In the grace of God, we see him rise from the ashes with a new message, THE message of Christ.

To me this question actually has two answers. First, our responsibility is to judge the message, for it always takes precedence over the messenger. Paul makes this point repeatedly, such as in Galatians 1:8, saying no matter how beautiful the messenger is, the message is what counts. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” Again, Paul sees the message as being much more important than himself, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” Even when it came to having a messenger who had wrong motives, Paul remained interested primarily in the message. Philippians 1:17, 18, “the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.” Therefore, if the message was correct when the writer or performer was walking with Jesus, the message is still valid today, and I won’t throw it out. David had a moral failure; I will not throw out what God had clearly given him before his failure. It would be my loss. When one takes the position to discredit everything that has been said by a fallen believer, he is walking on thin ice, for God may define for him anew what fallen means. In, Galatians 5:19-21, Paul gives a description of the flesh. Who can boast that at some time in their life they have not fallen into some of these things? Who can rightly judge the messenger? Now to the second answer:
some have not promoted the message, but rather they promote themselves. It is their plan that whenever we hear their music or read a particular paragraph, their picture, not Christ’s, flashes into our minds. Paul talks about such people. II Cor. 4:5, “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” There are those in the business of riding on the back of Christ to create an image for themselves. They don’t make a distinction between the message and themselves. They are the proof of their message. They, in fact, believe they are propping up Jesus. The focus is constantly on them and their faith, their talent, and their cleverness. Their formula, writing, or music and how it makes them stand out is one with their image. “17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.” When such a believer falls, it is impossible to separate him from his message, for in reality he was the true message, with such a high standard set for himself and others that he will have trouble finding grace. Such a one is left having to clean up the mess on his own. In interview after interview he will try to separate himself from the message, so that the message can retain its integrity, but it is too late to separate himself from it. It becomes impossible to defend his message when it is revealed that it wasn’t THE message of Christ. People quickly abandon him. The books and the music will find their way to the trash bin, but though his reputation is also in the trash bin, the person is not! The blessing in all this is that God will use it to move him into clinging to the proper message. In the grace of God, we see him rise from the ashes with a new message, THE message of Christ. Well, amen!

Back to our question of why God plays in the dust. The weakest creature is the one that needs the most support. The river can live without man, but man cannot live without the river. In fact, the whole earth can live without man, but man cannot live without the earth. Everything on the earth, in this sense, is greater than man. Man is made of dust, not dirt or soil that have nutrients in them; dust has nothing to offer. From the beginning God made everything to support the weakest and most precious thing to Him–man!

I used this example in Brazil at the end of a conference, followed by the question, “Who is the weakest person here?” I answered my own question, “The person who needed the most support to be here! Who is that person? Mike! I needed people to donate money to buy my plane ticket, others to organize, several interpreters, electricity, artists, editors, drivers, and more.”

It takes so much to support this little bit of dust that I am left with nothing to boast in, save Christ. I then asked the people to pray that night, not for the speaker who is dust, but for all those who support the dust. It was a great revelation for all of us.

The secret to a deeper life:
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:6

We must remember that humility is not saying, “I am nothing,” but rather,
“I possess nothing.” This attitude allows us to secure the experience of His life within ourselves daily.

However, if we stop and listen, how much boasting about what is possessed do we hear? There is boasting of the past in what we had, of the future in what we will have, or of that bright child, our career, or those material goods that we now hold. The dreaming about what we will someday possess, or what we have already lost, takes our attention away from the greatest thing that we do possess now in this moment, the presence of Christ, Himself, within! This is more than man in his wildest dreams and in himself, could ever attain.

“and they rose up and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.”

I suppose that all of us at one time or another have had to deal with a bully. What makes people bullies is their ability to set themselves above us and intimidate. There are a variety of bullies. Physical bullies use brute strength to create the fear of being hurt and therefore control us. Intellectual bullies point out our stupidity and inferiority. Materialistic bullies make successful acquisition of possessions the focus. Religious bullies draw attention to their righteousness, making it quite clear they are grateful for not being miserable sinners and failures like the rest of us. Verbal bullies delight in their ability to speak quickly and leave us speechless in our inadequacy. The political bully understands all the intricacies of the whole world and wonders at the absurdity of our opinions. Finally, outward-appearance bullies exalt themselves because of beauty or dress, insinuating we are ugly and therefore must take our place in the proper caste system.

