Living out the Gospel: Part 4 – The way of Obedience

It is ironic in my quest to move away from legalism and fundamentalism, that I am returning to a call for obedience embedded in the Gospel message. Usually there are two sides to this question. One is the legalist who while in their words will say salvation comes by faith in Christ’s atoning work alone will then expect people to live by a certain moral standard reminiscent of Pharisaical law. On the other side are those who question all forms of “duty” or commands expecting obedience in the Gospel and the Christian life, saying we are called to live holy but completely divorce it from the initial salvation experience as if regeneration and sanctification are two completely separate issues. These people have no problem agreeing with the legalists regarding regeneration, but take issue with them on issues surrounding sanctification—emphasizing grace. So which is it?

The answer is both are right and both are wrong. Salvation is by grace through faith alone. But embedded in the call of the Gospel is a call to obedient faithful living. Jesus tells his people to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him (Matt 16:24). Consider also what Paul says;

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Col 2:6-7)

It seems there is some connection between faithful living (obedient living) and accepting the Gospel. The two simply go together. LeRoy Eims states:

I have seen people “make decisions,” but when I tried to help them grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I discovered that they were still dead in their trespasses and sins. They had no spiritual life. I have learned the hard way that it is impossible to disciple a person who is spiritually dead.

Paul stated, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17). IN order to identify a genuine convert, you must see in him a change of attitude toward Jesus Christ and a change of attitude toward sin. (The Lost Art of Disciple Making, 62)

As Eims goes on to explain, the lordship of Christ may not be fully understood right away, but the desire for Christ and against sin can still be evident. Jesus expects obedience. He expects people to live lives that go against the way of sin, that despise sin and any appearance of it. This is a bigger call than simply accepting deliverance from future eternal judgment.

Living out the Gospel: Part 3 - Message of Prosperity

Even in the midst of teaching the basic gospel message similar to what was put forward in the previous post, some people still believe the result of coming to faith should be one of prosperity.

The argument often goes to a passage that is very often taken out of context; Jeremiah 29:11. Even in that passage the promise is given because the people are finding themselves in the midst of exile, living in a foreign land and in the way of suffering.

Another common misconstrued passage is John 10:10. True Jesus said he came to give us abundant life, but we must ask ourselves what he means by these terms. The context of this verse is referring to the sheep and the door. Jesus is the door that brings the sheep into protection. Jesus will lead them to safe pastures, but only under his care, away from “thieves and robbers.” Given Jesus’ mention of salvation in verse 9, we can understand his meaning of life is in reference to eternal life which he often speaks of throughout John’s Gospel. It is true in John’s Gospel that Jesus is giving life both now and in eternity, that the Gospel is about more than a “future salvation”, so understanding this we can know that the abundant life does apply to this one as well. But allow Scripture to interpret itself. Jesus, in the same Gospel, also warns of hard times to come to those who follow him. I heard Mark Lowry once talk on this verse referring to the fact that before Christ life was full of ups and downs. Come to Christ and your life will be even more full, the ups will be greater, but so can the downs.



As we will talk about in the next post, the Gospel is more than a call to a good life or to deliverance from eternal judgment. It is also a call to faithful obedience to Christ in both good and bad times of life.

Regina Spektor "Laughing With" - thoughts?

I was directed to Josh Harris' blog where he posted this and I found even the comments to the blog interesting. The song is not clear as to whether she is speaking against the vain and even blasphemous mentions of God in everyday speech or if she is truly feeling the absence of God in even the hard times. What are your thoughts?



Laughing With Lyrics:

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one's laughing at God when it's gotten real late and their kid's not back from that party yet

No one laughs at God when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake
No one's laughing at God when they see the one they love hand in hand with someone else and they hope that they're mistaken
No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door and they say "We've got some bad new, sir,"
No one's laughing at God when there's a famine, fire or flood

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they're about to choke

God can be funny
When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus

God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one's laughing at God when they've lost all they got and they don't know what for

No one laughs at God on the day they realize that the last sight they'll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one's laughing at God when they're saying their goodbyes

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they're about to choke

God can be funny
When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus

God can be so hilarious

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war

No one's laughing at God in a hospital
No one's laughing at God in a war

No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor

No one's laughing at God
No one's laughing at God
No one's laughing at God
We're all laughing with God

Laughing With by Regina Spektor from the album Far

The Plans I Have

It's that time of year. Graduation open house invitations keep coming in the mail. People demanding that I attend, leave a card, and make sure it's stuffed with money. I don't mind all that, but there is one thing I've noticed that is in common with so many graduates. If they include a "life verse," nine times out of ten it is Jeremiah 29:11. I wonder how often people really take the time to find out what that verse is all about. Well, here is a study I did recently to better understand why Jeremiah wrote that wonderful verse.

