Tommy Orlando 3/20/10 Tommy Orlando 3/20/10

What Was God Thinking

Two weeks ago I got a call from a good friend of mine with a question. He told me he was having a discussion with someone when he asked him the question, "Why do you think God stopped with what we now call the Bible?" The question intrigued my friend enough to call me and ask me what I thought might have been on God's mind when He inspired the completion of the canon. Usually when someone asks me to hypothesize on God's thought process I start by pointing out the fact that we are on very shaky ground when we begin to pretend to know what might be God's motivation. I mean, I know there is much in scripture which illuminates for us God's thoughts, ideas and motivations but once we move beyond the stuff explicitly explained in His word we really are just taking a shot in the dark. When the Bible says, "God's way are higher than our ways" it is as close to an understatement as anything I have probably ever read. The difference between the reasoning abilities of a 2 year old child and his father is probably not as wide a chasm as the distance between my abilities and that of my heavenly Father's. But the more I thought about it the more it seemed clear to me that the answer was probably quite simple: He gave us all he felt we needed to have.

As I think about it, this is especially true when we realize that the church now exists in a time when the Holy Spirit has been given to teach and guide us into God's truth. You see God is still inspiring and speaking to His people in the same way He inspired and spoke to the authors of His word and the voice of the Spirit is not anymore or less true then the voice of the Spirit that spoke the words that we find in the canon of scripture. I know this on the surface may make some people uncomfortable but let me clarify by stating clearly that any word spoken by the Spirit to us today must fall in accordance with His words revealed by the Bible. But I wouldn't say one is necessarily more authoritative, the Spirit's truth is the Spirit's truth in any form, it is just important that we realize that the Spirit will never contradict Himself. Since we are convinced of the truth of God's word, as revealed in scripture, it then becomes the measuring stick by which any modern revelation must be judged.

This really to me has been one of the encouraging messages that I have been getting from our study in the book of Acts; God, by sending His Holy Spirit has endeavored to maintain a continuing dialogue with us, His church. To me, that's good stuff.

Tommy Orlando 3/5/10 Tommy Orlando 3/5/10

Search for the Holy Grail, God's Will

As we talked about this last week in church there are three simple steps to discovering God's will. First, realize that, by the Spirit, God is speaking to His people. When we take time to "listen" God will begin to prompt us towards the choices He would have for us. That is one the beautiful aspects of the Christian life. Christ left the Holy Spirit to "lead us into all truth" providing for His church an interactive relationship with it's God. Secondly, God will begin to confirm His will, His leading, by His real life provision. People, resources and opportunity will "match" the direction of God in our lives. He will never lead us in a direction without providing what we need to continue. This was the lesson that we saw in Peter's argument before the council of Jerusalem. He said, God gave me a vision of His calling of the Gentiles and then He opened the door to me to minister to them and, more importantly, for me to see the Holy Spirit minster to them. And thirdly, and most importantly, we will discover that personal revelation, supported by personal experience will always reinforce Biblical admonition. Godly revelation will never contradict Biblical truth.

You see it really isn't quite as mystical a process as we have made it out to be but I think there is one other truth that is required to bring this into focus. We need to be less focused on what we think God wants us to do and more focus on who God wants us to be. Christ calls us to be a reflection of Him, of His Gospel, and he is more interested in us honoring that calling than He is in us doing "something" for Him. In our culture we are defined by what we do but in the the economy of God we are defined by who we are in Christ. You will discover that when we focus our energies on living the Gospel God will begin to unfold before us the life we will lead. Put your faith in God's leading, provision and word and we will find that the nature of Christ will be revealed in our lives.

In the words of Indy's associate, Marcus, The search for the Grail is the search for the divine in all of us. But if you want facts, Indy, I've none to give you. At my age, I'm prepared to take a few things on faith.

