All posts by Bruce Henry

Gospel Centrality

Why Christians never graduate from their need for the gospel

What is the Gospel?  “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13–14 NIV)

Paul is “eager to preach the gospel to” (Romans 1:15 ESV) “all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Romans 1:7 ESV); why  would Paul be eager to preach the gospel to Christians?  Isn’t the gospel primarily for the unregenerate that need to repent and be saved?  No, Paul views the gospel – the proclamation of good news that God has made a way for sinners to be reconciled with Him – not only as the means by which unbelievers are saved, but also as the central component for ongoing growth and transformation in our faith (“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” (Colossians 1:21–23 ESV)

The Scriptures call us to walk by faith (trust) and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) – for our faith is grounded in a hope in what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1).  We now walk not according to what we can see and can accomplish by our own efforts, but by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:4); Galatians 5:6 says it like this:  “for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6 ESV).  Paul persists in his letter to the Corinthians that the gospel is of singular importance in their lives of faith – “for what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NIV).  Behavioral change is not accomplished by our hard fought discipline or white knuckled effort; at the root of us presenting our bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable to God is connecting this effort to the mercies of God that are most visible in God’s saving work in our lives (Romans 12:1).  It is this kindness that prompts us to live continually repentant lives (Romans 2:4).

An ever growing awareness of God’s holy nature, our failure to measure up and the glorious grace of the gospel that bridges this gap should be where the Christian spends His time and energy investing.  Our disciplines should be aimed at beholdingthe glory of God and reveling in His grace – for as we behold Him we become more like Him:  “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” 1 Corinthians 3:18

 

Gospel Centrality, Growth/Pursuit

God will not be domesticated or manipulated by our religious systems

“Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.  He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.”” (Isaiah 66:1–4 ESV)

God seems to be constantly reminding us that He cannot be pinned in, domesticated or manipulated by the systems, institutions and laws that He has given us.  All of the ceremonies, laws, worship, covenants and military victories were (and still) are designed to point to the glory of God and the worship of the Creator.  Instead the people regularly attempted to use these religious things in an attempt to manipulate God in to getting what they wanted.  The problem is that what they wanted was His benevolent blessings more than they wanted Him.  God looks favorably on the dependent, lowly & contrite spirit that recognize their spiritual bankruptcy and throw himself on the grace and mercy of God. (Matthew 5)

God views our worship that is not accompanied by a trembling, contrite heart is wicked as murder or idolatry.  God is not interested in external compliance to His laws – God is after heart level transformation and increasing affection for Him.  The people were using compliance to their Levitical worship in an attempt to control God and get Him to bless and protect them.  We, too, often times, believe that God “owes” us protection, blessing or prosperity because of our morally clean lives or ability to keep God’s commands.  This is idolatry that reveals a heart that is more interested in God’s blessings and gifts than is in knowing or walking with Him – this is the default mode of the human heart, but even Christians must carefully guard their hearts and ask what their true motivations are – what their desire is for and where their real treasures are.  Our affections matter, they are the central component in the battle for our faith.

Gospel Centrality

Talking to yourself, developing desire for God and our need for Grace

How do we develop a desire for God?  How do we fight spiritual apathy and foster affection for God?  Why do we need grace, are we really awed by it?  Here are some great articles and resources to help answer those questions:

Gospel Centrality

We really don’t want God to reward us according to our faithfulness

“Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.”” (Isaiah 65:6–7 ESV)

We don’t want God to reward us for our faithfulness.  Look at Israel, their covenants with God were contingent upon their obedience to the Law – and the bulk of the Old Testament is devoted to their failure, suffering and inability to keep the Law and the consequences associated with that arrangement.  We, on the other hand, have the perfect Law Keeper as our advocate.  Let us not default back to trying to earn our way, applying formulas to get God to bless & prosper us.  Let us rest securely and soundly on Christ’s perfect life on our behalf and stop striving to keep a Law which has already been perfectly kept.  In Christ, you are wholly acceptable to God; you can do nothing to earn additional approval or affection from the Almighty.  When Jesus said, “it is finished,” He meant it and the book of Hebrews would attest that the alter is closed, no other sacrifice is required.

Growth/Pursuit

Hope in Hard Times

Despite difficulty, oppression and injustice, victory is sure as Isaiah paints the picture of a God who is mighty to save, deliver and redeem.  Judgement, ultimate justice and redemption is at hand, but our God delivers those who are His (Isaiah 63:1-4).  Judgement is a reality.  All injustices will be made right by the One who is able to judge – the Creator of the cosmos.  We don’t like to wait for justice, we want vengeance now, especially when we are the ones that are being unjustly treated.  Yes, we should always fight for justice and truth, but ultimately we must remember that the Creator is the One that will make all things new and reward those on His earth for their deeds – good and bad.  verses 5-6.

