Paul’s Prayer was for our eyes to be open to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that we would know of the hope to which he has called us, and how great our inheritance is in Christ (including his power toward us). We must just believe, and believe that God Himself desires the same for us.

God has given Jesus all rule over all the earth, and given him all rule, power, and authority. We are to exercise the authority of Christ as well. We are to exercise this authority as He apportions it out, since Christ the the head of the Church. We are to exercise His rule on the earth.

God has given us a great and holy calling, and we should walk in a manner that is worthy of this calling.

• Humility
• Gentleness
• Patience, bearing with one another in love

How do we do this?

By putting off our old nature and renewing our minds, putting on the new self. What does this mean? That by the grace of God we are to put to death the old selves (stop acting in a sinful way), by changing the way we think. After we change the way we think we must also take action in accordance with this thinking. Without action, faith is dead, and in order to put on the new self we must act in faith to obey the teaching of Christ. We must put on Christ daily.

I must wake up in the morning, ask God for the grace to change, to not act in accordance with my old self, but seek grace to put the sinful ways to death. I must also ask for grace to follow Christ throughout the day, and to grow in tune with the Holy Spirit.

• We are called to always speak the truth with our neighbors, because we are members one with another.
• We are to be angry, but to resolve our anger before we sleep.
• We are to work to give us the ability to share.
• We are to speak in order to give grace to those around us.
• We are to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.
• We are to be full of thanksgiving, thanking God for everything.
• We are to expose the deeds of darkness, and expose them to the light.
• We are to make the best use of our time, guided by the knowledge of the will of the Lord in our lives.
• We are to be filled with the Spirit, and speak encouraging psalms and Hymns to each other
• We are to make melody in our hearts to the Lord

We are to remove:

• Bitterness
• Wrath
• Anger
• Clamor
• Slander
• Malice

We are to avoid the appearance of:

• Sexual Immorality
• All Impurity (what is “impurity’?)
• Covetousness

(This is taken from “Organic Leadership” by Niel Cole…I had to share)

Jesus is not about safe. He is the one who said things like “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves MT 10:16.” I did not come to bring peace but a sword Mt 10:34.”

We often approach ministiry with a theology of SAFE:

Self-preservation=our mission

Avoidance fo the world and risk=wisdom

Financial Security=responsible faith

Education=maturity

Self-preservation is actively choosing an alternative to the life of God…It a direct move away from faith…Use your desire to live as a motivation to die, for this is the only path leading to true life in God’s upside down kingdom. When presented with a choice between self-preservation and the cross, there should be no choice. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (lk 9:23)”

This is what a theology of DEATH looks like:

Dying daily to who we are

Empowering others (not self) as our life

Accepting risk as normative

Theology as not just knowledge but practice

Holding tight to Christ and having an open hand with all else that we “possess”

The role of leaders it to equip others so they are no longer necessary. The more disposable we are as leaders the more valuable we are, but the less attetion will be paid to us. The true success of a leader isn’t what they have done, but what others have done around them. Every leader should have an exit strategy. Jesus had the ultimate exit strategy. Jesus knew He was going to the cross and had to build his disciples accordingly. We should also go to the cross and live a life that empowers others.

Thoughts

When I read the bible I try to ask God what to Read. Usually its something in Isaiah. Today on the plane ride back from Las Vegas opened the Bible to Psalm 88 randomly, read it, and then asked God, “What do you want me to read?” The response came back, “Psalm 88.” So I figured I missed something.

If you read Psalm 88, there is nothing really redeeming about it. There is no real positive statements. Most Psalms that are “angst” psalms have a positive conclusion at the end, something like, “But I know that the Lord will save me. He will hear from his holy mountain and rescue me.” I was looking for an ending is Psalm 88 like that.

But it’s not there.

This guy is depressed. He feels like God isn’t listening, or God is angry at him. He is crying and praying, wondering where God is going to show up. Actually, He seems to wonder IF God will show up. The conclusion:

“You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend (Psalm 88:18 NIV).”

So I asked God: “What is up with this?” The response I got was that:

I don’t want you to feel like you can’t vent to me. Even when you feel like the world is coming to an end, and you are wondering why life is sucking, you can talk to me about it. I want to be your closest friend. I want you to release to me.

