Doctrine of the Day: Propitiation

Propitiation is a big word that doesn’t come up in our every day conversations: “Hey Meredith, I propitiated my wrath against Asher before he received a spanking.” It does not even show up in some Bible translations (The NIV, NLT translate it as ‘atonement’). While those translations are not entirely incorrect, there is definitely something missing when you leave out ‘propitiation.”

Propitiation literally means “to satisfy God’s wrath.” The reason it is important to keep this word in our Christian jargon is that we don’t want to lose sight of what really happened on the cross.

In fact there are many things that happened. Among them:

1. Our sin was removed from us: Atonement

2. We were set free from sin: Ransom

3. We were made right with God: Reconciliation

4. God’s wrath was satisfied in Christ: Propitiation

Of course the application of all these benefits happens at our conversion when we repent of our sins, ask for and receive forgiveness and commit to follow Christ in faith.

But of all the things Christ accomplished on the cross we tend to focus on our sin being removed and sometimes forget that our sins are not merely removed and forgotten by God. Oh yes, they are are removed and they are now forgotten, but God’s holiness demands that they be punished. This application of God’s holiness is his wrath.

In order for us to be fully reconciled with God, we had to be saved. This is not a new concept, I know. But saved from what? From our sin? Not exactly. It is our status as rebellious sinners that puts us at enmity with God, but it is his wrath that we need saving from.

In Christ’s death our sins were removed from us and placed on Christ (atonement). He then bore our punishment; He received the full measure of God’s wrath that was meant for us (Propitiation). This is important. This leads us to a deeper understanding of God’s grace toward us. God did not just make his wrath against us go away; He directed it toward his Son.

Romans 3:23-26 reads a little differently when you understand that God’s wrath toward us because of our sin was not deleted… it was directed toward Christ:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

And notice the reason for Christ’s death I put in italics. Jesus had to die to satisfy the holiness of God because in his mercy he chose to forgive the Old Testament saints. But you see, God cannot merely forgive our sins. His wrath must be satisfied. His wrath for ever sinner will either be satisfied on the cross for those who believe in his Son, or on the last day when the Rider of the white horse whose name is Faithful and True comes down from heaven to judge and make war on the nations. A sword will come from his mouth and He will tread the winepress of his fury pouring out the full measure of his wrath on all those who have rebelled against Him.

Oh how sweet it is that God has graciously saved us from his own wrath in Christ. LORD, I thank you and praise you for your wonderful grace. May your Church be motivated by your great grace and mercy toward us to go into the nations and proclaim the Good News that salvation is possible through faith in Christ alone!

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD

Psalm 33:12

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

When you register your car with the state of Alabama you a have a few different options for your license plate that do not cost extra. One of these options is a plate that has an American flag watermark and the line at the bottom says, “God Bless America.”

This is really very interesting to me. Most of the plates you register for cost extra. All those football, environmental, education, and choose life license plates take your money and donate them to the institution or cause you are supporting. Not so with the “God Bless America” plates.

I suppose they do not cost extra because the government cannot endorse any particular religion, so it can’t take extra money for them. At the same time, it still seems odd in today’s political and social climate that these plates would be made available at all.

And there beaucoups of these plates riding around our state. They are everywhere!!!

My question though is this: Why do people put these on their cars? Is this the 21^st century version of the little fish? You know the fish that became an ichthus that became a darwin fish that became an ichthus eating a darwin fish. That was so 90’s.

No the cool thing apparently is to proclaim proudly from the read end of your car, “God Bless America.” Is this the identification of a Christian?

Well, I don’t really want to get into that. I have more concerns about what people mean when they say “God Bless America.” I have NO problems with people who want our country to be blessed with the superfluous preaching of the gospel calling all people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. If that is what you mean by calling for God’s blessings on us, then I say “Hallelujah!” This is a plea for God’s mercy… not entitlement.

However, if you have Psalm 33:12 in mind when you say “God Bless America,” then you have a wrong understanding of this verse. In fact, I have heard this verse used out of context too many times to count.

Here are the reasons this verse has nothing to do with the good ole US of A.

1. You are very mistaken if you think this is a nation “whose God is the LORD.” Yes, I know what principles our nation was founded upon. I read Peter Marshall’s The Light and the Glory and other books like them. Yes, many of our founding fathers believed in a god of some sort, some even believed in God. We even have God’s name on our money. But none of these facts mean that we are a nation “whose God is the LORD.”

