“The logic is clear.  If a person has grasped the meaning of God’s grace in his heart, he will do justice.  If he doesn’t live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God’s grace, but in his heart he is far from him.  If he doesn’t care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn’t understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God.  Grace should make you just.”

Tim Keller, Generous Justice, pg. 94

• Preached: First week after Resurrection Day, 2012
• Text: Acts 4:32-37

You’ll notice that I omitted the second concluding point.  I’m grateful for the mistake, because it forces me to return to that aspect of the teaching in a later lesson.

Listen here:

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Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Jesus, Luke 12:32

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.   Acts 4:32-37

When I read this story, and I hear the detail of the apostles giving testimony to the resurrection, and how “grace was upon them all”, I think of the metaphor of the overflowing cup.  Where God’s grace was being received, God’s grace was being poured out.  May it be so in our churches as well.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Continue.

A Lenten Hymn:

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

George Matheson, 1882

Listen here.

Hi all.

We had an amazing day today in the poorest area of Guatemala: La Limonada and the city dump, where 11,000 people live and work.  Very very sad conditions.  But we saw Jesus, alive and well, in those stark places.

We feel like we’ve been to “the ends of the earth” today.

Will report more later.

As you can tell, our internet connectivity is less than I had hoped.  I have several wonderful pictures lined up and ready to post, once I find an internet cafe somewhere in town.  Possibly later today.

Things are going very well.  We are witnessing God’s work.  Today (Ash Wednesday) we are fasting as a team.  This morning we were reminded of these words from Isaiah 58:

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.