Repentance is for Christians Too

    Repentance (metanoia) means "change of mind". This change is more radical than we think. Charles Spurgeon describes, "It is an entire and total change of mind, a turning of the mind right round, so that it hates what once it loved and loves what once it hated—it forms different judgments from what it always did before—and no longer puts bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, darkness for light and light for darkness."

    Yet the act of repentance is misunderstood today. It's helpful to point out false forms of repentance and what true repentance is according to the Bible. You'll find that the phony kind of repentance is tolerated and even accepted by many people today. Now both John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2) and Jesus (Matthew 4:17) preached repentance saying, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." Jesus also warned, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish (Luke 13:3)." Thus if repentance is a condition for belonging in the kingdom and if the eternal destiny of an individual hinges on it, then it is critical to understand what it really means.
   
WHAT IT IS NOT

1. Repentance and regret are not the same. Repentance does involve a feeling of regret but repentance is linked to moral deficiency while regret is not. For example, God regrets that he made Saul king (1 Samuel 15:10-11) but David repents of his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11).

2. Repentance is not being sorry for sin because of the consequences that it brings to us. For example, King Saul repents from disobeying God hoping that his repentance can change God's mind about removing him from as king (1 Samuel 15). Neither is repentance feeling sorry because you got caught or that you failed to live up to your expectations.

 3. Repentance is not self-pity nor making excuses. When people make mistakes, they often admit that they're not perfect- thinking that it excuses their behavior. While it is true that no one is perfect, no sin is ever excusable to the God who is holy and perfect. Other excuses that people bring up instead of truly being broken and repentant over sin:

"I was just being honest."

"I'm just saying what I feel."

"I was only kidding."

"I misunderstood you."

"I didn't mean to do it."

"I'm having a bad day."

4. Repentance is not the atonement for sin. Penance and self-flagellation are forms of self-righteousness and that has never saved anybody. Displaying your misery does not earn the forgiveness of sins. Only the blood of Christ is the sacrifice of atonement that takes away God's wrath on us (Romans 3:25-26).

WHAT IT IS (List is excerpted from "The Gospel Powered Life")

1. Repentance is oriented towards God, not me.

King David realized that he had ultimately offended God with his sin. So he writes, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight (Psalm 51:4)..."

2. Repentance is motivated by true godly sorrow and not just selfish regret.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

- 2 Corinthians 7:10 (ESV)

3. Repentance is concerned with the heart, not just external actions.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

-Psalm 51:10 (ESV)

4. Repentance looks to Jesus for deliverance from the penalty and power of sin.

"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus"

-Acts 3:19-20 (ESV)

   Now repentance isn't just a one time act that occurs when we receive Jesus Christ in faith. Repentance is for Christians too. It is the way in which we make progress in the Christian life. If we make an honest self-examination, we find that there are new sins to address. We discover sins beneath sins. There are new enemies that must be defeated. Tim Keller points out,  

"The more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God's grace and acceptance in Christ, the more you are able to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions of your sin."

When repentance becomes a lifestyle, we live a life of faith as we rest solely on Jesus Christ's work that brings about forgiveness and grace.

Change Inside Out, Not Outside in

    "He's gotten into some trouble but my boy has a good heart deep inside of him." This is what a father told me one time during a conversation. Another parent explained to me one time, "I know that my son stole your son's video game but that's not him because we didn't raise him up this way."

    We have all made this same rationalization in one form or another. It's a way of softening the impact of the sins we do before men and before God. The pattern goes like this : we admit that we're not perfect, that we make mistakes, and we commit sin from time to time but these are mere aberrations because deep down inside, we are basically good and our hearts are in the right place. This view treats sin as committing mistakes, making wrong choices, failing to live up to our potential or engaging in anti-social behavior. If we believe this to be true, then it's possible that we can improve ourselves and attain godly living by learning from our experience. Yet what the Bible says is completely different.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

-Jeremiah 17: 9 (ESV)

"For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."

-Matthew 15:19 (ESV)

That is the truth about our hearts. We cannot blame external influences such us our upbringing and culture for our wrongdoing. It proceeds from inside of us, not outside in. If we honestly look inside of us, our deepest thoughts, emotions and desires would be something like this:

"A fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being. I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in no-man's-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature."

-The Valley of Vision

    Certainly we are capable to do good works and improve our behavior through our own efforts. Men may applaud us for it but God does not. For the righteous deeds from a corrupt heart are nothing but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). When we deny our sinful condition, we do not see the need for repentance and our minds are blinded from seeing and rethinking our true relationship to God. We also reject the gospel because the gospel says we're not good and consequently we completely miss the grace and mercy of God.