In fact, right now we are one of the most godless nations on the planet. There are churches in Africa and Asia that are sending missionaries here! We have been consumed with the god of self and have indulged that god with all sorts of materialism and narcissism.

Whether you want to look at our past or our present, we are not a nation “whose God is the LORD.”

2. Most importantly, the context of this verse makes it clear that Israel is in view. If you read the entire verse and not just the first half there is no escaping the conclusion that Israel is THE nation that is referenced. One of the major themes of the Bible is that God has chosen a people for Himself, a people for his Son’s inheritance. Israel was chosen to be the instrument that would bring God’s blessings to the nations. They were a special people to God. Just read the first few chapters of Exodus to see God’s special love for his people.

There was only one “nation” that God chose as his heritage: Israel. The promise of blessing is not just for any nation who says The LORD is their God. It is a specific promise for that one nation whom God has chosen as his.

3. Even in “the Church” age of the New Testament this verse still references God’s people not a country. The Hebrew word translated nation is meant to identify a people group, not an organized state. In the Old Testament just because you were a Jew, a child of Israel, did not mean you were “saved” or received all of God’s blessings. True “Israel” were those who by faith obeyed God. So even when we see the “nation” of Israel mentioned as God’s chosen people, it was not the organized country of Israel, but the faithful followers of YHWH who are in view.

The way for us to read this Psalm in the New Testament, Church age is to remember 1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The Church is the holy nation who is blessed by having the LORD as our God. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord is a part of this “holy nation.” It is this “nation,” this people group, that God has chosen as his heritage and who are blessed.

So, I pray that God will mercifully bless America with the gospel being proclaimed by faithful churches. I pray that He will call MANY individuals to become a part of his people and be blessed in Christ. I hope this will be your prayer also.

But let’s not get distracted by thinking that we are blessed materially by God because we are a nation “whose God is the LORD.”

Sunday sermon review - Gracious speech

On Sunday nights this summer I have been preaching from Colossians 4:2-6 about how our everyday speech should be gospel-centered. Last night I shared something that I have been personally feeling convicted about for some time.

I want my speech to always be gracious and seasoned with the salt of the gospel. However, I find that there are certain topics and instances when gracious speech never flows from my mouth.

The problem for me is two-fold on two levels of my life. One is a symptom of something greater.

The symptom is that talking about Alabama and Auburn football at church gets me angry. It is not my intention to blame anyone else for these conversations. It is my heart problem. The reality though is that what many people consider good natured ribbing, really gets under my skin. So, I know that this is my problem. I cannot let myself get so angry and frustrated over such a worthless topic.

But this is just a symptom of a greater problem. This shows that football has become an idol for me. We defend vehemently what we treasure. And when I put more energy and passion into defending a sports team than I do in encouraging fellow believers when we gather for worship each week, then that shows that God is not my greatest treasure. It is really sad when Christians cannot talk about Christ even when we are “at church.”

This leads me back to the original point… I will have consistently gracious, gospel-saturated speech when God is truly my treasure. So, for me to commit to gracious speech means I need to commit to valuing Christ above all else. This is especially needed on Sundays. There is nothing sacred about Sunday worship except that it is the only time when the whole church gathers. And for a couple of short hours each week we come together to make Christ supreme in our lives as a united body… theoretically at least.

So, as a pastor, I need to lead the way in obeying Colossians 4:6. For me that means that football is out as a conversation topic, especially on Sundays. This is not to be legalistic. This is because I want to gather with my church and exalt my Savior in everything we say and do. I want to be intentional in my conversations in order to point people to Christ.

I hope you will join me in treasuring Christ and allowing the grace of Christ to be evident in our speech.

Doctrine of the Day: Forgiveness

I have written much on the topic of forgiveness on Monday. While there is still much more that can be said about forgiveness, I do not wish to overload us with too much to think about in a short time. So, today I will try to rehash what I have already written in the hope that we will deepen our understanding of what we already know.

I really like Chris Braun’s definition of forgiveness. So, let me give it to you again.

Forgiveness is the commitment by the offended to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability and to be reconciled to that person, although not all consequences are necessarily eliminated.

I think it is thoroughly biblical and very helpful.

