or rituals.
Paul said, and this is what has my attention this morning, that to add works to the cross removes the “offense of the cross.” For some reason, our world is offended by the cross of Jesus. I don’t think this is about the blood or the ugliness of the cross, though many are offended by that. The cross is offensive to the world because it both declares that we are guilty and under the wrath of God while declaring that there is nothing we can do on our own to make ourselves right with God. The cross calls us sinful, guilty, damnable. The cross tells us that the only way for us to be right with God is to totally surrender to God and place our trust in Jesus alone. The cross tells us that, though we often want to fix ourselves and do things our way, the only way for us to be right with God is to let go of all our hopes for being good enough to get to God, and to fall on the mercy of God in Christ.
No religion would naturally think of the cross. No religious teacher would say, “OK, here’s the thing. You cannot do anything to please your deity. Just trust that your deity has done it all for you. If you trust, you’re in. If you refuse to trust him, you’re out. You don’t have to pay me for this. You don’t have to become a slave to me for this. You just have to trust.” But, such a message is God’s message. He has chosen to do things in a way beyond our comprehension. God has saved his children by himself, for himself, to himself, and from himself.
When you present your faith to another, do you include the offense of the cross? Think that through. If your faith offers no offense to the world, you are probably missing the cross. If you make your faith about success in this life and not about Christ, you are missing the cross. If you make your faith all about the love of God with no wrath, you are missing the cross. If you make your faith about doing good deeds, obeying rules, refraining from certain things while performing certain actions, you are missing the cross. Our goal is not to offend, but the offense of the cross is the gospel.
Weak like Peter, Forgiven Like Peter (Mark 14:66-72)
Mark 14:66-72 (ESV)
66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
We all know the story of how Peter denied Christ. One moment, Peter had been with Jesus, at the table, declaring that, no matter what , he would stick with Jesus. We all remember Peter’s bravery in the garden, cutting off the ear of one of those who had come to arrest Jesus. As one author once said, “There’s Peter: flash the sword then deny the Lord.”
But haven’t’ we all been just like Peter? Every guy that I have ever known has been like Peter. How many times have you looked in your mirror or boasted to your friends about what you would say if so and so dares come into your presence only to chicken out when you are finally face-to-face with your nemesis? How many times have you given yourself a pep talk about how you are winsome and charming, and how the girl is sure to go out with you if only you will ask,, but when she walks into the room, you can’t speak?
Or, let’s take this out of guy territory, and let’s place it at the feet of all believers. You know the gospel. You love the gospel. You’ve perhaps even gone on mission trips where you boldly shared the gospel. But then there’s your neighbor. If you share the gospel with her, she might be offended. Or, there’s your Christian friend, doing something you know is wrong. But if you confront him, maybe you’ll look like a legalist. Suddenly, all that resolve you thought you had seeps away like ocean waves flowing back down the beach and into the sea.
The point is, we all know what Peter is going through here. Sure, maybe you would have done different if you were in his sandals that night, but then again, maybe not. Peter was tired, confused, and scared. Perhaps Peter reasoned that he would do Jesus no good by simply being arrested and beaten in front of him. Without question, Peter sinned greatly in this detestable denial; let’s not forget that. But, let’s also realize that he was not in a comfortable place, and we have often failed in our own uncomfortable places.
Then, if you are able to give Peter a little grace, remember this too: Jesus forgave and restored Peter. That’s the ultimate end of this story. Jesus sought Peter out. Jesus showed Peter that Peter’s love was not as vibrant as Peter would have bragged, and then he sent Peter on with the task of feeding the sheep, the early church.
Jesus knows you. He knows that your mouth writes checks that your actions will not cash. He knows that you are not nearly so brave as you pretend. He knows that your tummy flutters and you stammer sometimes when you should be bold as a lion. He knows you, and if you are his child, he saved you. God chose a very weak, foolish, frail people to be his children. God’s grace is sufficient for us in our greatest weaknesses and failures. Yes, we are weak in the knees like Peter, but, if we have come under Christ’s grace through faith in him, we are now and forever the children of God, heirs according to the promise, heirs of eternal life.
No, I would not urge you to be like Peter. Stand strong when you get the chance to proclaim your allegiance to the Lord. When the door is open to share the gospel, go through it. But if, for some reason, you fail to seize the opportunity, remember Peter. Peter was wrong. Peter was a wimp that night. Peter failed miserably. And, Peter was forgiven, restored to Christ, and used in his service to glorify God.
