Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 29

What Has God Told Us About the Resurrection Body?

Behold, I tell you a mystery. (1 Corinthians 15:51)

There is so much about the resurrection that we don’t know. But God has told us some things, and what He has told us is our hope, comfort, and joy. The resurrection body is described in four words in these verses.

The Resurrection Body will be Imperishable

What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. (1 Corinthians 15:42)

Your resurrection body will never
wear out, and it will never be sick. All limitations and disabilities we
experience now in the body will be gone. The blind will see; the lame will walk
and children in wheelchairs will run and dance. Those who’ve lost limbs will
raise their arms in praise.

If you have some struggles with
your body now, I tell you, you won’t be worried about this in the resurrection.

The Resurrection Body will be Glorious

It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. (1 Corinthians 15:43)

Christ will change our lowly bodies, so they will be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:21), not merely Jesus’ resurrection body, but His body after the ascension. That’s what Paul saw on the road to Damascus, what John saw in the book of Revelation and what Peter saw in the Transfiguration. 

The Resurrection Body will be Powerful

It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. (1 Corinthians 15:43)

The body is going to have more energy, more physical capability, more stamina, more athleticism, more speed, more coordination, more durability than it ever, ever had because we’re not going to need the body less, we’re going to need it more. (Donald Macloed, A Faith to Live By, 277)

The Resurrection Body will be Spiritual

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:44)

You say, “What in the world is a
spiritual body? If it’s spiritual, how can it be a body?” A spiritual body
is a body that is completely responsive to your glorified spirit. Alec Motyer
says:

The Christian’s present experience… is that the body militates against living the godly life. There is a downward drag in our bodily members, so that frequently our best intentions and ideals are destroyed by the inability and rebellion of the body.

How marvelous then is the promise of a body which will respond automatically to the promptings of God, and will be the perfect vehicle for the expression of the new nature. (J. A Motyer, After Death, 86)

Understand, whatever gifts God
gives us in the material world are only a shadow of what is to come.

This article was adapted from
Pastor Colin’s sermon, “The Resurrection,”
from his series The Inside Story of Your Future Life.



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The Problem With Hurry

[This article was co-authored by Nivine Richie]

Each year, we find many opportunities to take on more responsibility. Some of our resolutions are good and reasonable: take a spiritual retreat, attend prayer meetings, invite others to our home, and practice hospitality. Others may be less feasible: invest more money, take more trips, or learn a new skill.

The Problem with More

When
I take on too much, I find myself hurrying from one project to the next, never
making time to slow down and to accept the limitations that God has placed in
my life. Hurrying leads to errors in judgment, or worse. I will:

miss
opportunities to ministerfail to
focus on important issuessay things I
regretshortchange
relationshipsreact
instead of act

More
importantly, I grow weary and fail to meet with God and see God at work.

Dallas
Willard once advised Pastor John Ortberg that to serve his congregation he must
ruthlessly eliminate hurry from his life. Leading others from a place of
peacefulness and contentment only comes from a lifestyle of unhurriedness. 

Pastor
John Mark Comer says one way of understanding Genesis 3 is that Satan tempted
Adam and Eve to step outside the boundaries God had given them. With so many
productivity tools available, and the rush of adrenaline that comes from
checking off another task, we may miss the warning signs that we’ve taken on
too much.

What the Bible Says

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. (Psalm 16:5–6)

As we consider the lines and boundaries
of our lives, this passage reminds us that our limitations come from God Himself,
therefore they are pleasant and beautiful.

We
will always find more work that needs to be done and more people who need care.
While we might think we are being noble to take on more and work faster, our
motivation may not be God-centered. Do we hurry because

We are
afraid to fail?We fear
rejection or anger of others?We are proud
and think that no one else can complete the work?We find our
identity in our work rather than in the Lord?

God’s word gives us the antidote to the hurry
disease we face.

Meditate on God and His Word

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)

Rising early in the morning for a quiet time
of prayer and Bible reading is one way of being still and focusing on God and
what He has done.

Surrender to Christ’s Authority in Your Work

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

Some responsibilities
are not ours to accept; only the yoke, or work, that Christ assigns will be
light. If you are experiencing deadlines and anxiety, you can find peace by
releasing the work that is not yours to do.

Embrace His Boundaries

But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. (2 Corinthians 10:13)

Instead
of bragging about how busy I am, how many emails are in my inbox, and how many
deadlines I face, I should rejoice in my faithfulness to His calling for me.

