Ephesians 2:1-5 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”

God, YHWH, who is rich in mercy is the King of the Universe. What an amazing heart God has toward us, and i mean not just those who believe on His name, but all people. Because the Lord is merciful, Matthew 5:45, “… He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Friends, for those who know Jesus, rest assured there is a Divine Spark glowing within you, and you are part of the magnificence of God. Yet, let me encourage you, don’t become preoccupied with yourself. If all you have in the room of your mind is mirrors, you will only be aware of yourself and your own needs. Take this suggestion seriously, replace some of those mirrors with windows so you can discover the world outside yourself and the needs of others.

Speaking of the needs of others, this evening’s topic is about the “Power of Mercy”. Mercy, specifically, the mercy of God – invented by God, exercised by God, who is the soul owner of righteous mercy in the universe … mercy, it is one of my prized possessions.

 Genesis 19:19 “Indeed now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have increased your kindness which you have shown me by saving my life;.” Interestingly, in some translations, the Hebrew word for mercy was translated as kindness and i take exception to calling a specific thing by another name. Gosh, let’s just call it what it is. Kindness is a subset of mercy and it probably should have been mercy. Kindness and compassion are derivatives of mercy, and the quality of compassion is what we would call being merciful. Indeed, in the Old Testament, there is another word used for “mercy”, but in this case, today, “hesed” is the focus of God’s character which we want to appropriate for ourselves. When scripture says, typically, that the Lord is compassionate and gracious, those two are derivatives of the word “merciful”. To say “the Lords mercy endures forever” is to say He is kind and compassionate beyond the vanishing point. The mercy of the Lord spans our lives from the beginning to the end. Every mountain and valley, every river and sea, every man, woman and child breaths and live within the amazing mercy of God.

Abraham was the first in scripture to mention the amazing power of the mercy of God. We badly need to understand that the idea of God’s mercy is far more than just a Webster’s Dictionary blurb. True, mercy is the withholding of judgment, but it is so SO much more. It is God’s expression of pity towards us as one who has love for an unborn child. His idea of mercy includes redemption from trouble and enemies. To say “God’s mercy” includes preservation of life from death, and is the foundational action for the redemption of sin. Did you hear that? God’s mercy is the action of His compassion and kindness. Again, literally, the Hebrew word for “mercy” means “God’s kindness and compassion beyond the vanishing point.” How far away is your vanishing point? Believe me, in His mercy, the Lord stands on your horizon and occupies space at your vanishing point. Like the rising sun, the glow of His mercy lights up all the earth, from river to rim.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” The yoke of this world without God is one of turmoil, grief and suffering, with grief as the default setting for the endpoint of life without Christ. In light of that then, what is His “yoke” that we should take it upon ourselves? i suppose it would be good to understand that a “yoke” is a connection between two things so that they move and work together, and if we take upon ourselves HIS yoke, we will be yoked with God, working and moving together, and in that picture we understand The Lord calls for us to come participate with Him in what He’s doing. His easy and gentle yoke is composed of, here it is: mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, and has the sum value of love. That is so excellent i’m going to say it again so put your ears on: the yoke Jesus spoke of in Matthew 11:29 is composed of mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, and has the sum value of love. In other words, when we sum up all righteous mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace, it all adds up to Love.

Grace is sister to Mercy, and where mercy is, grace is close by. Within the Hebrew word for mercy is the word grace … the Lord has given me some words to portray the idea of grace within mercy – it goes like this: Grace under the umbrella of mercy is “Compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, which crowns us with the Sword of the Spirit for life and new beginnings.”  Yea! Now that’s a good definition, at least i think so. i can literally “see” it in my mind.

i love the way the words “mercy” and “grace” sound and feel in my mouth, sort of like tasting something delicious and right. i want to say it again and again until my mind hears what my heart is saying, “mercy is God’s divine compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, like the light from Heaven, the blood of the Lamb, applied to the door posts of our heart for new beginnings.” Yea man, that’s what i’m talkin’ about!

Abraham was not content to simply receive God’s compassion and kindness, he took it up a notch becoming the human embodiment of God’s infinite kindness. Through God’s love and kindness Abraham inspired others to follow after the Lord. i find the mercy of God an inspiration. From studying the life of Abraham, and ultimately Jesus, we easily see that man’s humanity reaches it’s zenith in his imitation of the Ways of God, and … within the store house of mercy, is a key component – truth. The opposite of all that, when we imitate anyone or anything other than the Lord, is rock bottom at the lowest ebb possible, with the key component as lies, distrust, suspicion, and corruption.

If we want to live in a culture of honor then truth and honesty are keys we must own and prefer, even to our own hurt. Truth decides when to utilize kindness, when to utilize justice, and when to temper one with the other. When kindness and justice are blended together in proper measure, the result … is Truth. Psalm 25:10 “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.”

