Named Christian

Acts 11
26 … And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

The disciples never claimed the title of Christian. To do such a thing would have been considered irreverent and arrogant and most unlike Christ! The label was placed upon those who truly lived like they were following Jesus example. It was not self claimed but self evident!
The church today has reduced the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a mere ticket, purchased at the price of an emotional decision, with no repentance and no commitment. The label of “Christian” is claimed when it should only be earned! We claim the title “Christian” without thought, conviction or cost. The word Christian has been twisted to mean so much that it means nothing! Fellowship has been replaced by community, praise neglected for performance whilst repentance and transformation have been scrapped with a lust for attendance and tithe. So much is labelled “Christian” but it is lifeless, empty, unsatisfying, man glorifying flesh! Call it “Christian” if you like but The Word of God does not call it Godly!

Revelation 3
1 … you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

God in His Word gives no promise or blessing to the “Christian”. Promises of blessing to God’s people are always made with specification or condition.
The world’s culture of entitlement, pride and rebellion seem to have influenced the church. We claim a label then demand the blessing, treating Jesus like some ticket for heaven that we can stash in our back pocket. This is arrogance and blasphemy. It has the name of Christ but it is utterly dead! There is no life because there is no Christ!

John 3
3 … unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 5
17 … if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Only those who are Born Again of The Spirit of God can see and enter the Kingdom of God; Only those who have repented and called upon the name of The Lord; Only those who believe in their heart that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead and that His Spirit has been sent into our hearts. His sheep are those who know Him and hear His voice, His disciples are those who continue in His word, His people are those who are circumcised of heart and separated from the world.
Beware of merely claiming a label and assuming a blessing. There will be many on the day of judgement to whom He will say ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:22-23)
I am growing ever more careful about any label that man may use. I do not want to be known by the label of my theology, denomination or church building. Let me simply be known as a believer in and disciple/servant/follower of Jesus! I do not want His testimony to be associated with the nonsense and blasphemy that claims His name. Oh Lord may You blow away the chaff and separate your sheep. May You cause the trumpet sound to be clear, establish Your testimony in Your people and expose the flesh that claims Your name! Glorify Yourself once again and cause the nations and to fear and reverence the Almighty, Living, Creator God in His people.

Matthew 7
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The gate is narrow as a man must forsake everything to fit through it! Forsake all sin, all worldliness, all flesh…
The way is as narrow as a man’s shoulders as it is directly behind Christ, walking in HIS WAY, HIS footsteps!! THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!!

The Beauty of Holiness

Psalm 29
2 … worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

The beauty of Holiness is Jesus Christ! He is the fulfilment of The Law! He the Altogether Lovely One. HIS Life fulfils The Law, HIS Life abhors sin, HIS Life loves, serves, obeys, surrenders and trusts The Father! It is HIS Life within the believers who are clothed with HIS righteousness that worships The Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 93:5
“…Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.”

Holiness adorns those with whom He dwells, those who are His living temples. People altogether set apart unto Him, circumcised of heart, abhorring evil and loving His Word, allowing HIS Life and HIS Love to flow through them. Holiness is utterly dependant and completely yielded to The Father, filled with His Holy Spirit and so naturally produces HIS fruit!
Holiness is rooted in Christ’s humility. It is a life of faith naturally producing works/fruits of faith. It is Christ within, living through, who is demonstrated in the way that the believer lives. Holiness is the fruit of His life, it can be mimicked by legalism but the beauty of holiness is Christ only and always!

Revelation 4
8 …and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

I cannot try to convey or explain the Holiness of God but it is amazing to meditate on. The word holy, at its root, means set apart. Truly our God is altogether set apart from creation! He is altogether above and beyond anything man can grasp or imagine! He is altogether Sovereign over all things, He is Light, He is Truth, He is without spot or blemish, He is The One True Living God!
This is holiness and we are to worship The Lord in the beauty of that holiness. Jesus only is the beauty of holiness! How absurd it is to think that we could produce any kind of beauty through self effort in the flesh! However, “through faith”, through faithful obedience God’s Word and faithfully abiding in Him, The Spirit of God through our flesh produces the fruit, the beauty of Christ’s Holiness, HIS Life, His Heart, His Testimony! Hallelujah!
Legalism tries to mimic holiness but is rooted in pride and the elevation of flesh. It works hard to maintain standards addressing the appearance of the outward man. It focuses on the letter and on the keeping of laws in self and corporately in others. It is strife, contention, prejudice and pride. There is a great temptation to teach the law, it often produces quick results, but it does not produce Life. It is flesh breeding flesh and will only produce death!
Legalism is pride in the flesh and pride, like bad body odour, can sometimes be hard to detect in ourselves but surely stinks to others! Here are some considerations to help identify/discern our hearts.