Practice the Sabbath

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.” (Exodus 20:8–10)

The practice of completing work in six days
and taking a day away from normal activity is essential for physical and
spiritual restoration.

Accept the Gospel

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9–10)

We need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day and remind ourselves to rest in Christ’s finished work on the cross.

Life often feels like a series of deadlines. The more we get done, the more we fall behind. Rather than rushing from one task to the next and ending the day with disappointment, frustration, and anxiety, let us “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1–2).

Today, with so many opportunities to do more, God might be calling us to do less.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

____________________

[Nivine Richie is a women’s Bible study author and teacher in Wilmington, N.C. She is the author of Enduring Faith: An 8-Week Devotional Study of the Book of Hebrews. A university finance professor, she is actively involved in the Christian faculty association on campus. Nivine has participated in and taught many small group studies over the years, and she seeks to help others launch their own small groups. She loves the coast, camping, and a good cup of coffee. Find her at www.unfoldinghisword.com.]

What Readers Are Saying About “For All Who Grieve”

Pastor Colin’s new book, For All Who Grieve (10ofThose, 2020), has just released. We are excited to share it with you all! This book takes on difficult but important themes related to the grieving process, such as tears, talk, guilt, grievance, hope, and finally, healing.

The difficult truth is that grief is everywhere in this world, but there is a book of the Bible that discusses and explores grief: Lamentations. In For All Who Grieve, Pastor Colin walks through Lamentations, interspersing his teaching with interviews from a grief group he led for people within his church.

I highly recommend For All Who Grieve to you, and here are just a few things some readers are already saying about it:

Readers’ Reactions:

WOW! Everyone grieves at one time or even more than once in their lives. Everyone has a story to tell. . . . As I read each chapter, I relived my own experience of loss–the death of my brother.

Each chapter addresses areas of grief with solid biblical references from the book of Lamentations and Job. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion.

The final chapter, “Healing,” points to the Counselor…the Counselor who weeps with you, who speaks to you, who will help you to pray and who will help you sustain your faith, who will renew your hope. You may have more questions than answers BUT knowing you don’t walk alone is the beginning of healing.

After reading this book, I’m encouraged to dig deeper and the list of resources are the place to begin.

Finally, I highly recommend this book for group discussion and as a resource to use in any group sharing grief.

-Beverly

____________________

“My oldest son was in a car accident. In a coma for 4 days with less and less reaction to stimulus. When it was determined that his brain was no longer functioning, I had all tubes removed so he might return home to the Lord. That was the hardest decision I have ever made.

When my youngest son passed away, he was alone, and I had spoken to him just that morning. The What-ifs and Maybe ifs replayed in my mind for a long time.

Thank you, Ken and Leslie, for relating your experience with guilt during your grieving. It is a real battle many grieving people fight and Satan can use it to destroy you.

Thank you, Pastor Smith for giving us the scriptures in Lamentations and Job to help us relate to both true and false guilt.”

-Mary

You can get a copy of For All Who Grieve through your donation of any amount here, or by buying it here.

What Readers are Saying about “For All Who Grieve”

Pastor Colin’s new book, For All Who Grieve (10ofThose, 2020), has just released. We are excited to share it with you all! This book takes on difficult but important themes related to the grieving process, such as tears, talk, guilt, grievance, hope, and finally, healing.

The difficult truth is that grief is everywhere in this world, but there is a book of the Bible that discusses and explores grief: Lamentations. In For All Who Grieve, Pastor Colin walks through Lamentations, interspersing his teaching with interviews from a grief group he led for people within his church.

I highly recommend For All Who Grieve to you, and here are just a few things some readers are already saying about it:

Readers’ Reactions:

WOW! Everyone grieves at one time or even more than once in their lives. Everyone has a story to tell. . . . As I read each chapter, I relived my own experience of loss–the death of my brother.

Each chapter addresses areas of grief with solid biblical references from the book of Lamentations and Job. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection and discussion.

The final chapter, “Healing,” points to the Counselor…the Counselor who weeps with you, who speaks to you, who will help you to pray and who will help you sustain your faith, who will renew your hope. You may have more questions than answers BUT knowing you don’t walk alone is the beginning of healing.

After reading this book, I’m encouraged to dig deeper and the list of resources are the place to begin.

