Gospel-centered Obedience: Moving Toward Spirit-led Obedience

Once we see the need to filter all of life through the right-standing and power that Christ gives us, the final two steps in this model for Gospel-centered Obedience should seem more natural. The examples I gave in the previous post should help you on your journey of exploring His boundless grace. Even though I've only been walking it a short while, I can tell you that it's a great path to be on. For the first time in my life, I truly understand what Paul means in Romans 8:1 when he says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (ESV).


Step 4: Grace and the Spirit Transform My Heart
Step 4 in this model for Gospel-centered Obedience recognizes that remembering the gospel changes our motivation. The what and how (the actual act itself) may not change, but all of a sudden the WHY has become empowered by the Holy Spirit and the truths of Scripture. Galatians 5:18 declares that "if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." In other words, the unrighteous deeds and failure to do good things in the life of the believer do not lead to eternal consequences. This is scandalous nature of the gospel. It is not fair that my sin (as a believer) does not condemn me... but it no less true.

Does this mean that we should just keep on sinning because we now have this free pass? Well, Paul would say that if you think this way you're probably not regenerated (saved) to begin with (See Romans 3:8 and its context along with Romans 6). It is unlikely that people could have leveled such a charge against Paul if he had not been saying  at least something like what we're discussing here today... grace is scandalous and unfair... and that's what makes it grace.

For the unbeliever who thinks he has grace and continues in sin so that grace may abound more and more... he stands condemned because he doesn't understand that the gospel sets him free from both the consequences of sin AND the power sin.

But for the believer who responds to grace with a grateful heart, the upward cycle of denying the flesh and putting to death the sin in the flesh is NATURAL. Please note that I did not say it is easy. Taking up our cross and following Jesus should be the greatest form of freedom known to man. It should be a joy! But it is not always easy. The grace of God exhibited in the cross and resurrection and the Holy Spirit of God work together to transform us into new creations (2 Cor. 5:17) - "the old has passed away; behold, the new has come." Because of this new creation, obeying rightly has been made possible. Not only is it possible… it is now natural… it is who we are. Rehearsing the gospel helps us remember who we were and who we now are in Christ.


Step 5: Spirit-led Obedience
In John 15:4-5, Jesus says to "Abide in me, and I in you... for apart from me you can do nothing." There is a CONTINUAL DEPENDENCY implied in this verse. We must remain in Christ in order to produce fruit. Perhaps the overarching purpose of this series of blogs is to argue that one of the best ways to abide in Christ (and in turn bear fruit) is to remember the work of Christ on our behalf. Remember it daily... even throughout the day! Apply it to every situation and circumstance. In Galatians, Paul says it like this: "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (5:16).

 Finally we come to the point of human responsibility. To abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit seem to be the primary responsibilities of the believer. All other actions are an outworking of these. Let's use the greatest commandment as our example: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27).

 In my flesh, I would never love God. Jesus died on the cross to forgive me of all the times that I did not and do not love God rightly. Jesus always loved God perfectly. Because of Jesus sacrifice on the cross, God looks at me as if I've always loved Him perfectly. Through remembering the gospel, grace and the Spirit change my heart to WANT to love God rightly. We could even be so bold as to say that the Spirit of God is always loving God perfectly in me; and because of this, the new man (the new creation) that is the new me is loving God rightly. Now I can move forward in confidence knowing that it is not ultimately my love for God that justifies me but His love for me... and this makes me want to love Him all the more.

 This is an appropriate way to end this series of posts: reflecting on the love of God. It is His love for us that fuels the gospel. His love for us compelled Him to make "Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:7-8).

 I hope that these posts have been helpful for you. These are no doubt thoughts from the fallible mind of one man. They are simply how I have come to see things. They are a small picture of how Christ, in recent days, has freed me from the law of sin and death... not just through justification (which He did almost 21 years ago - or 2000 years ago - depending on how you look at it :-) but in sanctification. I pray that none of my words have caused anyone to stumble in any way. I pray, most of all, that these thoughts compel you to dive into the Scriptures for yourself and discover the wonders of His glorious grace.