May our lives be marked by HIS holiness, by HIS love that fulfils the law, not the flesh which strives to keep it. May we be vessels for the outflowing of HIS LIFE and the fruit of HIS SPIRIT! May we tend to our own root and trust The Holy Spirit to produce HIS Fruit in us and others. It is HIS LIFE so serve The Lord in the beauty of submission to HIS Life!

Galatians 2
18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

The Joy of Conviction & Godly Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7
9 Now I rejoice, not because you were made sorry, but because you were sorrowful unto repentance: for ye were made grieved after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow produces repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil,: but worldly/fleshly sorrow is deadly resulting only in death.
11 For look back now and observe that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, and observe what this same godly sorrow has done for you and has produced in you…

Why would we give thanks for such an experience of the burden of sin? How can we find comfort in sorrow for sin? It may seem strange to rejoice in such regret and shame.
But look what such sorrow produces, repentance that leads to restored fellowship and rejoicing! The greater the sorrow, the greater the repentance, the greater the rejoicing!! Hallelujah! “But he who is forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:47

Romans 2
4 Or are you so blind as to despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant of the fact that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent?

Consider this thoroughly… It is God’s loving kindness that leads us to repentance. It is His mercy that allows us to feel such guilt and grief. In order to repent we must first acknowledge and confess our shame, weakness and sin. Coming to such an understanding of our flesh in the eyes of our perfect, loving Saviour is a painful and shameful realisation.
Why? Why does God lead us to such regret, shame and anguish? Why does His goodness lead us to experience such sorrow, grief and conviction? How on earth does the acknowledgement of such wretchedness demonstrate the Almighty Love of God?

Hebrews 12
6 For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.
7 You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline?
8 Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all].
…
11 For the present time no discipline/punishment brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness-in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].

God deals with us as His children!!! The heart of The Father thoroughly delights in His sons and daughters! The Born Again believer is a child of God and heir with Christ! He has placed His glory on us! He LOVES US with an everlasting love! He disciplines us for our good; to restore us to Him and to glorify His name in and through His people!
Jacob spoke truly when he said “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercy and loving-kindness and all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant” Genesis 32:10. We are not worthy of the least of all His mercies!! We are worthy of God’s wrath and hell! But God, who is rich in mercy and great love takes time to teach us, correct us and has promised to forgive our sins when we sincerely confess our lack and disobedience to Him.
Our Heavenly Father longs for us to come to Him in repentance so that He can restore us into glorious communion and fellowship in His secret place of intimacy!

Psalm 23
4 Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

For the heart/soul that longs to abide in “the secret place of The Most High” there is such great comfort in the chastisement and conviction of The Lord! How precious are His proddings, pressings and painful lessons! How precious is the privilege and opportunity to have our flesh/sin exposed and then to come in confession and repentance!
To be lovingly, though sternly corrected by The Shepherd, to be taught and rebuked in love by Almighty God! It is so incredible that God would be so patient and tender with these failing, lusting hearts! But HALLELUJAH!!! WHAT A SAVIOUR!!

Psalm 119
65 You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your promise.
…
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now Your word do I keep [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].
…
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.
…
75 I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right and righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

Psalm 51
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
…
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You.
…
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.|

REPENTANCE ALWAYS LEADS TO REJOICING!! We are not to live in a constant state of sorrow, we are not to remain in a state of affliction and grief. To stay there is to continue in sin!
When The Lord does lead us to repentance, when Godly sorrow does overwhelm us, when the burden and guilt of lack and sin weighs us down… Then let us come in obedience, humbled but boldly to His feet and confess and repent! And immediately we do we can rise up REJOICING! For He forgives!!! He restores, cleanses and forgets!! Hallelujah!! Praise The Lord!! Oh, what great love and comfort there is in The Lord’s chastening!
Oh, praise God for His tender mercies and loving kindnesses that lead us to sorrowful repentance. Oh God, THANK YOU for the dealing of your Holy Spirit! Oh Lord give us more of your Godly sorrow for sin that we might praise you all the more for your love, mercy, patience, forgiveness, long suffering and compassion.