The Lord in His wisdom has tied mercy to grace, mercy to truth, and mercy to justice. He is absolutely brilliant! But of course, He is God you know.  The word “systemic” refers to something that is spread throughout, it is not only something you know, but it is system-wide, affecting your entire person. i believe eventually, although mercy starts in our hearts as systemic, eventually it is even intrinsic, as in it is part of our being and becomes part of our nature. Without a systemic love of mercy, honesty, truth, and grace, when those four are lacking in us, we become the people of a multiplicity of vision, meaning we have moved from vision, the singleness of eye, to di-vision, people divided in our hearts. Amazingly though, God has mercy for us and continues to pursue us, regardless of ourselves. We see ourselves in a judicial sense as being right and wrong, but i’m firm the Lord sees us more as near and far from Him. On a side note, i found it interesting that the Lord comforts us, but there is nothing in all scripture implying we will be comfortable, as in relaxed and at ease. As though that’s not enough, i believe most of us hold that we can’t function unless we are comfortable, and that’s a long way from the truth.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” God’s mercy runs from the top to the bottom of His heart, there’s a continual giving nature revealed in that scripture. Mercy is extended to us as comfort in a manner such that we can then use it to comfort others. The focus of mercy is focused outward and isn’t only for ourselves.

The beautiful fabric of our God-clothing is woven with the threads of mercy, and when we extend mercy to others as it has been extend to us, it looks like the action of grace and benefits for other people, it looks like kindness to the needy, and makes us beautiful inside and out … which is why when Jesus lives in your heart, as He is beautiful, we are beautiful, and as He is holy, we are holy also. His mercy is radiant and enduring. His yoke of mercy, compassion, kindness, and grace is only difficult when i’ve got a heart full of don’t want to.

Mercy is linked to all His attributes, therefore it should be linked similarly in every part of our character also. Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That is God’s expectation of us.

Luke 6:35-36, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Jesus commanded us to be merciful as He is merciful, with compassion and kindness running in our lives like a clear river because it’s just the way we are, not a rule to keep but someone to be. Do you get it? Loyalty is intrinsic to mercy, they are part of the whole. If someone says that loyalty, which is part of “hesed”, or what we call “mercy” in English, is more important than kindness, or compassion, or grace, then we’ve as good as said the first finger is more important than the ear. The five attributes, mercy, kindness, compassion, loyalty, and grace function as a hand, acting together as one unit, and repetitively throughout scripture, the Lord ties the five together. Mercy is more than loyalty.

Saul had died in defeat. The care of Saul’s body seems clearly to have been a free act of kindness. It is partly where the early church gathered the idea that burying the dead was a mercy and seen as one of the seven virtues.

Also. Laban’s willingness to send Rebekah to Isaac was not from any covenant obligation. It was a kindness as part of mercy to a long-lost relative. He could easily have said no. i hold that the beautiful story of Ruth is tarnished if we think Ruth’s action as motivated by some contractual obligations and loyalty alone. The Lord had no obligation to get the widows new husbands in Moab in Ruth1:8-9. Ruth went with Naomi from pure love. Boaz recognized her action as goodness in Ruth 2:11-12 and calls it “ḥesed”, what we call mercy, and in Ruth 3:10 the translators called it “kindness”.

When the Lord is specific, it is something He really, really wants us to get, like Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Jesus spoke specifically that we should possess and practice mercy.

In Ephesians 2:4, mercy is linked with grace which is linked to love – “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.”

Proverbs 14:21-22 refers to making mercy an integral part of your life with wisdom.

The Lord linked mercy to covenant in Nehemiah 1:5 where the writer wrote, “O great and awesome God, you who keep covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments.” The word “and” means “in addition to”.

Mercy is part of forgiveness, starting way back in Numbers 14:18, where God linked longsuffering, and forgiveness with mercy.

On a different note, the unmerciful, shall not receive mercy. When Jesus addressed the Pharisee’s, again, He was very pointed. In Matthew 23:23-24, Jesus said, very plainly, that the Pharisee’s tithed, not money, but things, and he rebuked them for making justice, mercy, and faithfulness something small, they made overly large the paying of tithes and made small justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus was extremely specific! In verse 24 He called them “Gnat swallowers”. Do you know any “gnat swallowers”?

43 times in the O.T. it is specifically written that God’s mercy endures forever. Considering He mentions that His mercy endures forever, do you believe the Lord thinks it is important that we understand the power of mercy, compassion and kindness which is beyond the horizon, past the vanishing point? Isn’t it obvious to us that the Lord’s heart is to be good to us? Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us, after all, His mercy endures forever?

i believe one of the most important people to practice mercy on, is … ourselves. We are so mean and stringent with ourselves it is unreal. My religious teaching from years ago has convinced me that i’m not hardly worthy of love or mercy, and it’s so not true. That’s not what God said. Is the Bible true or not? If it is, we need to tuck deep in our pockets God’s perspective of how He sees us and leave our self-loathing behind.

