The Gospel Truth
From Resurgence:
You are already loved. Redemption is as certain as Christ’s resurrection. As heart change happens, so can our realization of the miracle that occurs. Jesus died in our place for our redemption. His blood was shed so that ours wouldn’t have to be. He endured the cross so that we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty for sin. Often, we stumble through life ignoring this miracle of redemption. Instead, we work for our own redemption. Before we know it, we’ve put God on the sidelines in the game we play of becoming a “better person.” Change is inevitable as the Holy Spirit is given room to transform us. Repenting to Jesus ignites the grace that God freely gives us. Our hearts are changed because God intends for us to become more like Jesus. Jesus is our redemption.
I recently heard a sermon (no, I won’t tell you who or even where) dealing with this issue that totally missed the point. Thinking he was preaching grace, what was actually communicated could hardly have been called “good news.” As one other hearer commented, “If that’s your gospel, your gospel sucks.”
Two verses come to mind:
For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. John 3:!6
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10
In both verses, the order is important: First God loves; then He acts. In this we are redeemed—God’s love, mediated through Christ.
I really appreciate hearing from readers. Among other things, it confirms to me that the work (there’s a good reason why a book is often referred to as a “work”) was worth it. Also, recent comments from readers have confirmed my belief that we need to hear the gospel preached on a regular basis. One such message from last week:
What a message you have put back before us. It’s stunning to me how we give it up and how our systems somehow/often undermine the truth of this remarkable and irreplaceable grace. Only grace. Only grace. This Easter season has been so marked by your work – I am invited back into real truth but it’s like i need to be re-acquainted with it every day… almost every moment.
And, in a comment at the Internet Monk blog, Steve writes:
The Gospel Uncensored: How only grace leads to freedom, is a great little book which I would suggest people read at least once a year, if not more.
In our fallen, corrupt state, our human nature has a need to be self-reliant, to feel that we have earned what we receive. This is constantly trying to pull us away from the truth that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” This is one reason why we need to hear the Good News again and again.
Many pastors today feel a need to deliver an unending series of practical sermons on how to make our lives better, or how to be better at something, or how to serve better… None of this will lead us into freedom; in fact, rather than making our lives better, we just get loaded down with the weight of all of the stuff that we could be doing better.
Somebody preach the gospel. Don’t tell me what I need to do, tell me what Christ has done. Then, I’ll tell you what I want to do. Give me grace and freedom and love, and I’ll show you some good works.
In the post mentioned above, The Scariest Word of All, Jeff Dunn discusses why people are so afraid of grace, and mentions The Gospel Uncensored, saying “I highly recommend this book as a primer on grace.”
Get your copy today! 
Michael Spencer was known as the Internet Monk—one of the early Christian bloggers. He died a year ago (April 5, 2010) of cancer. (He wasn’t a real monk—I think he was Southern Baptist…)
The blog carries on, occasionally reposting some classic Michael Spencer posts. Today, one of the current contributors, Jeff Dunn, creates a pseudo-interview with Spencer by using quotes from a few of his writings, on the topic of grace.
A small tidbit:
What you can do, not what God has done, is the great theme of most of what is published and recorded in the evangelical world. Grace writers and poets stand out like lighthouses in a sea of mediocre legalism and do-it-yourself religion. Grace is an endangered species, and we all need to celebrate and promote any writer who truly, passionately communicates grace. This isn’t a matter of theological labels. We can quibble about the footnotes some other time. No matter who they are, when they wrote or where you find them, applaud, buy and give away the grace writers and artists. The beauty of what they are saying needs to be heard in a church choking on legalism, moralism and timidity about the Gospel.
This is why we wrote The Gospel Uncensored.
Read the entire IM post here.
“Christianity is not the move from vice to virtue, but rather the move from virtue to grace.”
~ Gerhard Forde
Thanks to Steve at The Old Adam Lives! for the quote.
Bono (of U2 fame) on grace:
I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep s—. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.
From an interview, a portion of which is reproduced here.
I’m serious—some people will absolutely hate this book.