In Christ,
Andy

Gospel-centered Obedience: The Gospel (part 3)

In part three of step three (wow... this is getting complicated... gotta love models :-), I want to explain why it is typically important to remember the gospel before going out and doing works, and then I want to give two examples of what I'm talking about.

Why Rehearse the Gospel?
It seems that the reason Paul felt compelled to begin "practical" arguments against sin or for good works by pointing to the gospel was due to the human tendency to misorder things. Evangelicals are taught from birth that they could never earn their salvation, but how many of us still try? If you ask 10 people who claim to be believers how they're making it to heaven, I'd bet that 5 of them would say something like, "I'm just working hard to get to heaven." (yes, that's a reference to an Alan Jackson song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV292aZuYEo).

Remembering or rehearsing the gospel combats our human tendency to think that we can earn our salvation (justify ourselves) or pay God back for what He's done for us. I try to point out how crazy this is to my students with the following example: If you eat 3 meals each day and there are 7 days in a week and 52 weeks in a year, by the time you're 18 years old and move off to college to start your own life, given the conservative estimate of around $2 per meal, your parents have provided almost $40,000 in food for you. This is not to mention the power bills, cell phone, insurance, school supplies, extracurricular activities, clothes, shoes, and on and on. I've heard that it takes over 100,000 to raise child to the age of eighteen.

Now imagine that child trying to EARN his right to be a part of the family by being obedient. How many loads of laundry does he have to do to earn his parents love? Maybe worse, what about the child that would try to PAY BACK their parents for all the meals and clothes that they provided? How many plates does one have to wash in order to pay back $40,000 worth of meals? He can't do it! And even if he could, his parents wouldn't want him to because that's not the point. They love him and give him these good things as an overflow of their love.

In the same way, the child should obey out of respect for who his parents are and out of gratitude for what they have done for him... not out of an effort to earn or pay back anything.

If we can't easily calculate the number of chores we'd have to do to pay our parents back for 18 years of food, clothing and shelter, we have to ask the question.... "How many good works do we have to do to EARN salvation or PAY BACK the salvation we've already received?" There should be freedom in this statement: WE CAN'T DO IT! We never could… even if we wanted to. And the amazing thing is that God doesn't want us to! He simply wants our obedience to be a RESPONSE to what has already been done for us.

Do you see the power in remembering the gospel? Yes, it is painful to often remind yourself of your own lostness and hopelessness without Christ, but it is overwhelmingly glorious to consider the fact that He has overcome this helplessness through the cross and resurrection... this is GOOD NEWS!


Remember the gospel.


Before you get to DOING. Remember what's been DONE...

and then your DOING will be as it should...

a grateful response to what's already been DONE.


I am all but fully convinced that this is the ONLY WAY to overcome habitual sin the life of the believer. Remembering the gospel disarms the power of sin in a way that no other thing can; and when sin loses its power, it loses its control... but that's probably another post for another day.


Example – The Struggle to Stop Sinning
Let's say you’re caught thoughts of inadequacy. You beat yourself up because of every little thing that you think or say that's not right. The COMMAND (step 1) of God is to not feel unnecessarily or overly inadequate but rather to be humble before a holy God and allow Him to lift you up while casting all your cares/worries upon Him (1 Pt. 5:6-7).

The typical Christian response to the one who feels inadequate would be: "Remember that you are created in God's image," and, once again, this is not wrong... just incomplete. Yes, the fact that you are created in God's image does say a lot about how God values you. But, the reality is that you have rejected His good pleasure in you by going your own way. You have rebelled against Him, as have I. Because of this rebellion, your whole life is broken, even your mind. So, one symptom of this brokenness is your feeling of inadequacy. The solution is found in the good news of Jesus. He nailed all of your inadequacy and all of the things that make you feel inadequate to the cross so that they are now powerless before you. They are not the truth anymore. They are lies from Satan and your fleshly mind. Jesus has loved you with an everlasting love, and that is why He did what He did for you. Not only has your inadequacy been placed on Jesus, but all of Jesus' adequacy has now been placed on you. That is good news! And finally, you can look forward to the day when even the temptation to feel inadequate will be thrown into hell and you will never have to struggle with it again.

