God Doesn't Care That You Had Your Quiet Time This Morning

What happens when our spiritual disciplines don't impress God? What if I read my Bible every day and God doesn't "ooh" and "ahh" over me? What if I attend church and give generously and sing songs and even get on my knees to pray and it doesn't blow God away, or even make him sway a little? What if I go on a mission trip to the Middle East...to one of those really scary, hard places that most Christians would never go to...and God's eyebrows don't even move one little bit upward?

And what if I do all of these things and not only is God not impressed, but what if he is displeased? How could that be? Is it possible? What in the world are we talking about here?

I read a soul-shaking passage this morning from Isaiah 58. Israel was asking God why he didn't seem to accept their fasting. His response was startling.

3 "Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?" 

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

God was saying that the spiritual disciplines of the Israelites did not impress him because ultimately they were seeking to serve themselves through their spirituality. Their efforts were devoid of care for others and delight in God.

God went on to tell his people that the type of fasting he sought was that which would press them to "loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke (58:6)." Abstain from eating bread, so you can take that bread and share it with the hungry. Use your home to care for the homeless. Take your extra clothes and cover the naked. Deny yourself in order to serve others.

The promise in this passage comes in verse 8. "Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'"

On this side of the cross, we clearly understand that simply giving food to the hungry and clothes to the naked do not make us acceptable to God. Only the righteousness of Christ imputed to us can allow us to enter into relationship with God. However, this relationship, when true, should drive us to care for others in a self-sacrificial way.

The gospel always moves us to give unto others, for at its heart, it is the work of God in giving to us in Christ. Imagine if God said, "I am going to do this great work of sending my Son into the world to take on flesh, earn a perfect righteousness before me, love like no one else, work mighty miracles, glorify me, lay his life down on a cruel cross, and then take it up again in mighty victory over sin and the grave. I am going to do all of this, and it won't make a lick of difference in your life or in this world."

Now, if God sent Jesus into this world only for his own benefit, he would still be just and right in so doing for he deserves all glory and can do all things for his good pleasure. But, he didn't do it this way. He sent Christ for his own glory AND for our good. His sacrifice blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Because we have been the beneficiaries of blessings that come from true self-sacrifice on God's part, we are to reflect that reality to the world by sacrificing for the good of others. Isaiah 58 awakens us to the reality that this is the type of devotion that God desires of us.

How is the gospel driving you to deny yourself and care for others?

The Ground of our Confidence

I have been struck in recent days of the great confidence that we can experience in the gospel. My mantra, which I have spoken to those who would listen, but mostly just to myself, has been, "The gospel will win the day."

There are many new opportunities and challenges before my family in these days as we begin a new season of ministry. I am serving as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Longwood, FL. While getting my feet wet here, I am already midstream in my pursuit of a doctoral degree from Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. Far more challenging, and rewarding, than either of these endeavors is my role as dad to five kids ranging in age from thirteen to six. In God's gratuitous grace, he has also given me the privilege and responsibility to be the husband of one wife.

I do not believe that I can manage all that is needed to be done in my life by my own ability. I do, however, believe that what God has done for me in Jesus is always enough. There is cause to have great confidence as we walk through this life. The benefits of God's grace for us are infinitely deep, immeasurably broad, and inexhaustibly rich. As I look to the cross, and then to an empty tomb, and finally to a Lamb-like Lion standing victoriously in heaven, My confidence in the gospel grows.

One of my favorite books is, The Gospel Primer, by Milton Vincent. On page 52, he writes:

Preaching the gospel to myself each day nourishes within me a holy brazenness to believe what God says, enjoy what He offers, and do what He commands. Admittedly, I don't deserve to be a child of God and I don't deserve to be free of sin's guilt and power. I don't deserve the staggering privilege of intimacy with God, nor any other blessing that Christ has purchased for me with His blood. I don't deserve to be useful to God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and I have what I have, and I hereby resolve not to let my portion of God's grace prove vain in me! And to the degree that I fail to live up to this resolve, I will boldly take for myself the forgiveness that God says is mine and continue walking in His grace. This is my manifesto, my daily resolve; and may God be glorified by this confidence that I place in Him.

Amen!