Context, context, context. My hermeneutics professor told us over and over that those are the three most important things when studying the Bible. And in this instance it is of particular importance. The entire 29th chapter of Jeremiah is a letter written to Israelites shortly after the Babylonian exile began. The people were in great distress, wondering what was to happen to them. Had God given up on His covenant promise to them? Many false prophets were telling them that He had not and that they would soon be returning to their homeland. Jeremiah knew better. No, God had not given up on His covenant, but they were destined to live in Babylon for 70 years. So, through Jeremiah, God sent this letter to His people in exile.

He told the people to settle down. Live and enjoy life. Establish businesses, start families, do what they would normally do even when in their homeland. In spite of this, it was a very difficult time for the people. They were captives. They were living in exile, in a foreign land, a foreign culture. Life was hard, things were not making sense. Thus comes the encouragement of verse 11. He knows the plans He has for His people. He desires to cause them to prosper, to have a hope and a future, not plans to bring evil on them, but good. Even so, they must go through this trial for 70 years. It is a time of judgment, of punishment, of chastisement.

They sinned and are now paying the penalty. The temptation is to become angry with God for it, but God reassures them, stating that this is only temporary, and there is a goal in mind. The plan and goal He has for them comes in verses 12 through 14. His desire is for perfect, unadulterated fellowship with them. And when they turn and seek Him alone, then and only then will he return them to the promised land.

So how does this apply to us? All to often we approach this verse with a social gospel mentality. This is the idea that God will bless us at all times and that we will prosper in health, wealth, and all the other "good" things of this life. But that is not necessarily true. The true gospel is a call to suffering. When we come to Christ, we are promised trials, hardships, and persecutions. But these things are not meant for evil, but for good. These trials are meant for our growth. They cause us to grow in our trust and reliance upon Him. They drive us to seek Him. The ultimate good is the sweet fellowship we have with our God as a result. The true blessed future is an eternal future of perfect, fulfilling fellowship with God in the form of a deeper love, experienced only in part here on Earth, but in its fullest form in Heaven. That is our hope, our future, the place in which true prosperity comes.

I recently read this illustration.

A group of researchers once studied 100 caterpillars which were about to fight their way free from their cocoons. Instead of letting them struggle, the observers gently cut them out and released them. Then they set them on a table and tried to get them to fly. But none of them could. Not one.

The study demonstrated that the time of wrestling and fighting through the walls of the cocoon actually strengthens the wings of the butterfly to take flight. The very struggle - all the pushing and thrashing to free itself from restraint - is what makes new life possible. Without strife, there is no strength. (not a perfect quote, but very close)

If we hold to the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 in this manner, we will not be disappointed. But if we hold to this promise expecting health, wealth and prosperity here in this life, we quite possibly will be disappointed. When the trials come, we may become disillusioned because of our false perception of verses such as this one.

The prosperity we will experience in Heaven, in eternal, perfect fellowship with our God, will far outweigh any suffering we may experience here on Earth.

I Feel So Good

The third in a series of old posts from my previous blog.

Thanks to a friend, I was directed to an article in Newsweek called Happiness: Enough Already that I found to be very interesting.  Apparently too much happiness is bad for our health.  We all need a little more depression in our lives.  Imagine what would happen to love songs if the song writers paid more attention to the article... ok, scary thought!

However, there is some truth to what they are saying.  If we were all happy 100% of the time, life would be stagnant and boring.  After all, what would there be to gossip about??? But then, wouldn't that result in our being dissatisfied with life and therefore we would become unhappy?  Maybe complete happiness 100% of the time is not even possible.

Contrary to social gospel preachers, it is nice to know that while the Bible does not offer euphoric unending happiness, it does offer a sense of joy and peace that is beyond explanation.  Maybe because the weight of sin and guilt has been lifted?...

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.