Posted in 2Corinthians, Isaiah, Romans

The Righteousness of God

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Romans 1:16-17

The good news (gospel) is that a righteousness from God is available to us today because of what Christ did on the cross. This righteousness cannot be earned but only embraced through faith; it is God’s gift to those who will receive it. God is so holy that even our seemingly righteous acts appear like filthy rags to Him, (Isaiah 64:6) so He sent His Son to do for us, what we could not do for ourselves. “God made Him who had not sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2Corinthians 5:21)

God’s Spirit made this passage in Romans come alive to a young, miserable monk named Martin Luther while studying in Wittenburg, Germany in 1513-1515. Here are his words about the experience:

“I sought day and night to make out the meaning of Paul; and at last I came to apprehend it thus: Through the gospel is revealed the righteousness which availeth with God – a righteousness by which God, in His mercy and compassion, justifieth us; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ Straightway I felt as if I were born anew. It was as if I had found the door of Paradise thrown wide open. Now I saw the Scriptures altogether in a new light – I ran through their whole contents as far as my memory would serve, and compared them, and found that this righteousness was really that by which God makes us righteous, because everything else in Scripture agreed thereunto so well. The expression, ‘the righteousness of God,’ which I so much hated before, now became dear and precious – my darling and comforting word.”

No religious effort or philosophical ideal can produce what God Himself has done for us in Christ. In Him we are righteous! Embrace it, speak it, and walk it out because this simple truth has the power to save everyone who believes.

Posted in John

The Seriousness of Sin

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“’Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.’” John 8:10-11

Yesterday we looked at how the power to overcome sin is in hearing deeply in our hearts the truth of the cross, “I do not condemn you.” Today I want to look at the phrase after forgiveness has been secured, “From now on sin no more.”

Sin is not a popular topic in America today. We like to do our own thing, in our own way, and in our own timing without any interference from God. God is fine when we need help, but He had better not encroach on our “freedoms.” Hollywood has relentlessly told our culture that there is no sin in immorality and this message has taken a firm hold. Think for a moment of the price America has paid for neglecting God’s law in this one area.

If we had obeyed God’s boundaries instead of our passions there would have been no abortions (or the guilt and shame that go with them), no venereal diseases, no aids, no pornography industry, no rapes, no molestations, few divorces, few single parent homes, and no need for all the government programs that try to meet all of these needs. There would also be much less heartbreak as well as less depression and despair that often accompany a sexual relationship that has gone bad.

But before we blame America, let’s look at the church. The church has seemingly little power to “sin no more” according to all of George Barna’s research on church morality. As long as we’re acting just like the world, how can the world be expected to repent and turn to Jesus?

What is the gospel’s position on sin? Is it, “Go, and keep on sinning because I’ve died for you?” or “Go, for there is no such thing as sin anymore?” or “Go, sin’s not a big deal now that I have died for you?”

Jesus said, “Go. From now on sin no more.” He came to wash us of sin and the shame and guilt that accompany it, but He now expects us to be pursuing a lifestyle that is at least seeking to be free from sin. He forgives us again when we are seriously trying but fall because of weakness and immaturity, but that is different from a flippant attitude that presumes on God’s grace.

Let’s purpose to hear in our hearts His words of grace, “I do not condemn you,” and go from that place empowered to live for Jesus free from sin’s grip.

Posted in 1John, John

Free from Condemnation

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“’Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.’” John 8:10-11

Today I want to write about the first part of what Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either.” Tomorrow we will look at the second phrase, “From now on sin no more.”

The Pharisees witnessed an outward act of sin and were ready to stone this woman who they roughly threw before Jesus. Jesus looked at her and saw not just the act of sin but everything behind the act: the fear, the previous abuse at the hands of men, the financial need, the guilt and shame… whatever it was that brought this precious creation of God to this horrible place of darkness. This is why Jesus warns us about judging people.  We simply don’t know all of what is going on in a person’s heart or the circumstances that are behind their present behavior. When Jesus saw her, He saw the reason that He had come. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:17)

Jesus loves you and me. When He comes to our darkness it is not to punish or condemn us, but to call us into the salvation He has provided. When condemnation rests on our spirit we feel shame and guilt that only serve to keep us doing the things that brought the shame and guilt in the first place. If you think God is only saying in a stern voice, “Sin no more,” you won’t be able to stay free because the power of freedom is in knowing that He has freed us from condemnation.