The important thing to remember here is the purpose of forgiveness. The purpose of forgiveness is not primarily to make the offended feel better about the offender. We know this because of how the Bible tells us to forgive: as the LORD forgave us (Colossians 3:13). Our forgiveness of others is meant to model and display the forgiveness we have in Christ. And the God’s forgiveness of our sins is not to make him feel better. His forgiveness of our sins is the necessary action that leads to reconciliation. He desires to bring his lost sheep back home but his holiness requires that our sin be dealt with. Jesus died for our sins, but the “transaction,” so to speak, that applies his death as payment for our sins is when God forgives repentant sinners. So, the purpose of forgiveness is to reconcile repentant sinners to God. Sure there is an “emotional” benefit for God. He is pleased to show mercy. But his emotional well-being is not dependent on our response.

The same goal of reconciliation is what drives our forgiveness of others. Forgiveness is a relationship rebuilder. There cannot be reconciliation in our relationships if there is no forgiveness of sins.

Here is an example.

Let’s say that I was standing around with some guys from church and someone started to gossip about one of our members (let’s call him Eli). And instead of cutting off the conversation as I should, I continue to pile on Eli.

Later Eli gets word that I was speaking ill of him, and he confronts me about it. I tell him, “Eli, you are right. I sinned against God and you by talking about you in this way. I realize I was wrong, and I am sorry. I will not do it again. Will you forgive me?”

At this point our relationship has been injured. Eli’s feelings are hurt; he may even be angry with me. He doubts that he can trust me. Our friendship is on the line.

We need to be reconciled. We need to get this sin out from between us so we can be friends again.

If Eli wants our relationship to return to what it was before I sinned against him, then he must forgive me. That means he must commit to release me from his “prison.” He can’t remain angry with me. He has to let that go. He must graciously (because I sure don’t deserve it!) pardon my sin, trusting it to God. He must be convinced that I am truly repentant. If our relationship is to return to its previous level of trust and love, then He needs to know that I do not intend to go around and do him harm. Then we can be reconciled.

But all of this hinges on my repentance. If am sorry for hurting him, meaning that I feel guilty that I got caught, and the only reason I am apologizing is I want to feel better about myself, then we cannot be reconciled. The reason is that in that case I love myself more than I love Eli. I do not care about his well-being. I only care about me. That kind of relationship cannot be reconciled.

Forgiveness is a difficult thing. It requires that we treat sin as seriously as God does. It requires that we put other peoples feeling and needs before our own. It requires that we humble ourselves and admit where we are wrong.

In other words it can only be accomplished in the grace of Jesus Christ. We “put on” forgiveness by allowing Christ to shine forth from our lives. We faithfully and obediently forgive others because we want to show how great and glorious God’s forgiveness of our sins truly is.

PS There were no “Eli’s” harmed in the making of this blog post… at least, not that I know of.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever

Psalm 33:10-11

10The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.

Last week I planned on playing golf once or twice and reading a new book I got in the mail and enjoying my weekend playing with my son and just generally coasting along. It was a great plan. It was all about me. I was going to be able to indulge myself at my leisure.

It didn’t quite work out that way though. He frustrated my plans. He apparently had a different plan for how my week would go.

Instead of indulging myself all week I was called to serve my wife and son in a very time intensive way. Every minute of my day was geared to serving them. As I mentioned last week, my wife had to have surgery to repair her shattered kneecap. She was unable to do much of anything for herself. I did everything for her: get up, walk, sit down. I served breakfast lunch and dinner. Praise the LORD, our church family was so gracious in bringing meals to us, so I was blessed not to have to cook, which is not pretty… Then, of course I had to watch Asher, a full time job in itself.

I share all this not to complain. In fact it is the exact opposite. Nor do I share all this to make me sound like a great husband and father. In fact it is the exact opposite.

No, I share all this because I experienced first hand what Psalm 33:10-11 is about. I had plan last week that was all about indulging my selfish sin nature, which by default means that I was planning against God. God would have none of that!!!

He frustrated my plans. His sovereignty over my life broke through my selfish desires and accomplished a great plan for his glory. He took a selfish husband and dad and reminded him that his duty and greatest joy is in serving his family when their need is greatest. Oh sure, I had my moments of sef-pity and frustration, but God in his grace has made this experience with Meredith’s injury a truly blessed time for our family.

So, I do not share this to complain, I am praising God for his wise plan that sovereignly applied to my life. I am not trying to make me look good, I am thanking God for his grace in bringing me back to have the right spirit toward Him and my family.

