Orange Moon Monday, August 7, 2023 "Our Delight"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Our Delight"

   

"The Apostle beckoned Philemon and all believers to join him in his affirmation of delight in God's will residing in our spirits, while acknowledging the contrary disposition of our flesh."      

    

    The New Testament records the testimony of a man who found living the Christian life to be a great challenge, particularly regarding his own internal conflict.

    "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not… For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:18; 22-23).

   The Apostle Paul could find nothing in his earthly humanity that enabled him to live according to God's standards of faith and faithfulness.  "No good thing" dwelt in his flesh.  However, within his "inward man" - his spirit - dwelled the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.  "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts" (Galatians 4:6).  This elicited not only desire for God's will in the depths of Paul, but literal "delight."  All believers experience this dichotomy of desire.  We do not always sense or feel the delight for God's will that resides in us through Christ.  Sometimes just the opposite seems to be the case.  Moreover, even when we desire to do God's will, we may still feel the movings of the law of sin that dwells in our members - "when I would do good, evil is present with me" (Romans 7:21).

   In such times, a choice of faith lies before us.  Will we believe the Word of God, affirming our delight in God's will that dwells in the depths of our spiritual being?  - "the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness?" (Ephesians 4:24).  Or will we succumb to fleshly sensibilities that tempt us to believe sin constitutes our truest desire rather than righteousness?  

    I frequently illustrate this challenge in personal terms regarding drivers who follow too closely, namely,  tailgaters.  When confronted by such folks, I do not "feel" the love of Christ for them, nor do my thoughts immediately flow in the direction of blessing.  My flesh reacts in a contrary response.  Often it seems that nothing exists within me but irritation and anger. But is this true?  Am I nothing more than flesh?  Is the Spirit of Christ in me dormant?  Is the Holy Spirit not working in me "both to will and to do of His good pleasure?" (Philippians 2:13).  Am I not a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness?"  These are not merely rhetorical questions. These are rather the crux of the matter regarding how I will relate to the person behind me following too closely. Will I believe the Word of God in the face of all contradictory evidence, including the emotional, mental and physical sensibility that tempts me to resentment?  Will I walk after the deceptions and desires of the flesh, or the truth and delight of my spirit, united to and empowered by the Holy Spirit?

   What if my truest delight, based on the presence of Christ in my heart, is actually to bestow mercy on tailgaters?  What if I genuinely desire to pray for such ones?  What if God really is working in me "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).  Again, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man."  Through the years, this has become the protocol I seek to follow, first, trusting the Lord Jesus as the Life of my life, and in the light of such grace, believing I truly desire to bless enemies, regardless of fleshly sensibilities.  I then pray for whoever may be following too closely, asking the Lord to lead them to Himself, whatever their needs involve.  This brings great peace in the heart, regardless of what I may feel in the flesh.  Most importantly, I trust the Lord will answer the prayers mentioned, and who knows what He might do in people's lives because He graciously led and enabled me to walk in the truth of who He is, and who I am as united to Him?  "Pray for them who despitefully use you" (Matthew 5:44).

    In calling Philemon to receive his escaped servant Onesimus back "as a brother beloved," Paul reminded Philemon of "every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus" (Philemon 1:6).  He knew Philemon would be tempted by fleshly sensibilities regarding Onesimus, whom Paul had led to Christ.  The Apostle encouraged Philemon to see himself in the spirit, united to the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, where "every good thing" of Christ dwelt.  Thereby, he would find the power to greet a brother in love, rather than chasten a servant in vengeance.  The Apostle would call us to the same.  The Apostle beckoned Philemon and all believers to join him to affirm delight in God's will residing in our spirits, while acknowledging the contrary disposition of our flesh.  Knowing that the Holy Spirit ever works in us to to form our deepest and truest desire in terms of faithfulness to God will go far in leading us to heed Paul's commands…

"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

 (Galatians 5:16)

"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

(Romans 6:11)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

 (Galatians 5:16)

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Orange Moon Saturday, August 5, 2023 “The Dynamic Duo - Grace and Truth” Part 3 - The Gift and the Cost

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"The Dynamic Duo - Grace and Truth"

Part 3 - The Gift and the Cost

   

"No believer can wander far from grace before we look behind and see truth following hard on our wayward path, calling to us as the Lord beckoned Israel long ago, "Return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee".      

