Gospel Saturated

The resurrection of Jesus is one of the great theological truths of the Christian faith taught by the early church and written into the earliest Christian creeds. Resurrection underpins the entire gospel narrative, without which all of Christian life is rendered futile.

As author Craig Blomberg comments, “As wonderful as Jesus’ life and teachings and miracles were, they were meaningless if it were not historically factual that Christ died and was raised from the dead and that this provided atonement, or forgiveness, of the sins of humanity.”

At Easter, Christians all around the world remember and give thanks for what Jesus has done and the abundant life that has been won through his death and resurrection.

Here's a fresh retelling of a tale that began long, long ago...

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/an-easter-tale/

I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while. Some time ago, I watched a commentary by a ‘Christian pastor’ (link in show notes) that totally shocked me. In fact, I haven’t really stopped thinking about it since.

I found it disturbing; equal parts ridiculous and horrifying, and I really couldn’t believe it was being presented under the guise of legitimate Christianity.

For me, it highlighted a disturbing and, frankly, heartbreaking direction that modern Christianity, or at least a part of it, has taken; a wild trip sideways down the labyrinth-like rabbit hole of progressive Christianity. And I believe this pervasive ideology, left unchecked, could signal the death knell of the church as we know it.

I think the church is facing one of her greatest challenges yet; not through external persecution as in times past, but through subtle, internal perversion. There is a desperate need for discernment and a deep commitment to the gospel of the Bible, in doctrine and practice.

Will progressive Christianity destroy the church?

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/will-progressive-christianity-destroy-the-church/

Show Notes: 

YouTube commentary by Brandan Robertson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbP7oMte9sk

https://www.bethelbeaverton.org/progressive-christianity

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/05/progressive-christians-abortion-jes-kast/590293/

When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. 

Yet, writes John the Apostle, if anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.”

John tackles this sensitive yet important area of Christian discipleship, showing the connection between our professed love of God and our love for our Christian family. "First we were loved, now we love", he says, pressing into the realities of what a grace-shaped life should look like.

Grace, perhaps one of the easiest concepts to speak about in the enthusiastic language of a born-again believer is, in reality, one of the hardest virtues to assimilate into our Christian lives. John's letter directs our gaze inward, at our own hearts, where, he says, 'faith, expressed through love' must abide and flourish.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/john-writes-a-letter/

The Apostle Paul’s influence, passion, and commitment enabled the gospel of Jesus Christ to take root and flourish throughout Asia Minor, and its spread continued long after his death, reaching even to the ends of the earth.

Paul wrote several letters, one of which was the letter to the church at Rome. In chapters 5 and 6 of Romans, he covers some significant theological territory by dealing with the themes of death, life, and resurrection, which came about, he states, ‘by one man’…

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/by-one-man/

(A large part of the inspiration for this article came from the worship song ‘This My Soul’ By The Gray Havens (link below). This song captures Paul’s sentiments from Romans 5 and 6 perfectly and is one of my personal favourites).

Paul the Apostle was a champion for the need for a grace-led, faith-full life. He had been converted from a life steeped in religious tradition and law, a life in which a man could become ‘more righteous’ before God than his fellow man, simply by achieving greater adherence to law. Yet Paul learned that right standing with God was not to be achieved through law-keeping – and in fact was impossible to be achieved this way – but by faith; personal belief in God’s promises.

What are we to make then of the words of Paul’s contemporary, James, who writes “As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone.”

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/the-faith-works-conundrum/

Abraham, originally named Abram, was born (c 2000 BCE) and lived in the city of Ur, in what is now modern-day Iraq. Abraham was the son of Terah, ninth in descent from Noah, who was the main character in the Great Flood narrative found in Genesis 6-9. 

Ur was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia. It was a wealthy, prosperous and advanced city, with culture, religion, and social statras firmly established. This cradle of civilisation was also the seat of a vigorous polytheism, chief of whom was Nanna, the Sumero-Akkadian moon god.

It is with this rich and complex background that Abraham is introduced to us in Genesis 12. God appears to Abraham, telling him to leave all that was familiar and travel to an unknown place. Hebrews 11, the great dissertation on faith, expands further, noting that it was “by an act of faith, [that] Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left, he had no idea where he was going”.

Abraham left everything he had ever known, all on the word and promise of God. He demonstrated that having faith or believing isn’t measured by an exhaustive list of facts we say we agree with but rather the act of entrusting our lives to God and acting and living in a way that shows we believe His promise to be true.

Abraham chose to enter into God’s story and this choice was the turning point in his life...

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/abraham/

I penned the thoughts I’m sharing in this episode in response to some really tough circumstances I was aware someone was going through recently. I was thinking specifically of their situation when I wrote those words but it's funny how many times since then that I’ve reread those words and felt that God was speaking to me too.

Several times I’ve come back to these thoughts and found peace settling over my heart as I bring to mind the place called ‘home’; the place where God will walk with us again.  I hope these words bless and encourage your heart too.     

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/come-walk-with-me/

Just as Jesus was sent into the world, to witness to the eternal life and light of God, so each Christian has been commissioned and sent as an ambassador for Christ. They have been authorised, by virtue of his saving work, to represent his kingdom and to carry the great treasure of the good message in their fragile, imperfect lives of clay.

Jesus lives in and through them and God has placed each one of them like a city on a hill, to bring light to the whole world. They are to glow – with their open houses and generous lives – like homecoming beacons, drawing all humanity to the light that comes from Him, that in this, ‘His name is glorified’.

The reality is that every. single. Christian. is a missionary and every. single. church. is missional. It’s the very nature of our Christianity and an intrinsic part of our identity as people of the kingdom.

And we don’t need to be anywhere else apart from where we are right now to run on mission.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/christianity-missional-living/

There’s a troubling trend arising in our postmodern age, an era that has also given rise to ‘post-truth'. 

We’re seeing more and more, in the media, in public conversation, in our schools and communities, the push for a redefining of what is meant by ‘gender’ – to the point where facts and provable science relating to human biology are being discounted or ignored.

New information platforms, social upheaval, and the overabundance of global communication networks are giving this idea traction and we’re seeing it take root and grow, with potentially devastating consequences.

This is the generation that has unequivocally waged war on gender.

https://www.carrielloydshaw.com/the-war-on-gender/