Receiving the Word of God

"And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers" 1 Thessalonian 2:13.

Every time Paul remembers how the Thessalonians accepted and treasured every gospel truth he shared to them, he can't help thanking God for such a response. Of course, we are aware that Paul's evangelistic sermons were done by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who opened the hearts of the Thessalonians, both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, to believe and appropriate the Word of God. And that's the occasion for Paul to say, “For this reason we also constantly thank God...”. God, through His Word and Spirit is at work in them.

Through Paul's bold gospel proclamation and by the power of the Holy Spirit, coupled by their exemplary lives, the Thessalonians eagerly embraced the Word of God. They were persuaded by it (Acts 17:4), believed its truth claims, appropriated its wonderful promises, and recognized what it really is, the “word that comes from the mouth of God” and not mere words of men. That Word, I tell you, has changed them and their lifestyle.

This is very important to us as 21st century believers. The Word of God in this passage in one sense can mean the whole Bible in its written form handed down to us. It can also mean the body of doctrines that summarizes the whole Biblical teachings on God, Christ, sin, salvation, second coming and other important truths of the Christian faith which we received from our forefathers in the faith.

Amazingly, the faithful preaching of God's Word every Lord's Day can also be denominated as the Word of God, as the Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter 1, declares, “Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful.”

We who are deeply convinced of the power of God's Word ought to be involved in getting that Word out to the world, one way or another. We are not just talking about sending missionaries overseas, though that's part of it.

We are talking about that sense of burden and faithfulness to witness both in word and in deed to our neighbors and friends. These neighbors may have been struggling for years in life and they do not have the same hope and comfort that you have in Christ. They may have never heard about the power of God’s kingdom and the rule of King Jesus. If you go out as a friend and share the good news of Christ, both in your word and action, they might be able to taste God’s goodness, which you have been enjoying.

As one with Christ, we have the ability and resources to make that Word visible to our friends. It may start by becoming really acquainted with them and showing genuine interest in asking and listening to them. Before you know it, God may have been working in the heart of that neighbor-friend and he might just hold on to every word of God you share to him.

It is a sad situation to behold when churches that bear the name of Christ reject the Word of God and regard it as mere words of men. An equally distressing phenomenon is the disinterest of the Bible and its doctrines by many professing Christians. Instead of listening and learning from the Word of God, they lean their ears and set their minds on various ideologies and philosophies to satisfy their own selfish curiosity. Pulpits and airwaves in this county and all over the world have become venues for selling watered-down gospel and management techniques of how to grow a church.

Of course, you don't want that to happen to your and to your church, do you? But once you start neglecting the faithful preaching and teaching of God's Word you are heading for that direction, too. Once you do not diligently guard what you hear from the pulpit and church classrooms, seeds of falsehood or different gospel, which is not a gospel at all, will creep in.

Disregard of God’s Word may also manifest in your failure to find regular time for Bible reading and meditation, much more to apply the truth that you know. It could even be seen in your casual and frivolous attitude toward sin.

The way to accept and embrace the Word of God as the Thessalonians did is by, first of all, longing and thirsting for the pure preaching of God's Word every Lord's Day. Preaching of God’s Word is of primary importance for God’s people. As you let that preached Word saturate your mind you will be constrained by the Holy Spirit to act in obedience to that Word. As you patiently read and study that Word and let it regulate your heart and mind, God will show how great your sins and miseries are.

Then He will lead you to confess and repent from certain sins that you've been committing over and over. That Word of God gives you the grace to abstain from doing something immoral and destructive, like hurting your spouse, dishonoring your parents, slandering your brother, abusing your freedom in Christ or even blowing your top.

Parents, how many times have we committed foolish mistakes by flaring up in front of our children, which could have been prevented if we hide the Word of God in our heart? Or how many young boys and girls could have obeyed mom and dad promptly and nicely if they just let God's word that says, “Honor your father and your mother” or “Do all things without grumbling” dwell in their heart.

Acceptance of God's Word would be evident in our lives when we start memorizing, meditating and living that Word out daily that it becomes part of our daily thought and conversation with others. As we let the Word of God linger in our mind and heart that Word will come out in our praying, in our encouraging and even in correcting in love of our fellow believer.

By filling our minds with Scriptures, praying with Scriptures, singing the Scriptures and walking according to the Scriptures, we will be faithful recipients of the Word of God. That Word will come out naturally in our behavior and lifestyle. How serious have you been taking the Word of God?