Two more powerful truths to walk in are the fact that even in (and I would say especially in) your moments of feeling inadequate now, you can trust that Jesus is praying for you (Heb. 4:15-16), and He has given you the church (brothers and sisters in Christ) to walk alongside you. They can be the hands and feet of Christ, encouraging you and reminding you of the truth when all you seem to hear are the lies.


Example – The Struggle to Be Obedient.
You know that you need to control your tongue. The COMMAND in James 3 is to control your tongue, yet James says, "No human being can tame the tongue" (3:8). So, what do we do? Give up? Surrender to sin? I don't think so. Obviously, I would agree with James. No man can tame the tongue. But the Holy Spirit of God in man supernaturally can. So how do we get to the point of believing this and walking in it?

First, we recognize, with James, that in our flesh this is impossible (back to the concept of need - this is always the first step). This is a picture of our fallenness due to sinful rebellion. It is a hopeless situation without outside intervention, but that's what Jesus is. He came to the earth and never spoke a cruel, cutting, or sarcastic word. He never spoke foul or hateful language. His death on the cross paid the penalty for all of our sinful words, which disarms their power. They do not condemn us, even when we speak them now. On top of this, we have been given the very righteousness of Jesus, so it is not only as if we've never spoken an evil word, but it is (in the eyes of God) as if we have always spoken the right words. We are righteous in His sight! Now we have been made new creations (2 Cor. 5:17), filled with the Holy Spirit, and God begins the process of unveiling who we are in Christ... ie... those who always speak rightly. This change of heart also compels us to confess and ask forgiveness of those whom we've harmed with our words. You see... obedience flows out of the gospel! What we do is an overflow of what's already been done.

Before... I was trying really hard not to say curse words or hateful things, but I always failed at this and continually felt discouraged by my failure.
Now... I stand fully accepted as one who never has said a curse word or a hateful thing... and that compels me to never say curse words or hateful things.

This difference is subtle but incredibly profound!

Gospel-centered Obedience: The Gospel (part 2)

In the previous post I outlined what the good news of Jesus Christ is, and I proposed that the same gospel that saves us eternally is also the power of God to sanctify us and free us from the power of sin today. First of all, why do I say this? Let's look at some Scripture:


1. In Romans, Paul spends 11 chapters explaining the gospel; but before he moves on to the next section of his book (on works that should be exhibited in the life of the believer), he bridges the two sections with the powerful words that I mentioned in an earlier post. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices..." (Rom. 12:1). It is in view of what Christ has already done (chapters 1-11) that we live obedient lives (chapters 12-16).


2. The motivation behind Paul's chastisement of the Corinthians is rooted in the gospel. "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24). The Corinthians were confused about the nature of Jesus' kingdom. It's about weakness and foolishness in the world's eyes. Then Paul makes one of the most powerful cases for gospel-centered sanctification in verses 30-31 of 1 Corinthians: "And because of (God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"

The only way that we are able to not boast in our good works is by relying upon what has ALREADY BEEN DONE for us.


3. In Ephesians Paul states that the overflow of the good news of Jesus is our rightly-ordered obedience: "For we are his workmanship [what's already been DONE], created in Christ Jesus for good works [what we need to DO], which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (2:10). So, works are not a mere human concoction. True obedience is a response to what has been done for us and in us, and even the works themselves are laid out ahead of time by our Sovereign God. Do you see how little I am in this equation and how big GOD is? That's the point.

Side note: Before moving on, I don't want anyone to think that I'm denying human responsibility. In fact, one of the biggest motivations for me to create this model was to help others understand the proper place of human responsibility. So... we'll get to that soon.


