Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Galatians 1:3-5
I love that God tells Paul to write these snippets everywhere in his letters, the Gospel in sentence. It turns my distracted attention from all other things to Christ.
Lately, I’ve been learning a lot about the nature of my heart. I find it so hard to flee from my sin to the Bible where the Spirit can smash that temptation because I don’t believe that only Jesus will satisfy and not the world.
You are nothing but a liar, Satan. Go to hell.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:6-7
That gospel is fake and in it there is no hope. It’s not Christ plus a little of this that satisfies you. It isn’t Christ plus a sprinkle of that that saves you.
It’s Christ, 100% concentrate.
Don’t listen to lies that demons tell you.
Peter writes about false teaching:
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:17-19
But you are not a slave to the law because you are under grace! Sin has no dominion over you!
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:24-25
Therefore, you must use everything at your disposal against Satan’s lies, that you may know full joy in Christ alone! Equip yourself with the whole armor of God, and do not go into battle without your primary armament: take along with you your sword.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Isaiah 55:2-3
Come if you’re thirsty and know Jesus who loves you. My Big Brother died for you because our Dad wants you to know how much he loves you.
Father, you alone can satisfy! By Jesus’ name we tell Satan to scat, his words are lies and we put our hope and trust in the Gospel of Truth, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again to bring us to you, God. All glory is yours!
And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
Luke 9:33
Today at church, Pastor Mark taught from Luke walking us through the Transfiguration. This passage is all about God’s glory and Pastor Mark spent most of his time there, but there was one thing that he said that the Spirit tucked away in the back of my head and marinated.
Peter tells Jesus, face shining and clothes glittering, decked with bling, “Hey, it’d be great if we could all just hang out for a bit. I’ll set up some tents for you, Moses and Elijah, we can just stay here and chill,” but the Bible says that he didn’t know what he said.
I manage to say the wrong things at the wrong time quite often, so I find much comfort in the fact that Jesus loved Peter.
What Pastor Mark said about this verse is that Peter here wants to prolong this mountain top experience, but there’s such danger in doing so. It’s so easy to associate place and circumstance with times where we met God, and in so doing, we crave those experiences in our lives more than God himself.
The archetypal example of this is the “spiritual high” from a retreat, but for me, it takes a much more insidious and daily toll. On Sundays, sometimes if one band is leading but I like another, my heart is so cold and broken that it refuses to worship, only being at church in body but not in spirit. If one pastor is away on a sabbatical and another is teaching, oftentimes my heart is unwilling to learn, because he’s not pastor so-and-so.
So, instead of seeking to relive certain experiences, where do we go so we can see a little bit of God’s glory?
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
2 Peter 1:17-20
Peter himself, who saw all these things, tells us that what is more sure than these mountain top experiences is the Bible! Why do we seek to be satisfied with creation in chasing these experiences that God gives us, instead of the God who gives us those experiences?
Listen diligently to God and eat what is good, delight yourselves in rich food, his Word, which is sweeter than honey, because it is the very word of God that is spoken to you. Through Scripture, the Spirit leads us and teaches us about that which will satisfy our souls most.
How are we doing on this? Have your methodologies in pursuing and worshipping Christ become, as Pastor Mark puts it, methodolatries?
Father, reveal to me how often I replace you with experiences, that I might see my methodolatries and be corrected by your Spirit. You are better than any emotion or experience this world has to offer. Teach us the Bible so that we can get to know you better so that we can tell the world about your Love!
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
2 Peter 1:5-9
Yesterday, I had a frustrating meeting at work because of a coworker. They had said something that really pushed me the wrong way (in my meeting, no less!) and my first inclination was to think of some witty comment to offset what they had said and recover some of my pride.
By God’s grace, I was able to suck it up and move on with the agenda.
When I got back to my apartment, I was still frustrated and was all around feeling antsy about the entire thing. I opened up some John Owen and through some cross-referencing, eventually got to this verse.
It is in this verse that God taught me an old lesson in new light.
My inclination to seek out my own glory reflects my view of myself, that I am someone that has earned something.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21
He saved us. He equips us. He sanctifies us and consecrates us.
I’m nobody and have done nothing good, condemning myself to hell twice over, but God, through Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, has made me his own.
In deserving nothing, I received everything.
Father, I ask that you would make my calling and my elect sure, constantly showing my insufficiency in living as you command, and in so doing, rest my ability on the Spirit’s power alone, that I may be humiliated and that you would be glorified.
NB. I fancied myself clever with the title: said out loud, it could sound like, “My epic impatience.” Having written this out, however, I see now that it’s really a bit of a stretch and is less clever as it is obscure.