Leaving All to Follow Christ - Part 1

(Part 1 of a sermon based on Luke 18:18-30)

In the three-year ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth He was asked by different people with different kind of questions. Some asked Him in order to test or to trap Him. Others, however, asked Him sincerely.

In our passage today, we can see a very sincere person asking our Lord Jesus what to do in order to obtain eternal life. Unlike the lawyer who put our Lord to the test by asking Him the same question (Luke 10:25), here Luke does not tell us that the man had such a motive to trap our Lord.

The question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is a very important question. The person who asks such a question is concerned not only of life in this world but also in the world to come. For the question itself pertains to our eternal comfort and salvation wherein God’s promise of abundant life in His presence is at stake.

In our passage, we are going to see that eternal life is for those who leave everything for the sake Jesus Christ and His kingdom.

What must you do to inherit eternal life? That’s the question I want to address as we look at our text. First, we will try to understand what it means by obtaining eternal life. Second, we will explore on the related theme of entering the kingdom of God. Third, we will wind up in discussing the encompassing theme of following Jesus Christ, the Lord and King in the kingdom of God.

Receiving Eternal Life (vv. 18-23)

What does it mean to inherit or to receive eternal life? What really is the essence of this man’s question? Maybe it is necessary to point out that the one asking our Lord is no ordinary person. Luke tells us that he is a ruler. Most probably the man was a respected leader in Jewish society, not necessarily a synagogue or religious leader because in Matthew’s account he was still young (Mt. 19:20). As noted earlier, his question is similar to the lawyer in Luke 10.

In essence, the ruler wants to be assured of his salvation in the final resurrection. Eternal life for him, in other words, is the essential covenant blessing that God promises in His Word, not only for this life but especially for the life to come.

So he is asking if there’s still something he needs to do in order to enjoy God’s blessings both in this life and the future life. So the question pertains to the kind of life God promises to all His covenant people, to all His children.

The answer this man got from Jesus does not immediately address his question. For the Lord made him realize something about what he said. He calls Jesus a “Good” Teacher. Before Jesus answered his question, he told the man that no one is good except God.

Why did Jesus point out to this man that no one is good except God alone? One possibility is that, before the ruler understands what he is asking, “Jesus wants [him] to focus on God and his will [first] so that he will be genuinely responsive to God.” The mention of the commandments supports this interpretation. Jesus wants the man to first realize who God is and what He demands from man.

Jesus is therefore asserting God’s absolute goodness and His righteous requirements in the face of his question on how to earn eternal life. In other words, the ruler must realize, first of all, that God is good and that He is holy. If he desires to obtain an inheritance from God, he has to remember that God is full of goodness and at the same time He desires perfect obedience to His law.

Friends, do you see the cost to inherit eternal life? First you have to acknowledge that it is God alone who is good and the source of all good things, including eternal life. Not us. Not our good works.

When Jesus mentioned about the commandments to love one’s neighbor, the ruler confidently said that he has kept all of these since his youth (v.21), which is equivalent to early teen years in our time. So this man is not only a respected leader, he is also a very pious person. He keeps the law of God.

However, when Jesus further tells him what else is lacking, something within him was exposed that disqualifies him from obtaining what he asks. Jesus commands him to sell everything he has and to give them to the poor. In doing this Jesus promises him of treasure in heaven. This treasure of course includes eternal life and other blessings both in this life and the life to come. Then Jesus wants him to follow Him.

What can we see from the Lord’s demand from this man? Why he has to sell everything he owns and give the proceeds to the poor? Does Jesus prescribe a new way to be saved? What does Jesus ask of the man when he told him to sell everything and give to the poor? Someone says, “The selling of all is intended to force the ruler to trust God and humbly rely on him.” In context, this is the fundamental issue that Luke wants to point out. Humble acceptance of one’s inability to earn God’s favor and confident trust in God alone to provide one’s need, both in this life and the life to come, is at the heart of what Jesus asked of the ruler.

Not everyone who wants to be saved and to follow Jesus was told to sell what he has. But everyone who wants to become a disciple of Christ is compelled to obey Christ and to trust God for his salvation. This may mean different things to different people. For a fraud tax collector like Zacchaeus, it shows in giving half of his possession to the poor and to return four times the things he earned from corruption. For an adulterer like the woman in John 8, it means to stop his adulterous relationship and to start obeying God. Salvation is from God. One has to trust Him in order to obtain eternal life.

At this point, Luke tells us that the man became very sad upon hearing our Lord’s demand. Reason? He was very rich. He was not ready to let go of his possessions and help the poor. In other words, he is not ready to come to God and to follow Christ. He wants to earn eternal life. But he does not want to do the first step to obtain it. He does not want to listen to the One who gives eternal life. For Jesus alone has the power to grant eternal life to those who ask for it. But what is eternal life? Jesus said in John 17:3 that it is to know the one true God and the one He sent to save the world, who is Jesus Christ.

