THE PURPOSEFUL GOD

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD: The steps of a good man are ordered by the lord. “Ordered” is from the Hebrew word “kun” and means “to establish, to prepare, fixed, set in place”. If such a small thing as a step is controlled and ordained by God, there is nothing in our life He is not sovereign over, concerned about, and involved in - absolutely nothing! (Psalms 37:23)

THE NARROW GATED DIFFICULT WAY: Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? “Adversity” is from the Hebrew word “ra/raah” and means “the entire spectrum of bad.” Adversity is God’s judgment on mankind, a reality of life. (Job 2:10; Matt. 7:14)

THE WORK OF GOD: Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?  In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after Him (i.e., know what is to happen). God “appoints” through willing good and allowing bad. (Ecc. 7:13-14)

COUNT IT ALL JOY:  Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, Though the olive crop fails and the fields provide no food, Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will be jubilant in the Lord, I will rejoice in the victorious God of my salvation. Rejoice... In everything give thanks. (Hab. 3:17-18; James 1; 2-4; Rom. 5:3-5; 1 Thess. 5:18)

GOD TURNS BAD INTO HIS GOOD:   He knows the way I take, When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandments of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Only melted purified gold is minted! All things work together for our good. (Job 23:10-12; 1 Peter 1:6-7, 4:12-13; Rom. 8:28)

GOD’S PURPOSE... OUR PERFECTION: The Lord God is my strength, my personal invincible army; He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And enables me to walk over my “mountain” of trouble and suffering, And to make spiritual progress. Therefore, you shall be perfect... spiritually mature... Christ-like. (Hab. 3:19; Matt. 5:48)

ADVERSITY, GOD’S SCULPTURING TOOL:  We are predestined to be conformed to the image... nature, of Christ, for God loves us to much to leave us the way we are. The purpose of trials and tests is to teach us faith.  The purpose of tribulation, the pressures of life, is to teach us godly character... Christlikeness, through patience endurance. The purpose of chastening is to teach us obedience. The purpose of reaping what we sow is to teach us dependence on God. The purpose of demonic opposition is to teach us grace.  The purpose of persecution is to teach us godliness, filling up in our bodies what is lacking in the suffering of our Lord.  All of life’s difficulties work together for good in the believer to bring forth the implanted nature of Christ and teach us how to rest in the Lord... the peace of God. (Rom. 8:29; 1 Peter 1:6-7; Rom. 5:3-5; Heb. 12:3-11; Gal. 6:7; 2 Cor. 12:2-10; Col. 1:24; 2 Tim. 3:12)

ALL DIFFICULTIES ARE WITHIN GOD’S PURPOSES

WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US

Love is the ultimate expression of value; the more we love something the more “worth” or value the item has to us.  So our love for God becomes a measurement of His worth to us.  But here in this verse we see that our love for God is predicated on His love for us; “we love Him BECAUSE He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). The question changes from God’s worth to us, to our worth to Him. This passage demonstrates a “Beholding and Becoming Principle”, whatever we Behold we Become.  When the Holy Spirit quickens (reveals) an attribute of God to us, there is always an element of impartation which begins to form that same attribute in us.  The word “love” in these passages is from the Greek word “agapao” which means to love passionately, sacrificially and willfully, with strong affection, to fulfill one’s joy in the object loved.  So what are we worth to God that He passionately, sacrificially, willfully and joyfully loves us?  We are worth the life of His Son!  God the Father sent Jesus into the world to redeem us and restore us to fellowship with Himself, so that we might worship Him.  Our worship is worth infinitely more to God than anything in the rest of creation for He gave what He valued more than all of creation for it.  I can’t explain why the sincere worship from redeemed human hearts is worth so much to God.  I can only tell you what it is worth - the precious blood of Jesus.  So then, what is our Father worth to us?   What value will we declare in our worship?  How much love for God will we express in our worship to God?  Will we offer God “agapao” or is God’s worth to us of a lesser value?  Selah!

BECOMING WHAT WE BEHOLD

COUNT IT ALL JOY

"Maturity is defined by the quality of our celebration in oppositional circumstances. I think rejoicing is designed to give us an experience of God’s joy especially when we are in a time of difficulty" (Graham Cooke). Rejoicing in the Lord produces His joy and peace. How quickly we recover our joy and peace during times of adversity declares our spiritual maturity. Saints, this is by no means easy. The perpetrators or messengers of bad are often the very same people we are called to love and share the life of Christ with, people in our church, workplace and community. True love must, of necessity, include absolute, no strings attached forgiveness, the love demonstrated by our Lord on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” The same is true today of the people-pawns the powers of darkness use to come against the children of God – “They do not know what they do”, for they are blinded and deceived by the prince of this world. 

