A Godly Sincerity

“For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.”

2 Corinthians 1:12

Paul’s sincerity to Corinth was based off the same sincerity he had for every church. This was a godly sincerity that was a gift from Christ to Him through the Spirit as it is given to us. Paul was conscientious of this sincerity. There was no place in time where Paul wasn't occupied in his conscience toward the churches. Paul had a deep Christ-given love for the churches. Paul shared in the joys and love of Christ, as He said His number one pursuit was to share in the sufferings of Christ, to know the power of His resurrection and fully go after that specific treasure. Christ was sufficient for Paul to the point that Paul was single-minded in his address to the Corinthians; Paul wanted the Corinthians to know Christ. This is the purpose of each epistle: to see the church grow in the knowledge, wisdom, and love of Christ. Paul wanted the church to KNOW Christ, not simply be touched by Him and have stranded experiences here and there, but to KNOW Christ in all His fullness.

Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me… Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.”

John 8:42; 50

Christ was faithful and not in any light way. At every moment of His life, Christ was completely given to the will of the Father as spoken to Him moment by moment. Christ did not go astray or pursue anything but the perfect and beautiful will of God in all things. Christ desired to bring the world to know its Creator. The purpose of life is to know Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty. Christ is Jehovah in the flesh, the Savior. Christ came to save the world from the depths of death and bring to light the fullness of life that is Christ and in Christ. We are not in the business of offering a life, but displaying a life and allowing Christ to take full control and rebirth the world into the same life. Our calling is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, loving others as we would love ourselves. In this, we know the Father and the one He sent, which is Christ. We are called to love God, not simply sacrifice things and obey, but to pursue and enjoy His very person above everything else. When we know Christ, we spread Christ because the nature of loving Christ is an outward desire to experience His love in loving others. This is the fullness of creation; love.
            This is the sincerity that Christ gave to Paul. Paul desired that the churches would grow in love. That the churches would pursue love and die in love. Godly sincerity is the pure drive to see people know Christ. To expand the glory of God in reaching it out to others is to expand the love of Christ in you. The more people you joyfully and selflessly love in Christ, the more people who see Christ and find Christ through you. Although it is none of your gain, Christ has gifted you to be you for the world to see the beauty of Christ in you as you lay hold of His fullness and allow Him to mold you in to His life and glory. Christ designed Paul and you to be vessels of sincere love for all, even yourself, to know and share the beauty of Christ.

A Fiery Treasure

       I’m finding more and more the inability of myself to be who I preach to be. Oh, thank God that I would not be the sole of my righteousness or the thumb of my life. I’m not the authority over my heart, Christ is and with all the authority I don’t have, I claim to engage the trustworthiness of my King. I’m not working toward being a better man or minister, but rather, I’m working to be Christ’s man, yes, Christ’s, faithfully sitting at His feet, allowing nothing to rule me but His perfect word and perfect guidance.
There is only one Guide and one Way. Yes, only One is able to Be when all of our hellish lives come to a close. It will be either Christ or nothing. You will either be satisfied in the eternal bliss of His presence or be forever wanting in the wrath of His presence upon your evil flesh. Christ, who is all and in all is the foundation of your life, you are not free to wander every which way to fleeting pleasures, but rather, you are to wander the surpassing wonders of Christ. Your guide to life is not simple instructions and moral ideals, but rather, the Person of Christ.
The Person of Christ draws from the unending glory of God, pouring out loving grace after loving grace to wash away every sin and recreate every righteousness, meaning we are to the mere product of our works. Often times, we make light of our salvation by assuming obedience to be the work of fleshly discipline, but no, our salvation is the saving grace over fleshly discipline and that same grace pierces through the mind, into the heart of all that we are and regenerates the creation of man in God’s image. We are not a small thing, but a massively large thing, living and abiding by small things. We were not called to porn, television, games and other pass-times. We were called to the living God, never seeking anything but that significant glory, wherein we find the fullness of who we are linked to fullness of who Christ is, the fullness that fills all in all.
So, the question remains: what are you seeking? Does King and Kingdom drive the fullness of your life or are you a Pharisee, who tries to serve God with flesh, but in all honesty, serves his greatest treasure, which is his reward and not his Lord. Don’t be found wanting when Judgement comes, be found waiting and resting in light of His glorious grace, which pounds second upon second, pressing toward the finish of this great race. You’re called to nothing less than Christ’s fullness and the lightest of your desires must be found submitted to His fire. Let yourself be gold, the apple of His eye, a great and worthy treasure that in all His grace, you’d let Him not everything, withhold.

