Love Left a Window in the Skies

So far the encores for U2's 360Tour have been the same: Ultra Violet, With or Without You and Moment of Surrender. That was the encore when I saw U2 in Croke Park on July 24 and I’d like to hear those three songs again in Atlanta on October 6…plus one…Window in the Skies.

You can listen to U2 songs over and over, and often, a song you’ve heard a hundred times “speaks to you.” That happened to me this week as my iPhone, on shuffle, played “Window in the Skies” from U218 Singles. What a great song…and what a great song to play as an encore, which at U2 concerts are always meant to send us away with a message ringing in our ears...and hearts.

Bono begins by singing, “The shackles are undone, the bullet’s quit the gun.” He is singing of the amazing truth that through grace the shackles of slavery to sin and death have been removed. So have the shackles of self-condemnation and self-absorption! The punishment at the Hand of a Just Judge has been taken away by a Substitute…thus, the bullets are taken away…for those in Christ, wrath is shooting blanks!

Then, “the heat that’s in the sun (hear “Son”) will keep us when there’s none…when the coldness of the world and the freeze of a broken planet come upon us, there’s the Son filled with the warmth of His love!

“The Rule has been disproved.” The rule of law that says unless you are perfect, you will die, both physically and spiritually. The rule of law is more like the rule of karma—you get what you deserve. Grace disproves the rule of The Law which condemns us to judgment. Grace in Christ grants us what we don’t deserve...favor where we deserve rejection.

I’m fairly confident I’m interpreting the lyrics properly, because the next line is too obvious to miss (how can you stand next to the truth and not see it?!)…

“The Stone, it has been removed.” On the first Easter, the Stone was rolled away, revealing that the Crucified Lord had been raised from the dead! So, as a result of the hope of the resurrection…

“The grave is now a groove.” The grave, for the believer, is simply a seemless groove into a God-filled eternity…no more crying, no more pain, no more sorrow, now more sin. Death has been defeated!

“All debts are removed.” The debt we owe an infinitely holy and just God because of our failure has been paid in full by the One who came to live the life we couldn’t live and die the death we couldn’t die…

“Oh can’t you see what LOVE has done?...Love left a window in the skies.” There is NOW a way we can look into the heavens and SEE our Creator! We can look in upon God and He looks down upon us in Christ with favor, delight and care!

More tomorrow on this great song…would love to hear it in Atlanta!!So far the encores for the 360Tour have been the same: Ultra Violet, With or Without You and Moment of Surrender. That was the encore when I saw U2 in Croke Park on July 24 and I’d like to hear those three songs again in Atlanta on October 6…plus one…Window in the Skies.

I’m sure you’ve listened to U2 songs over and over, as I have, but sometimes a song you’ve heard a hundred times “speaks to you.” That happened to me this week as my iPhone, on shuffle, played “Window in the Skies” from U218 Singles. What a great song…and what a great song to play as an encore, which at U2 concerts are always meant to send us away with a message ringing in our ears...and hearts.

Bono begins by singing, “The shackles are undone, the bullet’s quit the gun.” He is singing of the amazing truth that through grace the shackles of slavery to sin and death have been removed. So have the shackles of self-condemnation and self-absorption! The punishment at the Hand of a Just Judge has been taken away by a Substitute…thus, the bullets are taken away…for those in Christ, wrath is shooting blanks!

Then, “the heat that’s in the sun (hear “Son”) will keep us when there’s none…when the coldness of the world and the freeze of a broken planet come upon us, there’s the Son filled with the warmth of His love!

“The Rule has been disproved.” The rule of law that says unless you are perfect, you will die, both physically and spiritually. The rule of law is more like the rule of karma—you get what you deserve. Grace disproves the rule of The Law which condemns us to judgment. Grace in Christ grants us what we don’t deserve...favor where we deserve rejection.

I’m fairly confident I’m interpreting the lyrics properly, because the next line is too obvious to miss (how can you stand next to the truth and not see it?!)…

“The Stone, it has been removed.” On the first Easter, the Stone was rolled away, revealing that the Crucified Lord had been raised from the dead! So, as a result of the hope of the resurrection…

“The grave is now a groove.” The grave, for the believer, is simply a seemless groove into a God-filled eternity…no more crying, no more pain, no more sorrow, now more sin. Death has been defeated!

