657. When Church Teaching Misses the Gospel Target
656. “Am I Right with God?”
654. Sharing the Gospel with Others (Part 2)
653. Sharing the Gospel with Others
1. God’s demand: Be perfect.
2. God’s diagnosis: You’re not perfect.
3. God’s deliverance: Jesus was perfect for you. (Simply believe it).
Where Does God Live?
Humanity has always searched for the secret of life, the holy grail, the source of wisdom -- the throne of God. We tell captivating stories about the search. We make blockbuster movies about it. The heart looks desperately for ultimate reality; where God lives.
We all need a god to trust. It is part of our being. We are trusting someone or something at all times. Some are looking to the mysteries of magic. Others take pilgrimages to the past. Still others are enamored with the fantasies of the future. The search is universal in its practice.
Well, there is some hope. The prophet Isaiah records the words of God:
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite..." Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)
It seems that God has two addresses. He lives beyond time and space, and He lives with those who know they need Him.
The High and Holy Place
First, let's examine the high and holy place. It doesn't mean that God delights to distance Himself from us. It means that He is by nature in another category from us. He is not the projection of our own imaginations. He is not humanity in a better state. He is distinct. He is creator, rather than creature. He is the source of life, rather than the recipient. He gives without diminishing His resources. He loves without condition. He is beyond time, and He transcends space.
Humankind did not make Him in our image. We are made in His. He is beyond the capacity of man's imagination; deeper than the speculation of the wise man; better than the best of all things. He is so high that He must descend to our level of cognition. He is so omniscient He must reveal for us to know him. He is just in every decision and merciful in every act.
With the Low and Contrite
Yet, He so wants us to know and enjoy Him that He became a human like us so we could relate. We can't and don't need to ascend to the heavens to find Hhim. We are not required to deny our humanity to please Him. He has come to us--to do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. He has done the work necessary for our reconciliation, and then He has quickened our spirit to know both our need and His provision.
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He can be found with the person who has a contrite heart. That is the one who has been awakened to the perversion of his own heart. He or she has paused in judgment of the wickedness of others to confront the potential of evil in their own heart. The evil of Adolph Hitler is the same evil that lies in the human heart. Unless it is overcome by the power of the cross, it will manifest in ways that bring embarrassment and destruction. The contrite know this.
They also know that God loves to revive the lowly. Only He can give hope to helpless slaves of sin. He can be trusted. He has never failed to keep His promise. He is good and can't do bad!
The search reaches its goal when we realize that God has found us.
We Could Use Some Good News
He stumbled up to the convenience store and sat down on a stack of Coke cases. He look tired and frustrated. The concerned lady behind the counter spoke, "Are you OK?" Slowly he lifted his head to reveal hollow cheeks and empty eyes. "Lady,” he said, "Yesterday my wife was diagnosed with cancer. My health provider has notified me that we are not covered. Today my boss demoted me. My car just stopped running a couple of miles down the road, and this is as far as I could walk. I could use some good news."
The American Dream
Maybe we have all had days like that. In fact, we are living at a time in our own culture when it seems like bad news is all we get. Globally, the American dollar is staggering under an unimaginable debt. Currencies that here-to-fore bowed to the mighty dollar are competing for dominance. The American dream has lost its luster for seniors who fear that the Social Security they had counted on is not that secure. Younger people are burdened over the debt they are assuming as they try to bear the burden of baby-boomer mortality, while they face the reality that they probably won't prosper as much as their parent's generation.
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The American destiny is being reinterpreted through the lenses of secularism. God's involvement in the purpose of this nation is being denied, and our faults are being magnified to the point of shame. We are told that we have had it all wrong and that anyone who celebrates our history is prejudiced and blind. Fake news has become a celebrity of communication as we have taken the used car salesman's spin technique and adopted it in Media, Congress, the Presidency, and even the pulpit. We could use some good news.
Israel’s Past
Israel had a time like that. Once a prosperous nation under the guidance of God they had been devastated by the Assyrians in 722 BC and then by the Babylonians in 536 BC. Under this rule they were slaves, being told every day that they were a class of beings barely above the animals. Added to the physical pain of abuse, persecution and mental torture, they were aware that they were guilty of breaking the covenant with God. They were convinced that he had divorced them, sold them into slavery, and washed his hands of them. The past was filled with regret. The present was painful, and the future looked bleak. Into this era of despair, a voice was heard from God's prophet:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion: Your God reigns -- Isaiah 52:7.
