There are those who, as they listen to the good news of Jesus, nod their heads and smilingly agree with everything. They say they love grace! They might even get tears in their eyes when telling of God's amazing mercies, of his salvation available to anyone who believes in his Son and his finished work on the cross. Yep, they might even be able to powerfully preach the whole truth of the Gospel, passionately expounding on the wonders of justification through grace alone, by faith alone. They will tell you that salvation is a free gift from God, that no man should boast.
And at the end of this feast of truth, this love feast of the body and blood of Jesus, they will stick their pointy finger of law down your throat and you will lose every benefit of what you just ate.
For health reasons, I recommend you avoid such teaching...
"For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."
Galatians 2:18-21
Please do not receive anything that nullifies the grace of God, no matter how much you may love and respect the person serving up law, and no matter how much 'grace' they may mix in with it. It can only make a mockery of Jesus' sacrifice and make you very sick.
God, God, lift the veils from our faces! We choose Jesus, and forever forsake the folly of self-righteousness! Open our eyes to you! We want nothing to do anymore with the lies of religion, lies that say we can accomplish anything for you, but we receive all that you have accomplished for us. We rise up into our new life, our new marriage, with our new Husband and we rejoice in your love! The old is gone and the new has come! Forgetting what is behind, we press on toward the goal, finding strength keeps coming to us when we know we should be tired. We have the high of all runners' highs, because we run with your everlasting everfilling power gushing into us and out of us. When our minds and bodies get tired, we rest with no fear of falling behind or missing a blessing, and you refresh us with your love. You, you are our greatest blessing and you promised to never leave us, never be angry with us, never fail us or stop loving us. In you I have everything I ever dreamed of, in me I have everything my heart desires; YOU.
Showing posts with label the Cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Cross. Show all posts
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Guilt-free Breaking of Bread Song
Ok, so this probably won't end up being the real title of the song...but I think that the breaking of bread (or communion, the Lord's supper) has been dominated by a seriously fearful and ashamed atmosphere for too long. If we come to the Lord's table still hanging our heads with thoughts of sin swirling around in our heads, then we are in danger of eating unworthily. We would not be accepting the body that was broken for us, we would be equating his precious blood with that of a lamb or bull which had only partial or temporary power to allow us entrance into God's presence without absolute confidence of his mercy.
Recently I wrote this song, it's one of those songs that came with minimal work and head scratching. The recording is bad but who cares? I think you can get the general idea from it. I didn't set out to write a guilt-free breaking of bread song, but as I sang it I was struck with how perfect it would be for that and I felt like getting a bunch of people together to have a feast in God's awesome presence, enjoying food, each other, and celebrating God's infinite mercy and goodness to us. How amazingly he demonstrated his love in humbly coming to earth in human form, living in this sinful world as we do yet not sinning, taking up the cause of the poor, sick, abandoned, and despised, and ultimately sacrificing everything to save us and restore us back to the Father and then conquering our every enemy in his resurrection to make us sons representing him here and doing the exciting work of ushering in his kingdom on earth.
I can't believe I used to be afraid to take communion! I thought I had to be righteous enough by my obedience to God and a variety of Christian rules and regulations. Now I'm free to celebrate Jesus when the bread and cup come my way! I'm not righteous because of my actions and if ever ever I break bread based on feeling in any way worthy based on my performance, then I'm eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. The bread and wine IS my righteousness, if I refuse the body and blood of Christ, then I'll never be worthy but eternally condemned. So here's the song, let me know what you think (had to put it in video format to upload to blogger.)
Here are the words:
Recently I wrote this song, it's one of those songs that came with minimal work and head scratching. The recording is bad but who cares? I think you can get the general idea from it. I didn't set out to write a guilt-free breaking of bread song, but as I sang it I was struck with how perfect it would be for that and I felt like getting a bunch of people together to have a feast in God's awesome presence, enjoying food, each other, and celebrating God's infinite mercy and goodness to us. How amazingly he demonstrated his love in humbly coming to earth in human form, living in this sinful world as we do yet not sinning, taking up the cause of the poor, sick, abandoned, and despised, and ultimately sacrificing everything to save us and restore us back to the Father and then conquering our every enemy in his resurrection to make us sons representing him here and doing the exciting work of ushering in his kingdom on earth.