When Ken began preaching the sermon series that inspired The Gospel Uncensored, word spread. Soon, there were beaten-down and abused people everywhere. We had perhaps the most messed-up church in town, but only because that’s the kind of people the Gospel draws.
Many pastors hated it, because the Gospel is by nature subversive. Man-made constructs are no match for real truth—which is why many churches avoid the Gospel like the plague, opting instead for a sin-management approach. Pastors also hate to lose members; when people discover they’ve been abused or manipulated (or simply led astray), they either cause a bit stink, or they leave. Either way, it’s not good for church business.
The book should have the same effect.
Who will love this book
“A man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to obtain the grace of Christ.” ~Martin Luther
The “messed-up” people of the world—those who know they are failures, who know they can’t measure up to any kind of religious standards—love the Gospel. It is music to their ears, and food for their souls. It was the ragamuffins who followed Jesus and clung to his every word. Peter put it this way: “Where else would we go? Only you have the words of life.”
It is for these people—among whom I count myself—this book was written. We not only love this gospel, we need it, desperately.
Who will hate the book
However, those who think they can work to achieve some measure of spiritual success—or even to earn their salvation—will hate the book. The gospel pulls the rug out from under their ability to achieve anything on their own.
Religion, as we have been told, is a crutch. In reality, religion is not a crutch, it is, if you will, a purported “stairway to heaven.” It is the Gospel that is a crutch. Seriously. To admit that you need grace is to admit that you are a cripple, unable to walk on your own. People will either embrace and lean on the crutch, or hate it.
Who else will hate the book
Many pastors and leaders will also hate this book, because it pulls the rug out from under their sin-management control structures. It is impossible to control grace. Grace is messy. Sins that are hidden by sin-management techniques become suddenly visible. And, perhaps what’s worse is that without the sin-management structures in place, we have to trust God. And, if a pastor or leader is honest, they will tell you that trusting God is often a terrifying proposition. As C.S. Lewis put it, “Aslan is not a tame lion.”
The others
I will also acknowledge that there are those who simply disagree with our exegesis, and I’m okay with that. Paul pointed out that we will have disagreements, and that through disagreements the truth is made clear (1 Cor. 11:19). As the book itself discusses, Paul contended with Peter over the “grace vs works” issue, and Paul prevailed. It seems to me that Paul is so clear in his explanation of the gospel in Galatians that I fail to see how anyone could get a different meaning from it, but people apparently do.
So, I have to admit that I could be wrong on some points, though I don’t think I am. As Martin Luther also said,
I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men.
I am as certain about the Gospel as I can be.
Hot or cold
I have said half-jokingly that the best advertising I could get is for some famous pastor to absolutely hate the book. To me, the wort possible thing would be for people to find the book boring or inconsequential. As Jesus put it, “I”d rather have you cold or hot.” If someone could read the book and go, “so what?”, then I would feel like we haven’t stated the Gospel clearly enough.
So far, the people I’ve heard from all love the book. However, as odd as this sounds, I’d love to hear that it’s hated as well, just so I know that we’ve done our job.
Here’s an interesting question: What do you want from Christianity?
A long time ago I heard someone describing becoming a Christian as an act of “enlightened self-interest,” where we are motivated by what we hope to get out of it rather than a commitment to serve God and others. Looking at the Gospels, it seems that Jesus never turned people away for wanting something from him; in fact, it was those who didn’t want anything from him that he turned away. Even Peter’s great statement of faith, “where else would we go? Only you have the words of life” (John 6:68), speaks of Peter’s need for these words of life. So, this enlightened self-interest does not appear to be a bad thing.
Considering this, plus the fact that Christianity has, at least for many people in the west, become a consumerist endeavor—one in which we pick churches and even religions on what we perceive we need—then the obvious question becomes, “what do you want from Christianity?”