Too Good to be True
It was startling news. Too good to be true. The natural eye had trouble finding enough evidence to make it believable. But God's word is trustworthy. He rules over nature, history, and time. Nations are used by him -- without even knowing it -- to accomplish his purpose. He raises up kings and deposes them. He has always had a plan to rule his creation through his image-bearers.
Adam and Eve were the first. They yielded their rule to the deception of the Serpent. But God had another Adam in mind and he came to earth as a man, as an Israelite, and as God's servant to establish God's rule through a man. That man was Jesus who lived obediently as man was designed, died sacrificially as was required by justice, defeated death which was mankind's arch enemy, and ascended to sit on the throne ruling everything his sacrifice paid for. He rules today and shall reign forever and ever.
Good News
When we hear in our hearts the good news that "Our God Reigns," we believe, and peace pushes out fear and worry. The good news that sets the heart free is that our God reigns. He rules over history, nature, time, sin, flesh, death, and Satan. It would be the epitome of foolishness to see a God who controls all of life and refuse to yield our lives to him. It is true wisdom to see a God who rules over all authority and power and gladly trust him to rule our lives. We have good news.
Just Live
We over theologize. It’s actually really simple. I think it is us who require proof, explanation and experience. We spend lots of time and money to understand. We travel, we read, we study. Maybe it’s an American thing and it’s a good thing, but it’s really not necessary.
What if you don’t have access to all the resources or education? What if you can’t read or maybe you live in a country without religious freedom?
I’ve seen people in dire straights, desperate for help, who simple tell God I can’t, I give it to you, and He takes it and loves them as they slowly begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. People with no formal education and no means except for the simple ability to believe and they are transformed.
I’m convinced that it’s about relationship with a loving God who meets us where we are, we don’t have to find Him in an elaborate building or a well dressed speaker on a platform. Jesus made the way that simple. Do you believe?
We Americanized believers question our faith, our forgiveness, our walk, our church attendance, our clothing, when the heavenly standard was met in Christ, do you believe it? Then relax, have relationship and stop measuring God’s ability to love you by external measurements and open your eyes to see that He has been all along. Just live!
Christ-Centered or Christ-Added
I grew up going to the country church where my parents attended and served as volunteer leaders. We prided ourselves both as a church and as a denomination that we could always count on a Christ-centered message coming from the pulpit. We were mission-minded where other churches were maybe more doctrinal or liturgical. We wanted to make sure that anyone who attended the services had an opportunity to profess faith in Jesus as Savior. The "plan of salvation" was always given at the end of every service.
What I now realize is that when it came to the preaching, we meant more Christ-added than Christ-centered.
Christ-Added
I can remember the pastor using various passages from the Bible and spending most of his time explaining how we should cease from certain behavior and begin doing something more beneficial. Then, at the end, he would briefly mention that Jesus was ready to save us if we would trust him. Maybe he would help us keep our promises or live up to our resolutions.
Man-centered messages with Jesus added are not only powerless to transform, but they are false representations of the gospel.
The focus was unmistakably on what we should do to be better. Christ was added like instant tea to cold water. He would add flavor, but the task could probably be accomplished with enough faith and willpower. It was more about what we should and must do to make God happy -- and Jesus would help us.
There were sermons and Bible studies on the principles that assure success in our endeavors. There were lectures on ethics. There were interesting Bible stories explaining the moral characteristics of the characters, with the exhortation to "dare to be a Daniel," or "be courageous like young David."
Sometimes there were in-depth doctrinal sermons on great theological controversies, but they always ended with: "I don't want anyone to leave today if you haven't accepted Jesus as your own personal Savior and Lord. If you will admit your sin, and confess by open profession, your faith in him, you can be saved."
A Growing Hunger for the Christ-Centered Message
Sadly, not much has changed -- not only in the small country churches like that one but also in some of the largest pulpits in our world.
We seem to have forgotten that Jesus took the first disciples on a tour of the Bible and showed them that he was the subject and center of the whole story. We seem afraid to tell the raw truth that Jesus alone is the way to the Father and that only through him can we know intimacy with God now and forever. We add him to our well-crafted speeches that really feature what we can do, rather than what he has done.
