It’s Palm Sunday and we begin the week that Christians reflect on Christ’s Passion. This is a time to contemplate with intentionality and purpose. As if walking with Christ through the various events and scenes of that week that all of the Gospel writers give us so much detail, we can revisit the highs and lows of a week that changed everything. Each of us should slow down at various points in the next 7 days to imagine what it was like, and what it all means!
All across America churches recognized Palm Sunday today. Perhaps this was the one day in Jesus’ earthly life that most closely approximated what He deserved to receive from mankind. Shouts of “Hosanna” and blessing were what He should have heard every day of His earthly existence. Greeted by palm branches and cloaks across His path, the people in Jerusalem that day responded with celebration to a sight that was as ironic in its appearance as was the crowd’s response to it. The King was riding on a donkey?
Not quite the transcendent entrance of the military King they had anticipated, but a King nonetheless. A colt instead of a stallion. His victory later that week would be just as underestimated as His appearance at that moment. But that is getting ahead of ourselves. Today is Palm Sunday! Today we celebrate the King’s entrance and a day that rightly ascribes glory and fame to the Son of God. Had we been there, we too would have anticipated a different outcome of those seven days. Praise God for a rejected stone that would become the Cornerstone!
“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
In just a few days some of those same voices will be shouting “Crucify Him!” Yet another irony of this remarkable week!
Here is the link for the article I read from during our Worship Service on Sunday. It is a helpful perspective and one that motivates more from the gospel and for the glory of God than some other perspectives that have been voiced in recent days. Let this perspective shape your view as you consider how you might respond to this crisis:
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/01/14/does-god-hate-haiti/
I am grateful for Dr. Mohler’s effort to help us have a more Biblical understanding of the situation.
December 26th is arguably the least anticipated day on the calender. No one wants that day to come quickly. In fact, it may be the most dreaded day on the calendar as well. The most celebrated and anticipated day of the year has come and gone. Every year, the hype for Christmas Day seems bigger and yet every year, those 24 hours pass just as quickly as those of the other 364. With all of the effort, expense, and energy to prepare for that one moment in time one might expect the day to linger just a bit longer, but instead it evaporates, and with it go all the wild dreams and unrealistic expectations that were placed upon it.
This is the nature of Christmas, and with it comes a valuable lesson. Hope will not ever be found in a day, even a great day like Dec. 25th. Hope is found only in Christ. Here are some thoughts posted on the Desiring God blog today. I hope it brings you a helpful perspective as it has me on this annual “let down” day.
Hopeful Post-Christmas Melancholy
December 26, 2009 | By: Jon Bloom | Category: Commentary
Each year Christmas night finds members of my family feeling some melancholy. After weeks of anticipation, the Christmas celebrations have flashed by us and are suddenly gone. And we’re left standing, watching the Christmas taillights and music fade into the night.
But it’s possible that this moment of melancholy may be the best teaching moment of the whole season. Because as long as the beautiful gifts remain unopened around the tree and the events are still ahead of us, they can appear to be the hope we are waiting for. But when the tree is empty and events are past, we realize we are longing for a lasting hope.
So last night, as Pam and I tucked our kids into bed, we talked about a few things with them:
- Gifts and events can’t fill the soul. God gives us such things to enjoy. They are expressions of his generosity as well as ours, but gifts and celebrations themselves are not designed to satisfy. They’re designed to point us to the Giver. Gifts are like sunbeams. We are not meant to love sunbeams but the Sun.
- Putting our hope in gifts will leave us empty. Many people live their lives looking for the right sunbeam to make them happy. But if we depend on anything in the world to satisfy our soul’s deepest desire, it will eventually leave us with that post-Christmas soul-ache. We will ask, “Is that all?” because we know deep down that’s not all there is. We are designed to treasure a Person, not his things.
- It is more blessed to give than receive. What kind of happiness this Christmas felt richer, getting the presents that you wanted or making someone else happy with something that you gave to them? Receiving is a blessing, but Jesus is right—giving is a greater blessing. A greedy soul lives in a small, lonely world. A generous soul lives in a wide world of love.
