So, I went and got myself married...

I'll not neglect my new wife for too long by writing a huge post about it, but I went and got myself hitched yesterday!

It was a great day, and it is so good to be married to the love of my life :D I'm adult enough to know it won't always be roses and sunshine, but I'm confident that it will always be love, growing every day!

So this Mr Jon Sidnell now has a wife, Mrs Laluna Sidnell!!

I have been justified

Romans 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

Justification is absolutely crucial, but I think it often gets fluffed by Evangelicals. So often it gets presented as simply "Just as if I'd never sinned", but I'm not so sure this sums it up fully.

I really like what Rob Rufus has preached about justification, saying that it's "Just as if I'd always obeyed." Justification isn't simply wiping out a debt between us and God - that's what forgiveness is. It's much more than that! It's also God declaring over us "You are righteous", and this is ours simply by faith - by trusting the offer of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

How is this possible? It is by God taking my sin and placing it upon Jesus on the Cross, and then taking Jesus' perfect innocence and obedience, and placing that upon me when I believed in Him. In a very real sense, the Father no longer sees me when He looks at me - He sees Jesus, and that is very good news!

This is the basis of my peace with God - having been freely justified by faith, I don't have to struggle and strive under the illusion that I can be good enough for God, or that I need to be good enough for God. Jesus solved both of these problems once and for all, and I can rest in the finished work that He accomplished, secure that I stand before God sinless and perfect in Christ.

Awesome!

Know who you are

Today I was working on getting my old computer restored so that Laluna will have something to use when I've taken my laptop outside the house to work on the train. Please forgive the next few sentences for the less technically minded of us.

I ended up having some difficulty getting Windows XP to install - the computer would start, and it would say "Press any key to boot from the install CD", and I was pressing the keyboard several times, with no joy. I thought I'd give a Linux live CD a try, and sure enough once it had started, I was able to use the keyboard, mouse and so on. I was about to settle for installing Linux and running a system that Laluna might not know so well, when I suddenly decided "No, I'm not going to settle. I'm going to make this work with XP!" After a quick Google, I found that there might be a setting in the BIOS that would enable the keyboard to be recognised by the XP install CD and get it all working. Sure enough, I changed this setting, and it all worked :)

As co-inky-dink would have it, I was listening to Andrew Wommack speak on the positive ministry of the Holy Spirit and he talks about the need to take hold of the truth of who we are in Christ, and not just sit back passively and let difficulties, challenges, illnesses and sin dominate us. Jesus won so much for us in His life, death, resurrection, ascension and continued ministry seated at the right hand of the Father, but we remain ignorant of this and so remain impoverished where God wants to see us know the truth and have the truth set us free.

It's a bit (only a bit, mind) like changing the BIOS setting. My computer was perfectly capable of getting past the "Press any key" message, it just needed informing what to do. Similarly, my life is perfectly capable of receiving goodness from the hand of God instead of languishing in adversity and difficulties - all I need to do is know the truth, and the Holy Spirit will work in bringing that truth to life, and convincing my spirit of the truth, so that it can do me good in my life.

So, I'm going to spend some time blogging through the Neil Anderson "I am" statements that are the foundation of much of the Freedom in Christ ministry tools. Each post will take a different statement and I'll share some thoughts that come to mind as I ponder the truth.

Hope it'll be helpful for me and for you :)

Imagine redeemed by Steve McVey

Steve McVey has just posted another great post on his blog, re-creating the lyrics to Imagine by John Lennon.

Imagine there’s no legalism, No struggles, no strife.
No rules to judge us, Within us only life.
Imagine all the Christians, Living really free.

Imagine grace filled churches. It isn’t hard to do
No sermons that condemn you. And no religion too.
Imagine all the pastors, Teaching grace and peace

You may say that I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us, And know in Him, we all can live as one

Imagine no rededication. I wonder if you can
No need to make promises, To know in Him we stand
Imagine all believers, Enjoying life in Christ.

You may say that I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us, And know in Him, we all can live as one.

Now that is a great vision statement! And one that I am making my own. No more ministry - no more worship leading, no more preaching, no more pastoral advice, no more prophesying, nothing - based on law any more. It's all about knowing Christ, the power of His death and resurrection, and who we are in Him from this point on!