Finally, I highly recommend this book for group discussion and as a resource to use in any group sharing grief.

-Beverly

____________________

“My oldest son was in a car accident. In a coma for 4 days with less and less reaction to stimulus. When it was determined that his brain was no longer functioning, I had all tubes removed so he might return home to the Lord. That was the hardest decision I have ever made.

When my youngest son passed away, he was alone, and I had spoken to him just that morning. The What-ifs and Maybe ifs replayed in my mind for a long time.

Thank you, Ken and Leslie, for relating your experience with guilt during your grieving. It is a real battle many grieving people fight and Satan can use it to destroy you.

Thank you, Pastor Smith for giving us the scriptures in Lamentations and Job to help us relate to both true and false guilt.”

-Mary

You can get a copy of For All Who Grieve through your donation of any amount here, or by buying it here.

Want to Be a Peacemaker? Expect Three Things.

A peacemaker is a person who has peace and brings peace to others.

God is the great peacemaker. He is the God of Peace. He has peace in Himself, and He has made peace through Jesus Christ by the shedding of His blood on the cross (Colossians 1:20).

The blessing promised to peacemakers is that they will be called sons of God. And here are three observations for peacemakers.

Want to Be a Peacemaker?



1. Be prepared to give up your rights

Christ was in the form of God, and He gave up His right to an unbroken experience of heavenly joy. He gave up His right and came into the world, in order to make peace.

You cannot make peace by standing on your rights.  If God had stood upon His rights, I would be in hell and so would everyone else.

2. Move toward the trouble.

When the world was in rebellion against God, he moved toward the trouble in the incarnation. My natural instinct is always to back away from trouble, but peacemakers move toward the trouble. That’s never easy. For Jesus, it led to the cross.

3. Love before you are loved in return.

If God had waited for us to love Him before He loved us, there would never have been peace. There would have been an eternal standoff. God made the first move. We love Him because He first loved us!

These are the broad strategies that we can draw from the Prince of Peace, and if Christ is your Savior, He is also your example.

This is an excerpt from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Cultivating Peace,” from his series Momentum, Volume 2.



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What Psalm 101 Says about Cultivating a Godly Life

I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me? (Psalm 101:2)

In general, every Christian wants to live a life that
pleases God. We want to reflect God’s glory in grace in our personal lives, families,
jobs, and churches. This is a great goal in the Christian life, but it can be
discouraging and overwhelming. One of the reasons it can be so daunting is
because it can be difficult to identify where to begin.

Psalm 101 is a great place to start and it gives us an
outline and starting point to cultivate a God-centered life. David starts Psalm
101 by praising God for who He is and worshiping Him in truth. He resolves that
he will be deliberate in the way that he follows the Lord.

Notice this is not passive or reactionary attitude. David is
making his intention clear: I will worship God in spirit and truth, and I will
lead a life that pleases Him. Then he sets out a system for how he will
accomplish this.

1. Remove Temptation

I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless. (101:3)

David says that he will set no worthless thing before his eyes. He seeks to remove the impure objects that could pull his heart away from worshiping God.

This is where we must start, we must be diligent to see what
temptations in our life we are most prone to that can lead us astray. Being
proactive against sin and not letting it gain a place in our homes and intimate
parts of our lives will help us to spend more time pursuing what is good and
holy.

2. Hate Evil

A perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.
Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
I will destroy.
Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not endure. (101:4–5)

David takes an almost war-like stance against any form of
evil in his life or kingdom. He declares war against sin and pledges himself to
destroy it any way he can.

John Owen, the puritan theologian, says this: “Always be killing sinor it will be killing you.” David understood this. Not only would he remove temptation, but he would fight against what is evil in all areas of life.

3. Seek the Godly

I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he who walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me. (101:6)

The next step David takes is to surround himself with people who are godly. Sometimes it can be easy to settle for friends and people that speak into our life. But notice David says that he will not settle for advisors and friends. He will be searching for people who are faithful to the Lord, and not only find them, but then have them speak and minister to him.

The people that will speak into the most intimate and important
parts of David’s life will be those whose resolve is also to walk faithfully
with the Lord and glorify Him.

4. Remove Ungodly People

No one whopractices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue before my eyes. (101:7)

Likewise, while acquiring Godly people, David wants to
remove ungodly people from his counsel. He refuses to be influenced by people
who do not walk faithfully with the Lord. In our lives we must also be careful
to take note of those people who speak into our lives.