It’s just like God to let the glitter and flash of the celebrations (even in his honor) to pass and then to come to us in the quiet, even melancholic void they leave. Because often that’s when we are most likely to understand the hope he intends for us to have at Christmas.
posted at http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/
I was so compelled by this email that I received this morning, coupled with the myriad of wayward sons and daughters that I am aware of – and their parents – that I felt pointing readers to the words of a once wayward son would be helpful. By God’s grace, this wayward son is home now. Potentially his advice will serve those of you who are struggling to see your own wayward son or daughter come home; and those of us who are desperately doing what we can now to prepare for the crossroads that lie ahead.
12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child
Abraham Piper
My son Abraham, who speaks from the wisdom of experience and Scripture, has written the article that follows. I read it with tears and laughter. It is so compelling that I asked him immediately if I could share it with the church and the wider Christian community. There is no greater joy than to see your children walking in the truth—and expressing it so well. The rest is Abraham’s untouched. -John Piper
Many parents are brokenhearted and completely baffled by their unbelieving son or daughter. They have no clue why the child they raised well is making such awful, destructive decisions. I’ve never been one of these parents, but I have been one of these sons. Reflecting back on that experience, I offer these suggestions to help you reach out to your wayward child.
1. Point them to Christ.
Your rebellious child’s real problem is not drugs or sex or cigarettes or pornography or laziness or crime or cussing or slovenliness or homosexuality or being in a punk rock band. The real problem is that they don’t see Jesus clearly. The best thing you can do for them—and the only reason to do any of the following suggestions—is to show them Christ. It is not a simple or immediate process, but the sins in their life that distress you and destroy them will only begin to fade away when they see Jesus more like he actually is.
2. Pray.
Only God can save your son or daughter, so keep on asking that he will display himself to them in a way they can’t resist worshiping him for.
3. Acknowledge that something is wrong.
If your daughter rejects Jesus, don’t pretend everything is fine.
For every unbelieving child, the details will be different. Each one will require parents to reach out in unique ways. Never acceptable, however, is not reaching out at all. If your child is an unbeliever, don’t ignore it. Holidays might be easier, but eternity won’t be.
4. Don’t expect them to be Christ-like.
If your son is not a Christian, he’s not going to act like one.
You know that he has forsaken the faith, so don’t expect him to live by the standards you raised him with. For example, you might be tempted to say, “I know you’re struggling with believing in Jesus, but can’t you at least admit that getting wasted every day is sin?”
If he’s struggling to believe in Jesus, then there is very little significance in admitting that drunkenness is wrong. You want to protect him, yes. But his unbelief is the most dangerous problem—not partying. No matter how your child’s unbelief exemplifies itself in his behavior, always be sure to focus more on the heart’s sickness than its symptoms.
5. Welcome them home.
Because the deepest concern is not your child’s actions, but his heart, don’t create too many requirements for coming home. If he has any inkling to be with you, it is God giving you a chance to love him back to Jesus. Obviously there are some instances in which parents must give ultimatums: “Don’t come to this house if you are…” But these will be rare. Don’t lessen the likelihood of an opportunity to be with your child by too many rules.
If your daughter smells like weed or an ashtray, spray her jacket with Febreze and change the sheets when she leaves, but let her come home. If you find out she’s pregnant, then buy her folic acid, take her to her twenty-week ultrasound, protect her from Planned Parenthood, and by all means let her come home. If your son is broke because he spent all the money you lent him on loose women and ritzy liquor, then forgive his debt as you’ve been forgiven, don’t give him any more money, and let him come home. If he hasn’t been around for a week and a half because he’s been staying at his girlfriend’s—or boyfriend’s—apartment, plead with him not to go back, and let him come home.
6. Plead with them more than you rebuke them.
Be gentle in your disappointment.
What really concerns you is that your child is destroying herself, not that she’s breaking rules. Treat her in a way that makes this clear. She probably knows—especially if she was raised as a Christian—that what she’s doing is wrong. And she definitely knows you think it is. So she doesn’t need this pointed out. She needs to see how you are going to react to her evil. Your gentle forbearance and sorrowful hope will show her that you really do trust Jesus.
Her conscience can condemn her by itself. Parents ought to stand kindly and firmly, always living in the hope that they want their child to return to.
7. Connect them to believers who have better access to them.
There are two kinds of access that you may not have to your child: geographical and relational. If your wayward son lives far away, try to find a solid believer in his area and ask him to contact your son. This may seem nosy or stupid or embarrassing to him, but it’s worth it—especially if the believer you find can also relate to your son emotionally in a way you can’t.
