Lord Give Us Men

Most men who attend church take church casually.  Casual means occurring occasionally, superficially, without serious intent.  The job of the church is to challenge men to be all they can be according to the power of the Holy Spirit.  The mission of church is to inspire them to live the great commission.  Most churches ask men to attend regularly, serve diligently and to give generously.  Other than these three things, they don’t ask much.

Casual is similar to average.  Average is the norm, according to the standard of mediocrity.  The church at Laodicea was average and lukewarm.  Lukewarm is tepid, ordinary and customary.  Ordinary lacks refinement.  God said, because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.  

The course of this world is course, ordinary, and lacking in superior value.  Unexceptional is the norm according to the world’s standard.  However, extraordinary rises above the standards of the world.  We’re extraordinary because of God’s remarkable grace.  By his grace we’ve been separated from the darkness of this world to the higher standard of His Word.

The world calls good evil and evil good.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high.  God has called men who know whom they have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which he’s committed to them against that day of righteous judgement.

The politicians of Jesus’ time wanted him to be their earthly king.  However Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world.  The Pharisees asked him, What’s your plan?”  Jesus pointed to a few lowly Galilean fishermen and a tax collector and said, those men over there, they’re the plan.  He didn’t see them as they were…he saw them as they would become.  God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the base and the despised things of this world to nullify the things the things that are not, so that he who boasts should boast only in the Lord.

Jesus’ message was a message of paradox.  He said that to be lifted up you need to become lowly.  To be rich you must become poor.  To be filled with the Holy Spirit you must empty yourself of self.

Pastors today are insecure, isolated, lonely.  A Korean Pastor said, you for got to add fearful.  If that’s what Christian pastors are like, then what are the churchmen like?  What’s The profile of the average church goer?  He’s under challenged spiritually and needs to consider carefully to find something to which he can dedicate his life.  He seems trapped in insignificance.  He struggles with guilt and shame.  He doesn’t understand the meaning of grace.  He’s a cultural Christian instead of a biblical Christian.  The world has indoctrinated him so that he can’t say, “I was wrong, I’m sorry, or I love you.”

He has a father-wound that has never healed.  His father never mentored him, disciplined him, or taught him the love of God.  He feels estranged from God, himself, and other men.  He’s angry but can’t quite put his finger on the cause of his anger.  He never prays with his wife and doesnt’ feel that he can let his guard down and still be loved.  He feels threatened by her questioning his love, dedication, and motives.  He doesn’t initiate communication with his wife other than at an informational level.  He knows he doesn’t pray enough, read his bible enough, study enough or love enough.  He thinks that he’s the only one who struggles with his sin, guilt, and shame.  He’s ashamed when someone calls him “Man of God.”  He’s terrified someone will find out who he really is.  He avoids situations where he might be asked to pray or quote scripture.  He’s afraid that someone will find out the kind of man he really is.  

As an early Christian Pete was asked to lead a men’s group.  He agreed even though felt unworthy in the presence of the spiritual leaders of his church.  This was when the Green Bay Packers were winning national championships.  He remembered that at the beginning of each season their coach Vince Lombardi held up a football and said, “this is a football.”  An elder in his church said, never apologize about reminding me about the fundamentals of our faith.  

The average Christian guy is afraid to be known by other Christian men.  He has no time to cultivate a best friend so he’s careful not to get close to other men.  He finds his identity in his job, in his bank account, or in his independence and self sufficiency.  He’s confused about his role as a man of God, a Christian husband and a Christian father.  

As Pete reflected about men in our culture, he. was inspired to pen this prayer about men of God:

Lord Give Us Men…

…Men with stout hearts and fire in their eyes.  Men who fear nothing but you, and who owe nothing to anyone but acts of love.

Lord give us men.

Men who are willing to live and die for you, who name the name of Christ and live for His glory.  

Lord give us men.

Men who know your voice and whose greatest delight is to do your will.  Who are slow to anger, quick to listen, and eager to forgive.

