Living in God's Reality

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Paul wrote in Philippians 3 about living in the joy of God’s reality. Those aren’t Paul’s words, but my description of what he wrote. After you read this I hope you also read Philippians 3 thru 4:2.

Paul urges us to “rejoice in the Lord” then departs temporarily from this theme to talk about a way of living that steals our joy and fills us with deep anxiety. His thoughts and writings recalled his past efforts to attain salvation by what he thought were “good works”.

There’s nothing wrong with good works. The problem is if we try to use good works as our method of salvation. Paul now knew without doubt it was gained only by faith in Christ—not by any good works he had done. Some, he now realized, not only brought no salvation, they were not really good. They were instead, very bad works. In his zeal he had actually persecuted the same church he was now trying to build. Paul knew others who had tried that same futile road to heaven and he knew such behavior would only steal their joy. He didn’t want others to walk that same dead end road when such behavior would not gain salvation and could even find them fighting against God instead of serving him.

Paul knew God had a better idea. In verse seven he wrote, “…whatever was to my profit I now consider loss…compared to…knowing Christ….” He even considered them “rubbish”.

Paul did many good things. But call them “rubbish”?

Because such good works only bring despair if we depend on them for salvation. They produce joy only when done in response to loving God and loving humanity. We are all God’s people by creation. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we are all forgiven.

Paul’s former life had been lived with a wrathful view of God. Paul’s life reflected the wrath he assumed was the nature of God. When Paul met Jesus, he met God’s grace and mercy. Realizing that grace and mercy was for everyone brought Paul an indescribable joy. He had moved into the awesome light of God’s reality and found it amazing.

God’s reality is that we all are forgiven. Christ died for our sin, but too many people still live in the defeat of hopeless guilt. Mentally, even Paul hadn’t fully attained it (v. 12). Paul knew the truth of forgiveness, but he still struggled to fully grasp the limitless grace of God. Nor the fact it was for him, Paul, a middle-eastern terrorist, who had been saved from his own terror and from the terror he had dumped on the church. He now realized this forgiveness had been granted both to him and to all humanity!

Most do not grasp that God loves everyone. Paul knew his own mind still hadn’t caught up with the reality of God’s grace. In verse 16 he urged “let us live up to what we have already attained”. We are spiritual siblings of the Lord Jesus Christ because God loved us and sent Jesus to bring us all to God.

God opened the door for you to live a life of joy. That door is Jesus! An antidote for past sin, Jesus also offers faith as immunity from future sin and a welcome into God’s amazing grace.

Open yourself to the Joy-giver, Jesus. Give him past failures and claim what is already yours; a loving relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. Then God’s Holy Spirit can help you claim with heart and mind what Jesus attained for you through his death and resurrection. You too can begin to live in the joy of God’s reality. 

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek. 

   

The Source of our Joy!

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

My friend Andy Lindgren put a good quote from John Piper on Facebook recently. It read ‎"God does not forbid sexual sin because he's a killjoy, but because he opposes what kills joy."

I thought that was an excellent quote and it got me to thinking of how I believe God feels about sin in general. He hates it. The reason God hates sin is because of the pain it brings into people's lives. A good definition for sin could be "that which destroys those whom God loves".

I find it surprising and perplexing when people seem to think (as John Piper’s quote clearly implies) that God calls anything sin that would bring us joy. This makes God out to be just that—a killjoy. And nothing could be farther from the truth. As Piper’s full quote makes clear, God merely “opposes what kills joy.”

God created us so that laughter is some of the world’s best medicine. That’s an old saying, but it is also a clear teaching of scripture as we can see from Proverbs (17:22) where we read “A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”

“The joy of the Lord is my strength.” we are told in the book of Nehemiah (8:10). When Nehemiah the governor asked Ezra the priest to read the book of the law the people were so deeply moved that they wept as they worshiped the Lord. But Nehemiah said to them “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Why would God create us to respond so naturally to joy that laughter becomes our best heart medicine and his joy is the source of superhuman strength if he is not the God of good times, laughter and joy? He doesn’t want to ruin our days by calling fun things sin, he wants to extend our joy by protecting us from those behaviors, attitudes and outlooks that destroy our lives and cause us so much pain. God’s hatred of sin comes out of his love for mankind. He created us to be the recipients of his unconditional love and he wants us to experience the good things of life, rather than those things that will at best brings us pain and at its worst, totally destroy us.

