Hi Everyone,
Christians looking to themselves. That's the problem.
I hear it constantly:
My heart breaks for these brothers and sisters who are constantly instructed by their leaders to look to themselves and judge themselves. "Here's a principle", the leader says. "It will help you be a better Christian, like me."
I see these brothers and sisters living a life of the never-ending circle of Striving, Success, Failure, and Repeat. None of them ever tell me what the Bible really says about them. None of them call themselves Overwhelming (or More Than) Conquerors. None of them ever tell me that they died once-for-all with Christ *and* have been once-for-all washed, sanctified, and justified. It's not a language they use, because it's a truth they simply do not know. They see only their failure, and they don't see Jesus. Their sin is constantly before them, hence the phrase "despite myself, Jesus loves me."
Dastardly. Demonic. Deception. Depression.
I can understand Paul's frustration at the Galatians, a church he started. "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" "Who has bewitched you?"
Consider the following quotes by Mick Mooney:
"Sin itself is not the problem in the Christian life. It is following the wrong leader that creates the problem--even if that wrong leader is God's law (Gal. 5:18). The only leader that will ensure a completely active and righteous life is Christ in us, our hope of glory."
"The truth is that when preachers try to help people obtain the Christ-life by pointing them to laws, keys, principles, and rules instead of Christ Himself and the grace that came through Him, they do the body of Christ a terrible disservice."
"As a community in Christ, we can only uplift Christ and His greatness, His glory, and the power of His finished work. We need to put our confidence in the Spirit in us and trust that He will give us revelation on how to live and act. He is our teacher. He is the teacher in us: Christ in us, the hope of glory! We can have confidence that He will open up the Scriptures to give us understanding and he is also committed to leading us in the ways of His love so that we can live and relate with God and others according to God's hear of love.
A preacher's role is to simply lift up the greatness of Jesus and the result should be that the church has even more confidence in who they are in Jesus and who He is in them."
Amen, I say.
"...I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." Phil 3:12b
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
Christians looking to themselves. That's the problem.
I hear it constantly:
"I need more discipline in prayer."
"I need to be more diligent."
"I need to not waste time."
"I need to be more committed."
"Despite myself, Jesus loves me."
-- and the worse --
"I still sin, therefore I have a sin nature and/or I must be a sinner."
"I need to be more diligent."
"I need to not waste time."
"I need to be more committed."
"Despite myself, Jesus loves me."
-- and the worse --
"I still sin, therefore I have a sin nature and/or I must be a sinner."
My heart breaks for these brothers and sisters who are constantly instructed by their leaders to look to themselves and judge themselves. "Here's a principle", the leader says. "It will help you be a better Christian, like me."
I see these brothers and sisters living a life of the never-ending circle of Striving, Success, Failure, and Repeat. None of them ever tell me what the Bible really says about them. None of them call themselves Overwhelming (or More Than) Conquerors. None of them ever tell me that they died once-for-all with Christ *and* have been once-for-all washed, sanctified, and justified. It's not a language they use, because it's a truth they simply do not know. They see only their failure, and they don't see Jesus. Their sin is constantly before them, hence the phrase "despite myself, Jesus loves me."
Dastardly. Demonic. Deception. Depression.
I can understand Paul's frustration at the Galatians, a church he started. "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" "Who has bewitched you?"
Consider the following quotes by Mick Mooney:
"Sin itself is not the problem in the Christian life. It is following the wrong leader that creates the problem--even if that wrong leader is God's law (Gal. 5:18). The only leader that will ensure a completely active and righteous life is Christ in us, our hope of glory."
"The truth is that when preachers try to help people obtain the Christ-life by pointing them to laws, keys, principles, and rules instead of Christ Himself and the grace that came through Him, they do the body of Christ a terrible disservice."
"As a community in Christ, we can only uplift Christ and His greatness, His glory, and the power of His finished work. We need to put our confidence in the Spirit in us and trust that He will give us revelation on how to live and act. He is our teacher. He is the teacher in us: Christ in us, the hope of glory! We can have confidence that He will open up the Scriptures to give us understanding and he is also committed to leading us in the ways of His love so that we can live and relate with God and others according to God's hear of love.
A preacher's role is to simply lift up the greatness of Jesus and the result should be that the church has even more confidence in who they are in Jesus and who He is in them."
Amen, I say.
"...I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." Phil 3:12b
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
No comments:
Post a Comment