Grace - Terrifying to Some

Each of us contends with a sense of duality:  we want to be independent, even though we know ourselves to be inadequate, and yet we also seek dependence on someone greater than ourselves, upon whose strength we can rest.  We swing between the fear of failure we experience through independence, and the fear we know must be risked by dependence upon another.  Tragically, for most of us, the fear of relying on the goodness and strength of another outweighs the predictable failures of our independence, and so we choose independence.  Moreover, when we are suspicious of something that is too good to be true, we become even more suspicious of those who are able accept and rely upon another.  This, my friend, is why some find it so hard to accept grace.  It terrifies them.  For when under grace, we are not in control and our merits are worthless.  Jesus came to liberate us of the weight of having to make it on our own.  The question is, are you willing to face the terror of relying Another's perfect performance?  It is a freedom you just might find rewarding and refreshing like none other.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - The Life of Grace

Enjoy this short video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3cSxw86nL4&list=FLmOYMqBli7hwE6N7uSzuSSA&index=3

"My view of me is the greatest commentary on my theology."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - 7 Points on One Way Love

I recently read Tullian Tchividjian's newest book One Way Love:  Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World.

Here are some quotes:

1.  The overwhelming focus of the bible is not the work of the redeemed but the work of the Redeemer.  Which means that the Bible is not first a recipe book for Christian living but a revelation book of Jesus who is the answer to our un-Christian living.

2.  Grace doesn't make demands.  It just gives.  And from our vantage point, it always gives to the wrong person.  We see this over and over again in the Gospels:  Jesus is always giving to the wrong people--prostitutes, tax collectors, half-breeds.  The most extravagant sinner of Jesus's day receive his most compassionate welcome.

3.  When the chain of quid pro quo is broken, all sorts of wonderful things can happen.  One-way lave has the unique power to inspire generosity, kindness, loyalty, and more love, precisely because it removes any and all requirement to change or produce.

4.  As beautiful and lifesaving as grace can be, we often resist it.  By nature, we are suspicious of promises that seem too good to be true.  We wonder about the ulterior motives of the excessively generous.  We long ago stopped opening those email and letters that tell us what we've "already won."  What's the catch?  What's the fine print?  What's in it for them?

5.  When we spend more time thinking about ourselves and how we're doing than we do about Jesus and what he's done, we shrink into ourselves.  As any gardener will tell you, no seed can grow if it is constantly being dug up to check on its progress.

6.  Bob Godrey, president of Westminster Seminary in California, used to say in class that there have been many antinomian controversies throughout history, but in many cases the legalist won them by default, since the antinomians never showed.  In other words, they're hypothetical in the truest sense.  These claims certainly line up with my nearly twenty years of ministry experience.  I've never actually met anyone who has been truly gripped by God's amazing grace in the Gospel who is then so ungrateful that they don't care about respecting or obeying Him.

7.  I once assumed (along with the vast majority of professing Christians) that the Gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved before advancing to deeper theological waters after their conversion.  I didn't realize that once God rescues sinners, His plan isn't to steer us beyond the Gospel but to move us more deeply into it.  The good newest that Jesus paid it all not only ignited the Christian life but fuels it as well.  As my friend J.D. Greear puts it, "The gospel is not just the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity...it is the pool that we swim in each and every day."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Will You Only Be Loved on Your Own Terms?

The following is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen's Return of the Prodigal Son, pp. 102-103

"The elder son's dilemma is to accept or reject that his father's love is beyond comparisons [between him and his younger brother]; to dare to be loved as his father longs to love him or to insist on being loved as he feels he ought to be loved.  The father knows that the choice must be the son's, even while he waits with outstretched hands.  Will the elder son be willing to kneel and be touched by the same hands that touch his younger brother?  Will he be willing to be forgiven and to experience the healing presence of the father who loves him beyond compare?  Luke's story makes it very clear that the father goes out to both of his children."

"In his jealously and bitterness, the elder son can only see that his irresponsible brother is receiving more attention than he himself, and concludes that he is the less loved of the two.  His father's heart, however, is not divided into more or less.  The father's free and spontaneous response to his younger son's return does not involve any comparison with his elder son.  To the contrary, he ardently desires to make his elder son part of his joy.

"This is not easy for me to grasp.  In a world that constantly compares people, ranking them as more or less intelligent, more or less attractive, more or less successful, it is not easy to really believe in a love that does not do the same.  When I hear someone praised, it is hard not to think of myself as less praiseworthy;  when I read about the goodness and kindness of other people, it is hard not to wonder whether I myself am as good and kind as they; and when I see trophies, rewards, and prizes being handed out to special people, I cannot avoid asking myself why that didn't happen to me.

"The world in which I have grown up is a world so full of grades, scores, and statistics that, consciously or unconsciously, I always try to take my measure against all the others.  Much sadness and gladness in my life flows directly from my comparing, and most, if not all, of this comparing is useless and a terrible waste of time and energy.

"Our God, who is both Father and Mother to us, does not compare.  Never.  Even though I know in my head that this is true, it is still very hard to fully accept it with my whole being.  When I hear someone called a favorite son or daughter, my immediate response is that the other children must be less appreciated, or less loved.  I cannot fathom how all of God's children can be favorites.  And still, they are.  When I look from my place in the world in God's Kingdom, I quickly come to think of God as the keeper of some great celestial scoreboard, and I will always be afraid of not making the grade.  But as soon as I look from God's welcoming home into the world, I discover that God loves with a divine love, a love that cedes to all women and men their uniqueness without ever comparing."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Do You Love Me?

