2 Corinthians 5

1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,

3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.

7 We live by faith, not by sight.

8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.

12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.

13 If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In regard to rest, Winston Churchill has some wisdom that we can apply to our own lives.

In our entertainment-filled world our minds are always engaged in some activity or thought. Some of us view entertainment as a means toward rest. Entertainment, or amusement (without thinking), seems to be a valid way to rest our minds. Or is it?

Others believe that if one could simply sit still for a while, determined to think upon nothing, they could access rest. However, if one has been worried with something, the moment that one tries to forget the worry, it comes crowding back in if her only diversion is to “think of nothing” – clear the mind. If our minds have been calculating or planning, once we determine to “rest”, we find ourselves again calculating or planning.

Mr. Churchill had a different view of what would constitute rest for both the mind and the body. He believed that we must find a hobby that will engage both our minds and our bodies. He said that we must choose an activity that we enjoy that will take our thoughts away from life. I think the reason he believed that our hands must be included was that then the thought could not be mindless. The thought would have action to keep it on track.

Recently I’ve taken up painting – gouache painting to be more precise. And the exciting thing is that I’ve experienced the type of rest Mr. Churchill is referring to in my pursuit of painting. Both my mind and my hands are made busy with my new endeavor. My creativity is being awakened – joy is deep-settled in my soul – there is an inner peace that comes from that place of creative rest.

I know the Lord led me to begin this “diversion” in this season of my life. I had planned to wait until my children were out of school to paint, but the Lord was specific – “Start now!” And I’m so glad I have. In a season of my life when nothing around me is in my control, I have found a place of quiet rest in painting. I’m grateful to my friend Janice for her time in teaching myself and a few other friends to paint. She has no idea what a ministry she is providing.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Mr. Churchill in regard to having a hobby – “Choose well, choose wisely, choose one.”

Is It Possible That Jesus is Enough?

Chapter 4 – How I Lost My Devotional Life

Relationship to God has the freedom to be based on a response to Grace. Notice I didn’t say it “must be based”.

We do not have to see our devotional life as a set of “must do’s”. The joy will be robbed.

Our relationship with God is a gift, as are his blessing and direction. We need do nothing to earn what we already HAVE!

Legalism = death. Death to those who propagate legalism, and death to those who are propagated against. We are ministering death to those we love when we try to force them to live by rules and regulations.

The law kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor. 3:6

We cannot attain life through death – attain grace through legalism.

Yes, we need disciplines such as faithfulness and self-control. But these qualities are born out of our receipt of grace from the Lord. If we live legalistic lives, we are only self-righteous and are not able to walk in the free gifts that God has given.

Our obedience is a response to the gift of His righteousness to us.

He works – we RESPOND.

He does – we RESPOND.

We still have an action to perform – work to do – but that work earns us nothing. We work out of a response of love. RESPOND to Him and enjoy life!

Chapter 5 – Legalism Arouses Sinful Passions

Is the law only good for one thing? Is the law only useful to point to sin in our lives?

To show us that we are imprisoned by sin so we’ll have a desire for freedom through grace?

There is another use for the law - the law militates (has force or influence, brings about a change) against legalism because it constantly reveals our sin and our need for grace.

There – we NEED the law, but not only for the reason we normally think we do. The law is not meant to condemn alone. The law is meant to point to grace.

We must not stop at conviction of sin – that is an attitude of defeat and death – a hopeless finality.

We must continue from the law to grace – an attitude of victory and life – a hope-filled grace-filled living!!

Chapter 6 – Satisfied With Jesus

If God the Father is satisfied with Jesus’ finished work on the cross, shouldn’t I also be satisfied?

Would I dare put myself above the Father in my knowledge of a situation?

None of us would knowingly do that – put ourselves above the wisdom of the Father.

But we do so unknowingly by thinking there is more to be done beyond the grace God has ALREADY given us through His Son.

Why do we do that? Is it because we are not used to things being simple? Is it because we as Worldlians (my own made-up word for those of us who live in the world) are used to the hurry-scurry lives we live? We are accustomed to much work; much activity.

Activity and work = productivity. Right?

Perhaps that is true according to the standards of this world. But remember that this world is not our home. Our home has a different set of standards. Those standards are mostly in direct opposition to the ones we are ruled by here.

If you want to live – you must die.

If you want to “get ahead” – you must put yourself last and serve others.

So does it make sense that if we want to succeed (there’s that word again!), we must simply accept a gift and not concern ourselves with having to accomplish that which has already been accomplished?

If Jesus did His work (walked willingly to the cross and defeated death, hell and the grave) and then SAT DOWN. Why are we standing up??? Haha!