I don’t get it though. I thought we were to “do all things without complaining or grumbling,” but this is Scripture that shows that the Father wants us to be able to release to Him. Maybe this isn’t considered complaining, its more like stating you emotions to God, stating how we feel and what we think about God, e.g. “I have suffered your terrors and am in despair. Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me (v 15b-16).”

What do you think? Is God your venting source?

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”–Col 2:5

The father is always pruning our lives so that we would bear more fruit (John 15:2), and we must yield to him in the task. Paul states, “I beat my body and mke it my slave…(1 cor 9:27).”

Lets look at six reasons we need to be about killing sin:

1.  Indwelling sin patterns will always be a problem in this world.

• We are not already made perfect (Phil 3:12).  We are inwardly being renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:1), and in the renovations that are going on within is the tearing down of the old, broken ways of that past.
• We have a war to overcome between the sinful nature and the Spirit of God that dwells within (Gal 5:17)
• We have a body of death (Rom 7:24) that we must be delivered from by putting it to death (Phil 3:21)
• If we are to kill an enemy, we can’t give up half way; we must persevere (Gal 6:9)(Heb 12:1)()(2 Cor 7:1)

2. Sin is always at work seeking to ensnare us and others, so we must always be weary of letting our guard down.  This battle will last all our days, and if we stop fighting against it we will be like a boxer who goes to fight and drops his gloves.

• The sinful nature desire what is contrary to the Spirit (Gal 5:17)
• Lust is always trying to temp us to sin (Jas 1:14)
• Sin “easily” entangles (Heb 12:1)

3. Sin, if not continually killed, will slowly kill you.  Ever sin that rises to temp or entice desires to move you to its extreme.  Every unclean glance seeks to be adultry, every coveting look seeks to be oppression, ever hatred or bitterness to be murder, and ever unbelieving thought to be atheism. This is the deceitfulness of sin.

• Sin seeks to harden your heart to itself and drive you away from God (Heb 3:12-13)  Sin’s foothold is small in the beginning, but seeks to take further ground and press on to higher heights.  Ted bundy attributes the beginning of his slide into depravity with pornography and slasher films.  Lust is never satisfied (Prov 30:15-16)and calls out for a deeper and deeper deprafity.  This growth has no boundaries except utter denial of God and opposition to Him.  Sin proceeds higher by degrees; it hardens the heart as it advances.  Nothing can stop this advance but killing it.

4.  The Holy Spirit, our new nature, and the Word of God are given to us to oppose sin and lust. (Gal 5:17)1 Pet 1:4()

• It is our participation putting off the old mand putting on the new man (Col 3:9-10).  We can’t do this in ourselves but must ask for grace from God to overcome.  If we don’t ask and recieve this help, and try to do this in ourselves, the result will be self-righteousness.

5.  Neglect of the task of killing sin makes our inner man shrivel instead of renewing him.  Paul affirms that the inward man is renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16), but this is a choice we must make (Rom 12:2).  If we neglect this renewal, the inner man perishes, and the outward man is able to strengthen.  The world, the flesh, and the devil are continually pushing against us, and we cannot stop pushing back or we will be knocked backward.  Letting sin advance can cause a humble, tender, zelous believer into a carnal, cold, and wrathful person if it is allowed its full course.

• Grace must be excercised or it can wither and die (Rev 3:2)
• Sin seeks to harden our hearts (Heb 3:13)
• When sin starts to gain a foothold, it rots us out on the inside (Ps 31:10)
• Sin makes a man weak, sick, and ready to die (Ps Ps 40:12), and death is the chief end of the devil

6.  Spiritual growth is our daily duty (2 cor 4:16)

• We are to be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1) every day.
• We are to be growing in grace every day (1 pet 2:2)(2 pet 3:18.

In summary:

Though we have a new nature though Jesus Christ, though we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, and though we have the precious promises of God to latch hold of, we are still in a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.  Mortification of sin is our daily duty, and to do so we must not only be aware of the schemes of the devil (2 Cor 2:11), but must also renew our inner man day by day to fight this battle. In all of this we must rejoice that God has given us victory through Jesus Christ, if we only will choose to take hold of it.

“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, wagin war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our lord!” (Rom 7:21-25a)

Note:  much of this is from the book “Mortification of Sin” by John Owen