All Gospel All The Time

Recently I was asked to mentor a young man who just started visiting our church. He has an interesting background of various cultural and religious influences which have effected him greatly in his life. Some of these influences are very good as he has learned about cultures from around the world. But what affected him the hardest is his "mishmash" of religious influences that seemed to blur the Gospel. This person is a believer in Jesus Christ yet at the same time has had trouble shaking his legalistic background which came from both Christian and non-christian areas.

So for the last several weeks we have been meeting and going through the Book of Galatians. And I am seeing this young man being transformed before my eyes. As he grasps the Gospel deeper and deeper, he is being set free more and more. In fact, at our last meeting, he literally ran out of our meeting dancing and laughing.

So what is it that is changing him? It's the Word of God teaching us about the power of the Gospel. Let's take a look at what God says to you and me about the Gospel.

1. All of our conduct is to be in the Gospel. Gal 2:14 says, "But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel...". Here Paul is telling the church that their conduct was not in step with the Gospel. Their personal lives and the rules they were putting on others was not Gospel living. Their lives were marked by something other than the Gospel...legalism. Everyday we must remember the Gospel so it saturates our lives and becomes our conduct. We must remember the "now power" of the Gospel for our daily lives. Tim Keller says it like this: "The Gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter into the Kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the Kingdom."
2. All growth then is by the power of the Gospel. Gal 3:2-3 reads: "Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Re-read this passage! Do we understand it's implications? Paul asks a very easy question of believers in verse 2: "How did you become a believer? Works or faith?" The obvious answer is by faith! Once we settle is truth in our souls he then asks, "You began with faith, why are you now being sanctified but works [flesh]?" He is telling us that our growth in Christ is by the very same power that brought us to Christ...the Gospel. Paul tells us a few verses later in verse 11 that "the righteous [note that we ARE righteous] shall live by faith." We are to live and grow by faith!
3. Because our position is secured in Him and by Him we are sons. In chapter 4 Paul then goes on to tell us that living by the law is like living as a slave or an orphan and living by faith is believing in our position, through the reality of the Gospel, as a child of God who can say, "Abba Father." We read this: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." We are an heir and we have an inheritance. What the law promised but could not deliver, the Gospel gives and demands nothing in return. We don't have to live like someone who has no future or must work to earn that future! It is ours. Our inheritance was purchased for us by Christ.
4. We are to live by a new law! Paul writes in chapter 5: "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" You see living by the law creates a very selfish, narcissistic person. It has to! It demands performance for self so save self. It creates a person no one wants to be around. Someone who is either so self-absorbed or so critical of others (asking, "how am I doing?" or looking to see how you're doing) that they can't really love others. Thus Paul sums up the freedom we've been given as freedom to love and serve others! You see when we take our eyes off of ourselves we can place them on Jesus and others. We are really free to serve, fail, take risks, be burned, get hurt and more because our results are not our measuring stick...Jesus gave us all the results we will ever need...Himself.
5. The Gospel fruit is not ours. Paul continues in chapter 5 by telling what walking by the flesh looks like and it's not very pretty. He then tells us what is already in us...the fruit of the Spirit! The fruit is the "fruit of the Spirit" and we were told earlier that the Spirit is in us! We are just a branch abiding in the vine which will produce His fruit ["I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing".] The Gospel will not allow us to take credit for anything. It is all God!
   

As this young man and I walked through Galatians, his countenance started to change until he started jumping for joy. He found freedom...real freedom in the finished work of Christ. His chains were taken off to serve and love others. He is not bound by the chains of "how am I doing?"

Either we're declared righteous or we work for it - which one?

I met a very interesting person this week who challenged me to think through the Gospel and interact with the Scriptures, especially in Romans to see what Paul says about being "declared righteous". At the very core will be how we view life as a Christian. We need to ask the questions: Where does my righteousness come from (how do I get it?) and how do I keep this righteousness? As I look into these questions I see there seems to be only 2 options:

1. We are declared "righteous" by someone or something outside ourselves or
2. We are to make ourselves righteous by doing something.

This will be true for both "justification" - or becoming a believer and for our "sanctification" - our growing in our faith. We either become a child of God via the Gospel alone or by a mixture of "faith and works". Additionally, we grow in our walk as a believer with a mix of the power of the Gospel and my power or we grow in the power of the Gospel alone.