Now about that part concerning being merciful to ourselves … i don’t mean not being mindful of cruelty, lack of love, lying, generally living a life which wounds our conscience, or simply not being responsible for our actions. Anyone who thinks they don’t have to be responsible for themselves and their actions because Jesus quote/unquote “Dealt with all that at Calvary” really doesn’t understand the Heart of God. As long as there’s a devil and we wear flesh, it’s going to be a fight. What i do mean, for example, is we need to quit calling ourselves names in the mirror. Stop cursing yourself, stop loathing your neighbor as you loath yourself. If you make a mistake, let it go and get over it. If you sin, repent, for we have an advocate with the Father. The devil has been trying to get you to hate God and yourself all your life, and i believe it’s high time to cut it out. God has mercy on us, so be merciful as God is merciful; let us be compassionate children of our compassionate father and make mercy a central family value. Don’t just ask for mercy, Show mercy! I would like to suggest today that mercy can’t be regulated. Mercy is wild. Mercy can’t be contained. Mercy cannot be measured. Mercy cannot be sliced in small pieces and offered according to our agenda. Whether or not we have committed one crime or 1 million crimes, God’s mercy pardons us if we seek it.

Mercy offers a way out when the LAW condemns us. When the law cannot protect you, your only hope is mercy. When lawyers can’t take up your case, when judges are ready to give the verdict, you desperately need mercy.

Oh, and before you go doing the law, wherewith i guarantee you’ll see yourself as a failure, remember Romans 7:6 which says we have been delivered from the law. In fact, when the Hebrews made the ark of the covenant, they put the law inside and then covered it with … that’s right, the Lord covered the law with the mercy seat.

In 1 Samuel 6:19 seventy men died because they looked into the ark, meaning that they had to remove the mercy seat to look inside. Why would they have died for looking inside the ark? The law was in the ark, and to look upon the law without the covering of mercy, it is sure death. For those out there who think they want to go back to do the law of the Old Testament, the law has no mercy or grace, and going back to do the law with no mercy is death. We can’t live with one foot in the law and the other foot in grace. Let us prefer the mercy of God through Christ. The power of mercy from God as it is extended towards mankind is life changing for us all. If the Lord did not extend mercy to the entire universe in general, as a whole, there would be no universe, and there would be no us. And that’s a good place to say, Think about it.

Grace is brother to Mercy, and where mercy is, grace is close by. God’s mercy is  “Loyalty, Compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point, which crowns us with the Sword of the Spirit for life and new beginnings,” and grace is like “the light from Heaven, the blood of the Lamb, applied to the door posts of our heart for new beginnings.”

“Your mercy is great unto the heavens” Psalm 57:10.

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His compassion and kindness beyond the vanishing point for them that fear Him” (Psalm 103:11). None can measure God’s mercy, it is beyond the vanishing point.

We are designated “vessels of mercy” in Rom. 9:23.

In Ephesians 2:4,5 It is mercy that made us alive when we were dead in sins.

It is mercy that saves us in Titus 3:5.

It is His abundant mercy which brings us into an eternal inheritance in 1 Peter 1:3.

There simply isn’t enough time or space to tell of the Lord’s preserving, sustaining, pardoning, life supplying mercy. Truly, His mercy, compassion and kindness is beyond the vanishing point.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries and this has been Outposts.

Be kind and generous to a lost and dying world this week, practice mercy for yourself and others. Drive carefully and remember Jesus knows your name, and that’s a good thing. You are not forgotten! Amen!

Psalm 37:11 “But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.” Psalm 37:34 “Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land.” Inheritance from God is a privilege, not something we get because we demand it, nor can we manipulate favor out of God’s hand. Some seem to think more highly of themselves than they are in that they can declare blessing out of God’s hands, or prophecy prosperity out of His pockets making sure to get the words right like they’re speaking some magical incantation. i’ve heard people pray out loud and then insist everyone say “In Jesus Name” together while making a circular motion with their hands like their sealing a pact of some sort. i think that’s just crazy presumptuous, pretentiously assumptive, and arrogantly taking advantage of the privilege the Lord affords us to come to His throne. We can’t name it out of His hand, nor can we claim it from Him in order that we would “make” God give us what we want.

One of the laws of sound doctrine is we must take the entire Bible into account, cover to cover, not just select scriptures which make us look and sound good. Jesus said in John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.” John makes the same distinction in 1 John 3:10, saying “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are”. Sounds harsh maybe to some, but there is a difference that is important to point out the distinctions. i’m not creating the difference, God is. Those scriptures are being quoted because, within ourselves, we must draw a distinction of who belongs to God and who does not in order to see privilege as God extends it to us, and pretense as we have extended privilege to ourselves. Let me say that again, that is “privilege as God extends it to us, and pretense as we have extended privilege to ourselves.”

To those who have entered in to a relationship with God, there are amazing and wonderful privileges that come to us, and for those who have NOT entered into a relationship with God and have refused His gift, the only privilege hell will grant is the right to suffer…and that’s a privilege i, personally, do not want. Even at that, let it be known God gives wisdom and mercy, even to those who are not His. Matt5:45, “…for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

i’m Social Porter  and this is Outposts.

The topic is “Of Privilege And Pretense”. Inheritance is a privilege, not something we get because we demand from God, or practice to manipulate favor out of God’s hand. i’d like to briefly discuss privilege as God extends it to us, and pretense as we have extended privilege to ourselves.

Pretense. People seem to love, i say, love personal titles. We love qualifiers and titles which, hopefully, cause the world around us to highly esteem us and think we are worthy of being listened to – maybe even so we will believe we are worthy to be heard in our own ears. We need to hear God more than men. What if God asked you to lose your title and quit telling people your name? Would you still be willing to do what He called you to? Or would the need for the dirty water of men’s praise and being validated in the eyes of other people prevent you from continuing? Let us weigh that one well within our own hearts.