Whenever we talk about finding God's will I think of my favorite scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You remember that one, when Indiana Jones and the bad guy are in the cave needing to choose which cup is the Holy Grail and the bad guy, after making his choice and taking a drink, suddenly implodes and turns to dust. Upon seeing this the Grail Knight simply says, "He chose poorly." It seems like "the will of God" is similar to the quest for the Holy Grail in that we are constantly searching for that very thing that God wants us to be doing and if we "choose poorly" some suddenly tragic fate will befall us. The longer I have served Christ and the more time I have spent talking to people the more I realize that the will of God is not quite that mystical. There are some very simple truths to remember that will remove the mystery from the search.
As we talked about this last week in church there are three simple steps to discovering God's will. First, realize that, by the Spirit, God is speaking to His people. When we take time to "listen" God will begin to prompt us towards the choices He would have for us. That is one the beautiful aspects of the Christian life. Christ left the Holy Spirit to "lead us into all truth" providing for His church an interactive relationship with it's God. Secondly, God will begin to confirm His will, His leading, by His real life provision. People, resources and opportunity will "match" the direction of God in our lives. He will never lead us in a direction without providing what we need to continue. This was the lesson that we saw in Peter's argument before the council of Jerusalem. He said, God gave me a vision of His calling of the Gentiles and then He opened the door to me to minister to them and, more importantly, for me to see the Holy Spirit minster to them. And thirdly, and most importantly, we will discover that personal revelation, supported by personal experience will always reinforce Biblical admonition. Godly revelation will never contradict Biblical truth.

Tommy Orlando 2/26/10 Tommy Orlando 2/26/10

He Got Up And Went Back in The City

This passage in our text chapter from this past Sunday reveals to me a great deal about the make up of Paul and his commitment to the cause of Christ. Not only was he willing to face hardship for the sake of the Gospel he was not going to allow the hardship to deter him from the mission at hand. In fact he embraced the opportunity to endure hardship for the Gospel and saw it as a very real mark of his commitment. This is revealed so clearly in Paul's writing to the Galatians in chapter 6: 7Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. When he writes this it is impossible to not imagine he is referring to the inevitable scars he received from the horrific experience of his stoning. Paul was a true leader who so believed in his calling that he relished the opportunity to exhibit his commitment by standing in the face of opposition. Not only did his convictions compel him to press on in spite of the persecution, in fact I contend, his convictions compelled him to go back because of the persecution. You see the marks, the scars that he received that day, that he carried with him throughout his life, were a testament to his commitment to his principles. This is the mindset we who follow Christ must carry with us into the hardships of life. Do not reject or avoid the struggles of this life but embrace them knowing that they are very real marks of your commitment to the Gospel and that those hardships will bear great reward in your spiritual formation.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1

Tommy Orlando 11/24/09 Tommy Orlando 11/24/09

Conflict Resolution, Church Style.

Fight Erupts at Jerusalem Church (BBC)

Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites. The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Orthodox Palm Sunday. Brawls are not uncommon at the church, which is uneasily shared by various Christian denominations. In this case, witnesses say an Armenian priest forcibly ejected a Greek priest from an area near the tomb of Jesus. They say the attacker felt the Greek priest had spent too long at the tomb. When police arrived to break up the fight, some were reportedly beaten back by worshippers using palm fronds.

Isn't this an interesting commentary on the state of the church? Clergy men, "men of the cloth" come to blows over the right to "honor" a holy site. Unfortunately, for any of us who have any extensive experience in the church this does not come as any great surprise. The commonality of churches de-evolving into conflict over the silliest of things has gotten to the point where it is no longer surprising but almost expected. From arguing over music that is meant to worship God and not entertain us, to fighting over the methods the youth group uses to reach hurting kids, to dividing over the color of the grout in the foyer of the church's new addition, it appears certain the focus of the modern church has moved from glorifying God to serving MY wants. I think there are a lot reasons we can explore for this phenomenon: a clergy that has chosen to tailor the focus of the church on the ever increasing consumerism mentality of our culture, church leadership more focused on the tenants and icons of their religiosity then on the "pure religion" James calls us to in James chapter 1, the abandonment of teaching the principle of the cross that calls men to humility and sacrifice for the cause of the church, laity that is less interested in loving others than they are on serving themselves, a Christian community that really is not very Christ-ian. The antidote for all of these is found in the approach the disciples employed in Acts 6: We must stay focused on the principles and callings of the church.

When the disciples came to a crossroads that threatened the unity of the church they re-focused themselves on the reason the church exists to begin with: to express the Gospel in word and deed. They did not compromise, they did not appease, they returned to mission and values of the cross and moved the church forward and not backward. Every time the unity of the church is threatened it can be traced back to an abandonment of the of the central values of the Church and an embracing of the selfish mindset of the world. The church does not exist for it's own comfort and prosperity but for the glorification of Christ. Nothing undermines that more then a church divided by selfish infighting.