It's A Matter of Remembrance

     In all the universe, we live on the only planet (that we know of) that has life. We are a unique people, with unique characteristics. Humans are an incredible creation capable of many things. We are taught to love and we teach to love. We are taught the specifics of morality and ethics and freely choose despite the state of the world around us. We are creatures of incredible influence; we choose our course. No species on earth can do this and no other form of life is possibly capable of such a feat. We truly are unique and we have something to offer, at each stage and capacity of life. We are made of one concept and within that concept, we understand the greatness of our creation. We are made in a specific glory, specific beauty and although we've forsaken the author of this glory, we understood the potential that we've been given and we'll fight for it.
     We are called to remembrance, for many reasons, in this season particularly to remember the men and women who fought for the freedom to practice the greatness of our creation. The innate glory of our existence is something we fight for, die for, just so we could live for it. I pray the greatest commendation and honour would be granted to those who fight for the freedom to be human. Those who fight in war against oppression are displaying a very beautiful truth of Christ. Christ is the fullness of love and the beauty of what's within, is what love fights for. Christ fought for the innate glory of God within us to be set free and caused to abound in adoration of our Lord. Although I'm not sure that the motivation of the men and women in wars of justice are particularly the same as the war that Christ waged and is still waging, but I can commend them for two things:

     1) These men and women lived for what they believe and cannot be accused for settling for the small things of this world. They went beyond their own comforts and freely chose to fight side by side for your comforts. These people lived beyond the boring average and live a greater, nobler and more beautiful life. I've been given a great honour to know of those who were willing to fight and not allow oppression and fear to rule over our lives. It is a true honour and we must take it more seriously. Veterans are not just people to be remembered for what they did, but people who are to be remembered for the noble triumph, valor and character that was displayed in choosing the choice to go.

     Christians must take this reality much more seriously. We have been given a similar and noble cause. We have been given the opportunity to fight for the oppressed, weak and vulnerable. We have been given the opportunity to join forces with the King of kings to go into all the earth as he conquers and causes every knee to bow and every tongue to confess to His wonder. We have the opportunity to present the glory of God, that we would be set free from our small, paltry glory of man. We are given much more than the choice of which school we go to or which career we would like to do. We are given the choice to live beyond the limits of man and beyond to limits that our world places upon us. Christ is our absolute highest treasure and He forsook the comforts of Heaven to save us and in our time of remembrance, let us remember that our King fought for us. Let us remember the love He poured out and remember the love that the men and women displayed for us in fighting for our freedom to practice of our faith. In all this remembrance, we must not let both the battle of Christ and the battle of our veteran's go to waste; let's actually practice the freedom we've been given by their love and follow the example to live out the noble lives that we believe we're called to live.

     2) These men and women displayed an example of love that is rare in our selfish generation. These men and women didn't simply fight in nobility, but they fought in an unrelenting desire to see the future lives of the world be made better. They fought for freedom because they found it to be a good thing, but what is greater about this, is that they laid down their lives for us to know freedom. By being citizens of our democratic nations, we live and abide in the love of our veterans. They fought to gift us freedom. There is no pay check that could have made up for their time in the trenches and the danger that they faced. The horrible hardships are something they freely accepted for our benefit and have they asked for anything in response? What do those "crosses, row on row" demand from you? They did not fight for your recognition, but for your freedom and that is love. They fought for you to be who you were created to be. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)"

     Is Christ the central focus of your life? Are you walking the Narrow Way? Is Truth the defining reality of your being? Is Life of the highest valued possession you have? These are all the attributes of Christ, but here is our greatest attribute: Love. Christ is love and there is no true love apart from Christ. Christ was perfectly selfless and went beyond just dying for friends, but He died for His enemies. So, in this time of remembrance, I would challenge followers of Christ to compare your lives to Christ's, then compare your lives to our veterans and judge, "How well do you love?" Christ says that even evil people give good gifts to their children. Do you give good gifts to your children? By the example of our veterans, they gave up their lives for their friends' freedoms, it is also possible for humans, although possibly without rebirth, to love their friends. Are you doing this? Is your life as noble as that? Do you freely give of your life to see those around blossom and bloom into the beauty of Christ, practicing and fanning into flame the freedom that is found in Him? Are you sheltered into your own life, living only by what you want and need, by the little comforts of this world?