A minimum of 5 times, John simply refers to himself as the “one whom Jesus loved.” John never named his title, someone else did that. i figure he must have been really irritating for some religious people to talk to. i also think it would be safe to assume that he was the premiere apostle on earth and was the last man alive who knew and walked with Jesus, but yet you probably couldn’t get the guy to tell you his name much less his title. i can hear it now, “What’s your name?” “Doesn’t matter.” “Where are you from?” “Doesn’t matter.” “You’re the last apostle, how do you feel about that?” “It’s irrelevant.” “Well, what is relevant and what does matter?” (1John5:20) “That you know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And that you are in Him who is true– his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” 1 John 5:20 was what was important to him, not his entitlements or privilege among the brethren.

The titles we get for ourselves make us larger than we are. i figure only the world and religious people need a title.

i am amazed at the people who demand to be called “pastor”, “apostle”, or “bishop”, “teacher”, or “prophet”. They gladly name themselves. It’s almost as if the Lord did not say over them, “This is my beloved Son, hear Him”, so they say it over themselves. Is it not enough for those people that God has called them? Is it not enough for them to simply be who they are? Proverbs 27:2, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.”

i recently heard of people giving themselves titles like, “panoramic prophet”, “all encompassing prophet”, “comprehensive teacher”, “master prophet”, “super-prophet”, “dread apostle”, or “super mystic”, and then there comes a guy trumping all those by naming himself, “Pastor to the prophets”. When will it end? This is absurd. Jesus, even Jesus the Son of God said of Himself in John 5:31, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.” Isn’t it enough that God has given us the privilege of exercising His gifts, which are supposed to be used to glorify Him and bring forth the Kingdom of God? His spiritual gifts are a privilege, not used in pretension to create a facade of greatness for ourselves.

When privilege becomes entitlement, when we assume we are more than we are because we “deserve” glory, then pretense is revealed and our God-given-privilege becomes an aberration. Do we think God owes us something and we deserve favor because we have “the right kind of history”?

 Pretentious people are folks who portray themselves as those with unwarranted, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature. Pretense is when we extend privilege to ourselves, by ourselves and for ourselves, being in our own eyes more than we are. With pretention comes large egos, seeming narcissism, and a compulsion to be “right”, there is a need to be seen.

i believe we often operate in pretentious faith when we feel small, invalidated, and we need to be larger in our own eyes than we are. Romans 12:3, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

i’m not talking about entitlements like Social Security, which most of us have paid into and are entitled to the pensions of the plan; or Medicare and Medicaid which our taxes have supported and we are entitled to the benefit. Those type of entitlements were meant as a safety net for the needy, not as a prop.

To quote Ezra Bayda, “Perhaps the most basic belief underlying all of our feelings of entitlement, our ‘if onlies,’ and even our illusions, is the belief that life should please us, that life should be comfortable. All of our resistance to life is rooted in our wanting life to be pleasing, comfortable, and safe. When life doesn’t give us what we want — you know, the job that isn’t satisfying, the relationship that isn’t quite working, the body that ages and breaks down — we resist. Our resistance can manifest as anger, fear, or self-pity, and even depression … but whatever forms it takes, it blocks our ability to experience true contentment. We see our discomfort as the problem: yet it’s the belief that we can’t be happy if we’re uncomfortable that is much more of a problem than the discomfort itself.” Wow. Did you catch that? The belief that we can’t be happy if we’re uncomfortable, which is much more of a problem than the discomfort itself.

Often, in our nation, it seems only conquering heroes and title holders count, and it’s okay to do whatever it takes to advance our position. The church says, “Oh, that is the worldly way of living”, but i see the same pretentious behavior going on in my own people who are more than willing to get themselves a position and a title when God doesn’t move fast enough for them.

We tell ourselves that we deserve happiness and to always have things go our way. We often act like a bunch of spoiled little kids when we don’t get what we want. Many of us, when we were kids, expected our parents to chauffeur us around from one place to another. Were we thankful? No; we expected adults to meet our needs; were we were convinced they owed us special treatment? Absolutely, maybe not consciously, but the attitude was still there. And when they didn’t do what we wanted, we cried out demanding: “It’s not fair!”

My friends, God’s appointment will come around to us, but in His time, not ours. He will give us a position and a title if we’ll wait, but it will be on His time schedule and His terms, not ours. And finally, a quote from John Wimbur, founding member of the Vineyard Church, he once said, “Let me see first how the Holy Spirit is using you before we give you a badge defining your place in the Body of Christ.”

Many in Christianity act as if they deserve preferential treatment, like spoiled children demanding their rights of their parents. It isn’t that we have the privilege of preferential treatment by God as His people, but more that we demand our rights from God. For us, as the Body of Christ, to be so involved with ourselves and our agenda and entitlements that we let honesty, truth, and justice ebb away from us really does not speak well of us.

More than a few seem to operate under the pretense that they, themselves, have earned everything and success is entirely of their own making. Really? i believe we take God’s blessing of privilege and twist it into the pretense that we did it all by ourselves.

