Obeying the Gospel

THE MOST DISTURBING MESSAGE IN THE WORLD (DECEMBER 10)

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"Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37).

WOULD YOU SAY BEING “CUT TO THE HEART” IS A GOOD THING? These days, most people wouldn’t. We want, at all costs, to experience happy feelings, and we would be turned off by any sermon that called on us to pass through the wilderness of godly sorrow. We only want to hear how much God loves us (forget the sorrowful things God’s love might require of us), and if our wonderful “self” needs any change, it just needs to be “actualized.”

But the gospel — preached first by John the Baptist, then Jesus, and later the apostles — was disturbing. The first thing it produced, at least in the hearts of honest hearers, was not joy but grief. When people heard about “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2), they contemplated His death with tears of repentance, asking fervently, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

There is a sense in which conservatism (“preservation of the status quo”) is our deadliest spiritual enemy. The truth is, we are lost in sin and alienated from God, but we think we’re doing fine. If the gospel can’t break through that complacency, it can’t save us. Not even the gospel can save those who see no need to be saved.

OUR “HOUSE OF CARDS” IS UNSTABLE. The gospel wants to disrupt our assumption that the lives we’ve built are secure (Luke 12:16-21). Eventually, our “house of cards” is going to come crashing down, and if we’re not shaken up by the prospect of that, we should be.

OUR SINS ARE SERIOUS. In Luke 18:9-14, the Pharisee would have admitted that he had a few imperfections, but he was out of touch with how serious those shortcomings were. He needed nothing quite so much as to be troubled by the truth about himself.

OUR CHARACTER IS FAR FROM GOD’S CHARACTER. Those who have been Christians for many years often overestimate how much they have grown spiritually. If we keep listening to the gospel, it will often disturb us with the reminder of how far we still have to go.

The bottom line is this: if the seed of the kingdom is going to grow within us, the fields of our hearts have to be plowed up. And the harder the ground, the more painful the plowing is going to be.

"If Christianity has never disturbed us, we have not yet learned what it is" (William Temple).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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JESUS, THE CRISIS-PRODUCER (DECEMBER 9)

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"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).

IN RESPONSE TO JESUS, PEOPLE DID MANY DIFFERENT THINGS, BUT ONE THING NOBODY DID WAS REMAIN NEUTRAL. Jesus’ teaching authoritatively called for a decision, and those who did not make a decision for or against Jesus were making the worst decision of all. As Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30).

Jesus is often referred to as the Prince of Peace, and that is certainly what He was. (The description comes from the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 9:6.) But the peace that Jesus brought into the world was rejected by many. Not everybody agreed with what He said, and those who accepted Him often found themselves estranged from friends and family who had rejected Him. It is not hard to imagine the bitter disputes that arose wherever Jesus went. “And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man,’ others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd’” (John 7:12 NRSV).

If today it seems that not many are interested in Jesus’ teaching one way or the other, it is probably because Jesus’ followers have tamed His teaching and turned it into something far less disruptive than it used to be. The “gospel” has become so bland that not even the devil pays much attention to it anymore.

But if we go back to the Scriptures and grapple seriously with the teachings of Jesus and His apostles, we will be challenged just as people were back then. Our conscience will be pricked, and we will feel the same urge to declare ourselves — either as devoted disciples of the Son of God (Matthew 16:15,16) or the murderous friends of Beelzebub (Luke 11:15). When we hear Jesus honestly, a crisis is produced deep within our hearts. Is this teaching true? And if it is true, what are we going to do about it? The most tragic thing we can do is run away from this crisis. Painful though it may be, a decision must be made, either to follow Jesus or fight against Him.

"Wherever [Jesus] went he produced a crisis. He compelled individuals to decide, to make a choice. In fact, he struck me as the most crisis-producing individual I had ever encountered . . . Nearly everyone clashed with Jesus, whether they loved him or hated him" (Rebecca Manley Pippert).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

FLEE! DON’T LOOK BACK! (DECEMBER 8)

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"Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19:24-26).

THE ADMONITION TO FLEE IS SOMETIMES MORE IMPORTANT THAN WE REALIZE. If we were in a difficult situation, the advice to “get out of there” might not sound very savvy or sophisticated. But we should not underestimate the wisdom of simply . . . fleeing.