I can't believe I used to be afraid to take communion! I thought I had to be righteous enough by my obedience to God and a variety of Christian rules and regulations. Now I'm free to celebrate Jesus when the bread and cup come my way! I'm not righteous because of my actions and if ever ever I break bread based on feeling in any way worthy based on my performance, then I'm eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. The bread and wine IS my righteousness, if I refuse the body and blood of Christ, then I'll never be worthy but eternally condemned. So here's the song, let me know what you think (had to put it in video format to upload to blogger.)
Here are the words:
Be quiet now
Rest your soul
Lay your head down
Let go of control
Nothing you've done
Or ever could do
Can make you right
Or disqualify you
Jesus
You've done everything that we could not do
Jesus
We believe in you
Remember his death
His body and blood
We have been cleansed
Redeemed by his blood
We remember we're free
From guilt, fear, and shame
Risen with him
Up from the grave
Thursday, July 31, 2008
I'm Blaming Jesus for My Sin
I was just reading a blog and my eye caught the title of another post entitled "Blaming Others for Our Sins" and immediately the thought went through my head 'that's it, I'm to blame my sins on Jesus'. I only glanced through the article a little, it was linking to another article which I thought was not so good, or at least it completely misses the point.
It's not that I think we should blame other people for our sin, the article (I think rightly) says that this is a way of trying to justify ourselves. But I don't think blaming ourselves will help, then we end up feeling condemned, guilty, and ashamed. We feel the need for atonement and justification if we start 'taking the blame' for our sin, which, if we are already believers, will only highlight the fact that we really don't have faith in the finished work of Jesus, why else would we be running back to the cross expecting to find a suffering Saviour still hanging there, newly nailed up by our most recent failure?
When we blame Jesus for our sin we realize we are free and clear. He's taken ALL our blame, he was made to be sin for us. The answer to our finger-pointing problem is to come out from under the law and receive mercy from our father in heaven, mercy triumphs over judgement. Believe that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, a righteousness from God apart from works of the law and you'll stop worrying why you sinned and start thanking him he's is not counting your sins against you. You have a righteousness that is by faith from first to last and cannot be tarnished by your mistakes, no matter how terrible they may be. When you realize Jesus has been blamed for all your sin and God is not pointing the finger at you, you begin to relax and stop pointing the finger at anyone else.
So I'm blaming somebody else for my sin, after all, that's what he wants! Next time you feel condemned for something you did wrong or didn't do right, point your finger to Jesus and say "He took it and he's already been punished for it... IT IS FINSHED!!!!!"
You are free.
It's not that I think we should blame other people for our sin, the article (I think rightly) says that this is a way of trying to justify ourselves. But I don't think blaming ourselves will help, then we end up feeling condemned, guilty, and ashamed. We feel the need for atonement and justification if we start 'taking the blame' for our sin, which, if we are already believers, will only highlight the fact that we really don't have faith in the finished work of Jesus, why else would we be running back to the cross expecting to find a suffering Saviour still hanging there, newly nailed up by our most recent failure?
When we blame Jesus for our sin we realize we are free and clear. He's taken ALL our blame, he was made to be sin for us. The answer to our finger-pointing problem is to come out from under the law and receive mercy from our father in heaven, mercy triumphs over judgement. Believe that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, a righteousness from God apart from works of the law and you'll stop worrying why you sinned and start thanking him he's is not counting your sins against you. You have a righteousness that is by faith from first to last and cannot be tarnished by your mistakes, no matter how terrible they may be. When you realize Jesus has been blamed for all your sin and God is not pointing the finger at you, you begin to relax and stop pointing the finger at anyone else.