For me, i’m old enough to surely know one thing about entitlement and that is it doesn’t give up without a fight. On a side note, pretentious privilege and expectations seem to go hand in hand, and you know what is said about exaggerated expectations, that most of the time they are premeditated resentments. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with expectations. We live with it, and it’s part of having hope, but when we got twisted thinking which feeds our twisted expectations, we’re absolutely bound to be disappointed.

So fight we must. Where do we get the idea that we deserve benefits and favor because we have the “right kind of history”, as if God somehow owes us power, blessing, honor, wealth, or life with a lack of conflict? Don’t you know, we’ve all been at war, in some form or another, all our lives, so much, so long, we’ve never known anything but war, and for us to have a life without conflict would be a life in “perfect peace”, which even with the best of us, is an astounding rarity most of us have never known. As long as there’s a devil and we wear skin, it’s going to be a fight.

Shalom does mean peace but it does not mean a lack of conflict or violence. In John 16:33, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Privilege. God gives us life through His Son Jesus. Life, real life, not life according to the world. It is an exclusive privilege afforded us by God.

Peace is a privilege from God, and we can’t get it because we have declared ourselves or set ourselves up on a podium. Galatians 1:3, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Wisdom is a privilege God gives to all who ask. James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Faith is a privilege. It’s a something that is real and without it we can’t please God. Hebrews 11:6, “but without faith it is impossible to please God.” Is the faith in me something i drummed up? No. We can’t go to the store and buy faith. In order to drum it up i would have to have some ability to drum with, and i have no such thing in me. Faith is an exclusive privilege afforded us by the blood of Jesus.

Justification is a privilege. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Being holy because He is holy is a privilege not to be taken lightly.

Grace is a privilege – it isn’t something we demand from God or manipulate Him into giving. We can’t fast it out of His hand, demand it or declare it from His wealth, nor can we tithe enough or do good works do get some. The privilege of grace was not available under the law, but by Jesus Christ as it is written in John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Those are just a few things which are a privilege extended us exclusively by God.

One definition of privilege is “to be exempted”, and in our case and all who call on the Name of Jesus, we are exempted from the penalty and verdict of death, delivered from the law and corruption.

Salvation, Redemption and mercy are a privilege; We are afforded the privilege of reconciliation – which means God balanced our books; and probably the highest privilege is the Love of God which abides with us forever. Here’s one: being given a seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb, talking, eating, and laughing with God is an amazing privilege! God did not HAVE to give us those things, but because He loves us, He grants us the privilege of sharing in His Kingdom. i don’t ever want to take God’s extension of privilege for granted. Now this may seem odd to say but according to Heb12:5-8, part of the privilege of being part of God’s family is … being tested. i have read somewhere that, unlike the Egyptian’s perspective which said that the heart was weighed after death, the Lord continually evaluates and improves our hearts that in the end we may come forth as gold. It is a privilege to be tried in the refiner’s fire.

It is a privilege to live our lives in the loving kindness and favor of God. The Lord is the center and source of creativity in the universe, and it is a privilege and honor that He shares His resources with us, and shares His inheritance with us. It is an honor that i can’t hardly get my head around. i mean, can you imagine that, the King of the Universe, upon repentance He honors us who were dishonored by sin by making a way for us to come clean, be forgiven, and to come home with honor? He even shares His name with us! Friends, it is a privilege to be placed in leadership in the body of Christ, not so we can get wealthy, not so we can lord it over the sheep, but for the purpose of advancing the Kingdom of God. Not your denomination, not the number of titles you demand others recognize about you, but to advance the Kingdom of God.

Ultimately it is a privilege and eternal honor to know the unknowable. He was known to Martin Luther as “deus absconditus” (ˌdāy-oos-ˌäp-ˈskȯn’-di-ˌtoos\), deus revelatus” (ray-vay-lah’-toos) … Literally meaning, “the hidden God” and “the revealed God,” respectively. The phrases, originally used together by Martin Luther, speak of the paradoxical situation of a hidden God revealing himself and a revealed God hiding himself. For Luther, the unknowable God is revealed in Christ; yet in the cross of Christ, God’s true glory is hidden to human wisdom.

The Lord did not HAVE to reveal Himself to us, it was His good pleasure to grant us the privilege of meeting Him, and it should never, ever be taken that He owes us a ministry, a title, or a position with power and authority.

It isn’t that we have taken, but more that He has given. Psalm 116:12 “What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?” Let us be glad and thankful we get the privilege of all His benefits and not stretch our privilege into presumption and pretense. Amen, and think about it.

 Privilege: When God gives us a place and a title, it is given with authority and with His endorsement. Know this – with God’s endorsement, we have the power and authority to do whatsoever He has given us to do. His calling and gifts are a privilege.

Pretense: When we make our own place and give ourselves titles … it is thin, self-exalting, self-important, self–authenticating, and self-validating … ultimately, it’s all about, me, me, me – where I go, what I see, how I feel, what I do, what I say, what I want … me, me, me, always controlling the narrative. Whether we are dictating what others are allowed to talk about, or depreciating ourselves in our conversations where we are the focus, it is still all about ourselves. That is pretentious. Is that really who we want to be as the people of God, or does it just sound like a continuation of pretentious worldly thinking?

