Deuteronomy 12:18
He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
Nothing is insignificant in God’s word. Every word spoken points to Jesus Christ and His finished work in one way or another. Sometimes it takes a little digging and some help from the Holy Spirit to discover it, but it’s there! The truth is that the Holy Spirit enjoys helping us find Jesus in the word. In fact, it’s His job (John 15:26 But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.)
If there is one thing that God is adamant about taking care of, it’s fatherless orphans and widows. He actually says in James that “true religion” is taking care of the fatherless and the widows (James 1:27). He says this to show that He is true religion. True religion isn’t a set of beliefs and rituals; it’s salvation by grace. It’s taking care of those who don’t have a father or a husband. True religion is becoming the father and becoming the husband to the lost and lonely; it’s what only God can do.
Without God in our lives, we were like orphans: fatherless and without hope. Without Christ we were like widows with no one to take care of us. But Christ has become our kinsman redeemer; He has become our Husband and we are His bride. Because of our marriage to Him, through grace, we have been adopted into the family of God. We have been given the freedom to cry out to God, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)
God has administered justice for us, that is to say, for our benefit. It was for our benefit that Christ went to the cross. It was at the cross that Christ bore the punishment for our sins; He took the burden and bore the sentence of death on our behalf. Justice was administered to Jesus for us.
When we were strangers to God, not knowing Him or His ways, He became a friend to us. He suffered on our behalf and took us into His family. It is because of Jesus that we have the freedom to call God Almighty “Daddy.”
Christ is the bread of life. He is food for the mind, body, and soul. When He went to the cross, He gave Himself for us. He became all that we need. He has been made for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). All that Christ is and was has been freely given to us by grace through the cross.
He has become our food. Not only that, He has given us clothing. Christ has given us His righteousness as clothing. He took our sin and wore it to His cross. In exchange, He gave us His robe of righteousness so that our Father, God, can look at us and see a fully restored, fully redeemed, fully righteous son or daughter.
God loves the fatherless and the widows. He wants to be their Father and Husband. While we were strangers to Him, or estranged from Him, He came to be our Savior (Romans 5:8). He has taken us into His kingdom and freely given us food (Jesus Christ) and clothing (righteousness).
That’s “Daddy God."
Friday, October 12, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Finished works
Deuteronomy 7:22
And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
“I can do it!” How many times have you heard those words? As a parent, I can honestly say that I’ve heard those very words hundreds of times. This is our nature: to try and to try and to try.
We love the feeling that we get when we’re able to accomplish a given task. Whether it’s climbing that big tree in the front yard, riding the bike around the block, or landing that job you’ve desired for years, when it happens you’re filled with pride. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that feeling. When you work hard for something and you invest time and energy into succeeding, you earn the right to feel happy and successful when all goes according to your plan.
This go-getter, conqueror attitude holds true for everything in your life, except when it comes to your ability to maintain God’s holy standard. When you’re trying out of your own power and strength to defeat sin in your life and live according to what God’s statutes dictate, your efforts are futile. This is why we have Jesus; this is why we need a Savior!
If you parallel the Old Testament story of Israel, God’s chosen people, to our spiritual New Testament lives, you’ll see some amazing things. There is a direct relationship between the enemies of Israel (Pharaoh, the Egyptians, the nations who possessed the Promised Land, etc.) and our enemy: the Devil, his angels, and sin. Once you can make the connection and place yourself in the story, spiritually, you’ll begin to see God’s plan unfold for you.
Here in Deuteronomy Moses is reminding the nation of Israel of God’s laws, His requirements, His judgements, His statutes, and His promises. Moses is telling the people what is going to happen and what their role is going to be when they enter the Promised Land. He is providing them with the hope they’ll need to succeed when they enter.
Israel’s work was crossing the Jordan river and possessing the land. God’s work was driving out the nations before them. How does this apply to our lives today? When we put this in perspective, we can see that there is a time for us to work and a time for us to allow God to work. All too often we get these times mixed up. Sometimes it’s unintentional; sometimes it’s because we’re too proud. But, like Israel, our work is simply to possess what God has promised us: health, prosperity, joy, peace, happiness through Jesus Christ. God’s work is to drive out our enemies from before us!
We get caught up in the idea that once you enter the “promised land” by becoming a Christian, the real work of acting like one begins. We seem to think that it’s completely our responsibility to drive off sin in our lives; we think it’s our job to chase off the enemy. But the Bible makes it very clear that our job is to possess the land; God’s job is to drive out the enemy.
Looking to and remaining fixed on Christ’s perfect work at the cross is all we need to “do” in order to possess the promises of God. God’s work is to “little by little” drive out our enemies. What is it that is possessing the land of happiness that God has given to you? Name it and know that God is driving it out! Alcoholism, pornography, anger, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and fear are all enemies. They are defeated; they were defeated for you at the cross. If these things are possessing your land, trust that it’s not up to you to remove them; it’s up to God to drive them out, defeated.
Our nature wants to fight. But when we choose to fight our enemies we are choosing to push God aside. We are saying to God, “I can do this. You can help, but I can do it!” God doesn’t want to help you; God wants to save you. This is where allowing grace to take over gives you perfect rest. When you let go of your “7 principles of healing x, y, and/or z” and allow Christ’s finished work at the cross to take effect, you’ll see your enemies be driven away. Little by little, through the grace of God, your problems, those sins that haunt you, will vanish away.
You’ll possess the promise while God continually causes His grace to flow in your life. Without end, He will drive your enemies from you. That sin that controlled you, that held dominion over you, is defeated. It’s not because you fought the good fight, but because Christ won the whole war.
And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
“I can do it!” How many times have you heard those words? As a parent, I can honestly say that I’ve heard those very words hundreds of times. This is our nature: to try and to try and to try.
We love the feeling that we get when we’re able to accomplish a given task. Whether it’s climbing that big tree in the front yard, riding the bike around the block, or landing that job you’ve desired for years, when it happens you’re filled with pride. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that feeling. When you work hard for something and you invest time and energy into succeeding, you earn the right to feel happy and successful when all goes according to your plan.
This go-getter, conqueror attitude holds true for everything in your life, except when it comes to your ability to maintain God’s holy standard. When you’re trying out of your own power and strength to defeat sin in your life and live according to what God’s statutes dictate, your efforts are futile. This is why we have Jesus; this is why we need a Savior!
If you parallel the Old Testament story of Israel, God’s chosen people, to our spiritual New Testament lives, you’ll see some amazing things. There is a direct relationship between the enemies of Israel (Pharaoh, the Egyptians, the nations who possessed the Promised Land, etc.) and our enemy: the Devil, his angels, and sin. Once you can make the connection and place yourself in the story, spiritually, you’ll begin to see God’s plan unfold for you.
Here in Deuteronomy Moses is reminding the nation of Israel of God’s laws, His requirements, His judgements, His statutes, and His promises. Moses is telling the people what is going to happen and what their role is going to be when they enter the Promised Land. He is providing them with the hope they’ll need to succeed when they enter.
Israel’s work was crossing the Jordan river and possessing the land. God’s work was driving out the nations before them. How does this apply to our lives today? When we put this in perspective, we can see that there is a time for us to work and a time for us to allow God to work. All too often we get these times mixed up. Sometimes it’s unintentional; sometimes it’s because we’re too proud. But, like Israel, our work is simply to possess what God has promised us: health, prosperity, joy, peace, happiness through Jesus Christ. God’s work is to drive out our enemies from before us!
We get caught up in the idea that once you enter the “promised land” by becoming a Christian, the real work of acting like one begins. We seem to think that it’s completely our responsibility to drive off sin in our lives; we think it’s our job to chase off the enemy. But the Bible makes it very clear that our job is to possess the land; God’s job is to drive out the enemy.
Looking to and remaining fixed on Christ’s perfect work at the cross is all we need to “do” in order to possess the promises of God. God’s work is to “little by little” drive out our enemies. What is it that is possessing the land of happiness that God has given to you? Name it and know that God is driving it out! Alcoholism, pornography, anger, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and fear are all enemies. They are defeated; they were defeated for you at the cross. If these things are possessing your land, trust that it’s not up to you to remove them; it’s up to God to drive them out, defeated.
Our nature wants to fight. But when we choose to fight our enemies we are choosing to push God aside. We are saying to God, “I can do this. You can help, but I can do it!” God doesn’t want to help you; God wants to save you. This is where allowing grace to take over gives you perfect rest. When you let go of your “7 principles of healing x, y, and/or z” and allow Christ’s finished work at the cross to take effect, you’ll see your enemies be driven away. Little by little, through the grace of God, your problems, those sins that haunt you, will vanish away.
You’ll possess the promise while God continually causes His grace to flow in your life. Without end, He will drive your enemies from you. That sin that controlled you, that held dominion over you, is defeated. It’s not because you fought the good fight, but because Christ won the whole war.
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