Tommy Orlando 11/18/09 Tommy Orlando 11/18/09

Excerpts from True Leaders

The leadership development industry in America is booming. Billions of dollars every year are spent on books, boot camps, conferences, seminars, webinars , webcasts and simulcasts. Billions of hours are invested in expanding the leadership skills of business men, ministers, teachers, law enforcement officials, government employees, moms, dads, students, if you breathe you are getting your leadership developed. With all of that time, investment and effort doesn’t it seem that we should be seeing an incredible impact on our society at large? Shouldn’t better leaders produce better direction, in turn producing better solutions to the problems we face? And yet, it seems the exponential growth of leadership training over the last 30-40 years; from Napoleon Hill, to Zig Ziglar to Tony Robbins to John Maxwell, has done very little to truly impact our society in any significant way? Poverty levels are the same, unemployment is relatively flat, divorce is up, crime is up, teen pregnancy is up, education scores are down. It spite of the explosion in leadership development we have enjoyed over the last 30 years we have just slipped into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. And the church seems even worse. Although there has been a stunning increase in leadership seminars and conferences for church leaders since the 80’s the church’s influence, impact and outreach has declined significantly.

Why? Why, after investing so much in leadership development have we seen so little impact on our society? Why, after all the hours has the plight of our people not improved? Why after pastors have spent millions of the churches dollars to be “better leaders” has the church wandered into near irrelevance? Although on the surface the answer to these questions may seem pretty complex, I contend the answer is simple: Not all leadership is created equal. Now I realize that statement is fairly obvious. Everyone knows there is a difference between being the leader of a high school chess team and the leader of the free world, that there is a difference between being the leader of a garage band and being the leader of General Motors, but the inequity in leadership I am primarily addressing here is the inequity of purpose not position. I believe that the reason we are not seeing the impact of leadership development in our society and churches is because we are not seeing a leadership training rooted in the principles that motivated true leaders throughout time. Leaders that altered the course of history, that led movements that changed their societies, true leaders who understood the responsibility of, and purpose for, their positions of influence.

History has taught us that True Leaders, world changing leaders, have abandoned a central motivation of self promotion for the propagation of deep seeded governing principles. That a True Leader’s principles are founded in an idealism that is bigger than themselves and is rooted in a desire to promote a conviction that will lead to the betterment of mankind. They realize the advancement of these principles is undertaken, often times, at great personal expense. True leaders do not put at the center of their motivation success and personal advancement, but see it as an unintended and many times unfortunate byproduct of their true calling. True Leaders often view personal success suspiciously, as an imposter that can betray their life’s calling. Men like Martin Luther, who never intended to become an icon of the reformation, even shunning the idea of “lutheranism” not wanting to be the focal point of the movement he advanced, but wanting to shift the focus toward the ideas and ideals to which he was committed. When we look at a man like St. Francis of Assisi whose very governing principle was one of selflessness and humility. He sought to throw off the mantel of worldly values that judge a man’s life - the measuring sticks of a popular following, personal wealth, a sum of power and level of prestige. He simply wanted to be judged by his commitment to self-denial and by that unwavering commitment, he changed the face and focus of his world. The lives and deaths of John Wycliffe and Jon Hus, men who’s martyrdom fueled a world reformation. It is in these types of leaders we find True Leadership.

Tommy Orlando 11/13/09 Tommy Orlando 11/13/09

Sign: This Church is Prayer Conditioned

Nothing has quite the same ability to irritate and embitter me like a cheesy church marquee. On more then one occasion I have seen this particular “wit-ism” on the sign of a church in the midst of a summer heat wave: Come in out of the heat, this church is prayer conditioned! and it always bothered me. (Although I must admit I do like it better then the other popular heat wave phrase: If you think it’s hot now wait till you see Hell!) I think it bothers me mostly because it just portrays the church as silly, trite and more than a little cheesy. It’s not clever, it’s not funny, it’s just kinda goofy.

And yet you know what they say: “out of the mouths of cheese-balls etc., etc. …” Ok, no one really says that but the more I have thought about last week’s message on prayer I’ve come to realize how much the church (and Christians) are “prayer conditioned”. Not in the way the authors of the marquee mean (whatever it is they mean by it) but in that each of us, based on our experiences, have been conditioned to approach the discipline of prayer in ways that probably don’t really reflect a biblical approach to prayer. We are taught from very early on to see prayer as a way to get what we want and that very simplistic view of prayer seems to have colored the way even “mature” Christians and churches approach prayer. As we have gotten older we disguise our selfish prayers by wrapping them in Godly platitudes while the true self serving motives linger just below the surface, “God bless me financially so people may see your blessing upon your servant and be led to you!” or “God send revival to my church so that your kingdom may be enlarged.” We try to pretend that there is a spiritual element to our motive but really we are just reflecting the same attitude found in the first century that inspired James to write this:

2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

True biblical prayer includes two very important elements: 1) an acknowledgement of and yielding to the sovereignty of God and 2) a prayer in accordance with the will of God. These two elements allow us to engage in Spirit led prayer that is transformative to our spirit while at the same time allowing us to partner with God in a real supernatural fashion. The two real points of impact that prayer produces are the deepening of our relationship with and faith in Christ and the “real world” change in the circumstances of our life and world. Praying under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty and power increases our faith and knowledge of Him while praying in accordance with God’s will provides a platform that will most likely produce “real world” results.

We see these elements clearly demonstrated in the Lord’s Prayer:

Don’t forget Jesus said, “THIS is how you should pray.” Let’s strive to be re-conditioned to pray under His sovereignty in accordance with His will.

9"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' Don’t forget Jesus said, “THIS is how you should pray.” Let’s strive to be re-conditioned to pray under His sovereignty in accordance with His will.

Tommy Orlando 10/28/09 Tommy Orlando 10/28/09

Giving, It's Own Reward

This last Sunday I spoke about money and the transformative importance of giving...

This last Sunday I spoke about money and the transformative importance of giving. For those of you who have been around a while you know I don't talk about that topic very often. I think over the last 21/2 years I have spoken on it 3 times. You also know in the past we haven't even "passed the plate" on a Sunday morning. Although my intentions in those decisions were to make it clear to people that MHC is not here to get your money but to bring the message of Christ to people, I have often thought that my diminishing the idea of giving was not serving the spiritual growth of people in our community. I mean Jesus talks about it, Paul talks about it, James talks about it, why shouldn't we talk about it? Really, you would be surprised how often the question of money is addressed by Christ in the gospels and by the writers of the epistles.

Several times I have mentioned to pastor friends of mine how we have taken a low key approach to the topic of giving and have heard this phrase in response: "You are robbing your people of a blessing". And I think they may have been right... to a degree. Now I know some of those folks are coming from a "prosperity gospel" perspective. The idea that when we give money God will multiply that money back to us. If you give $10 he will bless you back with $100. It's a kinda spiritually guaranteed investment plan. Of course, as with most investment propositions, you need to read the fine print, if you don't have enough faith or if you have sin in your life, really whatever vague reasoning we can identify to explain a result that doesn't fit with the "guarantee". You know, past performance doesn't guarantee future results. This theology is rooted in really bad biblical interpretation. The purveyors of this doctrine often use verses like Luke 6:

8 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Unfortunately if you actually take the verse in context you realize that Christ is referring to a favorite topic of His: forgiveness and judgmentalism, not money. Just look at the following verses and you see the truth of this:

39 He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

It buttresses nicely with His teaching to Peter about forgiveness:

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Jesus teaches that we forgive so that God forgives us. Forgiveness and money are not interchangeable elements. They are not equivalent and the "laws" of God do not

apply equally. In fact if you go back to the passage in Luke 6 you discover Jesus talks about money just a few verses before:

24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.

I don't think this teaching fits well with the "prosperity gospel" but that isn't to say that we are not blessed by giving. There is a saying that "giving is it's own reward" and although I believe that is true the blessing of giving goes beyond the good feelings we get from giving and goes way beyond any monetary "return" that may come our way. The blessing is in the refining of faith that comes from giving. The blessing is in the spiritual growth that is discovered in reducing our dependance and desire for the things of this world. As followers of Christ, being freed from the impediments of this world to embrace the spiritual truths of God is the greatest blessing we can discover and learning to freely, gladly and generously give brings that blessing into our lives. It is righteousness in God that is our greatest reward. I Timothy teaches us this truth so clearly:

... (men) who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith.

My encouragement to you is to learn the spiritual discipline of giving so that you may discover the great spiritual blessing of faith and hope in God that produces contentment.

Tommy Orlando 10/28/09 Tommy Orlando 10/28/09

The Unity

As we discussed the church this last week I touched on the importance of Church unity. This is a concept that has taken such a peripheral position in the church it is almost non-existent. And when it is discussed it is kinda this sloppy "your ok, I'm ok let's ignore the difficult issues" kinda unity. True unity in the church comes from the Spirit of God binding us together and from rallying around the true message brought by God's word (the Apostle's teaching we talked about this last week). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love that animates our hearts and lives to unity and the apostle's teaching provides the framework within we live for unification of the Body. As we live in this Spirit inspired love we are able to humbly and honestly confront challenges to our unity using God's word as our guide.

I want you guys to get a sense of the importance of this unity in which we are admonished to live so instead of just hearing from me, hear from the Word:

¹As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4

¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Phil. 2

²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. I Cor. 12

¹⁴Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 2 Tim 2

²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3

¹²Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3

⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. ⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3

⁵May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15

¹²The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized by^[^c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. I Corinthians 12

²²Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. I Peter 1

¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4

Tommy Orlando 10/22/09 Tommy Orlando 10/22/09

Frustrated.

It is amazing how often we as Christians are frustrated in our spiritual walks. For many of us who truly desire to reflect the nature of Christ, the nature of the Gospel in our lives we find ourselves frustrated when we don't do those things we are "supposed" to be doing. You know what I am saying; to reject sin, embrace charity, live selflessly. It seems all too common to look at your lives and say, "Gosh darn it, why can't I live right!" It's funny because even Paul had this experience in Romans 7:

¹⁵For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God,in my inner being, ²³but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am!

It almost seems like this is the the "natural" state of Christianity. Frustrated. But obviously that isn't God's calling for us. I mean Paul writes in the very next chapter in Romans 8: ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So what's the key? How do we live free from that frustration? How do we move from "wretched man that I am" to "more than conqueror"?

One "method" many in the church world use is to just kinda ignore the true biblical expectations of a believer. It is the "we prayed our prayer of salvation so Im ok, your ok, we're all ok" christianity. It's the "churchy-anity" approach that focuses almost exclusively on the forgiveness of Christ and then lives in the "blessings" it affords us. Unfortunately, most often it defines blessings in the asame context that the world and the flesh defines blessings; health, wealth, prosperity and security. It ignores the true calling of the Gospel. The one that calls us to pick up our cross and DENY ourselves. The one that positions us to live a holy, separated unto God, life that is not engaged in the pursuits of this world. It still pursues wealth and pleasure and sees Christianity as just a great way to get it. It's the Christianity that puts a smile on your face, embraces the "forgiveness" of Christ and ignores the difficult, sacrificial, self denying calling of the Cross. If you never put forward an expectation of holiness you never have to feel bad when you fall short.

Another method many in the church use to move past the frustration is to find a false sense of spiritual superiority in the "good" life they lead. They have established a bunch of laws and rules and they live close enough to the line that they can always find an ample number of people to whom their religious life is so superior. It is the security that the Pharisees in Christ's time clung to and that Jesus came to explode. It is always interesting to me that the only time Christ addresses people who are "good tithe-ers" he calls them whited tombs, spiffy on the outside but full of death inside, and filthy cups, clean on the outside but dirty inside. The law may work to pacify your guilt but it does nothing to cleanse you or bring you into alignment with the Gospel of Christ.

I think the key to living a life that strives to emulate the Gospel of Christ and at the same time not be gripped by frustration is to reject the premise that we have to deny the declaration "wretched man that I am" to embrace the role of "more than conqueror". I believe the doorway to truly embracing the life of true conqueror is knowing the wretchedness of ourselves. You see in the verses that followed his statement about his wretchedness and preceded his declaration of conquering, Paul never rejects the truth of his wretchedness. He realized, and lived in that realization, that nothing he could do would ever bring him to live in accordance with the Gospel calling in his life, only what Christ could do through him. He realized that Christ's sacrifice on the cross freed him from the sin-guilt of his fallen nature. He had been put in right relation with God, cleansed, justified, no longer under the judgement of sin. He understood the "positional sanctification" ,that we talked about this last Sunday, had happened in his life as a result of Christ's sacrifice and Christ's calling and therefore he never had to live in fear that his position in Christ's kingdom would be threatened by the weakness of his sinful flesh. That source of frustration is gone. I am God's and He is mine.

He then was able to move to the Gospel living nature of his calling, realizing that in spite of the "shell of flesh" that encases our spirit of man we can live by the Spirit because we have been given, by Christ, new hearts and minds that desire and dwell on the spiritual path of our calling. He acknowledges his wretchedness and rejects his ability to lean on his own strength and discipline while embracing the growth that comes from following our new hearts and from knowing the will of God that comes from the mind of Christ we have been given. In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Christ is working to perfect us as we yield. Does this mean we live in perfection? No it means we are being perfected by Christ. This is why Paul states: ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Frustration is not our natural state but we don't avoid frustration by ignoring the call of our new hearts and minds to live in accordance with Christ's Gospel or by thinking we can ignore the wretched inability of our compliance with law to justify us. The state of the believer is being conformed to the image of Christ. The journey of being transformed by the power of Christ's spirit is our state and our destiny. He is at work in you. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Tommy Orlando 10/18/09 Tommy Orlando 10/18/09