Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:21-26 (NIV) 

Consider This

Today, dear ones, we have witnessed what is referred to as a mic drop.1

 

My dear friends in Jesus. We have heard the gospel today as handwritten by Saul of Tarsus, THE apostle Paul, somewhere around the year 50 in the year of our Lord. There’s a lot to be said about what Paul said, but I am moved to simply slow-walk us through what the Holy Spirit is saying here. We need to savor it, relish it, treasure it in our hearts, and ponder it. I’m going to line-break it like a poem; like the divine verse that it is:

 

But now

apart from the law

the righteousness of God

has been made known,

 

to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

This righteousness is given

through faith in Jesus Christ

to all who believe.

 

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

for all have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God,

 

and all are justified freely

by his grace

through the redemption

that came by Christ Jesus.

 

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,

through the shedding of his blood—

to be received

by faith.

 

He did this to demonstrate his righteousness,

because in his forbearance

he had left the sins committed beforehand

unpunished—

 

he did it to demonstrate his righteousness

at the present time,

so as to be just and

the one who justifies those

 

who have faith in Jesus.

 

[Full Stop.]

 

Mic Drop.

 

See also note 2 below.2

Prayer

Jesus, we belong to you, and we are not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; and for me. Thank you that your Word is powerful, full of grace and truth, and mighty to save. I hear these words, Jesus, but there are places in my heart and mind needing to hear them deeper. Holy Spirit, search me and find those hard places, those resistant places where I am not moved by this good news. Awaken me to more of you. Only then will I be less of the me I used to be and more of the me I was made to be. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

 

Notes

But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.”

(Romans 3:21–26 The Message)

 

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Romans 3:19-20 (NIV) 

Consider This

Near the end of his life, John Newton, author of the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” said these words:

“My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.”

The purpose of the law is to make us conscious of our sins. On this point, the Bible is clear.

In other words, the Law was not given in order that people would endlessly strive to fulfill it and consider they were doing a pretty good job. It was given to show us our desperate need of God and our hopelessness to obey it apart from him. More on that tomorrow.

In other words, the Law was given to reveal to us the insolvency of our souls. Yes, we are born into bankruptcy. We didn’t ask for it. We didn’t earn it. It’s not fair. You might say we didn’t even deserve it. None of this changes the fact of it. This is what the Bible reveals to us about the nature of human beings. We are born debtors because of the sin of our forbears in the Garden. Though we didn’t create the original debt we have added to its immensity.

Here’s the problem I have. I have debts, but I don’t much think of myself as a debtor. And I surely don’t think of myself as bankrupt. (Well, maybe a little bit, but that’s for another day). But doesn’t that tell the story? There’s no such thing as a little bit bankrupt. Our capital S Sin has put us into the condition known as bankruptcy. Our little s sins are like the interest adding up on the debt. We can never repay it. It’s kind of like the national debt of the United States. As of now, it stands at $31 trillion dollars. And somehow, all of us are able to walk around and live our lives like it is not even real. And we certainly don’t really own that we have had anything to do with it. Nevertheless, the day is coming when that debt will come due. Though it can be extended and extended it cannot be extinguished unless it is repaid.

It is the same with our sins. We can walk around a long time carrying a debt we can never repay—just wracking up interest—and living our lives like it’s not even real. At the same time, it is taking its cruel toll on our souls, bit by bit, day by day. The day is coming when that debt will come due. Whether we want to face it or not, there will be a judgment, an accounting, a calling of the note.

It is a terrible, awful thing (even shameful) to be in so much debt without hope of repaying it. It leads to the searing of the conscience and the hardening of the heart.

It’s why the gospel is such a song: “Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”

Again, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Again, “My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought; my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! O, my soul.”

Prayer

Jesus, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. And I believe. Part of me is ashamed of my bankrupt soul and yet you came in and paid it all. It is too good to be true and yet it is true. I receive it, Jesus, as an unworthy, grateful sinner. I receive it. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. O, my soul. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

 

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

 

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

      there is no one who understands;

      there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

      they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

      not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves;

      their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

      “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

      ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.”

      “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Romans 3:9-18 (NIV) 

Consider This

Repeat after me . . . and aloud so your ears can hear it:

I am not righteous—not even me.

I do not understand.

I do not seek God.

I have turned away.

I have become worthless.