The following is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen's Return of the Prodigal Son, pp. 42-43:

"'To whom do I belong?  To God or to the world?'  Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God.  A little criticism make me angry, and a little rejection make me depressed.  A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me.  It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down.  Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves.  All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival:  not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.

"As long as I keep running about asking:  'Do you love me?  Do you really love me?', I give all power to the voices of the world and put myself in bondage because the world is fill with 'ifs.'  The world says:  'Yes, I love you if you are good-looking, intelligent, and wealthy.  I love you if you have a good education, a good job, and good connections.  I love you if you produce much, sell much, and buy much.'  There are endless 'ifs' hidden in the world's love.  These 'ifs' enslave me, since it is impossible to respond adequately to all of them.  The world's love is and always will be conditional.  As long as I keep looking for my true self in the world of conditional love, I will remain 'hooked' to the world--trying, failing, and trying again.  It is a world that fosters addictions because what it offers cannot satisfy the deepest craving of my heart.

"'Addiction' might be the best word to explain the lostness that so deeply permeates contemporary society.  Our addictions make us cling to what the world proclaims as the keys to self-fulfillment:  accumulation of wealth and power; attainment of status and admiration; lavish consumption of food and drink, and sexual gratification without distinguishing between lust and love.  These addictions create expectations that cannot but fail to satisfy our deepest needs.  As long as we live with the world's delusions, our addictions condemn us to futile quests in 'the distant country,' leaving us to face an endless series of disillusionments while our sense of self remains unfulfilled.  In these days of increasing addictions, we have wandered far away from our Father's home.  The addicted life can aptly be designated a life lived in 'a distant country.'  It is from there that our cry for deliverance rises up.

"I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.  Why do I keep ignoring the place of true love and persist in looking for it elsewhere?  Why do I keep leaving home where I am called a child of God, the Beloved of my Father?"

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Prove Your Worth

The following is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen's Return of the Prodigal Son:

"There are many voices, voices that are loud, full of promises, and very seductive.  These voices say, 'Go out and prove that you are worth something.'  Soon after Jesus had heard the voice calling him the Beloved, he was led to the desert to hear those other voices.  They told him to prove that he was worth love in being successful, popular, and powerful.  Those same voices are not unfamiliar to me.  They are always there and, always, they reach into those inner places where I question my own goodness and doubt my self-worth.  They suggest that I am not going to be loved without my having earned it through determined efforts and hard work.  They want me to prove to myself and others that I am worth being loved, and they keep pushing me to do everything possible to gain acceptance.  They deny loudly that love is a totally free gift.  I leave home [like the "prodigal" son] every time I lose faith in the voice that calls me the Beloved and follow the voices that offer a great variety of ways to win the love I so much desire."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - What is Obedience in the New Testament

What does it mean to obey Christ in the New Testament?

It simply means to believe the Gospel! To add to the Gospel is to disobey Christ. Unbelief in the finished work of Christ is disobedience. To add to Christ is to obey a different gospel that is contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is what true obedience is!

When we do things for God out of faith those actions are not obedience they are the fruit of obedience, they are the fruit of our faith in Christ! Those who live "disobedient" to Christ are simply those who live without faith in Christ! 

In other words, don't preach obedience, preach Christ and let faith arise in people's hearts that leads them into the actions of Christ!

Jesus said, "If you love me you will obey my commands". We need to be careful we don't turn that into "If you obey my commands then I will love you" as some seem to do. We love because he first loved us. We obey him because we've received and walk in his love. Our focus shouldn't be to obey commands but to walk in His love. If you walk in His love you will obey any of His commands.

(The above post may be found at its original location here:  http://ccihk.com/what-does-it-mean-to-obey-christ-in-the-new-testament)

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Does the Law play any part in our ongoing Christian walk?

Does the Law play any part in our ongoing Christian walk?

It didn't get you saved:
Galatians 3: 2 "Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?"

It plays no part in you becoming mature:
Galatians 3: 3 "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

It doesn't cause God to respond to you:
Galatians 3: 5 "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?"

The New Covenant is all about faith and the power of the Spirit!

What the law was powerless to do, Christ has done for us. In other words, the law represented God's nature but it could not impart God's nature to us. The law was powerless to get rid of our old fallen nature and give us a perfect nature. But in Christ, our old self dies and passes away and we are raised into new life as a brand new person – full of God! (Rom 8:3,4).

Colossians 2:9,10 - "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ,"

Inside your re-born spirit you have all the fullness of God's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control and so much more (Gal 5:22&23). God is no longer trying to get you to live up to a certain set of rules. He's simply trying to get you to be yourself, your true self!

Your new nature doesn't want to sin. It wants to do everything that is in God's nature. Sin is foreign to your new nature. You new nature wants to live for God in total righteousness, love and obedience. It's not even a sacrifice for your new nature!

(The above post can be found at its original source here:  http://ccihk.com/does-the-law-play-any-part-in-our-ongoing-christian-walk)

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy