the glorious exchange

I am concerned that modern day “Christian” culture, especially that culture geared towards the younger generations, are turning us away from the Gospel. I had a conversation today (and times prior) with a bright young lady in our church about what the Gospel is. It seems that because of the books that we read today and the articles we see, and the music that we are producing, we are slowly forgetting the Gospel. Instead we are turning it into a sugar-coated, pattycake version of humanism: let us serve the common good. Let’s give money to the poor, let’s serve the homeless, let’s put our faith into action. Now some may read my comment there and say that I am against those things. Absolutely not true. I am positively for those things: but only in light of the Gospel. The Gospel, the good news, is this: Jesus died in my place, taking on God’s wrath for my sins. He then rose from the dead to conquer satan, sin, and death for all time on my behalf. Should I repent and believe on Him, I will be saved from the holy wrath of the Almighty Creator. 

The fringe things arise out of me being a Christian, like serving the poor, like serving the homeless. Those things, in and of themselves, are not good news to anyone. It’s just humanity trying to save humanity, which will amount to nothing.

So to Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, et al: I love what you stand for, and where your heart is. I truly do. You stand for good things. But let us make the main thing the main thing. There will never be A Generous Orthodoxy, A New Kind of Christianity, a Blue Like Jazz, or an Irresistible Revolution without Jesus dying in our place.

By the way, if you’re a church leader out there reading all of Stetzer, Rick Warren, and various other “how-to” manuals, put them down every once in a while, and re-examine the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God that will grow churches, not the coolest flyers or band:

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Let us lead one another to the Great Thing: Jesus, who’s glory was shown first and foremost at the Cross and the Empty Tomb.

1 Corinthians 2:1:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Living in Bible Belt culture, I was always taught that you were saved once you said “The Prayer”.  And that was it. You were a Christian. But no one ever told me what Scripture teaches about salvation. Here’s a couple of things:

• First of all, salvation is a process, not a prayer. God works in His people throughout their entire lives, and indeed even after their lives, in order to bring them to Himself.
• Secondly, repentance is not a mantra or ritual, it is a lifestyle. Repentance is literally a changing of the mind that leads to action. Simply saying “I’m sorry” doesn’t cut it.
• Third, we are not saved out of our sin…yet. We are saved from our sins. Even more precise, we are saved from their effects (the wrath of God).
• Fourth, there are three stages of salvation:

1. Justification: This is what we commonly think of as salvation in totality. That Jesus died for us, taking on our sin, and we take His righteousness to be seen before the Father as innocent. This happens in an instant, upon confessing and believing that Jesus is Lord. Here, it can be summed up as salvation despite our sins.
2. Sanctification: This is the process of becoming like Christ. Though we take the righteousness of Christ on instantly before the Father, the actual physical manifestation of this righteousness gradually shows itself through us as we grow with Him. As we see a fuller and fuller revelation of Jesus, we become more like Him over time. This stage takes place over the lifetime of a Christian, and is never completed in this life. We can sum this up as salvation from our sins.
3. Glorification: This is the final stage. That upon the return of Jesus, when we raise from the dead, we are given redeemed, glorified bodies with no corruption from sin. This is the culmination of both our sanctification and salvation. Finally, this is what we long for as Christians desiring to be like Jesus. this is salvation out of our sins.

What a wonderful thought this is: that our salvation is not a wham-bam-thank you ma’am deal, but that even through our salvation, God gives us a progressive revelation (though I hesitate to use that term) of Himself!

Though I didn’t know it at the time, I was led to reformed thinking through a few artists by the name of the Cross Movement during my formative years. Later, through teaching by Mark Driscoll, John Piper, and Jonathan Edwards, I came to realize the fullness of Reformation theology, and it’s sharp alignment with what Scripture teaches (for the most part). For you rookies, here’s a youtube video with the lyrics from one of Flame’s songs, The Godhead. For those of you who don’t like rap: tough. It’s the upcoming culture. Speak it.

Wow, what a week! Here’s some highlights:

• Sunday was amazing! Worship was phenomenal, and the message was well received, I think. Listen to it for yourself on the website or on iTunes: HarmonyGreenville.com
• Check out Pablo’s notes, and the worship set,on his blog: Pablo Mazariegos
• I taught something pretty hard: Romans 9 and Romans 10
• Our website received a link from the first page of a Live.Com search for “Jesus”. That’s good news.
• We had a hard computer crash. Went to buy a new one, and dropped some cash. Got a great deal (do your research to save some money), because I found a package online that Best Buy wasn’t advertising in store. One of those undercover things. Can’t pull the wool over the sheep’s eyes this time…
• God is good.
• Video from Sunday’s service will be posted soon.

This Is How I Make Bread

And spaghetti, and do my taxes.