Obeying the Gospel

RESCUING ALL THREE PARTS OF THE HUMAN MIND (SEPTEMBER 17)

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"I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart" (Jeremiah 24:7).

ONE WAY OF LOOKING AT WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO WITH US IN JESUS CHRIST IS TO THINK ABOUT ALL THREE PARTS OF OUR “HEART” BEING REHABILITATED. Sin starts on the inside and works its way outward; so if the problem of sinful behavior is going to be corrected, the thing that most needs to change is inside of us.

Our minds are complicated and not easily described, but for our meditation today, let’s say that our thinking falls into three categories: intellect, emotion, and will. To be redeemed from sin, all three of these must be rescued, not just one or two of them.

INTELLECT. With our intellect, we process information: we learn, analyze, and store “facts.” But obviously, much of the “information” in our minds is incorrect, and that information, if we act on it, will produce behavior that is dysfunctional and destructive. Biblically speaking, untruth on the inside produces sinful behavior on the outside. So the first thing the gospel must do is establish truth in the intellectual part of our minds (John 8:32; Acts 26:18).

EMOTION. As important as our intellect is, our emotions (or feelings) also play a critical role. Since our feelings grow out of our thinking (if I believe a burglar is in my basement, feelings appropriate to that thought will be generated automatically), it is critical that our thinking be based on truth. However, since our actions will mostly be determined by our feelings, we need to make sure our feelings are appropriate to the realities we’re dealing with.

WILL. Our will is our decision-making ability, and freedom of the will means we can choose our actions individually. Here, then, is where the gospel of Christ makes the greatest difference. The disastrous conflict between our will and God’s will needs to be removed.

Putting all of this together, we see an amazing plan. In Christ, we can make better decisions because our feelings are more appropriate, and we can do that because our thoughts are more truthful. In bringing us back to God, the gospel leaves no stone unturned.

"Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do" (Thomas Aquinas).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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IN CHRIST, WHAT ARE WE SAVED FROM? (SEPTEMBER 16)

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"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people" (Titus 2:11).

WHEN WE’RE HONEST, WE SEE THAT OUR SINS AGAINST GOD HAVE PUT US IN A DESPERATE SITUATION. In our most private moments, we all have known the agony of Paul’s cry, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24 NRSV). Surely, we need not only to be saved, but we need a Savior.

But if you and I made a list of all the things we’d like to be saved from, it would be a long list, would it not? There is much about our lives in this world that we find disappointing, disagreeable, and difficult. What is it, then, that we desire to be saved (i.e., delivered or rescued) from? When we come to Jesus Christ, what is the help we’re seeking more than any other kind of help?

ETERNAL CONDEMNATION. Even if there could be no relief in this world from all the things that have gone wrong, we would surely long to be with our God in eternity rather than be banished from Him. So heaven is the highest and most important promise of the gospel. This, above all, is what we should be seeking from Christ.

OUR DISOBEDIENT ACTIONS. The gospel involves not only forgiveness but reformation, and it should be this deliverance from our sinful habits and weaknesses that we long for. It is not enough to be protected from the punishment for sin; we need to be saved from the practice of sin. This desire for obedience should move us deeply.

OUR WAYWARD HEARTS. Since our actions flow from our hearts, it is our hearts that are the main problem. Whatever outward sources of difficulty may disturb us, we should be more concerned about the darkness that is still in our own thoughts and motives. We ought to long fervently for the hearts that can be ours in heaven.

The thread running through every mention of the gospel in the New Testament is the idea of a unity being restored that was broken by sin. Sin has broken apart everything that was meant to be together, but through Christ all is being brought back into harmony. Our disintegration — our broken-to-pieces-hood — is being healed. In Christ, our hope is for eternal health and wholeness.

"The terms for salvation in many languages are derived from roots like salvus, saos, whole, heil, which all designate health, the opposite of disintegration and disruption. Salvation is healing in the ultimate sense; it is final, cosmic, and individual healing" (Paul Tillich).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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APPRAISING JESUS (SEPTEMBER 15)

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"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer" (2 Corinthians 5:16).

SOMETIMES WE SAY, “THERE’S MORE TO THAT PERSON THAN MEETS THE EYE.” In reality, that is true of everybody we’ve ever met. We never see anything more than the tip of the iceberg in anyone’s life, and it is hazardous to form conclusions about their character if all we have is a first impression or a superficial acquaintance.

With people (and even with situations and circumstances), discovering the whole truth requires more digging than many of us are willing to do. First impressions may get us started down the road to understanding, but finding out what is really going on usually takes patience and fact-finding. It can be hard work.

In 2 Corinthians 5:16, Paul admits that his previous rejection of Jesus as the Messiah was the result of having judged Him “according to the flesh.” Eventually, however, Paul came to see that the truth about Jesus was something that could not be seen if all one did was look at outward, worldly appearances. So as we form our own opinions about Jesus, let’s think of two important principles.