When we read that He frustrates the plans of the peoples and brings the counsel of the nations to nothing, it is not that He is an overbearing God who is working against us or has evil planned for his children. He is working all things for his glory. And for those who love Him and are committed to his purpose, that plan will always be for our good (Romans 8:28), even if on the front end it takes the form of a painful injury that requires a long convalescence and disrupts the plans of family. He frustrates our plans for very good reasons. If we will seek Him in the midst of those course corrections then we will find the joy He has for us. I rediscovered my joy in serving my family.

There is another very important lesson in these verses. It may be even a little more difficult to accept than this first one. It is one thing to accept that God frustrates our plans for our good and his glory, but it is another thing entirely to accept that he frustrates the plans of non-Christians for his glory… and NOT for their good.

Most times we will eventually come around to accepting God’s sovereignty as long as it still fits into our understanding of a God who is always kind and good toward everyone. It gets much more difficult to accept a God who is kind and good toward some and not toward others.

“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing” This phrase calls to mind the leaders and nations of Psalm 2, who are actively working against the LORD and his Anointed, and especially Acts 4:25-29 (which quotes Psalm 2) where Luke applies the truth of God’s sovereignty over the nations and leaders of nations to explain the Crucifixion. God turned the hearts of Herod and Pilate in their sin to accomplish his purposes (Proverbs 21:1). He brought their plans to nothing; plans to silence Christ and his followers by killing Him. His counsel, his plan to save his people through the death of his Son, is what stands forever. He even used these godless leaders to accomplish this.

Wow. He is a sovereign God, sovereign over all things and people. We would be very wise to acknowledge Him as LORD and submit willingly to his LORDship over our lives. For when we repent of our sins and turn to Him, He is faithful to forgive us and restore us to a right relationship with Him. In his sovereignty, He commits to follow through with his promises. And He promised those who believe in Him that they would receive eternal life (John 3:16). He also promised those who reject Him they will be condemned forever (John 3:18).

His plans will stand forever. I pray you will seek Him while He may be found. For, there is joy to be found in his perfect plans for his people… even when your wife breaks her kneecap.

Sunday sermon review - Put on Forgiveness

I think the sermon I preached yesterday could possibly have been the worst delivered sermon I have given since my first sermon way back in 1994. Nothing could beat that horrific delivery. I am still embarrassed by it…

Anyway, yesterday was quite disastrous for one very important reason: I don’t think I was clear about a VERY important point on forgiveness. I know that I cannot roll back time and fix it, but I do hope I can add to what I said yesterday to help us going forward.

The main point from Colossians 3:13 is that the way we deal with irritations and outright, sinful conflict is by following the example of Jesus. I know that sounds like such a trite Sunday school answer, but that is EXACTLY what the text says…

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

I was trying to explain what that phrase means biblically by answering the implied question, “How exactly has the Lord forgiven us?” I was using a great definition of forgiveness by Chris Brauns in his book, Unpacking Forgiveness. His definition of forgiveness is:

Forgiveness is the commitment by the offended to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability and to be reconciled to that person, although not all consequences are necessarily eliminated.

From his definition I focused on five key words or concepts to explain.

A. Commitment - Forgiveness is more than a feeling

B. Gracious pardon - Forgiveness is given freely

C. Repentant offender - Forgiveness is conditional

D. Reconciliation - Forgiveness is the means to an end... reconciliation

E. Consequences may remain - Forgiveness does not automatically alleviate some of the results of past offenses

I think most of the points I made were fairly clear and understood to be biblical. The third point about conditional forgiveness is the one I fear may be unclear.

The statement I made about conditional forgiveness was very blunt, and intentionally so, in order to snap our heads around to force us to look closely at the truth of the Bible. I meant to jar our senses challenging our previous thoughts on forgiveness, and then I wanted to massage the pain away by showing the clarity of the Bible. I think I did a really good job on the snapping and jarring, but may have failed miserably on the massaging part.

What I said was, “There is no forgiveness without repentance.” In a clarifying statement a little later I said, “That means that we don’t just forgive anyone, anytime, for anything… the offender must repent of the offense before forgiveness is given.”

There are two biblical reasons I made this point about repentance and forgiveness.

1. I believe this to be the biblical truth Jesus is teaching in Luke 17:3-4:

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Jesus is laying out the same type of response to interpersonal sin that He gives in Matthew 18. The key point for us in both passages is that forgiveness must be preceded by repentance on the part of the offender which must be preceded by a gentle, loving rebuke of that sin by the offended. In this passage Jesus is also extending this forgiveness indefinitely based on the continual repentance of the offender.