The man seems to be admiring Christ of His perfect character yet He is not willing to listen to what Christ tells him to do. He cannot give up his earthly treasures for a heavenly one.
Bottom line: this man is still in the grip of his greed, not of God’s grace. His wealth still holds him. They bind him so tight he cannot take hold of God. He may have obeyed the other commandments. But he stumbled on one. James said it counts to nothing (2:10).

If he really wants to obtain eternal life by means of obeying the law, he has to obey everything perfectly. Otherwise, the law condemns him. Or he can simply humble himself before Christ and trust God for His salvation. No one can obtain eternal life apart from the grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ. In other words, no one can enter the kingdom of God apart from God’s saving grace.

A Testimony of God's Grace in My Life

Grace is one of my favorite biblical words because of the depth it reveals. It was just an ordinary word for me from way back then. But the word became of utmost importance to me when God enabled me to understand what He did in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ for sinners like me.

Search for Peace and Acceptance

I grew up in a "dysfunctional" and nominal Roman Catholic family from the province of Capiz in the Philippines. My father was an alcoholic and a habitual gambler. My mother, though religious and outwardly good, was a notorious nagger. She drove my father crazy most of the time. I was both a victim of and a witness to their frequent quarrels. This made us siblings feel ashamed of ourselves and our family as well. Two of my older brothers married as early as eighteen just to get out early of my parents' authority.

Early in my life I longed for peace and love which obviously I have not experienced from my family. As a result I have tried to be good and intelligent so I can be accepted and loved. I have performed well in trying to please others except my family. I became rebellious to my parents. I learned to disobey and dishonor them by not heeding their advices and not being good to them. I told myself that I don't want to be like them and not to do the same mistakes they have done to us their children.

Yet I noticed that the same things I hated in them were gradually being developed in me. I learned to smoke and drink hard liquors early in high school. Later I became addicted to gambling, too. Unknown to my parents, I stole money from our cash box. I used them to satisfy my gambling and impulsive-buying habits.

I also became critical with other people. Outwardly I looked nice and good. I was a hypocrite. I was one of the best students in school. I always top my religion subjects in high school and know a good number of facts from the Bible and the Roman Catholic Church. Yet others did not know the evil I was trying to hide with my outward behavior. They did not see the pain and guilt I was trying to bury with my good performance and behavior.

I tried to look for ways to be at peace with others and to be acceptable. I thought serving God in the church would help. I thought being in the church could get rid of the evil I have inside. So I joined the church choir. I served as one of the altar boys that assists the parish priest during the mass. I became very religious. Like many young people I tried to be more knowledgeable. I thought knowing a lot of things would make me a better person.

Still I did not get what I longed for. Even though many of my friends seemed to have admired me and have told me a lot of good things about me still it did not matter. I also started reading the Bible so I would look more religious but the words were too deep and the teachings were quite strange for me to understand at that time. It did not help me at all and I got very frustrated. So I gave up trying hard.

God-Sent Messengers

In God's appointed time, He sent some people to explain to me the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ. The first person God used to share with me the gospel was Mr. Samuel Colinco, a Baptist minister from Bacolod City. He was a high school teacher. We were roommates at the National Secondary School Press Conference (NSSPC) back in 1986 in Iloilo Province. I was a third-year high school student and a delegate at the conference. He used a gospel tract in presenting to me some important ingredients of the gospel and had me read Bible passages that supported them. Of course I did not understand everything he said because they were new to me. Two words stuck into my mind though after that encounter. The words were born-again and grace. But grace was more pressing to me. After the conference we parted ways but left me with several literature. None of those I really cared to read at all.

When I entered college in Manila, my brother became instrumental in helping me understand more about grace. He was a member of a growing Pentecostal church then and he cared to bring me to their Sunday afternoon meetings to listen to their Bible teacher. Providentially, the Lord used those meetings to increase my understanding of the concepts of grace and born-again or regeneration.

The Beginning Work of God's Grace

Through my brief encounter with the Baptist minister and through the help of my brother and the people in their church, God brought home His salvation message to me. I had seen my own selfishness and pride. Then as they explained to me the reason why Jesus had to die at the cross, I was also being convicted of my hatred against and rebelliousness toward my parents. The Holy Spirit enabled me to understand that Jesus' death is a sacrificial and substitutionary death in behalf of guilty sinners like me.