     We've been given a very clear and evident example in the person of Christ and in the fight that our veterans fought for us. In remembrance, would we not just sit back idly and marvel at their remarkable and noble feats, but would we follow in their footsteps and pursue a greater and higher calling unto Christ who is forever able and willing to give us all that we need to fulfill the noble calling He's called us to. A redeemed Christian doesn't forget that He is a child of God and a child of God must remember that He is still here for a purpose. We are ambassador children for the Kingdom Heaven and we must take the noble title seriously and take action to see the captives free and the weak and vulnerable cared for. We must remember that we are a noble breed.

Love As The Foundational Drive

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)"
     In the easiest understanding, Paul is telling Timothy this: "We want people to know, understand and receive the Person of Christ! We tell you these things so that people get a load of Jesus, they experience the fullness of Christ." There is a such a sweet chime to that name, isn't there? Such a bold strength to "Christ?" In this passage, Paul is calling the people to a deep perseverance in truth. I don't mean on the little details of doctrine, but I mean on the Head of doctrine and spiritual activities. Paul is saying everything we do is to love people. We want people to be found in Christ, treasuring and enjoying every aspect of His precious glory. If Christ was any less than perfect, could He be treasured? If love did not seek out the most precious blessing, would it be true love? So, Paul says, the aim of our charge is love. The absolute high priority of writing was to bring the people into the greatest of blessing that Paul had ever known. Paul wanted them to know Jesus, the narrow Way, and he calls Timothy to walk and preach that narrow Way. To keep proper, Christ-centered, doctrine and in doing so, bring many into a grand intimacy with Christ.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3)"
     What do we have outside of love? Really, all is vain if it is not generated form love, that deep passion to know and make known the intimate treasure of Christ. If it is not generated from love, it is damaging to our own reception and enjoyment of intimacy with Christ. If you're not loving, you're not treasuring Christ and you're not giving the fullest of glory to the worthy God and King. Our greatest command is to love. We are called to pursue Christ in all things. When Paul tells the Corinthians that not all things are helpful, he means that it may be good (okay) to enjoy certain things in the world, but it is not helpful, meaning, it is not of love. These enjoyments, although they're not sin, they are vain and unproductive. they don't bring life. They don't bring truth or joy. They are temporal things that will pass away, yet, love remains. Love is a relational, yet very firm concept. It involves compassion and care, but always drives upward to the Person of Christ. This is not a closed mind, this is a real, active, living mind. Our heart is to bring people into the fullness of Christ, for "Christ is all and in all." Christ is the essence of creation and all was created to treasure Him, moment by moment. We have been given the grace to pursue the glory of Christ in all things, to make Him known to the broken and downtrodden, bringing every promised blessing to the weak, vulnerable and hurting.

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. (1 Corinthians 13:11)"
     Growing up in faith is learning that we are to be spent for the sake of everyone else. We aren't always called to worldly weak, impoverished lives, but we are called to live in such a manner that would suggest we hold value to nothing but the treasuring of Christ in all things, by all people. We are not enslaved to the chains of this world, we have a greater calling. We are God's children and children are free to love. Children haven't a clue in the world of the needs that are constantly being met in their lives. Children just care for those who are sad and worry about having fun when they're with those who are fun with them. They run into the arms of those who comfort them and protect them. Children know when they're being loved. Although, we're called to grow up into maturity, to reason and edify, rather than running to every fleeting emotion that we've been given. In maturity, we've come to a realization that we have One who we can trust. The things that once phased us, don't phase us and the things that once brought us pleasure aren't what we find to bring us pleasure. Grandparents don't run around seeking the next person to have fun with. Rather, grandparents manage to enjoy each little bundle of joy that hops into their lap. Each parent works their tail off, for what purpose? To see the growth and flourishing of their children. Growing up is a change of joy, from a self-centered joy, to an abounding joy in serving and beholding the fruit of the seeds we've planted and watered. Mature believers love with all their heart and with all that they are, they give. Their supreme joy is to love others, for this is their calling: to enable and empower those underneath them to know Christ, to trust Christ in all things, to believe and wait upon Him. We are called to forsake the small things of the world, but only to trust Christ with all things. Maturity is shown in perspective, the more you trust Christ with yourself, the more you'll be loving others, rejoicing and crying with tears over the testimony of Christ in all things.