So I'm blaming somebody else for my sin, after all, that's what he wants! Next time you feel condemned for something you did wrong or didn't do right, point your finger to Jesus and say "He took it and he's already been punished for it... IT IS FINSHED!!!!!"
You are free.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Should We Be Cross Centered?
There's an interesting discussion going on over at Dan's blog (Life on Wings), where Peter Day has posted a great piece called "Overturning the Tables of Legalism" about how much we should focus on the cross as believers. The argument on the cross-centered side seems to be that Paul was cross-centered and seemed to use 'the cross' as short-hand for the gospel message as a whole. There's also a quote saying we shouldn't move on from the Cross, however my thoughts on that are that since there is no Scripture saying the same, it doesn't have much authority. On the other side, some are arguing that the throne or empty tomb would be a better symbol for Christianity.
I was sitting playing a mindless computer game when a thought popped into my head. Maybe from God? I think so but you can judge for yourself. What popped into my head was the story of the Israelites in the wilderness with Moses, the time they all got bitten and poisened by serpents and God instructed Moses to raise up a bronze snake on a pole so the people could come and look at it and be healed. (Numbers 21:4-9) What did they do with this bronze snake on a pole afterward? Turns out they decided to worship it, turning it into an idol instead of worshipping the God who saved them... (see 2 Kings 18:4) And there's connection between this pole and Jesus in John 3 v. 14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
Now to be sure, Paul did sometimes refer to the cross as a kind of short-hand for the work of Christ, and so can we. But I think there can be a danger of turning 'the Cross' into some kind of entity, we can do exactly what the Israelites did with their snake pole--we can end up putting our focus on the means of salvation rather than the person who saved us. I talked about this in my previous post as well, " Not Clinging to the Cross". Yes, we should always remember the death of Jesus, as we do every time we break bread together, there's a right time and and right way to remember the work of Jesus on the cross. But we remember the cross in a way that is life-giving, partaking of the body and blood of Jesus, being renewed and healed by taking his eternal resurrection life into our bodies. The breaking of bread NEVER ministers shame, guilt, condemnation, death, fear, etc...but ALWAYS the life-giving power of God's loving grace.
Another argument is that we need to center our lives around the cross in order to remain humble, but this argument is rooted in the idea that the cross is a reminder of our sin. I'm very sorry to say this (and I've said it over and over) but IF THE CROSS REMINDS YOU OF YOUR SIN THEN YOU ARE DENYING THE VERY POWER OF THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS, THE WORK OF THE CROSS. Once again, take a look at Hebrews 10 (which I also wrote about a while back in my post called "Knowing God Under the New Covenant" The work of Jesus on the cross totally washes all our sin away forever and we are no longer even conscious of it! That's right, if God has forgotten it, so should we. To the extent we live aware of and focused on our sin, to that extent are we living in unbelief, not trusting that the sacrifice of Jesus was enough to put us in right standing before our Father.
And out of curiosity, I went to Bible Gateway and did a few searches (not including the Gospels) just to give a basic idea of what the New Testament church might be centered on. I only found 13 references to 'the cross'. I found 89 references for "gospel", 470 references for "Christ", 345 references for "Jesus" (there is probably some overlap for "Christ" and "Jesus"), and 66 references for "Spirit" (with a capital 's'). In a general way, I think this leads me to believe that we should live Jesus centered lives, not cross centered lives. I think that by over using the phrase 'the cross' without clarying and teaching what we mean by it (we do the same thing with many many other words such as 'gospel', 'grace', etc...), we are not helping people to understand these doctrines well but are deceiving them into thinking that knowing the right terminology means they have adequate understanding and are well-taught.
