Grace - the free and unmerited favor of God.
As I was listening to the third of three lectures on the Law and Grace, I had an amazing realization...this is not only the path to understanding the Gospel, it is the Gospel. I am studying in order to present Law and Grace during my mission trip, and it really just hit me - I am in the awesome place of getting to study for, to gain knowledge in, to soak up the Gospel. What a wonderful deal for me!
It has been my desire for a while to present the gospel as simply as possible. It seems as though we are always adding to it, and frankly making it difficult to understand. We are trying to make our gospel more like our own made up law, kinda like house rules, ya never know which rule book you have to follow. Well that isn't the gospel, I guess it could be called the gospel + , as stated in this course I am listening to, and that is not the Gospel at all.
God's intent for the one who obeyed the Law was to demonstrate love for God and for his neighbor, Christ says that Himself in Matthew 22:37-39
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
It was not about the letter of the law, but the heart behind it. Christ says that in Matthew 9:13
13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. ’
And the Law was meant for only a certain amount of time and for the nation of Israel, and that amount of time was until the Messiah came. That is why Christ says in Matthew 5:17
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
So, here is what I have gleaned in my studies.
From the beginning, people have received Grace through faith alone. This is Grace, not grace plus works.
The old testament is full of examples of God's Grace, and many of the examples can be found in Hebrews chapter 11.
The Law has been fulfilled by Christ.
and when we believe with our hearts, and confess with our mouths that He is Lord, we experience the grace He has provided for us by faith alone. There is nothing in addition to this simple fact. You have forgiveness for your sins, past, present and future. To put it another way, God sees the righteousness of Christ when He looks upon those who have put their faith in His Son, and that is why we now have an eternal relationship with Him, and why we can be in His presence.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Simply, gracefully, amazing! That is why it is called Good News, and that is the Gospel!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Heavenly Daddy
I'm studying the amazing grace of my Lord. I believe I had a basic understanding, as one saved by grace, but I am learning so much more about the depths of the Father's love in providing this Grace. But, let me say, don't take my word for it, research it for you own.
I find myself in my soul crying out to Him, "Thank You Heavenly Daddy!" as if I am finally seeing Him as a loving Dad, Daddy, Father who has an amazing love for me. Not a father who is distant and waiting behind the clouds, observing my screw ups, so that when they reach a certain level He can reach down and thump me.
You see, He put the thumping on Jesus, so that I wouldn't have to endure it. Thank you Daddy Jesus for loving me, and enduring it for me. Oh man, it brought tears to my eyes as I wrote that.
You see, I remember hearing the statement "Daddy Jesus" in a prayer from my sister-in-law, Melissa, when she was leading a group of children, a few years ago. I believe she had, has an understanding of the amazing love our Heavenly Daddy has for us. I believe she is also a great representation of this love for so many people who come in contact with her.
I thank Him daily for placing people in my life that help me in my walk, who share there knowledge of Him with me and others, so that we can better grasp that He...Is... LOVE! And that is what He wants us to do, love Him and share that love with others!
I find myself in my soul crying out to Him, "Thank You Heavenly Daddy!" as if I am finally seeing Him as a loving Dad, Daddy, Father who has an amazing love for me. Not a father who is distant and waiting behind the clouds, observing my screw ups, so that when they reach a certain level He can reach down and thump me.
You see, He put the thumping on Jesus, so that I wouldn't have to endure it. Thank you Daddy Jesus for loving me, and enduring it for me. Oh man, it brought tears to my eyes as I wrote that.
You see, I remember hearing the statement "Daddy Jesus" in a prayer from my sister-in-law, Melissa, when she was leading a group of children, a few years ago. I believe she had, has an understanding of the amazing love our Heavenly Daddy has for us. I believe she is also a great representation of this love for so many people who come in contact with her.
I thank Him daily for placing people in my life that help me in my walk, who share there knowledge of Him with me and others, so that we can better grasp that He...Is... LOVE! And that is what He wants us to do, love Him and share that love with others!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
His/Our Righteousness
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
"Jesus' sacrifice was God's judgement on sin once and for all, done in order to reconcile the world to God."
I just read this this morning in the book, Good and Beautiful God by James Smith, and thought it was a great passage in the bible, and then a great description of the purpose and meaning of the wrath of God that was pored out on Christ.
God's love and wrath, as seen on the cross, are well defined earlier in the book in this way...
"PASSION VURSES PATHOS
Love is...a desire for the well being of another, so much so that personal sacrifice would not get in the way.
Wrath - the wrath of Yahweh is portrayed somewhat differently from human anger in the Hebrew bible. In some respects this is essentially the difference between passion and pathos. Passion can be explained as an emotional explosion and loss of self-control. Pathos on the other hand is an act formed with care and intention the result of determination and decision."
So, we can see the Love shown on the cross, and the pathos (wrath) that was required to be pored out on Christ, with the determined result and decision being to reconcile us to God. It was not an uncontrolled wrath, as we see in people of this world, but a pathos.
His plan to reconcile us back to Him was completed on the cross. No more wrath for those who believe.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
"Jesus' sacrifice was God's judgement on sin once and for all, done in order to reconcile the world to God."
I just read this this morning in the book, Good and Beautiful God by James Smith, and thought it was a great passage in the bible, and then a great description of the purpose and meaning of the wrath of God that was pored out on Christ.
God's love and wrath, as seen on the cross, are well defined earlier in the book in this way...
"PASSION VURSES PATHOS
Love is...a desire for the well being of another, so much so that personal sacrifice would not get in the way.
Wrath - the wrath of Yahweh is portrayed somewhat differently from human anger in the Hebrew bible. In some respects this is essentially the difference between passion and pathos. Passion can be explained as an emotional explosion and loss of self-control. Pathos on the other hand is an act formed with care and intention the result of determination and decision."
So, we can see the Love shown on the cross, and the pathos (wrath) that was required to be pored out on Christ, with the determined result and decision being to reconcile us to God. It was not an uncontrolled wrath, as we see in people of this world, but a pathos.
His plan to reconcile us back to Him was completed on the cross. No more wrath for those who believe.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Light
Just went down and gave the Lord some of my time.
It's funny how immature I feel in my prayer life, but I know He hears me and He knows my heart. I also know I need to and want to give Him more if my day, Christ is an amazing example of spending time with the Father.
As I was sitting on the end of the pier, sun shining, wind blowing, and so much other beauty to see, I was amazed. He created all this and created me and He loves me. It is my desire that others know that He loves them too.
Yesterday, I had a wonderful conversation with a man, and we were talking about our children. He described the process of adoption and how it was initially difficult, because he is in a same sex relationship. He then went on to talk about a friend, she is a believer, and though there is so much more to this story, one portion of it struck my soul.
He described a time when, for whatever reason, she had said she loved him. His question to her was, how can you love me, if you are a Christian and I'm gay?
First, her response was beautiful, "there is nowhere that Jesus tells me to hate anyone." But the question speaks to a problem.
In his life he had obviously been on the malicious end of some statements made by believers. So, my question is, where was the demonstration of the love of the Lord in the terrible words this man has endured. Why would he desire be like anyone who would demonstrate such a lack of love in their heart.
There is a pretty powerful statement in scripture,
John 3:16
For God So Loved the World
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, again, the world...not...loved the self righteous people who do everything perfect with never a mistake.
Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So God loves us all. Sinners and saints. He sent His son for us all, sinners and saints. By the way, before being a saint, one would have to be a sinner, right? We are to be the light of Christ to the world, not darkness to those who don't believe.
So to this man and others like him, I want to say, God loves you and sent His son for you, too!
Read about Him and His love for the you in the Bible. It is a beautiful manuscript about the One Who is Love. When you seek Him, you will find Him.
And my prayer is that the Lord would place followers of Christ in you path, who demonstrate His love for you.
It's funny how immature I feel in my prayer life, but I know He hears me and He knows my heart. I also know I need to and want to give Him more if my day, Christ is an amazing example of spending time with the Father.
As I was sitting on the end of the pier, sun shining, wind blowing, and so much other beauty to see, I was amazed. He created all this and created me and He loves me. It is my desire that others know that He loves them too.
Yesterday, I had a wonderful conversation with a man, and we were talking about our children. He described the process of adoption and how it was initially difficult, because he is in a same sex relationship. He then went on to talk about a friend, she is a believer, and though there is so much more to this story, one portion of it struck my soul.
He described a time when, for whatever reason, she had said she loved him. His question to her was, how can you love me, if you are a Christian and I'm gay?
First, her response was beautiful, "there is nowhere that Jesus tells me to hate anyone." But the question speaks to a problem.
In his life he had obviously been on the malicious end of some statements made by believers. So, my question is, where was the demonstration of the love of the Lord in the terrible words this man has endured. Why would he desire be like anyone who would demonstrate such a lack of love in their heart.
There is a pretty powerful statement in scripture,
John 3:16
For God So Loved the World
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, again, the world...not...loved the self righteous people who do everything perfect with never a mistake.
Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So God loves us all. Sinners and saints. He sent His son for us all, sinners and saints. By the way, before being a saint, one would have to be a sinner, right? We are to be the light of Christ to the world, not darkness to those who don't believe.
So to this man and others like him, I want to say, God loves you and sent His son for you, too!
Read about Him and His love for the you in the Bible. It is a beautiful manuscript about the One Who is Love. When you seek Him, you will find Him.
And my prayer is that the Lord would place followers of Christ in you path, who demonstrate His love for you.
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