“Count it all joy” is in the Greek aorist imperative, a command that must be practiced to become a discipline of life in the Spirit. To “count” (Gk., hegeomai) is to view, regard, esteem, reckon, to lead the mind by considering it so disregarding circumstances. When we rejoice in adversity God’s love is lavishly poured into our heart by the Holy Spirit, enabling an out flowing of that same forgiving love to those living in darkness all around us.

SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS DEFINED

BY THE QUALITY OF OUR CELEBRATION...

(James 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3-5)

THE JOURNEY

It is easy to rejoice on the mountain top, with the trials of life far away and the presence of God so near.  The Apostle Peter wanted to establish the headquarters for Christ’s ministry on the Mountain of Transfiguration; he simply didn’t want to give up the mountain top experience (Mk. 9:2-10).  All of us long for God’s glory to be revealed visibly and powerfully in our lives.  We long for His healing power to flow through us to bring healing and grace to others.  We long for His glory to be revealed in a dazzling display of power.  But the mountain top experience is intentionally short-lived, for we are on a journey to perfection, to increasing levels of glory, and between the mountain top experiences lay vast valleys where we live out by divine providence the progressive revelation of Christ’s life forming in us.  The mountain top is not the primary way God has chosen to reveal Himself and invoke His will, either in Jesus or in us.  Jesus did not stay on the Mountain of Transfiguration; He went down into the valley to fulfill God’s will through trials, tribulation and ultimately, death on the cross.   And, likewise, we are called to the valley where, by divine providence, the progressive revelation of Christ’s life is formed in us through trials, tribulations and ultimately the death of “Self”, our will and nature, on the cross.

CHRIST IN ME...

MY ONLY HOPE OF GLORY...

THE COST OF PERFECTION

When Jesus said “you shall be perfect” (Matt.5:48, James 1:4) He meant it.  The primary purpose of the Christian life, from salvation to death or rapture, is to be changed into the likeness of Christ, to literally become like Jesus.  The Great Commission, our ministries and our Christian works all emanate from and find their source in our ever increasing experience of the life of Christ flowing through us.  We are all in the Potter’s house and God, the Master Potter, is using the fiery trials and pressures of this life  to test our faith (1 Peter 1:6-7, 4:12-13), molding and shaping us into the very likeness... the nature, of His dear Son (Rom. 8:29). 

God doesn’t deliver us out of our troubles; God delivers us in our troubles.  Our strength is in the strain!  This is why James said, “rejoice and be glad” and the Apostle Paul said to “boast” (James 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3-5) in our troubles. They could see beyond the “natural”, the trials and tests, and with the eye of the Spirit comprehend how God was utilizing these afflictions, “all things”, to work together for good in their life, in accordance with His purposes (Rom. 8:28, 2 Cor. 5:7).  Just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him (Heb. 12:2), they knew their faith was being tested and they knew God was taking them to another level of spiritual walk, another level of His glory.  They knew their steps were ordered by God (Ps. 37:23), that this was a pathway they must walk, so they set their mind on things above (Col. 3:2) and rejoiced!  They boasted!  They knew they were more than conquerors thru Christ (Rom 8:37), they knew Jesus would never leave them or forsake them (Heb. 13:5), and they understood and wanted God’s perfection, their spiritual maturity.  They rejoiced! 

OUR STRENGTH IS IN THE STRAIN!

HOPE

Godly character produces hope in God (Rom. 5:3-5).  Hope is composed of desire and expectation, desire of something good and expectation of obtaining it.  Jesus did not use the word “hope”, He did not say “look forward to that which is coming”, but He said “come unto me” (Matt. 11:28).  Jesus is our hope!  The hope realized in Jesus Christ is a “living hope” in His resurrection (1 Peter 1:3,21) and includes salvation (1 Thes. 5:8) eternal life (Titus 1:2, 3:7) the glory of God (Rom. 5:2, Col. 1:27) and the resurrection of the dead in Christ (Acts 23:6, 24:15).  These blessings are all summed up in Jesus Christ Himself, the hope of the world realized.

Hope is expectation of good, and is linked with trust and yearning.  The life of the righteous is grounded in a hope that implies a future because its point of reference is God.  To hope, as a Christian, is to trust in God for God is our hope (Jer. 17:7).  Hope looks to Him whom none can control, freeing us from anxiety, fear, self will, pride and independence.  Hope, then, grasps the provisional nature of every earthly present moment in time, and is increasingly hope in the eschatological future.

Hope embraces expectation, trust and patient waiting, and is linked to faith as in Heb. 11 which stresses the certainty of what is divinely given.  Hope is one of the most distinctive marks and an integral part of a Christian’s life.  Endurance may be stressed in the trials of life, as in this passage, but our waiting is confident; we are not focused on the item hoped for but on the God who gives it and will maintain and sustain it.  We are saved by hope (Rom. 8:24).  Hope is the object of faith; without hope faith is dead because faith is the substance of things hope for (Heb. 11:1). Hope in God never disappoints or deceives or shames us, but rather it graces us with God’s “agape love” (Rom. 5:3-5).