This war between the flesh and Spirit can be a real one and one that is hard to find a line of demarcation but it is the most important battle. It is one that defines a life of freedom or a life of slavery. It is a battle of believing "Christ is enough" or "Christ needs me" is what it takes. One leads to an amazing life of love and service to God and others and the other leads to a life of love of self and service to self so as to maintain one's position. One may seem to work in service to others but in reality they are working for self. It leads to self-assessment and naval gazing.

Those are hard words to type let alone think. But how can I say that? First, I'm good at it...looking at me rather than Jesus. Let's think about it for a moment then we will dig into Scripture. If my life as a believer is based on "doing"...how will I ever know when "I've arrived?" How will I know if God is satisfied with my doing? What that makes me do is constantly look in the mirror and check to see if I am "ok". The story becomes about me and my performance, not about Christ and His performance for me! I become the hero (or the bad guy when I fail) not Jesus. And when I do well, I am proud.

So let's unpack some of the Word of God:

• Romans 3:21-26: Paul is talking about how someone is "saved". How does one find eternal life and peace with God? He tells us that we get the "righteousness of God [HIS righteousness NOT ours] through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe [v22]." Then he tells us that we "are justified [made right, holy, blameless] by His grace as a gift [24]." How? "Whom [Jesus] God put forward as a propitiation by His blood... [v25]." The wrath of God is gone! Paul concludes this section with amazing words, "so that He might be just [His wrath must be appeased] and the justifier [He demands justice and pays it Himself!] of the one who has faith in Jesus [26]." So we see that through faith it is paid...past, present and future.
• Romans 4:1-4: Paul then takes his mainly Jewish audience (and you and me) back to one of the patriarchs, Abraham. He knows what we are wondering, "What about Abe, wasn't he a good guy who obeyed and since he obeyed, on God's side?" Paul tells us: "if Abraham was justified [made right] by works, he has something to boast about..." ["look at me, look at me"]. Paul doesn't stop there he explicitly tells us how Abe was saved quoting the Old Testament he writes, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." What gave Abraham God's righteousness was not what he did but that he actually believed God. Yes Abraham did something but not until he first believed. His faith produced action! Paul makes this argument even further as he tells us that "to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due." What he means is that if we work for our salvation, God owes us our salvation like wages! God becomes our debtor.
• Romans 4:13-15: Paul then tells us the promise of making his offspring a heir to the world did NOT come by works of the law [doing something to get it] but "through the righteousness o faith" [v13]. The promise of something in the future came about NOT by obedience but by the righteousness of God given to Abraham through faith which Paul told us earlier in Rom 3:22. He tells then what the law is to do: "For the law bring wrath..." [15]. It's purpose is to reveal our sin and our need for a savior [Rom 5:20; 7:4-7].
• Romans 4:20-25: Paul concludes this chapter tying together Abraham's faith to ours. Abe trusted God with his future, he believed God would do what He said He would do and this faith in God was "counted to him as righteousness" [22]. He trusted in the NOW power of the promises of God (the Gospel) for future realities. His faith made him grow and go. And this is the same for you and me as Paul concludes the chapter with: "...were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised up for our justification" [23-24]. Do we see those last words? It WILL be counted [future] and Jesus was raised up for our justification!

All we bring to the table of our salvation is our sin. Jesus does the rest. We believe in the finished work of Christ and this will grow us! This will empower us and give us ability to grow. Paul tell us this truth in Rom 6:22: "But now that you have been set free from sin [past tense with present implications], and have become slaves of God [present tense with present implications], the fruit you get [from God] leads to sanctification and its end eternal life." JESUS DOES IT ALL!

For further Scriptures on this reality go to Phil 3:3-10; 2 Cor 5:21 and Rom 10:2-4

Propitiation and Expiation...on the Cross

The artwork was taken from the book: Death by Love by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears. I highly recommend this book to go deeper into the freedom found in the cross. You can find it here.

In a follow-up to my Easter day message [I Kings 8:62-66], I would like to deeper into the Biblical term of “propitiation” [Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; I John 2:2 & 4:10] and the Biblical idea of “expiation”. [Note: that propitiation is in the Bible and expiation is not a word in the Bible yet the idea is clearly in Scripture as we will see]

Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person [God] and being reconciled to Him. Once the wrath of God is appeased, we are then reconciled.

Propitiation in Scripture is the word to show us how Jesus diverts God’s wrath from you and me and placed it on Jesus on the cross. This is how a holy righteous God can love us and turn His wrath away from us. This is not done because we obey or because we’re good people…this is done through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:9 says this: “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him [Jesus] from the wrath of God.” Do we see this? We avoid the wrath of God because of what Jesus did!! We have been justified [past tense] and we shall be saved [future tense] because of what Jesus did. We will see below that the idea of blood being an important part of reconciliation is not a new idea, but a completed one at the cross!