4. Galatians picks up on this idea of walking (as in Eph. 2:10): "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Well, what does it mean to walk by the Spirit? I guess I always thought that it was some mystical experience in which I had to sit at my desk and wait to be smacked over the head by an intense feeling... at which point I could go and do whatever it is that He wants. I poke fun of this view while understanding that it's not necessarily wrong… just simply incomplete. To walk by the Spirit is, in the first place, to know the Word that Spirit has spoken (the Bible). Then, it is to receive the Living Word (Jesus Himself) through the message of the gospel. Romans 8:9 equates the Holy Spirit with "the Spirit of Christ." This makes sense because there is only one God, eternally existent in three persons. Walking in the Spirit IS reliance upon His moment-by-moment promptings, but the character and context and content of this prompting must be driven by the Word. All of this is to say that walking in the Spirit is as much about walking in what we already have received (salvation through Jesus and the written Word of God) as it is about hearing new revelation through our spiritual ears; and I would argue that the best way to stay in tune with the Holy Spirit's promptings is by immersing ourselves in the Word, which has, as it's focal-point, the gospel of Jesus Christ.


5. Philippians encourages us to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (2:12-13). These verses remind us of our dependence upon God in sanctification and of our responsibility in the process. The cool thing here is that these verses come right on the heels of one of the most beautiful hymns in all of Scripture, Philippians 2:1-11, which exalts the work of Christ in the gospel. It's like Paul is saying, "As you look to who Jesus is and all that He's done, go now and work out your salvation with fear and trembling." This seems to be the pattern in much of Paul's writing: in light of what's already been DONE, go and DO.


6. Colossians 3 wraps the putting to death of our flesh up in a glorious picture of who Jesus is and who we are because of what He's done.

I'm going to stop at this point because I think you get the picture. If Paul felt it necessary to remind his readers of the gospel BEFORE giving them commands, would it not behoove us to do the same to both ourselves and those around us?

Gospel-centered Obedience: The Gospel (part 1)

Step three in this model for gospel-centered obedience is the gospel itself. This is where the most confusion in a believer's life occurs... at least it did in mine... for a long time. We hear the command "Make Disciples," and a few different things happen: Feelings of obligation creep in. "Oh no! I'm not doing this. I need to start doing this! Let's go do this!" You may insert any admonition or sin that you are struggling with (anything that God has an opinion on). The point is, we tend to allow mere obligation or guilt to drive us to action.

I do not in any way mean to imply that immediate and active obedience are bad things, but, if you're like I am, and you tend toward self-reliance or (even worse) self-justification through your works, I'm simply proposing another way.

What if, before we act, we were to stop and reflect on the work of Christ on our behalf? In other words, before we DO, let's remember what's already been DONE for us. If you hold the belief that Jesus not only took all of our sins on Himself but also gave us His very righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21), then it is through the gospel that we receive both the right and the ability to live this out.

To phrase it a little differently: We are both saved AND sanctified by the gospel (at least in part, or in conjunction with our new hearts and the Holy Spirit). If we were powerless to save ourselves eternally from the power of sin, what makes us think that we are powerful enough in ourselves (or in the flesh) to overcome it's power in this life? I am arguing that we are not, and every frustrated Christian out there who's been trying to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps for years knows this to be true.

What is the Gospel?

Understanding the gospel begins with the realization that God created the whole world as a sinless and wonderful place. He created us in His image to reflect His glory, but we chose to rebel against His righteous and good commands and to go our own way. This is sin. It is not just about our outward actions, and it even goes deeper than our thoughts or motivations. Sin permeates our very being (Eph. 2:1-3). We are sinners by nature. We inherited it from our father Adam, but we also willingly participate in it (Rom. 5:12 says both).

The gospel is the reality that God was not content to leave us in our broken state or to send someone else to fix it. God became man (in the person of Jesus Christ) and resisted all temptation to sin for His entire life so that He could become the spotless sacrifice (or payment) for our sin. Jesus nailed our sins to the cross (Col. 2:13-14). What we deserved as the just payment for our sin was death (Rom. 6:23); but what those who believe have received is a cancellation of our debt through the gift of God. As I mentioned earlier, not only did Christ nail our sins to the cross, but He then gave us His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). This means that we are not only righteous in the eyes of God, but we are also given the power to live righteously through new birth (or regeneration) which is from the Holy Spirit. We'll get to that a little later.

