Tag Archives: confidence

Righteousness God’s Way

Bible Study, , , ,

RIGHTEOUSNESS GOD’S WAY

“If someone thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” Philippians 3:4b-7.

From a Jewish perspective, Paul’s credentials were pretty impressive. He was pure Jew, pure Pharisee and fanatically religious. He did everything by the book and he did everything right – according to himself. Few could measure up to him, not even those with whom Jesus contended but, and that was just the point, like Jesus’ opponents, he measured himself by himself and came up shining.

The problem was not in his effort to be righteous – that was commendable – but in his confidence in his achievement which put him a cut above everyone else in his own estimation. This is exactly where God parted company with him. All Paul’s efforts to meet His standard fell horribly short and left him with zero righteousness. The trouble was that he did not know it until he came face to face with Jesus.

 

It was that one encounter that changed everything. All Paul’s impressive achievements were the result of self-effort and were stained and blemished with arrogant pride. Only in the pure light of Jesus’ holiness did he see himself for what he really was, a wretched sinner who was no better than anyone else. Not only was he knocked to the ground by the presence of the glorified Jesus, but he was also knocked out, figuratively, by what he saw. For a second he saw Him and then he saw nothing, completely blinded by the brilliance of the one he was trying to eliminate.

What was his response? He took his entire CV – his pedigree, his learning, his hard work, his religious zeal, his achievements, his confidence and his pride – and dumped it in the trash can. It was all of no use to him. It had got him nowhere in his effort to satisfy God’s demands, and it would only hinder him in the future in his new-found understanding of what God had done.

“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” Philippians 3:8, 9.

This is one of those typical Paul-sentences! We need to take it apart to understand what he was saying.

1. All his efforts to do the right thing according to God’s standards were a load of garbage and a waste of time which he regretted.

2. He had to dump everything he had ever achieved and start all over again.

3. Righteousness that satisfied God’s holiness did not come from what he did for God but from what Jesus Christ did for him.4. God’s righteousness was not achieved by working for it but received by believing what God said.

5. Jesus, not self-effort was Paul’s key to being acceptable to God. Only His perfection was good enough for God and He became his when he receive Him by faith.

And now?

“I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death and so, somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10, 11.

The way this is translated makes it seem as though Paul was back to having to work for the benefits of Christ’s salvation. He was not expressing a desire as much as he was stating a fact. It was through faith in God’s promise that he received Christ’s righteousness as a gift and through that same faith he received the benefits – knowing Jesus and experiencing the power of His resurrection.

From God’s point of view it was a package deal. Everything Paul ever needed was given to him in Christ; forgiveness of sin, a new standing with God, the Holy Spirit – the spirit of sonship – and the power of the Spirit to overcome the ravages of his fleshly nature to become a true son of God. None of this required effort – only continuing faith in God to make him what he could not make himself.

This is true righteousness!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Your Jerusalem

Christian Life, , ,

YOUR JERUSALEM

“But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about the extravagant generosity of God.” Acts 20:23-24 (The Message).

So Paul did know what was up ahead for him!

Like any other human being in a similar situation, Paul had one of two options — run from the trouble ahead or embrace it like Jesus did.

Why did God tell Paul beforehand what was going to happen? I think it was to enable him to set a steady course because he was sure of God’s will. Was he fazed by the revelation? Not at all! Long years of walking with Him had strengthened Paul’s confidence in God. He had suffered more hardship than many another person, but he had learned through experience that “those who put their trust in Him will never be disappointed.”

Like Jesus, Paul set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem because Jerusalem was in the mix for him. He could deal with whatever was to happen in Jerusalem because God was already there, preparing the way for him.

We all have our own “Jerusalem”, the place of trouble and testing and we are very often not aware of what is happening and caught off guard. Most of the time our first reaction is to blame the devil, or someone else, or ask the question, “Why me, God? What have I done to deserve this?”