    No human effort, positive thinking, child-rearing techniques, and character building activities can transform the wayward and sinful heart. Many people claim that they have knowledge in how you can become a better you. Bookstores are filled with so many self-improvement books. Ultimately, this kind of "fix" is superficial like polishing up a car but not fixing the broken engine. It looks good on the outside but it's broken inside so it's still dead.

    Only God can change the heart. Godliness proceeds inside out, not outside in.

"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

-Jeremiah 31:33 (ESV)

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

-Ezekiel 36:26-27 (ESV)

  This is how real change happens :

"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

-John 1:12-13 (ESV)

"....We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."

-Ephesians 2:3-5 (ESV)

    He who is spiritually dead can't help himself. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 1:12)." Change comes by believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God who has come to earth to bring the light of the gospel into the hearts of men. Receive Jesus Christ for who he is - Savior and Lord. Nothing is fixed in your life if you believe that Jesus is only a moral teacher, a divine therapist, or an inspirational speaker who came to improve your life. If that is Jesus to you, then you put him on the same plane as the human peddlers of self-improvement. Jesus came to crucify and bury your old life so that you might be raised with him with a new life - a new heart - as a child of God. Change the heart, change the behavior. Regeneration from the inside. This is how radical permanent change happens. This is how real progress happens. Inside out, not outside in.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 -Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)



If we are able to change ourselves for the better then this passage would be a lie. When we are saved, we are regenerated into this new life brought about by a new heart and new pattern of thinking. And it is all the work of Christ in whom our life is now hidden. Inside out, not outside in.

Sinclair Ferguson|God Finishes What He Starts

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

-Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

   God is at work in the very first nanosecond of your belief in Jesus Christ; God is at work in changing your heart to believe on Jesus Christ, just as He was at work for your salvation from before the foundation of the world.

    God is at work in declaring you to be right with Him in accepting you in the righteousness of His Son, in pardoning and forgiving you of your sins. He’s at work in that. His initiative is involved.

    God is at work in your growing up to maturity in grace. Salvation is not something that starts with you and then continues with the work of God, nor does it start with God and then He says ‘OK, the rest is up to you.’

    Salvation from beginning to end, from start to finish, is the work of the sovereign grace of God, and so He is at work building you up in Christ, and He is at work one day to present you faultless before His throne with exceeding joy and great glory, in Jesus Christ, with all the saints, perfected.

    Conversion, justification, sanctification, glorification…that’s what those words are. They’re just code words so you don’t have to take as long as I just took to say all that you want to say.


- Sinclair Ferguson

Good Works in the Christian Life



Photo by stevendepolo

 The theology on good works is clear. We are not saved by our good works.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

-Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

All our self-initiated good works are dead works (Hebrews 6:1). It profits us nothing. The good news is that as Christians, we are created to do good works and they count for something!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

-Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

Good works prove that our faith in Jesus Christ is authentic.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

-James 2:14-17 (ESV)

There's more to it. Why were we created in Christ to do good works? What is the purpose? From the book What is the Mission of the Church, authors Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert explain the motivations behind good works in the Christian life.

Here's the summary including notable quotes and related Scripture passages :

1. We Do Good Works to Obey God, Whom We Love (1 John 5:3, 1 John 4:19)

"At the end of the day, God commands us to do good works and live godly lives."

2. We Do Good Works Because We Love Our Neighbors (Matthew 5:43-45, Matthew 22:36-40)

"We as Christians should be marked by a posture of love and generosity toward our neighbors, and that includes everyone, according to Jesus, from our best friends to our worst enemies."

3. We Do Good Works to Show God's Character and God's Work.

"When we approach the world with a posture of love and generosity, our good works provide a powerful confirmation of our declaration that "God is love." They show the world the we really mean what we say, and they make it just that much more plausible the God is really there and that his influence in our lives is real, powerful, and different from anything else in the world."

4. We Do Good Works Because They Are the Fruit of the Spirit's Work In Us (Matthew 7:16-20)

"Simply put, apples grow on apple trees, oranges grow on orange trees, and good works grow on Christians."

"It's not that good works are in the root of the tree; they're not the thing that makes the tree what it is. They're not the ground or the basis of our standing with God. But if we are truly redeemed through the blood of Christ, if the Holy Spirit truly dwells in us, then we will be a people who bear fruit in good works."

