Archives for October 2016

It seems inevitable that every time I teach the good news of the gospel of grace to a gathering of religious, dedicated, Christians there will be a few that are furiously mad at me. They make a point to correct me not only privately but publicly. Actually they are not mad at me, they are upset by the message of grace. The message of grace is always disruptive to all of us before it becomes good news. Here are four reasons grace is so unsettling:

• It eliminates our ego. It eradicates our ability to boast and take credit. (“Then what becomes of our boasting? It is gone.” Romans 3:27). We like to take credit for our relationship with God. But the reality is the more responsibility we take the more we will resist grace. We want to contribute something to the deal. There is a sense we should earn what we get. And so grace is an upsetting invitation to surrender.
• Grace seems unreasonable and scandalous. We have never experienced a similar one-sided and one-way relationship before and so we believe one cannot exist. Paul calls the idea of such a relationship “a stumbling block” (I Cor 1:23). Our English word “scandal” is the transliteration of the Greek word for “stumbling block”  (skandalon). And so we don’t give God permission to do something that is outside our comprehension.
• When we know we are guilty, the gift of God’s grace does not feel like it costs us enough. We feel as though we should pay for what has already been purchased for us. If we pay for something it is no longer a gift (“…for by grace you have been saved…it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8,9).
• We are in a spiritual battle. Oh it is disguised in a lot of subtle ways, but the essence is always the same – to get us to substitute our performance for the work of Christ on the cross. Darrel Bock writes this, “Any presentation of the gospel that adds human works to grace is not the gospel…”

Scotty Smith in his notes on John 15 says “The gospel sabotages all forms of self-salvation.” That is really good news.

 

PS: If you have read my book, Lay it Down – Living in the Freedom of the Gospel, it would be so helpful to leave a review on Amazon…especially if you liked it!!  Click here.

 

 

 

 

 

“If we don’t know the satisfaction of solitude, we will only know the panic of loneliness.”*

I am an introvert. There are times I need to be alone, and there are times I know I need solitude.  The difference is life altering. Sometimes I need both. Jesus needed both. There were times he was simply alone, and then there were intentional times he was by himself, but not alone. He was with the Father…listening, praying.

My wife Sue is an off the scale extrovert. Extroverts need the satisfaction of solitude just as much. Everyone does. Those who don’t practice and experience the soul filling satisfaction of solitude live with an unsatisfied emptiness. The bad news is they have lived with it so long they think it is normal…and therefor what it means to be whole and healthy.

A WARNING: Don’t get confused between solitude and physical rest, recreation, or just plain alone time. We need rest, recreation and aloneness, but they are unfulfilling substitutes for solitude. Our soul tank stays empty. The Lord speaks through Jeremiah saying, “…for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jer 2:13). They confused the recreation of ESPN for solitude – for extended time in the presence of God. There is nothing evil about ESPN, the evil was the people believed it could do for them what their soul was thirsting for, what only God could do for them.

MY CHALLENGE: Being well rested, having fun, and having appropriate personal time is important. Because they are important, we set aside time for them in our schedules. We build them into our routine. How about solitude? Have you built that into your routine? Some extended time in the Scriptures, listening, pondering, journaling, praying, etc? How might you insert it into your routine? When? Where? How often? How long? Decide right now! Plan it now. Protect that time at all cost…or it will cost you dearly.

*  quote by Sherry Turkle

 

Imagine God thinking about you…and He is – always. You are in His mind because He is always accompanying you (Mt 28:20). You don’t leave Him behind when you decide to sin. He is there. He is always watching over you in all your ways (Prov 2:8). He knows what you are thinking even if you restrain yourself and don’t say it (Psalm 139:4). He knows the hidden motives of your heart (John2:25).

The fact that God knows me so intimately, that nothing I do, say, think, or dream is hidden from him, is this good news or bad news for me? Once in a while I sense it is good news. When the fears of life invade my mind and circumstances, it is comforting to know He is with me. But to be honest with you, it is easy for me to interpret His continuous mindfulness and perpetual presence as bad news. I can imagine God being pretty disappointed in me…after all I disappoint myself. I think that the first thing that catches God’s eye is my sin.

When I think this way, and turn the good news into bad news, I am so WRONG! So what do I do in my wrongness to set it right? I must go to the good news of the gospel. To the truth. One of my key truth passages is John 17:23 where Jesus is praying to his Father about his disciples:

Then they will be mature…

And give the godless world evidence

That you have sent me and loved them

In the same way you have loved me.

(The Message)

Peter, in his denial of Jesus, was so disappointed in himself that “He went out and cried and cried and cried” (Mt 26:75, The Message). But Jesus says that God his Father, loved Peter just like He loved him. HERE IS GOOD NEWS:  God loves us just as much as He loved Jesus. HERE IS EVEN BETTER NEWS: The apostle John says “God is love” (I John 4:8), it is the very character of God. And you know what? Our behavior does not change the character of God! He loves me in all the ways I feel I disappoint Him. “What a small God we would have if divine character was dependent on our behavior.”* And so my hope and my stability is never in my love for God, but in His love for me.

“When God thinks of you, love swells in his heart and a smile comes to his face.”*

PS: Not only do I need to remind myself of this truth, so do my friends. And I guess your friends need the stability of this truth as well. Let me suggest you not only forward this to your friends, but encourage them to subscribe to this blog and weekly reminder of the good news of the original gospel. Then they can forward it to their friends – and the transforming power of the gospel spreads. That is my desire. And don’t you forget to subscribe – in the weeks ahead I will have some special things just for those who have joined the Laying it Down family.

*  David G. Benner, Surrendered to Love.