Victory Over Sin, Part 2

The following message is brought to you by Connecting with the Carters. Please check out our previous post to see Victory Over Sin, Part 1.

[Review: A serious introspection on our sinfulness reveals who awful we truly are. As a believer in Christ it is important that we also look on the flip side of the same coin and see the wonderful grace of Jesus which reaches you and even me. Therefore, as McCheyne suggests, if we take a look at our sin we must also take ten looks on Christ.]

Of course, looking to Christ – even ten looks on Christ – will impress more grace in your life than looking at your sin. The Bible urges us to fix our eyes steadfastly on Christ (Heb. 12:2). That means that our gaze on Him has got to be constant, a lingering gaze.

Grace enables us not only to overcome our sin, but also to forgive ourselves when Satan whispers in our ear telling us that we are “Guilty.” Grace allows us to tell Satan to shut up! Grace also enables us to be able to forgive others.

During the Hamartiology class, I got really frustrated with Adam and Eve for messing everything up so badly. I mean, they had it perfect! Then I realized I would probably have done the exact same thing. Philip Yancey noticed that, “Christians get very angry toward other Christians who sin differently than they do.” And C.S. Lewis warns us that, “This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behavior we expect from other people.”

So how can we remedy this? We remedy it by showing them grace. Because grace was given to us not as something to keep to ourselves, but as something to freely share with others. We are responsible for what we do with the grace that is given to us.

Sometimes we get greedy with God’s grace, as if it might run out on us. But it won’t. The Bible tells us that God’s grace is abundant (II Cor. 4:15). And in another passage it heightens that reality and tells us that God’s grace is exceedingly abundant (II Tim. 1:14). His grace is manifold or multifaceted, giving us the idea of a kaleidoscope (I Pet. 4:10). Again, there is no way that the grace of God can run out on you.

Therefore it is up to you to use it and to share it. Use it on yourself; stand on grace. Use it on others; show them God’s grace. “The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace” (Gordon MacDonald).

We need to show grace to ourselves and to one another. After all, the grace that we have is all because of regeneration (being born of God or re-birth).

Our regeneration is a great display of God’s amazing grace because our regeneration is possible because of the cross. Nowhere else in all of History can you see God’s grace more magnificently displayed than at the cross. “[Christ] bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you are healed” (I Pet. 2:24).

Our sin, our guilt, our lack-of-grace for others is killed at the cross. There we are re-born to live in righteousness and healed by His wounds!

At the cross, at the cross

Where I first saw the light,

And the burdens of my heart rolled away,

It was there by faith,

I received my sight,

And now I am happy all the day!

Echoes of Eternity

I’m not going to lie, this has been a hard week for us. Sunday morning we found out that fellow missionaries, and friends of ours, “lost” their little girl.

 Giovanna was born in the Dominican Republic with a heart condition 19 months earlier. And we, along with many others, donated funds and other resources in an effort to get her to the States for a costly and difficult operation. It was a worthy investment. The operation was successful. Then, this Sunday, she passed away.

Neither Ashley nor I had been to a child’s funeral before, and this was our first funeral in the Dominican Republic too.  The viewing is the same day as the passing, and the burials are typically within 24 hours of the person’s passing. During the burial, I translated for two different speakers. The following night at her memorial service, I translated for four different speakers. None of this was easy for me; it’s hard to speak while choking on tears. We prayed and wept often during the days that followed.

At the same time, my sister arrived from Uruguay to be with us during that same week. She had gone to a conference in Honduras and on her way through, she stopped by to spend a week with us here in the DR. We hadn’t seen her in over three years! It was great to let her tour our ministries and favorite places. We loved spending time together with her.

The sad tears for Giovanna’s passing were soon mingling with the happy laughter of being with my sister again. And life is like that sometimes. There is both sorrow and laughter involved. Yet there is something in us that knows that it shouldn’t be like this.

Thankfully, right now, things are this way, we have a capacity for sorrow and joy. Our tears are a valve for us to relieve some of the stress of grief; they are an outlet for emotional expression. But although we appreciate them, we do not enjoy them. We know that this is not the way things should be.

The echoes of eternity resound loudly in our hearts. We know that there needs to be more to life than what we have at the moment. Saying goodbye to Giovanna was so hard, and eventually we had to say goodbye to my sister, after dropping her off at the airport. Once again, the tears were there and again, it was extremely hard to say goodbye. As a Missionary Kid who’s spent most of his life traveling, I’ve had to say goodbye for more than my fair share: and it’s not gotten easier. It never will – not in this life, anyway.

Those echoes of eternity seem to ring loudest when we have to say goodbye because we know that we were never created for goodbye. Mortality is a terminal disease that affects us all, and although you can live your life any way you choose, you know that you can only live it once.

Right now we may have to grieve, but we do not grieve as those without hope (I Thess. 4:13). Instead, we look forward to Heaven knowing we’ll never have to say goodbye again. Why? Because our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Or, as the text tells us: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus (I Thess. 4:14).

But the text continues and at the end of I Thessalonians 4; it exhorts us to encourage one another with talk of Heaven.  So please be encouraged by these words and set your heart on home – because Heaven is right around the corner! Peter tells us that we are sojourners in this land. In other words, just passing through. Heaven is our home. “And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and thought you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible…” (I Pet. 1:8). We have authentic hope even in our grief. We also have great joy even in our limitations.

We talk about Heaven being so far away.

It is within speaking distance to those who belong there.

(D.L. Moody)

           Picture below: Us with Carter's sister (Abigail)