As we’ve seen in previous readings, repentance is a crucial part of the gospel. It is not reasonable, even at the level of common sense, to expect God’s forgiveness if we’re not willing to give up the sins we want God to forgive us of. But repentance is hard, especially when sinful habits are deeply ingrained in our way of life. From a practical standpoint, there is not much chance of getting away from the clutches of sin if we don’t flee from it — decisively rejecting it and pointing ourselves in a new direction. Even more important, our discipleship and consecration to the Lord require us to flee. The Lord’s invitation to “forsake all and follow Me” is diametrically opposed to “stay where you are.” It’s time we realized that discipleship is an adventure, not a “staycation.”

FLEE. When we leave “Sodom,” we ought not to leave there in a leisurely way; disaster is on our heels, and we must make haste. And we should keep this in mind: we aren’t just fleeing punishment or judgment; we are fleeing sin itself. In our daily lives, that means we should avoid temptation as much as possible, cutting ourselves off from any influence that might drag us back into sin.

DON’T LOOK BACK. For repentance to be genuine, sin must be rejected decisively — a firm “no” must be said to the very thought of going back. If we “look back” by letting ourselves yearn for the nightlife in Sodom, it won’t be long before we go back to live there. This does not mean we won’t ever think about the past, but when we do, we will gently bring our minds back to where they need to be in the present. Tempted to reminisce, we will remember the decision we made to flee, and no matter what it costs, we will keep going toward God. Returning to Sodom is simply not an option.

When you from Sodom flee, the judgment to escape,
Salvation will depend on never looking back.
(Angelus Silesius)

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE DEADLIEST TEMPTATION (DECEMBER 7)

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"And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, 'Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you'" (Acts 24:25).

TEMPTATION COMES TO US IN VARIOUS WAYS. Sometimes we are tempted to engage in acts of deliberate disobedience. Knowing full well what God’s will is, we are persuaded to do what God has said we must not do, as Eve did when she ate of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-6). At other times, however, we simply procrastinate doing what is right. We don’t see ourselves as being defiant or rebellious; we just can’t bring ourselves to obey today — we will take care of it tomorrow. But while weakness may seem preferable to outright defiance, I suggest that the temptation to put off obedience until tomorrow is a worse problem than some people realize.

WHEN WE DON’T WANT TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT. It may be that we delay doing God’s will because, deep down, we don’t want to do it. Like Augustine who prayed “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet,” our delay may be a sign that we actually prefer our present situation. 

HOPING WHAT IS RIGHT WILL BE EASIER TOMORROW. If there is likely to be some pain or difficulty in doing what’s right, it’s tempting to think that the decision might get easier at some future date. In the real world, hard decisions only get harder the longer we wait, but somehow we think our present situation is an exception to the rule. “Tomorrow,” we think, “it will be easier. I will do it then.”

The temptation to procrastinate is, as I said, worse than the temptation to rebel because it deludes us into a false sense of security. Feeling sure that “our hearts are right,” we are lulled into a pattern of default and neglect. As time goes by, our postponement becomes a permanent habit, and we find that what began as innocent procrastination has hardened into outright rebellion. All the while, we were telling ourselves that we truly “wanted” to obey God; we just couldn’t muster the strength to do it right then.

As a wise observer of life once said, “There is nothing any more permanent than a temporary solution.” If that’s true anywhere, it’s certainly true in our spiritual lives. So while we are trying to avoid deliberate revolt against God, we must also be on guard against that most deadly of disobedient words: later.

"When God says today, the devil says tomorrow" (German Proverb).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

A GENTLE KNOCK AT THE DOOR (DECEMBER 6)

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"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).

IT MAY STRIKE US AS UNUSUAL THAT WHEN GOD CAME INTO THE WORLD, HE CAME IN SUCH A GENTLE WAY. Perhaps He could have landed with an invading army and compelled our submission with brute force. But he appeared as a gentle Teacher, asking us to open the doors of our hearts to Him. In saying this, we do not question His power or authority; we are simply noticing that the call of the gospel comes to us in the form of an invitation.

In my life, there have been times when I wondered why the truth about God and His Son, Jesus Christ, is not more compelling. If these things are true, why are they not so obvious that everybody would see them? Why do we have to be reasoned with and persuaded? In God’s wisdom, many factors might be involved, but one thing seems clear: God wants to have a relationship with us that is based on love — and if love is forced upon us, it ceases to be love.

Think about the combination of truth and love that is involved in our response to the gospel. The truth will always be the truth, of course, and the truth about God is majestically powerful. It tingles our spine when we contemplate even the edges of it. But the problem of sin is the problem of our rebellion against God’s love. In self-will we have refused to abide within the limits that our Creator’s love placed around us for our protection. Yet the wonder of the gospel is that He loved us enough not to leave us in our alienated condition. He made it possible for us to be reconciled to Him. But it would defeat the whole purpose of His love to compel us to come back. So He “knocks at the door,” so to speak, inviting us to let Him come in. If we respond to the truth of the gospel, it must be an act of voluntary love. We must choose to say yes.