[ I think it would be good for me to say, not necessarily in relation to this topic in particular, that I also think women need to be looking into these things and are not only qualified as well as men to do this, but are encouraged by their Father in the Spirit to do it! I am publicly, for my sake and for the sake of any and all daughters of the Kingdom of Heaven, renouncing the doctrines of demons in the church today that are trying to suppress, control, manipulate, and destroy women(just as their leader did in the garden many many years ago) and I'm specifically referring to the idea that women are not able to discern and study Scripture and doctrine for themselves by the Spirit, without any man. And we are released from the curse of Genesis 3 sisters! So be free!!!]
I was sitting playing a mindless computer game when a thought popped into my head. Maybe from God? I think so but you can judge for yourself. What popped into my head was the story of the Israelites in the wilderness with Moses, the time they all got bitten and poisened by serpents and God instructed Moses to raise up a bronze snake on a pole so the people could come and look at it and be healed. (Numbers 21:4-9) What did they do with this bronze snake on a pole afterward? Turns out they decided to worship it, turning it into an idol instead of worshipping the God who saved them... (see 2 Kings 18:4) And there's connection between this pole and Jesus in John 3 v. 14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
Now to be sure, Paul did sometimes refer to the cross as a kind of short-hand for the work of Christ, and so can we. But I think there can be a danger of turning 'the Cross' into some kind of entity, we can do exactly what the Israelites did with their snake pole--we can end up putting our focus on the means of salvation rather than the person who saved us. I talked about this in my previous post as well, " Not Clinging to the Cross". Yes, we should always remember the death of Jesus, as we do every time we break bread together, there's a right time and and right way to remember the work of Jesus on the cross. But we remember the cross in a way that is life-giving, partaking of the body and blood of Jesus, being renewed and healed by taking his eternal resurrection life into our bodies. The breaking of bread NEVER ministers shame, guilt, condemnation, death, fear, etc...but ALWAYS the life-giving power of God's loving grace.
Another argument is that we need to center our lives around the cross in order to remain humble, but this argument is rooted in the idea that the cross is a reminder of our sin. I'm very sorry to say this (and I've said it over and over) but IF THE CROSS REMINDS YOU OF YOUR SIN THEN YOU ARE DENYING THE VERY POWER OF THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS, THE WORK OF THE CROSS. Once again, take a look at Hebrews 10 (which I also wrote about a while back in my post called "Knowing God Under the New Covenant" The work of Jesus on the cross totally washes all our sin away forever and we are no longer even conscious of it! That's right, if God has forgotten it, so should we. To the extent we live aware of and focused on our sin, to that extent are we living in unbelief, not trusting that the sacrifice of Jesus was enough to put us in right standing before our Father.
And out of curiosity, I went to Bible Gateway and did a few searches (not including the Gospels) just to give a basic idea of what the New Testament church might be centered on. I only found 13 references to 'the cross'. I found 89 references for "gospel", 470 references for "Christ", 345 references for "Jesus" (there is probably some overlap for "Christ" and "Jesus"), and 66 references for "Spirit" (with a capital 's'). In a general way, I think this leads me to believe that we should live Jesus centered lives, not cross centered lives. I think that by over using the phrase 'the cross' without clarying and teaching what we mean by it (we do the same thing with many many other words such as 'gospel', 'grace', etc...), we are not helping people to understand these doctrines well but are deceiving them into thinking that knowing the right terminology means they have adequate understanding and are well-taught.
[ I think it would be good for me to say, not necessarily in relation to this topic in particular, that I also think women need to be looking into these things and are not only qualified as well as men to do this, but are encouraged by their Father in the Spirit to do it! I am publicly, for my sake and for the sake of any and all daughters of the Kingdom of Heaven, renouncing the doctrines of demons in the church today that are trying to suppress, control, manipulate, and destroy women(just as their leader did in the garden many many years ago) and I'm specifically referring to the idea that women are not able to discern and study Scripture and doctrine for themselves by the Spirit, without any man. And we are released from the curse of Genesis 3 sisters! So be free!!!]
