TerryLema

In Philippians 3, after that marvelous section about continuing to press on, Paul outlines the attitudes of those he calls enemies of the cross of Christ. “There are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.” [vs 18-19 NLT]

The thought that halted me was that phrase “they think only about this life here on earth.” There are parts of this life on earth that are so gloriously wonderful to think about. Then there are parts that are complicated, confusing, and just plain evil.

To live only for the things of this life is so dissatisfying. It leaves us empty and wondering what will fill up that void in our hearts. We are filled with so many questions … most starting with that cry of pain “Why?”

“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.” [vs3:18-21 NLT]

I am so thankful that Paul reminded us that while we live on this planet, we have eternal citizenship elsewhere. And one day we shall dwell with the LORD who will bring everything under His control.

Those who love the LORD Christ Jesus have been promised a future and a place where there will never be the need to ask “Why?” again. I can only imagine.

I asked the Holy Spirit to give me one thought from each chapter of Philippians. Philippians has so many thoughts that we quote often. I was looking for something that jumped out of each chapter that I have possibly just glanced at and then continued on to one of those “more notable” quotes.

Directly following the beautiful hymn about Christ’s deity and humanity in Philippians 2:5-11 is a section about shining brightly for the LORD. And I found my thought right at the beginning.

 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” [Philippians 2:13NLT]

God is working in us. GOD is working in us. GOD is WORKING in US! What an amazing thought.

Upon our salvation the Holy Spirit began His work in us. His special attention is to change our desires from what pleases us to what pleases our LORD. He provides the power needed to do that!

How often do I find in my own life that the enemy of my soul, the world, and even my own sinful flesh urges me to focus my desires on what I want. I have often said that the worst song ever written was “My Way!” I have done it “My Way!” far too often. And proved that “My Way!” only leads to trouble.

But now, God is working in me. He is giving me His desires in my heart. He is giving me the power to do it “His Way!” Hallelujah!

After 10 days of devotions taken from that magnet on Bob’s gun safe (Ten Things God Wants You to Know), I woke up to a blank page. Now what? I love writing and could probably write about just anything. But I don’t want to write about “just anything.” I want to write what God tells me to write.

I was reading in Philippians – there is so much good stuff that we quote and re-quote from that book. I could pick and choose probably enough to keep me busy for weeks. Instead, of picking and choosing on my own, I asked God to give me one thought from each chapter that I don’t always think about.

Philippians 1:22: “I can do more fruitful work for Christ.” [NLT]

That thought comes from the familiar paragraph where Paul is discussing his life for Christ … “for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” [vs21 NKJV]

Paul admits he was hard-pressed to know which was better, to be with the LORD or to remain in this life. Going to be with the LORD would be the ultimate joy. But remaining would mean Paul could do more “fruitful work for Christ.”

We don’t know when we will go to be with the LORD, either through the grave or when Christ returns for His own. We can be certain, however, that this life is to be marked by “fruitful work for Christ.” I guess we should leave the timing to Him and concentrate on what our responsibility is. Amen.

I will give you rest is the last of the 10 things the magnet in Bob’s office said God wants us to remember. We are to remember the rest God gives.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” [Gen 2:2-3 NIV]

In the creation God gave us an example of the day of rest, the 7^th day. In the giving of the law to Moses God made the Sabbath–a day of rest–part of the law. By the time of Christ, the law of the Sabbath had been ensnared by so many rules and regulation that it had lost its meaning. Christ cut those bonds when He declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” meaning that the day of rest was created to serve man, man was not created to serve the day of rest. [Mark 2:27 NIV]

I know that God has given us salvation, which is an eternal rest, no longer striving in our own flesh to gain what we can only gain by faith, but I’m not talking about that kind of rest this morning. I’m talking about a Sabbath day of rest. Christians too often equate the day of rest with the law, and since we have been set free from the law, we ignore it. But like so many other things in this walk of faith, the day of rest preceded the law. In fact, God made the day of rest holy right from the very beginning.

We think we must always be going, going, going. That to rest is somehow sinful. To celebrate a day of rest is somehow placing ourselves back under the law. But our Creator understood our needs, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We need a day of rest each week, a time when we rest, play, fellowship, love. It doesn’t have to be a Saturday or a Sunday. We just need to find some time every week to wind down and refresh.

God gives us eternal rest, yes, but He also wants us to find a time-based rest.

I will strengthen you. Isaiah 40:29: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” [NIV]

2 Corinthians 12:9: “And He said to [Paul], ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness.’”  [NKJV]

Aging. I have lots to say about aging … it’s the pits … it’s not for sissies … it’s not fun … well, you get my point. If there is anything that I find truly difficult in aging, it is the weakness that seems to increase. Hands find it more difficult to open jars. Eyes have more and more trouble reading the small print. Recall is not as sharp. Bones grow brittle. Muscles are not quite as strong as they used to be. It takes less and less exertion to become physically tired.

Oh, there are the rare individuals who are still doing gymnastics, lifting hundreds of pounds of weights, and running marathons well into their 80’s and even 90’s. But that is not the case for most of us.

