The Gospel

For those who have never heard the Gospel:

We are sinners. I am a sinner. You are a sinner. God is perfect, holy, and just. Our sinful nature separates us from him. Though God didn’t need to, He sent his Son; perfect and without blemish, to die on the cross for us. Through his death on the cross, Jesus paid our sin-debt for us. The Bible tells us that Jesus, a God-man who never knew sin, actually became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

He alone is able to save us from our sin. He alone can bring change, hope and new life. "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Whether or not we believe in God doesn’t determine whether he exists. He is a big God, full of mercy and grace. He is powerful - he simply spoke the world into being and he has protected his word, the Bible, through the ages. His word is living - his Spirit meets us as we read, revealing truth, and himself to us. You can go to the Word and know him.

Self-protection vs. the Ministry of Reconciliation

God has called us to lay down our lives in the ministry of reconciling others to Christ. He never called us to a life of self-protection.

I've protected my family from climbing too high in trees, crossing the street without looking, and talking to strangers. I am a mama bear, searching the horizon, looking behind bushes, always on the prowl, looking for anyone or thing who could harm my cubs. When I really think about it I've spent an amazing amount of energy protecting my family.

I've spent a lot of time protecting them from "bad people". Kids that cuss or drink or use drugs - the unsightly, the dirty, the ill-behaved, the not-so-desirable.

This is difficult. Should we allow our children and families to be involved with sinners? Do we pull in from the outside and protect our own?

Do we share our lives with those who don't know God? Do we live from the inside out - living out of an overflow of our relationship with Christ?

When we look at the life of Christ, the answer is absolutely yes! Jesus loved, served, befriended, healed, and fed the poor, the prostitute, the adulteress, liars, thieves, and the sick.

It's true, unbelievers are a bad influence. They are sinners. Here's the deal. These children (or bag ladies, homeless, poor, Wall Street bankers, or suburban housewives) need to hear the amazing truth of the Gospel. There are unbelievers who live around us who need to know Jesus. (Truth be known, I'm a sinner.)

We aren't the ones who hold our children in God. God does! God saves and protects his sheep (our children and us).

John 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

Thus, I conclude: God never called us to a life of self-protection. He has called us to lay down our lives in the ministry of reconciling others to Christ.

I am so convicted. A change is necessary in my life and heart. I want to get involved with the messy, dirty, undesirable. I'm praying that God will give me a heart to intentionally build relationships with people I'm not accustomed to even noticing. I'm praying that God will compel me to give my time, energy, and money to these new relationships. I'm praying that God will bring people into my life who need to hear about him. When God does bring them, I'm praying that he will help me to be obedient.

I don't yet fully comprehend what this looks like. God give me grace to glorify you and obey!

The alternative is unthinkable. It means I have clean, well-behaved children, a nice house, good food on the table . . . a safe life - while those outside my world go on through life having never heard the truth of God's great love for them.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 . . . God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the the message of reconciliation, Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Quotes on Shame from: When People are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch

Notes from Lori are in parenthesis.

Page 66 "Shame is something that we do to ourselves and is done to us." (The shame we do to ourselves is caused by our own sin. The shame done to us is done by others through acts of victimization.)


Page 66 "Jesus was sentenced to death in the most shameful manner possible - naked and on a cross. He felt shame, but he was innocent. He suffered the shame of others that was placed on him."

Page 67 "God extends his compassion and his mighty, rescuing arm to take away shame. Jesus both experienced shame and took our shame on himself, so shame no longer defines us. In fact, by grace through faith, it is no longer part of us. Then, in an act that seems inconceivable, God goes a step further: he marries and exalts those who once were shamed."

Isa. 54:4-5 Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of you widowhood. For you Maker is you husband - the Lord Almighty is his name - the Holy One of Israel is you Redeemer.

Page 67 - 68 "For every one look at myself I must take ten looks at Jesus. I must meditate on these loving promises from the mouth of God. If I think that I am beyond grace, I should be corrected. Such thinking is based on the unbiblical assumption that our works can either keep us away from God or move us towards him. It is a denial of grace itself. It suggests that there is some righteous act I must perform in order to meet God halfway. This, however, has nothing to do with to gospel of Jesus. The gospel is only available to people who know they are unclean."

(I find it interesting that all forms of suffering have shame that accompanies the suffering. I don't like using words like "all" but in my experience this is true. Suffering can include depression, loss of job, anxiety, loss of someone you love, illness, etc. There seems to be an assumption that we did something wrong or that for some reason, God's favor isn't with us. It is the shame associated with suffering that causes us to isolate ourselves just when we need others the most. )

Sadness

I can fall in love with a new puppy instantly. Last week, Bekah and I found a sweet pup at our shelter for her. He was part shepherd and part a lot of other things which only made him more interesting. When asked what breed he was, everyone kinda said, "Humm . . ." He was active, social, and very loving.