“All debts are removed.” The debt we owe an infinitely holy and just God because of our failure has been paid in full by the One who came to live the life we couldn’t live and die the death we couldn’t die…

“Oh can’t you see what LOVE has done?...Love left a window in the skies.” There is NOW a way we can look into the heavens and SEE our Creator! We can look in upon God and He looks down upon us in Christ with favor, delight and care!

More tomorrow on this great song…would love to hear it in Atlanta!!

U2 Croke Park, Steve Stockman Review

My friend, Steve Stockman, who has written a book on the spirituality of U2's music, Walk On, has a blog called Soul Surmise. He was at the same concert myself and a few other OMPC folk were at in Dublin on July 24. It was amazing. Here are Steve's thoughts from his blog and his review:

"Perhaps my most quoted quote to my students is Frederick Buechner’s definition of vocation; “The place where your deepest gladness and the world’s greatest hunger meet.” I spend a lot of time pastoring students to that point where they find out what they were created to be and how that can penetrate the needs of the social order. Four songs into U2’s first of three homecoming Croke Park gigs Bono is singing about how he was born to sing and was given songs to sing. Nearing the end of Magnificent the fourth song in a row from the new album No Line On The Horizon, Bono stand arms open and declares “I surrender.” It is a surrendering to his God; it is a surrendering to the people (the fans) whose hard earned money put him on this stage, in one of the biggest stadiums in Europe, literally one or two miles from where he grew up; it is a surrendering to his place in the world, where with three chords and the truth, as he once said, he could meet some of the world’s deepest hunger. And as I watch I am thinking that this is where I hope all of my students get to, because that man and his three mates are without doubt right on the vortex of their place in the cosmos.

There is a deepest gladness about this particular gig. Is there some relief that the first of three 82,000 capacity gigs is jammered? Is there relief that after the criticisms about their music and even tax decisions they are back in the arms of their own; their families and fans and familiar streets of home? Is it that they are just happy in their own skin, doing what they do best? Whatever there is a looseness, even in the tightest of sounds, that makes the gig seem all the more uplifting; yes, a trademark but sharper than ever. The first half hour is just full on rock n roll of a stadium shrinking kind that perhaps only Springsteen could hope to emulate. As I said the splendid Breathe kicks off into four more from the new record. No Line On The Horizon is rockier than on the album and Get On Your Boots finally proves itself as a U2 banker, all hard core Edge riff and communal chant. After Magnificent it is Beautiful Day and Elevation and you wonder how these almost fifty year olds can keep it up.

The first breather gives the band a chance to shake it up. On acoustic guitar Desire seems more alive than in years and then the reinvigorated Stuck in A Moment gets served up with American grit. A wee shout out to a gloomy recession hit Ireland was full of pride and inspiration as well as a welcome to the hordes of visitors who had come to see U2 where U2 need to be experienced. An impromptu stab at Brendan Behan’s classic Irish folk song The Auld Triangle was stumbled over with some fun and laughter and a band in their very deepest gladness enjoying the night as much as the crowd.

They weren’t finished with the new arrangements. One got an Adam Clayton bass groove that prevented any danger of diminishing returns but most surprising of all was the complete reinvention of I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight with Larry out front with a drum round his neck and Bono interweaving the party and spiritual side of the song to maximum effect. Unforgettable Fire sounded refreshingly familiar and its inclusion along with MLK and a set ending Bad, as well as of course the mainstay Pride, might suggest a commercial eye on the Remaster Edition due for release in October but whatever the reason the effect was brilliant. Likewise Ultraviolet as the first encore was another reminder of the goodness of songs not tried for years.

All of it was a rat-a-tat-tat of great tunes from band holding the crowd in the palm of their hand for two hours and twenty four songs. The sense of celebration and Beuchner’s gladness was palpable. Opening act Damien Dempsey had said how great it was to be alive and I thought about his words as I simply revelled in the spiritual celebration that this band was giving out. If you want a great rock n roll show no one gets close but if you are looking for another dimension the theology is deep and poetic.

