The Grace to Endure

I just started reading a book by John Piper called Future Grace. I am only a little ways in, but it's good, as all John Piper's books are, of course. Briefly, this book is about what it looks like for Christians to live obedient, fruitful lives (a theme I am always wanting to learn more about if you haven't noticed yet). The premise of this book is that we are obedient to God, not because of gratitude, but because of love, and that we obey not becuase of his faithfulness in the past, but because we have faith in the grace he will give us in the future. Piper, of course, does not say that God's past grace is unimportant or that we should not be thankful. He only points out that we will never continue to be obedient in the future if we don't have faith in God's future grace that he will provide both on this earth and in heaven. Thankfulness for the past is not enough to stir morality is pitiful sinners. Like I said, it's good. I am giving you this intro on the book in case I share anything else from it over these next few weeks or months.

So I was reading Piper's chapter on anxiety in the book (because apparently my breathing troubles might be caused by anxiety...yuck...want to get that sin out of my life ASAP), and I stumbled across this beautiful, intriguing phrase..."the grace to endure." Piper was talking about the fear of public speaking that haunted him throughout his childhood and into college. It seems almost funny now, as he is one of the most well known pastors in America, but he was plagued by anxiety about speaking in public for years and years. Like shaky voice, shaky hands, all the kids in the class and the teacher felt bad for him kind of anxiety. And he said he prayed hundreds of prayers for help during those years and God only provided the grace to endure...

The grace to endure. What a humbling, intriguing idea. Sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers how we want him to or when we want him to. However, he gives us the strength to keep going despite our trials. Our very lives are a mark of God's grace, so if life is hard, and God gives us the strength to keep going and keep trusting in Him, despite hardship, that is God's grace in our lives. We don't deserve endurance.

This phrase led me to the Bible, where I read all I could about enduring and endurance. Here are a few of the things I found...

Luke 21:19 "By your endurance you will gain your lives." Jesus is telling his disciples about the hardships they will endure as his followers after he leaves earth. He says they will be mocked, hated, and possibly even killed, but their endurance in persecution is a mark of their salvation.

Romans 5:3-5 "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Love these verses. So not only do we not deserve to endure, but God uses endurance to strengthen and sanctify us. Endurance results in character and character produces hope. The result of endurance is hope in God - and his future grace.

I Peter 2:19-20 "Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." The context of this verse is a command for slaves to be subject to their masters. But this is a truth for all believers. We are to endure suffering, even when we suffer for doing good. This is a mark of God's grace in our lives, because it shows that we are following the example of Christ, and God looks on this kind of endurance with favor and blessing.

Hebrews: 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Here our lives are compared to a race that must be run with perserverance all the way to the finish line. Anyone with running background knows that races are not easy. Race day means you push your body to perform at your maximum level. Races are hard, but it is exciting to finish them well. Here Jesus is, again, the example of the model racer. His race included a cross right before the finish line... He endured more than we can imagine and finished his race perfectly so the rest of us could finish our races with endurance as well.

How is God giving you the grace to endure today? How is this producing hope in your life?

Reflection #5 - Resurrection!

I just finished the Gospels today. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Done. I am so excited to begin Acts tomorrow. The stories of the early church and God's amazing movement in building the Christian faith and the work of the Holy Spirit as the Gospel spreads "to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47) is one of my favorite parts of the whole Bible. But more about that later.

Yesterday I read about Christ's crucifixion and today about his empty tomb. How amazing is it that our God overcame death? I mean, I guess He wouldn't be our God if he hadn't - He would be like all the other powerless, dead gods that people worship all over the world. But our God is real. He is active. He is living. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven advocating on our behalf. He has conquered death and He is returning to earth again someday, not as the meek, humble Savior like the first time, but as powerful King and conqueror. Amazing. I just wanted to reflect for a minute on how much I love Jesus. He died for me. He was like a sheep silent before its shearers when He was being accused and convicted of crimes He had never committed. He lived the perfect, righteous life on this earth, and then died the death that I deserved. He suffered all of God's wrath against every sin ever committed in the history of the earth, and then he "gave up his Spirit" (John 19:30). He willingly tasted death, so that I might know Him and live with Him eternally. Then three days later, he arose from the grave because death could not hold him. He walked again on this earth in his glorified body and then ascended to be with the Father in heaven once again, with the promise that He would return again one day, and that through His Holy Spirit, He will be with us always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). That's my God. Is that your God too?