(1) Sometimes we need to find out more of the facts before we draw a conclusion. Given the far-reaching implications of the question, it is amazing how many people reject Jesus while knowing very little of His life and teachings from the original sources. Whatever our ultimate decision turns out to be, surely that decision needs to be based on more than a few tidbits of information.

(2) But also, we need to be careful about the criteria we use to make our evaluation. Even when we have a lot of information about a person, our assessment of their character is determined by the value system we apply to them, and this is especially critical when it comes to Jesus. If Jesus truly was the Son of God, we would not expect that truth to be obvious to us if our “eyes” can only see the things that this world considers to be important.

So may we avoid judging Jesus “according to the flesh.” There is more to Him than meets the eye. May we appraise Him carefully — and appraise His inner character the most carefully of all.

"Jesus Christ always speaks from the source of things; consequently those who deal only with the surface find him an offense" (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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WHAT IF "REASON" WERE JUST A "NATURAL" PROCESS? (SEPTEMBER 14)

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"Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? . . . To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him" (Deuteronomy 4:33-35).

WHEN GOD SPOKE TO ISRAEL ON MOUNT SINAI, SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT HAD NO NATURAL CAUSE. Assuming that what is recorded actually took place, the event was not triggered by any natural event that preceded it — it was the introduction of something “new” or “extra” into nature’s progression of cause and effect, something from outside that closed, deterministic system.

I suggest that the operations of our own reason are similar, not that they are divine communications, but that they cannot be explained as the result of natural causes producing natural effects. Many neuroscientists today, of course, dispute this; they argue that what we call human “reason” is nothing more than the brain at work as a physical organ. When science has learned more about the brain, they say, we will recognize that a person never has any thought that cannot be accounted for neurologically and biochemically. Every firing of every neuron is the result of something within nature. Nothing freely decided upon ever comes into the sequence — whatever happens, it was determined materialistically.

But think about this comment from Douglas Groothuis: “if materialism were true, we could never grant reasons for holding beliefs since all our brain states would be rigorously determined in a materialistically caused fashion. Thought would be reduced to a mere reflex action on the order of a muscle twinge. But can glorified muscle twinges weigh evidence and reach warranted conclusions?”

We ought not to minimize what is required if our reasoning is to be objectively valid. It must be the working of something personal — an independent force not chained to the sequence of physical cause and effect. And in the biblical account, that is exactly the case: we are dual creatures who straddle the physical and spiritual worlds. We have a brain, but we also have a mind — a reasoning faculty that reaches far beyond what the brain (which is its servant) can do.

"The validity of our reasoning depends upon the transcendence of reason itself. Reason must stand outside of nature in order for it to give us truth about nature. Our thinking, if we are to regard it as true or false, must be a shot from Something beyond nature, a beam from the Light beyond the sun, a participation in the eternal Logos" (Joe Rigney).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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FORGIVENESS AND TRANSFORMATION (SEPTEMBER 13)

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"We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15).

WHEN WE OBEY THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, GOD’S FORGIVENESS OPENS THE DOOR TO OUR TRANSFORMATION. Not only does God want to forgive us of our sins; He wants to repair sin’s damage and rebuild our character, transforming us into creatures who can enjoy a perfect relationship with Him in eternity. The great importance of forgiveness is that it leads to this transformation. Our being molded, shaped, and conformed to God’s character is the main goal of all that He has done (and is doing) in Jesus Christ.

A GRADUAL PROCESS. When we are baptized into Christ, we rejoice in the forgiveness of God — but we dare not underestimate the work that remains to be done. The sins of our past, which God has now forgiven, were produced by character traits that must be gotten rid of. These must be replaced by the virtues of God’s character (2 Peter 1:3-11) or else we will continue to live as we used to live. Such a drastic rebuilding of our character does not happen overnight. It takes time. But while there is a need for patience, we also need to be diligent. Our transformation will not take place automatically, by divine decree. We have to embrace the process actively and wholeheartedly, submitting to God’s training for however long it takes.

A PAINFUL PROCESS. Most kinds of growth in this world require discipline, and we should not expect our spiritual growth to be any different. When we need chastening, that is exactly what God will provide. “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10,11).

A GLORIOUS PROCESS. The gradual, and often painful, process of being transformed into godly creatures is one that we submit to because of its goal: we are on our way to becoming the sons and daughters of God, in the very highest sense. He created us in the first place, and through the gospel He is now re-creating us in the glorious image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Only God could do this, and if we persevere, one day we will see His face (Revelation 22:4). Sin will have been destroyed, and we will have forever to rejoice.

"Thus we enter through our heart into the heart of God, who embraces all of history with his eternally creative and recreative love" (Henri J. M. Nouwen).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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SALVATION BY BAPTISM ONLY? (SEPTEMBER 12)

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"And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord" (Acts 11:21).