This is not to say that we should not engage with
unbelievers. On the contrary, we want to share the gospel of Christ with those
who are far off! However, we need to have wisdom and make sure that an ungodly
person does not “dwell in [our] house.”

When I was young my parents were careful to take note of who
were influencing my sister and I. They wanted to know what our teachers were
teaching us, what Sunday school teachers told us about God, and what friends we
were keeping.

They knew that if we surrounded ourselves or were open to ungodly insight, it could pull us away from God. Like David, we must be careful only to let the godly “dwell in [our] house.”

5. Be Quick to Do What is Right

Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all the evildoers
from the city of the LORD. (101:8)

The author uses the language “every morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land.” Kings used to hear court cases in the morning. This was for two reasons: first, their minds were fresh, and second, it hadn’t gotten extremely hot!

It was the best time to make the wisest decision concerning a judicial case. David wanted to show that he would not be slothful to do what was right. Every morning he would be committed to making decisions that honored the Lord and not be tempted to let doing what is right fall victim to procrastination.

While this is a great resolution to follow, we can be reminded of our shortcomings. We can be reminded of the sin that wars against us, the difficult relationships we have, and our inability to serve the Lord well.

But thank God for Jesus Christ who because of His work on
the cross makes us new and redeems us. That through His Spirit we are given the
power to do what we were once unable to do. That when we fail, He is faithful
to forgive us and work powerfully through our shortcomings.

May we look to this year with a resolve to cultivate a Godly life through the power of Jesus Christ, who is the author and perfecter of our faith!

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How Sin Leaves Us Needing the Intervention of God

Sin runs in the blood; grace does not.

Many churches are actively erasing this truth. Confession of sin is quietly dropped from worship services. Massive tracts of Scripture that repeat this foundational truth are silently glossed over. There is an active movement today to rewrite the great hymns and erase this truth, because some believe that it is not positive enough for Sunday morning.

But I plead with you to take this truth seriously today: Sin is a vicious enemy, and it leaves us needing the intervention of God.

The Crayon and the Mold

Suppose you put fresh paint on a wall in your house, and a child marks a line of crayon over it. You can wash the wall and get rid of the crayon. If it’s really bad, you can paint over the wall—not that big a deal.

But suppose you have mold in your house. Painting over the mold won’t help.

A crayon leaves a mark that is easily dealt with. But mold is a living thing. It spreads—it will take your health. It will destroy your house.  Some folks think that sin is like the crayon. When you mess up, cover it over, clean up the mess and move on.

But sin is not like a crayon—it is like the mold. The crayon is static; the mold is on the move—it spreads. It needs to be cut out or it’ll destroy your house. Sin is more than a list of things you’ve done wrong. If this is your notion of sin, you have not understood it from the Bible. It’s a living power, a vicious enemy, and it is at work in you and it is at work in me.

Are you taking the power of sin seriously in your life?

The Intervention of God

“At that time, men began to call on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26).

This is the first mention of prayer in the entire Bible, “At that time…” What time? What was it that caused men to pray for the first time? When the destructive effects of sin became obvious in the world—broken families, violence, murder. Men saw evil in its ugly colors, and they began to ask God for help.

It doesn’t say that all men did this. All men will not ask God for help. But some did. They saw what sin was doing, and they knew that they needed to pray, “God we need your help. We’re facing incredible darkness. This is bigger than me.” What does God do?  Two things.

1. God restrains sin.

This world is not as bad as it could be. God restrains sin. If God took His hand away, it would be hell itself. As a matter of fact, that’s what hell is.  How does God do that?

God restrains sin through law: If there were no laws our streets would not be safe. The law restrains sin. It is a good gift from God.  Thank a policeman. Tell him or her they are a gift of God in a fallen world.

God restrains sin through conscience: Adam was a law to himself. He did not need the law because God wrote it in his heart. Even among those who do not acknowledge God, there is some residue of that impression. We call it “conscience.” So Paul says, “Their consciences bear witness” (Romans 2:15).

God restrains sin through common grace: This is not the same thing as saving grace. Common grace is the kindness of God to all people, just as He causes the sun to rise on all people, not just on those who love Him. When you see a woman who has no time for God, but she is a good mother, you should thank God.  Or when you see an atheist who shows kindness to an elderly neighbor, thank God for him.