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Not Clinging to the Cross! (a random and spontaneous musing)
That's right, I'm not clinging to the cross. Am I eternally grateful for the cross? Yes! Will I remember what Jesus did there on our behalf? Yes! But I'm not clinging to a piece of wood.
I know, it's supposed to be a metaphor and all that good stuff, but listening to worship music (both older hymns and more modern songs) has brought it to my attention that there may be some sentimentalism, maybe even a weird idolatry, going on when it comes to 'the cross'. So many people are hiding in the shadow of the cross, clinging to it, fixing their gaze on it, drawing near to it, loving it, etc...well, you get my point. But I don't get it. I love Jesus for what he's done, but ultimately, it was a means to an end. And the purpose of the cross was to reconcile us to God so that we could enter into the Holy of Holies ANY TIME WE WANT! So why would I hang around at the foot of an empty cross when I could be worshipping at the throne of my beloved Father and King?
Bottom line, if Jesus isn't on the cross, I don't want to be there either! I want to be with him. So am I crazy?
I know, it's supposed to be a metaphor and all that good stuff, but listening to worship music (both older hymns and more modern songs) has brought it to my attention that there may be some sentimentalism, maybe even a weird idolatry, going on when it comes to 'the cross'. So many people are hiding in the shadow of the cross, clinging to it, fixing their gaze on it, drawing near to it, loving it, etc...well, you get my point. But I don't get it. I love Jesus for what he's done, but ultimately, it was a means to an end. And the purpose of the cross was to reconcile us to God so that we could enter into the Holy of Holies ANY TIME WE WANT! So why would I hang around at the foot of an empty cross when I could be worshipping at the throne of my beloved Father and King?
Bottom line, if Jesus isn't on the cross, I don't want to be there either! I want to be with him. So am I crazy?
Monday, December 03, 2007
Joseph Prince
After hearing Rob Rufus mention the name Joseph Prince, we eventually decided to look him up. I really love his preaching and so of course I'm letting you all know about him! Here's a clip (from "The Root Cause of Your Problem is Condemnation") I found on YouTube:
There are lots more clips on YouTube and on his website, let me know what you think!
There are lots more clips on YouTube and on his website, let me know what you think!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Knowing God Under the New Covenant
My kids are staying with their Grandma and Papa for a few days so I get to enjoy lots of quiet time to read, write, listen, and well, hopefully clean and do some painting in the house. I was just reading in Hebrews a bit ago and this passage really struck a chord with me.
Hebrews 8:10-12, quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34
It just struck me almost my whole life in the church I have been taught "Know the Lord". I've experienced all kinds of methods, techniques, plans, motivational preaching, challenges to commit to this or that--all with one goal in view: That I know God. I tried to implement many things I've heard or read to the same purpose. Sadly, I have to say that they all pretty much failed. And for all my effort I managed to turn prayer, Bible reading, church, fellowship, loving others (even my own family) into great mountains of duty and obligation that I could never possibly fulfill. And this great mountain planted itself directly in the middle of the path to God. I was farther from him than ever.
When I read this today, I suddenly saw it. All those who teach "Know the Lord" are teaching Old Covenant, you know, the old obsolete broken inadequate way of coming to God-- the way that never lets you into the Holy of Holies where His presence is, the way that leaves us down at the bottom of his Holy mountain trembling in fear of death and judgement (Hebrews 12:20), the way that never cleanses us from our sin so completely that we can come boldly to the throne of grace in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). We have a new and living way! (Hebrews 10:20)
Under the Old Covenant, people have to be taught "Know the Lord". They must be pushed and bullied and forced to come near to God. Why? Because they are afraid. Their conscience is not clean, they are still fearfully conscious of their sin.
In Israel people longed to be in near God on one hand, but not toonear, because to enter into God's presence was a terrifying experience. It was so dangerous the high priest had to have a rope tied around his leg in case God struck him dead while in the Holy of Holies. Why? Because of sin.
