Back in the Saddle

If you are someone who reads this blog, you can probably tell that over the last 5 months, our (Josh and mine) activity has been lacking relative to previous months. This has been partly intentional, partly circumstantial, and partly due to forgetfulness.

It was intentional in that I (Mike) was beginning to notice that posting on here subtly became a burden, and my resulting posts became increasingly sloppy and thoughtless. I came to realize that I had forgotten Josh's and I's original intention in starting this blog; to be a place where we could center our thoughts on the glorious gospel of God's unfathomable love for those who had gone astray. This blog was created to be a place of refreshment. It was meant to be a place where sinners could plunge deep into the depths of God's mercy and once again be reminded of the story in which they live; the story of our Heavenly Father unceasingly pursuing our adoption and redemption. When my posts lacked this foundational motivation, I decided that it would be good to take a break.

The lack of posts was also circumstantial. It is true that as you grow older, life gets busier. Josh is currently entering his 4th year of medical school at the University of Illinois. If  you don't know much about med school, just know that there are frequent periods where you are hostage to a very demanding schedule, sometimes 70-80 hours in a week. Thus, writing on behalf of Josh, I know he is busy. For me (Mike), there are a couple updates. First and foremost, I got married! On August 11th, I married the love of my life and best friend, Ally (now Berttucci......check out here blog HERE). All this to say, with a wedding comes a lot of planning and craziness. On top of the wedding, I'm still full time with Rebirth: East St. Louis, as well as taking part time classes at Covenant Seminary. I'm hoping now that Ally and I are finally getting settled in our new apartment and getting more into a routine, I will have more opportunities to write.

Over the past several weeks, I have realized how much I have missed writing on All of Grace. I realized that writing on here was not just about posting  something so that others could read. Rather, it is an opportunity for me to stop, to reflect, and to center myself upon the gospel. I realized that I needed it for my refreshment. Of course, life is busy, which means that circumstantially I may not be able to write as much. Yet, I know that it takes intentionality and discipline to consistently ground myself in the reality of the gospel. I also know that this is something I deeply desire and need. To that end, it is my hope to re-enter the blogging world by aiming to write at least a couple times a week on here. As always, I love when people comment, encourage, or interact with anything myself or Josh writes.

Looking forward to being back in the saddle. 

Relationship=Obedience

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you in holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

1 Peter 1: 14-19

In this passage, Peter is calling his readers to godly obedience and holy living. He sets the bar pretty high, calling his readers to a holiness that parallels that of God. This leaves me wondering, "how in the heck could I ever be that obedient and that holy?" If you know yourself, you will know that being obedient to God's perfect standard is more than difficult. 

I love this passage because it sets this radical call to be holy in context. What is the means by which we are able to be holy and obey God? How do we break away from our sinful patterns in which we once lived? Peter starts the passage off by saying, "As obedient children". We obey because we are children. Our identity shift from spiritual orphans to beloved children of God. 

My college football coach used to always say, "Rules without relationship equals rebellion. Rules with relationship equals results."I think there is a lot of truth to that. Without a proper relationship with God, our default will always be rebellion. In the gospel, we are able to obey because of our new relationship with God. We obey, because,as God's children, He loves us. In fact, he couldn't possibly love us, or be more delighted in us that he already is. The reason is because we were ransomed in Christ. Not only did this act of ransom (Jesus dying on the cross as the ransom penalty for our sins) demonstrate God's love towards us, it also connects us and brings us into a relationship with him. It secures our place as his children. We now have the right to adopted as God's children. Further, the same way the Father views the Son (Jesus), he now views us. 

So, this is why Peter starts by saying, "As obedient children." It's as if he is saying, "because you have been made God's children, because you are united to Him, because God is your perfect Father who loves you, because Christ has ransomed you, go and obey. Because you are in God's family, you are now able to resemble the holiness of your Father."

This is good news for someone like me who constantly falls on my face. This is good news for someone who tends to view my obedience before God as a try out to be on God's team. The truth is, I'm already God's child. I already made the team. And me making the team wasn't contingent upon my performance, but because Jesus picked me and ransomed me so that I could be participate. 

Dad

DAVID R. LAWRENZ

Dec. 30, 1951 - Sept. 4, 2011

Dad,
I love you. There is none who could ever replace you in my life. You were my beloved father, and mom's sweetheart of 30 yrs. More evidently, your heart was set on the things of the Lord. I know at this moment you are dancing and singing praises in the presence of your Savior, Jesus. Praise the Lord for your life here with me.
Love,
Josh

....

