Thursday, January 23, 2014

Grow in Grace or Stay in Place

The Israelites had a choice when God brought them to the Promised Land.

They could go in and claim all that God had generously provided them, or they could wander and die in the Wilderness.

This decision is a picture of God's grace, and our response to it.

Either we can trust our experience, or God's Word. We can look at our circumstances, or rest in His certainties.

Why did the Israelites refuse to enter the Promised Land?

Some passages in Numbers reveal their focus:

"27And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan." (Numbers 13: 27-29)

"Surely, it floweth with milk and honey." That's what the LORD told them, starting with Abram:

"18In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites." (Genesis 15:18-19)

The LORD in the burning bush then shared with Moses:

"8And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." (Exodus 3: 8)

The LORD never wavered from His promise.

But ten of the twelve spies did not focus on God's goodness or His word:

"28Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there."

How did they know that they were strong? They were operating from their limited understanding. They outlined the giants who lived in the region, as well, as though their presence had anything to do with whether they could take the land or not.

Every success, every advancement in our lives has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with Christ and Him Crucified.

Caleb, one of the two spies who gave a good report (affirming the truth of God's Word), tried to encourage the Israelites to take the land, but the other spies continued with their evil report:

"31But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (Numbers 13:31-33)

Rather than magnifying God's goodness and grace, the ten spies magnified their problem. They looked at the giants and themselves. Now, verse 31 is a true statement: the giants were stronger than they. But the LORD was with them, stronger than everything in this world, before and after all things.

Much of the time, we spend more time looking at our resources and our problems, rather than looking at Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith (Hebrews 12: 2), and God the Father's promise that we can freely receive all things through Him.

As the ten spies continued with their evil report, they also reported the results of looking at ourselves and our circumstances:

33And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (Numbers 13:31-33)

"We saw ourselves" --  the devil's greatest trick is to get everyone of us to look at ourselves, to see ourselves as completely inadequate to overcome the obstacles in front of us, yet to make us believe that we must rely on our efforts alone to overcome the problems which we face.

The Bible tells us where we find our victory:

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8: 37)

Notice that this overcoming power comes to us through "Him who loved us".

Who is this "Him"? Jesus!

"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)

and

"35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8: 35)

Christ loved us all the way to the Cross:

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)

Now, with the reference of God's love for us as the focal point for having "more than conqueror" victory, let us see what the LORD identified as the reason why most of the Israelites resisted entering the Promised Land:

"And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us." (Deuteronomy 1: 27)

The Israelites murmured throughout their journey from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, and even up to the border of the Promised Land. The source of their murmuring? They did not trust in the goodness of God, that He was taking them to a good place, flowing with milk and honey, that He would care for them in every way, providing for all their needs (Philippians 4: 19).

They actually believe that the Lord God hated them!

For this reason, I submit that many Christians do not grow in grace, but rather stay in place, because they do not believe in God's love for them. They do not freey receive all the good things which He has for them because they believe that God is not pleased with them, that they must still pay for their sins, or maintain a righteous standing before God through their own efforts.

For me, growing up in the Alcoholics Anonymous cult, I believed that it was my job to live a holy life through my effort. Such actions are unthinking and untrue when compared with the full revelation of Scripture. We are saved by grace through faith, and not by works, so that no one may boast.

Still, many of us are not walking in faith, but instead go back to our own efforts in order to improve ourselves. Such living is not Christ living in and through us:

"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1: 17)

We grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord as we see more of Him in the Bible, for "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Roman 10:17)

If we want to see victory in our lives, to experience the superabounding, overcoming life which God so freely gives us, we need to keep receiving His gifts of righteousness and grace (Romans 5: 17)

It's about recognizing that He has provided everything, and that God, who is greater than our entire experience, has provided us all things. All that He wants us to do is. . trust Him!

For every believer who names the Name above all Names, that will determine whether you grow in grace or stay in place. Do you want to know more about how much God loves you, or are you stuck on trying to make everything work in your efforts, still convinced that you can, or must, accomplish all things in your strength, even though Jesus knew what is in all of us and cannot be trusted (John 2: 25) and that we should have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3: 3)

Let us never forget Paul's greatest declaration of power and glory:

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4: 13)

As we grow in grace, we see how much God wants to take us to greater places:

"And you saw in the wilderness how the LORD your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place." (Deuteronomy 1: 31)

The more that you know how much God loves you, the more that you can trust Him to carry you though all things. Grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, and watch your loving Father take you places!

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