Man-centered messages with Jesus added are not only powerless to transform, but they are false representations of the gospel.
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A growing hunger for the Christ-centered message which energized the early disciples is becoming evident. The entertaining talks and dramatic presentations have not satisfied a deep longing for a glimpse of Jesus the Lord. We are made for him. Our eyes are never fully opened until we see him by faith. Our hearts are never at peace until he is our all in all.
When we are the center and Jesus is added, we slowly die. When we see him as filling our field of vision, we find ourselves in our proper position. If he is Lord of all, he can never be an "add-on."
The Giftii
He said, I have something for you,
Will you have it?
You receive the gift
You open it to find
Your first breath in new life
Clear, pure, organic
It’s as if you died
Only to wake up to eternity
But you’re still grounded
Strength with an eternal quality
Swimming in rivers of love
I look the same, but it’s different
It new, it’s otherworldly
In this single gift is everything
Absolutely everything
All I can think to say is,
Oh my gosh, thank you!
He smiles and I know
We’ve only just begun.
Wynema Clark 12-18-2017
Reproducing the Life of Jesus
How do we reproduce the life of Jesus? Hint: It’s not by trying harder! This teaching by Pastor Greg Riether, the pastor of Healing Grace Church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, is powerful and this isn’t the only one that is. I’ve been devouring Pastor Greg’s messages on YouTube this past month or so and they […]
The post Reproducing the Life of Jesus appeared first on Sandra McCollom.
628. Thinking Outside of the Verses
Watch That Trap!
I saw a social media meme recently that reflects a common error in how we relate to God. It is a photograph of a young man standing with an uplifting head as if looking to the heavens. The caption is, "The Lord is moved by the way you live. He is moved by your hunger for him and by your lifestyle choices."
It is a trap! It is wrong-headed according to the gospel proclaimed in the New Testament. The perspective is one of a distant god waiting for us to make the right decisions before he moves in our direction. It leads to a belief in the transactional gospel of contemporary American religion.
In this religion, God is always the responder. We initiate the transactions by what we offer. We purchase certain blessings by something we give in exchange. If we want God to move in our behalf, we must find the key ingredient that moves him for the particular blessing we desire. It spurs us to value the discovery of the key principle above the relationship we have in Christ. The good news is often just another announcement of a new coin we can put into the vending machine (sorry for such an outdated metaphor).
The Initiative of God
He ascended to the right hand of God not by popular vote, but by the sovereign grace of the Father.
Contrasting such a perspective with the one of the New Testament, we find God always initiating the moves. He came looking for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden while they were hiding. He found Noah and made him a promise. He did the same with Abraham. He heard the cry of Abraham's descendants in Egypt and acted to deliver them. He fed them, watered them and fought for them in the wilderness.
They were always moving away from him, and he pursued them with his persistent love. If God had waited for Israel to move toward him, they would never have been in covenant with him. He chose David as their king. He gave them prophets to instruct and warn. He moved Cyrus to release them from captivity.
In the fullness of time, he caused John the Baptist to be born as the forerunner of the Christ. He appeared to Mary while she was minding her own business. Jesus came to his frightened disciples in the storm. They were too paralyzed by fear to move toward God. He paid the unpayable debt without any contribution from us. He was raised from the dead with no assistance from the faithful. He ascended to the right hand of God not by popular vote, but by the sovereign grace of the Father. He sent the Spirit without any request from the struggling disciples.
He still comes to us when we can't go to him. Even when our lifestyle choices have left us in complicated confusion, he appears and assumes responsibility for the chaos.
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We Don’t Move God
We don't negotiate for blessings. The negotiations are closed. God the Father promised blessings to obedient humans. Jesus the Son is the obedient human. We get any and all blessings based on our relationship with him. In Christ, we are blessed and can experience the benefits of the inaugurated new creation as we focus on what he has done. The more we look at the beauty of the Savior, the more our mouths water for him; the hungrier our hearts become for deeper knowledge of him.
We don't move God. He has moved in our direction in Christ and continues to move toward us to open our eyes to the treasures in the Son. Stay out of the trap.
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