5. We Do Good Works to Win a Hearing for the Gospel

"Christians, as we've seen, are to love the whole person, and therefore it makes perfect sense to love someone by giving him food and at the same time to love him in a different, higher way by giving him the gospel."

So don't grow weary in doing well. Keep up the good work!

The Best Version of You Is Jesus

    Self-evaluations can be helpful in assessing your strengths, weaknesses, your talents and gifts. Paul Tripp, however, points out that the standard of self-evaluation misses the core of your potential as a Christian. If Jesus did an assessment of gifts and talents, would he have selected the twelve disciples (let alone Judas!)? After Peter denied him three times, would Jesus have evaluated Peter and deemed him unqualified as an apostle? Would Paul, who persecuted the early church Christians, have become a missionary to the Gentiles?

    God often called people who felt unprepared and yet were successful in accomplishing what God called them to do. Despite the fact that they were weak, ordinary and could not boast of any talent, the disciples were able to step forward and do extraordinary works as they preached the gospel and ministered to the church.

    So what to do then with our potential? What to do with our talents and gifts? It's important to realize that the gospel, first and foremost, defines who you are as a Christian. Paul says,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

-Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

A Christian is one that has died to self but made alive in Jesus Christ. The self is sinful, weak, undone, proud, and ill-tempered and is crucified with Christ on the cross. The Christian now lives and says, "Not I, but Christ." Think about this: the one who is the image of the invisible God, the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, the one who holds creation together in himself, the Savior, Redeemer, the very God of the very God lives in you! One book describes it like this,

"Jesus Christ is like a vast ocean. He is too immense to fully explore, and too rich to fathom. You are like a bottle. The wonder of the gospel is that the bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle." 

-Jesus Manifesto

Amazing! Therefore the Christian lives by faith in Jesus Christ. Those who see, hear, and know you will see, hear and know Jesus. Your life manifests Jesus' presence. Paul Tripp says,

It is not enough for Paul to say that the death of Christ made him new. He says that when he died, the old Paul was not replaced with a new and improved version of Paul, but with Christ himself! He's not simply saying that the new Paul is better at controlling the sin in his heart. He is saying that where sin once controlled, Christ now rules! Our hearts, once under the dominion of sin, are now the dwelling place of Christ, the ultimate source of righteousness, wisdom, power, and love.

- Paul Tripp in How People Change

In short, the best version of you is none other than Jesus! That's the gospel of Christian potential.

"We no longer live based on our assessment of what we possess in strength, character, wisdom (from family, education, and experience). We base our lives on the fact that because Jesus lives in us, we can do what is right in desire, thought, word, and action, no matter what specific blessings or sufferings we face."

- Paul Tripp in How People Change

This is why God can use those who are simple and ordinary by the world's standards to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1: 26-31). That is why he can use people with no extraordinary talents nor gifts because it is Jesus Christ in them who gives them the strength to do all things that they are called to do.

    Your life in Jesus Christ defines your potential. The question now is what will your life be if you measure your potential based on this? How would it shape your ambitions and your goals? How does the reality of Jesus living in you determine your agenda? How would success look like as a result? Can you honestly say, "Not I, but Christ"?

    Be encouraged by this : our potential in Jesus Christ is not hindered by our weaknesses nor our failures. Our potential in Jesus is not based on what we can do for him, but on what he can do through us.

The Christian and His Past

    We have done things in the past that we now regret. The apostle Paul had a big one. Prior to his conversion, Paul zealously persecuted believers in Jerusalem. He could have been burdened by this guilt for the rest of his life. He could have tried to make up for it. Instead, this is what Paul said about his sordid past :

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.

- 1 Corinthians 15: 9-10 (ESV)

    He didn't run away from his past. Instead, he admitted the shameful things that he had done. He recognized that he didn't deserve to be called an apostle but for the grace of God. "I am what I am," Paul said, in effect saying that what matters is that Jesus saved him from his past and his present identity in Christ now defined who he is. Grace had transformed Paul from zealous persecutor and defender of the Torah to zealous missionary of the gospel to the Gentiles.

    In the same way, regrets from the past neither condemn nor burden a true Christian. Jesus Christ took our sins away and paid it in full with His sacrifice on the cross. In Christ, we can confidently say :

'I am what I am' - whatever the past may have been. It is what I am that matters. What am I?


I am forgiven, I am reconciled to God by the Blood of His Son upon the Cross.


I am a child of God.


I am adopted into God's family, and I am an heir with Christ, a joint-heir with Him.


I am going to glory.


This is what matters, not what I was, not what I have been.