Lord give us men,

Men who love their wives and honor you in their homes;  Who are living epistles of salt and light to all they know and meet.  Men whose sacrifice, service, and love are renown and who are known to have spent time with you.

Lord give us men!

These kinds of men!  For the world is desperate for them.

Lord give us men,

Men of faith and action, who have eternity in their hearts and only you as their focus, passion and reason for living.  Men of whom the world is not worthy.

Lord, these men are few, but they know that you use ordinary men to do extraordinary things through your power.  That you use foolish men to shame the wise; weak men who because you become strong.

Men who are known more for their availability than for their ability.  Men who choose to decrease so that you may increase.

Lord to me this seems like an impossible request, but these are the kind of men you make when they give their lives in total abandonment and absolute trust to you.

Lord let me be a man like this among men like this. 

Lord let me be that man.    —Pete McKenzie 2006

May this be our prayer O Lord,

That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of your grace,

In Christ,

Michael

Remarkable Grace Part 2

Even though Paul had suffered for the Lord, he wrote that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high. According to Ephesians 6:16-20, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel. 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Remarkable grace is given so that we can serve our Lord Jesus Christ from a heart of love. Jesus said, “in that you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” Jesus prayed for the soldiers who nailed him to the cross…”Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The theme of Ephesians 6 is the spiritual battle. Jesus said, “blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, great is your reward in heaven.” Because of God’s remarkable grace, mercy, peace, love and wisdom, be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.

God’s remarkable grace is his divine favor given by the one who didn’t’ need to give it to the ones who didn’t deserve to receive it. There’s also one other type of grace where Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor (grace) with God and men.

Grace is the foundation of receiving God’s precious gift of holy spirt. This valuable gift of grace was paid for by the precious blood of his son, Jesus Christ.

What makes grace remarkable? Grace is only found in one religion, the truth of Christianity. After Jesus’ resurrection, grace was available as God’s gracious gift. However, the Pharisees thought that there was no such thing as grace. They thought that they were righteous in their own works. They thought everyone else deserved death and that they were the only ones who were righteous. They were filled with so-called righteous indignation. However, because of Jesus’ righteousness, by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.

According to Romans 3:23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He died in our stead that we might live.

The world says, “God helps those who help themselves.” This is the doctrine of the Pharisees. They think that they’re righteous in their own works… that they’re justified by their own performance. They try to help themselves through their vain attempts to keep the letter of the Old Testament law. However, Jesus said, whoever breaks one law only once is guilty of breaking the whole law. The Old Testament Law convicts everyone of sin. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 8 says, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Is it Christ who justified, yea rather who rose from the dead? What shall separate us from the love of God? Shall persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Because of the love of God through his son Jesus Christ, we have been justified freely by his grace.

How shall we who have been saved from sin continue any longer therein? It’s not about us, it’s about him. It’s easy to become prideful because of our own natural abilities. However, He’ll break up our physical and natural so-called gifts so that we can rely on his ability, not ours. Thank God for breaking our hearts. For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

Jesus came to set the captives free. He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. The ultimate freedom is in captivity to our master’s will. Make me a captive Lord and then I shall be free. When we confess Jesus is Lord, this means we are no longer our own. Salvation means that he’s lord not me. The ultimate freedom is doing the Master’s will. We’re set free when we make his delight our delight…. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give the desires of thine heart.

The Apostle Paul said, “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.” The sin nature that we inherited from Adam is contrary to the righteousness of God. The antidote to our sin nature is the spirit nature that we received when we accepted God’s gracious gift. Romans 8:1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the flesh, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

When a woman was caught in adultry, the Pharisees gathered around to convict her of her sins. They pronounced her guilty as charged and picked up stones to stone her. Jesus said to the crowd, “he who is without sin may cast the first stone.” Her accusers slinked away. He said to the woman, where are your accusers? She said, they’ve all gone. Jesus said, then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

1 John 5:13 says that we have his gift of eternal life. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”

Because of his amazing remarkable grace, we’ve been given his gift of eternal life, his Holy Spirit. We who were dead in trespasses and sins hath he made alive, for by grace are ye saved.