Of course as well as deep gladness these guys also meet the world’s deep hunger and tonight the build up from Bloody Sunday to Pride brought us to a Martin Luther King for 2009 and Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi in house arrest for almost twenty years. MLK was a prayer sent up for her and of course Walk On was originally about her anyway so at the crescendo of that there was a parade of people on stage wearing Suu Kyi masks in solidarity, to keep her face in the conscience of the world. Later Bono handed over to the Archbishop of the U2360 Tour and a film preach by Desmond Tutu encouraged us to keep children suffering from AIDS and Malaria alive so that they would become doctors, teachers and scientists. This is not just good music but music that is trying to be good for something.

You can’t help but wonder if that person in U2’s Christian fellowship way back in 1981 who told them that God had said they should give the music up because it was not spiritually useful was in Croke Park? If so, what would they have thought? Had U2 believed them and become teachers and whatever they might have become would these four men have affected the world in anywhere near the way that they have? And what about within themselves? Would they be doing whatever with the same deep gladness and celebration that you could see tonight? Thank God they ignored it and found their vocation.

To the end and a stroke of typical confidence and courage had U2 close the night with Moment of Surrender, a seven minute slow burner from the new, critically and commercially questioned, record. U2 have never said goodnight with a throwaway hit. From 40 to Yahweh there has been a spiritual blessing before the journey home and this is their theological masterpiece. Of course we are back to that endless theme in their catalogue and that moment at the outset of this show – surrender. As we watch on those big screens these four men, just four ordinary looking men, leave the stage you become aware how incredible it is that they can achieve the astounding impact that they have just made. And we are back to finding that place where deep gladness and world hunger meet. These men are perfectly in their reason for existence. They say they have found grace inside a sound and you simply want them to let you into that sound. They are a force of nature !"

Bad Doctors

I turn 50 this summer…it had to happen eventually. I go in this morning to hear the results of my half-a-century physical! I hope the news is good. But what if there is something wrong? What if it turns out I have a diseased liver or diminished kidney function? What if I have high blood pressure or cholesterol that is off the charts? And…what if the doctor, knowing these issues, simply ignores them or looks me in the eye and says, “Eh, its no big deal”? What a poor physician that would be!

I fear that at times pastors and leaders (and parents and friends?) in our day are poor physicians of the soul. I fear that in our evangelical sub-culture, we at times see cancer and just ignore it…or, at the very least, fail to treat it. Imagine that. Imagine someone being eaten up with cancer and the doctor, though knowing about it, failing to aggressively treat it.

Our Lord Jesus is the Great Physician. The Apostle Paul was a good Intern…as was the Apostle Peter. They were good shepherds.

In Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening for today, both devotionals deal aggressively with the possibility of cancer of the soul. I find it very interesting that the devotionals for today are right in line with where we are in our study of 1 Corinthians.

Last Sunday’s message on 1 Cor 10:1-3 was an “oil checker” for sure. As in Hebrews 6:4-6, we learn just how much grace we can be exposed to and still not be saved. There is a common grace at work in the Church that can lead to all kinds of “enlightening” but does not save. There can be profession of faith without possession of faith. As in Israel, where all passed through the Red Sea and received water from a rock and manna from heaven, we can be WITH Christ and not be IN Christ! Are YOU in Christ?

Read Spurgeon’s devotions today! If you’ve already read them…read them again! They are the “check-up” for your soul this day! Read the gifted way Spurgeon, as a good doctor, communicates the seriousness of the possibility of cancer of the soul!

As Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who SAYS to Me, “Lord, Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Notice: some will have cast out demons in the Name of the Lord. Some will have worked miracles even, in the Name of Christ. Still others will have prophesied…and yet Jesus, on that Final Day, will say, “Depart from Me…I NEVER knew you.”

Picture the doomed in hell pointing their fiery fingers and shouting: “There is one! One who professed faith. One who thought by good deeds or a passable Christian lifestyle, that they were in the Ark of Christ and would escape the Flood of Wrath.” “There is one who was a hypocrite on earth and now will be a citizen of hell…forever!”

Read again Spurgeon’s words: “No greater eagerness will ever be seen among satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite’s soul down to eternal damnation.” Strong medicine these words are! Stronger than most of the medicine delivered in many grace-driven churches.