I Shall Yet Praise Him

Psalm 42
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.
6 O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You…

THE QUESTION: Why?! Why are you cast down? Why are you fretting? What is wrong with you?! Why are you looking at yourself, or the enemy, or the storm? “Consider your ways”, analyse/understand your battle. Answer the question accurately and specifically… Why are you cast down?
The question suggests that it is unreasonable to be downcast. Sin is no cause or reason, because we are promised it shall not have dominion over us and, upon repentant confession, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin; Satan and his temptations are also no reason to be cast down. God is mightier than the devil! The Spirit of Jesus Christ, who abides in the believer is greater than he that is in the world! Satan can go only as far as God allows. There is no justifiable reason for the believer’s soul to be cast down! We have every reason to look up and wait expectantly in hope!
The implied answer is that we are downcast because we have moved our eyes from looking at our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We have taken our eyes off of all that He is, all that He has done and all that He has taught and promised! And we have started to perceive by our own logic and lean on our own understanding. We have magnified the problem/flesh and not The Lord!
THE RESPONSE: I shall yet praise Him! I will praise Him anyway!! Despite my circumstance, despite the enemy, no matter the storm, I will yet continue to praise The Lord with a set and determined heart of faith and trust. I will not let the enemy, the world or my flesh take me from abiding in Christ, the secret place of The Most High! I will not heed distraction but cling to The Lord, His promises and His faithfulness.
But also, I will yet have a testimony of paise in this situation so don’t be cast down… For praise is coming! Victory is coming! Joy is coming in the morning! A testimony of The Lord’s sustaining grace; providence; provision; goodness and mercy is coming! I will yet praise Him because I know that “surely” I will always look back and see His goodness and mercy following me. His Glory shall be my testimony!
I shall YET PRAISE HIM!! I will remember Calvary! I will remember that victory is already won! I will remember that we have been delivered by a Mighty Hand! I will remember that my name is written in Heaven! I will remember His So Great Salvation! I will remember His complete deliverance from Egypt; His promise to never leave me nor forsake me; His loving kindnesses and tender mercies… I will remember my Redeemer, my Saviour, my loving Heavenly Father and that Almighty God lives within me!! And then I will ask myself… Why are you cast down??

Matthew 28
20 “I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

⁠If we have the faith to really believe that this is true then how/why are you downcast oh my soul, my brother, my sister? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for we shall yet praise Him, our Help and our God!

No More Sad

1 Samuel 1
15 …I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I was pouring out my soul before the Lord.
16 Regard not your handmaid as a wicked woman; for out of my great complaint and bitter provocation I have been speaking.
17 Then Eli said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.
18 Hannah said, Let your handmaid find grace in your sight. So she went her way and ate, her countenance no longer sad.

•⁠ ⁠There was no sudden and miraculous change in Hannah’s circumstance. When she left the temple that day she had to go back to the same bitter enmity and ridicule that she had been dealing with for so many years. In the flesh there was no immediate comfort, support or remedy to her pain. The storm still raged, the enemy did not draw back…
•⁠ ⁠The only change to be seen that day was in her face, meaning her disposition or her attitude. She was no more sad. She was no more in defeat and shame. She was no more hopeless and sorrowful. She was no more overwhelmed, exasperated, frustrated or weary.
•⁠ ⁠So what did change for Hannah? She lifted her gaze. She was no longer looking at her self through eyes of flesh but seeing, by faith, the loving kindnesses and tender mercies of The Lord. She was no longer looking earthward but Godward, to the promises and testimonies of The Lord. She looked beyond her self and saw The Lord. Hanna cast ALL of her care upon The Lord. She lay all of her burdens down at His feet. She cast herself upon His goodness and mercy and she truly trusted in Him. She cried out and vowed that the fruit/blessing of The Lord would be HIS testimony and for HIS glory and honour. She was no longer lusting for the blessing but found comfort, peace and rest in the one who blesses.
•⁠ ⁠We only know Hannah’s name because of the fruit of this faith. There was nothing royal or powerful about her. She was just a woman longing for a child, longing to be fruitful. But as she cried out to The Lord and poured out her complaint to Him, as she yielded to His will and glory, she became a woman of quiet, confident, assured faith. The testimony of The Lord came from that faith. It was not until Hannah rose up no more sad that fruit and testimony came. A Mighty work, far more than Hannah prayed for or could have imagined!
•⁠ ⁠May we learn to have such faith as Hannah. May we be like Moses, “for he had respect unto the rewarder of the reward… for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:26-27

Romans 15
13 May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.