Monday Reflections...some more pictures...pondering justice, mercy, & grace...sermon posted

Another film roll back so it is Maine roll #4!  Here is looking at you and the precious face is our little Evie from the backseat of her parents Ford Explorer.  Stephanie and I had some wonderful time away with this part of our family and I loved my time in the backseat with Evie.

Here is little Evie with her big brother Joshua.  She is able to follow him around the playground.  So whatever Joshua can do, she can do to...at least until she gets rescued by mom!

Or Grandma and then she not certain she really wants to go.  

But something more her size and she glides down with no fear.  It is something to be around the grandchildren and try to see life from their eyes.  We once looked at life that way.  It seems so distant now.  I can still go down a slide but I've lost the joy of this face to do it again and again and again.

A neighborhood pool allowed me to get this picture of three generations.  What a picture of Grandma and Mama teaming up to help the third generation master a necessity of life.  This one will go up on my wall for sure.

A couple sunrises.  This first one was taken behind the Larrabee Baptist Church prior to a community men's group that meets twice a month.

This second one is on my 2 mile walk into church one morning.  We are looking over the inlet of Machias Bay just downriver from the Machias River.  The trek in is sometimes absolutely beautiful.

The color of the season is more brilliant when you put it alongside of the green of the pines and the reflection of the water.  I think I have some better ones coming on the next roll.

This rose blossom was found on a walk with Stephanie to another coastal view.  The rose bushes are plentiful here and the rose hips are huge.  They are harvested to make jelly.

Lastly, I don't usually have pictures of me but Stephanie grabbed the camera from me after getting physically tired pulling this crew.  Typical expressions from Joshua and Evie.

Back to the study and my assignment from God and preaching through the book of Titus on Sunday mornings.  I have covered this material before in another church so I draw upon what was previously done but my thoughts on the material are starting to marry with my online master's courses from Belhaven University.  I love it when that happens.

Titus chapter 2 and verse 11 starts, "For the grace of God has appeared with salvation..." (bold and underline mine for emphasis) We learn that the grace of God mentioned here is attached to an appeared person who brought salvation and we would know this "appeared person" to be Jesus.  We have the love of God, the justice of God, the mercy of God, and the grace of God to mention a few.  So I handle justice, mercy and grace and in that order because it progresses up or larger.

• Justice is what you deserve.  
• Mercy is receiving what you don't deserve.  
• Grace is someone taking on what you deserve.  

• You are speeding and justice is a ticket from the police officer.  
• You are speeding and mercy is a warning from the same.
• You are speeding and received a ticket and after contesting it with your efforts, you are pronounced guilty by the judge but grace steps into view when the police officer, if he could, takes all the responsibility so that you can walk away totally free.  He does this so that you would know something about himself.

The grace of God is Jesus who stepped in to have our sin imputed onto Himself and imputed His righteousness onto us so that we would be able to stand before the almighty holy God.  He did this so that we would know about Him.

Going back through this illustration I saw something more.  Who is just?  None of us.  Romans chapter 3 and verse 23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  We all deserve the "ticket" of life and without Jesus that is hell.  What does our unjust position need?  It needs the grace of God.  Maybe my order should be justice or unjust, grace, and then mercy.  My unjust position can only be changed by the grace of God appearing in my life bringing salvation and then I need God's mercy.  Why?

Because I continue to sin even though I have been made just by Jesus.  I need these warnings and instruction from God to know how to live.  Titus chapter 2 and verse 12 starts, "...instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way..."  What follows our salvation is a time of instruction where God's mercy is seen.  When we sin, we do not become unjust again.  We are warned and given instruction on what to do with that sin.  We are just but we are out of focus with what God saved us for.  Titus chapter 2 and verse 14 ends with, "...eager to do good works."

It would be good to throw in here Romans chapter 8 and verses 1 and 2 which read,

Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus,

because the Spirit's law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free

from the law of sin and of death.

I fear that many have not seen the full picture of salvation.  They see the cross and what Jesus did there but nothing past it.  They run to the cross but then run away.  Here is the pattern I see. 

God called me to train me to use me.

Look at Jesus calling the disciples to follow Him, know Him, be around Him and to hear His words.  This calling had a purpose.  He was going to train them to be "fishers of men."  Why?  So at the ascension of Christ, He could give them the Great Commission to be used by Him.  

Sometimes the term is used "fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ."  Are there "partially devoted followers of Jesus Christ?"  Maybe that is the onslaught of those who have run to the cross but then ran away instead of being trained by Him to be used for Him.  Am I preaching and presenting the whole picture when I speak of the salvation that comes from the grace of God, the One who has appeared and will appear again?

Let me tie it into my online studies of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.  The focal point this week is Abraham, at this point Abram.  Let's look at Genesis chapter 12 and verses 1 through 3 and see if this pattern is followed.  The parenthesis parts are mine, bold, underlined and unitalic.

v.1 - The LORD said to Abram: (God appeared to Abram and made Himself known to him.) Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. (God is training Abram.  God is giving him a command to follow and this is the first of many over Abram's life.)

v.2 - I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, (Look at all that God is doing.  The great nation, blessing, and name is not coming from Abram but from God.) and you will be a blessing. (God wants to use Abram and we will see how in the next verse.  The blessings of God are for a purpose greater than the blessings to ourselves as we will see.)

v.3 - I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Notice the word "through."  In verse 2 the blessings were "to" Abram but in verse 3 the blessings of God are going "through" him to "all the peoples of the earth." God is using Abram to show the world who He is.)

Abraham received grace to be trained to be used for the glory of God.  The disciples received grace, Jesus Himself, to be trained to be fishers of men to be used for the birth of the church to spread eventually worldwide that Jesus rose from the grave.  I have received grace, salvation, to be trained with the aid of the Holy Spirit and the gifts bestowed to me to be used for His glory during my time on this earth.

I keep going back to the same question to ask myself.  When I share the gospel message, am I sharing the whole package or only giving my listeners the wrappings?  I want them to realize that coming to the cross means staying there so they can do what God wants them to do because they have been trained by Him to do it.

Some "thinking deep" thoughts from Adam this morning.

Adam