The Power of grace enables physicians of the soul to speak so forcefully against spiritual cancer. Gospel Physicians know that grace is no mere sentimentality of divine love, but instead is Divine Power poured out upon a human soul…and if poured out and received, grace MUST have it’s work! Grace will and must change a life.

Spurgeon ends the Evening Devotional as I have ended many sermons: “…there can not be faith in the heart unless there is holiness in the life.” Now, obviously that holiness is incomplete, and even ebbs and flows through seasons of life, but…

That is NOT works salvation! That is exalting the wonder and beauty of grace! Grace is not mere “fire insurance” against the flames of hell. Grace is God’s love poured out in transforming power.

Any healthy soul at THIS POINT, should be aware of areas of the life that are not pleasing to God. Any healthy soul at this point should be more concerned than they were at the beginning of this devotional, over the condition of their spiritual life. Any healthy soul MUST be running to the Cross right now and crying out, “Oh Christ! Have mercy!” Any healthy soul must be laboring right now to be found in Christ and in His righteousness alone. Any healthy soul right now must be humbled by existing sin in the life and hoping afresh in the work of Christ that makes clean and justifies in the sight of God. EVERY healthy soul at Oak Mountain should surely be WALTZING right now! The Three-Step Dance of GRACE with our Loving Partner, Jesus. Repent! Believe! Fight!

It is the UNHEALTHY soul that is thinking: “Ah, good for you, Bob! There are many out there who need to read such a devotional. Thankfully MY OWN soul is not in need of such examination, but I need to make sure so-and-so gets this one.” The unhealthy soul never imagines the possibility of being one who on the last day hears, “Depart from Me, I NEVER knew you.”

Let’s face it…the bar of spirituality in the Church today is not as high as it has been in the past. We need REVIVAL! Revival starts with a work of the Spirit leading us to fresh repentance. Revival starts with a fresh work of grace which reveals how desperately we need a fresh work of grace!

Revival begins with souls who have been given the grace to read devotionals like Spurgeon writes today, and after reading, cry out: “Oh Christ! Have mercy upon me! Change me! Restore me to my First Love…and do it NOW!”

Enough with examinations and check-ups that only look for visibly diseased limbs and exteriors! We need some real lab work sent off! Is kindness growing in my soul? Do I love money and possessions too much? Is there a fire in my belly for the word of God and the Church of God and the people of God? Am I burdened that Christ be believed upon and exalted and glorified and honored in the world?

Am I repenting and grieving over my self-righteousness as much as my self-indulgence? Am I repenting over my religiosity as much as my irreligiosity?

Am I as repentant over my lack of concern for the poor and diseased as I am over my lack of concern for the unborn? Am I as concerned over my problem with gossip as I am with the culture’s problem with gambling? Am I as burdened over the sins of the “Right” as I am over the sins of the “Left?”

Am I as grieved by personal, private sins which I see in myself as I am by public sins I see in others? Is Christ my First Love? Is it Him and Him only that I must have in life and nothing else matters?!

Now REMEMBER: the therapy recommended by Scripture is NOT to “turn over a new leaf;” it is NOT to “turn your life around.” The prescription for cancer of the soul is running to Christ in helpless dependence. It is despairing of any solution within and hoping afresh in Gospel Grace.
If we are, in fact, in Christ, remember the Promises:

“There is therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

And, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to FORGIVE us our sins AND to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

I, for one, NEED to be forgiven; AND, I NEED to be cleansed, changed, transformed! I both NEED and WANT revival! How about you?!

I Can't Get No...Satisfaction

Ok…I’ll admit it…I love listening to the Rolling Stones! Their lives might be a mess, but they’ve made some sweet music. Who can’t get into their classic hit, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”? It seems that even Charles Spurgeon might have liked to blog on that one…

In his Evening Devotion for today, Spurgeon uses one verse from the Flood account. As the waters were receding, Noah sent out, first a raven…if flew around, found some trash in the world that could satisfy it’s hunger for garbage, and stayed away from the Ark, never to return.