I puppy-sat for the weekend and enjoyed the pup. On Saturday, he started started throwing up and had diarrhea. By Sunday night, he was gone. It's so sad.

I'm sad for the loss of the pup; I'm really sad that Bekah is having to go through the loss of her new little friend. Even though he wasn't mine and was new to our family - it still hurts.

God heals our hearts. I've experienced it. Though the process sometimes seems to take too long.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God is still God

Just a thought to ponder . . . no matter how I feel today, God is still God. How I feel doesn't change God's existence, character, or love for me. He always works "all things together for good to those who love God". Romans 8:28

God is the unchanging constant in life. Our emotions, or feelings, have ebb and flow and are always changing. I know this but when something happens that threatens me, I struggle. Here's what usually happens. A life event happens that I don't like. I have a negative flood of emotion. I panic . . .

I like to compare myself to Billy Bob Thornton who plays Davy Crockett in The Alamo. There's a line in the movie where he bravely says, "I've got to warn you, I'm a screamer!" The only difference between me and Billy Bob is that I scream because I'm chicken! Yup, that's me - a chicken screamer.

I've been praying about learning to deal with this flood of emotion. The cycle is almost always the same: bad thing happens, I assess that this cannot be good, I forget that God is working all things together for my good, panic, and then I react in a way that I wish I hadn't.

Somewhere in this scenario a major flaw in my thinking has occurred - I'm not understanding that regardless of the event, God is still God. I begin to look toward something else for life, security, love, value . . .

So, I'm practicing learning to think differently; then I can actually choose a godly response. So, bad thing happens, I look to God and say, "God, I'm so glad that You're in control and that You love me. You love me even though You know me. Thank You that I can relax and watch to see what You're about to do."

Actually, it goes something more like this. "God, are You seeing this?! Can You believe that such-and-such happened or so-and-so said that. I'm glad You're here, in control - taking care this. I'm glad that You love me even though You know me. Hey, that means that You love them even though You know them. What do You want me to do now? Relax and watch what You're about to do? Oh, makes sense."

Reality: God is good and big and in control. This nothing for Him.

Busted

I actually saw a kid who was "bustin' a sag" loose his sag - his shorts fell down around his knees! And being a "cool" kid, he actually refused to pull up his pants for several seconds - he walked down the street with his shorts around his knees. Wish I had a picture to share with you . . .

Tethering

A tether ball is a tall metal pole anchored in a tire that's filled with concrete and has a long rope attached from the top. Joined at the end of the rope is a volleyball. Two people stand on opposite sides of the pole and hit the ball. The object is to hit the ball winding it all the way around the pole. The players pound the ball trying to hit it above, below, or even through the other player. It's a great game to play when you need to unload stress.

I'm seeing 2 comparisons here. God is the pole. Relationship with God is the rope. We're the the ball. The world pounds us - trying to force us off course, to change direction, pounding us into surrendering.

Or, we're the pole, relationship with our kids is the rope, and our kids are the ball. The world pounds them - trying to force them off course, to change direction, pounding them into surrendering. . .

The culture our kids are growing up in is daunting. It is pounding into them that rules are irrelevant. Every rule can be bent or discarded. The new culture tells them that rules by nature are firmly fixed and therefore lack relationship with the topic at hand because relationship has give and flow and movement.

Maybe, the old culture pushed unholy rules too hard. I certainly can see that. I'm talking about rules made by people or churches or organizations and not made by God.

Josh McDowell said, "rules without relationship lead to rebellion". That causes me to pause and examine myself, my relationship (tether) with God, and my relationship (tether) with my children. By the way, tether is defined as a cord that anchors something movable to a stationary point. (pausing again)

The truth of this is hard. There are rules that are immovable. What is it that motivates Christians to obedience when the rules can't be bent? Why does David say that he loves God's law? (Psalm 119:97 Oh, how I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the day.) It's the tether. It's our relationship with God. It's the fact that God chose us. He has chosen relationship with us. He chose to be born. He chose to be human like us. He chose to die - for us. He chose to bridge the gap of our sin by sending His own son to pay the price for our sin.

What does that mean for me and my relationship with God or my kids? (pausing) Well, I'm thinking that it's the pole that anchors the rope that tethers the ball.

God is the pole that anchors relationship that tethers me. God's heart toward me is to hold me and bring me into reconciliation with Him.

I'm the pole that anchors the relationship that tethers my kids. My heart toward my children should be to hold them and bring them into reconciliation with me and ultimately - with God.

God, give me grace to tether like You.