We deserve His wrath due to our sin but because of the work of Christ, we are set free and no longer condemned! We can live a life free from fear, guilt, wondering if we’ve “worked hard enough” and more! God is not a "child abuser". His wrath is gone.

Expiation means “to cover sin” and/or “to cleanse sin.” Through expiation—the work of Christ on the cross for us—the sin of all those who would ever believe in Christ was cancelled. Expiation emphasizes the removal of guilt through a payment of the penalty. We are clean! As the hymn Jesus Paid It All says:

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

As discussed during my Easter sermon – the idea of propitiation and expiation is seen in the Old Testament “Day of Atonement” or known as “Yom Kippur”. The priest would deal with sin on this day for his people. This was where the people of God were made clean. But how? The people brought 2 healthy goats to the priest and he would lay his hands on the head of the first goat and slit his throat as a substitute, dying and spilling blood for the people. The blood would be sprinkled on the mercy seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant inside the Most Holy Place. The wrath of God was satisfied by the spilled blood of the goat. Here we see the idea of propitiation. Next with the second goat, the priest would lay his hands on the goat and confess the sins of the people, laying them on the goat. Then he would send the goat into the wild to be lost and hence the goat would be taking the sins of the people away…making them clean. Here is the idea of expiation.

So what does this all mean? It means that on the cross, Jesus paid for the wrath due you and me and He gave us a clean and sinless life. We can stop living in fear of God’s wrath and leave the guilt of our sinful lives behind! We can really believe “It is finished” and be set free. We can rest in His finished work. We can stop trying to please Him because He is pleased by Jesus and His work on our behalf. He has set us free.

When we look deeper into the cross we see a Savior who left no stone of sin unturned where the wrath of God will no longer go and no child of God with a drop of sin on his soul. We look to the cross and we see Jesus!

Either Jesus paid it all or He didn't - this determines how you live

I John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

At the heart of "living by the Gospel" vs. "living in fear" is the very same thing that brought us from death to life - belief. We went from not believing the depth of our sin and depravity and its power to seperate us from God to believing in Christ's life, death and resurrection and His power to redeem us into eternal life. We did nothing and brought nothing to the reality of our salvation but our sin.

Then something happened along the way. We forgot or stopped believing or started listening to "moralistic do good sermons and lessons" that tell us what we have to do or be like for God to love us or be pleased with us. We start behaving like orphans who need to work for God's approval rather than children of God who already did all the work for us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

And so, as we live our daily lives we live out of disbelief. We live as if we're back under the law - the law which demands perfect obedience - and the law which has no power to make it happen. We start running in circles like a dog chasing his tail. We will never grab that tail of demanded perfection yet we keep running, getting tired and feeling good about our silly efforts. Martin Luther put it this way: "The law says 'do this' and it is never done. Grace says 'believe this' and evreything is already done."

Or as I John says, "...He is faithful to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness." How much of our unrighteousness does He cleanse us from? ALL of it! Yet we don't believe this so we live lives as if God is out there waiting to either beat us up because we battle our flesh or He will "not bless me" so we turn inward to ourselves to make things right and "get better" so He will be good to me. We live as if our position with Christ is based on our performance rather than His performance for us.

Sadly, when we live and believe this for ourselves, we then project that onto our daily lives. Friendships, marriages and other relationships become conditional. "You perform - I love you. You don't perform - I get mad and judgmental." Successes at work or ministry are based on "being good" or "doing the right things". So when we "do good" and don't get the raise we either "work harder" or we get mad at God for Him not rewarding our efforts and performances. In ministry we believe that "doing ministry right" means "God is pleased with me" and so when others don't "do ministry right" and seem to have successful ministries, we fire theological bombs at them.

The cure for our living powerless lives is not to "do more" and "be better" but to believe the Gospel. Believe the truth that He has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. We need to believe that we are strengthened by "...giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:12-14). When we see our strength is in Him, not us - we are empowered. We just don't believe it. As CF Walther writes:

"..., the Law is distinct from the Gospel in regard to content. The Law can only make demands. It tell us what we must do, but it is impotent to redeem us from it's demands (Galatians 3:12-14). The Law speaks to our works, always showing that even the best of them are tainted with the fingerprints of our sin and insufficient for salvation. The Gospel contains no demands, only the gift of God's grace and truth in Christ."