Relational distance will also be a side effect of your child leaving the faith, so your relationship will be tenuous and should be protected if at all possible. But hard rebuke is still necessary.
This is where another believer who has emotional access to your son may be very helpful. If there is a believer who your son trusts and perhaps even enjoys being around, then that believer has a platform to tell your son—in a way he may actually pay attention to—that he’s being an idiot. This may sound harsh, but it’s a news flash we all need from time to time, and people we trust are usually the only ones who can package a painful rebuke so that it is a gift to us.
A lot of rebellious kids would do well to hear that they’re being fools—and it is rare that this can helpfully be pointed out by their parents—so try to keep other Christians in your kids lives.
8. Respect their friends.
Honor your wayward child in the same way you’d honor any other unbeliever. They may run with crowds you’d never consider talking to or even looking at, but they are your child’s friends. Respect that—even if the relationship is founded on sin. They’re bad for your son, yes. But he’s bad for them, too. Nothing will be solved by making it perfectly evident that you don’t like who he’s hanging around with.
When your son shows up for a family birthday celebration with another girlfriend—one you’ve never seen before and probably won’t see again—be hospitable. She’s also someone’s wayward child, and she needs Jesus, too.
9. Email them.
Praise God for technology that lets you stay in your kids’ lives so easily!
When you read something in the Bible that encourages you and helps you love Jesus more, write it up in a couple lines and send it to your child. The best exhortation for them is positive examples of Christ’s joy in your own life.
Don’t stress out when you’re composing these as if each one needs to be singularly powerful. Just whip them out one after another, and let the cumulative effect of your satisfaction in God gather up in your child’s inbox. God’s word is never proclaimed in vain.
10. Take them to lunch.
If possible, don’t let your only interaction with your child be electronic. Get together with him face to face if you can. You may think this is stressful and uncomfortable, but trust me that it’s far worse to be in the child’s shoes—he is experiencing all the same discomfort, but compounded by guilt. So if he is willing to get together with you for lunch, praise God, and use the opportunity.
It will feel almost hypocritical to talk about his daily life, since what you really care about is his eternal life, but try to anyway. He needs to know you care about all of him. Then, before lunch is over, pray that the Lord will give you the gumption to ask about his soul. You don’t know how he’ll respond. Will he roll his eyes like you’re an idiot? Will he get mad and leave? Or has God been working in him since you talked last? You don’t know until you risk asking.
(Here’s a note to parents of younger children: Set up regular times to go out to eat with your kids. Not only will this be valuable for its own sake, but also, if they ever enter a season of rebellion, the tradition of meeting with them will already be in place and it won’t feel weird to ask them out to lunch. If a son has been eating out on Saturdays with his dad since he was a tot, it will be much harder for him later in life to say no to his father’s invitation—even as a surly nineteen-year-old.)
11. Take an interest in their pursuits.
Odds are that if your daughter is purposefully rejecting Christ, then the way she spends her time will probably disappoint you. Nevertheless, find the value in her interests, if possible, and encourage her. You went to her school plays and soccer games when she was ten; what can you do now that she’s twenty to show that you still really care about her interests?
Jesus spent time with tax collectors and prostitutes, and he wasn’t even related to them. Imitate Christ by being the kind of parent who will put some earplugs in your pocket and head downtown to that dank little nightclub where your daughter’s CD release show is. Encourage her and never stop praying that she will begin to use her gifts for Jesus’ glory instead her own.
12. Point them to Christ.
This can’t be over-stressed. It is the whole point. No strategy for reaching your son or daughter will have any lasting effect if the underlying goal isn’t to help them know Jesus.
Jesus.
It’s not so that they will be good kids again; it’s not so that they’ll get their hair cut and start taking showers; it’s not so that they’ll like classical music instead of deathcore; it’s not so that you can stop being embarrassed at your weekly Bible study; it’s not so that they’ll vote conservative again by the next election; it’s not even so that you can sleep at night, knowing they’re not going to hell.
The only ultimate reason to pray for them, welcome them, plead with them, email them, eat with them, or take an interest in their interests is so that their eyes will be opened to Christ.
