Jesus Died to Show the Wealth of His Grace

I have heard it said, “God didn’t die for frogs.  So he was responding to our value as humans.”  This turns grace on its head.  We are worse off than frogs.  They have not sinned.  They have not rebelled and treated God with the contempt of being inconsequential in their lives.  God did not have to die for frogs.  They aren’t bad enough.  We are.  Our debt is so great, only a divine sacrifice could pay for it.

- John Piper, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

God Tends to Use Failures to show His Greatness

God is so merciful and gracious to provide his Son Jesus as the atonement for our sins.  Certainly, God could have written us a Bible with one statement that said, “It’s your fault you are sinners, so get back on your feet by yourself.”  I’m so thankful he doesn’t say that.  For those who have faith in Christ as the payment for their sin, they are perfectly accepted by the Father.  Romans 8 says that “nothing in all creation” can separate us from God’s love if have been justified by Jesus’ death. 

The body of Christ is made up of people who fail all the time, in order that God’s grace may be praised all the more.  I love the Switchfoot song “Beautiful Letdown” that reminds us this: “[We are] the church of the dropouts, the losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools.  We are a beautiful letdown.”  Sadly, so many people still try to do good things and earn acceptance through hard work, religion, or managing sin.  Some of these people call themselves “Christians” and say, “I read my Bible.”  I wonder, though, do they actually pay close attention to the people in the Scriptures they are “reading” about?

Had God wished to communicate to us that our acceptance hinges on our goodness, he would have chosen another sort of person than those he most typically uses in the Bible to reveal the basis for our faith. But then he would have revealed himself to be a different kind of God.

- Bryan Chapell, Christ Centered Preaching

Another Thought on Suicide

The world is not impressed when Christians experience a suicide and have their ultimate joy depleted in sake of living in sorrow and using God as a teddy bear for comfort.  The world is impressed when Christians experience a suicide and say, “Jesus is enough.  He is my shelter.  He will give me hope.  I will cling to him.  And even in tragedy and despair,  he is utterly satisfing and I will rejoice, for he is good.”

Perhaps a Good Jumper Outweighs a PhD in Some Cases

C.J. Mahaney, of Sovereign Grace Ministries, on his credentials as a pastor and theologian:

I regret I have no degrees. I have only graduated from high school and even that should be investigated. I am however an exceptional athlete.

 

Imputed Righteousness to the Unworthy

To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.

- W.R. Newell

Sometimes we forget that God’s love is unconditional and grounded in who Christ is, not what we’ve done.  It’s easy to accept love from people when we know we deserve it.  But with a holy God, we are never deserving.  For God to love us even in our darkest, most grotesque hour–because of his Son–is what makes following Jesus more utterly satisfying than anything else in this world. 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

- 2 Corinthians 5:21

God’s Redemptive Plan in All of Scripture

All Scripture reveals God redemptive solution for man. Not every Scripture reveals it evenly however. Some passages are in full bloom and give the plain, clear account of Christ’s work on the cross for our sins. Other passages (most Old Testament passages) are in seed-form that are in some way connected to the mature message of God’s redemption. Bryan Chapell, of Covenant Seminary, provides a vivid illustration in his book Christ Centered Preaching.

You do not explain what an acorn is, even if you say many true things about it (e.g., it is brown, has a cap, is found on the ground, is gathered by squirrels), if you do not in some way relate it to an oak tree. In a similar sense, preachers cannot properly explain a seed of biblical revelation, even if they say many true things about it, unless they relate it to the redeeming work of God that all Scripture ultimately purposes to disclose.

And later, he writes:

Christ-centered preaching rightly understood does not seek to discover where Christ is mentioned in every text but to disclose where every text stands in relation to Christ.

Everyone Wants to Be Happy

St. Augustine:

If I were to ask you why you have believed in Christ, why you have become Christians, every man will truly answer, ‘For the sake of happiness.’

Blaise Pascal:

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

C.S. Lewis:

It is a Christian duty for everyone to be as happy as he can…Joy is the serious business of Heaven.

John Piper:

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

God:

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Ps. 42:11)

Does anyone do anything so they will be sad or joyless?  I would hope that everyone does anything in order that they would have joy.  I hope, even for non-Christians, that people would do things not to be depressed and sad, but to find complete joy and happiness.  Why do people look for religion, relationships, sex, drugs, food, fitness, etc?  To be happy.  On the other hand, I hope people who seek happiness will in the end find that it is empty, purposeless, and sinful if it is not grounded in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus will satisfy us.  He will make us happy.  He will give the most complete joy.  Pursue it.  Desire it.  Make it your goal in life to make Jesus your treasure.   

One Way You Shouldn’t be Like Jesus

Jesus never wrote anything. He hung out, and talked, and healed. But if his followers had only done that, we wouldn’t know even that about him. Both-And, not Either-Or. And some people more one than the other.

- John Piper

Keller on the Gospel

Tim Keller, of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, offers this wonderful perspective on what the gospel communicates:

[The gospel] tells us that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope–at the same time.  In fact, if the gospel is true, the more you see your sin, the more certain you are that you were saved by sheer grace and more precious and electrifying that grace is to you.