by Aarron Pina | Jun 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
Mark 3:2 reads:
“Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.”
Some people are just never satisfied.
But, should we be surprised by the actions of the Pharisees? Their eyes, being so trained on the law that they gave up worshipping the law-Giver to worship the law, how could we expect them to recognize the God of grace standing before them performing deeds of true righteousness? He didn’t match the headline they expected in the Jerusalem Times:
“Warrior King Liberates Israel from Roman Oppression”
How often do we get into that match with God – the Comparison Game? Have you been disappointed by how things have turned out? Have you ever found yourself, like me, wrapped around the axel of “God owes me” when He never promised you what you were expecting in the first place?
The two most powerful words in the entire bible are not “Jesus wept.” In my opinion, (as was mentioned last week) they “but ” and “God”, as used in “but… God, who is rich in mercy made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. (Eph 2:4-5)” When we look at what we have in light of what we deserve [judgment], it is all blessing. The danger for us is taking the gospel for granted and falling back into “but, God didn’t”___. Fill in the blank – “save my grandmother from cancer”, “deliver my dad from addiction”, “give me the job I wanted and was qualified for…”
When did God promise you those things? What does He really owe you?
Be Encouraged
Every one of us has something coming our way in the form of blessing. For all of us in Christ, it is transformation. For all of us in Christ, it is perfection. For all of us in Christ, it is a glorified body and eternal inheritance. For many of us in Christ, it includes crowns in heaven that we will lay at His feet. The only thing that can truly set us free from the comparison game is knowing that God is not constrained by our profile, our headlines, our expectation.
Thank God for that.
He is so much greater than the box we’ve put Him in. He is the “author and perfecter of our faith” and is capable and caring. Sometimes, He says no. Sometimes, He says “no” for a lonnnng time. But, He’s got His reasons, His plan, His headline which will blow us all away when we see it face to face:
“Glory to God”
in Christ,
AP
by Aarron Pina | Jun 4, 2012 | Uncategorized
Don’t You Want “Next Level” Faith?
Recently, I saw footage of a very popular pastor telling his congregation about “taking their relationship with Jesus to the next level.” When I first heard him talk about “some very practical ways” to do this, my ears perked up. Hey, I’m a planner. I’m a big picture, progress guy – I like to see the ball move down the field. I like to see points go up on my side of the board. How about you?
With a little evaluation, though, the Galatian heresy (see Gal 3:1-6) appears to rear its head… “You’re in charge. The Gospel just needs YOUR steps of action to work its full magic.” Uh-oh… How do you come back from that? Yes, obedience matters, but does obedience begin with us? “Faith without works is dead.” But, does obedience begin with your 5 step, 3 bullet-point, 90 day action plan? Or, does it begin with what’s already been done on your behalf?
It’s easy to point to guys like Abraham and say – “Abraham put his faith into action…”all the while forgetting that there was nothing outstanding about Abram that made God choose him in the first place. Abram “stepped out in faith”, but did his faith really “activate God’s blessing in his life”? No. God does not need our help. He requires our obedience. To those who would believe that Abraham activated God’s blessing, I must humbly ask – what if Abram didn’t step out in faith? Would God’s plan to create a covenant people have failed? Clearly, God would have had a covenant people with or without Abraham.
Yes, Abraham was obedient to God. Yes, Abraham received great blessings that changed him from “exalted father” to “father of a multitude” – but this blessing was already available. The question we must ask is “what do we miss out on when we run from God and fail to step out in obedience. For some both in the Old and New Testaments – it meant death on the spot. For others, it means loss of blessings that will go do someone else.
Regardless, we must keep in mind what we bring to the table in our salvation – “need for a Savior”. This does not change once we have a Savior. Obedience is rewarded, but God is never manipulated and is no respecter of men. There is nothing we can do to take our faith to the next level – that is God’s job and He will carry on this work until the day of Christ Jesus – see Phil 1:6. Our faith does not fail to grow because of a “step” we missed in the algorithm of “success”, but when we take matters into our own hands to “help” God. 1 Thess 4:3 tells us that God is already in the business of conforming us to the image of Christ. Best advice? Get out of His way and join in the work already in progress!
