The Joy of Glory

Ephesians 2:1-10 (click here)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5, and 8-9)

Reflection
When each of my children were born, I made a short music video about their entrance into the world… nothing graphic! They love going back and watching the videos… but imagine this…

Imagine them trying to brag about how great a job they did being born! Imagine them boasting and bragging about all the hard work they did through the labor process!

Such boasting sounds ludicrous, right? And trust me, it would take about 0.2 seconds for their momma to put them in their place about who had done the work to make their birth a reality.

Being born is one of the main metaphors the New Testament uses to describe our entrance into the family of God! The other primary metaphor is that of resurrection (which we see in Ephesians 2)… and the point of both these words pictures is obvious… they eliminate boasting!

You cannot boast about being raised from the dead any more than you can boast about being born! Both of these things are not things you do, but things that are done to you! These are gifts! They are grace!

We were dead in our sins! Not really sick… no… DEAD!

But God was rich in mercy and showed great love toward us by making us alive! He did that! Sheer grace! If you love Jesus then you have experienced a resurrection miracle!

You ever wondered what it would be like to experience a miracle… to be raised from the dead? YOU HAVE experienced that exact miracle! You wouldn’t love Jesus otherwise! Your affections would still be dead to him and alive to sin!

If you love Jesus… you have been raised from the dead! “O praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!”

Ephesians 2:1-10 is God’s short music video of your spiritual birth! Watch it over and over again and see if it doesn’t eliminate boasting and increase worship!

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Galatians 2:15-21 (click here)
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:21)

Reflection
You cannot earn a gift… otherwise, it is not a gift, but wages.

This is one of the reasons that Santa Claus has always confused me. I know it is April right now and no one is thinking of Santa, but stay with me. Santa gives gifts to those who behave. I mean, he is always watching… so you better watch out! (It’s a little creepy if you thinking about it)

But the most confusing part to me is that we then have the audacity to call what Santa delivers to boys and girls “gifts!” But they are not gifts in the truest sense… for they have been earned! If you want to put it in really stark terms… Santa is pretty much anti-Gospel.

The Gospel is that God has given the greatest gift, not to those who have been good and deserve it… no… precisely the opposite… Christ died for the ungodly and freely gave them the gift of his righteousness! Out of sheer grace, God made us right with himself through Christ!

If we earned that righteousness, then Christ died for no reason at all! That’s what Paul proclaims in Galatians 2. To try and earn what is actually a free gift is to nullify the grace of God!

In other words… what I’m really trying to say is that Satna ain’t got nothing on Jesus! We’ve got better Gospel good news than Ol’ Saint Nick. Our great God gives the greatest free gift to the naughty list! And I’m so thankful… because that is the list on which I was born and on which I would die were it not for Christ!

So, you better watch out St. Nick… and feel free to cry… grace has come to town and put you out of a job!

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2 (click here)
…we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

Reflection
Have you ever heard God tell you that he loves you?

One of the deepest struggles we all have as human beings is believing that there is anyone out there who actually loves us. We may have people in our lives who tell us of their love regularly, but one way or another we rationalize these professions of affection away… believing there is no way someone could actually, truly love us.

If we are able to do this with people present and speaking their love into our lives… how much easier is it for us to doubt the love of God who can seem so distant and mute! God doesn’t speak his love into my life… and I know why… because he sees, more than any human, all the reasons I should not be loved! He sees everything about me that is unlovely!

I think so many of us feel this way, even though most are unwilling to admit it. So allow me to speak directly to your feelings for us just a moment…

God loves you.

That is not me saying that! That is the Lord speaking truth into your life! I can make that claim not because I am God, but because of 2 Corinthians 5:20, “…we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us…”

Our God does speak! He does it through his people proclaiming the Gospel! Every time a believer in Jesus declares to you the good news… that is God speaking his love into your life! He is imploring your heart through his people!

And yes… he is showering his love upon you in this way even though he sees everything about you and me that makes us unlovely! He does that because the good news is precisely this… he has taken our unloveliness upon himself and given us his own loveliness!

2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This is the news of God’s love that he announces to you through other believers! This is the good news he is announcing through me to you right now! God is imploring you right now with his love!

Have you ever heard God tell you he loves you?

Hear him right now! HE… LOVES… YOU!!!

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.