Reckoning

Romans 6:1-11 (NKJV), "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 6:12 (NKJV), "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts."

Before issuing the command in verse 12, Paul goes through an extended explanation of the foundation for obeying that command. Verse 12 opens with the word, "Therefore", referring to the previous 11 verses.

Warren Wiersbe says concerning verse 11 on page 424 of his New Testament Commentary, "To reckon means 'to put to one's account.' It simply means to believe that what God says in His word is really true in your life."

That is one reason why Ephesians 6:16 says, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Until I understand and believe what God's Word says about the transaction that He made and the transformation He is making through saving me because of what Christ has done, I will not live out that truth. I will not be able to deliberately act on what is true until I know that it is true.

The Power of God Unto Salvation

1 Corinthians 15:1-4, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

This past Saturday afternoon I overheard several minutes of a radio call-in program on Moody Radio. In the course of the conversation, the two guests and the host were talking about what a person does need to hear and believe in order to be genuinely saved. In essence, the conclusion they reached was that one need not hear all the specifics of the gospel, perhaps not even the name of Jesus, in order to be saved. Immediately my mind jumped to the passage above. Once the vital requirements of this passage and those others that deal with the gospel are surrendered, undisguised compromise and ultimate collapse are just around the corner. The conversation was reduced to a sort of quibbling over terms and precise nuances.

What do we have if what we proclaim is not the gospel? We do not have "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth (Romans 1:16)". What do we have if we do not proclaim the name of Jesus? We do not have "the Stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:11-12)."

What did Peter do in Acts chapter 2? Preached Christ and the gospel of Christ.

What did Peter do in Acts chapter 3? Preached Christ and the gospel of Christ.

What did Peter do in Acts chapter 4? Preached Christ and the gospel of Christ.

What did Peter do in Acts chapter 5? Preached Christ and the gospel of Christ.

What did Stephen do in Acts chapter 7? Preached Christ and the gospel of Christ.

What did Philip do in Acts chapter 8? Preached Christ and the gospel of Christ.

What did the Lord commission Paul to do in Acts chapter 9? Preach Christ and the gospel of Christ.

What did Peter do in Acts chapter 10? Preached Christ and the gospel of Christ.

And so it goes throughout the New Testament. How could we miss such an obvious and repeated theme? That is our mandate. To do anything else, no matter how tolerant or congenial or kind it may seem, and think that we can win souls is disobedient and shows that we are ignorant at best.

Acts 8:35, "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus."

And When I Saw It...

In Ezekiel 1:28, we read Ezekiel's response to the vision of God which he saw while a captive in the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonians), "...This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face."

A few years ago, a missionary whom my church supports and who is involved in ministry specifically to Hispanics preached from this chapter of Ezekiel one of the times he was with us. He explained that this chapter describes what appears to be like God's chariot or conveyance. It is far too awsome for us to understand more than Ezekiel could convey while qualifying with words like "appearance" and "likeness", but it did remind us (as it reminded Ezekiel) of the power and majesty and transcendence of the Lord. Ezekiel needed to be reminded of those attributes of God, because in chapter 2 he would receive a potentially very difficult and discouraging commission from the Lord, with major consequences if he failed to fulfill it.

As I considered this verse again this evening, it struck me that too often I treat passages like this as material for intellectual involvement or information gathering. Sometimes when I can understand very little of something I don't pay much attention to it. However, that certainly was not Ezekiel's response! How often am I characterized by anything remotely close to this practically involuntary combination of terror and worship when I consider that the Lord of glory, the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists, is the One whose Word I am reading or to whom I am speaking in prayer?

Sometimes a Light Surprises

Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord, who rises with healing in His wings:
When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining, to cheer it after rain.

In holy contemplation we sweetly then pursue
The theme of God’s salvation, and find it ever new.
Set free from present sorrow, we cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown tomorrow bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing but He will bear us through;
Who gives the lilies clothing will clothe His people, too;
Beneath the spreading heavens, no creature but is fed;
And He Who feeds the ravens will give His children bread.

Though vine nor fig tree neither their wonted fruit should bear,
Though all the field should wither, nor flocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice,
For while in Him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.

~ William Cowper

He Who Feeds The Ravens

Commenting on the sub-theme of compassion that runs through the first movement of God's reply to Job in Job 38-39, Layton Talbert writes on page 206 of Beyond Suffering,

"The Creator cares when wild animals give birth and provides food for lion cubs and raven hatchlings. Don't you think He is intimately aware of your circumstances and compassionate toward you in your need? You are the only creature He has fashioned in His own image (Gen. 1:26-27). You are the only creature qualified to be called the child of God. You are infinitely more valuable to God than lions or ravens or goats or deer--or sparrows. Christ makes that very point to His disciples (Matt. 10:29-31). Just how many sparrows do you suppose you are worth? A hundred? A thousand? God didn't suffer and die for sparrows or even angels; but He did for you. We may not always see the signs of God's goodness in our immediate circumstances, but what we see is not all there is. That is a significant part of God's answer to Job."

Matthew 10:29-31 (NKJV), "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Matthew 6:25-34, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or, 'What shall we drink?' or, 'Wherewithal shall we be clothed?' (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Cold Out Of The North

Job 37:6-10, "For He saith to the snow, 'Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of His strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know His work. Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened."

As we move toward the winter season, these verses will be a good thing for me to remember when I'm inching down a snow-covered street or hastily scraping the ice from my car's windows. Even yesterday evening a cold rain was falling and the wind was gusting strongly as I left the building at the end of the workday. As I joked with my dad on Wednesday, "It's hibernating weather!" Now I must remember that instead of regret or impatience, I should have admiration and worship filling my heart upon seeing such manifestations of God's handiwork.

Job 36:24-25, "Remember that thou magnify His work, which men behold. Every man may see it; man may behold it afar off."

The Edges of His Ways

Job 26:5-14 (NKJV)

"The dead tremble, those under the waters and those inhabiting them. Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it. He covers the face of His throne, and spreads His cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke. He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding He breaks up the storm. By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?"

All these mighty and majestic acts Job recounts, but then summarizes them all as "the mere edges of His ways". The word "edges" conveys the idea of "frontiers" or "coasts". Layton Talbert uses the illustration of the early explorers landing on the eastern coast of the North American and South American continents, having no idea how vast the landmass truly was. Exploring what we finite creatures can know about God is like sailing along the coastline of an infinite continent, landing occasionally to foray a short distance into the interior. In his book The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer suspected that the attributes of our infinite God are infinite in number, comparing any that we do not know about to the dark side of the moon, which we know is there but has little significance to us.