The final piece to this good news is the fact that one day sin and death will be cast into the lake of fire, and we will no longer have to feel the painful effects of sin all around us or be tempted by it.

This is the gospel... probably the very same gospel that you received for salvation. Now, how does it help in the process of sanctification? We'll get to that in the next post...

Gospel-Centered Obedience: Effort in the Flesh

The second step in this model for Gospel-centered obedience is: EFFORT IN THE FLESH.

John 6:62 says, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all," and the oft-quoted Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (ESV). 

The best that we could offer in the flesh is worthless in view of the holiness of God and His righteous demands. Jesus said that to be angry is to commit murder and to lust is to commit adultery. These types of heart problems (not just action problems) are the outworking of the flesh. As Galatians 5:19-21 states: "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." I illustrate this part of the model with a line that heads away from the rest of the cycle. We are essentially "derailing the train" when we do works in the flesh.  

In view of our fallenness, brokenness, sinfulness, and rebellion we should be brought to our knees. I am convinced that the first step to any kind of growth in Christ (or even to accepting Christ initially) is a realization of need. I hope to write a whole post on the concept of need very soon. 

Once we realize just how broken and rebellious our wicked hearts are, we recognize that there is absolutely nothing in ourselves that we could or would rely on to save or sanctify us. Therefore, we look to Jesus and to His glorious good news for an effort on our behalf that is apart from the flesh. He is our only hope.

To be continued...

Gospel-centered Obedience: The Command

The first step is THE COMMAND. A command can be anything from "Do not steal" (Ex. 20:15) to "Put on the whole armor of God" (Eph. 6:11). Commands, as I'm intending, are not mere moral obligations. They are any action, character trait, or motivation that a person should have. Perhaps the easiest way to understand this is to say that COMMANDS are anything in us that reflects the character and nature of God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Galatians 2:16 states:

[16] yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16 ESV) http://esv.to/Ga2.16

A great place to start is by understanding that works are not a matter of justification, or, as some would put it, salvation. We cannot EARN our way to God, and we cannot PAY Him back for His gift of salvation. This is important because,   "There are fundamentally only two doctrines of salvation: that salvation is from God, and that salvation is from ourselves" (B.B. Warfield)." The latter comes natural to us, but the former is counter-intuitive. It doesn't make sense that we should have our debts paid for us (our sins forgiven) and be given every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3)... but we'll get to that in step 3.

Romans 12:1-2 says:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

What is the thrust behind presenting our bodies as living sacrifices? We have God's mercies in view when we  do this. This implies that both a remembering of Romans 1-11 (the Gospel) and an intentional act of the will to sacrifice are at work when we obey. But, as we'll see, it is only by remembering God's mercy that we can  consistently and fully obey God's commands... because rehearsing the gospel is a big part of how God changes our hearts. 

To be continued...

Gospel-centered Obedience: Introduction

It seems as if the perennial battle in the mind of New Testament readers and teachers is the relationship between faith and works. People align themselves with Paul or James or Jesus (depending on how they understand Jesus), and the whole thing tends to get quite messy at times. In my personal quest to understand these two aspects to Christian belief, I came up with a chart (dum, dum, dum - *ominous music) that has been helpful... to me. Obviously, if God wanted us to reduce spiritual, yay, even mystical, truth to mere charts, He could have inspired the biblical writers to draw a few stick figures and graphs. The illustration below is not an attempt to oversimplify deep passages that are more interested in forming us into the image Christ than being formed into theological systems; but hopefully it will be helpful to you as you think about and live out faith in Christ.

Sinful, God-honoring Children

Note: I know that I've only been a parent for six years, and therefore I've never parented a teenager. So, I want to be honest up front in admitting that I’m not claiming to be an expert. These are mere observations based on my own parenting and my work with teenagers over the years.