THE “FAITH ONLY” DOCTRINE IS NOT TAUGHT IN THE SCRIPTURES. Merely believing that Jesus is the Christ is not enough to save us from our sins. In the words of James, “As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (2:26).

But neither will we be saved by “baptism only.” The person who thinks his only problem is that he was attending services at the wrong church, and that he is now saved because he “got baptized” and the Lord added him to the “church of Christ,” is out of touch with reality. His problem was far deeper than attendance at an unscriptural church. It was the problem of sin — sin in his heart as well as in his actions. And if that problem is going to be corrected, a radical turning (or “conversion”) will have to occur.

BAPTISM WITHOUT FAITH? For baptism to result in the forgiveness of sins, it must be an act of faith, or trust, in God (Ephesians 2:8).

BAPTISM WITHOUT CONFESSION? Baptism is meaningless if it does not result in a life which confesses Christ — in deed as well as word.

BAPTISM WITHOUT REPENTANCE? Like John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7-9), Jesus would rebuke us if we wanted to be baptized but were not willing to repent of the sins that had separated us from God.

BAPTISM WITHOUT CONVERSION? In Acts 2:38, Peter told his hearers, “Repent and be baptized.” In the very next chapter, he told another audience in Acts 3:19, “Repent and be converted” (NKJV) or “turn back” (ESV). Baptism is the crucial turning point at which we pass from being lost into the state of being “in Christ” (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12). But if faith without works is insufficient (James 2:14-26), so is baptism without conversion. If we do not walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), it is to be wondered whether we really did die with Christ when we were baptized.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul wrote that the believers in Thessalonica had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” And today, even if we’ve never worshiped a physical idol, this is what must happen. We must turn to God intentionally, ceasing from our old lives and living as those who are truly “in Christ.”

"Conversion may occur in an instant, but the process of coming from sinfulness into a new life can be a long and arduous journey" (Charles Colson).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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TRUST, THE ONLY PATH TO TRUTH, IS DANGEROUS (SEPTEMBER 11)

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"Commit your way to the Lord" (Psalm 37:5).

IN OUR SECULAR WORK AS WELL AS OUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, WE FIND THAT “REWARDS REQUIRE COMMITMENT.” If we are so averse to risk that we won’t trust anything enough to commit ourselves to it, we will, wanting mainly to avoid being wrong, never know the joy that could have been ours if the commitment was right. Nothing good comes from the commitment-free life. Commitments are scary, to be sure, but as the saying goes, he who hesitates is lost.

We might say, “Well, yes, commitments are necessary, but before we make them, we need to make absolutely sure there is no possibility of our being wrong.” In the real world, however, there are no such scenarios. We never have enough information to be absolutely certain about our decisions, and even if we did, that kind of decision-making would not require any faith. For faith to be faith, there must be some risk, some element of uncertainty.

Obviously, we need to be careful in our commitments. Even if complete information is not available, we need to gather all the evidence we can, so that our faith is not blind faith but serious trust based upon consideration of the best information we could get.

But to return to our main point, all the good things in life require committing ourselves to them. Hesitancy, doubt, and tentativeness will cut the very heart out of our discipleship to Christ. Distrusting God, we will never get the answers to our questions.

In her book on the practice of mindfulness, Kim Davies says, “The foundation of any practice is a certain level of commitment: you have to not only make a clear decision to try mindfulness but also to maintain your practice and awareness.” I agree. And when it comes to godliness, a practice much higher than mindfulness, the principle of “rewards require commitment” is even more true.

David said in Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord.” This means counting the cost, accepting the risk, and putting our trust in God. It also means binding ourselves resolutely to the practice of godliness. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it is, in the end, the only way to know if the Lord’s way is good. The path to truth requires trust — the kind of trust that knows what commitment is.

"There is no discovery of the truth of Christ's teaching, no unanswerable inward endorsement of it, without committing oneself to his way of life" (J. B. Phillips).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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IF WE’RE NOT DISTURBED, WE’RE NOT LISTENING (SEPTEMBER 10)

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"There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, 'He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?'" (John 10:19,20).

WHEN JESUS SPOKE, PEOPLE WERE STIRRED. As Eric Hoffer put it, “Jesus was not a conservative.” Even after He was gone, the teaching of His apostles continued to have a disruptive effect. When Paul and his coworkers went to Thessalonica, for example, the city was soon in an uproar. Some shouted, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6).

J. B. Phillips once said, “Of all the epithets that could be applied to Christ, ‘mild’ seems one of the least appropriate.” If Jesus is now seen as being tame and temperate, it is because His religion has been legalized. He has become familiar to us. We may believe the gospel is still revolutionary, but we think it is other people (the “wicked”) who should be disturbed by it. “Oh, how society would be transformed if people would just listen to Jesus,” we think.

