God, Who is Like You?

Holy God, with eyes like fire,

What could I do to please You?

Is there anything in me You could desire?

Is there any good that I could do?

Entangled in sin up to my eyes,

Even my “good” deeds are as filth.

I'm worth nothing but the pyre.

O God, who am I before You?

Mighty God, with eyes of flame,

Who am I before You?

I look at the many works that You have made

There is nothing You can't do.

Your deeds are marvelous,

Your wonders are grand,

And I am but a rebellious slave.

What is my worth before You?

Gracious God, who formed my being,

What is my worth before You?

Surely I am dust and filthy as the lowest thing,

And unable to stand before You.

But You formed my inward parts,

And knit me together in the womb.

Every part of me You have always seen.

How do You not see my sin?

Glorious God, with radiant face,

How do you not see my sin?

From my egregious evil You turned Your eyes away.

As Jesus took my place, condemned.

His righteousness now mine,

My penalty paid by Him.

Your holy wrath is now assuaged.

O God, do You love me so?

Wondrous God, who sent Your Son,

Do You love me so?

Five wounds attest the answer yes, the vict'ry's won

You've washed me white as snow.

Nothing in me but what You've done

In You only is my hope.

Bought by Your grace,

You've made me Your son,

God, who is like You?

-Nathan C. Matthews

The Gospel is NOT... A Datum

(This is the third post in the series "The Gospel is NOT...")

The Gospel is NOT... A Set of Rules

The Gospel is NOT... A Political Party, Ideal or System

3. A Datum: Sorry to use such an unconventional word here, but my main point in this post is that while the Gospel is factual, it is not merely a set of facts.

When talking about the Gospel, we must recognize that we are presented with radical truth claims about who God is, who Jesus Christ is, who we are, what our greatest need is and how that need can be met. On one hand, this means that we cannot simply say we believe in the Gospel and not understand what that actually means. This is why we must be so careful to present and understand the Gospel correctly. Yes, it can be presented in a variety of ways and in different contexts but the core truths cannot be changed. Otherwise, we will not have the Gospel, but a false one.

On the other hand, simply agreeing with these truth claims does not equate a reception of the Gospel. These truths must be understood and accepted, but they call for radical change. The truth of Jesus Christ calls us to confess and repent (turn away) of our sin and to trust and rely on Jesus alone to save us. One can agree with the truthfulness of Scripture and still not have saving faith. One may even be able to know how to defend Christianity historically and logically and still not have saving faith. We cannot simply say that we accept these things; we must trust in them. 

It may help to have an example. I believe that the Earth is 93 million miles away from the sun and that it orbits it every 365.25 days. I can validate this scientifically and mathematically and I can show you well documented proof of these facts. However, they have nearly no effect on my daily life. I don't get up every morning and think about how the light had to travel 93 million miles to get to where I am. I don't adjust my daily routine because the Earth's orbit is 365.25 days. 

Those who have saving faith are entirely different.  They take the facts of the Gospel and stake their entire life on them. They will not be able to go on living as they once did before their encounter with these glorious truths. True saving faith will produce a radical change in their hearts and in their lives, a radical change that is not the basis of our faith, but the result of it. 

The Gospel is NOT... A Political Party, Ideal or System

(This is the second post in the series, "The Gospel is NOT...")

The Gospel is NOT... A Set of Rules

2. A Political Party, Ideal or System: Considering that this is the week of the midterm elections, this post seems particularly relevant.

Because of America's founding on certain Biblical principles and the feeling among some that we are somehow a "Christian nation", I think that there is a peculiar presence of those who hold to certain political stances as being distinctly Christian. For instance, some may think that those who do not believe in a democratic republic form of government as the best form of government are in some way unchristian. They couldn't fathom being a Christian and also in support of a monarchy or other forms of government. However, there have been Christians throughout the ages who have lived and died as good citizens of governments that were anything but democratic.

Likewise, in the political sphere, there a many Christians who on both sides of the fence politically. I have friends who genuinely disagree about the role government has in meeting the needs of people and wear the label "liberal", "libertarian" and "conservative" accordingly. But these friends also realize that the Gospel is what is central and ultimate, not their political views. Certainly, there are issues that have grave moral significance and are much easier to think through from a Biblical perspective. For instance, the Bible is clear about the moral nature of abortion. However, the fact that two people agree that abortion is wrong does not mean that the they will also agree on economic policy, or that being a Christian means that one must be for or against limited government, welfare or any other number of issues. God has blessed us with wisdom and logic to think through these things- indeed it is our responsibility to do so- but we should not expect that we will always be in agreement or that taking one stance is necessarily more in line with the Gospel than another.

In other words, believing the Gospel will not lead anyone to take a particular governmental or political stance. The converse is true as well. Being a Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative or anything else will not save you. Jesus will not come back and ask what political party you were affiliated with. This may seem silly, but sometimes it seems that people think this way. They appear to find it unfathomable that those who call themselves "Christian" would not share their views.

But the root problem with all of this is that we are putting an extra requirement on people that the Bible gives no credence for. Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. It's not that we have to have faith and be registered as a Republican. It's not that we believe in Christ and support the Democratic party. It's that we believe in Christ, who told us to submit to the government (no matter the structure) [Rom. 13:1] and who said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). We trust in Him who will one day put all governments beneath His feet and rule as our perfect, praiseworthy King (1 Cor, 15:26-27; Rev. 19:16). It is from Him that we receive salvation, and no earthly power.

The Gospel Is NOT... A Set of Rules

Sometimes, I think it is helpful to understand what something is through negative understanding, or by understanding what something is not. Particularly, the more complex and important an issue is, the more beneficial it is that we hear something taught in a variety of ways. Therefore, I will be posting several posts on what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is NOT:

1. A set of rules: Commonly, it is said that Christianity is not a religion. By this most people mean that true Christianity is not simply a list of things that one must or must not do, which is entirely correct. While God's law certainly is still valid, those who try to abide by the His law will certainly die (1 Cor. 15:56). You see, the law was and is meant to show us our sin, because we could never keep it no matter how hard we try. This should lead us to depend on Jesus because He is the only one that was able to obey the law perfectly. It is by faith in Him that we are saved, not by anything we do or don't do (Eph. 2:8-9).

Does this mean that if we place our faith in Jesus, then we can do whatever we want? Paul asks it this way:
"Shall we sin that grace may abound more?", a question he then answers with an emphatic "By no means!" (Romans 6:1-2). You see, if we truly have an understanding of God's grace within our lives and the gravity of our sin, our failure to keep the law, then our faith will be real, and as James tells us, our faith will produce works as a result (James 2:26). In other words, it is out of our love for Christ that we will obey His law, not because we are seeking to prove ourselves to God or make ourselves good enough, because we never could. Jesus did what we never could, took our punishment for breaking the law and offers His free gift of salvation to all who believe.

The Gospel

It's been way too long, but I've finally finished "The Gospel". You can access it  under the pages heading to the right. I encourage you to check it out.

The Gospel: the Greatest News in all the World

I'm just going to let this video speak for itself:

Matt Chandler on the Gospel

I'm sorry that I didn't post this video earlier. This is Matt Chandler, who I have mentioned before speaking for the 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Unfortunately, he was unable to actually make the conference. However, this is his fill-in video.

He speaks on making the Gospel explicit:

Matt Chandler - 20/20 2010 Session 1 from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.