    

    "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

    "Let us have grace that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).

    "Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love" (II John 1:3).

    Grace elicits "reverence and godly fear" because its inseparable companion, truth, bears witness that God provided His freely given favor in the Lord Jesus Christ through His fearfully executed wrath upon His beloved Son.

    "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (I Peter 3:18).

   The cost of grace reveals the seriousness with which God views the salvation of sinners and the darkness of sin.  Deadly seriousness. He does not and cannot save by mere decree or fiat, but by death and fury, as known by His Son on the cross.  "Without shedding of blood is no remission" ( Hebrews 9:22).  No believer can wander far from grace before we look behind and see truth following hard on our wayward path, calling to us as the Lord beckoned Israel long ago, "Return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee" (Isaiah 44:22).  He now calls the wayward in the light of further and most holy revelation: "Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 3:18-19).  Such witness of the gift of grace and the truth of its cost cannot fail to move the heart of the believer reminded of Calvary's pain of death, and salvation's promise of eternal life.

    A true experience of God's grace and truth in Christ results in "joy unspeakable, and full of glory" (I Peter 1:8).  The freest gift.  It also elicits a proper fear, based on the extent to which our Father went in saving us - "redeemed… with the precious blood of Christ."  The highest cost.  Truth ensures both responses, thrilling us with freely given favor through our Lord, and warning us that He views with utmost seriousness the matter of our reverent respect for such favor.  Yes, sorrow, shame, agony, forsakenness, and death secured our redemption in order to provide the gift we could never purchase.  "He that hath no money, come ye" (Isaiah 55:1).  Such grace, genuinely received and understood in the light of truth, cannot fail to form within us our own utmost seriousness of "reverence and godly fear."

"And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

(I Peter 1:17-19)

Weekly Memory Verse

     By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."

 (Hebrews 10:14)

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Orange Moon Friday, August 4, 2023 "The Dynamic Duo" Part 2 - The Servant

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"The Dynamic Duo"

Part 2 - The Servant

   

"The greatest servant who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ, now lives in born again believers to motivate and empower our own devotion to the glory of God and the blessing of others."   

   

    

    "Let us have grace that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).

    The Apostle Paul taught that we were "servants of sin" before salvation, and became "servants of righteousness" after we trust the Lord Jesus Christ.

   "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:17-18).

    The greatest servant who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ, now lives in born again believers to motivate and empower our own devotion to the glory of God and the blessing of others.  His presence imparted "newness of life" and birthed a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness" when we believed (Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:24).  The gift of God's grace in Christ imparted His nature of unselfishness and service into our hearts.  We do not always live accordingly, being still susceptible to temptation and sin through the world, the devil, and the flesh.  However, The Servant abides within us, and as we "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," we grow in the realized awareness that, like Him, our great joy is to serve.  "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many" (II Peter 3:18; Matthew 20:28).

    

   Grace provided such a gift.  Truth illuminates us to the fact of it.   We must know and believe that service to God and others constitutes the truest desire of our Christ-inhabited hearts.  "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" declared the Apostle Paul (Romans 7:22).  Much evidence, emotion, and experience may seem to contradict the fact of such grace.  We can still walk after the flesh and fulfill its self-centered desires.  However, just as our Christian life began by receiving the freely given grace of the Lord Jesus, so it continues by the same dynamic means.  We believe the truth about Him, and about ourselves as united to Him.  "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).

    The grace of God that awaited us before salvation must not be made to wait as we seek to walk in the present and vital reality of having received our Savior.  The Servant dwells within us both now and forevermore as the Life of our lives, provided to our hearts as the freest gift ever given.  "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).  He ever moves within us by the Holy Spirit to motivate and empower the life of service to which God calls us.  His delight has become our delight, a truth that may sometimes seem unlikely, but which the Word of God unequivocally declares.   Yes, grace gave the gift of The Servant to our spirits.  Truth reveals the glorious wonder.  United within our trusting hearts, this dynamic duo blesses us with the joy of service to God and others.  

"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father."

(Galatians 4:6)

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." 

(Philippians 2:3)

     

Weekly Memory Verse

     By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."

 (Hebrews 10:14)

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