Grace Place.

“Open yourself to grace.” –Rev. Dr. Samuel Vassel

Blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. (Psalm 32:1)

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

In Sunday’s sermon Pastor Sam noted that our blessing comes from our relationship with Jesus Christ. As we have read in Psalm 1 and Psalm 32, one of the keys to receiving the blessing of the Lord is to make sure we reject a lifestyle of sin. Our pastor urged us to present ourselves to Christ, seek His forgiveness, and pray for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, so that we will be able to resist the urge to sin.

Pastor Sam made reference to Titus 2:11-14, reminding us that we cannot count on our own “determination” or personal power to combat darkness and sin. A life of peace is achieved not in our own strength, but through the work of grace achieved by our Lord and Christ. Let us take time to reflect on these verses today.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

"Ask God To Fill You With His Spirit."*

For the grace of God has appeared for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness and passionate desires, to live discreet, temperate, self-controlled, upright, devout, spiritually whole lives in this present world, awaiting and looking for the fulfillment, the realization of our blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us (purchase our freedom) from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people to be peculiarly His own, people who are eager and enthusiastic about living a life that is good and filled with beneficial deeds. (Titus 2:11-14)

In the days when Herod was king of Judea there was a certain priest whose name was Zechariah, of the division of Abia; and his wife was also a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they both were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. (Luke 1:5-6)

In this past Sunday's sermon, Pastor Sam made a point which should be central in the thought life of every Christian: It is possible for people to live righteously and obediently in the sight of God. And, beyond being possible, it is necessary. This righteous, obedient lifestyle is achieved in and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, our Savior, has done His work in this process of redemption. His death has brought us life; His resurrection from the dead has given us hope. And He has left us His Spirit, by Whom we are empowered to remember and act upon the word of God (see John 16:7-15). The writer to the Hebrews leaves us a simple, but profound, truth: If we do not pursue peace and holiness, we will not see the Lord (see Hebrews 12:14). John Wesley says, "The not following after holiness is the direct way to fall into sin of every kind."

Satan has a strategy: his aim is to convince Christians that once they have made a mental assent of the deity of Christ, there remains nothing else to do. That is a lie. James warns us that even devils believe in God (James 2:19), and the Gospels recount incidents where persons under demonic influence fell at Jesus's feet even though they were bound by evil spirits (see Mark 5:6 and 9:20). The Christian life is more than just saying that Jesus is in charge of the universe. And the Christian life is more than just falling at the feet of Jesus in worship. For the person who confesses Christ as Lord, there must also be the presence of the Holy Spirit within the heart of the believer. If Jesus has told us that it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and causes us to function in our faith (John 16:14), then why would we avoid embracing the work of the Holy Spirit in us?

Thy precious will, O conquering Savior, doth now embrace and compass me;
All discords hushed, my peace a river; my soul, a prisoned bird, set free.
Sweet will of God, still fold me closer 'til I am wholly lost in Thee. (Leila Morris)

It is the will of God that His people receive the gift and grace of His Spirit, so that they might be empowered to reject ungodliness, pursue holiness, and gain peace.

The Holy Spirit wants to hug you, surround you, infill you. Will you let Him?

(*Today's post title is in memory of Pastor Sam's mom.)

Take A Culture.

Pastor Cole, in this past Sunday’s sermon, spoke of the importance of progression in the Christian life. We are ever growing and developing in our relationship with the Lord. It is a maturation process that calls for spiritual discipline and the will to live a life of holiness in contrast to the life of compromise offered by the world.

The life of holiness is indeed countercultural. The world promotes the concept of humanity as a melting pot. However, as Pastor Cole shared so eloquently (and I paraphrase here), we Nazarenes don’t melt. We cannot compromise in matters pertaining to the word of God. We are called to model the lives and passionate hearts of the early Christians, who chose to die rather than to renounce Christ.

And that is the core of the struggle for Christians who are not completely sold out to Jesus. The carnal Christian tries to placate the demands of a world that has no love or regard for the rule of Christ. The Christian who is not completely sold out to Jesus will seek to straddle the fence.

But guess what? We can’t straddle this thing.

Paul wrote very plainly about believers who walked away from complete devotion to Jesus. “Demas deserted me, having loved the present age.” (Second Timothy 4:10) John echoed the theme: “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.” (First John 2:19)

So, it is one or the other. Either we renounce the ways of the world, or we renounce the way of Christ. In modern culture we have seen many a leader, some after decades of ministry, announce that they are not fully on board with the counsel of Christ. Some of these leaders have walked away from their ministry call. Others have lobbyied for substantial changes in their denominational bylaws so that their compromised life could be sanctioned by vote. (As if God’s law can be changed by human consensus.)

What about us? Are we immersed in the culture of the world? Or are we completely sold out to Jesus? Or are we trying in vain to live a double life?

Take the world but give me Jesus; in His cross my trust shall be
’til with clearer, brighter vision, face to face my Lord I see.
(Fanny Crosby/ Frances van Alstyne)

Pure Passion.

In Sunday’s sermon Pastor Cole shared, “No heart is pure that is not passionate.” When we have experienced Christian purification, then we respond with a passion and zeal in serving Christ. Pastor Cole made the important point that purification does not lead to legalism, but rather moves us to unbridled enthusiasm in doing the work of the Lord.