And not only is he the only point—he’s the only hope. When they see the wonder of Jesus, satisfaction will be redefined. He will replace the pathetic vanity of the money, or the praise of man, or the high, or the orgasm that they are staking their eternities on right now. Only his grace can draw them from their perilous pursuits and bind them safely to himself—captive, but satisfied.
He will do this for many. Be faithful and don’t give up.
© Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
As I write this I am surrounded by Fall’s glorious splendor. Autumn has always been my favorite season of the year. The Summer has normally provided its delightfully full season of cookouts, vacations, water play, camping, gardening, and sunshine. Now it seems time to begin to settle down from the increased activity of play and sunburn and turn our attentions and energies to a more “productive” agenda. Now our schedules are consumed by a flurry of activity as school resumes and new seasons begin for the many activities in our lives that coincide with our inescapable internal clocks which were set in those primary years of academia.
After September’s fits and starts, October brings a settling of the schedule. New routines have been set and the memories of Summer grow a bit more distant. Thoughts of warm, long days of sunshine begin to turn to cooler temperatures and shorter days as those first brisk breezes begin to blow through the open window screens. Though our schedules are busier, there are still occasional pauses of quiet contemplation as we gaze across the once green landscape and being to discover the faint hints of extraordinary color. Reds, yellows, and oranges begin to flicker here and there as a hint of things to come. Soon those once verdant scenes will be ablaze with brilliant and astonishing color before giving way to the starkness of Winter. During this marvelous, yet fleeting, transition the senses seem to come alive as fiery colors and cool, gentle breezes awaken our sensory organs. There is even a “smell” to Fall that, while not as pungent as Spring, is clearly as distinctive. We are halted in our new found busyness to take it all in as Creation dies a glorious and beautiful death.
We rarely consider death as beautiful in this life. Occasionally a death may be glorious if one died while accomplishing some extraordinary feat – as in the effort to preserve the life of someone else, especially someone weaker or in need. But death rarely carries the connotations that the vivid glory of Fall’s seasonal change seems to infer. But God did communicate something very special in his design of Fall. While our culture runs from death’s inevitability and hides from its reality, our Savior was as determined to pursue it as we are determined to avoid it. There is no coincidence that the central act of the Christian faith, and really all of history, is a death – His death upon the cross!
There is clearly a horrendous aspect to Christ’s death. The immense cost and painful experience cannot be considered pleasant or beautiful when calculating its torturous reality. There is nothing appealing about blood and agonizing pain. And clearly there is a necessary “revolting” and “confounding” aspect to the nature of the death of the “Prince of Life.” However, there is also a remarkable attraction. Not the kind of attraction that our “ambulance-chasing” fascinations are given to. But the kind of attraction that our worship-ascribing and knee-bending hearts are given to. The kind of attraction that can capture awestruck wonder and eternal delight.
Most have gained enough of an understanding of the cross to grant appreciation and affection for what Christ has done, but those revelations notwithstanding, there are vast and profound depths of mystery found in the death of the cross that invoke a captivating awe. The perspective that this awe is filled with is composed of countless knowledge-defying questions, such as…
What reservoir of wisdom has orchestrated this event?
What height of glory has chosen to display it?
What selfless manner of humility has stooped to endure it?
What degree of holiness has required it?
What sufficiency of sacrifice has fulfilled it?
Behold what manner of love has compelled it?
There are some questions that have garnered noble efforts to the degree of thousands of pages written and hundreds of thousands of words spoken toward attempting to answer them, but the efforts still fall short of filling the total measure required to sufficiently respond. The cross invokes those sorts of questions. It is in these types of questions that beauty is found because while we cannot adequately answer them, we know that the answers that are presently hidden from us are altogether and infinitely wonderful. This is when the knowledge of the nature of mystery is enough to delight the deepest recesses of our hearts. We are compelled that the answers are found in a Saving God who is as infinitely wonderful as the display of the mystery of His Saving Act. This is the mystery of the Gospel! Herein lies the beauty of the cross; the beauty of death; and to some lesser, yet strategic degree, the beauty of Fall.
Enjoy the glorious death of Fall and be reminded of the glorious death of the Savior who (just as Fall promises a seemingly distant Spring) has promised a new life some day that will never die again!
This is the third installment of the thoughts of God’s goodness in the wake of tragedy. These thoughts are based upon a reflection upon the truth of Romans 8:28 which promises that God will deliver good to His people “in all things.”