(a repost from aldenswan.com)
One of my favorite songs from Sunday School was I Love To Tell the Story. I haven’t heard the song in years, but it seems like just yesterday I was singing it in the back seat of our car on our way to my grandma’s house for Sunday dinner. This probably dates me — this was in the early 60’s, long before Sunday School kids sang “Pharaoh, Pharaoh” (sung to the tune of “Louie, Louie”). Thinking back, I Love To Tell the Story doesn’t really seem to fit the mold of what you’d expect from old Lutherans, but I guess there were some cross-denominational influences even then.
The first verse starts, “I love to tell the story, of unseen things above; of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.” I don’t recall how most of it goes, but I could never forget the chorus:
I love to tell the story,
’Twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and His love. (lyrics by Arabella K. Hankey)
I don’t know that many people love to tell that story anymore. Even in church, there are so many distractions — you can sit through years of sermons without ever hearing the Gospel. In some churches children learn about tolerance and social awareness; in others, they learn various rules to follow so that they grow up looking like solid Christians. In other churches they sing songs with little or no real theology and hear touchy-feely messages. If they’re lucky, they will watch videos of the latest craze in youth ministry, geared to those with short attention spans. And of course, there are the snacks.
But it seems that very few are telling them the story.
According to a recent article on CNN.com, a study of teens across denominational lines showed that “most American teens who called themselves Christian were indifferent and inarticulate about their faith.”
Nobody is telling them the story.
Perhaps it’s because adults have lost their love for the simplicity of the Gospel. Do we think that our children will see us worshipping to vacuous songs with good beats and guitar solos and listening to boring sermons about financial responsibility and want to grow up to be just like us? Do we adults even remember what the story is?
A 2007 poll by the Pew Forum on Religion showed that as many as 57% of evangelicals thought that many religions could lead to eternal life. They know how to live purpose-driven lives, they are taught how to manage their finances and how improve their marriages, and many are politically motivated, but they don’t know the Gospel from a hole in the ground. The renewal movements of the twentieth century are over, and it seems that we are slipping back into that same sort of cultural Christianity that existed in the 50’s.
For some time, my wife and I have been concerned about the quality of our children’s Christian education. When our kids were of Sunday School age, we evaluated various Sunday School curriculums for a church we were in, and for the most part determined they were terrible. They were perhaps fine for becoming “morally therapeutic deists,” Kenda Creasy Dean’s term, but not for raising intelligent Christians. It’s no wonder that so many teens today believe Christianity is nothing special.
As a Lutheran, besides having actual Bible teaching in Sunday School we went through confirmation classes, learning basic theology as well as church history. And of course, we said one of the creeds every Sunday. We visited other churches, learning what makes them different from Lutherans. Do any churches still teach this stuff?
When I was still quite young, I knew the story. And, I understood it, and understood that it was important. I guess that’s why I am writing; I still love to tell the story.
Many Christians live their lives trying to overcome feelings that they are not measuring up to a perceived set of standards. They either succeed in performing an occasionally impressive collection of dead works, or kill their faith trying.
The truth is, we can’t measure up. The Law kills us every time. Trying to measure up is a sure path to failure and condemnation.
My aunt had this plaque hanging in her kitchen that said, “Only one life / will soon to pass / only what’s done / for Christ will last.” It sounds very religious, which it is. However, it’s not true.
What it should say is, “Only what’s done by Christ will last.”
All of our efforts to measure up are wood, hay and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12). Dead works. However, if we believe that Christ has measured up for us, then what we do becomes something else entirely. We are then motivated by love and faith rather than by doubt or self-righteous fantasies, doing good works—those laid out by Christ in advance—rather than dead works.
We have enough cemeteries the way it is.
Truth is indeed too good for men to believe; they must dilute it before they can take it; they must dilute it before they dare give it. They must make it less true before they can believe it enough to get any good of it…Unable to believe in the forgivingness of their father in heaven, they invented a way to be forgiven that should not demand of him so much; which might make it right for him to forgive; which should save them from having to believe downright in the tenderness of his fatherheart, for that they found impossible. ~George MacDonald, “Justice”
Check out the new post at aldenswan.com, “George MacDonald: Truth is too good to believe.”
RECENT POSTS
