The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Straw, Bricks, and Music"
A God of perfect justice cannot and will not command us to do that which we cannot do. He therefore provides Himself as the power whereby born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ trust and obey Him.
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).
We must believe this about Himself and ourselves as a matter of doctrine and devotion. Otherwise, we will not bear within our hearts the hope that prepares us for faith and faithfulness, or in our minds the truth that our Heavenly Father's commands confirm His complete fairness. Unlike Pharaoh's cruel directive of old to the Jews, God does not withhold straw to make bricks, leaving us to do the best we can by our own efforts. He rather supplies the Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus as the motivation, guidance, and enabling to build a life of trust and obedience. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).
Consider the commands of the New Testament, which far surpass in responsibility the mandates of the Old Testament. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matthew 5:38-39). Are such superlative commands directed to us? Certainly they are. However, the commands do not address only us. The directives of the New Testament are rather written to believers - as indwelt and empowered by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. A perfect straw gatherer and brick maker lives within us as the very Life of our lives and the power to honor God - "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
The Scottish preacher James Stewart beautifully illustrated this truth by another metaphor:
""For what Christ has done is to make us feel, at all the gateways of our nature, the pressure and bombardment of the infinite energies of a world unseen. He has shown us how our little life, with unsearchable riches to draw upon, can be reinforced beyond all calculation. I may not be able to fight down some evil thing. But if Christ were here, He could. So then, if Christ is in me, He can. This transfusion of spirit and energy is really possible... If Mozart were in you, what music you could make! That cannot be. But here is something that can: if Christ were in you, what a life you could live! This is faith's logic. God wants you to know that you can rise above the level of your limitations. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).
What music indeed we can make through the presence and working of the Lord Jesus! Or what straw we can gather and bricks we can construct of trust and obedience! This we must believe about Him and ourselves as united to Him. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (II Corinthians 9:8).
"Without Me, ye can do nothing" declared the Lord Jesus (John 15:5). Believers, however, are never without Him - "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Thus, we must build within our hearts and minds the Biblical truth that we can, through Christ, compose the most beautiful music, gather the finest straw, and form the strongest bricks. God does not unjustly command us to live such a life, but rather, at the highest cost to Himself, made a way to enter our hearts in a vibrancy of life that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. Such resurrection applies directly to our high calling of consistent and growing faith and faithfulness. We close with the Apostle Paul's affirmation of such hope, and the promise of Christ's abundant enabling…
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal body by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
(Romans 8:9-10)
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us."
(Ephesians 3:20)
Weekly Memory Verse
Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:16).
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