I do not do good—not even me.

My throat is an open grave.

My tongue practices deceit.

The poison of vipers is on my lips.

My mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

My feet are swift to shed blood.

My ways are marked by ruin and misery.

I do not know the way of peace.

My eyes do not see the fear of God.

I know—many of you had a hard time with that because it’s not where you are now. However, at minimum, it is where you were before you met Jesus. It cannot be overstressed to remember who you once were. Even if you did not actually do these sins, this Sin was in you. It commanded you, ruled you, and ruined your life; even if everything on the outside had the touch of a master decorator.

When we say with Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” we are saying this was me, my lot, my reality, even if I didn’t fully realize it at the time. I was under the power of capital S sin. I could do nothing to free myself.

And this is the reason why so many decent, God-fearing, church-going people are not really saved from Sin—because they haven’t yet realized they were really under the power of Sin—which is another way of saying you still are. To say, “I am baptized,” is just like a Jew saying, “I am circumcised.” The gospel is not skin level. It is deep heart level. It gets down into your guts where shame hides and tries to convince you it’s not there.

It’s why at the end of the day I contend there is only one prayer and one prayer alone. And it goes like this:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

 Prayer

Yes, Jesus, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” I confess something in me wants to believe Jesus is a great savior without believing I am a gross sinner. It offends my pride, which is another way of saying it stokes my shame. So I will say it here before you, Jesus, not as a self-condemning statement, but as the liberating words of the honest truth—I am a gross sinner. It was far worse than I realized. And I am beginning to now know you are far greater than I ever could have imagined. Something about knowing who I once was opens me up to knowing who you most truly are, and who I am most truly becoming. Yes, Jesus, this is the way. You are the way. Praying in your name, amen.

 

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.

What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:

“So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

Romans 3:1-8 (NIV) 

Consider This

I’m not going to lie. Romans is hard. Today’s text is hard to make heads or tails of for me. I get the feeling someone out in the audience has lawyered up and is asking the kinds of questions a person asks when they don’t get (or don’t like) what’s being discussed. They are the questions of a religious person whose heart is not right. They are the questions of a person who doesn’t really want answers but rather wants to play the part of an agitator. It’s kind of like when people don’t want to hear what you are trying to say so they ask ridiculous questions that obfuscate the whole conversation. It’s kind of like those people in the Bible study who never do the homework and instead of being quiet, they try to convince everyone of their intelligence by releasing their pet rabbits into the room so others might give chase.

It is very difficult to deal with uber-religious people on the one hand and recently converted pagan heathens on the other. Maybe I’m missing it, but that’s how I’m sizing up the scene here in Rome. And the truth is, these two groups of people don’t get along. It’s a judgment-fest. It’s kind of like that scene in the movie The Jesus Revolution, when the pastor’s daughter invites all the unkempt and uncouth hippie Jesus freaks into their prim and proper church and the deacons pitch a fit and start to leave.

In a poignant scene around this point in the movie, the drifter-hippie turned preacher, Lonnie Frisbee, (ironically played by Jonathan Roumie who plays the part of Jesus in The Chosen), says to Chuck Smith, (pastor of Calvary Chapel played by Kelsey Grammar),

“There is an entire generation out there searching for God. My people are a desperate bunch—and desperation—there is power in that word. What would it take for you Chuck Smith to become desperate?”

I think I cried for the rest of the movie after that.

Paul is desperate to reach the lost Gentiles, but he has to deal with the legalistic Jews first. What we are witnessing here is the master stroke of the gospel. Before Jesus lifts, he first levels. All the status markers in the house, especially religious ones, must go. Truth be told, this is what most churches need most. We need the most religious people in the house to rend their hearts and repent. We need the families who think they own the church and run the place to stand down and make room. The gospel is a wrecking ball for comfortable, conventional, respectable religion. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Why does this matter?

Because there is an entire generation out there searching for God.

What would it take for you to become desperate?

 Prayer

Jesus, we belong to you. Yes, Jesus, I belong to you. Jesus, you are the gospel. We confess we have tried to fit you into our program and make you serve our agendas. We like our familiar crowd and our easy beliefs. Would you level the ground under my feet? Search me and show me the ways I have put myself on a higher level than others. Convict me of my secret pride. Holy Spirit, awaken me to the desperation of Jesus who is searching for those who are desperately searching for him. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.