This means that our eternal destiny is in our hands. If the gospel is an invitation, everything hinges on our response to it. Will we accept our Father’s love or will we reject it? If we are lost, we will probably spend eternity blaming God for not being more forceful to break down our resistance. But if it’s not love that brings us back home, what good would it do for us to return to God anyway? What He desires is our love . . . or nothing at all.

"Jesus Christ will never strong-arm his way into your life" (Grady B. Wilson).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

MADE IN GOD'S IMAGE, WE LONG FOR HIS FELLOWSHIP (DECEMBER 5)

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"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

HUMAN BEINGS HAVE ALWAYS MARVELED AT THEIR UNIQUENESS. Compared to differences that separate the lower creatures, we are so different from even the highest of other living beings, the difference can hardly be described. But how and why are we so different? Until the 18th century in Western Europe, almost every person in the world took seriously the explanation that we correspond in a special way to the God who created us. This is what Genesis 1:27 affirms: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.” Let us think about what this means — and why it is so important in “obeying the gospel.”

Perhaps we can summarize our uniqueness by saying that we are personal beings. We have “consciousness” and “mind,” and the more we contemplate this, the more marvelous it is. We have a will that is free to choose our behavior. We can make decisions that are independent of our genetic makeup, our instincts, or our external influences. And if, in fact, we have this freedom because our Creator gave it to us, look at what this means: it means we have both responsibility and accountability to Him. He has the right to direct our conduct — and bring us into judgment.

Every one of us knows we have not used our freedom rightly. We know that at times we have rebelled against our Creator. Knowing full well what our Father’s will was, we deliberately went the other direction. We know this because we have something else that is unique to personal beings: conscience.

With freedom, responsibility, and conscience, therefore, come the problem of sin. By rebelling, we have cut ourselves off from our Creator spiritually. We stand under His penalty for our actions, and we desperately need Him to do what only He can do to redeem us and reconcile us to Himself. We have to have His salvation.

As we ponder whether we will say yes to God’s redemption, we recognize another fact about us. We need our God deeply. Created in His image, we yearn for Him. Whatever else we may accomplish, this truth can’t be denied: cut off from the God in whose image we were made, we are the most unsatisfied of all creatures.

"Naught but God can satisfy the soul" (Philip James Bailey).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WE ARE NOT SAVED BY THOSE WE ARE CONNECTED TO (DECEMBER 4)

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"Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham" (Matthew 3:8,9).

IF THE JEWISH LEADERS THOUGHT OF SALVATION IN “INSTITUTIONAL” TERMS, THEY WERE NOT ALONE. Very few of us can say we haven’t made the same mistake. We are strongly tempted to think that our ticket into the eternal fellowship of God is automatically secured by our membership in the group we think God is going to save. As long as we’re in that group, it doesn’t matter what’s in our heart or what we do individually. The “institution” is what dispenses salvation, and if we’re in fellowship with that group, we are saved.

The truth, however, is that we will be judged on an individual basis. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Our human connections will not save us. It is our own deeds that will matter.

This does not mean that our human connections are not important. The New Testament clearly teaches that having obeyed the gospel and come into a right relationship with God, we will need to seek out others who have also been reconciled to God through Christ, so that we can pursue the communal life God has designed for His people in this world (Acts 2:41-47). We can’t be connected to Christ without having some serious brotherly and sisterly duties. But our group relationship grows out of our personal connection to Christ, and not vice versa. The distinction is important.

In regard to God, we all need a stronger sense of personal responsibility. In the end, if we stand before God unforgiven and in a lost condition, it will not be for the sins of others but for our own. We should be thankful that we won’t be lost for the wickedness of others, but we should be sobered by the other side of that truth: we won’t be saved by the righteousness of others. Are we helped in this life by the good lives of those we come in contact with? Yes. And should we give thanks for the helpful influence of godly people? Certainly. But those folks can’t save us. We do not go to heaven on the group plan. The “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5) required by the gospel is a matter of personal choice.

"Souls are not saved in bundles" (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS (DECEMBER 3)

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"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:30,31).