Then, Noah sent out a dove…a bird with higher standards apparently, and because it could NOT find a suitable place to rest in the broken and judged world, it returned to the Ark. Seven days later, Noah set it loose again…this time after flying around it found an olive tree…yet it returned to the Ark and rested there once more, having brought a newly plucked olive leaf in its mouth. Finally, after waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove once more…and this time the dove did not return.

Spurgeon uses the Ark as a symbol of Christ and salvation from the wrath to be unleashed upon the world. Spurgeon reminds us this morning that the world is a place of destruction and brokenness and trash and garbage (though this is the point of the devotional, we also know that in many ways, though, the world is a glorious ruin, still revealing much of the goodness of God). So….here’s the deal…are you more like a raven or a dove?...

Can your soul find delight in the ruins and trash of this world? Or, are you dissatisfied with anything the world can offer and recognize you possess as soul that is only ever ultimately possessed by the joy and hope of being in Jesus…the Ark of your life?!

Spurgeon says that we will be known by our delights…ravens can feed on things of which the dove simply will not partake. The dove does not find any place to rest in the broken world. The dove realizes that the only pleasures in life are to be found in the Ark!

As Spurgeon writes, if you feel you can stretch out and rest comfortably in the world, it is not a good sign of the condition of your soul. But if you find yourself singing along with Mick Jagger, applying it to this world, and are crying out, “I Can’t Get NO…Satisfaction” then the condition of your soul is rather healthy indeed.

If you find your own estimation of your spiritual life is one of struggling, yet realize you find no rest in sin, no real joy in the things of the world, no satisfaction in “the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life,” be encouraged…there is the sign of true spiritual life within you.

The Christian simply can find no rest in the muck and the mire, the runny soot of this world. The Christian recognizes that only the lush green of True Life will satisfy. The True Christian will keep flying until it finds The One Who is Life Indeed. The True Christian understands that it is only at God’s Right Hand there are pleasures forever more.

The True Believer in Christ knows, sometimes more clearly than others for sure, that this World of Muck is, as Spurgeon writes, “Meaningless, Meaningless, Everything is Meaningless” divorced from an intimate, saving, Spirit-filled relationship with Christ.

So…what are you this morning…a raven…or a dove? Will you fly back to the Ark…to your Savior…and ask that He might continue the work of transformation? Will you ask Him this morning to rid you of your raven-like characteristics and to form you into the dove…according to the Nature of His Own Spirit?

When it comes to the things of the world, may the song of our soul be: “I Can’t Get No…Satisfaction!”

May your song be that of the Psalmist: My soul…find REST in God alone! Ps 62:1, 5

Are You a Half-baked Believer?

In this Morning’s devotional in Spurgeon, he cites Hosea 7:8—“Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over.” Ephraim was another name for the people of God. It is possible to be a child of God and be similar to a pancake that is “half-baked.” Are you a “half-baked” believer? Do you go off “half-baked” in your doctrine and behavior? Is your faith only “half-baked?”

If the flame or heat of the “burner” is the heat of God’s love and grace, what portions of your heart and life have been untouched because you have never been “turned over”?

What are the areas of “half-baked” obedience in your life? Or, put another way, how does being half-baked in grace lead to the continuous practice of partial DISobedience?! What areas of rebellion are still yet to be purged through the heat of God’s love? We cook things thoroughly to make sure bacteria is destroyed…how has our half-baked spiritual life led to the bacteria of sin remaining untouched in certain areas of our lives?

Is grace doing a complete work in your soul? What portions of your relationships, your behaviors, your attitudes, your conversation, your convictions, your recreations, your priorities are still left untouched by the heat of God’s grace?

Remember, the heat of grace doesn’t merely purge the “bacteria” of sins of commission, but must cook away the sins of omission as well. To focus only on stopping negative thoughts, words and behaviors is still to remain “half-baked.” We must cry out for grace that warms the soul toward positively engaging in thoughts words and behaviors which pleasing to God which we tend to ignore.

We will never be completely spiritually “cooked through” until we die or Christ returns. Yet we must always keep in mind that there is no area of life which the heat of grace is not to touch. We must seek to bring both the private and public life to the heat of grace.