Be Encouraged
If you have been chosen by God to receive sonship and adoption – you have done nothing to warrant it, so be grateful. We get to walk in obedience because we worship a God who loves us enough to call us to obedience. Experience in prayer today that God uniquely loves you and has called you according to His purposes. Now, experience it when He gives you another breath and another… and yet another.
in Christ,
AP
by Aarron Pina | May 29, 2012 | Uncategorized
Three Reasons for a Link Instead of a Post:
- I had to share this link with y’all because it’s dead on with the conversation we’ve been having these past few weeks about appreciation and eternal rewards. In fact, it’s part of the key issue. We worship, serve, and are actively, uniquely loved by a personal God. He know sour troubles, He sees our struggle, He knows our pain, He’s suffered for our wrongs, and He’s watching… waiting… to reward us in eternity with treasures, accolades, even crowns.
- Even though it’s not officially Monday, here in America most of us have a four day work week this week because of the Memorial Day Holiday. So, I took yesteraday “off” (for part of the day) and have dubbed today a de facto Monday. But, since I read such a great (and short) post last week by Darryl Dash, I thought it would be a great change for such an odd “Monday Morning” post. I haven’t checked out Darryl’s background, know much about his theology, nor can I vouch for him personally – I just think he’s dead on with this post.
- Cristine and I meet with a lot of people that are dealing with trial, struggle, and the big “a” word – anxiety. Since our oldest daughter is going through such a hard time with this herself right now, it’s another great reason for us to look to the scriptures for two really great words teased out in Dash’s post: Have a great week.
He Cares – Darryl Dash
by Aarron Pina | May 21, 2012 | Uncategorized
Reward!
Don’t you just love the red letters? I mean, think about it – if you’re a theist or a deist, you don’t believe in a personal god who is active and involved in the life of His creation. But, if you’re a disciple of Christ, you have pages and pages of ancient manuscripts that have been preserved and protected over centuries that contain the words of the God who not only invented the universe, but also came to earth as one of us to teach, reach, and die for us.
I’m off topic. My bad.
The point of today is to further look into what happens today and how it effects eternity. Jesus is on a roll with His teaching ministry in Matthew 6 and sets the record straight on prayer and piety:
“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven… I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. (Mt. 6.2,5b)”
If you can’t say “amen”, you’d better say “ouch”! “Really? That’s all I get?”
Salvation is by faith in Christ alone. But, eternal rewards are a different story. Works we do here effect our eternal reward. God promises to reward us for everything we do while here “in the body” (2 Cor 5:10), but here gives us exception clauses as a warning. For the deists & theists out there, this flies in the face of your theology, big time: a personal God is watching you, recording your every move, with a great desire to reward you in eternity for the good you have done. How is that “uninvolved”? Further, and to the point, He also promises to deny us reward for actions done with a selfish motive, i.e. public kudos.
For those of us in public, vocational ministry, especially the small, Mom-and-Pop type like Seasons of Life, this presents an interesting challenge: how does one report appropriately to “update” the public without sacrificing eternal rewards for bragging about ones’ works like the Pharisees did? Prayerfully and only to the glory of God. Et tu? How do you share your story, your testimony, the things God is using you for without sacrificing eternal rewards?
Check your heart.
What I really wanted to blog about this morning is the previous chapter – in Matthew 5:8, Jesus tells the crowds that when our hearts are clean and uncontaminated by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, (roll over to see also Luke 8:14 and Jas 1:27), we have a clear, unobstructed view of who God really is and what He is up to in the world. So, how’s your heart? Is it contaminated by worries over the things of this world? Mine isn’t. I’ve got to sit down right after I hit “publish” and “get to confessin”: I’m laden down this morning with what’s ahead in my day, some things I’m waiting to hear back on, some fundraising stuff that “might” go through, etc., etc., etc.
Be Encouraged:
We’re never more than one prayer away from access to the full resources of Heaven. We’re never more than one prayer away from true repentance and a fully clean heart: it just takes honesty before God that we’re being controlled, run, “stained” [as James says] by motives other than pleasing God. Do you seek public accolades? Do you seek the desires of your heart independent of a “delight in the Lord” (Ps 37:4)?
Dump your heart. Repent of the sin of worry. Receive right motives. And, step forward in grace, empowered by the Spirit. It ain’t complicated. Hard, sometimes – I’ll give you that – but simple. Momentum.
Much love.