While we tend toward weakening physically as we age, God has promised that even in our weakness we can be both physically and spiritually strong. He will strengthen us. If we wait upon the Lord, Isaiah said, God will give strength to those who are weary and power to those who are weak. Paul was reminded by the Lord that grace is sufficient and that God’s strength is made perfect or made complete in our weakness.

The reminder … I will strengthen you … has no age limits attached to it. The Scriptures contain many instances of God using people of all ages, from teenagers to the aged, because the power is not in His people, it is in Him. As Daniel said, “the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” [Daniel 11:32 NKJV]

I will answer you. Psalm 91:14-16: “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”  [NIV]

Acts 2:21: “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  [NIV]

Psalm 91 is a beautiful song of protection for the one who seeks refuge and shelter in Almighty God. The song ends with a promise from God for those who call upon him … the promise is that God will answer. In God’s answer the seeker finds salvation.

On the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), Peter restated God’s promise – “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

In this life we don’t always get answers for why things happen the way they do. We ask but often God is silent.  I have a lot of questions, a lot of questions, about why some people seem to go through life unscathed by troubles and others have troubles roost with them throughout their lives. Yes, I have many questions and few answers.

There is one answer that always comes when we call upon God, however, and that is the answer to our greatest need. Our greatest need is for eternal salvation and God always answers us when we call to Him for that. Once our greatest need is met by God, does it really matter if we get all the other answers that we think we need?

“He will call upon me, and I will answer him …. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

I believe in you. Most of those ten things God wants us to remember on that old magnet in Bob’s office were straight forward … even though God has taken me in unexpected directions as I think about them. This one, however, really stopped me in my tracks. I believe in you.

 I believe in God, but does God believe in me? Me, with all my faults, failures, sins. Me, with all my fleeting doubts, unknowns, and missteps? Me?

There is a passage in 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul speaks a truth that is very familiar to most Christians — that we are a new creation in Christ and that the old person has passed away. This happened because God reconciled us to Himself through the work of Christ Jesus. Paul goes on and says that God has committed to us His message of reconciliation. Then he makes one astonishing statement. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”  [vss 17-21 NIV]

An ambassador is one who speaks for a government, a nation, a monarchy. He takes the message of a ruler or leader and delivers it to others. An ambassador is trusted to deliver not his or her own message, but the message given by the leader. The power of the message does not rest in the ambassador, but in the ruler or nation that he or she represents.

God has committed to us His own message of reconciliation and He has sent us out, into this world, with that powerful message. He is making His appeal to the lost through us, His ambassadors. The power is His. The message is His. But amazingly, He has entrusted that message into our keeping. With the committal of that message, with the calling of us as His ambassadors, He is saying, I believe in you.

I am for you. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” [Romans 8:31 NIV]

Ah, that little word IF? That little word IF makes us wonder, doesn’t it. IF is filled with doubt, uncertainty and the unknown. IF is a gamble. Our lives are filled with IF’S. What if I lose my job? What if I lose a loved one? What if I get cancer or heart disease? What IF’S can fill us with fear and doubt. What IF’S can paralyze us and keep us from living life as we should.

Is that what the Scripture implies … that we are uncertain about God being for us? Is it a gamble to trust God to be for us? No! That’s not what is implied here. In fact, this question is not a question at all – it is a statement. SINCE God is for us, there is no one strong enough to be against us. We can trust that statement.

 The next verse gives the reason why we can trust that statement. Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”  [NIV]

Once again this really isn’t a question. It’s a statement of promise and truth. God did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all, now he will also, along with the giving of His Son, graciously give us all things.

 I am for you.  No IF’S about it!

I love You.  “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.”

I used to sing this song to my children when they were small, and I’ve sung it to my grandchildren also. The simplest of all truths — Jesus loves me. And yet perhaps the most difficult to make real in our lives.

Does God really love me? How many of us have asked that question. Oh, maybe we haven’t expressed it out loud, but we’ve wondered. When difficult times arise, when unexpected tragedies happen, when bad things happen to good people that little nagging doubt arises … does God REALLY love me?

 Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [NIV]

While we were living as enemies of God, God demonstrated His love for us by giving us His Son. In that giving God changed us from enemies to family. In the death of His son, He gave us life.

Does God REALLY love me? Yes, God REALLY loves you. We find evidence of that love on a hill called Calvary.  God’s love flows from a blood-stained cross into our life each day. God’s love rises from an empty tomb and promises eternity in His presence — God REALLY loves you and me!

I will be with you. What a delightful promise! Two Scriptures immediately came to mind. In the Old Testament, God’s promise to Israel in Isaiah 43:1-2: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” [NIV]

In the New Testament it is the promise in Hebrews 13:5: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” [NIV]

I will be with you. God has promised to be with us, to never leave or forsake us. That is a promise that I cling to often. Yet … there is so much more. God with us. Matthew 1:23: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”-which means, “God with us.” [NIV]

The God who is with us is the God who walked in our sandals through this dusty earth. He is the God who left glory and all the prerogatives of being God and came as a baby to abide with us. He understands our humanness because He was cloaked in it. He was tempted as we are (but without sin). He knows what it means to be rejected, misunderstood, persecuted, hungry, exhausted, forsaken. This God who promises I will be with you, who knows what it is like to BE us, laid down His life FOR us.

So, when God says, I will be with you … He was, He is, and He always will be Immanuel.