But are we listening? If we’re not disturbed by the “hard sayings” of Jesus (John 6:60), it may be that we’re not paying attention. Like the self-righteous scholars who came to hear John the Baptist preach (Matthew 3:5-8), perhaps we don’t see that what is being said applies to us as much as it does to anyone else.

One reason we’re not disturbed by Jesus is that our outward lives are, for the most part, in conformity with His teachings. We don’t feel personally challenged because we think we’ve already made the adjustments that Jesus’ teaching calls for. We’re kind, we help the needy, we attend worship services, and we say thanks before eating our meals — so we feel pretty good about ourselves.

But the external aspect of the gospel is easy compared to the harder part, which has to do with the heart. However “nice” my outward life may be, when I measure my heart (my thoughts, attitudes, and intentions) against Jesus’ teaching, I am ashamed. His teaching disturbs me greatly, if I have the least bit of self-honesty. So may we all — every one of us — listen to Jesus with a new attentiveness. We must be disturbed before we can be redeemed.

"The teaching of Jesus Christ does not appear at first to be what it is. At first it appears to be beautiful and pious and lukewarm; but before long it becomes a ripping and tearing torpedo which splits to atoms every preconceived notion a man ever had" (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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“IN THE RIGHT CHURCH” AND STILL LOST? (SEPTEMBER 9)

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". . . you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn’t this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards?" (1 Corinthians 3:3 Good News Bible).

THE QUESTION “HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SAVED?” IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION. Paul urged the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). But we need to be careful what standard we use to make this test. Some suppose that salvation is on the group plan and that as long as their names are on the roster of a congregation that is faithful to the Lord, their salvation is assured. Such individuals would say to themselves, “I have obeyed the gospel, the Lord has added me to His church, and I am saved — end of discussion.” But the truth of the matter requires a deeper look.

Some of the Christians in Corinth had not grown much since they became Christians. Their conduct showed that their hearts were the same as before they obeyed the gospel. As Paul said, “You are still of the flesh . . . and behaving only in a human way” (1 Corinthians 3:3 ESV). And if they didn’t repent, their salvation would be in jeopardy. The conclusion is sobering: it is possible to be “in the right church” (at least outwardly) and still be lost.

Having obeyed the gospel, we certainly need to find a fellowship of faithful Christians to be a part of. Christ does have some requirements concerning the collective (or “together”) part of our discipleship. But while the faithfulness of others will encourage us, merely being attached to a faithful congregation won’t save us. We won’t go to heaven just because we were “in the right group.”

Each of us needs to have a sense of personal responsibility. If after studying the Scriptures we realize that the religion we’ve been practicing is wrong, we need to leave that religion. If we find that we’ve been a part of a network of churches whose beliefs and practices are unscriptural, we need to disassociate ourselves. And if the particular congregation we’ve been a part of is not faithful to Christ, we need to worship elsewhere. But even if we’re surrounded by others who are faithful to Christ, the more important question is still about our own responsibilities before the Lord.

"Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our callings that we may sleep in thy peace and wake in thy glory" (John Donne).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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WE DON’T GET TO DESIGN THE PATH TO GOD (SEPTEMBER 8)

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"You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors . . ." (Hosea 10:13).

TRUSTING IN OUR OWN WAY IS A PROBLEM THAT SHOWS UP IN MANY DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES. The basic problem is always pride, of course, but pride wears many different disguises. Some of those disguises are so subtle that we don’t see the danger of them.

In regard to our relationship to God, for example, we tend to view things as we wish them to be. The existence of God? We may believe there is a God because it makes us feel better. The nature of God? We may envision God in ways that harmonize with our personal preferences. And the will of God? We may feel the need to reinterpret any text that seems unreasonable to us. In all of these things, rather than bow humbly before the objective truth about God, willing to be led by the evidence, we tend to accept only the “truth” that pleases us subjectively. We trust in our “own way.”

Yet our track record (both individually and as a species) shows that our own opinions and judgments have not been sufficient to meet the challenges of life in this world. If we’re honest, we have to agree with Jeremiah when he said, “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). The essence of faith has always been trust in God’s wisdom — especially when it runs counter to our own. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8,9). We are at our wisest when we heed Solomon’s advice: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

The gospel is not a travel brochure showing various journeys to choose from; it offers just the “way of God” (Acts 18:26). The path that leads to God in eternity — the one He has laid out — will often seem narrow and illogical to us (Matthew 7:13,14). But that doesn’t matter. It only matters whether it is, in fact, “the Way” (Acts 24:14).

"The question is not whether a doctrine is beautiful but whether it is true. When we wish to go to a place, we do not ask whether the road leads through a pretty country, but whether it is the right road" (Augustus Hare).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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