Sometimes the worst thing we can do as parents is build our child’s self-esteem. Then, when they hear the truths of the gospel, they do not see their desperate need for a Savior. They think their pretty smart or cute or likeable or athletic or… good. The Bible teaches clearly against the self-righteousness that hinders us from seeing our brokenness and rebellion. Quoting Psalm 14, Paul reminds us in Romans 3:10-11 that, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (ESV).

The challenge then is to balance the affirmation of the fallen nature of a child’s heart with the truths that they are valuable as image-bearers and loved by God in and through Jesus.

I am convinced that no one can fully experience the grace of God without first being humbled… without first being broken by both the sinful nature that resides in them and the intentionally rebellious acts that spring out of this sinful heart. We have to see the bad before we can understand just how good the Good News is. And this is where so many parents can initially short-circuit their child’s understanding (and even acceptance) of the gospel. When a child is headed down the path to brokenness (and, in turn, repentance), we see this; and we don’t want them to feel pain. No good parent would want a child to feel pain. And so it takes a keenly discerning spirit to know how to teach them about their need for a Savior while at the same time pointing to the reality that they have One. We just want to fix what’s broken; but if the child does not see that they are broken, they cannot be fixed. This task of discernment is far too great for mere human beings. It takes the work of the Spirit inside of us… giving us the words… showing us how… which brings even the parent back around to dependence upon God.

The other side to this discussion was captured well in a statement a friend of mine made recently: “Yeah, Andy, but I don’t want my kids growing up afraid to be righteous or do righteous things.” In other words, does a biblical doctrine of depravity force us into passivity (“Oh Johnny, do whatever you want! You’re lost and dead in your sins anyway!”) or, even worse, an attitude that encourages sin. I can’t imagine a parent of any child ever taking either one of these positions. Paul would say, “Are we to continue to sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (Rom. 6:1-2).

As we’re searching for this balance, it is helpful to understand what the Bible means by righteousness. One can’t argue from the whole account of Scripture that there has ever been a man (except for Jesus) who was righteous enough to save themselves. In comparison to a holy God our “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Is. 64:6). I would never argue anything to the contrary. But it is also an overcorrection and a misunderstanding of Scripture to say that no one has ever pleased God because of their obedience or righteous deeds done through faith. Works are the fruit of faith, and we do not need to be afraid of encouraging our children to be obedient to God’s commands through faith. We understand that such obedience can never save their eternal souls, but this was never the purpose of God’s commands anyway. Rather, we use each time they disobey as an opportunity to teach them about the righteousness of Christ on their behalf and the grace and forgiveness of God in the gospel. Then we encourage them to continue in righteousness.

While our righteous deeds have no power to save us eternally, God has created the world to work a certain way in which righteous actions usually result in positive outcomes. I know a lot of folks will push back against this, but the overwhelming testimony of Scripture stands with a “character-consequence” order of things (Bartholomew 9). In other words, obedience brings blessing. Granted, blessing may, at times, look a little different now than it did in the OT, but the principle still stands. A great way of expressing this to your child may be: “God has promised blessing for obedience and consequences for disobedience. That is why dad will honor you when you are obedient and punish you when you are disobedient. God and dad are pleased when you are obedient. But, son, we understand that our obedience is not what gets us into heaven. Faith in Jesus does that, and each time you disobey, I hope that you see just how much you need him to change your heart and your actions. Isn’t it great to know that Jesus was always obedient to His Father so that when we’re not obedient, we’re not punished forever?” That’s probably getting a little theologically deep for my 6-year old, but hopefully the concept is clear.  

Another essential element to consider in this discussion is the concept of grace. While there are usually consequences when one of my children sins… there is always forgiveness. Sometimes consequences are passed over in favor of grace; but, we have to be incredibly intentional about how we communicate this to our children. When I decide to not impose consequences, it is not because they are not deserved… but because I am being gracious. I pray that this is a small picture of what God has done for us. Developing this further, God has not ignored our sin but rather placed its eternal (and even some temporal) consequences on His Son. This is undoubtedly difficult for one human being to model properly for another. I want to reiterate the fact that even when sin is committed and consequences are enforced, forgiveness and reconciliation are indispensable. This is another way for us to model God’s grace for our children.