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
The good that God ultimately desires to give us in all things is Himself!
The remainder of the passage points us to the very good that he intends to work out of all things in this life, including the hard things – the very relationship with and love of Christ himself!
Romans 8:31-39 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For the unsaved, it is justification that he intends to work out of all things.
For the saved, it is a deepened and more profound sense of His love for us.
This is how the gospel is applied to tragedy: it is either the gateway from tragedy to salvation, or its application to the believer’s life expands the view of just how much He loves us and draws us near to Him.
Salvation (knowing God) is the result of the goodness of God, not worldly possessions, comfort, or notoriety
When Jonathan’s treasured paddle ball broke and he burst into tears, I took the two ends of the rubber band and began to work with them. He continued to sob as he watched me work. In a few moments I had taken the ends and tied them together to make them whole again. With tears still in his eyes he gazed upon the newly repaired paddle ball and a huge smile spread across his face. He threw his arms around me and hugged me tight and I hugged him in return.
Which experience demonstrated the deeper love of a Father to his son?
1) The one who was merely watching his son play in quiet contentment with his toy?
2) Or the one who dried his tears after bringing good from his mini-tragedy?
His response as he threw his arms around me neck in delight demonstrated the answer, but it took a season of pain to know the deeper place of love.
The path forward in God always includes suffering. You can’t move forward in God without experiencing it, but moving forward is the gain that brings the deepest joy and delight.
Mark 8:34-37 34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life?
Just like that fragile rubber band on the paddle ball, life can snap at any moment. It is foolish to put off things that can and should be done now. You don’t know what tomorrow may bring and you certainly are warned not to count on it in this life.
But press on. Take hold of this opportunity. God intends to work good out of this season of tragedy.
Application
1) Don’t wait and despise when the moments are gone, treasure the fact when the moments are here – be thankful!
2) Redeem the time. Determine to do now what can be done – be diligent!
3) Do something radical and daring with your life for the gospel – be radical!
In the last post, I began discussing the context of paind and suffering in which we find Romans 8:28. Here is a continuation of the thoughts regarding this verse and its application to “bad things” that happen in this life.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Three Aspects of this Verse
1) A sovereign God who only works good according to his purpose
2) The recipients of this “good” – People who love God and are “called”
3) The good that is worked out of all things, including (and possibly even especially) these trials and tribulations
I will speak to each briefly, but the first more substantively…
1) A Sovereign God who only works good in his purpose
(I have leaned very heavily upon John Piper for the best way to communicate these thoughts)
It is easy to see that good things work together for good, but what about bad things?
We must build the foundation of our understanding of tragedy and death upon the solid rock of God’s sovereignty in all things, and his purpose to bring good from them all.
Some give themselves over to a philosophy that says that God does not purpose, plan or design the hard things that come into our lives, but he simply works good out of them after they happen. In this view the bad things happen “against his will” and he watches helplessly intending to “clean up the mess” afterwards. I believe this is an unbiblical conclusion and susceptible to failure when tried and tested.
You might ask, what is the benefit of a view that says that God is not just present after the hard things occur, but before as well – planning, purposing and designing them for our benefit? What’s the gain in a view that says that the bad things are found “within his will” as well as the good that results?
My answer can be found as you ask yourself this question…
If God is up there in heaven, observing the trials and tragedies of this life either unable or unwilling to do anything about them, but then intends to step in afterwards and manipulate thousands of events to work good out of it, how can there be any confidence that He can do anything good in the future, if he could not do anything about them in the past?
One would be compelled to ask God, “How about stepping back and doing something in the past if you intend to do anything in the future? Just back up and prevent some of these things rather than waiting to work good afterwards.”
The benefit of such a view that holds that God is sovereign both before tragedy and after tragedy is that he can and will work these things to our good, because he has been at work through the whole process.
This is where we get the solid rock to stand upon during tragedy.
If you excuse God’s sovereignty at the front end of pain, you lose his sovereignty at the back end of pain.
If I can embrace it before, knowing that nothing has touched my life outside of his perfect, and sometimes painful will, then I know it will be there afterwards and that I can depend upon Him not only to bring me good, but to get me to glory at the end of this life.
God is sovereign over all the events of this life, including the bad ones.
But he works them all, for good.
This is how the gospel came to be – Not that God saw his Son dying on the cross and decided he better work some good of it, but that “God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.”
And stated in a more intentional manner…
Acts 4:27-28 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
This is God’s sovereignty in the gospel and through the gospel’s work in our lives.
2) The recipients of God’s goodness
The “called” - Romans 8:30 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Those who “love God”
This promise is for His people – those who are born again, “saved,” recipients of the gospel’s transforming work.
3) The “good” that is worked out of these things.
We are mistaken if we feel compelled that God must either restore what we have lost in tragedy, or that somehow this good must amount to worldly treasures or goods.
The “good” that God values is far higher and far more satisfying than the “good” that we might often feel we desire or want and the path he choose for us is very confusing and painful at times.
To be continued…
Early Saturday morning (now a week ago) I was awakened, as I am almost every morning, by my 3 year old son crawling into bed with us. As usual, he was carrying two ragged blankets and the favorite toy of the moment – this time a thin wooden paddle with a rubber ball attached by a long rubber band. You see we had left our vacation early due to a crisis in the church. Immediately upon arriving home and getting a few essentials into the house, I had left for the hospital Friday evening and did not get into bed until very early Saturday morning. Through bleary eyes I watched Jonathan crawl into bed with this paddle and ball set that was his prize at the arcade that we played in right before we left to come home.
That previous evening I had been with a family as they were absorbing the shocking outcome of a surfing accident earlier in the day that had left a relatively young and very healthy husband and father, suddenly and tragically dead. I stood there as they said goodbye to a husband, father, son, brother and friend. As I was reflecting upon the events of those past 24 hours – the phone calls and text messages, the sight of a friend in the prime of his very successful life lying motionless in a shock trauma hospital bed – the thin frail rubber band holding the ball to the paddle that Jonathan was playing with snapped. It startled both of us and then he began to cry. The treasured toy was broken and as far as he knew, lost forever.
After what I observed during the previous evening in the hospital, I began to contemplate how life was very much like that fragile rubber band. It seemed to be able to be stretched and strained in every direction, and then when you least expected, it “snapped.” And when the totally unexpected occurred, those who cared most for death’s victim were left to weep bitterly and inconsolably over the loss.
How do we reconcile life’s most bitter events with the goodness of God?
And while we can understand the gospel’s “goodness” to the dying saint who finally inherits his reward (thankfully like the dear brother mentioned above), where does the “good news” of the Gospel apply to those who are left to weep and mourn?
Romans 8:28 speaks to those who are left to weep and mourn.
The context of Romans 8 is pain and suffering (i.e. “bad things”)
v. 17 – “we suffer with him”
v. 18 – “the sufferings of this present time”
v. 20 – “creation is subjected to futility”
v. 21 – “creation” is in “bondage to corruption”
v. 22 – “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth”
v. 23 – not just creation “but we ourselves… groan inwardly”
v. 24 – “hope that is seen is not hope” (you can’t see most of the evidences of your salvation)
v. 26 – “the Spirit helps us in our weakness” and he “intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words” because “we do not know what to pray for”
v. 35 – “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword”
v. 36 – “for your sake we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered”
It is in the midst of this context that we find these words:
Romans 8:28 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,1 for those who are called according to his purpose.
To be continued…
Jerry Bridges wrote in his book, The Discipline of Grace, that as Christians we need to “preach the gospel to ourselves daily.” He warned that we can forget its correct application that quickly and slip into the misapplication of either legalism (believing that we can never be accepted by God) or license (allowing sin to abound while presuming upon God to forgive us). Having lived on both extremes in some measure, I can affirm this daily concern.
When I first considered the need to “preach” the gospel to myself, especially daily, it caught me off guard. I am sure that I even questioned its need for application in my life. After all, I was a “called” man in full-time pastoral work. Surely Mr. Bridges intended this instruction for those who did not handle the word of God daily as a vocation. Yeah, the pride alone in this thought proved the point. I need the gospel’s content everyday! Maybe more than most.
The truth is that most Christians view the gospel as the “gate” to their chrisitan lives and don’t consider the need to revisit it, except in evangelism, and then only for others who need to hear it. But how quickly we forget and misapply what we once clearly understood the day our eyes were opened to the gospel for the first time. Its truths not only guard us from legalism and self-condemnation, but they also motivate us away from license and sin’s indulgence. This is a “narrow path” that we walk and while Christ holds us on it eternally by his keeping power, we can stray off its truths in the daily course of this life
So as you (if you have received the gospel’s tranforming work) read this, I encourage you to recall that every sin you have committed, even while reading this blog, can be forgiven completely. The penalty for those sins has been paid in full at the cross. Christ’s atoning sacrifice was sufficient to forgive your sin completely in quantity and quality. You have not committed too many sins to be forgiven. No sin that you have committed is “too bad” to be forgiven and even though you remember it, God has “chosen to remember it no more”. The gospel made that possible!
And as you consider repeating that “familiar” sin. The one that you repeat often and beg forgiveness and make renewed covenants of promise that you will not repeat it again, every time. Or that you used to feel shame for but now you have grown so weak in attempting to overcome it that you presume upon God’s grace as you indulge the flesh in it, remember what that sin cost: the wrath of God upon your Savior! His provision was not just enough grace to be forgiven, but enough grace to overcome that sin. The gospel made that possible, too!
Ten looks at the cross for every one glance at your sin. That is what has been encouraged to fight the propensity to lose our grip on the gospel. Potentially that is what the writer of Hebrews had in mind when he compelled his readers to “fix” their eyes upon Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith” who “endured the cross.” I expect that he saw the need to preach the gospel to himself everyday, and we need to do so as well!
I am writing my first blog entry, ever! I feel those crazy “butterflies” in my stomach like when I used to have to give a speech in elementary school. And while I am writing, I am also wondering if anyone else will ever read this. I then immediately wonder if anyone else does read it, why did they choose to do so? The thoughts in my mind that respond to that question don’t serve anyone to print, so I will keep them to myself and attempt press on as if someone just might be reading these words and they may have actually “chosen” to read them, rather than being coerced, “guilted”, or paid to do so. I can’t afford to pay anyone which is why I am using a free blogspot. Assuming you may have chosen to read this, off we go…
Now, why “Transfer the Gospel” for a Blog Title?
While setting up this blog I reached that box that asked me what I wanted to call my blog. I had to pause, dramatically. It needed to be profound, as if the title alone would sanctify someone. Yet also needed to provoke interest via some form of familiarity or inspiration, or at least curiosity. Not many people have heard of Scott Connell, so putting my name in the title of the blog would mean very little to anyone except my wife and children and they either already hear too much from me or are too young to even read. I also considered some eye-catching titles like “The Date the World will Actually End”, or “Why the Pope may be the Anti-Christ,” or “Previously Unreleased Photos of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and the Easter Bunny” but those would be tough titles to write under even if they were just attention-getting ploys.
But it had to be about “The Gospel!”
The gospel is the most precious commodity we have. It is a treasure. It is a gift. It is the most important message mankind can ever hear and possess. And many do hear it, but few possess it. Jesus said that many would be “called”, but few “chosen. That is the nature of the gospel. You must hear it to own it, but not everyone who hears it “receives” it. And so many hear it, but hear it incompletely. So they embrace a false view or understanding of the gospel. Paul was very concerned about this in Galatia when he warned them that a “different” gospel or a “partial” gospel was no gospel at all. In fact, if the nature of the gospel is distorted as it is passed along, it ceases to be… The Gospel!
Which brings me to the word “transfer.” We use this word in a number of ways in the English language. We “transfer” the title of a car; we can “transfer” our academic credits as a student to a new school to continue our education; we can even “transfer” a disease to someone (I really don’t appreciate this one with six small children at home). In each case, the transfer of the object or item is transferred completely. No one wants partial ownership of a car, or is a partial student, or gets “part” of the flu. You either get the whole thing, or you don’t have any part of it.
That brings me to “Transfer the Gospel” as a blog title. The greatest harm that can be done to the gospel, outside of never hearing any part of it, is embracing only part of the gospel. Part of the gospel is no longer the gospel. It must be complete to be true. So to transfer the gospel is to communicate, illustrate, and “applicate” (sorry, I am a pastor) the entire gospel truthfully and completely. That is what I hope this blog will inspire and encourage. A means of grace (I pray) to help you (whoever may be reading this) to understand, embrace and apply fully the glorious gospel! The gospel that provides “so great a salvation!” The gospel that saves to the uttermost. The Gospel of Jesus Christ!
And off we go…
