Roused (pt. 2)

In the culture of Jesus day, people related to each other out of honor and shame. The whole culture was based on the thought of building your family's honor. When a person was outside of the law of God it was a shame and disgrace to their family. That is why the pentatuech often commands stoning for sinful behavior. I wish that we could return to a more honor/shame based culture.
It's a tragedy that many believers are unable to feel healthy shame. This theme has become evident to me as I've looked at the Hymn we'll be looking at for the next 5-6 blogs. "Thou Whose Purpose is to Kindle." We started with the first verse last week and this week I'm going to encourage you with the second verse:

Overcome our sinful calmness

Rouse us with redemptive shame

Baptise with Thy fiery Spirit

Crown our lives with tongues of flame

Where the first verse prepares us for the "burning" the second verse leaves us feeling the fire of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn't a babbling, charismatic, out-of-control, healing, name-it-and-claim-it kind of guy. He's fire. He ignites a bush and doesn't consume it. Thus, when we are yielded to the fire we are inviting the Life of Christ to "overcome our sinful calmness." God's supremacy is no excuse for idleness. He commands us to live obedient and active for Him.

Also, don't automatically assume that because you feel shame, that you are being "judged." Too many believers live in a state of confusion because they do not understand that conviction and shame over our flesh is the best place we can be. When someone says or does something that convicts me, I rejoice because that uncomfortable shame is my flesh wriggling under the fire of the Spirit. I want the Spirit of Christ to reing over my flesh and therefore I delight in "redemptive shame" which leads me to repentance and further holiness!!!

Finally, how blessed we are by phrases like, "Crown our lives with tongues of flame." I want my life to continually evidence the direction, wisdom, grace, gentleness, justice, and holiness that is mine in Christ Jesus (Phi. 2:5). Beleiver, stand on the promise that your life is crowned with the flames of Jesus Christ! Revel in it...rejoice in it...delight in it...and live in it!!!

Overcome our sinful calmness
Rouse us with redemptive shame
Baptise with Thy fiery Spirit
Crown our lives with tongues of flame

For His renown,

BenZ

Roused (pt. 1)

In case you haven't hung out with me alot, you should know that I am infatuated with old things. I mean doesn't a 1965 Gibson (see picture) sound better than a cheapo guitar (see picture)! The Grand Canyon is more fascinating to me than the latest shopping mall. The 2000 year old Redwood intrigues me more than ipod's do. Give me Atari over wii any day of the week. Give me Tozer over most contemporary authors. Give me the stouthearted faith of William Tyndale over the mediocrity of many modern day church leaders. Hopefully, you get the point. I love old things. But, I am also a staunch believer in the effectiveness of old truths to modern day life. For instance, I have a fairly extensive hymnal collection. I have Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, national Baptist, Southern Baptist, Charismatic, Korean, Catholic, Presbyterian, and many others. My oldest one is from like 1930...and it is filled with songs I've never heard of before! It's a shame that we have lost much of the rock solid truth that men and women of great faith like, Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, John Newton, Martin Luther, Fanny Crosby, James Fillmore, Maltbie Babcock, William Bradford, John Branard, and so many countless others!
However, one hymn has stopped me dead in my tracks from the first time I heard it at church, years ago. It is entitled "Thou Whose Purpose." For the next 6 weeks, every monday I will post a verse and some thoughts on this song that pulls no punches. Let us commence on a journey into antiquity which heretofore will be called, "Roused." The meaning of which will become clear shortly, but mystery always breeds interest! So, here's the first verse, (make sure you're sitting down, otherwise you'll get knocked off your feet):

Thou whose purpose is to kindle

now ignite us with Thy fire

While the earth awaits Thy burning

with Thy passion us inspire

Those lines grabbed me from the very first time I sang them at church one Sunday probably 4-5 years ago. The thing that brought my attention to the power of these words was the lack of conviction with which they were sung, by the praise team and congregation. It astounded me that we sang an invitation to God, and asked Him to burn, ignite, kindle US! Let these words not simply pass by you as convenient "moral" thoughts. Let them do the work for which God inspired the songwriter.
God has purposed that His bride be kindled. His purpose for the church is not to sit in our happy box churches. It isn't to have a chill up our spine when the worship band "nails it." His purpose is not to have us sit in a living room with ambient candles lit and absorb "good morality." It saddens me that the church has little to no awareness that God's purpose is to kindle His people to God-honoring lifestyles. Realize this in your heart, and let it sink deep.
Thus, we must respond, "Lord, since you are purposing to kindle, and we've prayed 'Thy will be done,' now ignite us with Thy fire." The heart that is kindled by God, must allow God to also ignite the kindling. When this happens, we no longer seek comfort from anything but our Refiner, our Consuming Fire. Do not assume that one "spiritual experience" is enough to satisfy Almighty God. Nay, he demands a life that is yielded to His fire.
As a result to God's kindling and our yieldedness to His ignition, the world will now await the burning. 2 Peter 3:12 says, "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat..." God is preparing for a bonfire, and only what is true will remain, His son is Truth, therefore only what is His son's will last. Therefore, this burning church set's fire to the world and only those who are set on fire by Christ will survive that coming day. Let us not be caught off guard when the Lord's fire is set to the nations. Rather let us be yielded to wherever this Fire leads us.
What is the inspiration for such a yieldedness? Where does a life set on fire for God come from. And more importantly, you may be asking, "I've been 'on fire' before, but it never seems to last more than a few days after the camp/retreat/conference/sermon/book/etc." The last line is the only way a believer can sustain the fire of God in regularity. "With Thy passion, us inspire." Hence, the passion of the Christ must be forefront on our minds in order for us to be kindled, ingited and torches to the world. The bloody Cross must be a constant reminder of the insatiable desire God has for His glory and the extent He will go to rectify all things to His glory. It is the passion of God that enables a martyr to sing in the arena, the imprisoned believer to rejoice, the unjustly plundered Christian to be glad, the poor in spirit to know God.