2. We forgive as the Lord forgave us, and He only forgives us when we are repentant.

The other passage I used in my sermon to explain this point is the parable of Matthew 18:21-35. In this story a servant is forgiven an unimaginably large debt because he pleads for mercy from his master. After the master forgives the servant, this servant is confronted by another servant who owed him a MUCH smaller debt. This fellow pleaded for mercy but was not forgiven by the first servant. When the master found out he threw the first servant in jail to be tortured. Jesus makes the application for us and says, “so also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

The problem for the servant was not just that he did not forgive the other servant. Yes, that was the fruit of his sin. The deeper issue is that he did not repent of his sin. If he had truly repented of his sin, his heart would have changed. Once his heart changed, he would have forgiven his fellow servant. He was not forgiven by his master because deep down he had not repented.

So, we know that God does not forgive our sins if we do not repent. And we are supposed to forgive as he forgave us, meaning we forgive those who repent of their sins against us.

Well, after heads were snapped around and necks were stinging in pain I offered this massage in order to give biblical clarity: Not forgiving someone who has sinned against us does not mean that we do not love people who have offended us. That does not mean that we do not extend kindness and mercy toward them. What it does mean is that we cannot be fully reconciled with people who are unrepentant for their sins toward us. Of course we love them. We are commanded to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

I thought that would be sufficient. I think now that I was not clear enough.

Let me say this a different way…

We should always have a “forgiving” nature toward those who injure us. We should always deal with people in a way that says we are ready to forgive and reconcile our relationship with them.

That means that even if people are unrepentant over the sins they committed against us, we still graciously call them to repentance remembering that it is the kindness of God that leads people to repent (Romans 2:4).

If someone is either unrepentant or just has not come to repent yet, that does not mean that we act unloving towards them. It just means that we cannot be fully reconciled with them. We still love them the same way Jesus loves the whole world. We extend mercy and kindness. We proclaim the gospel.

Forgiveness is a unique aspect of God’s grace. It is meant to be the tool that restores relationships after sin has injured them. In order for those relationships to be healed properly the sin that impaled one party must be removed. That requires repentance. It is not enough to merely say, “Ooooo, I’m sorry that hurt you. Now, let me get back to throwing spears at you.” No, God expects the offender to say, “I am sorry that I hurt you. I will not do that again because I love you and I want to be Christlike toward you.” That kind of confession and repentance is what Jesus is teaching in Luke 17:3-4.

I think it is difficult for many of us to hear that forgiveness is conditional upon repentance because that means we will have to call people to account over their sin. And most of us HATE confrontation and the rest of us think confronting sin is being judgmental, so we don’t really mind if people do not repent of their sins. We just want it to go away.

The (sometimes) painful reality is that we Christians are called to hold each other accountable for our sins, especially the ones that damage our relationships with each other. If we want to have God-honoring, biblical relationships then we need to understand forgiveness properly. And forgiveness requires repentance which requires us to lovingly confront sin.

Let me try to summarize…

God forgave us in order to reconcile us to Himself. That forgiveness is conditioned upon repentance. God’s forgiveness must require our repentance of sin so that upon being reconciled we will live and love Him in righteousness and no longer in our sin. We forgive as the Lord forgave us, which means we forgive in order to reconcile relationships. However, forgiveness is only one aspect of grace which is necessary for reconciliation. We must call people to repent of their sins against us in order for this one aspect of grace to be extended. If an offender will not or has not yet repented then we still extend every other aspect of grace toward him because we are commanded to love our enemies. Our relationship to the unrepentant offender is not fully reconciled but still identified by love. A love that displays the grace of God in calling them to repentance and faith in Christ… just as we would any lost person.

God’s grace is deep. When we remember what He has forgiven us, it should lead us to forgive others. But we still have to forgive in a biblical way.

Is the Gospel happening?

I am sorry that I have not posted in a while. Of course, I doubt there are many whose lives have been seriously disrupted by my absence in cyber-space : )

Wy wife, Meredith, had a nasty fall last week and subsequent surgery to repair her shattered knee cap. She is now recovering… slowly and painfully. Taking care of her was my primary concern and blogging was the first item on my list to be jettisoned.

Now that we have her settled in for her recovery, I have a little more time.

I will get back to my regular schedule next week, but in the meantime I came across an excellent question today that I wanted to pose to you. I don’t really expect any written responses (although they are welcome), but I do hope you will sincerely think on this issue this day…

Is the gospel happening in your life?