God restrains sin through judgment: Sin is like a massive weed that would destroy the world except that God, in His kindness, cuts it back. That is what happened in the flood. When nations become intolerably evil, God sends revival or He causes that nation to fall. That is why the Bible says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to a people” (Proverbs 14:34).

2. God redeems sinners.

God cuts back the weed of sin. But the day is coming when He will pull it up by the root and cast the whole thing into the fire. Sin will be no more. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Suffering came into the world on the coat tails of sin. And when sin is excluded from the planet, suffering will go out on its coat tails, too.  There will be no death, mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21:4). God will wipe away all tears from the eyes of His people.

How can sinners be in the home of righteousness? There’s only one way. When John the Baptist began his ministry, he pointed to Jesus and he said, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The hope of the world lies in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. We need to learn to live in this world in such a way as to be prepared for the next.

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10 Tactics for Peacemakers, Part 2

6. Aim at humility, not humiliation.

Being found in human form, he humbled himself. (Philippians 2:8)

Think
about the humility of Christ. When God was giving the law, His voice thundered
impersonally from Mount Sinai. They heard His voice, but they did not see Him. But
when God is making peace, He comes to us and speaks face-to-face.

When
God makes peace, He does not come to us with a display of strength. He comes
with His glory veiled—God speaking to people face-to-face. He comes to us in
weakness, Christ crucified in weakness.

God
makes peace, not through a triumph of power, but through a triumph of love. He
wins us. He woos us. He draws us. His love constrains us. That is how God makes
peace. And then think about this: He did this when right was all on His side
and wrong was all on ours!

Peacemakers
aim at humility, but never humiliation. If you’ve been drawn to
Jesus, was it not His love? Was it not His grace?

When
you have been wronged, ask yourself what you really want. Do I want vengeance
(for the other person to squirm)? Do I want vindication (for me to be proved
right)? Or do I want to make peace?

These
are 3 very different things. People who want vindication or vengeance cannot
make peace. If you want to see someone who has hurt you grovel in the dust, you
are not ready to be a peacemaker.

Peacemakers
aim at humility, but never humiliation.

7. Trust the injustice you have suffered to God.

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. (1 Peter 2:19)

Friend,
it is a terrible thing to be wronged, slighted, or treated unfairly, to be
passed over, taken for granted, to have evil returned for good, or to give of
yourself and receive wounds in return.

Jesus
knows all about that. No one has been wronged more than He has. No one has had
their rights ignored and flouted more than your Savior. No one has been a peacemaker
like He has.

If
you have been wronged, and you want to be a peacemaker, you have the most
marvelous model to follow in Jesus. Peter tells us what He did. This is a key
passage for anyone who has been wronged and wants to be like Jesus.

Peter
is speaking here about what to do if you want to be a peacemakers in a
situation where you have suffered an injustice. You’ve been treated unfairly,
and your natural response would be resentment. You’re losing your own peace. You
can feel yourself getting angry. You realize that you could easily head down a
path you don’t want to go.

If when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. (1 Peter 2:20)

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. (1 Peter 2:21)

What’s the example of Christ that we’re to follow when we suffer injustice as He did?

Two things Christ did not do.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. (1 Peter 2:23)

People
spoke out against Him. They insulted Him, spat on Him, and provoked Him. But
when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. Why? Because He came to make
peace. 

When he suffered, he did not threaten. (1 Peter 2:23)

Soldiers
flogged Him and nailed Him. They inflicted unimaginable pain on Him. He is the
Son of God—all judgment is in His hands. He could have said, “You wait!” But He
did not do that. Why?

He
came to make peace.

Two things Christ did.

He continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:23)

Here’s
what that means for us: You say to God, “I am committing this injustice to you.
You know all about it, and I trust you to deal with it.”

He continued entrusting himself to him. (1 Peter 2:23)

It’s not just the injustice. Christ trusted Himself to God. In other words, He does not seek His own vindication, because He knows that His vindication is with God.

Here’s
a tremendous release: When you’ve been wronged or slighted, your vindication is
with God! You can trust yourself to Him who judges justly.

It
would be a very small thing for you to vindicate yourself. How much better for
your vindicator to be God Himself! What does it matter if you have to wait
until heaven for that? It’s only a short step away!