Spurgeon also points out that a pancake “half-baked” and “unturned” tends to burn on one side. At Oak Mountain we talk about being “well done” or “heavy-footed” in one of the steps of the Waltz. Some of us are “over-done” in the Repent step; others in the Believe step; still others in the Fight step. We must allow grace to do it’s work so that we would be evenly cooked and dance the entire Waltz.

If the heat of grace is limited to only certain beliefs and behaviors and doesn’t touch other areas of life, we can become too “hot” about certain issues. We can become people with Christian “hobby-horses” or believers who only ever sound one note. We can minimize the wonder of God’s infinite nature by reducing His interests to only those things that capture our hearts. There is nothing wrong with pursuing passions and burdens, but we must remember that our passions and burdens are not supposed to be EVERYONE’S passion and burden. That is the beauty of the Body of Christ.

If we remain “half-baked” we can become self-righteous and Pharisaical about our own passions and begin to judge others who don’t share the same heat. Or, we can actually fail to see that such an intensely “focused” holiness can leave vast areas of our hearts untouched by gospel righteousness. We can begin to think that the God of infinite passion only shares the singular passion of our own lives. We then become Zealots rather than people with integrated, balanced lives. Food that is “half-baked” is not very tasty…and Christian lives with narrowly focused passions are often not very tasty in the sight of the world either.

So, what to do? Cry out to God to “turn you over!” Don’t fear the heat…it is only ever the heat of love. Ask God today, right now, to take those areas of your life that are seemingly little touched by the heat of grace and cry out to feel “the sacred glow!” Let those areas of life that are “over heating” cool a little. Allow yourself to feel the weakness of the flesh and the danger of the “bacteria” not yet killed by the heat of the Spirit. Cry out that you would know the inconsistency of your spiritual life…hot on some things, cold on others.

What turns us over? Community for one thing. We all "bake" at different temperatures and have different ingredients...we need to be around each other so that the "uncooked" elements of our hearts are exposed. Consistent time in the Word is another way we get "turned over." Think of some other ways the Spatula of God can flip you over!!

Ephraim was like a flat cake, not turned over…how are you like Ephraim this morning? Where are you in need of a more even heat of grace?

Why Were You Born?

In the song Magnificent on U2's new album (No Line on the Horizon), Bono cries out that he was born to sing for Someone. Many might think this is a song to all U2 fans...and I guess at one level you can take it that way....but what the song is really about is Bono's acknowledgement that he was born to sing for the Magnificent...for Christ. What I want us to consider today is the fact that the song's lyrics are really true for ALL of us. Every human being was created to Sing for God. We may not have Bono's voice, but we are made to sing!

In Numbers 21:17 we meet up with the Israelites singing a song of praise to God because He had graciously promised to give them water for their journey in the wilderness.

One interesting side note is that this passage follows closely on the heels of one of my favorite gospel passage in Scripture. In Numbers 21:4-9 God had sent fiery serpents to bite the people because they were grumbling and complaining in the desert. They were helpless to save themselves from the fatal venom...all they could do is cry out to God and look in faith to the bronze serpent that God had commanded Moses to lift up on a pole. In John 3 we learn that this incident was a prefiguring of Christ: as the serpent was lifted up, so Christ was lifted up, that whoever looks to Him in faith will be saved from sin. However, we must be reminded that it is also the picture of sanctification and life change...whenever we recognize and acknowledge the venom of sin coursing through the "veins of our souls" afresh, we have no other recourse but to look to Christ again in fresh faith that the transforming power of the blood might "neutralize" the venom of sin and we may be changed.

It is AFTER this rebellion of grumbling and complaining and whining that God then shows great grace by providing undeserved water to quench the thirst of His people. How amazing that even after our rebellion, God still graciously provides what is more than sufficient for our needs!

As God's people hear that He is going to provide water, they break out in praise to God for the well. Each Sunday, Each Lord's Day, we are given the privilege to praise God for the past week's provision of grace and praise in anticipation of future grace in the coming days. I'm reminded of how often in the Psalms that we as God's people are COMMANDED to "Sing!" We were born to Sing for Him!

The fact of the matter is that our hearts ought to be so full of wonder at God's grace, there would be no need to be commanded to praise...it would be the supernatural, spontaneous overflow of our hearts. However, because of our sin and cold-heartedness, because of our distraction and our pride, we still must hear the COMMAND to sing praises to God. In the Psalms alone we hear the command or the determination to sing in at lest 61 verses!! Singing praise to God is not a matter of temperament or giftedness; it is a matter of the heart!

When I was converted as a sophomore at Penn State over 29 years ago, there were three changes God brought about in my life over which I exercised no will, exertion or effort. First, whereas I had never owned nor opened a Bible, within days of my conversion I had an insatiable hunger for God's Word...I literally could not put it down. Second, my language had been "colorful" as a "gym rat," cursing whenever I missed a shot on the basketball court. Within days of my conversion, my language had cleaned up without me even focusing on it! Third, I began to sing! I can still remember singing Christmas carols my first Christmas as a true believer. I had been in churches where carols were sung when I was a non-Christian over the years, but I had never sung...I mouthed the words without singing. When I was converted, I began to sing.

I know that personality does have SOME bearing on singing...but if you read the Psalms, God doesn't deal with temperaments....we are COMMANDED to sing!! But again, the real issue is not that we are commanded to sing; the real issue is this: what is going on in our hearts that we would refrain from singing? Even if we feel we have a terrible voice, that is a heart issue of pride and self-absorption. Even if we feel shy and self-conscious, that too is a matter of pride in the heart. If we just don't feel like singing, that is giving into emotions, or a lack thereof and allowing our emotions to rule our lives rather than using our renewed wills to whip our emotions into shape.

The question this morning is this: are you singing God's praises on Sunday mornings? If not, why not? I know we all sing alone with U2 blaring on our stereos...singing is a matter of delight, not temperament! We are ALL born to sing for Him!

Things I Wish I had Known as a New Christian

We had such a great discussion in our mentoring group this morning studying True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer Chapter 6, and it is so packed with nuggets, I thought I'd summarize in writing what we covered...as much for myself as for y'all!! I wish I had known this as a new believer and not until so many years after conversion!! I would have been spared a LOT of pain and confusion....

1. Because of the Fall we wake up each morning in an ABNORMAL world. We shouldn't be surprised when we face "thorns and thistles and weeds" in our relationships and tasks.

2. The victory over sin has already been decisively achieved, though we don't see the full extent of the results yet. We are to live to bring the reality of the victory and the power of the Kingdom into our day TODAY! Eternal life is not some far off place of another time, it begins at our conversion is to reform and redeem all of the spheres of influence we walk in.

3. The Christian life is not only true but supernatural. We touch the supernatural and are transformed by the supernatural as we live by faith. Christ is formed in us the same way the Physical Christ was formed in the Virgin Mary...as we believe the Word, the Promise, of God. Luke 1:38: Be it done TO me according to Your word. When we face sin we are to feel as helpless as Mary in conceiving her Child on her own...she could not do it...it was a HUMAN IMPOSSIBILITY...but what is impossible with man is possible with God. He calls into being that which was not, like He did at creation, by the Word of His Power...that is HOW the Christian life works! He calls into being spiritual fruit and supernatural change that we can not bring about by all our efforts and strategies.

4. A critical element to faith is latching hold continually to the promise of JUSTIFICATION. We are to live moment-by-moment in the reality of our justified standing: God, sitting behind the Legal Bench, is both Judge, Jury and Prosecutor. We ARE ALL guilty, both through Adam's sin and our own sins. We have no defense of our own. We are hopeless. Christ enters the courtroom as our Defense Attorney and pleads His own obedient life and death as our Proxy and Substitute. God then bangs the gavel and DECLARES us not guilty. But more than that, The Father does what no earthly judge can ever do: He not only declares us NOT GUILTY, He declares us PERFECT, SPOTLESS, BLAMELESS and HOLY in His sight. We are declared as PERFECTLY RIGHTEOUS as Jesus Himself. Christ's perfect RECORD of obedience legally becomes OUR VERY OWN record before God! See the Heidelburg Catechism Question 60.