I’ll finish up here with a story from the other day. Most of you know my son. He’s a sweet kid, but he does have a bit of a strong will at times. I try to pray with him each morning before I leave for work, and on this particular day he wanted nothing to do with prayer time. He said he didn’t really like God anymore, and he certainly didn’t like prayer. My initial instinct was to say, “Well, we’re praying anyway, whether you like it or not,” and, most of the time, this is still what I do. But in that moment I felt as if the Holy Spirit pricked my heart to offer grace. I told Ethan that I loved him and, more importantly, God loved him, even though he didn’t like or love God much today… even if he didn’t want to talk to God today. I held him for a few more seconds and then put him down and headed out the door.

I do not want to set myself up as any kind of ideal example; but just as a testimony to the work of the Spirit and the freedom we have received in Christ, I felt at complete liberty to leave that morning having not prayed with Ethan for the purpose of him understanding that his prayer (or lack thereof) does not change God’s love for him. That is unconditional. I feel as if God gave me a great opportunity to point out both Ethan’s depravity and God’s great love and grace. I’m thankful for moments like this. I’m thankful for the moments I feel like I get it right, moments that I can imagine God smiling. But I’m even more thankful that Jesus always got it right (on my behalf) so that even when I don’t get right, His grace is still sufficient.

I hope that this little discussion has been helpful for you. If I could sum things up for you in one sentence: “Don’t be afraid to allow your kids to see their sinful hearts; and don’t be afraid to encourage them to live God-honoring lives.” They need both… we all need both.

In Christ,

Andy

How will they hear unless someone tells them?

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'"  -Romans 10:13-15

A long-held debate among Christians is surrounding the question, "What will happen to those who never hear the gospel?" The purpose of this post is not to fully answer that question but rather to address a particular aspect of it.

I have heard a bit recently about people around the world coming to faith in Christ because of dreams or visions. While there is zero doubt in my mind that people do have such experiences and that they are important to their conversion experience, I have doubts that these encounters are what we might call "full-package deals." In other words, I am not convinced that angels are going around preaching the gospel and offering invitations. While Paul's teaching in Galatians 1 seems to leave open the possibility that an angel could preach the gospel (or a gospel), this does not seem to be the pattern of Scripture as a whole.

First of all, the Great Commission commands us, His disciples, to go and make disciples, not pray for angels to go and preach for us. Secondly, the pattern in the book of Acts (which recounts the spread of the gospel throughout the world) is to use people/disciples to preach the gospel and offer the invitation. Picking two specific examples might be helpful.

Saul/Paul's conversion on the Damascus road would have been the most logical occasion for a vision to bring about conversion. I mean, Jesus Himself is talking; and Saul's salvation experience is pretty important to the rest of the church's story. But what does the resurrected Son of God tell Saul? After identifying Himself, He says, "Rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do" (Acts 9:6). This is a rather unsatisfying way for Jesus to end His conversation with Saul. But Jesus seems to prefer that Ananias (a disciple in Damascus) explain things to the bewildered Paul.

Another example is Cornelius in chapter 10 of Acts. Both Peter and Cornelius have visions from God that are intent on bringing the two of them together so that Peter may preach the gospel to Cornelius and his family and friends. This seems terribly impractical. Why not just tell Cornelius the good news in the vision and save a couple days' walk? I mean... surely Peter could have been doing more work in Joppa had he not been forced to leave to preach in Caesarea. But this seems to be the pattern of gospel proclamation.

Paul agrees in Romans 10 when he says that we can't believe until we've heard; and how can we hear unless someone is sent to preach to us? God is in the sending business, and he sends us... His people... His disciples. Even in the modern-day stories I've heard about visions that lead to conversion, it seems that such visions usually lead the seeker to a pastor, a missionary, or a local believer. Then the believer shares the gospel and offers the invitation.

We should not be content to wait for the lost to dream dreams or see visions before we open our mouths and give them good news. We are God's chosen instruments to make disciples of all nations. Let us not grow weary in fulfilling this eternally significant responsibility and opportunity.

In Christ,
Andy