a level playing-field.

The gospel does extraordinary things. From salvation, to justification and sanctification–the gospel enables, completes, fulfills, and empowers it all.

And the same is true with how we view others.

Many times we view someone’s sin as massive and it cripples us. We look at them in disgust, praying that they might get hit by a car (violent, I know. Sin is violent!).

But the gospel demands that I view my sin as more devastating than I normally do because its not the sin itself that gives definition to the devastation: it’s whom I have sinned against.

And I’ve sinned against a holy, righteous God. And since I have offended this infinitely holy God, my sin is what I should be looking at, not the sin of someone else. Their sin is against God first. We aren’t to judge as God judges.

This means that I have to keep short accounts with others. If I get bitter or upset towards them, I am assuming that their sin against me is greater than my sin against God.

Because of the gospel, we’re all on a level-playing field. We are all sinners. But the cross of Christ demands that I deal with my sin against God through what Jesus has done for me.

No one is better than anyone else. The playing field is level.

And through the gospel I now realize that the sin committed against me pales in comparison to the innumerable sins I’ve committed against God. Innumerable.

lent and the gospel

I grew up in a more ‘non-liturgical’ setting. It was a small non-denominational church full of awesome people willingly serving an awesome God. But I didn’t practice anything on the liturgical calendar. I didn’t even know what that was to be honest. But as time progressed and I learned more about Church History and the various seasons on the calendar, I began to develop a more personal piety during these times. I purchased this ebook to walk through those seasons and found it to be rewarding.

Nonetheless, I’m not “against” people practicing resurrection (Lent is 40 days of anticipation as we move towards Good Friday and Easter), as resurrection is surely at the center of what we as people-made-of-ashes are anticipating some day. I’m also not against people “giving up” things for lent because that can be a positive thing. There are various things that people do for various reasons, and one ought to abide by his/her conscience.

But this year I decided to do “40 days of Joy.” What I mean is, I’m going to give up myself (Mark 8:34-36), celebrate the joy found in God, and name those things I’m grateful for. Ironically, without the cross we wouldn’t be able to do this.

The Implications of the Gospel, Part 3

(originally published in our local newspaper on 1/25/12)

Last time we looked at the “big picture” implication of the gospel message. And it would be appropriate to clarify that yes, it is a message, but it is also more than that. It is a message that has cosmic implications because it deals with the spiritual and natural world, too. In other words, it’s a message about what Jesus has done that affects the space/time continuum. It’s about the Kingdom of God coming to bear on all of creation.

But this week I want to focus in on a couple of ways in which the gospel message affects our relationships. For many, the gospel is more easily understood in cosmic scope, but less understood in practical day-to-day ways. The reality is, each of us needs the gospel every day. We need it in every moment, opportunity and situation.

One of the core doctrines of the Christian faith is our “Union with Christ.” This is the Bible’s way of speaking of what Jesus has done for us. He has obeyed where we failed to obey, died a death we should have died, and was resurrected to defeat death thus adopting us into his family when our faith is placed in him. “In him” are the words the Apostle Paul often uses to describe our union with Jesus. His point: he has brought unity to our relationship so that when the Father looks at us, he sees Jesus. This gives us a new identity.

And this new identity gives us value, not because we are something special—we certainly are not!—but because Jesus gives us his inherent value and status before God having brought us near to the Holy One.

Here’s where it gets a bit more practical.

Most of us are insecure in our relationships. We tend to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like with money we simply do not have. And we have this perpetual “need” to feel needed and valued by others. So we often, though disguised in the sin of pride, prop ourselves up because we care what others think of us. We say, “Look at me! Look what I did! Check out what I did on Facebook! Me, me, me and me!”

The gospel challenges this propensity. It says that our value is not found in what other people think of us. When our lives our driven by the gospel we don’t “need” anything but Jesus. What people think of us doesn’t matter because what God thinks of us has taken primacy in our lives.

Jesus has brought us near to our Maker. He’s done so by the blood of the cross. We are now called to put to death what is earthly in us and instead, “Put on…as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 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” (Colossians 3:12-13). Seek to live a gospel-driven life that is secure in Christ Jesus.

The Implications of the Gospel, Part 1

(From my article in the local paper last week.)

If there’s something I’ve learned about faith, Jesus and Christianity it is this: the gospel is something we need every second of every day. As I open up the Scriptures and study the life of Jesus and the theology of the New Testament, I conclude that we are all on a journey and have to revisit the good news over and over again. We never outgrow our need for the gospel, nor do we move on from it. It applies to every situation, circumstance, thought, action and opportunity.

Furthermore, Tim Keller once said that the gospel is not the “ABC’s” of Christianity. It’s the “A-to-Z.” What Keller was getting at was the reality that for many Christians, the gospel is simply that thing you believe when you first become a Christian and after that you move on to bigger and better things (whatever that means). The biblical vision for the gospel, however, is that it is the news that sustains you until God sovereignly takes your life.

Before we look at the implications of the Gospel in the next few weeks, I want us to define it. The Apostle Paul defines the Gospel this way in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 (ESV), “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

According to this passage the gospel consists of 5 things: (1) It is “according to the Scriptures”—which means that the Old Testament is an integral part to this news; (2) It is the climactic story of Jesus—his death and resurrection being the central part to that story in the overall story of Israel; (3) It is the grounds for our justification—“in which you stand” is Paul’s way of assuring the Corinthian church that Jesus is the bases for salvation (not our good works!) and that we are “declared right” in the eyes of the Judge because of Jesus’ substitutionary death for us; (4) Jesus “appeared”—thus showing his followers that God has vindicated him (through resurrection), and showing the world Jesus is who he says he is; (5) You must receive it (Paul reminds them of the gospel that they “received”).

The first reaction we should have towards this good news is a repentant heart. The Offended Creator of the Universe has chosen to intervene in the Story He is telling by crucifying His Son. This cannot be responded to with ambivalence—no, we must respond confessing our sin, trusting in what Christ has done (Romans 10:9). Salvation begins and ends with the realization that we are sinners, but God intervened refusing to allow us to have the final word of sin. That’s the gospel we glory in (1 Timothy 1:3).

the gospel and sanctification

“If we would be sanctified, our course is clear and plain–we must begin with Christ. We must go to Him as sinners, with no plea but that of utter need, and cast our souls on Him by faith…If we would grow in holiness and become more sanctified, we must continually go on as we began, and be ever making fresh applications to Christ.”

-J.C. Ryle, Holiness (Cambridge, UK: James Clarke, 1956), 32. Quoted in Jared C. Wilson’s Gospel Wakfulness (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2011), 135.