When we know him, we are his and he is ours. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him….

…..That we may be to praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Why Grace?

Pete recalls that fifteen years ago he was invited to speak at a Christian camp in Sacramento.  The theme of his message was the remarkable grace of God.  After the message, Pete conducted an anointing celebration where each man who dedicated himself to follow Christ was anointed “Man of God.”  A church-goer approached him afterward.  He said, your message about remarkable grace is the message I’ve been waiting to hear all my life.  Before I heard your message about God’s remarkable grace, I thought that I was unworthy of salvation because my own works were not worthy of God’s righteous standard.”

The purpose of ministry is to create an environment where the Holy Spirit can come help himself to our lives.  

There are two types of grace in the Bible.  The first type is in Ephesians 2:8, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.  This type of grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection.  Grace is God’s gracious gift given to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it by the one who didn’t need to give it.

Grace is a gift offered by God.  To accept His grace, we must first humble ourselves under the mighty Hand of God.  We have to realize that we cannot make it on our own.  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Grace is all of thee and none of me.  

The other type of grace is “favor of God and man.”  This type of grace is found in the verse that says, “the child Jesus grew in wisdom, and stature, and favour (grace) with God and man.

The concept of grace is foreign to every worldly religion.  Grace is rooted and grounded in the cross of Christ.  At the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sins.  He exchanged his perfect innocent life for our sinful guilty life that was deserving of death.  For he who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

After having received God’s gracious gift of salvation, his Holy Spirit of Christ in us the hope of glory, we have received a new nature.  This new spiritual nature of Holy Spirit is righteous in God’s sight.  When God sees us he sees the righteousness of Christ in us. He does not judge us according to our sinful nature of the flesh.  

Should we who were saved from sin, continue any longer therein?  God forbid.  How can you who were delivered from your sinful nature continue in sin?  As men of God our challenge is to walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh.  This is the theme of Romans 8.  

The battle rages between the flesh and the spirit.  Paul said in Romans 7, who shall deliver me from this dead body?

Without grace, the gift of God, there is no peace.  Peace is one of the fruit of the spirit.  We still have the fruit of the spirit because of God’s gracious gift of His Holy Spirit.  Paul began his epistles with the greeting, “Grace and Peace from God or Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The world says “God helps those who help themselves.”  However, the God says, “the arm of flesh will fail you, Ye dare not trust your own.”  God helps those whose strength is in the Lord.  

The second essential of receiving God’s gift of grace is his assurance that “I accept you as you are.”  As the song says, “Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.  And that thou bidst me come to thee….O lamb of God I come, I come.

When we accept God’s offer of grace, we receive the righteousness of Christ. God accepts us as we are.  He doesn’t see us as we are in the flesh but as we will be.  He sees us in the  righteousness of his grace.  

Because of his grace, blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the way of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  And he shall be like a tree that is planted by the rivers of waters.  His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Living in God’s peace produces the fruit of the spirit.  Peace is the result of reconciliation.  Reconciliation means to bring together that which has been separated.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus.  Bearing fruit results when Jesus Christ is the vine and we are the branches.  

Because of God’s loving grace, we’re valuable.  Our value is not in our own performance.  What’s valuable?  Our value is in our fitness for his purpose.  Our value is the payment his only begotten son Jesus Christ paid with his precious priceless blood. Value is determined by the price that was paid.  Our value to God is priceless.  

Our value is in that he made us fit for his purpose…. that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.  What is the purpose for his gracious gift?  We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he’s foreordained that we should walk in it.  This is the purpose for which God paid the ultimate price…..that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Because of his loving grace we are his and he is ours.  A man of God is God’s man.  This is the genitive of possession.  Christianity is not who we are but WHOSE we are.  Because fo His grace, make me a captive Lord and then I shall be free…. I sink in life’s alarms if by myself I stand.  Imprison me within thine arms and free shall be my stand.

That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,

Michael