My friend Ray Ortlund asked this in response to a question he received about how well we Christians are doing in this day and time protecting the truth of the gospel. Since I just finished a series of posts on defining the gospel for the sake of evangelism, I was interested to hear his thoughts.

Here is this question in context…

"Is the gospel subscribed to?" is an important question. "Is the gospel happening?" is a more searching question.

I hope and pray that I do not spend more time talking about the definition of the gospel than I do in actually living the gospel in my life. That includes sharing the gospel with the lost, but also, just as importantly, letting the gospel “happen” in the church. It is a “searching question.”

So, join me in praying that the gospel will “happen” in our lives today.

Let all the earth fear the LORD

Psalm 33:6-9

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

Words are powerful.

I do not make that statement as one who believes that everything we speak will come to pass like those false teachers of the “word of faith.” No, it is God’s words that have ultimate power. The Eternal Word is powerful. That Word became flesh, dwelt among us, died for our sins and rose again on the third day.

God’s words are powerful.

From the beginning to the end, every major work of God was by his word.

By his word were all things created (Genesis 1; Colossians 1:16).

By his word He established his covenant with his people (Exodus 20).

By his word He declared his work finished (John 19:30).

By his word will all his enemies be vanquished (Revelation 19:15).

God’s words are powerful and awful.

“Let the earth fear the LORD… for he spoke, and it came to be.” The earth should fear Him. WE should fear Him. He is powerful and mighty. His mere words brought all of creation into existence and that same word can destroy us. And we deserve to be destroyed because of our sin.

God has delivered his powerful, mighty word to us through the Holy Spirit.

But God in his lavish grace and mercy has chosen to continue his creative work through the work of the church. By our proclamation of Christ from his word, God grants faith and repentance in many hearers (Philippians 1:29; Acts 11:18). God’s word, the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). God’s word never returns to Him empty, but it will accomplish every purpose for which it was sent forth (Isaiah 55:11).

Now, it is our task to take this powerful word, representative of the Word who created all things and inspires awe and fear in all people, TO all peoples. The call of Psalm 33:8 to “let all the earth fear the LORD” is the great commission call for the church to take the Word of the LORD to the ends of the earth.

I hope “you stand in awe of Him.” I hope that this awe moves us all to faith and obedience.

One day I hope we hear another powerfully encouraging word from the LORD, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Sunday sermon review - Freedom in Christ

This weekend we celebrated the 233^rd birthday of our country. Freedom is always worth remembering. I thank God that He has blessed me with freedom. As an American I have the freedom to worship and believe any way I want. As a Christian I am free from the bondage and slavery of sin.

Christian freedom is not the same as American freedom. It is very similar, but there are still significant differences.

Americans are free to live however they wish… as long as we still abide by the laws of this nation. Those laws are meant to protect us from the government and from each other. Basically, as long as I do not harm someone else, I can do just about anything.

Our Christian faith is similar in that God has laws established that govern how we live. Christian freedom does not have an allowance for sin. In fact 1 Peter 2:16 says, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil.” Christian freedom is not a freedom to sin. It is a freedom to live for the glory of God.

This is where our American freedom has a tendency to pollute our Christian freedom. I am no longer a slave to sin, but I am still a slave. I am a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:18). Americans are free to live however we want as long as we do not break any laws. Christians are NOT free to live that way. We are free from sin SO THAT we can be slaves to God. We are free FROM sin. We are free to live FOR God’s glory.

We need to reorder our allegiance. Our first allegiance is to God not country. That means we take the gift of freedom and use it for his glory.

When we celebrate our nation’s founding and the freedom that was purchased by the blood of many who fought against the injustices of the king of England, we must not think that our Christian freedom, purchased by the blood of the One who suffered for the sin of those he died, is the same freedom.

We are NOT free to live our lives any way we want… at all. Christian freedom is not merely a matter of not disobeying the laws of God. We are to live for his glory in everything we do. We are always to seek his kingdom first. He is blessedly gracious in allowing us freedom to make choices like where to live, who to marry, what job to take, etc. But we are to make those choices that will glorify Him.

So, enjoy your freedom!!! Christian, you are free from the guilt, bondage, alienation, power and doom of sin. You are free to love God fully and supremely, serve others in love, and display for the world how magnificent and wonderful our Savior is. Live in that freedom today.