Jesus gives the truth that frees us from the slavery of sin later in this same chapter: “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:35-36) The slave’s place in the house is only secured by performance and so the slave lives driven by the fear of not being good enough. The way Jesus frees us is by making us children that know they have a permanent place. The key is first believing that we really are children, dearly loved by the Father (1John 3:1-3), and then living out of that identity. This is easy to agree with in our heads, but it’s only when it is real in our hearts that we find the power to “sin no more.”

Posted in 1Corinthians

Resting and Working in Grace

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” 1Corinthians 15:10

Can you feel Paul’s liberty in this passage? He’s not trying to impress people, or be better than anyone else. He is happy to be himself in the grace of God, “I am what I am.” It kind of sounds like God’s revelation of Himself to Moses, “I am who I am.” While God is self existent, relying on no one else to bring Him into being or to sustain His being; Paul’s identity is entirely wrapped up in who God is making him by grace. But grace doesn’t just affect who Paul is, it’s also the engine for all he does: “I labored…, yet not I, but …grace…”

Are we as conscious as Paul was of God’s grace for our being and doing? Am I performing to gain God’s favor, or because I already have His favor by grace? Am I performing to gain self worth, or have I accepted myself as God accepts me in Christ? Can I say with complete self acceptance, “I am what I am by the grace of God?” If I’m resting in grace, no person’s opinion can threaten my identity. If I’m working in grace there is no pride of achievement, or fear of underachievement that comes from comparing myself to others.

Whenever we have communion at church and are reminded that it’s ultimately not about what we do for God, but what He has done for us through Christ. His body was given, and His blood was poured out, so that we might be forgiven and be able to feast on His grace all of our days.

Posted in Ephesians

Mother’s Day

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Honor your…mother.” Ephesians 6:2

My little brother, Jimmy, and I had a disease when we were babies that caused us to vomit up our food. Whenever this difficult period was referenced growing up, all mom would say was: “Never forget Mother’s Day!”

To honor my Mom, who is now with Jesus, I’d like to highlight a few of the things she instilled in her children.

Education: For Mom education meant opportunity, so from a very early age, education was celebrated. Each of us read our first book out loud to the family on a blanket Mom laid down on the living room floor while the rest of the children ate popcorn and encouraged the reader.

Instead of getting toys or treats, all of her grandchildren would receive a savings bond every birthday. The bond wouldn’t come due until they turned eighteen and was to help them pay for a college education. These seeds produced a harvest as all 18 of her grandchildren went on to graduate from college.

Gratitude: Whenever we received a gift or kindness from anyone, Mom sat us down to write a thank you note. One time all of her six children received $1,000 from our great Aunt Ruth whom we had never met. Mom insisted that we write thank you notes, but we were all in college or beyond at that point, so she couldn’t monitor our follow through. Only Sheila ended up writing a beautiful thank you note telling Aunt Ruth how grateful she was and even specifying how she used the money. The rest of us learned a lesson when Sheila alone received a second check from Aunt Ruth!

Faith: Mom didn’t spend a lot of time questioning God and she never expected her church to be perfect. Mom and Dad were at church every week, so we were too. When I had a conversion experience and everyone thought I was in a cult, Mom stayed by me even though she didn’t understand what I was into. She was proud of me being a pastor and was happy to visit our church, but she remained a faithful Catholic until the end.

I was so blessed to have her as my mom and miss her everyday but I know one day soon we will be together again forever. I hope you take time to honor your mom in some way this Mother’s Day.

Posted in 1Corinthians

The Beauty of the Church – Part Two

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” 1Corinthians 12:27

One reason that people don’t take their place in the body of Christ is rejection (yesterday); another is pride.

