Psalm 99 lists four different ways saints come to worship before God’s throne. The Old English spelling is “worthship” because God is worth all of the praise we can lift to Him—especially when we think about the sins He has forgiven 🙌🏻
“True love hates that which is unlovely. It is inevitable that a man, who is full of love, should feel intense indignation against that which is contrary to love. Hence the apostle says, ‘If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.’” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on 1 John 4:18-20
Christians aren’t supposed to be “lone rangers” but in community with other saints. T.M. Moore wrote, “Our Christian friends can be a very helpful resource for improving our conversational skills, if we will take the time to talk about spiritual things. As iron sharpens iron, we may expect that, by engaging often in conversations with other believers, over matters of the highest moment, our conversational skills will improve steadily over time. We might even have some fun.”
The social conditions that led up to the Prayer Revival of 1857, in many ways, mirror those in America today.Check out a short history lesson about spiritual revivals.
“And, in yet another sense, handing everything over to Christ does not, of course, mean that you stop trying. To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
A young man in the middle school where I serve asked to read a copy of my book When Sheep Bite. Nearly every day on his lunch break, Nick would come into talk with me about what he read, and share some insights he had gleaned. He wrote the most sincere and straightforward endorsement that I have ever received.
You are the most effective evangelist in the areas where you already operate everyday. You can tell the story of Jesus better to your family members, coworkers, and friends than an outside can. Keep shining brightly for Jesus!
“They think that if you ask them to forgive someone who has cheated or bullied them you are trying to make out that there was really no cheating or no bullying. But if that were so, there would be nothing to forgive. They keep on replying, ‘But I tell you the man broke a most solemn promise.’ Exactly: that is precisely what you have to forgive. (This doesn’t mean that you must necessarily believe his next promise. It does mean that you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart—every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.) The difference between this situation and the one in which you are asking God’s forgiveness is this. In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s we do not accept them easily enough.” —C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory
T.M. Moore tells us, “Conversations can build relationships; thus, Christians should be actively involved in seeking to start and maintain conversations with many people, especially those we encounter each week…. But the Christian conversationalist does not engage others merely for the sake of conversation, as though conversation were an end in itself.”
“Information never fights fear. Revelation does.” —Tim Dilena
“Saints find themselves at home in the next life, not in this one.” —J. Stephen Lang
“Do not imagine that there is any love to your souls in the heart of the preacher who preaches smooth things, and who flatters you with his ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. No, the highest, deepest, most heaven-inspired love is that which searches and tries the heart that there should be any deception there.” —Charles Spurgeon
In Peter’s first letter to the saints, he teaches saints how to interact with the world. He calls Christians “aliens and strangers” as they sojourn on Earth on their way to Heaven.
In Peter’s second letter, he instructs saints on how to interact with other saints. He addresses this letter to those of us “who share the same precious faith.”
Join us at Calvary Assembly of God for this study of 2 Peter, as we delve into Peter’s inspired instruction on how saints in community with other saints naturally grow in deeper intimacy with their Savior Jesus. This increasing intimacy not only serves as an encouragement to other saints but it presents an attractive testimony to those still in the world to know Jesus for themselves.
We meet at 10:30 every Sunday morning. Here’s what we have covered so far:
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Fifty-eight years ago this weekend, on April 4, 1968, just after 6pm on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was cut down by an assassin’s bullet. A powerful voice in the struggle for civil rights for African Americans was silenced, and yet his legacy still lives on more than a half-century later.
A couple of days ago, we remembered another historic death: the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. But unlike Dr. King, today we also celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead!
Does it matter that Jesus was raised back to life? If Dr. King’s legacy can still live on in the life of his followers, even though his body is in the grave, couldn’t the same thing happen for the followers of Jesus of Nazareth? The answer, quite simply, is “No!” This is because Jesus claimed that His kingdom was an eternal Kingdom, and that He came to bring people eternal life (John 3:16). If the Founder of this Kingdom could be held in the grave, what would His followers have to look forward to? Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19.
(I’m not going to take the time to go through all the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus here, but I would encourage you to check out our series A.L.I.V.E.