-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Spritual Depression It's Causes and Cure

Tullian Tchividjian : It's Okay To Not Be Okay

    Pastor Tullian Tchividjian's reflections on the gospel has helped me through difficult circumstances in the past. In the midst of conflict, I realized that the praise of men did not matter because in Jesus Christ I have everything that I need, I am accepted by God, and I am his son. Even when I was misunderstood, when my motives were questioned, and when I was maligned, I realized that there was no need to retialiate nor defend myself. I had Jesus Christ and my satisfaction was in Him. My reputation did not matter, pleasing God in loving obedience mattered. I was free to lose because the truth was - I didn't lose anything!

    He has an upcoming book : Jesus + Nothing = Everything that helps us to remember the good news the we forget - the gospel - and that true Christianity is faith in Jesus and only Jesus.

Here's an excerpt of the book : It's Okay To Not Be Okay

Related posts :

The Good News That We Forget Part 1

The Good News That We Forget Part 2 : I Need The Gospel Daily

The Good News That We Forget Part 3 : What is Cheap Grace

The Good News That We Forget Part 4 : The Gospel-Centered Life

Christianity Explored - including the tough questions

    This is a great website to learn about Christianity. It explores the core message of the Christian faith and answers some of the tough questions that skeptics have raised and believers have struggled with through time. This site also includes stories of how people have come to faith in Christ from different cirumstances in life.

    If you've been curious about Christianity then start your investigation from this website. This is also a great resource for those who want to brush up on the basics.

Go to the website : Christianity Explored

Tax Free

A tax assessor is said to have come to a home and asked the man of the house to list his possessions. This was his answer:

First, I have everlasting life.
Second, I have a mansion in heaven.
Third, I have peace that passes understanding.
Fourth, I have joy unspeakable.
Fifth, I have divine love that never fails.
Sixth, I have a faithful wife.
Seventh, I have healthy, happy, obedient children.
Eighth, I have loyal friends.
Ninth, I have songs in the night.
Tenth, I have a crown of life.

The assessor closed his book and said, "Sir, you are a very rich man, but your possessions are not subject to taxation."

The greatest wealth is the gift of salvation and all that comes with it.

- As told by Ajith Fernando in The Call to Joy and Pain

"Crazy Love"

    I found Francis Chan's book, "Crazy Love", three years ago as I was searching online for Bible study material that I could use for our small group. Up to that time, I've never heard of Francis Chan but I became curious and wanted to find out more about him because he was of Asian descent and because my mother's maiden name was also Chan. At one point, I wondered if he was a distant relative.

    Little did I know that God would use this book to wake me up from religious complacency. Francis Chan wrote like a prophet. He accurately describes a common spiritual malaise experienced by many Christians today - a "half-hearted, distracted, partially committed, lukewarm" kind of Christianity. That was me. I was a regular churchgoer, tither, and ministry leader. I lived a good and moral life. My life outside work revolved around involvement in many church programs and activities. But I did not truly enjoy God nor fully love Him. I thought that I did. My works seemed to show that I did. But when I examined and looked honestly inside me, I knew that I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I believed in Jesus Christ but I found it too hard to live this faith consistently. It was frustrating!

God used the book to show me what I was missing :

1. I had an inaccurate view of God.

   Francis Chan admits that he grew up believing in God without having a clue what He is like.

I called myself a Christian, was pretty involved in church, and tried to stay away from all of the things that ''good Christians" avoid -drinking, drugs, sex, swearing. Christianity was simple: fight your desires in order to please God. Whenever I failed (which was often), I'd walk around feeling guilty and distant from God. In hindsight, I don't think my church's teachings were incorrect, just incomplete. My view of God was narrow and small. 

-Crazy Love, p. 20

My experience was the same. The Bible shows us that we have an amazing, awesome, eternal God who loves us with an eternal, outrageous love. God loved us rebels and we are unworthy of his love. But God relentlessly pursued us to reconcile us back to himself through Jesus Christ his Son. I did not fully understand this in my life, hence my awe factor of God was small. I was living a "works righteousness" Christianity by generating a righteousness thru my own strength and effort so that God would approve of me. I thought that's how God loved me. Hence, I missed God's tremendous worth and power in saving me from the very thing that I was doing. I lacked the Biblical understanding of his grace. My inaccurate view of God and his love led me to miss the true meaning of the gospel.