Paul addresses this pride in 1Corinthians 12:21: “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” It is a temptation for those who are gifted and used by God to feel a little better than those who are not so used. I don’t know if there is anything as ugly or as blinding as spiritual pride. Whole churches can feel that they are more important than other churches and look down their noses at those who are not as “spiritual” as they are. This attitude has caused many unnecessary divisions in the body of Christ and has made it hard for the world to believe that the church is any different than they are. God has made us dependent on Him which all Christians believe, but He’s also made us interdependent on one another. Many believers today seem to believe that they can be a fulfilled Christian without being part of a local church. This is just another form of spiritual pride.

One of my favorite illustrations of our interdependence is a bird called the Pacific Golden Plover. The PGP has two homes, one in Hawaii, and one in Alaska. They have their children in Alaska during the summer and then take the 90 hour, non-stop flight, to their winter home in Hawaii. Remarkably, the children leave for Hawaii a few weeks later than the adults, making a journey they have never made before. Only God in heaven could direct them to a little dot called Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But they’re not just dependent on God, they were also created to be interdependent on one another. Engineers have figured out that the young Pacific Golden Plovers only have body fat (which is their fuel) to make a 70 hour flight. They make up the other 20 hours by flying together in a V, rotating the lead bird to cut down on wind resistance. Without each other they would be 20 hours short of Hawaii and drown in the Pacific. No one of them could ever make it all the way to Hawaii on their own.

Like it or not, you and I have not only been created completely dependent on God (we can’t even draw a breath without Him), we have been created to be interdependent on people. You will never completely fulfill your destiny on earth without embracing your part in the body of Christ. Don’t drown, humble yourself, and we’ll make it to Hawaii together.

Posted in 1Corinthians

The Beauty of the Church – Part One

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” 1 Corinthians 12:12

The  church is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. Everyone is a piece, and when each person does their part a beautiful picture is made. When one or two pieces are gone from a puzzle my family is putting together we never say, “oh well, at least most of them are here.” No, there is a frantic search for the missing piece, because the picture will not be complete without it. In fact, if we can’t find what’s missing, we will end up throwing the whole puzzle away because it can never be finished. Each piece, however small, is vital to the whole.

The apostle Paul, in a similar way, says the church is like a body. Each part is very different in looks and function but essential to the whole. He points out two attitudes that can slip into the body of Christ and undermine the unity that God is trying to bring about: rejection and pride (we’ll cover pride tomorrow).

First, he deals with rejection which is very prevalent in today’s church. “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.” (1Corinthians 12:15-16) It is very easy to look around at other people’s gifts and feel like yours is inferior. The temptation is to “bury your talent” in a spirit of rejection, because you don’t feel like you’re “important” anyway.

Rejection can often be the byproduct of jealousy. The jealous ear might be overheard saying something like this: “Oh, how I wish I was an eye. Everyone’s always commenting on the beautiful blue eyes, and people look into one another’s eyes. Why can’t I be an eye? No one comments on ears. No one notices them unless they’re too big. Why do I have to be stuck being an ear?” Paul gives the answer of why you were given the part you’ve been given, “But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” (1Corinthians 12:18) You can either rebel against who you are and be upset and unhappy, or accept your position, serve in it, and experience the joy of the Lord. Joy doesn’t come from being important in people’s eyes, it comes from being loved and used by God.

Posted in John

The Key To Fruitfulness – Part Two

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” John 12:23-25

Yesterday we discussed the uncomfortable truth that the only way to real fruit in our lives is through death to self and covered dying to our plans and our property. Today I want to look at dying to our power and our popularity.

When Jesus tells His disciples that they will all forsake Him, Peter insists that he is willing to die even if the others fall away. Jesus then informs Peter that he will actually fall farther than all the others by denying Him three times before the cock crows.

After the resurrection, we can only imagine how ready they were to prove their faithfulness, but Jesus doesn’t allow them to minister until they’ve received power to be witnesses. The word witness in Greek is “martyras,” which is where we get our word martyr from, and it means to give witness by life or death. It was only after they received the Holy Spirit that they would have the power to stay loyal to Jesus even to the point of death. We’re not all called to be martyrs, but we are all called to die to our own ability to live the Christian life and embrace the power of the Holy Spirit.