5. A second critical element for faith to cling to is the promise of ADOPTION. Christ is uniquely The Son of God. He is the Second Person of the Trinity...He is God Himself. Yet, through union with Christ by Spirit baptism by grace through faith, EVERY believer becomes a child of God, an adopted son or daughter...with ALL the same rights, privilege, standing before the Father AS CHRIST HIMSELF. Because of union with Christ, the baptismal pronouncement over Christ, "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased," becomes the Father's declaration over every believer in Christ!!

6. As we BELIEVE in Christ and the Gospel Promises of JUSTIFICATION and ADOPTION, we are transformed supernaturally by the Spirit of God. It is by GRACE experienced through FAITH in the Gospel Promises that the Holy Spirit transforms our lives. When we believe God's promise of our justification and adoption when we FEEL we LEAST DESERVE to believe it, that is precisely when the power of the Spirit most fully falls upon our lives. Again, keep in mind Luke 1:38--"Be it done TO me according to Your Word."

7. A third critical element for faith to cling to is the promise of REGENERATION. We are born again by God's Spirit. According to the Old Testament promise in Ezekiel 36:25-29, God will cleanse us from all our idols, He will sprinkle clean water on us (symbolized by New Testament baptism) He will give us a new heart and put a new spirit within us. He will removed from us the heart of stone (symbolized by Old Testament circumcision) and give us a soft heart toward Him. He will put His Spirit within us and CAUSE us to walk in His commands!! That is regeneration....the supernatural removal of the Old Man in Adam and making us new creations, new creatures in Christ. With new natures, new hearts and a New Spirit, we are now ABLE to say no to sin and yes to righteousness...as we walk by faith in the Gospel Promises. We are now responsible...response-able.

8. Sanctification occurs much the same way conversion happens...by grace through faith. Even our Doctrinal Standards teach this: See the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 35, Larger Catechism 75. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of the life and death of Christ to our hearts in ever increasing fashion resulting in the supernatural transformation of our lives. One difference between justification and sanctification is that sanctification occurs in varying degrees while there are no degrees to justification...we are fully justified from the moment we believe, but we are progressively sanctified each day as we walk in repentance and faith.

9. Sanctification occurs as we believe the Gospel (Galatians 3:1-5, Colossians 2:6, John 6:29, Isaiah 30:15, etc). Sanctification occurs as we learn to WALTZ--the spiritual "3-step" dance with Christ of "Repent! Believe! Fight!" There are ups and downs, ebbs and flows to the spiritual life. Growth begins with repentance: acknowledging our sin and helplessness before God. We can no more change ourselves by sheer effort and discipline than we could save ourselves by sheer effort and discipline. But we must not stop at repentance or we will wallow in despair. Repentance must lead to fresh faith. We are to BELIEVE the Gospel Promises afresh that our standing before God never changes because of our sin. Through union with Christ we are unchangeably justified before God and eternally adopted sons and daughters. We can do nothing to cause God to love us more than He already does in Christ; and we can do nothing that would ever cause God to love us any less than He loves Christ Himself (John 17:23!!). It is AS we BELIEVE these promises that the Power of the Spirit is unleashed in our lives (Galatians 3:5). This is what it means to ABIDE in Christ--we abide by faith...grace apprehended by faith strengthens our union with the Branch, Christ, so that His life-giving "sap" courses through our lives with transforming power. We are to BELIEVE that just as there is a "converting" power to the blood of Christ that saves us from hell, so there is a transforming power of the blood that delivers us progressively from the power of sin. As the old hymn, Rock of Ages, reminds us: the blood of Christ provides the DOUBLE CURE: it cleanses us from both sin's guilt AND power! Then, equipped with fresh faith and reminded of reality of our regeneration, we are to FIGHT the good fight and WAR against the world the flesh and the devil. We are to renounce the flesh and present our lives to righteousness. Then, if/when we fail, we continue waltzing!

10. We Do NOT arrive this side of eternity. There is NO ARRIVALISM, NO TRIUMPHALISM. Waltzing doesn't FIX us! Waltzing is how broken, limping sinners saved by grace are progressively becoming whole and healthy...but we are not completely healed until the Return of Christ. Grace enables us, empowers us and motivates us to persevere in faith so that grace by the Power of the Holy Spirit will continually transform us.

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in BELIEVING, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope!"
Romans 15:13