THE IDEA OF A “JUDGMENT DAY” IS UNPOPULAR THESE DAYS. Fewer of those who designate themselves as Christians believe that such a thing will actually happen. And yet, if we take Jesus seriously, along with the teaching of the apostles whom He selected to communicate His message, we must accept the fact that eventually God is going to call each of us to account for how we have lived.

In the text above, Paul was speaking to a group of Greek philosophers in Athens. Notice the emphasis he places on repentance: “the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Sin is the problem, the gospel is the solution, and repentance is a part of the plan. It can’t be left out.

But even though God has commanded repentance, why should we do what He says? “Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world.” As our Creator, God has the sovereign right to require an accounting for how we’ve used the freedom He gave us. The wise have always known this to be true (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14).

God will judge the world “in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.” Paul is speaking here of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We should be encouraged (and also sobered) by the fact that God’s judgment by His Son will be “in righteousness.” No mistakes will be made. God’s judgment will be infallibly right.

And what is the evidence these things will happen? “Of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” You may not have thought of the resurrection in connection with God’s judgment, but Paul connects the two here. The resurrection of Christ guaranteed all of the promises of God, and the Day of Judgment is one of the most important. It is perilous to ignore this promise.

If judgment seems to us inconsistent with God’s character, we need to reconsider our concept of God. And it’s worth asking: would God be good if He did not punish unrepentant rebellion?

"Nobody can judge men but God, and we can hardly obtain a higher or more reverent view of God than that which represents him to us as judging men with perfect knowledge, unperplexed certainty, and undisturbed compassion" (Frederick William Faber).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

PUTTING OUR HAND TO THE PLOW (DECEMBER 2)

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"Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God'" (Luke 9:61,62).

ONE COMMON THREAD RUNNING THROUGHOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT IS COMMITMENT. Will we follow Jesus? Our answer must be more than “maybe” or “if I don’t change my mind.”

DECISIVENESS. Too many so-called “Christians” have never decisively “put their hand to the plow.” But a true disciple is one who has considered the alternatives and made an actual commitment.

SACRIFICE. Commitments are nearly always hard to keep. Circumstances arise that test our resolve. So we must be prepared to sacrifice and suffer loss rather than go back on our promise.

TRUST. When tested, the only thing that will keep us steady and true is a deep trust that God is not going to let us down. We must believe that heaven will be worth any amount of loss.

The trust required to make our commitment to Christ, along with its attendant sacrifices, is based on God’s worthiness of trust. Everything He has ever revealed about Himself shows that He can be counted on. His promises can be trusted. So we must not look back wistfully at the things we have given up; our Father has much better things waiting for us at the end of the road.

It was a strong, forward-looking faith that moved Abraham to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldeans. He may have had fears, but he “obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance” (Hebrews 11:8). And he was not alone in trusting God’s promises. Through the centuries, many others have “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return” (Hebrews 11:13-15).

So, my dear friends, may we “put our hand to the plow” in faith, love, and confident hope. May we commit ourselves to following Jesus Christ wherever He leads. And may we never look back.

"Has this world been so kind to you that you would leave it with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind" (C. S. Lewis).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED (DECEMBER 1)

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"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).

PAUL WAS GRATEFUL FOR HIS BRETHREN IN CORINTH, BUT HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT THEM. They had divided into factions, each group following its favorite teacher of the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). This kind of sectarianism was common in cities like Corinth, of course, where the public forum was filled with philosophers, orators, and teachers — each wooing followers by showing himself to be more on the intellectual cutting edge than the others.

Yet this was the very kind of attractiveness Paul had tried to avoid. “I decided,” he said, “to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” And his reason was both clear and practical: “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom . . . so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4,5).

JESUS CHRIST. It is hard for human reason to accept the fact that the Creator of the universe took human form in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, but that is exactly what the gospel affirms. Only once in history did such a thing happen — and having happened, the Person in whom it happened, Jesus, is now the One through whom God is offering to reconcile human beings to Himself.

AND HIM CRUCIFIED. When God became a man, He did so in order to die for our sins. It was not to be a great prophet or a perfect moral example but to die an atoning death that God entered our world as a human being. Speaking of Himself, Jesus said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). So the gospel is not just the message of Christ; it is the message of Christ crucified. If God, in the person of Jesus Christ, did not die for our sins, then we are still lost.

When we come to Christ, accepting His invitation, we come empty-handed, recognizing our own insufficiency and lack of power to procure our own salvation. But more than that, we come yielding to His view of what our greatest need is. Whatever other gifts our “wisdom” might say are more needful, we are content to receive that for which He was crucified: the forgiveness of our sins.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.
(Augustus Montague Toplady)

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com