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts,

The idea is to go with God, not get what we want. It is a privilege to serve in the court of the Great King Jesus before all the host of Heaven. Be strong and courageous, take your dreams seriously, listen carefully for the Lord, it is life and peace for those who have ears to hear. Amen!

When you spend time on a river, you get almost every imaginable condition – heat and rain, high and low, hot and cold.  Any given day can be a challenge, but on average: every day is beautiful! In the evening there is the occasional fisherman launching out for a time of trying his luck, often without success but still satisfied to casually float along – even from here i can see the water swirls of blue and brown around the boat with the fisherman bending over to steer with the rudder, getting clear of the shore line and trees.

          i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation from the deck which is perched above … and overlooking the late evening cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River. There is a warm breeze easing up from the south this evening, i’ve got my coffee, a comfortable chair, a beautiful view and good conversation…. ahhh yea, it doesn’t seem to get any better than this!

          Aside from having Christ as the center of our lives, what are some other attributes which are imperative for us if we are going to live upright, Godly lives before the Lord. All my days are before the Lord and none of them are hidden from God, the one who’s eyes see everything, all potentials and all possibilities, from beginning to end, all at once.

          i have three of God’s imperatives in mind, things we absolutely must have as essentials, they are Wisdom, Hope and Love. Don’t you know you need it, gotta have it, can’t live without it.

          On a side note, as sub-imperatives aiding us to live out God’s three imperatives, the first one is learning the value of letting yourself bend your knees to the Lord, getting yourself some humility, now that’s a good thing, afterall, humility goes before honor, and if you want to have some honor, you’ve gotta get low first. That’s if you want the honor as God would give it to you…otherwise, let’s be honest here and ask the question, is it more important to you to get honor from people and fit in, or get honor from God, regardless of people? Tough question, that’s…if your honest.

           God’s grace is sufficient to see us through life, and it isn’t written as entertainment, it means we need to get low, that we cannot go through things in our own strength. Humbling ourselves before the Lord goes a long way to living well where you are.

          Another sub-imperative is for us to take the time to let God change our perspective. It takes time, just let Him do it. A friend came back from the mission field. At a meeting one evening someone was complaining about their potential problems next year, as they foresaw them….. my missionary friend spoke over the top of the room saying that if we have heat, food for more than a day, shelter, and water, then we are probably ahead of 80% of the rest of the world. It was quite a piercing moment.

          i’ve been told i’m an independent fellow, and what they mean is that i come off as not allowing anyone help me. i don’t know about that, maybe what’s closer to the truth is, it doesn’t actually occur to me that i need help. But i can tell you this, in addition to God’s three imperatives, it should be no skin off our noses to ask for help. i don’t mean cry wolf every time things aren’t easy, or asking for help because we need someone to do something in order to make us ok, that’s co-dependent victim living….but learn to recognize when someone besides yourself knows stuff you don’t. Learn to ask for help. It’s not demeaning, it’s the truth. Learn to ask for help and accept the help when it comes.

          And lastly, learn to trust God that He will bring good out of every crisis. Now that won’t avert conflict and crisis, but we really need to know nothing passes though the nail pierced hands of Jesus without His allowance. Rom8:28 says all things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Here’s the summary of the four things which will go a long way to achieving God’s three imperatives: Get low, get a better perspective, ask for help when you need it, and trust God to bring the best from your circumstances. It’s the truth to say, “God’s got this”, but we’ve got to join Him in His redemptive work. He want us to participate in our own well being you know.

          Come go with me, let’s go forward then. Tap your toe, dream a little, and i’ll be right back.

          There are a few things God refers to as “above all”, meaning first and foremost, greater and higher, before anything else. 2Peter1:20 “Above all, you must understand…” there is no doctrine or prophecy which is of a private interpretation, meaning sound doctrine applies to the entire body of Christ and not just an elite few. Those with understanding are able to extract the meaning out of information. They “see through” the facts to the dynamics of what, how, why, where, and who. Understanding is a lens which brings the facts into crisp focus and produces principles, except, let me add, we can see the crisp focus of the facts in our telescopic vision, but we don’t have much unless God gives us an ability to connect the dots to see through the facts to grasp the dynamics. i know some very smart people who know lots of facts, but they have yet to connect the dots, so there they sit, unredeemed regardless of all they know.

          The phrase “above all” is used 284 times in the N.T. alone. Hmmm…must be important for us to notice i’d say. 1Peter4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply…”; James 5:12 “Above all, my brothers, do not swear–not by heaven or by earth or by anything else”; Col 3:14 “But above all these things put on love….”; Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things”; Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart”.

    What i’m getting at are the things that are “above all”, they are essential to our ability to persist in and accomplish the purposes of God. In light of that, i think 3 of God’s imperatives could easily be wisdom, hope, and love.

Without wisdom we are like a man who will die because he cut the cords of his own tent and knocked down his support poles. Real wisdom doesn’t exist in the simple possession of facts, real wisdom involves honesty, more than the facts… but the truth. God’s intent in His creation of the idea of “knowledge” comes in many forms. True knowledge involves some important adverbs…. how, when, where, what, and how often, making knowledge directly  connected to the word “why”. If we know “what” or “how” but don’t know nor care to know “why”, truly, we really only possess partial understanding and are largely left with a pile of unanalyzed data.           Knowledge means we investigate how something happens, where it happens, how often it happens, when it happens, and why.