And how many of us are still living and teaching others to live as if still under that Old Covenant? If we are still saying to ourselves and others "Know the Lord" then we have an Old Covenant mindset. Under the New, we already know him! We come to him all the time because nothing stands in our way! All our sin is not only forgiven but completely taken away! Christ has done such a thorough job that we aren't even conscious of sin anymore. Think about that. The Old Covenant sacrifices served to remind people of their sins even more , to bring condemnation but the sacrifice of Jesus did just the opposite. He did not come to condemn us for our sin but to remove our sin completely so that we are never again subject to any condemnation. (Romans 8:1)
When we remember the cross, we remember that our sins are taken away. We should NEVER NEVER NEVER look at the cross and mourn our sins and feel shame and guilt. If we do that, we are looking at the cross saying "it wasn't enough for my sin". It doesn't impress God and it isn't humility, it is a rejection of the Perfect Sacrifice and evil unbelief.
So from Hebrews, here are two signs of a legalistic,Old Covenant mindset:
1. A need for "Know the Lord" type teaching.
2. Having a consciousness of sin.
If we see either of these in our lives, we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of the Cross to us. And let us enter into His presence with joy and peace, no longer being held back by fear of judgement or consciousness of sin.
Hebrews 8:10-12, quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother , saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
It just struck me almost my whole life in the church I have been taught "Know the Lord". I've experienced all kinds of methods, techniques, plans, motivational preaching, challenges to commit to this or that--all with one goal in view: That I know God. I tried to implement many things I've heard or read to the same purpose. Sadly, I have to say that they all pretty much failed. And for all my effort I managed to turn prayer, Bible reading, church, fellowship, loving others (even my own family) into great mountains of duty and obligation that I could never possibly fulfill. And this great mountain planted itself directly in the middle of the path to God. I was farther from him than ever.
When I read this today, I suddenly saw it. All those who teach "Know the Lord" are teaching Old Covenant, you know, the old obsolete broken inadequate way of coming to God-- the way that never lets you into the Holy of Holies where His presence is, the way that leaves us down at the bottom of his Holy mountain trembling in fear of death and judgement (Hebrews 12:20), the way that never cleanses us from our sin so completely that we can come boldly to the throne of grace in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). We have a new and living way! (Hebrews 10:20)
Under the Old Covenant, people have to be taught "Know the Lord". They must be pushed and bullied and forced to come near to God. Why? Because they are afraid. Their conscience is not clean, they are still fearfully conscious of their sin.
"For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." (Hebrews 10:1-4)
In Israel people longed to be in near God on one hand, but not toonear, because to enter into God's presence was a terrifying experience. It was so dangerous the high priest had to have a rope tied around his leg in case God struck him dead while in the Holy of Holies. Why? Because of sin.
And how many of us are still living and teaching others to live as if still under that Old Covenant? If we are still saying to ourselves and others "Know the Lord" then we have an Old Covenant mindset. Under the New, we already know him! We come to him all the time because nothing stands in our way! All our sin is not only forgiven but completely taken away! Christ has done such a thorough job that we aren't even conscious of sin anymore. Think about that. The Old Covenant sacrifices served to remind people of their sins even more , to bring condemnation but the sacrifice of Jesus did just the opposite. He did not come to condemn us for our sin but to remove our sin completely so that we are never again subject to any condemnation. (Romans 8:1)
When we remember the cross, we remember that our sins are taken away. We should NEVER NEVER NEVER look at the cross and mourn our sins and feel shame and guilt. If we do that, we are looking at the cross saying "it wasn't enough for my sin". It doesn't impress God and it isn't humility, it is a rejection of the Perfect Sacrifice and evil unbelief.
So from Hebrews, here are two signs of a legalistic,Old Covenant mindset:
1. A need for "Know the Lord" type teaching.
2. Having a consciousness of sin.
If we see either of these in our lives, we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of the Cross to us. And let us enter into His presence with joy and peace, no longer being held back by fear of judgement or consciousness of sin.
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