Category Archives: Dan’s Blog

Metamorphosis

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The miracle in the caterpillar’s cocoon is but a whisper of the dramatic unfolding of godly character—so foreign to our inherently self-willed nature—being fashioned in the human heart through the intervening power of God’s Spirit. Paul goes so far as to say we “are being transformed into [the Lord’s] image from glory to glory.”(2 Corinthians 3:17). What an incredible metamorphosis this must be! A mysterious process indeed; how can it even be possible? God knows!

Metamorphosis in our character is essentially the old self giving way to the new. Thinking back to what we’ve talked about regarding this issue of self-will, in Christ we now possess the power of choice in spite of our human condition. Being set free from the power of sin has set the stage to accomplish this.(Romans 6:6). Even though at times it may not feel like it, we have the power to choose to lay aside the old self by an act of our will, deciding instead to put on the new self.(Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:9-10). But where does that leave us when we fail to perform perfectly? What does such failure say about genuine transformation in our heart?

On Being Holy

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The Holy Spirit is not sedentary. He wants not merely to exist quietly within us, but to thrive. Because our spirit is firmly fastened to God, the incredible energy of His Spirit is now at work within, motivating us to move forward with Him.

A mounting desire to please God with our lives is the outcome we should expect from His indwelling presence. And as a part of this yearning to please Him comes an inherent sense that we are to be holy. Because God is holy, a godly life must be a holy life.

Let’s be realistic: how many of us could say with a shred of confidence that we are holy in all our attitudes and behavior, especially given the fact that God gives us something seemingly so impossible to live up to as: “you shall be holy, for I am holy.”(1 Peter 1:15-16)

Even though it’s hard to imagine that we could ever achieve such a measure of perfection, we can’t deny that Scripture ushers us toward that goal. So we often feel left with little alternative but to work for it. It’s not hard to understand why we see things this way, because it’s actually pretty common to think in terms of holiness being associated with what a person has achieved. Isn’t that how people of all religious stripes see it—the “Holy Man” as opposed to your everyday run-of-the-mill believer? Not only is this philosophy deeply ingrained in us through our general experience of life, but it’s also prevalent in the beliefs of our churches.

 

Separated from God?

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I’m sure we all realize that the true definition of the term Christian is “one who has been born again into living relationship with God.” Because this union is the result of God’s Spirit taking up residence within us, a rock-solid bond has been established with God—a relationship that cannot easily be broken.

But here a question arises: “As a Christian, does sin separate me from God?” It’s not unusual to hear this answered “yes.” We are often taught that sin causes a separation between us and God, creating a rift which can only be restored when we confess our sin to Him.(1 John 1:9) Therefore, moving forward with our life in God is possible only when our tie with Him can be reestablished through forgiveness.

Though this view certainly seems to have merit, it’s not actually the case. Frankly, sin does not separate a believer from God in any manner. Unquestionably, any sin displeases God and therefore can’t help but affect our relationship with Him, but it does not separate us from Him. If it did, it would mean that God would have to vacate our spirit each time we sin, and then come back once again when we repent.

This hardly seems practical, since it means that God would have to sever the very tie so utterly necessary to overcoming sin in the first place. It would mean cutting off the very resource essential to spiritual growth.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

Run to God

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By its very nature, sin—especially hidden sin—just naturally opens wide the floodgates of guilt and shame. So we try to bury it, just like everyone else does, hoping that those around us will never discover who we really are.

Satan has used the tool of shame in countless Christians’ lives to drag them into a back-slidden condition where alienation from God becomes a way of life. Just think how being more open about our weaknesses would serve to cripple this strategy the devil so routinely exploits.(James 5:16)

Rather than allowing sin to drive us from God, we need to run headlong to God when we sin. This can be very difficult for us, though, because we’ve been taught throughout life to behave ourselves. And when we don’t, our conscience tells us we must clean up our act before we can ever go to God with the problem. After all, how else might we feel like we’re worthy enough to deserve His help? Though this assumption is entirely false, it’s very real to us all the same.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

 

 

Shame

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Because the problem of sin is so persistent in Christians’ lives—whether it be overt, or the more covert sin of attitudes and motivations of the heart—our most common response is to cover it up. We simply try to appear to be more respectable and holy than we actually are. Do you think pride has something to do with this? I think that’s a foregone conclusion! The really sad thing is that this cover-up unavoidably leads to an oppressive sense of shame.

Shame has a crippling effect in a person’s life. Psychologists tell us that it is often at the heart of emotional disturbance and dysfunction. So it’s not hard to see how Satan—who is called “the accuser of our brethren”(Revelation 12:10)—can use it so effectively as a wedge to bring about our alienation from God.

Our first instinct is to run and hide from God when we sin, isn’t it? The reason we do this is not only because we intuitively sense God’s displeasure, but that we think no one else has these problems. “How could I do something so despicable, so displeasing to God? What inner flaw would provoke me to even think of such a thing?”

The Pestilence of Sin

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Being born again to become that “new creature” in Christ, in no way shields us from being confronted with the power of sin. There it is, even though we are now joined to God in this powerful new relationship. This is a rude awakening for us all once we’ve gotten past the initial exhilaration of being saved.

As we attempt to move forward in our Christian walk, the resurgence of sin is a bewildering source of sorrow. But we shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that sin crops up once again. Rather, we should expect it. 