AP
by Aarron Pina | May 14, 2012 | Uncategorized
Author’s note & pet peccadillo:
Today, apart from being incredibly grateful to Ray Ortlund for His obedience to God in writing such a timely post as we’ll dive briefly into, I also can’t resist the temptation to play Spelling Nazi. Kelly Talamo named the environment “Men Step Up”, because in his words “lives change when men ‘step up’ to the Truth”.
I can’t tell you how many times I hear people ask “Hey, are you going to Men’s Step Up this week?” Okay, I can, I’ll just wind up gritting my teeth into dust… You get the point… I’ll step down off the soap box and put away my red pen. It’s not like I don’t occasionally invent my own words or brutally murder a rule or two of decent, English grammar…
Spurring One Another On…
 |
What happens at the tables never
stays at the tables. Praise God! |
This past Friday morning, I had the opportunity to “bring it” at Men Step Up, Gwinnett. Essentially that means I was tasked with standing up in front of a crowd of guys, (many of whom intimidate the heck out of me from a spiritual standpoint), and “provoking” them toward a discussion that would take place at their tables.
These weekly discussions are proctored by a table leader and outlined by about 4 or 5 questions on the front of an index card (see picture, right). The back side of the card will normally have a lie on it that many of us have either bought into, wrestled with in real life, or both, as well as a few select lines from scripture that either individually or collectively debunk the lie.
If you’ve been reading the blog at all last week (Part 1, Part 2), you know we’ve been talking about the context for current struggle, trial, aggravation, etc. as a lead up to that event. I had planned to present this morning’s post as a combined update/devotional on the topic. However, it seems the day after I spoke, Ray Ortlund posted an article that capped off our discussion perfectly in a mere 20 sentences.
So, here it is in its entirety with a brief send off from me at the end:
(Please, visit Ray’s blog from time to time at this link: Ray Ortlund. Original post here.)
“Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:7-9
We could take any of three approaches to the daily experience of this earthly life.
One, this present experience is all we have, our only chance at a little happiness. But absolutizing this life puts enormous pressure on us, intensifying our desperation and pushing us toward doing stupid things. Worse, it cuts us off from the endless love of God in Christ.
Two, this present experience is a stepping-stone into eternity, which is all that matters even now. This broken world is more to be endured than enjoyed. Indeed, this world and everything about it are an embarrassment to any serious person.
Three, this present experience is brief, non-ultimate and good. While it lasts, it is to be dignified — not absolutized or despised but dignified — as a gift from God. This life is a mixture of grace and tragedy, a good creation marred by our human folly. So, the wise seek the things that are above, where Christ is (Colossians 3:1), and they receive with thanksgiving the good things God gives here and now (1 Timothy 4:1-5).
The first approach is the unbelief of visceral idolatry. The second approach is the unbelief of pious negativism. The third approach is wisdom. It is biblical, humane, sustainable.
Have a good day.
Be Encouraged:
The fact that Ray & I have never met and yet he wrote the perfect synopsis of what we were talking about on the very same day, he’s dead on point here. In last week’s post and our discussion at Men Step Up, we concluded that eternal rewards are the context for current suffering, that current rewards are no indicator of eternal and Godly appreciation, and that when it comes to rewards, we have a three tiered “compensation plan”:
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One time paycheck: “Atta boy!!!” (remarkably temporary, a la Matt. 6:2, Matt 6:5, Matt 6:16)
-
Royalties only: “I will repay each of you according to your deeds.” (see Rev. 2 & 3) or
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Earthly Reward and Eternal 401K: “do everything without arguing or complaining. (Phil. 2:14)”, “Enjoy life… (Ecc. 9:8)” and “I will repay each of you according to your deeds. (Rev. 2:23b)”
I was amazed at how pertinent this message was for the guys in attendance, at that moment. It may well be pertinent to you right now. Regardless of its relevance in your current season of life, this is a topic neither you nor I will fully grasp in a handful of blog posts or even conversations with godly men and women – this is one of those things that requires the illuminative power of the Holy Spirit to make clear and present in our everyday mindset. It may also require diligent and thirsty searching of the scriptures.
Be encouraged, be spurred on, and be aware: That Day is coming when we will all receive rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. May your inheritance be great and may you enjoy this life and the one to come.
in Christ,
AP
Mark 3:2 reads:
