30 Pieces Of Silver
Posted: February 7th, 2009, 3:53 am
HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131x Re-Written 07FEB09 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw
Save Me Today—Part Twenty-Four: 30 Pieces Of Silver
by rev dave c
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Ps 51:1-17, NIV).
Some years ago I was caught off guard when a close friend of mine told me that he had committed a blatant sin. This friend is a long time in the Faith and he exercises a very visible position of responsibility within his local fellowship. It is an understatement to say that he had gained my undivided attention. He said that his sin had surprised him not only in the suddenness of its occurrence, but also in its total pointlessness. Other than a possible childish improvement of his self-image before the eyes of a stranger, it gained him nothing. The Holy Spirit later showed this man that he had been allowed to fall into such a silly transgression in order to break his heart and to give him a contrite spirit in preparation for an encounter later in the day. It worked and the love of Christ was made manifest. As evidence of the Lord’s fingerprint, he was also told to confess his sin before his congregation without naming it so that they could identify with the resulting message…not with his particular indiscretion. He did share with me the nature of his disobedience, and without divulging his confidence, I can tell you that—in the world of sin—it was one of little peripheral consequence. That does not, however, minimize its sinfulness.
The fact that my friend gained little to nothing from his sin surprised him almost as much as his having transgressed in the first place...no pleasure...no better position...no material gain...no advantage. Nothing. This experience contrasts with the phrase “sin has its season” that is frequently quoted from pulpits to help explain our periodic failures. Consider Hebrews 11:24&25: By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin (NAS). As a literal transliteration from Greek, that last phrase would read, “for a time to have of sin full enjoyment;” or, as more easily understood, “for a time to have the full enjoyment (or, fun) of sin.” Unfortunately, I must confess that I know exactly what that phrase means.
The possibilities of why my friend experienced no enjoyment from his “time of sin” suggest to me that as we mature in our faith, there is less and less fleshly reinforcement to sin. That is to say, our spiritual growth is a result of increasingly having the mind of Christ and the heart of a servant—effectively having less and less of our own flesh to tickle with disobedience. Upon receiving the eternal gift of salvation from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we immediately discover that, one by one, our favorite sins bring us less and less pleasure, and more and more conviction. Perhaps the process that the Bible describes as sanctification reaches a point where, to sin, we have to willfully betray what we know to be true in the face of also knowing that there are few, if any, “treats” to be gained by doing so. We lose our naiveté regarding sin’s “rewards” that cost more than we can afford to pay.
As Believers, we know that we are creatures created in the image of our Creator. We know that we are now new creations because our God has come to live within us. We know that we are being gradually shaped on the inside to be conformed to His likeness in our abilities to understand spiritual matters, to communicate the Gospel, and to choose to love those whom God loves. We know that only through the selfless sacrifice and Lordship of Jesus Christ as our Creator and our Sustainer, is this possible. We know that as we pray to God the Father, as we study the Word, as we praise and worship together—as we live out our lives with fellow Christians—we grow in our knowledge of God. We know that as we grow in our knowledge of God, our sinful flesh has less and less control over us. We know that as sin offers us fewer and fewer “tickles,” our decisions to sin increasingly grieves the Holy Spirit. We know that we can grieve the Holy Spirit with a sin that leads to death. We know that there was once a man who experienced all these things in the living person of Jesus of Nazareth as the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6; NIV). We know that he gained no pleasure...no advantage...no satisfaction from his thirty pieces of silver (Mt 27:1-10). “God forgive me and save me from willful sins that betray my Savior.” Amen.
Save Me Today—Part Twenty-Four: 30 Pieces Of Silver
by rev dave c
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Ps 51:1-17, NIV).
Some years ago I was caught off guard when a close friend of mine told me that he had committed a blatant sin. This friend is a long time in the Faith and he exercises a very visible position of responsibility within his local fellowship. It is an understatement to say that he had gained my undivided attention. He said that his sin had surprised him not only in the suddenness of its occurrence, but also in its total pointlessness. Other than a possible childish improvement of his self-image before the eyes of a stranger, it gained him nothing. The Holy Spirit later showed this man that he had been allowed to fall into such a silly transgression in order to break his heart and to give him a contrite spirit in preparation for an encounter later in the day. It worked and the love of Christ was made manifest. As evidence of the Lord’s fingerprint, he was also told to confess his sin before his congregation without naming it so that they could identify with the resulting message…not with his particular indiscretion. He did share with me the nature of his disobedience, and without divulging his confidence, I can tell you that—in the world of sin—it was one of little peripheral consequence. That does not, however, minimize its sinfulness.
The fact that my friend gained little to nothing from his sin surprised him almost as much as his having transgressed in the first place...no pleasure...no better position...no material gain...no advantage. Nothing. This experience contrasts with the phrase “sin has its season” that is frequently quoted from pulpits to help explain our periodic failures. Consider Hebrews 11:24&25: By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin (NAS). As a literal transliteration from Greek, that last phrase would read, “for a time to have of sin full enjoyment;” or, as more easily understood, “for a time to have the full enjoyment (or, fun) of sin.” Unfortunately, I must confess that I know exactly what that phrase means.
The possibilities of why my friend experienced no enjoyment from his “time of sin” suggest to me that as we mature in our faith, there is less and less fleshly reinforcement to sin. That is to say, our spiritual growth is a result of increasingly having the mind of Christ and the heart of a servant—effectively having less and less of our own flesh to tickle with disobedience. Upon receiving the eternal gift of salvation from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we immediately discover that, one by one, our favorite sins bring us less and less pleasure, and more and more conviction. Perhaps the process that the Bible describes as sanctification reaches a point where, to sin, we have to willfully betray what we know to be true in the face of also knowing that there are few, if any, “treats” to be gained by doing so. We lose our naiveté regarding sin’s “rewards” that cost more than we can afford to pay.
As Believers, we know that we are creatures created in the image of our Creator. We know that we are now new creations because our God has come to live within us. We know that we are being gradually shaped on the inside to be conformed to His likeness in our abilities to understand spiritual matters, to communicate the Gospel, and to choose to love those whom God loves. We know that only through the selfless sacrifice and Lordship of Jesus Christ as our Creator and our Sustainer, is this possible. We know that as we pray to God the Father, as we study the Word, as we praise and worship together—as we live out our lives with fellow Christians—we grow in our knowledge of God. We know that as we grow in our knowledge of God, our sinful flesh has less and less control over us. We know that as sin offers us fewer and fewer “tickles,” our decisions to sin increasingly grieves the Holy Spirit. We know that we can grieve the Holy Spirit with a sin that leads to death. We know that there was once a man who experienced all these things in the living person of Jesus of Nazareth as the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6; NIV). We know that he gained no pleasure...no advantage...no satisfaction from his thirty pieces of silver (Mt 27:1-10). “God forgive me and save me from willful sins that betray my Savior.” Amen.