It’s kind of funny in a way. Jesus is not worried about something being undone. Why are we?

I hear you – you want this message to be balanced out with our responsibility to do good works. We already talked about that in chapter 4.

We will still do works. But the BASIS for those works will be what it ought to be.

Our basis will no longer be in an attempt to earn something from God. Our basis for good works will be love of our Savior. That’s all. We will still lead disciplined, faithful lives. But that discipline and faithfulness will gain us NOTHING (we already have it all J. We are simply RESPONDING in love. We are hugging the Father and telling Him “thank you” for what You have done – for what You have given. It is enough for me. Now I want to show you that it is enough by my actions and my life.

Same things accomplished – same success – but HE gets the glory instead of ME.

Oh, I feel I’m not explaining this clearly enough. But my lack will have to be made up by revelation from the Holy Spirit.

In that light, I stop here…

Grace Plus Nothing

Chapter 1 – Our Righteousness Can’t Do It

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

How do I move this from my mouth and head to my heart?

This statement says it all – anything other than Jesus’ righteousness is “less”, making it ineffective. I am making no progress if I try to do things in my own righteousness.

All of us are motivated by what we see as success.

In Christianity success is completely opposite of what it is in the world. In the world, success comes from our own accomplishments. All the praise belongs to and goes to us. Perhaps that’s why we love our own successes so much…

But in Jesus Christ our failure means our true success – eternal success. I go back to my post on Why We Fail. We want to know that our lives count – that what we do in life matters to someone.

Without everything being filtered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – through His righteousness lived through us – we will have NO SUCCESS.

Our lives only matter to the degree we hide ourselves in Him.

We hide – He shines.

We are unknown – He is known.

We are less – He is more.

Romans 3:21-24 Apart from the law… our righteousness comes by our faith in Jesus Christ… our faith in Jesus Christ is a gift to us from Him…

Romans 5:1 We only have peace with God when we accept His gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ.

Do you lack peace?

Chapter 2 – Imprisoned For Mercy

Our Savior didn’t create this prison of sin out of spite. He created the sin prison so that He could show us mercy. He WANTS to show us mercy!

We are trapped by sin and death, and our only “door” out is to accept the gift of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That gift is accepted by a faith that He gives us.

We are being hemmed in, boxed in, unable to escape sin and death. Our only “escape” is Jesus Christ. There is no other way to get out of this feeling on guilt and condemnation. If we want freedom of heart and mind, we must allow Jesus Christ ALL credit for what is done in our lives. WE HAVE DONE NOTHING. We can do nothing – EVER! Nothing that we try will ever, ever, ever “work” to free us from this guilty feeling.

If works righteousness is dead, DEAD… we are wasting our time trying to be righteous. We are getting NOWHERE. We are chasing a path that will not matter – a life that will not matter. Again, do you want your life to matter? Then EVERYTHING must come through Jesus Christ. Nothing that I’ve done will remain – only what I do in Him. The things I do are wood, hay, and stubble and will be burned in the end. The things HE does through me are gold and precious metals. Those are the things that will be reward to me – the things HE has done through me.

How can sin still have power over me if Jesus has defeated sin and death? Sin will only have power over me as I try to live in my own righteousness. Righteousness by works cannot eliminate sin, because it is human based. Sin is eliminated only through Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. If I want to walk free from sin, I must walk in His righteousness and not my own. This “works” because He was without sin – sin does not affect Him. Only when I am hidden in Him will I be “unaffected” by sin.

Chapter 3 – Imputed Righteousness

Romans 4:1-5 We do not work to gain righteousness. We must believe in Him to gain righteousness.

This takes all the pressure off us to perform. Again, all we have to do is hide ourselves in Him – hide our lives in Him. That’s it! How hard can that be – to hide under the shadow of the Almighty One! If I will but hide myself in Him, I will have what I need – peace, faith, righteousness – everything.

God made a promise to Abraham, and all Abraham had to “do” was believe. That’s it – just believe.

This must be why doubt and unbelief are so crippling in a believer’s life! Faith is the foundational element to “success” in our lives. That must be why the devil tries so hard to get us to doubt God – to doubt His word – to doubt His finished word – to try to do things on our own. If we doubt and do things on our own – our lives do not matter. We are failing. And we do not want to fail!

“The Lord has promised right standing (righteousness) before him to anyone who will put his faith in the finished work of Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Therefore, like Abraham, when we simply believe this promise of God, the Lord reckons righteousness to us.”

Faith is key! Belief is key!

Romans 5:17 Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

SUCCESS! This is the path to my life making a difference. The path is THROUGH Jesus Christ!