Our outrage stems from the belief that we don’t deserve this kind of treatment — the “Job” response. With that kind of attitude, God will remain as silent with us as He did with Job. The quickest way to get an answer is not to ask “Why?” but “What?” God is sovereign. He is not obliged to respond to our whining but He gladly answers an honest question, “What’s this all about so that I can co-operate with your plan?”

Our answer comes from Peter who had his own “Jerusalem” to contend with and came out a humbler and wiser man. This was his conclusion: “In this you greatly rejoice (all the benefits of God’s salvation), though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV).

God is passionate about the quality of our confidence in Him. It’s all we have to link us to the resources of grace He provides for us to live this life. He has to do something to alert us to the “what ifs” and “if onlys” we hold onto that dilute our trust and make us wobbly and insecure. What better way to expose our insecurities than to orchestrate circumstances that show up what we are actually thinking and believing?

Instead of blaming God or life for giving us a bad deal, let’s use these times to ditch our suspicions and mistrust of God by owning our faulty thinking and changing our minds about God and His ways. Isn’t it true that, up to this point in our lives, many of us have wasted our trials by going the same route over and over again? We get upset and ask “Why?” In true “Dr Phil” style, how has that worked for you?

The height of folly is to do the same thing again and again and expect a different outcome! I know a way that works — admit to God that you mistrust Him and ask Him to reveal His ways. You’ll be surprised at the relief you will feel and the newfound confidence you will have in Him when you realise that He is at work in your circumstances to change you from the inside through what is happening on the outside!

Fearless Confidence

Prayer, , ,

FEARLESS CONFIDENCE

“A wonderful harmony in prayer: ‘Strong God, you made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. By the Holy Spirit you spoke through the mouth of your servant and our father, David.

“Why the big noise, nations?
Why the mean plots, people?
Earth’s leaders push for position,
Potentates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers!”

For in fact, they did meet — Herod and Pontius Pilate with nations and peoples, even Israel itself — met in this very city to plot against your holy servant Jesus, the one you made Messiah, to carry out the plans you long ago set in motion.

“And now they’re at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching you Message as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus.'” Acts 4:24b-30 (The Message).

What a prayer! Doesn’t sound quite like the sort of prayer God’s people would pray today, does it? We would pray something like this: “O God, we are under attack! The devil is attacking us. We bind you, Satan, in the name of Jesus. We take authority over you. You have no power over us so take your hands off us. O God, please get us out of this. In the name of Jesus, amen.”

Prayer is a window into our hearts. When people pray together, they get to know one another pretty well. Compare our kind of praying with the prayer of those early disciples. We pray out of despair. Our focus is more often on the problem than it is on God. We rehearse the problem and beg God to intervene to get us out of it.

Remember Joshua at Ai? He was whining at God because Israel had been defeated and some of their men killed. He thought it was God’s fault for not supporting them. God’s response? “Stop praying! Get up! Israel has sinned.”

There is something reciprocal about our prayers and God’s responses. Israel’s defeat was the result of Achan’s disobedience, and prayer was not the solution. The value of Joshua’s prayer lay in God’s response — stop praying and do something about the sin in the camp. Perhaps we need to heed the lesson when we are praying about situations in our own countries.

The believers in this incident had it right. They did not interpret persecution as Satan’s work against them. They viewed it as God’s opportunity to get more glory for Himself by showing His power against the backdrop of puny human opposition. The psalm they quoted contrasted the worst that human power can do with God’s response to the rebellion of men and nations. “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill…” Psalm 2:6 (NIV).

Their plea was not, “God, get them off our backs,” but “God, let’s do it even more.” What a spirit! They were less concerned about their own comfort and safety than they were about getting the job done. They knew that God was supporting them as they supported him in His intention to make His Son known.

We in the western world need to recapture the attitude of those first followers of Jesus who were so captivated by Him that they disregarded themselves in their partnership with God to establish His rule on earth. They knew that God would take care of their business if they took care of His.