2. I assumed that I was good soil.

   The concept comes from the parable of the sower that Jesus told (Mark 4) and also in a simile by the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 6:7-8). In college, I was a student leader with Campus Crusade for Christ. I led Bible studies and organized mission trips. I was actively involved in church. I experienced blessings from God but that did not necessarily prove that my heart was a good soil that produced good fruit. Instead of fruit, I was producing thorns and thistles and I was choking. Thorns are anything that distract us from God and chokes the fruit of righteousness that grows out of faith in Jesus Christ. We're choked by too much of the good life. This is especially true in the Western world where people are able to earn higher income and enjoy the blessings that come with economic prosperity. This comfortable lifestyle ends up becoming toxic by making us complacent. We become the sort of Christians that love and obey God so long as he doesn't impinge on our lifestyle. All this talk about radical Christian living, self-denial, taking your cross, self-sacrifice, and suffering for the gospel are major turn-offs. We'd rather hear preachers and read books that teach us how to be more comfortable, influential, and successful and have God be a benefactor of all these niceties of life.

    I was glad that the Holy Spirit had removed the scales in my eyes such that I could see my spiritual condition. Logically, the next question for me was,"What must I do?" It was through this book that I got introduced to John Piper. Francis Chan quotes him,

The critical question for our generation-and for every generation-is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?

-Crazy Love, p. 100



That question penetrated deep down my soul and exposed where my affections lay. The antidote to lukewarm, selfish, comfortable living is love. Francis Chan writes,

And isn't that what God wants of us-to crave this relationship with him, as we crave all genuine love relationships? Isn't that what brings him glory- when believers desire him and are not merely slaves who serve him out of obligation?

There is often a great disparity between how we feel about faith and how we are meant to feel. Why do so few people genuinely find joy and pleasure in their relationship with God? Why do most people feel they have to either pay God back for all he's done (buy his love) or somehow keep making up for all their inadequacies and failures (prove their love)?

-Crazy Love, p. 101

Because it's in our nature to always want to be in control of everything, we try to control even our faith. We try to muster more love for God and end up loving him out of obligation. Living this way, makes Christianity a boring, guilt-ridden chore!

    I recall praying something like this :

God I need you to help me to love you. I need your help to love my wife, children, parents, siblings, and my friends genuinely. From now on, I want to pursue loving you and delighting in you. Show me how awesome you are. Open the eyes of my heart to see how wide, how deep, and how great is your love for me.

   Right around that time, I started blogging. My first post was a reflection of his bigness as told by the universe that He created. The second post was my futile attempt at measuring his love that had no bounds. The third post was a listing of who I am in Christ - something I first learned way back in my days with Campus Crusade for Christ and one that I must remind myself daily. These were my first steps to falling in love with Jesus Christ to depths that I have never experienced before.

   Gradually, comfort was no longer living the good life but tasting and seeing that the Lord is good! Delight was no longer just a day at the movies or at an ice cream shop but became meditating on the Word of God regularly, wanting to know more of God and his infinite worth. I became dissatisfied with settling for less on Sundays : sermons that make God seem small and man big, a worship experience that seems to say to God, "Lord watch me worship you, you're gonna like it," rather than exalting God's majesty and greatness. For the past three years, I have seen this law at work : if I replace Jesus with something or someone else of lesser value, I will never be truly satisfied.

   On second thought, I am related to Francis Chan through our faith in Jesus Christ. We're brothers!

Tim Keller : On True Love

In his book, The King's Cross, Tim Keller gives valuable insight on the difference between false and true love, fake and authentic love.

FALSE LOVE

1. False love's aim is to use the other person to fulfill your happiness.

2. Conditional - You give it only as long as the person is affirming you and meeting your needs.

3. Non-vulnerable. You hold back so that you can cut your losses if necessary.

TRUE LOVE

1. In true love your aim is to spend yourself and use yourself for the happiness of the other, because your greatest joy is that person's joy.

2. Unconditional - You give it regardless of whether your loved one is meeting your needs.

3. Radically Vulnerable - You spend everything, hold nothing back, give it all away.

OUR REAL PROBLEM

Nobody is actually fully capable of giving true love. Tim Keller writes,

"All our love is somewhat fake. How so? Because we need to be loved like we need air and water. We can't live without love. That means there is a certain mercenary quality to our relationships. We look for people whose love would really affirm us. We invest our love only where we know we'll get a good return. Of course when we do that, our love is conditional and non-vulnerable because we're not loving the person simply for himself or herself; we're loving the person partly for the love we're getting."

We feel abused or manipulated when we're on the receiving end of fake love. We must also be aware that our love may be motivated by self-interests.

