One Thing Needful

Lord, You are my Treasure.
In You I trust; to You I will cling.

The ways that You work are inspiring;
they are completely beyond my ability to comprehend.
I can only stand back in amazement when I see the evidence of Your hand at work.

I give You thanks for Your work in my life.
In my innermost being I praise You, for You are my Treasure.

We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all nations, on behalf of His name. (Romans 1:5 HCSB)

Other translations of this phrase include:

KJV – “for obedience to the faith”
NAS – “to bring about obedience of faith”
NIV – “the obedience that comes from faith”
AMP – “to promote obedience to the faith”
Williams – “obedience inspired by faith”

What Paul was saying was that the reason he received grace was to bring all nations (both Jew and Gentile) to obedience to God–obedience that springs from faith in Christ as opposed to obedience that is the result of merely keeping the law. This understanding is also consistent with the message of Paul to the Jews in Rome. In just the first five chapters alone Scripture after Scripture confirms the truth that faith in Christ is the basis for true obedience. True obedience being inward obedience from the heart, not merely external–having only the appearance of righteousness that comes from keeping the law. Faith is a heart issue and cannot be exercised through keeping a set of rules and regulations because rules and regulations can be kept without the exercise of faith. But true obedience–obedience that pleases God is an exercise of faith that springs from the heart.

1:17 – The righteous will live by faith.
2:29 – …a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart–by the Spirit…
3:20 – For no flesh will be justified in His sight by the works of the law…
3:21-22 – But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been revealed…that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ…
3:25-26 – God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, …and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.
3:27-28 – Where then is boasting? It is excluded…by a law of faith. For we conclude that man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
3:30 – There is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. [Another interesting phrase for a later discussion!]
4:4-5 – Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work but believes on Him who declares righteous the ungodly, his faith is credited for reighteousness.

For anyone who questions why God would chose to make salvation accessable through faith alone apart from works in which we could boast, the answer is found in Romans 4:16: This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace… What a wonderful thought! Salvation is not from ourselves because God wants to give it to us! Did you understand that? He doesn’t want us to work for it because He wants to give it to us. And the means by which He gives it to us is faith in the atoning work of His Son, Jesus Christ. What a gracious Father we have! What a loving Savior we have!

For anyone who doesn’t understand faith you don’t have to search any further than Romans 4:21 to find the definition personified in the life of Abraham. …he [Abraham] was fully convinced that what He [God] had promised He [God] was also able to perform. There you have it. Faith is being fully or completely convinced that what God promises (salvation), God is able to do (save). And salvation is just the beginning of what God wants to do for us through faith. To the Colossians Paul says, Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord [by faith], walk in Him [by faith] (2:6).

The conclusion is …we have been declared righteous by faith. (Romans 5:1) Let me restate: Faith is a heart issue that cannot be exercised by keeping a set of rules. However, it should be noted that faith does produce obedience. And that is the kind of obedience that Paul labored to bring to all nations.

We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all nations, on behalf of His name. (Romans 1:5)

Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” There is no righteousness apart from Jesus Christ. So to hunger for righteousness is to hunger for Christ–He IS the Bread of Life. (John 6:35) To thirst for righteousness is to thirst for Christ. Jesus Himself said, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” The Scripture goes on to say, “He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been received, because Jesus had not yet been glorfied.” (John 7:37-39) Think about that for a moment, “…the Spirit had not yet been received, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Have you glorified Jesus in your life by taking up your cross and following Him? Do you hunger and thirst after His righteousness–righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation? Are you like the psalmist whose soul panted with thirst for the Lord? Just as the Psalmist expressed intense desire for God in many songs, so today we continue to use music as an expression of our intense desire to seek His kingdom and His righteousness.

We have gathered in this place
To seek Your Kingdom, Lord
Though we’re poor in spirit
As a child we receive Your Kingdom, Lord
In humility we will follow Thee
And in unity proclaim the gospel
May Thy Kingdom come
May Thy will be done
In Your family as it is in heaven

Mary and Martha both made choices about where they would focus their attention.  Martha welcomed Jesus, but then being distracted from Him by her many tasks, she chose to focus on the tasks rather than Jesus.  Her distraction led to worry, upset and complaining.  On the other hand, Mary made the right choice–sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to Him.  Jesus said only one thing is necessary.  Let us set aside everything that distracts us from that one thing, which is worshipping at His feet while listening to His voice.

This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything to take your stand. Stand therefore… (Ephesians 6:13)

There seems to be a much simpler battle strategy here than my perception has been:  1) prepare everything, then 2) take your stand.  All the pieces of armor are perfectly designed for this strategy.  So many times I allow myself to be swayed from the Truth, specifically regarding my position in Christ, but Paul says the way to fight is to “stand.”  However, I have no chance of standing if I haven’t prepared everything.  The first three pieces of armor are applied in preparation for the battle.  They are:

truth–it’s the Truth that sets us free

righteousness–it’s the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to us

readiness

The gospel of peace, the “good news” of peace is the reason we are in the battle at all.  The battle is all about Satan trying to stop the “good news” from being proclaimed.  If the gospel is not proclaimed, how will people hear?  How will they believe?  How will they be saved?  Satan cannot change the fact that Christ died to redeem man.  He doesn’t have the power to stop Christ from redeeming man.  Stopping the “good news” from being proclaimed is the only strategy he has.  If we are going to be victorious in battle, we must understand the fight.  We must be ready not only to obey the gospel and spread the gospel, but we must be ready to defend the gospel, to live for the gospel and even to die for the gospel.  The good news is a precious treasure with which we have been entrusted.  We must be ready to defend it at all costs.

Once we have prepared everything (not some things or most things, but everything) we must simply stand–stand in truth, stand in righteousness, stand in readiness all for the sake of the “good news.”  Once our minds are transformed by Truth, we understand our position in Christ, and we’re ready to give our lives for the gospel, then and only then can we stand against the strategies of Satan.  The next three pieces of armor are what we use in the battle.

Satan takes advantage of struggles outside (the circumstances of life that happen to all) and fears inside (the inner thoughts and feelings based on faulty thinking) to render me powerless.  My only defense against his “flaming darts” is faith.  Faith based on the Truth, righteousness and readiness.

As I take my stand, salvation is the helmet that protects my mind.  Salvation belongs to our God.  It doesn’t depend on me.  Understanding that fact is the “helmet” that protects my mind.  My mind is to be fixed completely on the hope that is to be realized in eternity.  When my mind is fixed on the hope of eternity (granted by Jesus alone) I can do as Jesus, “who for the joy set before Him [the hope of heaven and eternal pleasures] endured the cross [persevered in battle]…”

The only weapon I have against the attack of the enemy is the Word of God.  The Word of God is the “sword of the Spirit.”  It’s what the Spirit uses to defeat the enemy of my life.  As I hide God’s Word in my heart, the Spirit brings it out as the need arises and enables me to use it against the enemy.  The Spirit is the One who “rightly divides” the Truth giving me understanding of Truth–who God is and what He has said.