Keeping God’s People Attentive to God

Posted on October 28, 2011 by jeff warren

Eugene Peterson is best known for his brilliant work presented in “The Message”- a paraphrase of the New Testament that has challenged millions to read the Bible in a different and enlightening way. As a former professor in my doctoral work, I have followed him from afar as a mentor in pastoral ministry. His writings regarding the role of the pastor are his best. His trilogy- “Contemplative Pastor”, “Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work”, “Under the Unpredictable Plant”- on pastoral leadership have encouraged and challenged me through the years. I’m inspired and troubled by his words below and I want my fellow pastors to be as well.

“American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.
A few of us are angry about it. We are angry because we have been deserted…. It is bitterly disappointing to enter a room full of people whom you have every reason to expect share the quest and commitments of pastoral work and find within ten minutes that they most definitely do not. They talk of images and statistics. They drop names. They discuss influence and status. Matters of God and the soul and Scripture are not grist for their mills.
The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper’s concerns– how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money.
Some of them are very good shopkeepers. They attract a lot of customers, pull in great sums of money, develop splendid reputations. Yet it is still shopkeeping; religious shopkeeping, to be sure, but shopkeeping all the same. The marketing strategies of the fast-food franchise occupy the waking minds of these entrepreneurs; while asleep they dream of the kind of success that will get the attention of journalists.
The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.”
-Eugene Peterson

Lord God, break us. Keep us on task, seeking to please you alone, glorifying our Savior to the end.

The Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Grace

Posted on September 30, 2011 by jeff warren

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

What does it mean for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? Throughout the Gospels we read that Jesus came “proclaiming” and “bringing”- (enacting) the kingdom of God. This coming kingdom was accompanied by healing and great acts of compassion. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes- a description of kingdom people. Most parables begin with the words, “The kingdom of God is like”. This kingdom is wherever and whenever the King reigns and some day, because of His completed salvific work on the cross His Kingdom will come on the New Earth exactly as it is in heaven.
It should be OBVIOUS from an honest reading of the Gospels that Jesus expected His disciples (US) to master the lessons He taught and actually LIVE a kingdom life- to actually practice illogical acts of compassion, unreasonable amounts mercy and stunning amounts of forgiveness. Clearly this Gospel of the kingdom of God… is a Gospel of grace. This Good News is that in God’s kingdom GRACE abounds. It’s Christ’s vision of the world and how it should be AND how it WILL be. If Christianity is about anything, it is about forgiveness. It is about grace. If we are to live as kingdom people, we need a recovery, a re-discovery of the core- the central- Message of Jesus- the FOCUS of the Christian faith: forgiveness. Indeed, in our best moments the gracious melody of forgiveness is heard as the recurring theme of our faith. The kingdom of God is a place where GRACE abounds.

The Kingdom comes when grace abounds. The parable of Jesus – like the story of the Vineyard workers in Matthew 20 leave the listener with head-scratching disbelief- how is it that one could work all day and another work for one hour and ALL receive the same compensation? Jesus taught “the new math of grace”. It’s not about human merit; but about divine forgiveness. It’s not about earning wages- in the kingdom of God the last are first, the weak are strong and there IS NO counting. Living in the kingdom, Jesus says, is not about religious moralism; it’s about a complete reorientation to the Gospel of grace.

What is grace?
Justice is getting what you deserve. Could’ve started with the word “revenge”- which we see a lot of in our world- that’s when someone does you wrong and you pay back with more than what you deserve.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Now, James tells us that mercy triumphs over justice (James 2:12).
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
To live the grace-filled life means that we see grace- not simply as a means toward salvation but as a WAY of LIFE. That’s why you’ve been forgiven- so that you might LIVE forgiven. Grace demands a radical love and a forgiveness- in the final analysis forgiveness is an act of faith. I’m trusting God to be a better justice-maker than I am. Too often we know we should forgive, we want to forgive, we almost forgive, but in the end we realize we cannot forgive- we are too just. My need for justice trumps my ability to forgive. But in James 2:13 the Bible says that, “Mercy triumphs over justice”.
“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20-21
So, among God’s people, grace “abounds” (it overflows, it thrives, it increases). How does it “abound”, increase? It abounds, it thrives through us as God’s people when we extend grace to others.
Luke 14:15-24 Jesus tells the story of the Master who is planning a grand banquet and he tells his servants to go and invite certain people to come. One by one they offer excuses and say that they cannot come. The Master opens the invitation up to all and extends as invitation to the banquet to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. The kingdom comes when grace abounds!