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 27: 3-4

Good Friday & Easter

Garden of Gethsemane.

Ostracized.

Outcast.

Delivered to the cross.

Flogged.

Released prisoner (You and I).

It is Finished.

Died in our place.

Abandoned by the Father.

Yielded up His spirit.

Empty tomb.

Angels announce ‘He has risen’.

Scriptures fulfilled.

Third Day.

End of death's reign.

Raised with Christ!

The Promises Of God Are Our Foundation

"Our relationship with God should not be defined by our feelings about ourselves at any one moment, but by the eternal promises of God that we know throughout every moment."

-Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

….

I often fall into a deceiving and foundationless mindset when I awake in the morning. I am burdened by the "daily doing" that lies ahead of me. My attitude and mood can be entirely dependent on my moral successes and failures of the previous day. I can be filled with so much unrest. I lose sight of where I truly stand with God, and seem to forget the joy of my salvation in the gospel.

But, I am brought back to peace when the scripture is spoken to me. God's word empowers me to believe in someone outside of myself, Christ Jesus. When you look at the person of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection, you begin to see He is the only answer to yourself. His life is the only explicable and powerful being that can deal with me. May we stay reminded that the Bible's truths are personal. They are corporate. They are defining. They are applicable. They are unchanging, and they are transcendent through all of time. If we embrace each and every moment in light of the truth of the Bible, I believe we will see more and more how they prove to be true!

Suffering

A few thoughts/notes on suffering...

1. God’s will be done, for His Glory

a. As King and Creator, His Will is as good as done and His purpose will not be compromised; don’t forget God’s purpose in creating the world was to bring Glory to His Name

b. For those in Christ, God will do all things for your good

2. Produce fruit in one’s life

a. Endurance, character, hope (Romans 5:3-4) (James 1:3)

b. Purpose of Sanctification – transformation into His likeness

3. Evangelism

a. Display the nature of Christ’s suffering

b. If Christ’s suffering was the ultimate manifestation of the Glory of God’s Grace, then displaying the nature of Christ’s suffering in our suffering will point unbelievers to the ultimate act of mercy and wrath, Christ’s saving death (gospel = where mercy meets wrath)

c. How will unbelievers truly know where our VALUE lies, if it appears it lies in our comfortable and prosperous lifestyles

1. We are called to be stripped of things, so we may display in our suffering, our true inheritance is in Christ, not things

I have never been through terrible physical suffering. I feel as if I don't know the slightest thing about experiencing suffering. However, I am learning from scripture it is the natural result of being a Christian in this world. And because I also believe nothing lies outside the will of God, I wonder "what is God's purpose for suffering in our lives?" I am still unclear in many ways, but I think it's important we think about it, in preparation for the suffering we should anticipate, for the glory of Christ.

random journal thoughts on sanctification

First, I think of spiritual formation and the process of sanctification as synonymous. I believe process is the right word for sanctification. Catholics would say that justification and sanctification are fused as one, and together we would progress in our justification and sanctification through God's INHERENT grace in us. The Protestant gospel says, the event of justification was a one-time deal 2000 some odd years ago, where Christ IMPUTED his righteousness to us in justification on the cross, and sanctification is occurring in and through us currently by the work of the spirit. Due to my plagued nature and Satan's temptation, it's very easy to convince myself that 'God was the actor in justification, and we are the actors in our sanctification'. I think that is a very prevalent misconception, and heresy, because it does not fully encapsulate the incredible grace of Christ, who rescued us, and has sent his spirit to work in and through us now as his children. Bottom line, I believe God was the actor in justification, and to the same extent, is the actor in sanctification, as it is a complete result of His grace we can make choices to change and pursue holiness. Here is quote by Bryan Chappel, President of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis from his book "Holiness by Grace"...


"Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God. His purposes become our own. Our soul delights in his service as love for him and thanksgiving for his mercy make us long to honor him. True grace produces joy and promotes godliness."

...

In short, it's not about doing stuff that makes us more holy. The wonderful gospel story of our justification in essence should fuel our sanctification. It is out of complete thankfulness and joy due to grace of Christ's finished work that we should move one ounce of flesh to godliness. It is still the working of the spirit that leads us to these actions. As we are now in Christ, if we truly are, our actions, our labor, our fruit, should point to the root of what Christ has done. It will always be about that, and never about our what we are doing.

One more thing, is that I do believe sanctification is cooperative. You have all know these verse, but as Paul writes in Philippians 2: 12-13...