I understood that God saw the wickedness of humanity, including my hatred and rebelliousness, and He was so displeased. His wrath was upon sinners, including me. But because sinful man is totally hopeless and helpless in saving himself from the wrath of God, God Himself, in His divine mercy, took the initiative to save man from sin and its eternal consequences. God sent His Only Son and offered Him as a substitute for sinners. As a substitute, He not only obeyed God's law perfectly, He also bore the sins of many and paid the just penalty of their sins in His cruel death at the cross of Calvary. Thus, in Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrificial death, man's salvation was achieved for God’s wrath against sin was satisfied and man's guilt has been taken away.

Slowly, I understood these doctrines and through the effectual power of the Holy Spirit I was enabled to see this work of Jesus Christ as the Good News, bearing God’s powerful message of salvation to those who believe. I was led to confess my sins and to cry out to God for forgiveness and mercy. I was also enabled to put my trust in the work of Jesus Christ for my salvation from sin and its horrifying eternal punishment.

Eventually, the grace of God became apparent to me. I understood that God’s grace is something that He gives to an undeserving sinner on account of his relationship with Jesus Christ by faith. Grace is a divine favor given to someone who deserves otherwise. This grace cannot be earned. Not by any good works, but is received by faith alone in Jesus Christ, the One whom God has highly favored.

So this saving grace can only be received by putting one’s trust in the person and works of Christ, the Son of God who became the Lamb of God. There’s no other way grace can be accepted apart from faith in God’s beloved Son. I did believe in Christ and made a profession of faith in His saving work. And I still do by the grace of God.

The Continuing Work of Grace for Sinners Like Me

Since then, the peace that I have been longing for came as a result of the knowledge of God’s grace in Christ. The prophet Isaiah's words in chapter 53 verse 5 became meaningful to me. It says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed." There is a lot of comfort that comes from the knowledge that God will not take my sins against me anymore; all because somebody has taken my stead and paid for the penalty of all my sins. That’s really amazing! That’s grace. It gripped me from the inside out.

Now I know that God, by His grace, has been working in my life. Now I know that the reason why I believed (and continue to believe) in Christ is all because of His effectual grace. In His goodness and mercy, He regenerated me. He gave me new life. I learned that since birth I was dead, not in physical sense but in spiritual sense, which means, I have been separated from Him and without hope for future blessings.

Apart from God's enabling I cannot come to Him for mercy and I cannot truly repent from my sin because I simply do not have the ability and will to do so. My response in faith in Christ's finished work of redemption and my repentance from sin was a result of His work of grace prepared for me even before the foundation of the world and is the work of the Holy Spirit in me.

Now, by faith in Jesus, His mercy and forgiveness are in my life. I have learned that His grace led me and keeps on leading me to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This grace that saved me in the first place is the same grace that is now at work in me, keeping me from falling back to my old life. Thank God! I pray that God will continually give me the power to do good and to live a holy life. I realize that at the time of my spiritual birth the Holy Spirit started to live in me. He gives the will to desire and the power to do what is good and pleasing to God.

God's Grace Enables Obedience and Grants Real Peace

There are several things worth mentioning here that have changed in my life as a result of the grace I received from God. The hate I had toward my parents was replaced by understanding and desire to love and care for them. Instead of blaming them I have learned to forgive my parents. Instead of rebellion I have learned to respect and honor them from the heart. I started to seek to please them and still seek to be pleasing to other people. The most amazing change I have noticed especially is my motivation in doing good. Unlike before, I am compelled to be good and to do what is right to others because I want to express the love God has given me in Christ.

The inner peace continues to reign in my heart as God enables me to understand His patience, forgiveness and mercy toward me in and through Christ. His love becomes clearer as I read the Bible this time. Now I love listening to Biblical preaching and reading good Christian literature.

Yes, I still see the remaining sin within me. I daily struggle with my sinful habits, especially with covetousness and lustful thoughts. I fall oftentimes if not for the grace of God working in my life and giving me the strength to stand against the onslaught of the flesh. God's grace empowers me to obey Him and to resist the sinful desires that daily wage battle against me. I know that in Christ He has bestowed me everything I need for life and godliness through the knowledge of my God and Savior Jesus Christ.

I thank Him for breaking through my life. If not for His undeserving mercy and grace I am still living in my sin and still looking for peace and love from other sources. If not for His abounding grace I am still working my way to Him. I thank God for giving the Lord Jesus for sinners like me. In Him, through the working of the Holy Spirit I am saved and being transformed into His likeness, patiently waiting for that day that He has promised when I can be with Him throughout eternity. All by His sovereign, free grace. All for His honor and glory!