When discussing bullies, we must understand two points. First, we yield to the bully the power that he has over us. We, like him, falsely believe that the greatness of a person rests in strength, beauty, intellect, material possessions, self-righteousness, or a quick mind. We allow the bully to stand over us authoritatively, for we throw flowers in the parade that the bully gives himself. The proof is in statements like this: “I feel like a wimp because I got scared and didn‰t stand up to the bully.” Who said we were wimps for not standing up to those walking in the flesh? I know who says so! The bully and those of us being intimidated, and I believe both are wrong. We must not let the bullies define what is weak, strong, intellectual, or religious. If we do, we will find ourselves with false definitions. Second, the spiritual man sets the standard! The spiritual person is judged by no one but judges all things. (1Cor. 2:15, “But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.”) The spiritual man refuses to measure up to the standard set by the carnal or to play the bullies‰ games that set themselves above to lord it over others. Rather, the spiritual man sets himself below all others, creating a contrast between himself and all bullies that puts incredible judgment on them. The spiritual operate from a definition of man that does not necessitate standing up to a bully, but rather loving and serving. To the intellectual we can say, “We are not wise in our own eyes.” To the materialistic bully, “We live as the sparrow and lilies”; to the verbal bully, “We bless”; to the quick in speech, “We boast in our weakness.” And to the religious bully, we can assert, “We trust not in our works, but in His.” By putting ourselves below the bully, rather than scraping and clamoring to reach his level, we conquer and overcome. Don‰t be intimidated by a bully, for in so doing you have fallen into his false concepts of life.

What does this passage mean to you? Many are beating themselves up over their sin, so much so that I assume they live under the Law. It is obvious that they believe they are justified by behavior. Abraham understood the secret: without faith, the Law cannot be birthed.

Without first believing in God, Abraham would never have received the commands of God. I wouldn’t listen to any of the commands of the Hindu gods simply because I don’t believe they exist. Law without faith gives birth to sin. For example, if I believe in the love of God, knowing full well that all He tells me is for my good, I will easily and readily keep the command to bless those who curse me. It is simple. However, if I don’t believe in the love of God, I will read the command to bless those who curse, realize that I don’t do that, and not believing that it is for my good, I will find a way around the command. “I don’t have to love them, for they have gone too far.” The Law that was to bless me (if birthed in faith, in the love of God) now becomes the thing by which I am condemned; the Law, without faith, will always give birth to sin.

It is easy to see how Abraham was walking in the greater way of faith; even without the Law he was justified. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Sweeter words were never spoken. I determined long ago to spend my time in the love of God and not in the Law. As I have discovered the love of God, the command has been found to be easy. In fact, I refuse to listen to the Law unless it is in the context of faith in Him and His love.

The Law is good if birthed in faith, and moving deeply into the faith of Jesus brings a higher life than living in the Law, for faith in Jesus will lead to an expression of exactly Jesus. Amazing! Without the Law, sin is dead (Rm. 7:8). Sin counts on man’s boastful pride attempting to keep the Law without faith. This accounts for so much immorality in legalistic churches, where the emphasis is on performance and little or nothing is said of faith. A dating couple comes to the office, they have been sleeping together, and they are under great condemnation. Is the solution to have them stop? If they stop because of the command without believing in the Love of God that gave the command, they will continue to struggle and “slip up.” If they see the Love of God in the command and believe in Him who gives the command, the struggle will cease.

If a child is told that by working he will obtain a bicycle, and the child believes the parent, the work will be a great joy. But what if the child does not believe the parent? Will the work be done grudgingly or with joy? And working grudgingly is sin. If the child were never given the promise, the child wouldn’t be working grudgingly, and there would be no sin. In the end, that child would be better if he had never heard the promise. The problem is simple: the Law was given to men of faith, and men of unbelief have attempted to keep it–which they cannot do, for Law is birthed in faith—and the result is sin and condemnation. Now, Romans 7 becomes quite clear; the battle described is not the battle of the old man against the new man, nor a battle that exists before conversion or after conversion. It is describing an absolute battle between faith and Law, a battle that includes the unbeliever (going to hell) and the unbelieving believer (going to heaven.)

Security only comes in faith

At any time, either the unbeliever or the unbelieving believer can perceive, with the mind, the Law of God and want to keep it, for they know that it is good. Yet, because of lack of belief in God, the entire being cannot keep the Law, the person is divided, and the end result is sin and condemnation. Don’t think that the way out is recommitment, harder work, rededication, vows, knowledge, or strength; the way out is faith in Jesus. “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” The Gentiles have pursued the promise by faith and gotten it, but the Jews sought by Law and lost it. “For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Where do you begin in your struggle? Stop fighting the Law and start confessing Jesus with your mouth each day. Before you go to sleep, do not let your thoughts end at the Law you have not kept. Instead, let your thoughts end at Jesus, in whom you believe. This brings us to the final “hiccup!”

Security only comes in faith. Regardless of whether you are a Calvinist or an Armenian, to attempt to find security in works will only bring about insecurity. These two camps become one under the Law. Read Romans 7 and think of it differently. Paul is talking about living in the Law and how impossible it is to live so. The Law reveals what I didn’t know was sin, and then it doesn’t give me the power to obey. After the knowledge, I find myself doing the very thing I don’t want to do. This passage applies to all that live by the Law.