A Brief Geography Lesson

One thing that I have gained a better understanding of by reading the study Bible is the geography of the New Testemant. During the OT, the Hebrews conquered the Promised Land and established what came to be known as Israel. During the times of David and Solomon, Israel expanded to its greatest area of land, but due to Solomon's sin at the end of his reign, the country eventually divided into two kingdoms, the North and the South. The North Kingdom was soon conquered by the Assyrians and its people were exiled. Centuries later, the South Kingdom, which was made up of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and revolved around the capital of Jerusalem, was also conquered, but by the Babylonians. I have lots of previous posts about this. The OT leaves off  with the Israelites, who were permitted to return to the area of Jerusalem once again, attempting to rebuild their diminished, underpopulated teritory, still under the control of the Persian Empire. While the temple was rebuilt, the OT leaves off with a feeling of sorrow and axieity, a longing for the Savior of the Jews to arrive.

By the time Jesus does arrive on earth, some crazy things have gone on in history and geography. The area of Israel is now ruled by the Roman Empire. Israel never did return to its former state nor was it able to occupy much of its former land. Instead, the area of Judea is its own little territory of sorts. Imagine it as one county or region in the midst of a huge country or continent ruled by Rome. Judea stems from Judah - and this is the area surrounding Jerusalem. Above Judea is Samaria, and this is the territory where the Samaritians are from - those people who were separated from and disliked by the Jews. When Jesus is kind to the Samaritian woman, it's surprsing to the disciples because Jews don't associate with the Samaritans (John 4). The well-known parable of The Good Samaritan is surprising, because it was a Samaritian that was willing to stop and help the hurt Jew, instead of the other Jews who passed the man by (Luke 10). These were not normal practices in this society. The Samaritans were of mostly mixed Jewish decent. They were Jewish peoples who had married interracially or interculturally after the exile, so they were looked down upon by those who had distinctly Jewish ancestry (think Pureblood and mudblood HP fans...). The Samaritans also worshiped Yaweh, but they did not go to Jerusalem to worship. Their culture and their religion were both mixed entities and the Jews did not like that.

However, to get from Jerusalem up to the region of Galilee (the territory surrounding the Sea of Galilee) by the most direct route, one would have to pass through Samaria. And of course, the region of Galilee was where our Savior grew up and where he spent most of his ministry years. The common places frequently named in the Gospels, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Nazareth, Bethsaida, were all in this region of Galilee. And, if you can imagine, compared to the urban center of Jerusalem, Galilee was in the boonies. Certain cities such as Capernaum, where Jesus performed many miracles, were more developed than others, but tiny towns such as Nazareth, where Mary and Joseph were from, were basically "the sticks." Tiny, poor population of uneducated people. And this is where Jesus was from, which is why Phillip asked "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46).

Understanding these regions has given me a whole new view of Jesus during his ministry. I can see why the Jews were so anxious for poltical Savior to free them from the grasp of Roman authorities and to restore their land to them. It was probably frustrating to live in small regions, mixed with pagan cultures, when your people used to have their own powerful country. However, Jesus came to "seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10) - which is far better than poltical restoration, but something so many Jews could not understand.

And now... my first attempt to add photos to the Bible blog...

The Kingdom of Israel during the time of David and Solomon:

 The first one shows the region right after the Jews returned from exile; the second one is what the area looked like during Jesus' ministry:

Departing and Praying

When studying Jesus' life and ministry in the Gospels, many will often point out the times Scripture states that Jesus woke up early in the morning to spend time with the Lord. Clearly, this sets an example for us as believers that time of solitude with the Lord is to be a prominent and essential part of our lives.

However, I have been learning this year, through both Mars Hill sermons on Luke and through my own reading of the Bible, that Jesus' time with the Lord was so much more than a quiet time here and there. Luke 5:16, after describing the start of Jesus' ministry, the calling of the first disciples and one of the first acts of healing, says "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." The Greek construction of these words (imperfect verb and two present participles)  can also be translated "was regularly withdrawing and praying." This was Jesus' way of life. And when we he do it? Not just early in the morning, and not just when He had time for it. He continually did it. It was a pattern of His life to withdraw from his disciples, apostles and the crowds that followed him in wonder, to spend uninterrupted, prayerful time with His Father... our Father.

What would my life look like if I was "regularly withdrawing and praying?" I feel blessed to have fulfilling, fairly lengthy times with God every morning. However, my time is still mainly made up of studying Scripture and rarely includes prayer (confession of sin). It is my compartmentalized chunk of time set aside every morning. I am in no way planning to forsake this time that God has given me, but what if I also withdrew to pray throughout the day? And not just when I have time for it. For Jesus, it seems to be when he had the least time that he would make a point to WITHDRAW and pray. Withdraw from what? The constant crowds who needed spiritual and physical healing, the needy apostles who had willing hearts but were immature in their faith and needed constant teaching, the proud teachers of the law who needed rebuke. In the very verse before 16, it says "...great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities, BUT he would withdraw to desolate places and pray" (Luke 5:15b-16). What would my life look like and how would my faith grow if I could become like Jesus and withdraw and pray during the least convenient, most busy times of my life? Clearly, that's when we need God's guidance and rest the most.