THE SOLUTION

"What we need is someone to love us who doesn't need us at all. Someone who loves us radically, unconditionally, vulnerably. Someone who loves us just for our sake. If we received that kind of love, that would so assure us of our value, it would so fill us up, that we could start to give love like that too. Who can give love with no need? Jesus."

A true Christian remains in the love of Christ. Being loved by Jesus enables us to love friends and family with true love, a love without neediness. All the fakery and manipulativeness of human love fades away and the love of Jesus Christ, the only true love, will be operative in our relationships.

A Sign You Are Growing in Grace....

    Compiled by Timmy Brister, these are a series of tweets by Scotty Smith on "signs that you are growing in grace". I've selected a few that made me laugh and repent. For more go to Timmy Brister's blog.

How little we know and how much we still have to learn about living in the grace of God!

A sign you are growing in grace is that you are more disgusted with your critical spirit than offended by others’ sins.

A sign you’re growing in grace: As intriguing as iPhones, iPads and all things “i” are, only Jesus is compelling to you.

A sign you’re growing in grace is a commitment to pray for people you’d really rather gossip about.

A sign your’e growing in grace: If you don’t know, you don’t pretend you do.

A sign you’re growing in grace. The gospel still astonishes and humbles you. It’s not just cliche or the name of your tribe.

A sign you’re growing in grace is praying for our government rather than simply being cynical about our government.

A sign you’re growing in grace: The time span between your foolishness and your repenting has gone from days to hours.

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Dazzle Your Kids With Grace!

    Most parenting styles lie between two extremes. At one end is unstructured permissiveness. The other end is oppressive control. A permissive parent prefers to love and nurture but “spares the rod” and kids that are raised in this environment can be out of control, self-centered, and spoiled. An oppressive parent is harsh, abusive, and tyrannical that his children are discouraged, humiliated, provoked to anger, and living in constant fear. Both of these extremes are sinful and damaging to the lives of children (Proverbs 13:24, Colossians 3:21, Ephesians 6:4).


    Christian parents like me, being aware of this, are careful to maintain a balance of love and discipline. However, what passes as “Christian parenting” nowadays is really a syncretism of biblical principles with modern psychology. By and large, they are tips and principles on how to do our job right as parents so that our kids will become "good, law-abiding Christians" that are successful at whatever they do. This approach is limiting, perhaps dangerous, and can be just as damaging to children because they can become religiously obedient but still have spiritually unregenerate hearts. Kids raised this way will find no need of the gospel message, relying instead on self-righteousness and self-effort in living as Christians. And they won’t endure, with most leaving church and abandoning their faith by the time they grow into adulthood. This is all because the gospel message was obscured as they were growing up in a Christian environment.

    That is why I welcome the recent emergence of Christian literature on gospel-powered, gospel-centered parenting. Give Them Grace by authors Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson stands out by going against the syncretic paradigm found in many Christian parenting books. They show how the gospel radically changes all aspects of our parenting style because it shifts our parenting efforts away from changing our child’s behavior and towards the heart of the matter: the transformation of our child’s heart. We parents, have passed on to our children our idol-making, self-centered hearts and Jesus said that parents cannot will their kids to become Christians (John 1:12-13). Only God, by His grace, can transform their rebellious hearts through faith in Jesus Christ, and then they will obey and walk in the law of the Lord.

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Effective and Productive Faith Part 2

   When you are born again (John 3:1-8, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18), you will change. Though we don't know the mechanics of this transformation, the change is significant and radical. Your heart now longs to be with God and your desire is now to obey him and walk in His law. Jesus is now indeed the king of your heart.

   Transformation does not occur only in the dramatic events of your life. The proof this transformation is borne out over time, in each moment that you live. Paul Tripp says this :

    The little moments of life are profoundly important precisely because they’re the little moments that you live in and that form you. This is where I think that "Big Drama Christianity" gets us into trouble. It can cause us to devalue the significance of the little moments of life and the "small-change" grace that meets us there. And because we devalue the little moments where we live, we tend to not notice the sin that gets exposed there and don't seek the grace that’s offered us there. You see, the character of a life is not set in two or three dramatic moments, but in 10,000 little moments. The character that was formed in those little moments is what shapes how you respond to the big moments of life.

