Good morning, Meetpastordan Readers…Here’s hoping you had a grrrrreat Christmas season and a joyous and hopeful New Year celebration. We certainly did. This was the first Christmas day that Pam and I have been free since we’ve been married (we celebrated Christmas Eve with a wonderful service at Grace Church St. Louis, then with family), so on Christmas day we headed to Kansas City to watch the Chiefs play the Patriots…then we took in Monday night football there as well. We were home for three days, then we spent New Year’s Eve and day at Lake Ozark with dear friends, so this was a very festive, hopeful, and joyous holiday season for us.
But today is the beginning of a New Year, and what I hope and anticipate will be the beginning of a new era as well, so we are on page one of a “new beginning”. This is the time when we make our New Year’s resolutions and decide how we are going to improve our life and live it to the fullest! Unfortunately, the success rate of this undertaking is not particularly positive. The statistics I looked up tells us that by January 15th, 73% are still committed to the resolutions; but by January 22nd, 51%; by January 29th, 26%, and by February 15th, only 8% are still committed. So what does that tell us about us? Does it tell us that when the going gets rough, we “get going”… or do we “keep going”?
You might be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with the title of this posting?” And I would reply, “Everything.” It is a statistically proven picture of human nature. We start off wanting “something” to improve our lives (and according to the same source, the top five are; 1.to Lose weight 2. Get organized 3. Spend less (save more) 4. Take time to “smell the roses” 5. Stay fit and healthy), but once we realize we have to be engaged in the process to reap the benefits, history has proven that most people aren’t willing to do what it takes!
If you think that’s an exaggeration, look at the first example of taking a short-cut (falling for a lie to get the prize): Eve in the Garden of Eden. “You won’t die!” the serpent hissed. “God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil” The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise.” (Genesis 3:4-6) And what was the lie? “You will become just like God”. In other words, YOU can become your own God. That same lie is as irresistible today as it was in the Garden.
Most people are willing to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior because they want the “fire insurance”. And who can blame them for that; it certainly beats the alternative, right? But what about Jesus Christ as “Lord” of your life. Wow! That ‘s a whole different matter, isn’t it?
David sums-up this idea of Lordship in the first two verses of Psalm 2. “Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge. I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Master! All good things I have are from you.” In other words, for Jesus to be Lord of your life, he has to be Number One; your Master; your All!
Most people find that terribly frightening. Their first thought is, “What about ME?” I can’t give up control; I have my own plans and goals; and I love to have fun, and I’m sure that following Jesus can’t be that much fun. In fact…I know I can’t do it!! Well, truth be told, your first three excuses are totally erroneous. But your last thought…well, that is totally true. But the realization of that truth is the doorway to the “abundant” life Jesus promised us. Do you remember Jesus answer to Jarius after the servants had come to tell him his daughter had died? Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me.” (Luke 8:50) That’s still his answer to all Christ-followers today.
We occasionally entertain idea of changing our life. But according to Neil Anderson, one of my favorite Christian authors, “you can’t experience a changed life until you have experienced an “exchanged life”. So what does that mean? It means that Jesus came to sacrifice his life for us so that he can live his life through us. That’s the whole concept of “rebirth.” That’s what it means in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when it says, “We are a new creation (in Christ). The old has gone (our sin nature); the new has come (the indwelling Holy Spirit.) And that’s what Jesus meant in John 15:5 when he said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
Human error has always aligned with the belief that “my way is the best way. No one knows me better than me; therefore, who better than me to accomplish my purpose.” Unfortunately, to live independent of God while trying to find meaning and purpose in this life inevitably produces feelings of inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worry, doubt and shame. These feelings lead us down a path characterized by various forms of idolatry, immorality, jealousy, strife, outbursts of anger, hatred, lying, cheating, stealing, drunkenness, carousing and addiction. If you’re in doubt, just remember that God let man have charge of his own destiny regarding the issue of “SIN” (living with the focus on “self” rather than on God) from Creation until 2016 years ago. And how did Man fare? Romans 5:6 reveals our pathetic state: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time, and died for us sinners.” And what was “just the right time”? “When we were utterly helpless.”
When man proved without a shadow of a doubt his inability to overcome the dilemma of sin, God implemented his plan that was in place “even before the world was created.” (Ephesians 1:4) And that plan is definitively outlined in Romans 3:25: “For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.”
God’s” Gift of Grace” to us is not only forgiveness of sin and eternal life -, which certainly seals our eternal destiny – but it also includes the indwelling Holy Spirit which allows us to become the person God created us to be right here, right now. That is the part of the exchanged life that empowers us to overcome our flesh, this fallen world in which we live, and the powerful schemes of the devil, so that we can now bring honor and glory to God by our choices.
Prior to rebirth we were slaves to our sin nature, meaning we lived to serve our self rather than God. (Coincidently, that same nature is what our culture refers to as “human nature.”) I’ll let Apostle Paul contrast our sin-nature (human nature) to our new Spirit after rebirth (the indwelling Holy Spirit). This is found in Galatians 5:16-23. “So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to your sin nature.”
What I have written about today in the answer to achieving the abundant life Jesus promised, a life that is characterized by joy, contentment, fulfillment, kindness, goodness, peace and serenity. It is what everyone is searching for, but as the song goes…”we were searching for “this” in all the wrong places.” Next week I will write about the process for achieving this incredibly wonderful life. Simply put, it is about being in a process and staying in the process until you begin living and walking in the spirit. The blessings that come from that way of life are far beyond our dreams and expectations. To quote from Neil Anderson’s, “Victory Over the Darkness”, “Being filled and led by the Spirit may take you places you never planned to go, but the will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you.” We can all take solace in that.
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I wish y’all a very happy, prosperous and joyful New Year!
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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