Grace abounds when…
1. We embrace God’s forgiveness. When God forgives He sees you as though your sin never happened. Can you forgive like that? You never will- until you realize that change won’t happen through ‘trying harder’ but only through encountering the radical grace of God. There is so much in your future but you’ve got to leave the past behind you! You need to bury the past- what could’ve been, what should’ve been, and how justice must be served in the life of that individual who has hurt you.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

2. We become agents of God’s forgiveness. Christians sometime believe in a theology of grace but not a lifestyle of grace. Grace abounds when we take on the heart of Jesus. As kingdom people we are administrators of grace dispensers of His grace- we peddle, (we tout, we push) grace… here’s the picture of a kingdom person: wherever they go, they are so filled up with God’s grace- it abounds, it overflows, it spills over on to everyone they encounter. Have you ever met someone like that? Here’s how you spot them: they are kind to everyone. In fact, to the point that it doesn’t make sense- if grace doesn’t make you say, “Wait a minute…that CAN’T be right”, it’s not grace. Because grace, by it’s very nature is NOT fair. It is a most unnatural act. Grace-filled people have lots of friends- and lots of friends who don’t look like them. Following Jesus will always take you into relationships that make you uncomfortable.”
Grace-filled people are joy-filled people. Grace-givers are FUN to be around. They’re the people you want at your party. In fact, they know how to party! Don’t miss this: Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is like a party. It’s a feast! And why is it that so many Christians are unhappy, tight, grumpy, and solemn?! They have never truly embraced God’s grace. Because grace-filled people are constantly overwhelmed by the grace they’ve received from God- so much so, they want you to experience as well- so they show you what grace looks like. You can spot grace-givers. Are you one of them?

3. We decide to include everyone- especially those who are undeserving. We must determine that we will include everyone in this kingdom party. Everyone is invited to be a recipient of my love. I will show NO discrimination as I dispense this grace that I have been given.

4. We introduce others to the Grace-giver Jesus.
Everyone is welcome… the kingdom of God is all-inclusive (or more correctly- exclusive to those who come undeserving, humble, and contrite before God.
As we apply this as a church family- we’ve said that as kingdom people- we are a Gospel-centered church- and this Gospel is the Gospel of grace. Grace leads to inclusion (the central point of this parable in Luke Grace leads to diversity which should lead to more grace. That’s the Church!

A sign you’re growing in grace: You realize Jesus ALWAYS writes stories of mercy, of grace, compassion, and reconciliation bigger than you would. Join Him in writing a story of grace today.

The Ten Traits of a Healthy Family

Posted on August 31, 2011 by jeff warren

1. They have an irrational commitment to each member of the family. They display an illogical love for one another, spread lavishly and without discretion. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” 1 John 3:1 Driven by 1 John 3:1, stunning amounts of love, kindness, and forgiveness are shared to family member.

2. They communicate with truth and grace. Mom and Dad model Ephesians 4:15 How we treat our spouse (and how we extend grace to our family members) will confirm or contradict what we believe about God.
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:15 Create an atmosphere where truth can be discussed, regardless of how difficult it may be to talk about.

3. They affirm the value and uniqueness of each member of the family. Each person is loved for free and without judgment. His or her opinions and feelings are always honored.
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7 Celebrate the uniqueness of each child in our family. “I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

4. They vow never to abuse, shame, control, or intimidate one another. “Oh, children are resilient- they bounce back.” No children are fragile and understanding that children are fragile- no emotional, verbal, or physical abuse is tolerated in any way and is immediately confronted. Consider the power of words.
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” Philippians 4:5
Unkind words are not tolerated- “We do not talk to each other like that in our family.” Parents: You must model kind words and challenge this early on.

5. They share a strong spiritual foundation. Parents recognize that a “mild
dose” of God will never cultivate a life that has Christ at the very center, guiding every aspect of life (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). There is no abdication of spiritual formation- no outsourcing to the church. We create spiritual orphans, spiritual schizophrenics. Complete disconnect! What’s your goal parents? There’s a big difference between a young person who goes to church & one who is truly sold out to God.

6. They teach respect for others. Racism, arrogant superiority, or disrespect
for people who are different is never tolerated. Jesus added to the Shema that we should love each other as we love ourselves:
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’.” Matthew 22:39
When you see a child who is different than other kids ask, “What would it feel like to be that kid?” Teach your children to love and honor all people- adopt Martin Luther King Jr.s’ dream for our nation. Help your children dream of the day when every person- Hispanic, black, Asian, European and all people will know that they are loved with the unprejudiced, unbiased, and unrestrained love of Jesus.