Without hope there is only despair, the opposite of hope IS despair. Where ever we find faith, hope was there first, and hope inspires faith, for without faith we can not please the Lord, nor will we do any righteous works. Like in Eph2:12, before we knew Christ, we were foreigners to the covenants of the promise, therefore without hope and without God, we are dead in the water in a dead and inanimate world. As long as people insist on their own qualifications as good enough to stand before God, they are cut off from hope.

Without love, we are just a noise among many other noises in the universe, boy and let me say, the universe isn’t as silent as we might think.

Love was essential and at the core of the heart of God from before the foundations of the earth were laid. Jesus gave himself for us on a horribly beautiful cross because of love, which as has been said, was worked in the Heart of the Father from before there was the height and width and length of light and time.

          Proverbs 4:7 says that “Wisdom is the principal thing; get wisdom: and with all your getting, get understanding.” Did you hear that? It’s a principal thing, meaning in order and rank it is among the first, and chief. To call wisdom the “principal thing” means it is the beginning and the first fruit, and in light of wisdom being a “principal thing” it would seem it should be the first request of God in our prayers. We desperately need wisdom, because with wisdom comes her two brothers, understanding and knowledge. Understand me, i say “her two brothers” because “wisdom” is a feminine noun, understanding and knowledge are masculine nouns, the three go together so closely knit, they are together as one, like the three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit in 1John 5:7.

          i believe the Lord extends everyone some wisdom and repetitive opportunities for understanding. But, at some point, we can safely say, to get more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, we’re going to have to get involved with God. He is the source and fountain, and if you got it, believer or not, God gave it. How many of us say we “know” God? If you say you know God and you don’t, then you don’t. There is not kind of knowing Him. But you know, Kevin said it seems that “knowing” God to a level of discomfort is just too much for some people. But if that’s what God wants, shouldn’t we also want “to know” Him that well? If we aren’t knowing Him, then who are we knowing, ‘cause, it’s a fact, we are going to be knowing somebody?

          The wisdom of the world is a manipulative wisdom, in other words, because it is “of the world”, it always leverages an outcome in it’s own favor at the expense of others, and that is the way of the world. But God’s wisdom, which is “in the world” but “not of the world”, always comes with value added, that being understanding and knowledge. To reiterate a bit, buried in the word “knowledge” is, what, why, how, when, where, and how often….those are the six subdivisions of knowledge. Just like the Hebrews held there are not four but six directions, north, south, east, west, forward, and backward. Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding give us a reason to be where we are, and direction for where we’re going, if we’ll get involved with God.

          Consider Exodus 31:1-5. There was a guy named Bezalel (bets-al-ale’), whose name literally meant “shadow of God”. As seen in the scripture, God had filled him with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. i suppose i could re-phrase that to say, “In the very shadow of God, is wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.” According to Exodus 31:4-5, as it was with “Bets-al-ale’” it can be with us also, that if we have wisdom, understanding and knowledge, then within us is the ability to set jewels in life, to work gold, silver and bronze in our relationships, and to accomplish all manner of workmanship in the world around us. That’s called “doing the Kingdom of God”.

          Proverbs 4:7 “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you get …. and whatever else you may get, get understanding.”

          Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are imperative.

The second of God’s imperatives could easily be hope. Hope is an anticipation of becoming and overcoming. Did you get that? Hope is an anticipation of becoming and overcoming.

The idea of the Hebrew word for “hope” is seen in God’s kindness which offers us a rescue rope. The rope represents the possibilities of becoming and overcoming. Imagine the picture of a drowning man and someone throwing him a rope, well, that rope is the idea of the Hebrew word for hope. Rope and Hope….hmmmm, that rhymes. i see …. Kindness threw a dying man the rescue rope of Hope, and Compassion encouraged the man to grip to God’s offer of salvation.

i ask myself, why not faith, or patience, or peace as one of the three imperatives? i figure that faith, patience, peace, self-control , etc, are fruits of the spirit as seen in Gal5:22, they are the results of a Holy Ghost led life, but without hope, without the kindness of God which leads us to repentance, there would not be a place for any good fruit. The kindness of God creates a platform for hope to stand on, belief stands on the shoulders of hope, and faith finds momentum in the grip of belief. Hebrews 11:1 “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

It bears saying again……without hope we could not believe, without believing there would be no faith, and without faith there would be no righteous works nor pleasing our beloved. Hope is essential.

Without love the fruits of the spirit in Gal 5:22, and the gifts of the spirit in 1Cor12:8-11 are just stuff we do. In the Old Testament, at the hem of the priests garment, there were bells and pomegranates. This is brought to light in Exodus28:3-4, and Exodus39:25-26. At first i thought to myself, “What do bells and pomegranates have to do with fruits and gifts?” Like a fog which drifts in upon us in the evening, God’s wisdom slowly found it’s grip in my thinking.

i believe the pomegranates at the hem of the priests garment, which were worn when they served before the Lord, are the O.T. version of the fruits of the spirit. After all, can we have real peace without love at our core? Can we really exercise Godly self-control without love in our middle? Is it possible to be long suffering as Jesus is long suffering without love? i think not. No. Can not. Love is essential.