HOPE IS THE OBJECT OF FAITH...

WITHOUT HOPE FAITH IS DEAD...

CHRIST DIED FOR ALL WHO DIED IN HIM

“For the love of Christ compels us”: It is the love which Christ has for man that is the constraining power of Paul’s preaching. The greatest proof to us of the love of Christ for mankind is that He died. “If One died for all, then all died”: Christ died for all who died in Him, or one died for all, therefore all died.  The preposition “for” means “in behalf of” or “in place of.” This is the heart of salvation! Everyone who “dies in Christ” receives the benefit of His substitutionary death. In this verse Paul defined the extent of the atonement and limited its application.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”: Christ died for mankind, and His atonement is extended to all as a free gift of grace. “That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”: To “believe in Him”... “Into Him” captures the Greek better, is to be firmly and absolutely persuaded about who He is and the truthfulness of His promises, creating complete dependence, wholehearted commitment and conviction as we trust in, cling to and rely upon Him. To “believe in Him” is to “Die in Christ”, to die to Self and all the Self-interests of earth-life, submitting to Christ as Lord and aligning one’s heart with the heart interests of our King.  Believing is the price of accepting God’s free gift of atonement, that which limits its application. Christ died for all, “that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again ... for the love of Christ compels us.”

 (2 Cor. 5:14-15; Jn. 3:16)

ENDNOTE: Captured in the verb “Believe” is the essence of God’s plan for mankind: Transformation into Christlikeness, the metamorphosis of sin stained spiritual cripples into beacons of radiant light reflecting the holy nature of Christ to a world drowning in sin’s darkness. Many people wade in this verb, not realizing the depths of its meaning could drown an elephant.

“FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST COMPELS US.”

PLIABLE CRUCIFIED HEARTS

“My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” “Be formed” is from the Greek word morphoo, a Greek philosophical term referring to the outward expression one gives of his inmost being, an expression which comes from and is representative of one’s inner spiritual nature. This could be translated “Christ be outwardly expressed in you.” The verb, “formed”, is in the aorist tense where the progress or completeness of the action is unspecified, and the passive voice which tells us the subject of the verb, Christ,  is inactive (i.e., passive) and is acted upon by someone or something else. At salvation the heart of the believer becomes the temple... holy of holies, of our Lord, who dwells there in a passive state. This passivity is defined by the meaning of the verb, “formed”, so Christ is not inactive in His fellowship with the saint or in ministering on behalf of the saint as the saint’s Advocate with the Father. Jesus is inactive and passive in forming... manifesting Himself, expressing His life... His nature, in and through the life of the saint, for it is the Holy Spirit’s job to manifest Christ in the life of the Saint. The Holy Spirit is the “someone else” who acts upon Christ to release His nature in the heart of the believer, releasing the Christ-Life. Jesus said in referring to the work of the Holy Spirit: “He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” The Apostle Paul speaks likewise of predestined believers conformed to the image of God’s Son, and transformation that renews one’s mind: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

The practical application of this passage: If the Lord Jesus is to be visibly manifested, His nature... the Fruit of the Spirit, in the life of the saint it must and will be through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s ministry requires pliable hearts yielded to the Lordship of Christ, and crucified hearts that put Self to death on the cross to make a place in our cluttered hearts for a new and better way of life. Christ is formed in us through transformation, the Spirit within progressively releasing the image of Christ within as we progressively make room for His life by crucifying our Self life. This process is walking in the Spirit. Pliable crucified hearts have made a place within for the Christ-Life to come forth, and with passionate determination and singularity of focus continue down the road of transformation till Christ is fully formed in them. There is nothing in Christendom more important than the continued transformation of the saints... until Christ is formed in each of us...

WALKING IN THE SPIRIT

(Gal. 4:19; Jn. 16:14; Gal. 5:24-25; Rom. 8:29, 12:1-2)

TEMPTATION’S DOOR

Blessed... happy and to be envied, is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive the victor’s crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil and He Himself tempts no one. But every person is tempted when he is drawn away... enticed and baited, by his own evil desires, lust and passions. Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death. Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.

Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands, who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm, take heed lest he fall into sin. For no temptation... no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads, has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man. That is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His Word and to His compassionate nature, and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted, tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance... beyond your power to endure. With every temptation God will always also provide the way out... the means of escaping sin’s snare, that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

In a sense all sin is idolatry... loving, venerating or desiring anything more than God, the product of weak faith overwhelmed by wrong desires. Therefore, my dearly beloved, shun... keep clear away from and avoid by flight if need be, any sort of idolatry... of loving or venerating anything more than God.                       

ALL SIN IS IDOLATRY

(James 1:12-16, 2 Cor. 10:12-14)