FOOLS FOR CHRIST

“If any of you are well versed in this art, I mean, if any of you can rightly make this distinction [between law and gospel], he would deserve to be called a doctor of theology. For Law and Gospel must be distinguished from each other. The role of the Law is to terrify men, to drive them crazy and to despair … until they realize they can do neither what the Law demands nor achieve God’s favor…. This state of affairs goes on and on until a person becomes quite weary and is forced to say, ” I have had it up to here with being godly according to Moses and the Law. I am going to follow another Preacher, who says to me, ‘Come to Me, if you labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ” …. This kind of preaching is wholly different from the teaching of the Law of Moses, which deals only with works. The Law says, “You shall not sin…. Go and be godly….Do this, do that….” But Christ says, “Accept the fact that you are not godly. But I have been godly in your stead.” ~Martin Luther...

JUST AS I AM. Just as I am, without one plea , But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come! Just as I am, and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blot; To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come! Just as I am, though tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt; Fightings within, and fears without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come! Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind ; Sight, riches, healing of the mind; Yes, all I need, in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come! Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come! Just as I am, Thy love unknown Has broken every barrier down; Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come! The truth is;  there’s no basis, no foundation for me and me to stand on in God’s presence except that Jesus died in our place....

“If you go to an American bookshop, by far the biggest section is self-help and improvement. The idea that life is refine-able and that you can learn a technique for anything, whether it’s love-making, being a businessman, marriage, cooking, losing weight, whatever it is. There’s a Tony Robbins way of doing it, there’s a things-they-didn’t-teach-you-at-Harvard way of doing it. There’s an unbelievable sense that life is improvable.” ~ Stephen Fry on explaining the difference between American versus British comedy.

"Concerning the righteousness of faith before God we believe, teach, and confess unanimously . . . that a poor sinner is justified before God (that is, he is absolved and declared utterly free from all his sins, and from the verdict of well deserved damnation, and is adopted as a child of God and an heir of eternal life) without any merit or worthiness on our part, and without any preceding, present, or subsequent works, by sheer grace, solely through the merit of the total obedience, the bitter passion, the death, and the resurrection of Christ, our Lord, whose obedience is reckoned to us as righteousness. The Holy Spirit offers these treasures to us in the promise of the Gospel, and faith is the only means whereby we can apprehend, accept, apply them to ourselves, and make them our own. Faith is a gift of God whereby we rightly learn to know Christ as our redeemer in the Word of the Gospel and to trust in him, that solely for the sake of his obedience w...

Giving Grace To All The Wrong People — Christ Hold Fast

Don’t Let Super-Spiritual People Hurt Your Church

Reflections on My “Break Up” with The Gospel Coalition POSTED ON  MAY 30, 2014  BY  TULLIAN TCHIVIDJIAN What we’re talking about here is not just our tendency to lurch and stumble and screw up by accident, our passive role as agents of entropy. It’s our active inclination to break stuff, “stuff” here including moods, promises, relationships we care about, and our own well-being and other people’s… Francis Spufford Dear Friends, It’s been a much quieter week for me. Last week was loud and exhausting. And (other than Miami Heat games, Dallas Cowboy games, Ultra Music Festival, and the music in my car) I’m not a fan of either loud or exhausting. Not many are. So, I’m grateful that God has granted me a quieter week. Still, the very public “break-up” between The Gospel Coalition and me weighs heavy on my heart. And I want to say just a few things about it now that I’ve had some time to reflect. First, I want to say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for saying thin...

William Twisse (1578–1646), the first prolucutor (moderator) of the Westminster Assembly (1640s), which gave us the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, wrote in 1633: How many ways does the Word of God teach us to come to the Kingdom of heaven? Two. Which are they? The Law and the Gospel. What says the Law? Do this and live. What says the Gospel? Believe in Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Can we come to the Kingdom of God by the way of God’s Law? No. Why so? Because we cannot do it. Why can we not do it? Because we are all born in sin. What is it to be born in sin? To be naturally prone to evil and …that that which is good. How did it come to pass that we are all borne in sin? By reason of our first father Adam. Which way then do you hope to come tot he Kingdom of Heaven? By the Gospel What is the Gospel? The glad tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ. To whom is the glad tidings brought: To the righteous? No. Why so? For two reasons. W...

Max Lucado points out: No other world religion offers such a message. All others demand a rigid performance, the right sacrifice, the right chant, the right ritual, the right séance or experience. Theirs is a kingdom of trade-offs and barterdom. You do this and God will give you that. The result? Either arrogance or fear. Arrogance if you think you have achieved it; fear if you think you haven't. Christ's kingdom is just the opposite. It is a kingdom for the poor. A kingdom where membership is GRANTED, not PURCHASED.  You are placed into God’s kingdom. You are adopted. And this occurs not when you do enough, but when you admit you can't do enough. You don't earn it; you simply accept it. As a result you serve, not out of arrogance or fear, but out of gratitude .

