THE POPE WHIPPED HIMSELF? Derek Joseph Levendusky

Last week, the News Observer reported: “Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt, even on vacation, and slept on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection…”

I don’t know what your response to this was, but mine was sadness. When I see someone trying to earn something that Christ has already given, I feel sorrow that God’s grace is being ignored. When Jesus died on the cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He did not say, “It is half-finished” or “It might be finished”! The work for our redemption is finished. Every obstacle to keep us from knowing God and growing in God has been removed through the cross! We don’t have to earn something God has already given.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8, NASB)

You can’t earn a gift. You can only receive a gift! The problem is, when we trust in our works or performance to earn our place with God, what we are basically saying is, “The cross wasn’t enough for me!” When you try to earn God’s approval through your performance instead of through the cross, it’s called “legalism.” Legalists unwittingly are trying through their performance to steal glory from God by trusting in their own work instead of God’s work!

As a young monk, the reformer Martin Luther was known to have whipped himself, and among other things, to have lain naked in the snow as an act of penitence. He nearly drove himself mad. Later in life, he wrote of this time, “Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that He was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners.”

Soon after, Martin Luther found grace, or I should say, grace found him! He wrote, “At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, ‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.”’ There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.” When he saw the way of grace, His soul was delivered from the snare of legalism! He concluded, “And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word ‘righteousness of God.’”

Paul warned against legalism, and specifically asceticism, which is the mistreatment of the body for the sake of perfecting the soul. Listen to this verse:

”Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 3:23, NIV)

In other words, mistreating your body for religious purposes does not bring you closer to God or give you any more victory over your tendency to sin. There’s only one thing that brings you closer to God—faith in the cross of Christ! Rest in the grace of God today, and worship the One who paid the whole price for your redemption and mine.

Order Discipleship by Grace, Derek’s new book, today at www.amanirecords.com.

UNHAPPY MILLIONAIRES

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

I recently read about Abd-al-Rahman III, a wealthy Spanish head-of-state from A.D. 912-961, who wrote about the folly of loving temporal things before his death:

“I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace…Riches and honor, powers and pleasures have waited on my call; nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot. They amount to fourteen. O man! place not thy confidence in this present world.”

Fourteen days? Here’s man who had everything our culture runs after, and found only two happy weeks in fifty years!

Likewise, I recently read separate stories about lottery winners. One man, who once confided in his brother that he wished he had never won the lottery, ended up disappearing nine months ago. They just found his body buried under a concrete slab behind his killer’s house. The second story was about a woman who won the lottery, and on the night she celebrated her victory, was hit by a car and died. Listen to the story Jesus told:

16And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18″Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ‘

20″But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21″This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

When we recorded the Jealous One album in San Clemente, California in 2007, we met a billionaire at the same studio we were recording in. Our producer knew him personally, and told us how he’d once been a happy-go-lucky, down-to-earth guy, but when he came into his riches, became a paranoid, anxious man who drove around in an armor-plated BMW.

Only Christ will truly satisfy us and bring us true contentment in this world! Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). How many people are striving and straining for riches, possessions, positions, and power, and do not realize that in this world, they can only obtain fourteen days of happiness.

Order Discipleship by Grace , Derek’s new book, today at www.amanirecords.com!

LOUD AND CLEAR

“Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:7-8)

After a long season of sowing and sweating, a lot seems to be coming together for me this year. We’re getting ready to launch my new Worship With Your Life broadcast in March; my best album yet, Worship With My Life, will be out in a few weeks; I’ll be publishing my first book for worship leaders in April, and I just published probably my most important book to date, Discipleship by Grace.

The UPS truck pulled in the driveway, and we knew it was here. The first load of my new book, Discipleship by Grace, had arrived! As I held a copy in my hand, I thought not only of the months and months of writing, revising, editing, and designing that went into it, but the years of studying the Word, and the season of terrible darkness that preceded my grace conversion. I had paid a heavy price to have this book in my hand.

“I’m proud of you,” my wife Heidi said to me.

“Honestly,” I told her, “I’m happy for the people this book will bless. Finally, with the new album and the new book, I have the clearest trumpet call I’ve ever had to champion the message of God’s grace.”

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (NASB). When Paul went to Corinth, he was blasted a clear, singular note that called all hearers to center their faith on one thing: God’s grace made available through the redeeming sacrifice of Christ.

I’ll always be interested in worship and world evangelism, the pillars of our ministry since we started in 1998, but the foundation is grace. There’s nothing I’m more passionate about than helping people understand the power, freedom, and joy of God’s grace. Everything else flows from it—worship, world evangelism, prayer, giving, creativity, understanding your calling, etc.

I have the sense that God has put a trumpet in my hand, and through our books, albums, and new broadcast, I’m about to blast a clear, singular note: “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Please pray for me as I move to the top of a high mountain and blow this trumpet!

Mucho grace,

Derek Joseph

Order your copy of Derek’s new album or book today at: www.amanirecords.com