As John Piper said, “God does not forbid sexual [or any] sin because he's a killjoy, but because he opposes what kills joy."

God finds joy when he sees his human creation experience his joy in every area of our lives and he is the source of our joy. When we find him, we find the joy of the Lord!

Thanks for the reminder Andy!

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

  

Confessions of a Christmas Lover

Guest Essay by Kathy Gray

I confess. I love Christmas—all of Christmas. I love decorating trees and fireplaces; I love twinkly lights and baking Christmas cookies. I love silly Christmas movies with silly stories. And yes, I love gifts. I LOVE gifts—unapologetically.

I love finding the perfect gifts and the excitement of giving them. I love the thrill of a gift-heaped tree and the anticipation of all the surprises. I love opening presents all morning and enjoying them all afternoon. And...

I think God enjoys it too. I think he's a Father in heaven that finds pleasure in joyful, excited kids, just like we do. And I believe we glorify him more in our overflowing joy, than our dour admonitions to "have the right focus."

What exactly is "the right focus" anyway? I'm curious. If someone went to a remote part of the world today and discovered a pagan holiday, imbibed it with religious significance, then declared that March 14th was the day we were all to observe this—would we be obligated? Would God expect us to focus extra hard on that specific truth because some Christian somewhere decided this was a good idea? God gave numerous celebrations in Scripture, loaded with spiritual significance, which we routinely ignore. But the revised pagan celebration from ancient England, which is nowhere to be found in the Bible—we endlessly admonish ourselves for neglecting. How ironic.

I love thinking about the incarnation. It is an awesome and stunning reality that deserves to be renewed regularly in our hearts. But I feel no more obligation to do so in December than I do in July. There is nothing Biblically binding about our Christmas celebration beyond the principles that apply to every day of our lives such as goodness, faithfulness, generosity, gratitude, contentment, peace, joy, patience, and kindness.

I'm not sure what it says about us when the pagans exhibit more joy in their holiday celebrations than we do. I think we should be the merriest people on earth, exhibiting such contagious joy that everyone around us is asking why we enjoy life so much. If I were an unbeliever, I would certainly NOT want to be a Christian during Christmas...with the incessant guilt-laden admonitions, dour expressions, and weary sighs. Nothing about this is attractive.

So no, I don't feel guilty in the least during the holiday season for not focusing enough on Jesus' birth. I feel the same freedom I feel every day of the week to focus on Christ in a whole array of ways. And yes, I love Christmas. I choose to focus on Christ by observing that he gave the most amazing gift to those he loved when he came to earth. Consequently, I want to have a generous heart towards those I love as well. I want to reflect his goodness by rejoicing in the fact that every good and perfect gift is from the Father above, and he gives these good gifts for our enjoyment. I want to honor him with exceeding joy and gratitude in the midst of all these good gifts. And if any unbelievers are watching, I want my joy and celebration to be irresistible.

Meet Kathy Gray. . .

Kathy Gray is our daughter, a home-school mom, a teacher par excellance, and, as you can see, an excellent writer—and a lover of Christmas. She, and our daughter Twyla, get their writing ability from me (and my mother) and their love of Christmas from their mother, my wife, Carol. (I actually enjoy it almost as much, but only because of how well Carol and the girls pull it off. They all three love to give gifts that fit and bring happiness to the people they love, and like Kathy, I think that’s a virtue to praise God for, not a behavior to be ashamed of.

Thanks Kathy, for a beautiful essay and a wonderful statement of faith. I love you!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.