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)"
     Eternal things become our focus when we begin trusting Christ. When we continually walk in obedience, we begin to recognize how beautifully and bountifully blessed Christ is. When we are walking in obedience, we are walking in Christ's love, Christ's life and in that, Christ is more than faithful to provide for our physical needs. When we trust Christ, we seek things above and are available to witness Christ more and more, until we truly are walking with His love moment by moment. We must take every moment and bring it under subjection to His will, which is Him blessing us through our obedience to Him. We lean upon the King and will find His beauty overwhelming us, our actions and the thoughts that surrounding people have of us. When we trust Christ, we love because we cast off worry for ourselves and have allowed ourselves to be poured out to serve others. This is what is eternal: to trust Christ in all things, but in that trust, reaching out and giving ourselves up that they would know Him. We are a blessing when we trust Christ. We showcase Christ when we obey in our trust. We behold our most wonderful treasure when our living testimony bears fruit in others. We become witnesses of more than just our own testimony but others and we can say with Paul that those whom we've loved are "our recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. (2 Corinthians 3:2)" Let us be driven to be recognized by the love that we show and grow in others; to be commended in those whom we've loved, planted seeds and grown up into maturity. Let us be known for love, for "the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)"

The Bride-Groom's Treasure

     Where does the heart lay? “Where you treasure is, there your heart is also.”  (Matthew 6:21) What you long for is what your treasure is and as any treasure, the possession of that treasure is your single, great pursuit. I must confess that my treasure has been of small things of late and that in repentance, I will obtain a greater, more abundant treasure. I must ask forgiveness from you, especially those closest to me. You have not witnessed the fullness of Christ in me and for that, I'm truly sorry and would like your forgiveness. There is no reason for this sinful life, for I have called upon and claimed the name of Christ. I have given myself over as a bond-slave of Christ; to be a pure Bride in waiting for the King. I am generated of a great and beautiful love and graciously given access to that love moment by moment. In the greatest of things, there is a deep Treasure that I'm enslaved to pursue. I have been recreated and at every point, my straying will be corrected by His grace. I have an obligation to submit in this beautiful slavery. It is as true marriage, not 50/50, but 100/0 in perfect sacrificial service for the spouse, that they would know Christ in all the blessing I could possibly pour on them. I have been blessed with a beautiful young lady, who is more than worthy of this slavery, for she is gracious, she is loving and adoring in appreciation, grace and forgiveness. I am unworthy, but He has offered a beautiful gift to me, yes, the gift of slavery, which I joyfully accept.
     Yes, joyfully, as I joyfully accept my Jesus and joyfully accept His calling, I joyfully accept His gift and the privilege of serving such a beautiful woman. I cannot emphasize or express more the need for men to be submissive to Christ, absolutely understanding and patient with their wives, showing all endurance to bear with them to the end as Christ bears with us. We are to love as Christ loves us, yes, as Christ loves us. You don't have just commands, but a personal experience, watch and see how we ought to be. As Christ treats you, so you treat your wife. You must honor her position BESIDE you. Although her arm of authority is given to you for your lead, she is not to be dragged; she is to be kept standing by your strength, walking in your grace as Christ offers His grace to you. We are under Christ, but we are also at His side, in Him, covered by his strength, carried and kept strong in His love. He says that our burden is light, how about your lady's? He says that we are given a sure foundation in Him, how about your lady's foundation in this earth? Are you bearing with the failing of the weak? Are you striving alongside them? Are you compassionate and caring? Are you repentant when you jump forward without warning them? Are you a man? Do you truly seek to show Christ; to lead in the proper manner and way? Do you commend the steps that are taken (which may be persevering with your ignorance of her)? Do you see those steps? Is your greatest treasure on this earth to see the beauty and love of Christ shown in her?
     “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” This is a heavy statement. “Do all things unto the glory of God (1 Cor 11:31)… Paul (James, Peter, Timothy, Jude), a bondservant of Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Titus 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Jude 1:1)…” as these are heavy statements. The greatest men of God that we know of were all at one point considered ‘bondservants’ of Christ. We are grafted into His life, to take from it and live in it, depending upon the very sustenance of His person within us. Brides are called to dependence upon the Bride-groom, spiritual to Christ and physically to their husband. Men, don’t be slave drivers, be a blessing and pour out your lives for your wives, that they would bear much fruit, being an honor and in turn, you an honor to Christ. They bear fruit when you bear fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). Bear fruit in dealing with your ‘lovely’ and in that arena, you will be trained in every arena, for those closest prove the greatest trial. Seek the things above, which bear fruit. Meditate on their well-doing, which bears fruit. Rejoice in the grace that has offered you the power to obey. Rejoice in your obedience, rejoice in His gifts, rejoice in your trials and above all rejoice thoroughly in Christ’s gentle, patient and peaceful love for you, that He bears your burdens to bear others’. The treasure of Christ is your redemption from darkness to light and your attaining of this treasure is in rejoicing while you abide in it. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4)”