1Corinthians13:1-3 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

A resounding gong or a clanging cymbal? That would mean without love we are a just a noise … an obnoxious one at that. A “clanging cymbal” is a bit grating, if you know what i mean. In this case, the word love is “agape”, and within the context of this scripture, it means,  the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which we are committed to mutually giving, taking, and practicing towards God and others; it refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term extends to the love of those around us, believers and unbelievers alike. The word “agape” in and of itself is not exactly all that, but the Biblical writers, in this scripture, use the word in a way in which it’s always pointing toward God’s heart for us.

Here’s another interesting view of the bells and pomegranates, or the gifts and the fruits – a dove has 9 main feathers on each wing, if any one of those feathers falls out or doesn’t function correctly, flying becomes very difficult. But if the heart of the dove is broken and the dove dies, the greatness of the nine feathers on each wing, or the fruit and the gifts, are worthless without the foundation of the life of the dove. Love is like that. If the fruit is not rooted in love, it is rotten fruit. If the gifts aren’t motivated by love, they are just an obnoxious noise. Fruit without the gifts, or gifts without fruits is like flying with only one wing. But fruit and gifts without love are just dead works, in fact i seriously question if we can even have Godly fruit or practice righteous gifts without love. i sorta’ doubt it.

Knowledge without love is the worlds’ way, not God’s way. The Lord says love should overlay everything about us. 1Corinthians8:1 “….We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Are you puffed up, or built up? The end result is an up position, but how we got there is the crux of the matter. In the last 13 years, i have become aware of many imperatives in scripture, so i’ve been making a list. It is essential that our love is genuine, and that we hold fast to what is good. It is essential that we serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, and be patient in tribulation.

If we’re not serving the Lord then who are we serving? If we’re not rejoicing in hope then we are slowly sinking in despair. If we are thrashing around in the midst of tribulation,itdidn’t change the crisis…it just means we’re swinging our hands around,banging and crashing into stuff, and being panicked in a little room somewhere. It is essential we are not wise in our own eyes, and equally essential for us to learn to weep with those who weep, bless those who persecute us, and practice hospitality.

1 John 4:19 doesn’t say “We like, because He first liked us.” It says “We love, because He first loved us.” Scripture says to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. Love is essential for all the God-functions in us to work properly. It’s like the grease in the gears.

For friendship to work there are essential elements of the relationship which need to function. It’s essential there is a two way street of grace, a willingness to communicate, and being transparent and authentic…. it does not flow in only one direction. For friendship to work it’s essential there are boundaries for no good relationship survives without good boundaries which define where loyalty and responsibility start and stop. Honesty is essential for friendship or else nobody is actually connecting with anybody, it’s all a meeting of perpetually smiling faces, and that’s not friendship.

A couple other essential things are ….the necessity of hearing God, and doing what He says. The Lord may approve your motive but may delay taking action….not “no” just “not now”, and we must hear Him and do what He says. Can you think of essential things we all must put into action in our lives?

Three essentials sit over the top of all the other imperatives: Wisdom, Hope, and Love. The world around us has many counterfeits of those three, but the truth is, only God can supply those things in us, according to His riches in glory. It’s a God thing.

i met a lady at the jail who told me, besides Jesus and God, death was holy too. i figure it must be a cultural thing because if death is so holy that someone made a saint out of death, why does God throw death in the lake of fire in Rev 20:14? Death is a result of sin, therefore nothing righteous comes from death in any form. Santa la Muerte has a play date with the lake of fire and woe to them who worship a false god. It is imperative we worship only the Lord lest we, subtly, over time, become continually unfaithful to Him.

Let me encourage each of us to ask the Lord for wisdom….and rest assured that as He gives us wisdom, Godly understanding and knowledge will come with it. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge travel as a team and they’re just waiting for you to tell them to “play ball!” Give away hope like it’s candy in your pockets, love those around you and intercede for transgressors… Jesus did, and we should too! Think about it.

i’m Social Porter, and thank you for joining us this evening here at Outposts. This program is brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, and Area 22 Guitars, the home of brilliant creativity and dynamic forward thinking. Support has also come from Ray Prater of Terminal Taxi service in Mills River, Rev. Tommy Proctor of Shaw’s Creek Baptist Church, Allen Freeman of Quality Tire on North Church St. and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

          Colossians 3:14 “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

Love is the grease in our gears, the glue which keeps electrons and neutrons from flying off in other directions; love is the grip of God on our hearts; it is the blood of the Son, and motive of His resurrection that we would have life and have it more abundantly. Love is the strength of hope, the melody of God’s heart, and the aroma and bouquet of His peace. Let us get wisdom, have hope, and exercise our love, living in the shadow of God to set gem stones, creating beautiful things of gold, silver, and bronze, allowing the wisdom of God be like a chisel in our hands directed and compelled by the inspiration of Hope and Love.

    Be strong and courageous, and i’ll talk to you next time.