7. They instill a sense of responsibility in one another. Each member knows that they must take responsibility for their own actions and face the consequences of their poor choices. Self-esteem does not result from simply heaping large amounts of affirmation and praise. It happens when a child learns to be responsible.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.” 1 John 1:8-10
Let the consequences do the teaching. It’s God’s way- and parents too often get in the way of what God wants to do, simply through the consequences of choices made or not made. Parents: Do NOT rescue your child. This takes courageous parenting- it takes faith- to believe that God will work in your children’s life as He sees fit. When you let the consequences do the teaching you place that child in the hands of God.

8. They play together. This is so important. Laughter and fun mark a family that builds strong relationships with one another.
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

9. They celebrate rituals and traditions together. This gives the family a sense of constancy and permanence. They know that the love and commitment of the family will never change- this year, next year, and the next…
“Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?” Job 8:8-10

10. They seek help when they come to an impasse. They understand that all families have issues that may need outside or professional help and they are not afraid to ask for help when needed.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

God is very clear about the kind of families He wants us to have. Let us follow His principles and seek to honor Him in our families.

What’s the Gospel?

Posted on August 13, 2011 by jeff warren

At the core of our Message, our ministries, our lives, our hope, and life is the Gospel. The longer I preach the more convinced I am that I (we) have but one message: the Gospel of Grace found only in Christ. Surely all of Scripture is inspired by God and all of the Bible is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness- but it is the Gospel that is central. I’ve heard Christians through the years express a desire to go “deeper” in the Word. Sometimes this is a true desire to get beyond the surface preaching that seems to come from many of our pulpits. But most of the time this is a desire for more knowledge (and not a desire nor evidence of obedience to what is already known- i.e. kindness, compassion, care for the poor, the marginalized, a lack of grace and purity, etc..).

I ask, “What’s deeper than the Gospel?” How can we ever tire of studying, scrutinizing, exploring, and- indeed- applying the Gospel to every aspect of life. The Gospel is the well that never runs dry. Jesus is eternal and the exploration of His majesty is never-ending. Let’s preach, teach, and apply the Gospel. It is (HE is) the Only hope of salvation for those who believe.

Here Tim Keller (who is always Gospel-centered) answers the question: “What is the Gospel?”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0g-s4Qhtyk&feature=youtu.be]

Have you taken the Bible for granted?

Posted on June 28, 2011 by jeff warren

How much do you love God’s Word? Do you cherish it? Do you read it? Do you know what a gift it is to your life?

Please take the time to watch this inspiring story. Let it challenge you to NEVER take God’s Word for granted. Study it. Love it. Obey it.

Let it draw you to Jesus.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9dpmp_-TY0]

What Every Mother Needs

Posted on May 7, 2011 by jeff warren

“Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:2

Paul’s blessing to young Timothy is my blessing for all moms this Mothers Day.

Every mother needs:

1. Grace

Mothers, may God’s unmerited, pardoning and transforming favor and power be upon you. May His grace cover you, define you, and guide you as guide others. May your marriage be grace-centered. May you parent with grace. We are all in need of grace. So let’s go ahead and destroy the myth of the “super mom”. There are no perfect moms. The super mom is simply the mom who sticks with it day in and day out and does not give up. Real moms need the grace of God. God’s grace picks up where we are done. Paul said,

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10

Mom, God’s grace finishes the task when you can’t go on. Aren’t you glad, when you feel you can’t go on, God’s grace gives you strength? When you fail, His grace covers you. When you lose your temper, His grace covers you. When you find yourself feeling all alone, unappreciated, or unworthy His grace covers you. You can turn to Him. To be a mom is to rely daily on God’s grace.

2. Mercy

God’s warm and tender affection for those who are in need and who are afflicted comes in unlimited ways to moms. It is His compassion and understanding love that can keep you going. Moms, God knows your deepest hurts. He understands those private moments when you grow weary and become discouraged. To be a mom is to rely daily on God’s mercy.

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

3. Peace

Peace is the fullness of God’s blessings upon His people- because we have been reconciled to Him through the death of Jesus Christ. Because we have peace with God, we can experience peace in our hearts daily. Mom, what do you need more than peace today? You find it as you run to God. To be a mom is to rely on His peace in your life daily.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

Mom, you are a valued treasure to God to everyone around you. But your ultimate worth in life is not found in being the perfect mom, it’s not found in your husband or your children. Your worth is found in Christ. In Him you find peace. In Him you find mercy. In Him you find grace.

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

What Really Happened on the Cross?