Praising the Lord Our God - Part 2

[The LORD] loves righteousness and justice... ~ Psalm 33:5a

God "loves righteousness and justice." Righteousness and justice are two closely related moral attributes of God, akin to His holiness and wrath, whereby ‘He maintains Himself as the Holy One over against every violation of His holiness’ (Louis Berkhof, A Summary of Christian Doctrine, p.33). Our God delights in doing what is right and just because He is righteous and just.

As the Creator and Lord over all the earth, He governs the whole world with righteousness and justice. And how does He do that? Through His law which is the standard of His righteousness.

Essential to the notion of righteousness is conformity and obedience to the law of God. The world is full of wickedness and injustice because it rejects the law of God. Our society in general abhors the law of God. In its rebellion against the righteous rule of God the world is under judgment. That’s why Paul says, “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Rom.1:18).

Friends, God is holy. His holiness sets Him apart from us. He hates sin and evil and punishes them who do evil. Part of His punishment is to give sinners over to their own deceitful hearts, sinful passions and depraved minds. Yet in His righteousness He rewards those who do what is right.

But who among us do what is right always? Who among us obey the law of God perfectly? No one, except our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 3 does not only tell us that no one is righteous and no one does good. It also declares that God manifested His righteousness and justice in Jesus Christ. God presented Him as propitiation, that is, as an atoning sacrifice that satisfied God’s wrath against our sins.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Righteous One, is God’s perfect sacrifice for our sins. He perfectly obeyed the law of God and offered Himself in His death in our behalf.

So none of us can boast before God. All of us are guilty of disobeying His law. None of us is righteous. None of us does what is right. We deserve His wrath. But if by faith you and I accept the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, we are counted righteous. We are united with Him who was tempted in every way yet did not sin so that in Him we who believe become the ‘righteousness of God’ (2 Cor 5:21).

One Puritan pastor puts it this way: “It is our wisdom and our comfort; we care for no knowledge in the world but this: that man hath sinned and God hath suffered; that God hath made himself the sin of men, and that men are made the righteousness of God" (Thomas Hooker).” This is good news! This is the gospel!

So how do we magnify the righteousness of God? The best way is to believe that Christ is our righteousness…that in Him, by faith, God has declared us righteous… that we now stand in a right relationship with God, His law, and His justice…that through Christ we have peace with God and have obtained mercy. Look to Christ. Behold Him as your righteousness and God will not count your sin against you any longer.

We also magnify God’s righteousness by loving His law, His righteous law. When I say the law of God, I’m referring not only to all the laws and commands of God in the Bible but the whole written Word of God itself. Do you love reading and memorizing the word of God? Most of all, do you delight in obeying His Word? Obedience to God’s Word is another way to praise God in His righteousness.

Devoting your time in meditating in order to practice the Word is another way of conforming to God's righteousness. Joshua 1:8 says, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

The law of God is for our good. The Apostle John says, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). When God justifies us, He also gives us the ability to love His Word and to keep His Word. By keeping His Word, we conform to His righteousness and that way we glorify God.

No matter how hard your situation is, God desires your obedience. When your faith is tested look to Christ as your only righteousness for in the light of it, you can endure, even rejoice, in your sufferings. Look to Him who endured all kinds of injustice and pain for your sake.

In all your trials and suffering, remember Him who suffered for you. But do not forget that in all your hardships, God still does what is right and good for you. In Christ, He turns your sorrows into joy, your mourning into dancing, your affliction into opportunity to grow in your faith and obedience. Suffering builds up good character and strengthens hope for God’s people. God alone makes good out of evil. He alone makes right from wrong. He alone does what is right and just. This is the righteous God of the Scripture.

Oh, how easily we accuse God of being unfair when adversity strikes us. Maybe someone very close to you keeps on hurting you. Maybe you have been cheated or abused by someone and it still bothers you. Before accusing God of being unfair or getting back at your perpetrator, remember Christ and the agony He has to go through in bearing the consequences of your sins.

Remember that He was without sin but because of your sins and my sins, He was forsaken by many, hated, scorned and bruised by those who wished him dead. But He endured them all so that you and I will be forgiven. He suffered so that you and I would sin no more. He was afflicted so that you and I would stop hurting each other and would start building up one another in the faith.

We can glorify God even in the most painful situation of our lives when we recognize our suffering and count it with joy that God regards us worthy to share in the suffering of His Son. God knows what is right for us and He does what is right for us, even allowing us to go through difficult circumstances.