Another
thing Christ did, for you:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. (1 Peter 2:24)

He
bore this injustice. He bore what had been done against Him. He absorbed the
pain of it without passing it on.

Christ
bore it for your sake and you can choose to bear it for his sake. He left “an
example, so that you might follow in his footsteps” (1 Peter 2:21).

Notice the result: “By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24)!

Christ’s wounds brought healing for you. Your wounds, in terms of human wounds, can be healing wounds too—if you bear them, as you trust yourself to him who judges justly.

8. Pray for peace.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! (Psalm 122:6)

The Scripture urges us to pray for all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way (1 Timothy 2:2). If you’re committed to peace, praying for peace will be a part of your prayer life.

9. Share the gospel of peace.

As shoes for your feet… put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. (Ephesians 6:15)

We use the phrase “run with the Gospel,” which we took from 2 Thessalonians 3 where Paul says, “Pray that the word of the Lord may speed ahead,” move swiftly.

The Bible connects the Gospel with feet, movement, running: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” (Romans 10:15). Here the Gospel of peace is like shoes for your feet.

Some
writers think the seventh beatitude, “blessed are the peacemakers…” is entirely
about making peace between men and God, and so they see it as a call to
evangelism.

I
don’t think we should limit peacemaking to helping people find peace with God,
but we certainly can’t live out this beatitude without it. Leading a person
directly to faith in Christ may just be the greatest peacemaking that you ever
do.

10. Cherish peace wherever you find it.

Maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace… (Ephesians 4:3)

Sometimes
a simple phrase can stay in your mind and do you good years after it was said.

I
once met another pastor for a meal in England. It was the only time I ever met
him, and we got together for a meal because we had to talk about an issue on which
it was possible that we might disagree.

He
offered to say grace when the meal was served, and this is what he prayed: “Lord,
we were one when we met. Let nothing in this conversation make that less when
we part. Amen.” It was a wonderful meal. His prayer was answered, and there was
peace.

Read the first five tactics here.

This is an excerpt from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Cultivating Peace,” from his series Momentum, Part 2.



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Jesus Quotes this Old Testament Book the Most

I came across this article on Biblia by Jeffrey Kranz that shows the top books of the Bible that Jesus quotes throughout the four Gospels. The top one, as you might have guessed, is the Book of Psalms!

Jesus quotes from Scripture a lot, giving us a great example of why memorizing and quoting Scripture is edifying for the believer. Here are just four times when Jesus quotes the Book of Psalms.

1.) Matthew 27:46

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This question comes straight from Psalm 22:1.

This gut-wrenching question, where on the first reading it seems that our Savior is experiencing total despair, we soon see that He is as faithful to the Father as always. He is still quoting Scripture, and still trusting in the power of God’s Word.

Jesus gives us an important example: we can trust the Psalms to help us articulate what we are feeling in our hearts and our souls. Jesus saw this psalm as fitting to express His suffering, and we should trust the psalms as fitting to express our longings, pains, and troubles.

2.) John 15:25

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: “They hated me without a cause.”

This phrase comes from Psalms 35:19 and 69:4.

Among all the time Jesus quotes from Scripture, a common purpose is for Him to show how He is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and promises.

Jesus wanted His listener to know loud and clear that the One that the Psalms promised, the coming Messiah, the Lamb who would take away the sin of the world, had arrived. Jesus is the Messiah!

3.) John 13:18

The Scripture will be fulfilled, “He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”

This phrase comes from Psalm 41:9.

Jesus speaks with His disciples about the one who is going to betray Him, Judas Iscariot. This is an interesting moment because Jesus shows us that He understands His life through Scripture. Jesus knew that the entire Bible was about Him.

4.) Matthew 23:39

For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

This phrase comes from Psalm 118:26.

Jesus says these words during His lament over Jerusalem, “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Matthew 23:37). And verse 39 is the last verse in this lament. So in this lament, we see a summary of God’s people before and after Jesus’s death and resurrection.

We rejected Him, and He died for us. As Paul stated:

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Because of His death on the cross, we can approach Him in worship and say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” He has redeemed us to worship.

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Three Ways to Grow While You Wait

Waiting is not wasted time.

Often, though, it seems to be! I am waiting for the train. I am waiting for my appointment. I am waiting in a long queue. Sound familiar? Waiting can seem futile, so we look for something to do while we are waiting. This is why there are magazines in the doctor’s waiting room. We try to fill up the time with something useful while we are waiting.