We're in a time of amnesty

I was looking at Derby's City Library website today when I saw that they're currently holding a "Fines Amnesty" between 1st July and 11th July. This is what they have to say:

Visit a Derby City Library and we will waive any fines that you owe us.


Reading is very important - everything begins with reading - and we want as many people in Derby as possible to use their library service.

Look at the reasoning - they want as many people as possible in Derby to use their library service. So they are removing one of the obstacles that may have kept people away, the late fees that were still on their account and would need paying the next time they wanted to use the libraries' facilities.

Let's have a look at 2 Corinthians 5:19-21:

...in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Right now, at this very moment in history, we are in a time of God's amnesty. Just like Derby's libraries, God is not currently holding the sins of the world against it. Just like Derby's libraries, He is instead wanting everyone who will come to come to Him, be reconnected to Him, and become the righteousness of God in Christ.

Just like Derby's libraries attitude to those who stay away for fear of having to pay late fees, God is not angry with the world, poised on the edge of His seat, waiting for the time He can vent His rage and have His vengance. He is sending us out as His ministers of reconciliation, calling people to the hope that we can come to God, free of the fear of judgement, and be reconciled to Him.

The only thing keeping the people of Derby from having their late fees cancelled is not going to the library to take advantage of the offer. Some may not even know about it, since I've only found out about it randomly. Likewise, the only thing keeping people from receiving forgiveness and becoming the righteousness of God in Christ is coming to Him and saying "I'm laying down my arms, and claiming the benefits of the amnesty you're offering!" This kindness and grace of God will then lead people to repentance and a renewed lifestyle as they marvel in the wonder of what He has done(Romans 2:4; Titus 2:11).

Just like Derby's libraries, this amnesty has a sell-by date attached to it. If someone goes into the library on 12th July and says "I'm here to have my fees cancelled", they'll be told that they are sadly too late and must pay what was outstanding on their account after all.

There is coming a day when Jesus will return, and this will end the period of God's amnesty. Anyone who comes to God now can experience the free grace of God, but once Jesus has returned, anyone who stands before God without having claimed this amnesty for themselves will have to pay what was outstanding on their account before the amnesty opened.

But God isn't eager for this day to come. His attitude is still that of Exekiel 18:23 - "I take no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked. I would rather that they repent and live!" He isn't being held back from judging now by some external force that is frustrating His desire for vengance. No, His love, His compassion and His grace is leading Him to put that day off, so that people have more time to repent and find forgiveness and life in Him (2 Peter 3:9).

So, minister of reconciliation - go out and reconcile! Don't hold people's sins against them, because God isn't currently doing that. Go out, befriend, show God's love and grace, show the fruits of the freedom He was won for you by loving Jesus so much that He comes out of every pore. And let His Spirit lead you in reconciling others to Him, so that they too can benefit from the grace of God and come into the same glorious fellowship with God that is now ours by grace through faith!

The Problem With Rededication

There's another grace preacher I've discovered recently called Steve McVey. I've not read a lot of his material, but I do follow his blog, which has some fantastic stuff on it. His latest post is called The Problem with Rededication, and it's well worth a read :)

Go! Check it out!

Breathe

There's a Vineyard song called "Breathe" that I've tended to like in my walk with Jesus. The lyrics go a little something like this:

This is the air I breathe,
This is the air I breathe -
Your holy presence living in me.

This is my daily bread,
This is my daily bread -
Your very word spoken to me.

And I, I'm desperate for You!
And I, I'm lost without You!

So I'm just wondering, is this a new covenant song? Or is it a song that is buried within an old covenant mentality? I only ask because I think I've always invested it with old covenant meaning - it's a song I would sing when feeling far from God for one reason or another, usually sin of one sort or another. So this became my pity-party song, by which I would seek to show God how sorry I was so that maybe He'd deign to shine on me again.

But now I understand that God is always smiling on me, because He sees me exactly as He sees Jesus. Now I understand that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I understand that my standing before Him is no longer based on works, but on my simple trust in what He has already accomplished on my behalf in Jesus. I have to remind myself of these things at times, but that is happening less frequently as I go on!

So is there still a place for these songs of hunger and desperation for God? Or is it entirely old covenant, because we should be recognising that God is always closer than we realise, and just step into the good of that?