Posted on April 11, 2011 by jeff warren

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

People ask: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” R.C. Sproul noted, “That only happened once, and He volunteered.” Jesus was sinless and yet He “became sin” for us. What does this mean? If you want to live forgiven you must fully grasp what took place on the cross. And the key to unlocking the mystery of the cross is to consider the most perplexing, uncomfortable, and difficult words that ever came from the lips of Jesus. In His final moments on the cross, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 He’s actually quoting Psalm 22:1, but clearly this is a cry of anguish. Here “forsaken” means, “abandon”, “left in trouble”- someone in trouble and turning your back on them. I’ve had many people ask me, “Did He really believe the Father had abandoned Him?” Could it be that God the Father really did forsake Him? To understand the difficulty of these words we must first understand the nature of the Triune God. The Trinity (the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit) is at the core of biblical Christianity. It’s important to note that the Trinity is a relationship of submission. The Son says He does nothing apart from “the Father’s initiative” and that He does only what He sees the Father doing. Jesus says that ultimately the Spirit would come and “will guide you in all truth”. At Jesus’ baptism, the Father says, “This is my beloved Son”. In John 17:11, Jesus prays for the Father to make His followers “one even as we are one”. Could it be that for the first time in all of history there was violence done, not only to Jesus, but to the Trinitarian relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Understood correctly, this cry of anguish found in Matthew 27, is one of the most powerful, perplexing, and comforting words that Jesus ever spoke to us. In fact, I pray that as we unpack them you will be overwhelmed, besieged, and undone by God’s love for you.

See Matthew 26:36-46 In an attempt to understand more fully what Jesus meant, we need to go back to the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the cross. As I read the event of Jesus’ last week, I’m struck with the reality that He is in complete control of all that is happening. If you look carefully and listen to His words it seems as though He Himself is writing the script. As the story unfolds you realize that’s precisely what’s happening. He has a secret ambition. It’s interesting to note that just prior to His arrest, John 18:4 says that Jesus knew “all things that were to happen to Him.”

Matthew’s account of the events leading up to the moment of Judas’ betrayal is the most descriptive account of all that Jesus was going through. After Judas agrees to betray Him, Jesus shares the Passover meal with His disciples. During the meal Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times that night. Then they go to a spacious olive grove of the garden called Gethsemane. Emotionally drained (in fact Luke tells us that they were “exhausted from sorrow” in chapter 22:45), the disciples reclined under the moon and stars of a now peaceful night and quickly drift off to sleep. Jesus, however, would find no peace, no rest at all. Matthew says He “began to be sorrowful and troubled” (26:38). Mark adds that He was “deeply distressed”. Often Jesus would go off alone, most of the time to be alone, but on this night He would need His best friends there with Him. Jesus, the Man, needed human companionship. Solitary confinement is the worst form of punishment our species has ever devised and, in this moment, Jesus didn’t want it.

When His disciples failed Him, Jesus did not try to conceal His hurt: “Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (vs. 40) His words suggest something more threatening than loneliness. Is it possible that for the first time ever He did not want to be alone with the Father? A great struggle is underway in the heart of Jesus. No formal, well recited prayers would come on this night. No poetic, nicely phrased petitions in these prayers. Dr. Luke tells us, “being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling on the ground” (22:44). He describes a rare medical condition that had taken effect, known as “hematidrosis”, in which the blood vessels, under such stress, expand and burst into the sweat glands. Imagine what happens next: He falls face down on the ground crying out to God the Father.

Why was Jesus in such agony? I would suggest that you and I have never known this kind of anguish. I’ve talked to many people who knew they had only days, even hours to live. Some are terrified but most are accepting, even calm. Jesus seems anything but calm. Knowing what was to come, was He afraid of the beatings, the scourging, the spikes driven through His wrists and feet? Was it the fear of death that tortured Him so? Here we realize that sometimes it’s a blessing not to know the future. Was it the betrayal of His closest friends? Was it the denial of Peter? Was it a combination of all of these things together? No. I believe that the pain Jesus knew in the garden and would experience on the cross was greater than any one of those things and even greater than all of those things combined.

To know what was at the heart of His agony, we must understand what He meant when He referred to the “cup” the night before in the Garden.