We have named this series after a statement from Jesus, “I will build My Church.” He made this statement before His death and before His resurrection, which tells us that He knew the outcome before those events even occurred.
Look how Paul concludes that the resurrection of Jesus is what gives meaning to the terms “saints” and “Church” in Ephesians 1:15-23. Our faith in what Jesus did for us on the Cross—namely, paying the penalty for our sins—is what justifies us, allowing us to be called saints (2:4-5). Notice how saints are to now live (2:6-10).
Look at those two phrases: “saved…not by works” and “created…to do good works.” As my friend T.M. Moore noted, “We are not saved by good works, but we’re not truly saved without them.” Good works is what characterized the earthly ministry of Jesus (Acts 10:38), and good works are what His saints are now freed and empowered to do (Romans 7:4; 1 Peter 2:12).
Paul goes on to say that saints are who make up the Church of Jesus (Ephesians 2:14-22). The Church is not a building, but saints following the example of Jesus to make the Kingdom of God known in the world (Acts 4:32-35).
A hundred years later, Aristides wrote a letter to Emperor Hadrian about these saints (who were now known as Christians):
“They help those who offend them, making friends of them; do good to their enemies. They don’t adore idols; they are kind, good, modest, sincere, they love one another; don’t despise widows; protect the orphans; those who have much give without grumbling, to those in need. When they meet strangers, they invite them to their homes with joy, for they recognize them as true brothers, not natural but spiritual. When a poor man dies, if they become aware, they contribute according to their means for his funeral; if they come to know that some people are persecuted or sent to prison or condemned for the sake of Christ’s name, they put their alms together and send them to those in need. If they can do it, they try to obtain their release. When a slave or a beggar is in need of help, they fast two or three days, and give him the food they had prepared for themselves, because they think that he too should be joyful, as he has been called to be joyful like themselves.”
Jesus is the eternally-living Founder of His Church, and those who have had their sins forgiven by their faith in His death and resurrection are the living stones of His Church (1 Peter 2:5).
Coming to the Cross makes us saints. Making the Savior known by the way we live makes us the Church.
We can’t do this unless Jesus is alive and actively empowering us (Matthew 28:18-20).
Let me reiterate what my friend wrote, because this is how saints should live: “We are not saved by good works, but we’re not truly saved without them.”
The resurrection of Jesus makes it possible for us to not only be delivered from trying to earn our salvation by doing good works, but to be empowered to do good works so that we compel others want to know Jesus for themselves.
As the saints go, so goes the Church.
Check out all of the messages in this series “I will build My Church” by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In one of my favorite movies—The Princess Bride—one character believe himself to be very smart. In fact, Vizzini considers Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates to be morons compared to his massive intelligence. But in one section of the movie he keeps using a singular word over and over again, until Inigo says to him, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means!” Sometimes I wonder if this is what people want to say to Christians!
Every family has its own unique lexicon—words and phrases mean something to them that they don’t mean to others. Every industry has shorthand for its products and services. Every friend group has their own inside jokes. And we Christians are just as guilty.
Sometimes instead of saying, “Yes” we say, “Amen.”
Instead of calling someone, “Mr. or Mrs.” we call them, “Brother or Sister.”
We soften some of our stronger language by saying, “I’m grieved in my spirit,” instead of saying more honestly, “I’m really ticked off!”
And sometimes, to sound super-spiritual when we pray, we begin to speak in Old English.
Is it any wonder that people outside of our church circles sometimes look at us like we’re a bit off?
So what do we mean by calling ourselves “Christian”? This was not the preferred name for followers of Jesus in the early Church:
Saints—60x (only 4x in Acts)
Believers—43x (26x in Acts)
Disciples—24x (all in Acts)
Christian—3x
The word originates in Acts 11:19-26 (v. 19 references the persecution of 8:1). The Greek language follows the Roman pattern of adding “ian” to the name of a great leader whom others were following. King Agrippa used this word in Acts 26:28, showing us how it has gained traction.
Christ is not a proper name, nor is it the surname of Jesus. Christ means the anointed One. So it’s more correct for us to say, “Jesus the Christ” (as in John 1:41).
