Category Archives: Gospel Centrality

Gospel Centrality

Sin exploits our empty places

Aside

“On the most basic of levels, I desire fullness, and fleshly lusts seduce me by attaching themselves to this basic desire. They exploit the empty spaces in me, and they promise that fullness will be mine if I give in to their demands. When my soul sits empty and is aching for something to fill it, such deceptive promises are extremely difficult to resist. Consequently, the key to mortifying fleshly lusts is to eliminate the emptiness within me and replace it with fullness; and I accomplish this by feasting on the gospel . . . As I perpetually feast on Christ and all of His blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the lies of lust simply lose their appeal. Hence, to the degree that I am full, I am free.”

Hedges, Brian G. (2010). Christ Formed in You (Kindle Locations 3189-3194). Shepherd Press. Kindle Edition.

Gospel Centrality, Growth/Pursuit

Redmeption is coming!

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill. And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim, but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands. And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.” (Isaiah 25:6–12 ESV)

In contrast to the world’s party that is portrayed in 24:7-11, God reveals a picture of His bounty and grace.  It is marked by people from all nations who will feast on spectacular food and perfectly aged wine (verse 6).  Death will be swallowed up, God will wipe away the tears of sorrow and suffering and He will dwell with His people – they will never again feel abandoned or alone (verses 7-8).  God will humble human pride.  The hope that His people had about being identified by Him is now a reality, they experience that they are His!  Salvation will prove to be worth the wait as He makes all things new, He will renew the earth, society and culture – we will set them right, the way that they were intended to be (verse 9). The powerful hand of God will squash all opposition to Him; He will reveal the uselessness of self-salvation and human pride (verses 10-12).  This is the enduring hope that our faith offers to us, there is coming a day when God will restore all things, judge evil, redeem His chosen people, and set up a kingdom where there is no oppression, pain or strife.  The harmonious rhythm of the Garden will return and this time we will have redeemed hearts that will worship instead of rebel.

Gospel Centrality

Grace scares us to death

“The truth, whether we admit it or not, is that grace scares us to death. It scares us primarily because it wrestles control and manageability out of our hands–introducing chaos and freedom. And so we find creative ways to qualify it. We speak and live with a “yes grace, but” tone. We’re afraid to simply let it be as drastically unsafe, unconditional, uncontrollable, unpredictable, and undomesticated as it truly is.”
-Tullian Tchividjian, Grace Without Buts and Brakes

“For the grace that comes to us in Jesus Christ is not measured. This grace refuses to allow itself to be tethered to our innate sense of fairness, reciprocity, and balancing of the scales. It is defiant…However much we may laud grace with our lips, our hearts are so thoroughly law-marinated that the Christian life must be, at core, one of continually bathing our hearts and minds in gospel grace. We are addicted to law. Conforming our lives to a moral framework, playing by the rules, meeting a minimum standard—this feels normal. And it is how we naturally medicate that deep sense of inadequacy within. The real question is not how to avoid becoming a Pharisee; the question is how to recover from being the Pharisee we already, from the womb, are.

Law feels safe. Grace feels risky. Rule-keeping breeds a sense of manageability; grace feels like moral vertigo. After all, if all that we are is by grace, there is no limit to what God can ask of us. But if some corner of our virtue is due to personal contribution, there is a ceiling on what God can ask of us. He can bring us only so far. He can only ask so much.

Such is not the call of Christ. The Jesus of the Gospels defies our domesticated, play-by-the-rules morality. It was the most extravagant sinners of Jesus’ day who received his most compassionate welcome; it was the most scrupulous law-abiders who received his most searing denunciation. The point is not that we should therefore take up sin. The point is that we should lay down the silly insistence on leveraging our sense of self-worth with an ongoing moral record. Better a life of sin with penitence than a life of obedience without it.

It is time to enjoy grace anew. Not the decaffeinated grace that pats us on the hand, ignores our deepest rebellions, and doesn’t change us, but the high-octane grace that takes our conscience by the scruff of the neck and breathes new life into us with a pardon so scandalous that we cannot help but be changed. It’s time to blow aside the hazy cloud of condemnation that hangs over us throughout the day with the strong wind of gospel grace. “You are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14). Jesus is real, grace is defiant, life is short, risk is good. For many of us the time has come to abandon once and for all our play-it-safe, toe-dabbling Christianity and dive in. It is time, as Robert Farrar Capon put it, to get drunk on grace. Two hundred-proof, defiant grace.”
–Defiant Grace: The Suprising Message and Mission of Jesus by Dane Ortlund

Gospel Centrality, Theological

God Saves

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” (Romans 8:28–33 ESV)

Listen to God Saves by Matt Chandler:

Gospel Centrality, Growth/Pursuit

What you treasure reveals what your heart is really pursuing

What are you spending your life pursuing and building – worldly, transient treasures or faith?  (Matthew 6:21)

Matthew 6:21 is the focal point of this section; Jesus tells us,“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  What you treasure reveals what your heart is really pursuing.  We reveal what we treasure by how we spend our time, what we pursue, what we spend our resources on, and what consumes the majority of our thinking.   Regardless of what we tell ourselves and others, these things reveal what we really treasure in life.  How we view our money just reveals what is really going on in our heart – what we really think is worth chasing.  Do you see life as if this is all there is or do you see a future economy?  Would the way that you spend your time, money and pursuit bear witness to this?  Instead of viewing worldly wealth as the end goal of our pursuit, we need a shift to occur so that we use it to invest in eternal things – to advance the gospel, care for the poor, investing in a future economy.  What do you dream about?  When you say, “If only I had ____,” or “if only ____ were true,” or “if only _____would do ____,” you reveal what you really treasure.  What we treasure is where our hearts really are, which drives disciplines, desires and behaviors.

Gospel Centrality, Growth/Pursuit

Transient treasures

Are transient treasures the measuring stick that you use to determine how well you and others are doing in life?    What captures your interests, consumes your energy, do you fantasize about; are these transient or eternal?1

Using worldly things to define us means that they end up controlling us.  We want to create the impression that everything is ok, that we’ve got it all figured out, that we are a success; so we continue to pursue transient things in an attempt to define ourselves.  Worldly wealth is the primary vehicle that most people use to build their identity, significance and worth.  We control how others view us by what we drive, what we wear, where we live and what we do for a living.  Could it be that the pace of our lives has gotten so fast because we are pursuing so many things that we think will make our lives work better, but in the end they are all transient?  Maybe we shouldn’t spend all of our time chasing those things which are transient.  The more earthly treasure we have, the more maintenance they require.  Be careful not to set your focus on the applause of men or the treasures of this world.

–Heart Matters

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1Matthew 6:19-24

Gospel Centrality, Growth/Pursuit, Quotes/Lyrics

I’ve been acting like I’m okay, but I’m not

“He serves God, does not swear, honors father and mother, does not kill, does not commit adultery, and the like. Meanwhile, however, he does not observe his heart, does not note the reason why he is leading such a good life. He does not see that he is merely covering the old hypocrite in his heart with such a beautiful life.”

–Presumption Produces Self-Deceptionby Tullian Tchividjian