It's Not Your Party Back in my early days of ministry, I was a kindergarten teacher at a Christian school. Those were the four longest years of my life...actually, that's not true. They were four great years, because I was finally with an age group that I could relate to! During that period of time, one of the mothers came to me and asked if she could have a birthday party for her daughter. As long as you invite everyone in the class, I said, that's not a problem. The next day, Suzie's mom turned my room into birthday kingdom. There was a long table going down the middle of the classroom, and at the end of the table was Suzie - birthday girl. She had an amazing pile of presents in front of her, stacked so high you could barely see her face. All her classmates sat around the table, admiring Suzie's stack of presents while looking at their own little sandwich bag of party favors. One of the boys in the class wasn't pleased. He began to harrumph. As Jo...

Theological Dictionary: Passive and Active Righteousness  BY  JONO LINEBAUGH “This is our theology, by which we teach a precise distinction between these two kinds of righteousness, the active and the passive” (Martin Luther,  Lectures on Galatians  1535). There are “two kinds of righteousness” because human beings live in two kinds of relationships: 1) creature with Creator and 2) creature with creature. Before God ( coram Deo) , people are  passive , receiving righteousness by grace through faith on account of Christ (Rom 3:21-24; 5:17; 10:6; Phil 3:9; cf. Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16). Before the world ( coram mundo ), people are  active , serving their neighbor in love (Rom 13:8-19; Gal 5:13-14). This distinction is essential because, as Luther put it, it ensures that “morality and faith, works and grace … are not confused. Both are necessary, but both must be kept within their limits” ( Lectures on Galatians  1535). To be human is to be two-dimen...

Today I had a spiritual conversation with my 10 year old son, and as it is my habit I found it as an opportunity to share the gospel with him. I know my son understands the gospel theoretically, so I had to scratch the surface of his faith in order to see the heart of his theology (thoughts about God). It all started as he came in my room to ask if he can lead the family devotions tonight. And if yes, then I must share any verse so he can read tonight. I saw that as a wonderful time to have a one on one conversation with my future assistant pastor. I began by asking him what does he know about the Christian faith? As I said earlier the young man is not ignorant of the Christian tenets, he is even able to outline the gospel. But when he told me that, if he can commit a sin and Jesus comes or he dies without him having time to repent and confess that sin, God has no choice but to send him in hell. I wasn't surprised because I have heard hundreds of people answering the way and I on...

There some people who think just because they became christians at an early age, or they never committed "big" sins, unconsciously they become boastful of these things. If you are a " spiritual veteran" and still blind to the gospel, how miserable is that. It is not about our experience, it is Jesus alone on the Cross. How long we have been a christian, or how trivial the sins we have committed are, will not count on that day, it is a question of whether you believe in Christ alone or Christ plus something else. No wonder the self righteous always finds the gospel offensive, because it strips them of the grades they have foolishly awarded themselves. I am afraid a lot of people who are called Christians, are completely mistaken about the truth of the gospel. Why is it hard for people to understand that they can never deserve nor earn right standing with God? The gospel is simply (good news, it is not something that we have done, it is outside of us. It is complete...

BONO ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KARMA AND GRACE. “It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma… You see, at the centre of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics – in physical laws – every action is met by an equal or opposite one.  Its clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe.  I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “As you reap, so will you sow” stuff.  Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff. That’s between me and God. But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep ...

1st January, the day of Resolutions, Commitments, Planning and trying harder to start this, stop that, or attain something. Stop the nonsense, yea, you think life will be manageable if you just add a little effort. No way, that is legalism, living by your own resources, whatever the motivation, the consequences are the same: slavery, confusion and exhaustion. All you need is the Gospel. You need  to be reminded and hear Good News every day. We are bombarded from all sides with Bad News. At work we are told "TO DO MORE AND TRY HARDER". The adverts on the TV and radio tell us that we are not happy enough or sexy enough without whatever it is that they are selling. Nowhere else do we hear that we are COMPLETELY ACCEPTED, LOVED AND VALUED regardless of our performance. THE REALIZATION THAT YOUR DAILY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS BASED ON THE INFINITE MERIT OF CHRIST INSTEAD OF YOUR OWN PERFORMANCE IS A VERY FREEING AND JOYOUS EXPERIENCE! ! Embrace the Gospel, and 2014 will be a year ...

THE RELENTLESS LOVE OF GOD  SERMON BY PASTOR ALEXANDER CHAPOTA  (BRADFORD LIVING WATERS CHURCH) What a wonderful responsibility we have as God’s spokespersons. When we look at ourselves we can confess that we are very incompetent and inadequate for such a task, but God chooses weak and foolish things of the world to put to shame the world. (2 CORINTHIANS 2:1-5; 1:27.) Todays reading comes from the book of HOSEA chapter 3:1-5. through this story, I want to remind you of the immeasurable love of GOD. My aim is to help you understand your image before God in light of His love. When you fully understand how much Gods love is toward you, it will change your life, it will change your view of God and it will affect even your day to day life. The BIBLE contains two words from God, yes God speaks to us through the bible in two forms of speech. THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. A proper distinction between these two words is very important to understanding the bible. Christia...