So to be a Christian is to follow the Anointed One. To believe that He died to pay the penalty for our sins, and that He rose to life again to give us His eternal life.
To be a Christian is to live like Jesus, or to live as His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).
To be a Christian is to continue to live like Jesus even in the face of opposition (1 Peter 4:12-16; 2:21-23; 3:13-17).
Christians are being the Church when they are intentionally living in a way that makes Jesus known as the Christ—the One and Only Anointed One.
Some excellent questions for Christians to ponder:
What do you mean when you say, “I am a Christian”?
Do others see and hear Jesus in what you do and say?
Does your verbal confession and lifestyle confession compel others to come to Jesus?
Let’s make sure our lives are the best definition of what the Bible says a Christian truly is!
Check out all of the other messages in this series by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Paul addresses his letter to the church at Philippi like this, “all God’s holy people … the overseers and deacons” (Philippians 1:1). Notice that Paul addresses all of the saints, whether they are in a position of leadership or not.
In verse 5, Paul says he is grateful for their “partnership in the Gospel.” Some translations use the word “fellowship” instead of partnership. This is the Greek word koinonia. By the use of this word Paul is recognizing the close relationship the church members have with their leaders, with each other, with Paul, and even with other Christians in other cities.
The root word is koinos. The Levitical Jews used this word to designate anything that their religious rules deemed unclean, common, or ordinary. One of the things these Jewish leaders would have called unclean are Gentile people. Which means they would have referred to the saints who made up the bulk of this assembly at Philippi as unclean and unworthy of God’s love!
But here is Paul using this ordinary word in an extraordinary way. That is, he is calling ordinary people something extraordinary: saints! Remember in the opening verse he addressed his letter to “God’s holy people.” The word holy here means the exact opposite of common or unclean—it means people set apart for God’s special use.
The “extra” that elevated common, ordinary, unclean people to the extraordinary position of being called a saint is their personal relationship with Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
Jesus makes the ordinary extraordinary!
Still today, our koinonia is something extraordinary. When common, ordinary, blood-cleansed people remain in relationship with Jesus and other fellow saints, God can do extraordinary things through them. Our common bond with our Savior and with other saints is itself a testimony to the life-changing power anyone can have in Jesus!
When you are in fellowship with God and in fellowship with God’s holy people, there is nothing ordinary about you. You are an extraordinary testimony of God’s loving, transforming, and keeping power!
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word. (Ephesians 5:25-26)
Dr. Henry Halley points to seven images the Bible portrays of how Jesus interacts with His saints.
“1. The Shepherd and the sheep emphasizes both the warm leadership and protection of Christ and the helplessness and dependency of believers (John 10:1-18).
2. The vine and the branches points out the necessity for Christians to depend on Christ’s sustaining strength for growth (John 15:1-8).
4. The cornerstone and building stones (Matthew 21:42) accents the foundational value of Christ to everything the church is and does, as well as Christ’s value to the unity of believers. Love is to be the mortar which solidly holds the living stones together (1 Corinthians 3:9; 13:1-13; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5).
5. The head and many-membered body, the church, is a vibrant organism, not merely an organization; it draws its vitality and direction from Christ, the Head, and each believer has a unique and necessary place in its growth (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27; Ephesians 4:4).
6. The last Adam and new creation presents Christ as the initiator of a new creation of believers as Adam was of the old creation (1 Corinthians 15:22, 45; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
7. The bridegroom and bride beautifully emphasizes the intimate fellowship and co-ownership existing between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:25-33; Revelation 19:7-8; 21:9).”
You can read all of the Bible verses listed in this post by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
As we continue our look at the Book of Jude, let me remind you that Jude calls Christians to contend for the faith with a servant’s attitude and with an all-in attitude that will not give in even when the going gets tough.
What exactly are we contending for? Jude calls it “…the faith once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).
It might be helpful to look at this phrase in the AMPC: “…to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints—the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God.”
During the Reformation there was a phrase that became prominent: “Sola Scriptura” which means the Bible is our authoritative guide for everything in our lives. Jesus addressed the religious leaders who added to the Scripture (Mark 7:8-9, 13), and here Jude is now addressing those who took away from Scripture (Jude 4).
We have to be so careful here. Contending doesn’t meet fighting for our traditions, nor does it mean compromising with the whims of culture. Jesus told us to preach the Gospel, not to argue nor give in to avoid problems. Jude says this Gospel message have been entrusted to us.
Ronald Reagan was talking about the freedoms in the United States of America, but his warning sounds like it originated with Jude: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
We don’t want to spend our sunset years telling our children and grandchildren how it used to be when we contended for the faith that was entrusted to us, but we want to tell them how we are still winsomely and consistently contending for this faith still to this day!
So how do we contend for this faith the right way?
(1) Study God’s Word and then study it some more. I like what Charles Spurgeon said of John Bunyan,“Why, this man is a living Bible! Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved.” May that be said of us!
James encourages Christians to receive God’s Word in their hearts. The Amplified Bible says it this way: “the Word which [is] implanted and rooted in your hearts.” But I really love the KJV rendering that calls it “the engrafted word.” We study God’s Word to us so that it can become a living, breathing part of who we are—the very fabric of our thoughts and attitudes.
(2) Wrestle with the whole counsel of Scripture. This is hard work, but it is the most rewarding work of all! Don’t stick with only passages of the Bible that are enjoyable to read, but consider the whole counsel of God’s Word. Ask yourself things like: What did it mean then? What does it mean now? What does it mean for me? Where can I cross-reference this with another place in Scripture?
(3) Make your “No” merciful, peaceful, and loving. This is how Jude calls us to live in v. 2, and the apostle Peter said something very similar in 1 Peter 4:1-5.
(4) Make your “Yes” compelling and attractive. Remember that we want to be known more for what we’re for, not for what we’re against. Again, Peter sounds this same note in 1 Peter 3:13-16.
As saints entrusted with the faith, we have to learn to contend for this faith without becoming contentious and without compromising the truth.
If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series Earnestly Contend, you can find them all here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Last week we were reminded that sanctification (or as I call it “saint-ification”) is an ongoing process that usually involves the help of other saints. There is something else we need to do with other saints: serve them.
We are all a part of the same Body so it is beneficial for the whole Body if we care for every part of the Body (1 Corinthians 12:25 AMPC; Ephesians 5:30).
In order to serve others, we are going to have to check our attitude. We have been called to have the attitude that Jesus had about the Church (Ephesians 5:29; Philippians 2:3-7; John 13:3-5, 14-17).
We must all know:
I have a gift—notice the phrase each of you in 1 Peter 4:10
I must use my gift to serve the Body of Christ (Luke 17:10)
In the early Church, we see so much togetherness that they rewrote the definition of the Greek word koinonia (see Acts 2:42). Here’s what koinonia looks like in the Church:
(1) Testifying in church (Psalm 40:9-10 NLT)
(2) Being present with saints outside of church. From Acts 20-28, the pronouns “we” and “us” are used over 80 times! Paul was blessed simply by Luke being with him, just as saints are blessed when you are truly with them.
(3) Love notes when a saint is absent. The apostle John was brilliant at this. Look at his three epistles:
dear children 9x in 1 John
chosen / dear lady 2x in 2 John
dear friend 4x in 3 John
(4) Hospital-ity whenever it’s needed. Be a place of healing and refreshment for the saints God has placed in your life, just as Philemon did (Philemon 2-7, 22).
What a testimony it is when we live this way (Romans 12:10, 13)!
Remember the saint-ification process brings fruitfulness, joy-fullness, and an enhanced testimony. I love this quote from Richard Stearns, “The beautiful simplicity of our faith is that it distills down to the exact same bottom line for both the brilliant theologian and the five-year-old child: love God and love each other—period. Everything else derives from that.”
Psalm 99 lists four different ways saints come to worship before God’s throne. The Old English spelling is “worthship” because God is worth all of the praise we can lift to Him—especially when we think about the sins He has forgiven 🙌🏻