Some of you are searching for a job, but what you are looking for has not opened up; you are waiting. Some of you are looking for that special person to be your life partner, but you haven’t found them; you are waiting. Couples long for a child, but nothing has happened; you are waiting. Others are longing to see a deep change in a person you love. You have prayed for it. But you are still waiting.

All of these instances can make waiting seem futile at best and frustratingly difficult at worst. But what if we were thinking about waiting in all the wrong ways? What if waiting was not wasted time, but valuable time in the life of the Christian?

We think of waiting as something we endure in order to get what we want. But God speaks about waiting as the way that we grow when we don’t have what we want. So waiting is not wasted time. In fact, waiting can be the greatest growth opportunity of your life.

I want to suggest three ways in which you can grow while you wait.

Grow in Patience

Patience is what you need when things have not worked out as you hoped.

Somewhere deep within every heart there is a dream of life as we would want it to be. Our culture is sold out in the pursuit of paradise now. I’ve been thinking about designing a sign that could be very useful for some of us. It would have just four words on it: “This is not paradise.”

There are a lot of places where you could put that sign. You might want to hang it over your front door at home.  It would help because some of us are so intent on a perfect family life that we are reaching for what cannot be attained in this world, and it becomes crushing for everybody.

Some couples ought to put that sign on the door to your bedroom. It would take a great deal of pressure off you. Perhaps you need to put that over your desk at work. Or what about in your car? It will help you when you are in a traffic jam.

I’d be very happy to have the sign over the entrance to the church. This is not paradise. If you came here looking for a perfect Christian community, you won’t find it.

Friends, if you give yourself to the pursuit of paradise now, you will be disappointed. When that happens you will be angry with God because he has seemingly let you down. But this life is not paradise. And the sooner you discover that, the sooner you will be able to break free from the pursuit of an advertiser’s dream that will always elude you.

When God does not give what you eagerly desire, a door opens for spiritual growth. Embrace the pain. Love God in the disappointment. Detach yourself from the pursuit of paradise in this world, and set yourself apart for the Lord. Paul says, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?” (Rom 8:24).

Embrace the disappointments of life as opportunities for spiritual growth.

Grow in Hope

As you embrace disappointment, ask yourself this: Do you honestly anticipate heaven? All that you can experience in the Christian life is only a taste of what Christ has in store for you. There is much, much more to come! This is why we are to grow in hope while we wait.

The Bible speaks about the Holy Spirit being like a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Think about when you bought your first house. How much was the deposit? How much was the mortgage? Though it may have seemed large at the time, the deposit was only a tiny fraction of what you had to pay. Similarly, all that you experience of God in this life – every good gift, every blessing, every pleasure – is only a tiny advance on what God has in store for you in heaven.

As you wait for eternity with God, use both the disappointments and the joys of your life to cultivate a healthy anticipation of what God has promised. Are you in pain or alone? Have you shed tears? Does this life seem empty to you? Wait upon the Lord: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things has passed away” (Rev 21:4).

Grow in Worship

Waiting on God is equally a wonderful expression of worship.

My calling is to wait on God. Your calling is to wait on God. The purpose of our lives is to make ourselves wholly available to Jesus Christ, who has come into this world to die for our sins. But often, we forget this wonderful truth and make ourselves the center of attention. We want God to wait on us!

Jesus gives us the perfect model of what waiting on God looks like. He delights in the will of the Father, and He is ready to do it even when it involves a cross. He tells us plainly that if we follow Him, we should not expect a trouble-free life. Jesus is not offering us paradise now.

Saying ‘yes’ to Jesus in the disappointments of life will be the highest worship you can offer. We learn this from the story of Job who lost everything, and in the middle of his pain he worshipped. We learn it from Jesus who, in the agony of the cross and with His “why” unanswered, committed Himself into the hands of His Father.

Worshipping God through disappointment will be the greatest evidence that you love God for Himself and not just for His gifts. If all your dreams were fulfilled, and if all your prayers were answered, there would be no way of knowing if you loved God for Himself.

So I want you to think of the great disappointments and the great joys of your life. I want you to think about all the waiting you are doing right now, and how you are perceiving that waiting. I want you to hear God saying to you, “I want to make this waiting useful. I want to use it to grow you in my likeness – in patience, hope, and worship.”

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