The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Category: Lent

March 27, 2015

Lent Devotional: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (click here)
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Reflection
Was Paul’s thorn from God or from Satan?

The answer is… YES!

Paul calls this thorn (whatever it is) a messenger from Satan to harass him! Clearly, this thorn is from Satan and is intended to destroy Paul’s faith and defame God.

Yet…Paul also says that this thorn was given to him in order to keep him from becoming conceited. Now whose purpose is that? It’s God’s purpose! God has sovereignly brought this thorn into Paul’s life for his good and perfect purposes! Clearly, this thorn is from God and is intended to sustain Paul’s faith by grace and glorify God!

Paul prays for the thorn to be removed, but the reply is that God’s grace will be sufficient to sustain him amidst having this thorn. God’s power will be more fully displayed in the life of Paul as he presses on with this thorn and continues to love, worship, and serve the Lord. God tells Paul that in his weaknesses is precisely where divine power in all it’s perfection may be most clearly seen!

So Paul embraces his weaknesses! He embraces his sufferings! Why? So that he can experience more and more of the power of Jesus at work in him, sustaining him. And, so he can show the world more and more of the truth of Jesus and his power!

Through his suffering, Paul is coming to know more of Christ and making more of Christ known!

No matter how much Satan means this thorn for evil…God means it for good! Satan may have wicked, evil purposes in this thorn, but God has righteous, good, loving purposes. This is the truth in any suffering we experience.

When you go through suffering… is it from Satan or from the Lord? Yes. There is a sense in which you can look at your suffering and say, “This is evil and wicked. Satan is working in this to destroy my faith and defame God.” Yet, there is also a sense in which you can look at your suffering and say, “The Lord is sovereignly working here for my good and his glory. He has not abandoned me and he will not let Satan win through this suffering. God will sustain me…I will know more of him and his goodness as a result and the world will see more of him and his glory.”

Through our suffering, we come to know more of Christ and make more of Christ known to the world!

No suffering wins! Christ wins! Grace wins! God will be glorified and our hearts will be satisfied in him!

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 26, 2015

Lent Devotional: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

1 Corinthians 6:1-11 (click here)
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? (1 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Reflection
Yesterday, we saw that we are not to judge one another in the sense of condemning each other because only God, the ultimate judge, has that right (click here to read yesterday’s devotional). However, our text today seems to indicate the exact opposite?

Apparently we are supposed to judge one another because we will be involved in the final judgment alongside God! What is going on?

Paul is not confused. He wrote the text we read yesterday and the one we are reading today…and he means them both! The judgment that Paul is endorsing in 1 Corinthians 6 is not the judgment of condemnation, but of accountability and holiness before the world.

As Christians, we do not ultimately belong to the kingdoms of this world, but to the kingdom of God. The world should be able to see the difference and one of the ways we display the difference is in how we handle conflicts within our community.

We do not viciously drag one another to court with lawsuits. No. We submit ourselves to the church leadership God has placed in our lives, seek Biblical wisdom from leaders, and try to settle our disagreements with grace and mercy and forgiveness being extended to one another. In short, we try to put gospel grace on display!

Why do we do this? Because we believe that ultimately the kingdom of God will prevail!…that we will be granted to rule with God on his throne (Rev 3:21) as we were intended to do in the original creation (Gen 1:28). We believe that the kingdom of the world will be judged and come to an end.

When we refuse to drag each other underneath the judgment of this world’s legal system, but instead submit ourselves to the leadership of the church, we are making a statement about which kingdom we ultimately belong to, which kingdom has true authority, and which kingdom will last.

All of this does not mean that Christians will never end up in a court of law. There are a million different scenarios to be considered and some will have to be settled by the state. What this does mean, is that when you have two Christians who are a part of the same local body and both are willing to submit themselves to the leadership that God is providing through that church…then they should seek to settle matters within the church as a witness to who their ultimate authority is…namely Christ!

In the kingdom of God, we hold each other accountable not through condemnation, but through love that longs to see every believer find full joy in Jesus.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 25, 2015

Lent Devotional: Romans 14:1-12

Romans 14:1-12 (click here)
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10-12)

Reflection
We are not to pass judgment on one another.

This principle and texts like Romans 14 suffer from much abuse. People us them to say all sorts of things the text doesn’t say at all!

For instance, this text is not saying that we are never to hold each other accountable. It’s not saying that we don’t call one another to repentance or practice church discipline. It’s not saying that we don’t talk about, even debate, our disagreements sometimes.

So what is it saying?

All of the things I just mentioned are motivated by love. We hold each other accountable, call one another to repentance, and discuss our disagreements out of love for one another and out of a desire to help each other grow towards Christ.

The “judging” being forbidden in Romans 14 is not motivated by love, but by condemnation. It comes from despising someone and what they think or do. There is no desire for redemption… just condemnation. There is no desire for repentance… just punishment. There is no desire for their good… just shame.

We never have the right to condemn a brother or sister in Christ, because we are not the judge with them needing to plead their case to us. No. We are actually in the same position as they are…we all have one final, ultimate judge…God! We will all give an account to God.

No one has the right to judge except the one who is the judge…The Lord. The good news of the Gospel is that even though we deserve the righteous wrath of God the judge… he has taken that wrath upon himself so that he might not show us just condemnation, but gracious salvation through Jesus.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:17-18

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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