Let the words of another century stir inside you a passion for Christ's passion, and be ignited by His kindled fire. He remains the God of the fire that fell on Elijahs offering on Mt. Carmel. We must now become that same type of offering.

Thou whose purpose is to kindle
now ignite us with Thy fire
While the earth awaits Thy burning
with Thy passion us inspire

"see" you next week for Roused part 2.

For His renown,

BenZ

im4hisrenown@yahoo.com

www.myspace.com/benzornesband

http://www.bzband.blogspot.com/

...declaring the end from the beginning...

As I write this I am sitting on a porch in North California at a family camp (www.wolfmountain.org). I led worship here all weekend. It was a wonderful time of encouraging families and impressing them to seek the kingdom of God. You all know how I'm always thinking about our Big God. One of my thoughts that I've really been mulling over recently was born from a scripture in Isaiah. Now, I feel that Isaiah is a fantastic place to understand the attributes of God, thus if you ever have a desire to know more about who God is and how He relates to His people, Isaiah is a great place to start. Anyway here's the scripture that started all this...

(Isaiah 46:8-13)
Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring [it] again to mind, O ye transgressors.
Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken [it], I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed [it], I will also do it.
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that [are] far from righteousness:
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

Wow, this is huge. Upon first read you're probably distracted by words like "ravenous bird from the east" and "Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted." But let's not just assume that because something requires a little persistence it is useless. I've highlighted a few key phrases in this text.
First, God calls His people transgressors and then says, "I AM (his name!) God and there is no other, I AM God and there is none like unto me!" He makes it abundantely clear how unlike them He is. He goes out of His way to show His "otherliness." And He precedes His I AM statements with "remember the things of old." Ultimately saying, "From the beginning I have been God and remember, there is NOTHING in this universe like me!" It is folly to assume God's likeness to humanity. He is not human, though He created mankind and He incarnated a human body, His spirit and essence is far from Human. He is so far above us as we are above the amoeba, and that is even to finite a comparison! Keep this in mind through this whole Ben brainstorm!
Second, and primarily, he "declares the end from the beginning" and He will "acomplish all His pleasure." It is a huge comfort to know that we have a God, that from the beginning of time had already ordained the end. It is foolishness to believe that God is surprised by ANYTHING. Nothing catches Him off guard. Nothing startles Him from a heavenly slumber. He's never scratched His head in bewilderment. We humans have trouble understanding this, because we are bewildered by much. But remember God is not like us. Therefore, we can take confidence that as we follow Him, He has already proclaimed the End, and guess what, He wins, He remains the same, He retains ALL His glory, He sustains preemminence, He removes all evil! When we think of God as waiting on us to make a move or to "take a step of obedience" we are belittling God. God desires our complete obedience, but He declares the end from the beginning. So let us not squander in uncertainty thinking God is "waiting for us to move so He can move." I can sustain this point by the very next phrase, God says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."
I love that God will "do all His pleasure." The KJV says it so well, in that He is not dependant on Human actions in order for Him to do anything. He's fully capable, and has been so for all time, of completing His purposes, with or without us. The ESV says, "[God] will acomplish all [his] purposes." That is rock solid. And if you want a strong faith that will weather any storm, this is the rock upon which to build your house. Our Big God declares (or anounces, publishes, ordains, tells) the end from the beginning and will do all His pleasure.
Thus, knowing that at the outset of this passage He calls His people "transgressors," how do we fit into His pleasure? If God has always been ok by Himself and will acomplish His purposes by Himself, doesn't that kinda let us off the hook? I can't remember the number of times someone has objected to doctrine of this kind saying, " You can't believe stuff like that because you'll be unconcerned for the lost, and well that's letting humans off easy, we don't have any part to play other than God's 'robots', right?" Well, no. The great mystique Tozer, the great preacher Spurgeon, the great evangelist Moody, the great orphan keeper Mueller, the great missionaries Taylor and Elliot and countless others, have all believed these truths. Because they understood the final verse of this text, "I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. "
That first line is IMPERATIVE to understand and you can NOT seperate these other truths from it and expect any of it to stand or hold any water. God tells His "transgressing" people, "I will bring my righteousness near." Jesus Christ is called "the Righteousness of God." Therefore, when we grasp this truth in light of the salvation of Jesus Christ (which this verse declares will be planted in Zion), we will also understand that His righteousness will indwell us. Righteousness literally means right-handedness and "as a man ought to be." Thus, when the Almighty Foreknower brings HIS righteousness near (into us) and plants His salvation (Jesus) in Zion (the believer is the new Zion/temple), He then calls us His glory.
Imagine that, we transgressors being called God's glory, by a work that He purposed, carried out, brought near, and declared from the beginning. So, plant these truths deep within Your heart after testing them and proving them scriptural. As for me, I have found them life giving and fitting the pattern of the Kingdom of God.

Many blessings be upon you. Oh, and keep checking myspace for new videos and clips of the "Fight For Us EP." Love you guys!

For His renown,
BenZ