The last important thing for us to die to is our desire to be liked. When the crowds following John the Baptist started to diminish, his disciples became concerned and brought this to his attention. His response: “I am the friend of the Bridegroom and my delight is to hear His voice. He must increase and I must decrease.” (John 3:29-30)

The best man is not trying to get the bride to like him. He’s been chosen by the groom and his desire is to serve him well. He wants the bride to love the bridegroom and recognizes that it doesn’t matter if the bride isn’t drawn to the best man – she’s not marrying him!

To be inordinately caught up with people liking us is to be flirting with the bride of Christ which is a serious betrayal of the Bridegroom. 2Corinthians 4:5 says, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” We’re trying to make Jesus famous, not ourselves. Any other attitude will hinder fruitfulness.

Posted in John, Proverbs

The Key To Fruitfulness – Part One

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” John 12:23-25

Jesus speaks first about the necessity of His own death but then He alludes to the necessity of ours. If Jesus chooses to preserve His life, He can’t save us.  If we choose to live protecting ourselves, we can’t bear fruit as Christians. What does death to self look like?

First, we must die to our plans. Proverbs 16:9 says: “Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” We are not discouraged from making plans, but only from clinging to them. Make a plan, give it to God, and then plan on the original plan changing to conform to God’s purpose. If our identity is in our plan, we will find ourselves continually disappointed and disillusioned when they don’t work out exactly how we thought.

We began a Sunday night service several years ago because we were having to turn people away from overcrowded nurseries in the morning services. Our plan didn’t work because we couldn’t get families to change to Sunday night, so we ended up solving the Sunday morning problem in another way. But in the process, we recognized God had a different purpose for Sunday nights. It has become the service of choice for many who want more and appreciate the culture of waiting on God at the altar since no one has to pick up their kids. 

A second area we need to die to is our property or wealth. Jesus answered the rich young ruler’s question about eternal life by telling him to sell everything and give to the poor, and to then, follow Him. He went away sad because he owned much property (one translation: “had great wealth”). The Lord impressed on my wife during a retreat we took, that her great wealth was her children and their unmet needs were what was making her sad. Jesus invited her to really let go of her “great wealth” by giving her children completely to Him, so she could follow Him without sadness anymore.

What’s your great wealth? What’s holding you back from complete abandonment to God? The reason why God pries things out of our hands is so that we will be open to receive all He has for us. He is not against us owning property, but He insists that our property doesn’t own us!

Posted in 1Corinthians, Exodus, Matthew

Foreshadows of His Sacrifice

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians’” Exodus 6:6-7 

God’s plan from the beginning was to call out a people who would walk with Him in time and for all eternity. He knew before He made us about sin, so His plan all along was redemption – our walk with Him would only be on the terms of His first delivering us. The exodus from Egypt and the journey to the promised land foreshadow our redemption from sin and journey into the promised life we have in Christ. Today I want to reflect on the way Israel was delivered.

There were ten plagues that visited Egypt, but only the tenth set God’s people free.  The final plague was the death of the first-born male in every house throughout the land unless each home did what God commanded the Israelites to do. Every family was to find a male lamb a year old that had no blemish (Exodus 12:5) and sacrifice it on the 14th day of the month (Exodus 12:6) which was to be their first month from now on. (The Israelites call the month: “Nisan.”) Then they were to apply the blood of the lamb to the top and sides of their doors and were to eat the lamb so they would have strength for their journey. That night the final plague would come, but every home that was covered by the blood of the lamb would be passed over. (Exodus 12:13)

On the Friday before Passover in 33 AD, Jesus of Nazareth was inspected early in the morning by Pilate’s court. He was found to be innocent and without blemish. Even his accuser declared him innocent when he gave back the money he received from betraying him. (Matthew 27:4)

That afternoon, just as the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the temple, Jesus died on the cross. John the Baptist had said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) Paul says that “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1Corinthians 5:7)