The Purpose of Salvation?

I am finding that being a father of two little girls has this affect on the heart of a man. The tendencies I have to be cold and well... less than compassionate... are starting to melt away and I am beginning to have a heart for things which I never even realized existed in this world. A few weeks ago I was teaching in 1 Peter 2 and we were discussing that the purpose of our salvation (as taught clearly in this chapter) is that we would proclaim the excellencies of God.



While studying this passage God placed on my heart and mind a very practical application for this holiday season. While so many times this can become a season of self-indulgence and gluttony, God blazed through my cold heart the realization that I can proclaim His glory and greatness in many way. One way - the one which jumped at me that day - was through an organization called WorldVision. (http://www.worldvision.org/)



I presented this to my Bible Study and we have decided to do a fundraiser through our local congregation by giving up a Saturday to wrap presents for donations. All proceeds (along with funds from our own pockets) will go to impact the lives of people around the world who have so little. From purchasing something as simple as a goat by which someone can have milk to rescuing a girl from the sex slave trade in Asia by providing her with training and shelter while giving her the Gospel message... we can make an impact and God has strategically placed us in a nation of great wealth and influence that we might open doors for others to proclaim His excellencies to a world beyond our reach.



This Christmas... are we proclaiming the Glory of God? Are we focused on declaring the arrival of salvation through Christ in a little manger 2000 years ago? This is not a popular message, even this time of year... but it is the very purpose of our salvation and should be the delight of our hearts. May we be bold and unashamed of the Gospel of Christ, and may His excellencies be proclaimed today and forever to the dead and dying world around us! Merry Christmas, Glory to God!

Reflection on Christ - My Redeemer

Colossians 1:11-29 ESV

(11) May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, (12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (13) He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (16) For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. (17) And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (18) And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (19) For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, (20) and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

(21) And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, (22) he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, (23) if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

(24) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (25) of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, (26) the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. (27) To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are he riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (28) Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (29) For this I toil, struggling with all his wnergy that he powerfully works within me.

Amen.

Going Somewhere?

Every time I think that I am starting to get somewhere, that I have something (in myself) to offer this world... I come back to this passage in Isaiah 40:12-17 :

(12) Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? (13) Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? (14) Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? (15) Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. (16) Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. (17) All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

Okay... the point is we have this great big, enormous God... so, what, we feel really small right. Yes, that is part of it... but then I must be reminded of the focus of scripture... the redemption of mankind in Jesus Christ... and I truly stand in awe that THIS God, all-powerful and all-knowing, would still have anything to do with me... I realize how small I am, in relation to how great, merciful, gracious, and loving He is, and I stand in awe and amazement. Truly, this must be one of the most humbling things in all of humanity. What a great God!

This then will be my closing... Glory in Christ, may these words of Paul be an encouragment, a blessing, and a challenge as we walk this narrow way...

(1) So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, (2) complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (3) Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (4) Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (5) Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (6) who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (9) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:1-11 ESV