This is a particular challenge at Bronx Bethany. It’s very easy to pull together a group of people to get work done. But it’s not as easy to pull together a group of people that are passionate about the work they’re doing. Pastor Cole used the apropos example of choir members who come to rehearsals not because they are passionate about ministering for the glory of God, but because they feel the music director is nagging them into participation. So they are present, they are singing, but without passion or enthusiasm for the God who gave them the ability to sing. It’s pure legalism.

As was mentioned in the sermon, it is never a good thing to work for the Lord out of a sense of legalism. The Scripture shows us that legalistic service earns no commendation from God. It is, as Pastor Sam mentioned some years ago in his sermon on Psalm 50, “empty works.” All the tithing and giving in the world, all the service we can render in the house of God, is in vain if the King of Glory has not won our hearts.

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me: all His wonderful passion and purity.
O Thou Spirit Divine, all my nature refine ’til the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. (Albert Orsborne)

Amen.

Timeshare? Terrible Investment.

Jesus gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people who are truly His, who are eager to do good. (Titus 2:14, italics mine)

Our Lord demands exclusivity. In this past Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Cole used the term “uncontested possession”- that is, our sanctification marks us as belonging completely to God. When we belong completely to God, there is nothing left to share with the devil.

Perhaps this would be a good place to remind us that the devil is not known for his sharing skills. Satan, who seeks to counterfeit the divine, also wants to completely own people so that he can use them in the service of the demonic. As much as he hates humanity, he has no problem using humans to further his goal to “steal, kill, and destroy” all people (see John 10:7-10). A prime example of this is found in the life of Judas Iscariot. Judas’s apostolic authority was compromised when he chose to betray Jesus. A few days of clandestine activity resulted in heartache and destruction for Judas, who was driven to suicide. The book of Acts confirms that Judas was an authentic disciple (see Acts 1:16-17) who traded the beauty of holiness for the short-term pleasure of sin. His status as a true disciple did not save him from destruction.

As Nazarenes, as holiness people, we believe and expect that our hearts are continually experiencing what Wesley calls an “inner cleansing”. Jesus has cleansed us from our sins. We have received a pure heart, and we have embraced life in a community of like-minded people who daily live redeemed lives. Sin has lost its appeal! We are so deeply in love with Jesus that nothing can persuade us to disobey His law. Nothing can cause us to walk away from His love.

At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Does sin still have a grip on you? Appeal to God. His Spirit is available to you. Embrace a complete and exclusive love relationship with God which will, every day, make your character look more and more like His. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit. He will give you the strength to renounce sin and cling to His grace.

Refiner’s Fire, my heart’s one desire is to be holy, set apart to You Lord.
I choose to be holy, set apart for You, my Master, ready to do Your will. (Brian Doerksen)

Soul Proprietor.

In this past Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Cole spoke on the importance of core character. He shared a quote he’d heard some time ago: “All shine on the outside, and all sham on the inside.”

Scripture informs us that Jesus had a controversy with the religious leaders of ancient Israel: there was plenty of form and ritual, and all the “right things” were being done in terms of worship protocol, but the lives of the leaders were out of sync with the heart of God. But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside as well?” (Luke 11:39-40) The crisis of the modern Nazarene church is that, in many instances, we have neglected to emphasize the importance of holiness doctrine in conjunction with holy living.

The apostle Paul picks up the theme, warning his fellow Christians in Corinth. Some scholars believe that the Corinthian culture was so influential that Christians had adopted Corinthian sayings that ran counter to the truth of God’s word. In First Corinthians 6, we see Paul responding to the error inherent in the cultural sayings of that time (such as “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”, “All things are lawful to me”), error which was evident in the behavior of the Corinthian church.

In addressing the Corinthians’ belief that sexual indiscretion was not a sin because they felt there was no moral relevance to how they used their physical bodies, Paul said: Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” – but the immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (First Corinthians 6:18-19)

We do not belong to ourselves. Pastor Cole used the analogy of landlord and tenant: the tenant is permitted to manage a particular property, but the landlord is by definition the property owner. You and I are tenants, charged with managing our bodies, and God is the owner of our bodies. We are His property. As holiness people, we must provide the Holy Spirit with a body in which He is pleased to live. He is concerned about the core of our character, because we represent the character of Christ to the world. We should be concerned also.

Tenant, don’t get evicted. Manage your Landlord’s property well.

Yes, Again.

Bronx Bethany’s Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Seymour Cole, gave us a thought-provoking message yesterday. The topic was not new: for several weeks, we have heard sermons from many different preachers whose message carried the same warning of “all or nothing”.

As Christians, and in particular as Nazarene Christians, our lives should indicate that we are completely sold out to Jesus. Our effectiveness in ministry is inextricably tied to our obedience to Christ. When we remain in mindsets and activities that run contrary to the word of God, our message of Spirit-led transformation loses all credibility.

Over the next few days we’ll reflect on some of the specifics of Pastor Cole’s sermon. For today, though, let’s meditate on the Scripture reading he based his message upon.

Slaves are to be subject to their own masters in everything, to do what is wanted and not talk back, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, in order to bring credit to the teaching of God our Savior in everything. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good. (Titus 2:9-14)