What leads to significant personal change? 10,000 moments of personal insight and conviction, 10,000 moments of humble submission, 10,000 moments of foolishness exposed and wisdom gained, 10,000 moments of sin confessed and sin forsaken, 10,000 moments of courageous faith, 10,000 choice points of obedience, 10,000 times of forsaking the kingdom of self and running toward the kingdom of God, 10,000 moments when we abandon worship of the creation and give ourselves to worship of the Creator. And what makes all of this possible? Relentless, transforming, little-moment grace. You see, Jesus is Emmanuel not just because he came to earth, but because he makes you the place where he dwells. This means he’s present and active in all the mundane moments of your daily life. And what is he doing? In these small moments he’s delivering every redemptive promise he’s made to you. In these unremarkable moments, he’s working to rescue you from you and transform you into his likeness. By sovereign grace he places you in daily little moments that are designed to take you beyond your character, wisdom and grace so that you’ll seek the help and hope that can only be found in him. In a lifelong process of change, he’s undoing you and rebuilding you again; exactly what each one of us needs!

   This is how your salvation is worked out. This is how your character is conformed to the image of Christ.

Effective and Productive Faith Part 1

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." 

- 2 Peter 1:5-9 (ESV)

    God provides infinite resources for us to grow in our faith. Yet for many Christians, spiritual growth is a struggle. Habitual sins are difficult to overcome, they lack self-control, they don't understand the Bible, their relationship with God goes hot and cold, and their relationships with others are still mired in conflict and unforgiveness.

    Does this describe your spiritual life? If so,it should be immensely helpful for you to know that the root-cause of ineffective and unproductive faith is a lack of understanding of the gospel. When you do not comprehend the meaning of the gospel, you fail to grasp your identity in Christ and the work that God does in your life. As a result, your spiritual life fails to produce the expected fruit of faith. The Apostle Peter declares that whoever lacks Christ-like qualities is "so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from former sins". Spiritual growth is lacking is because you may have underestimated the presence and power of indwelling sin. You may be surprised to find how so easily swayed you are by the world and its ways. Your heart is prone to wander from the God you love, as the hymn says.

   So how can the spiritual blindness be removed?

"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard..."

-Colossians 1:19-23 (ESV) 

    Stick to the gospel! True Christians are not sinless but they sin less because their hearts are transformed such that they loathe themselves because of their sins but look to the cross where the blood of Jesus has brought them peace and reconciliation with God. They don't try harder to be good through their self-effort but the Holy Spirit that dwells in them gives them the desire to follow Jesus and causes them to walk in obedience to God's laws (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Remember that the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). God is stronger than the power of sin! He not only gets us saved but also keeps us saved. Jesus does not lose any of His sheep (John 10:27-30)!

    So remember the gospel by looking to the cross daily. Thank Jesus that his blood covers your sins, even those that you commit after you were saved. That's the first key to effective and productive faith.

More in the next post....

Your Salvation Is Secure

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

-Jude 24 (ESV)

   If salvation can be lost, then Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross is not strong enough to sustain you to the end. It implies that the sinful desires of the heart can overcome the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. That makes God less glorious, less sovereign, and less powerful because other forces can turn His children's hearts against Himself.

   God's glory, majesty, and authority is demonstrated in his power to keep you from falling back into slavery to sin. No one, not even Satan, can snatch away His sheep (John 10:27-29). The gift of eternal life is secured to those who come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:3-5). Christ finishes the regeneration that He starts in you so that He can present you blameless before God in the day of judgment. Now that is awesome!

A Faith That Saves

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

-Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

    According to Charles Spurgeon, the grace of God is the fountain-head of salvation. Remember that salvation is a gift from God that is given freely (Romans 6:23). It cannot be earned, rather, it is offered to sinners out of the grace of God who is compassionate, abounding in love, merciful, and full of goodness. If grace is the fountain, then faith is the channel by which the flood of grace flows down like a stream that refreshes thirsty men.

     Spurgeon further explains how grace and faith operate in salvation:

By faith all things become possible to us; yet the power is not in the faith, but in the God upon whom faith relies. Grace is the powerful engine, and faith is the chain by which the carriage of the soul is attached to the great motive power.

    We do not muster saving faith by our own efforts. Faith is not visualizing that we are saved, restored, and healed. Faith is wholly leaning to the all-powerful, mighty God and His promises. It takes hold of the righteousness of Jesus Christ so that we are made righteous. It appropriates the sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. It touches the Great Physician for healing. Spurgeon writes,"Faith is believing that Christ is what He said to be, and that He will do what He has promised to do, then to expect this of Him." The power is not in our faith, but comes from the object of our faith which is God! Therefore, we can never boast that our human effort is needed in our salvation.

How Can God Be Loving and Just at the Same Time?