It is hard to hope in God and His ultimate deliverance when all that surrounds us is difficulty, injustice and oppression.  We are so prone to walk by what we can see instead of what is unseen.  How do we have hope when this is the case?
1.  Recount, recall and remember God’s steadfast love towards you.  This is often times difficult, but we must strive to reflect on the fact that we have nothing that we have not received from His hand according to His bountiful mercy.  Do you have a home, friends, family, a job, leisure time, freedoms, food, clothes?  Are you His?  Reflect on the fact that you deserve none of these things and it was not by your own efforts that you have received them.  You could have just as easily been born without your intellect in a 3rd world country where the gospel is not preached.  You were not, you were placed in the home you were placed in with the natural abilities that you possess, were afforded the opportunities that you have had and are a child of God according to His sovereign rule and reign, not according to randomness and your hard work (or failures). verse 7.
2.  You are His child.  Despite your failures and shortcomings (like Israel’s), He determined before He formed the world to set His affections upon you and call you to Himself.  Despite the health or dysfunction of your earthly family, God has called you His – you are kin to the King, a child of the Creator.  He will make all things new, restore the brokenness, and redeem you and this fallen creation.  verse 8.
3.  God is with you, even in the darkest points of life.  God is sorrowful over the sufferings, hardships and difficulties of His children – even when they are brought on by their own sinful actions.  He is not far from His children, He acts personally and directly to comfort and deliver in His time.  verse 9.
4.  Despite our failures, rebellion and short comings, there is hope in the future.  Just as God delivered the people in Egypt, He will deliver His children.  We must walk by faith, not by what we can see – our sight is limited, skewed and dim.  Despite the things that seem to be around us, the all powerful, all orchestrating Architect of all things is working and redeeming.  This hope is not fixed on us, our worth or performance, but in God’s ultimate goal of glorifying Himself.  It is liberating to see the promises of scripture through the lens of God’s glory rather than through the lens of our performance or worth – one is burdensome, the other is freeing.  v10-14.

Growth/Pursuit, Meditations

God is never absent, incapable or tardy in acting.

God is never absent, incapable or tardy in acting.  He is unchallenged, always present and sovereign in nature – you can bank on that truth, even when your heart is not feeling it!  “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;” (Isaiah 59:1 ESV)
SIn separates us from God (59:2), but The Ultimate Redeemer will satisfy justice and secure true salvation for His children; He will give us His Spirit and put His words in our mouths and sustain us (59:19-21).  The people of Israel wanted  justice & salvation, but they don’t want the God of that salvation (11-13).  Do we want God or do we just want His blessings?
Gospel Centrality

Godliness is having regard for God; ungodliness is an apathetic disregard for God

The grace of God has appeared… training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. (TITUS 2:11-12)

“Grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness. Ungodliness in its broadest form basically comprises disregarding God, ignoring Him, or not taking Him into account in one’s life. It’s a lack of fear and reverence for Him. The wickedness portrayed by Paul in Romans 1:18-32 all starts with the idea that “although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (verse 21, NIV). A person may be highly moral and even benevolent and still be ungodly. When we trust in Christ as our Savior, we bring a habit of ungodliness into our Christian lives. We were accustomed to living without regard for God. As unbelievers, we cared neither for His glory nor His will. Basically, we ignored Him. But now that we have been delivered from the dominion of sin and brought under the reign of grace, grace teaches us to renounce this attitude (as well as actions) of ungodliness. Obviously this training does not occur all at once. In fact, God will be rooting out ungodliness from our lives as long as we live on this earth. Grace also teaches us to say no to worldly passions, the inordinate desire for and preoccupation with the things of this life, such as possessions, prestige, pleasure, or power. “For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31, NIV). Saying no to ungodliness and worldly passions basically means a decisive break with those attitudes and practices. In one sense, this decisive break is a divine act that occurred when we died to the dominion of sin in our lives. In another sense, we’re to work out this breach with sin by putting to death the misdeeds of the body (Romans 8:13).”

Gerald Bridges;Jerry Bridges. Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey Devotional (p. 45). Kindle Edition.

Gospel Centrality

You cannot obey well enough to secure God’s blessings

“What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousnessdid not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “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!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”
But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”” (Romans 9:30–10:21 ESV)

The Jews were not justified before God in their ardent attempts at keeping the Law.  They did not attain acceptance before God because they pursued it based on their own efforts instead of by faith; they, much like us, thought that they could perform well enough to earn God’s approval and blessing (9:30-32).  They were ignorant of the how to be righteous before God and worked tirelessly to establish their own righteousness.  But this was to no avail (and still is) because Christ has become our righteousness as a result of His perfect law keeping, and this is given to us by faith.
Paul exposes works based righteousness by quoting Moses in Leviticus 10:5 and says “that the person who does the commandments shall live by them” (Romans 10:5).  This is very attractive to our flesh, we like to point to this and say that if we try really hard we can merit God’s affection and favor.  The problem with this line of thinking is that Paul spends the first three chapters of this very letter unpacking that no one can keep the law perfectly, except Jesus.  The many passages in the Old Testament that tell us that righteousness comes from obedience to the Law are properly interpreted by seeing Christ as the perfect law keeper on our behalf, therefore making us righteous (10:6-8).  God’s requirement is not our perfect adherence to His perfect Law, God’s requirement is faith in the Perfect Law Keeper that attained right standing for us.  Belief in Christ, not our own works based righteousness is how we are justified before God (Romans 10:11).   The Gentiles who did not seek after God (like the Jews) are the ones that found Him – according to His sovereign plans for His glory (10:20).