What was this “cup”? What was Jesus hoping to avoid? It was not merely death. It was not physical pain on the cross. It was not the scourging or humiliation. It was not the torture of nails being driven through His body, not the horrible thirst, nor was it the disgrace of being spat upon or beaten. Again, it was not even all these things combined. I say this because those were all the things Jesus said not to fear. In Luke 12:4, He said, “And I say to you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more they can do.” “But,” He went on to add, “I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast you into hell; yes, I say to you, fear him!” (vs. 5) Clearly, what Christ dreaded most about the cross was not physical death. It was the outpouring of the wrath He would endure from His Holy Father. The key is a clear understanding of “the “cup”. The “cup” was a well-known Old Testament symbol of the divine wrath of God against sin. Consider just a few references:

“Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and drained it out.” Isaiah 51:17

“Take this cup of fury from my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” Jeremiah 25: 15-16

“Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall down and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” Jeremiah 25:27

Pretty graphic stuff. What Jesus was experiencing on the cross was nothing less than the cup of the terrible wrath of God! It’s worth noting here that “wrath” is not an out-of-control reaction of someone going “postal” on an angry rampage. God is beyond that. Wrath is God’s holy reaction to sin and in this case, it is unleashed on the Son. The “cup” that Jesus was to drink was the vile, repulsive cup of sin bringing upon Him the full fury of the wrath of God.

Now, consider this: The One who had never tasted the tiniest drop of sin, the One who had never been separated from the Trinitarian relationship, will now bear the full brunt of the divine fury of God upon the most terrible, grotesque sins ever committed by every person who would ever live. This, of course, includes your sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made who knew no sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That holy transaction of our sins being poured into Him, the full wrath of God unleashed upon the Son, is what Jesus feared most. He had never been separated from the Father, until the cross. God the Father has never abandoned anyone except His own Son.

This is the only way to explain the perplexing prayer of Jesus on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46) Friend, as you read this, do you realize what you’ve been saved from? God imputed (transferred, exchanged, ascribed) your sin to Christ and then punished Him for it. Peter puts it this way:

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 Don’t you feel a need to stop right now and thank Him? Go ahead and do it.

In the garden we find the only place where Jesus addresses God as “My Father” (Matthew 26:39,42). In fact, Mark records He prayed, “Abba, Father”. “Abba” is the Aramaic equivalent of “Daddy” or “Dada”. I believe that Jesus was experiencing a kind of “holy separation anxiety”. What parent has not seen the terror in the eyes of a child while being left behind- as if their eyes and their cry was saying, “I can’t believe that you are leaving me!”, as if to say, “Why have you abandoned me?!” I believe that is precisely what Jesus went through on the cross, and the garden was a prelude to the pain He knew was coming. With this cry, He yelled, “My God…” not “My Father” (the only place He does this). Did the Father really abandon the Son? Was there really violence done to the Trinity while Jesus was on the cross!? I can’t explain it theologically or understand it rationally, but how else can you justify this cry of Jesus?

As He cried out in anguish, God’s inflexible holiness and boundless love collided, and our redemption was made possible.

That’s what happened on the cross. For you to be fully forgiven, Jesus had to be fully abandoned. In that moment, the Man Jesus was not in charge, the Father was. What does this transaction over 2,000 years ago have to do with you today? Everything. It is more relevant than today’s newspaper and more powerful than any truth you’ll ever know. “You are forgiven”, He says. Jesus, the Lamb of God, took on the full fury of God’s wrath. He died so that you wouldn’t have to and now, you can live forgiven.

What is the “righteousness of God”?

“But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:22 What is “the righteousness of God” poured into us?

The “righteousness of God” is to be as righteous as Jesus is righteous.

How can I receive it?

“Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

How can I live in it?

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

So, grace is unmerited favor- Does God forgive me regardless of how I live? And once I receive His grace, can I go live any way I want to live? I believe this question gets to the heart of what it means to be a Christian. If I truly comprehend the gift of God’s grace and the price that was required to pay so that I might be forgiven, then I will respond with a gratitude that would involve my whole life- all that I am. Otherwise I experience what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace”- grace that cost Jesus everything but cost me nothing. To receive His grace is to experience “costly grace”- I understand that the possibility of grace cost Him everything and therefore, cost me everything. It is costly because Christ’s life, death and resurrection becomes a model, the example for MY life. Thus Bonhoeffer’s most famous quote, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” There is no greater cost. Of course this is in line with the call of Jesus Himself:

Then He said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Out of gratitude for this great exchange we die to ourselves in order to live for Jesus. As we die to ourselves it is HIS life now alive in us. Let your life now be one big, constant, ever-growing act of gratitude back to God for all He’s done for you.

Lighten Up

Posted on July 16, 2010 by jeff warren

I never grow tired of this sequence from “The Mission”- a powerful reminder that we have been set free in Christ. If you have received Christ’s forgiveness you are now completely loved, fully pleasing, totally accepted by God. You don’t have to pay the price for your failures.

Think about your own life for a moment. What burdens are you carrying around? What failures from your past continue to beat you down? John Mark McMillan’s lyrics from, “How He Loves”: “I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us.” Life is too short to be burdened by sin that Christ has taken to the cross.

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

http://vimeo.com/12127228