Around the blogs in 80 seconds

* Proclaiming the Kingdom…

It is tragic, is it not, that we have to use illustrations of secular organizations with exceedingly trivial enterprises as a standard that ought to be of those identified with the church of Jesus Christ. We have a far greater mission–one that is guaranteed to be accomplished–that should cause us to risk all, go hard, and employ every lawful means in the spirit of being sent and spent for the advancement of the Church Jesus promised to build.

Read more here...

* Some Advice from Spurgeon

“Make a point, whenever you receive a promise from God, to get all you can out of it. If you carry out that rule, it is wonderful what you will gain.

Some go on the principle of getting as little as possible out of God’s word. Such a plan may be wise with a man’s word, but God’s word is to be understood at the maximum, for he will do exceedingly abundantly above what you ask or even think.”

- Charles Spurgeon, Christ’s Glorious Achievements (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus 2003), 59

* Is ‘gender’ relative??

There are a lot of crazy things going on in the world today, and this is one of the sickest...

Doctrine of the Day: The Gospel - Part 7

So, if someone were to walk up to you today and ask you, “Hey friend, tell me the gospel and how I must respond in order to be saved” would you be prepared to answer?

Okay so the odds of someone actually asking that question are pretty slim, but we are still commanded to be prepared (Colossians 4:5-6; 1 Peter 3:15).

Over the past several weeks I have tried to give a compact yet comprehensive understanding of the gospel and the proper biblical response to it. I know it is not perfect, but I hope it is beneficial. I think it is helpful to outline our understanding of the gospel with the five words: God. Man. Sin. Christ. Faith.

But I also think it is helpful to have an understanding of the gospel that we can fit into a short paragraph that is easy to state to someone in a brief encounter. I have worked on one for a while now that I like, but I still want to tweak it a bit. It is 111 words. I offer it to you now with the hope that you will be able to improve on it and share with me an even better summary statement of the gospel that we can share with others in a short conversation.

* God created us for His glory.

* We have all sinned and fallen short of that Glory.

* God in his mercy sent his only Son to take on flesh, live out his Father’s righteous requirements, die on a cross as a substitute for our death, taking away our sin and God’s wrath, and giving us his own righteousness.

* On the third day He rose from the dead and now reigns in heaven.

* In doing this He made the ONLY way for us to see and savor the glory of God through a relationship with Him.

* This He offers freely by his grace if we would repent and place our faith in Him.

A few final reminders about the gospel and evangelism…

1. The gospel is a means to an end. The ‘end’ being God Himself. Jesus died to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). So when we share the gospel and call people to respond, we are calling them to love God supremely and fully. We are not peddling forgiveness in order to assuage their guilty conscience or to promise them their “best life now.” We are offering the gospel in order to redeem God-worshipers who will live for his glory alone. If our gospel presentations fall short of that lofty goal then we are undercutting the gospel’s power.

2. We are ALL commanded to fulfill the great commission. I know the vast majority of us feel some serious trepidation in evangelism and missions. It’s not our personality. It’s not our gift. It’s… always something that keeps us from being obedient.

But, dear Christian, I lovingly tell you now that evangelism is commanded by our LORD. If we do not commit our lives to his mission, his great commission, then we are sinning. He knows your fears, insecurities and anxieties. Yet He still commands you to go. Why? Because He wants you to live the faith you expressed at your conversion. He wants to be your strength that sustains you. He wants the glory that comes from his provision during our weakness. When the gospel is preached by weak, failing sinners redeemed by his blood who are only able to speak by his grace, THEN the glory of the LORD is proclaimed not only in our words but in our lives as well.

Christian, preach the gospel!

3. The gospel is not just for evangelism. Ironically, one of the reasons that we do not share the gospel as we should is because we do not understand the gospel is for our entire Christian lives, not just our conversion. We really need to appropriate the truth of Colossians 2:6 “As you received Christ Jesus as the LORD, so walk in him.”

It is the old problem of thinking we are saved by grace but then live by our own works. NO. We are saved by the gospel of grace and we live by the gospel of grace.

You should preach the gospel to yourself every day. Every day when you wake, submit yourself to Him again, to his forgiveness, to his LORDship, to his acceptance, to his blessing. Receive your portion of grace for that day and allow your sanctified self to commit to display his glory that day.

My prayer for all of us is that we will be changed by the gospel, we will love God fully and supremely and will gladly obey our King by taking the good news of Jesus Christ with us into all our relationships and encounters for his glory!!