We yearn mightily to be free once and for all from the power of sin. The Church has wrestled with this issue down through the centuries, most times implementing a regimen of works and sacraments in an attempt to conquer it. But it’s impractical to think that such a strategy might actually work because this merely employs a Band-Aid approach; it treats the symptoms rather than attacking the root of the problem.

Nevertheless, we try and try. Yet just when we begin to believe that it might be possible to gain an upper hand over sin through works or willpower, corruption involving sex or greed is uncovered in another of our prominent leaders, highlighting our own inadequacies and serving to dash our hopes that we can ever truly change. Obviously not all Church leaders are given to the practice of secret sin, but those whose sin has been aired publicly serve as a wake-up call for the rest of us. Somehow we instinctively know that, “but by the grace of God, there go I.”

Dead to Law?

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In the 7th chapter of Romans, Paul lays out in detail the remarkable truth regarding the basis for our freedom from the bondage of sin. Here we find that our liberty hinges on freedom from law—that is, being dead to law. And here the nagging question as to how we can be free from the power of sin, even as we continue to encounter shameful problems with it, is finally answered.

He begins his argument in Romans 7:1-3, where he says that law has jurisdiction over a person’s life only as long as he lives. This reinforces what he had just taught—that we have in fact died to sin. Without question we have, but not in the way we tend to think about it, since our death to sin is not really a personal death at all.

Let’s look a little closer. Paul says that freedom from law is actually the basis for our freedom from sin. He uses the example of a woman being held accountable to the Law by virtue of the fact that she is married. Consequently, she can’t pursue a relationship with another man without being labeled an adulteress. But when her husband dies, she is free from any responsibility the Law placed on her regarding her former husband.

Why is this important? Because although in this instance the wife is the one who has been freed from (dead to) law, she didn’t die at all; her husband did! And so it is with us. By comparison, we’re like the living wife rather than the dead husband when talking about our own death to sin. Just as the commandment concerning adultery now no longer applies to her, in Christ we have also been removed from the realm of jurisdiction of law.

We are in fact just as dead to law in regard to our sin as she is to the commandment which once governed her marriage. But law has lost its jurisdiction over us not because sinful behavior can now be considered legal, permissible or acceptable, but because our sin is no longer punishable. God has acquitted us of wrongdoing because the punishment for sin—that is, separation from Him—is no longer enforced. And this is the key to understanding the true nature of our death to sin.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

Dead to Sin

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The fact of the matter is that God has provided the remedy for all our sin—past, present and future.(Psalm 103:10&14) But even so, it’s obvious in Scripture that He intends for us to be holy, and thus commands us not to sin. How is it, then, that He could willingly overlook the sin which so easily flows from our nature? The answer, of course, is that by grace He forgives our sins, which is indeed absolutely true.

Fortunately, Jesus revealed the full extent of the gospel to Paul, not only that his curiosity might be satisfied but that both his generation and those to follow might also reach a deeper understanding of Christ’s provision. This is vitally important, because a complete awareness both of our human condition and how we now relate to our Creator is the key to walking in the total freedom God always meant for us to experience.

We know from Scripture that God forgives our sin through Christ Jesus as a free gift. Yet even more important to understand is that this free gift of forgiveness and righteousness is rooted in the fact that He has caused us to die to sin altogether.(1 Peter 2:24) But just exactly what does dying to sin mean? I don’t feel very dead to sin!

Strategy of Deceit

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In his endeavor to bring us down, Satan wields a two-edged sword: “It only makes sense that God would expect you to perform for your salvation,” he says. And on the flip side, “Give it up! You’re a failure! You’ll never be able to overcome that sin. You can’t please God unless you work at this thing a little harder.” His devices really shouldn’t surprise us, though. He is unambiguously described in Scripture both as the deceiver and the accuser of God’s people.(Revelation 12:9-10)

Satan’s tactic of accusation is always rooted in lies. Jesus said it well in John 8:44, “…Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  The devil is a master of manipulation, having perfected his methods of deceit and accusation through the combined experience of thousands of years of both observation and application.  

But Paul knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we cannot earn our way into good standing with God. Through Christ, God made provision for our righteousness in spite of our sin, and in so doing He also chose to override the necessity of performing good works in order to satisfy Him. So it’s not hard to see why the utmost desire of Paul’s heart, both for himself and for others, was to be found in Christ—having a righteousness anchored in God’s provision rather than our own efforts.(Philippians 3:9)

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

Clinging to Grace

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As Christians, it’s easy to become a bit confused when setting our minds to do right. Why? Because in attempting to rid our life of sin, we often turn to good works in the hope that they will somehow offset the sin demerits we instinctively sense accumulating against us. So it’s not hard to slip somewhat effortlessly into the very thing true faith should avoid at all costs—works righteousness.

Understanding this link between good works and sin is extremely important because Satan focuses his efforts to destroy us at this very juncture. He uses it as his primary strategy to rob us of all God has to offer.

If the devil can convince us to earn our way rather than simply receiving and walking in God’s free gift of grace, he will have succeeded in handcuffing us to the extent of “defrauding us of our prize”of freedom in Christ.(Colossians 2:18) And if he can accomplish that, he just may be successful in getting us to walk away altogether from the truth of the redemption God freely offers. His ultimate goal for all believers is apostasy—the abandonment and renunciation of our faith.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself