Is it that God is so fragile that He cannot stand the sight of me in my fallen state? Is He so easily offended that He behaves like the constantly shocked church lady of late night fame - shooing the dirty sinners away?
No the problem between God and I is not His easily offended sensibilities - the problem is that when I come into His presence the light of His holiness reveals TO ME the horrible truth of my shameful nakedness. I am the one who flees from the light; I am the one who becomes offended seeing myself as I truly am.
I either run and hide in shame or allow Him to mercifully clothe me in Christ's righteousness.
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. - Rev. 3:17-18
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3 comments:
Ok So let me present this case based on me listening to your sermons over the last several months.
I understand preching about repentance,the resurection and faith in God and doctrines and such. you had made mention at the beginning of your incomparable Christ series that we need to be in constant reminder of the simple gospel mmessage.
But when reading Hebrews 5/6 I seem to be motivated to leave the milk for solid food...your sermons are milk according to hebrews. There is nothing wrong with this (for a time). Now i may be Speaking out of silence because hebrews does not actually define what Solid Food is,I am throwing the living out your faith with action out there as the "solid Food" being talked about... thoughts anyone??? I have not checked Tony Campolo's stat's but he says there are over 2000 verses in the bible telling us how to deal with the poor, we see james aggressivley telling us about dead faith b/c of no action, we hear Jesus exorted a fella visiting prisionars etc... thats is why i think issues like fair trade, Slavery and poverty are Gospel issues b/c they will know we are christians by our love...
Now there might be the temptation to say that these works in themselve can not replace your salvation...I agree, but let's not go there... as far as i am concerned this has nothing to do with salvation by works...it is established in scripture that Christ did that work on the cross.
No what i am talking about is leaving the milk for solid food. It has been said that we do good works out of our appreciation for what christ has done.... That sounds like your doing someone a favor... I think we are more lazy about living out our faith than anything else, it's not that we dont agree that selling kids into the sex trade is wrong or that having little ones make our shoes and our wedding rings too is right, we simply are the benifactors of slavery (for example) so we dont see the injustice of it all...is this a salvation issue...no of course not ....is this a God issue...Absolutely.... I am enjoying hearing the incomparable christ series;but to glaze over social injustice and fair trade issues and yawn, well that is not appropiate either...preach the gospel but acting on local or world issues is living out the gospel as well...im already heaven bound, my works brings my judgement... which is a beautiful thing.
Thanks for your insightful observations thoughtmocker!
My point is not that believers should not be involved with issues of social justice, though I do not agree that these are what the scriptures refer to as "meat", I am simply saying that the Sunday morning message should have as its central theme the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our gatherings should be primarily about Him, rather than about us. I do think that these other important issues should and in fact, I would say they do, find their way into our messages.
At this point in Church history though I see the bigger problem as being the abandonment of the gospel rather than an under emphasizing of what I would call important but secondary (in light of the gospel)issues.
yes that is good.. and i am not referring to issues as meat....i am referring to living out your faith. Because i will tell what solid food is not according to hebrews:Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,[a] and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
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