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

...As it states, Paul commands us to work it out. It's not easy, and it does take something on our part. But I don't believe goal #1 is eliminating sin, as I know I often think. It's impossible, and discouraging to have it that way. That cannot be the standard by which we measure our sanctification, because it is an inconceivable scale. It is dealing with sin that is on the scale of infinity, and playing a game of balance in our minds and functionally in our actions only promotes pervasive, but well hidden pride. I believe our goal in pursuing holiness should be to align our affections with those of Christ Jesus. Eliminating sin is an obvious result of becoming more holy, but it can't be the focus. Practically, we should be moved to dive into scripture to learn it, as we are now in Christ, we are one of his people, and should know what our King commands. If we are going to identify with him in our rescue, we should also identify with him in everything else...we should come eager to the Lord in prayer and ask for his grace and forgiveness and strength...we should seek actively to serve our brothers. However, I know this stuff is not easy to want to do. Many times I don't want to do it and choose not to. I think as we go through those periods in our lives, probably daily, we should constantly be preaching the gospel to ourselves and asking God to reveal to us more fully the beauty of his grace and the power of his work on the cross. I truly believe it is through hearing the word of God, the gospel more, we will become so much more moved to action.

As we seek to grow in our faith, may we not look inwardly to ourselves, but outwardly to Jesus, and what he has done for us all by grace. May we refocus our vision from trying to improve our faith, to the object of our faith itself, Jesus Christ.

These are jumbled thoughts I wanted to get down before going back to class. I love you guys all so much, and am so thankful I have friends who want to talk about these things. I look up to you all (not just in the physical dimension..pun) and need your prayers. Can not wait to see you all next week, and to hear more about your thoughts on this topic. It is multifaceted, but I'm sure scripture is deep with wisdom.

He Himself is Enough

I've really noticed recently how so much of my prayer is centered on myself. I've found myself to be merely thankful to God for what he has given me in an earthly manner. Don't get me wrong, these gifts such as family, friends and education are wonderful, and God deserves every ounce of credit for sustaining me in those various ways, because it is only due to His immeasurable grace. However, I have more so seen how the extent of my prayers regularly don't extend past what God has given me in an earthly manner.

May I see God, the giver of gifts, as a gift in himself. His presence in my life is enough, because I am so unworthy. By enough, I mean, it is anything at all, which is everything. May we never lose sight of the incredible ways God showers us with earthly gifts, but may we ground our hope and root our joy in the person of Christ, who came as the ultimate gift of grace, giving himself to us for all eternity to rest in.

Unconditional

I've recently thought about how much of life is about conditions. Our daily decisions are often based on conditions of that day, which always vary. Certain biological properties of cells are different based on the conditions of their surrounding environment. The most evident manifestation of this in my life is with earning or achievement. The way our world runs is that...You reap what you sow. You get what you worked for. If you do this, then you will receive this. As a new graduate student, I feel the pressures of this daily. We are so trained to think of things as conditional, rather than absolute, and many times rightly so.

However, I have come to understand my standing before God is completely unconditional. I am learning that my relationship with Jesus Christ is entirely dependent on Him, and what He has done. He only asks me to believe. Anyone can believe. As scripture says, we are to believe like little children. It does not require a certain intellectual capacity, moral resume or work ethic. Believing is not something we stir up within ourselves. I've tried to believe harder, and it only shows me how I am a failure at something else. Believing requires trust, which is simply relying on another. That other is Jesus Christ.

The beauty of the grace of Jesus Christ is that it was already paid for. It required no 'if, then' statement. The rest is history. It miraculously transformed my heart to see Jesus on the cross and to believe in Him; to realize I couldn't get it done myself; to be forever grateful for rescuing me from the hell I deserve. The unconditional aspect of God's grace towards me now is what I know will sustain me. This is an absolute that cannot be touched.

Commencement

Almost one month ago, I graduated from Wheaton College and now am beginning to take my first steps into real life. Well, not quite yet, as I technically will not have a real job for about a decade still. However, with much time recently to reflect on my last four years, I have begun to realize that I will miss Wheaton College very much. Though my home is in Wheaton and I will be visiting often, it isn't simply the campus I will miss; rather, it is the wonderful gospel centered community I found myself surrounded by which served to edify my life in a powerful way. In short, my four years at Wheaton represents the time in my life when real gospel truth infiltrated my heart, mind and soul. Moving on without this physical and spiritual community, the idea for this blog stemmed in effort to encourage one another in the beautiful and redeeming gospel of Jesus.

As this blog commences with this post, we (Mike and I) hope and pray it might magnify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as we seek to know His love and grace more fully.