 

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Romans 2:25-29 (NIV) 

Consider This

The bottom line on chapter 2—the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Jew or Gentile—a sinner is a sinner is a sinner and we are all one of them. Stop comparing. Stop judging. Stop faking. More to come on that next week, but today Paul drops a bomb of a hint about all the goodness to come. The hint comes in this stunning phrase; a heretofore uncombined combination of words:

circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit

So think about circumcision (and I’ll spare you the graphic details). Now think about the heart, which Paul poignantly chooses as a metaphor. Now think about the Holy Spirit. Circumcision of the heart by the Spirit.

Now, besides everything, what did circumcision mean to the Jews? It was the mark of belonging to God. The circumcised heart is the mark of belonging to Jesus. It is not a mark made by human hands but by the Holy Spirit. I see it as the cauterizing of the cross.

I got an interesting text message from a friend this week. It was in response to the entry where I got super real about my body and losing weight. Here is the thread:

Friend: Dear Jesus, turn my heart into a fillet of surrender. Today.

Me: What do you mean by fillet?

Friend: I had a dream years ago that my heart was split like a fillet and all these butterflies came flying out and they all went different ways to do good things for Jesus and I was so peaceful. I still envision it and feel like all is well.

Friend: I guess it’s more like butterflying meat. Which actually (to me) brings it a step deeper.

Me: The Bible calls what you are referring to as the circumcision of the heart—which signifies the kind of surrender you are referring to— which releases the kind of flourishing you describe with the butterflies.

Friend: PS to John David, get rid of the scale.

I know so many of you want this very thing for your life too. And you know what? Jesus knows it too. He sees your heart and it pleases him. I asked him if he would speak to you today, by his Spirit, through my yielded heart and free-flowing words. I am asking Jesus to circumcise your heart by his Spirit right here and right now. Here’s my sense of his Word to you today:

My Daughter, My Son,

I see you and I delight in you greatly. I don’t want anything from you. I am not looking for you to do something for me. I am not needing you to try to become someone for me. I simply want you, the real deep true you—not the person you think you should be or the one you hoped you would become by now, or even the one you take pride in having become. I want the you who you were when you were a child before it all became so complicated and broken and many other things it was never meant to be. Bring me your heart now that it might be circumcised by my Spirit—butterflied, laid open, and made whole again.

I want you to let all the broken past be finally buried now, as in a grave, my grave, where I can cut it away like the lesions it has become on your soul, compromising and often crushing your true identity. I will give back your wounds as resurrected scars of glory. I’ll give back your ashes as resurrected beauty. I’ll give back your canceled sins as stories of salvation. I’ll give back your brokenness as resurrected blessedness. All of this suffering I will give back to you as a song you will sing to me for the rest of your days until the day you sing it before me face to face.

And I’m not looking for the you of your achievements and accolades and accomplishments—the you, you clamor for others to see. I want you to put all that on the shelf, my shelf, and let me cut away the broken attachments to your heart and heal the distortions it has done to your soul. I simply want you, like a child who can be held, carried, embraced, and blessed for nothing but love. I will give back your insecurities as the mighty fortress of my safe and secure presence. I’ll give back your achievements in the form of accolades to those who couldn’t achieve. I’ll give back your trophies, stripped of their idolatry and resurrected from the dead, as tokens of my glory you will one day lay at my feet again.

Give me your heart, in full surrender, fuller than ever before. Trust me completely and with abandon. Find your knees, make an altar, and do whatever it takes to mark these moments for these are the moments I am marking you. I am writing my name on your heart again. And I know you may have done this before, and you will certainly do it again. What’s important is you do it now, right now, bringing your heart just as you are. No expectation. No anticipation. Feeling it or not; willing or willful. Just bring a pure, unbridled, unconditional gift of your deepest heart to me in love. You belong to me. I belong to you. This is love, and you will never be the same again.

 Prayer

Jesus, we belong to you. Jesus, I belong to you. Jesus, you are the gospel—the pure, unadulterated, too good to be true but true goodness of God. I not only believe you today, but I receive you. I receive you in greater measure than ever before. I want the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. I sense it will be costly and yet nowhere near as costly as the life lived without it. Holy Spirit, lead me into this deep place with Jesus anew and afresh. This will be awakening. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.