    For many people, the gospel is summarized in this famous verse :

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 (ESV)

    Without a doubt, the gospel is a testimony of God's immeasurable love for us. However, our understanding of the gospel is incomplete if we stop here. Is God's love such that, through Jesus, He takes away our guilt by sweeping our sins under the rug and remembering them no more? Is this the kind of love that lets bygones be bygones? Surely God knows that we're not perfect. If He truly loved us, He must forgive us and accept us for who we are. After all, wasn't it Jesus who said to forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22)?

    Most people prefer to believe God in this way, but we know that something isn't right with this argument. God is love (1 John 4:8) but it does not mean that in His loving, He waves away the sins that men have committed. Genocide, racism, rape, murder, sexual immorality, child abuse, covetousness, and deceit cannot just be simply swept under the rug. It would be unfair and unjust, most especially if these sins were committed against us or against people that we love. I will never simply forgive a man who would molest my children. Instead, I would pursue justice and life imprisonment for that criminal. I'd cry out to God that I have been offended and pray that God would punish that man.

   In the shocking scandal with Bathsheba, King David committed adultery and murder. He used his authority to conceal his affair by having Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, set up to be killed in battle. He got outed by the prophet Nathan. David repented and his confession to God is recorded in Psalm 51.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 

- Psalm 51:3-4 (ESV)

When we sin, it is God that is offended ultimately. Now, not only is God the offended party, He is also the judge. David correctly confesses that God is right to mete out justice, declare a guilty verdict, and sentence us according to what we deserve.

    So how then does the God of justice love? Can God be just and loving at the same time or are they mutually exclusive? The answer is found in Romans.

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over  former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. - Romans 3: 22b-26 (ESV)

    First of all, this passage clearly declares that all of us are guilty because of our sins. None of us can justify ourselves before God. We can argue our case before the Judge by listing out all the good works that we have done in this life for surely they must be worth rewarding and they must certainly outweigh all our bad deeds. The verdict is still guilty (James 2:10). Christianity is realistic in describing the human nature. All men are sinners.

    But remember that the gospel is good news! It addresses this problem. In this same verse, we see that God, in His grace, makes us right with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. The shedding of His blood is the sacrifice that atones our guilt and redeems us from slavery to sin. Propitiation is the act that renders God propitious or favorable to us. It the act that appeases God's wrath that is directed at us because we are sinners. We cannot turn away God's wrath through our good works. There is nothing in us that we can offer as a propitiation. Only God can. This is all God's doing. The righteous and holy Judge sent His Son to be the propitiation for sinners. Through the cross, our sins are cancelled and the wrath of God is turned aside at the same time.

    Why would God do this? The latter part of this verse reveals the answer. God has been patient by holding back judgment on the sins of men who had lived before He set in motion the events of Jesus birth, death on the cross, and resurrection. By holding back the punishment that their sins so deserved, it does not mean that He overlooked them nor that He swept them under the rug. He held them accountable to their sins just as we are held accountable today. The blood that Jesus shed also paid for their sins. Through the cross, God showed that He is just and is the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus Christ. This is how a just God loves! In his loving, he demonstrates that He is just. Likewise, His perfect righteousness demonstrates that He is love.

    In conclusion, when we mash up John 3:16 and Romans 3:22-26, we see that God is both just and loving at the same time. It is demonstrated in the gospel. Thank you God, for loving us by giving your Son Jesus Christ. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross is the perfect sacrifice which turns away Your wrath from us. Through the cross, we are made righteous in Your eyes. God is just. Through the cross, You demonstrate Your love. God is love.

What is the gospel?

    It's good to be able to find time to write again. My 2 month hiatus from blogging was due to a variety of reasons, mainly personal and work circumstances that needed my full attention. But I missed writing! It was the means by which I could fully internalize the wonderfuls truths in the Bible.

    For several weeks now, I've been meeting regularly with friends to answer a basic question about the Christian faith. What is the gospel? As it turned out, we still had a lot to learn! I've blogged about the gospel in the past  and made these sweeping statements :

1. All our problems in life stem from our failure to apply the gospel.

2. Spiritual poverty in so much of our Christian experience is the result of inadequate understanding of the gospel’s depths.

   I believe in these statements even more so now! If we do not understand what God has done for us then we will live the Christian life always working to get God's approval when, in fact, we already have God's favor through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  If we do not understand the significance of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension, then we miss the message of the gospel and our confession of faith becomes questionable. For how can we live like Christians if we do not know the object of our faith and the substance of what we believe?

   First of all, the gospel means "good news". At the core of the Christian faith is this "good news" about what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. The gospel is not about getting enlightenment, wisdom, knowledge, purpose, and meaning in life. It is not about learning the secret to healthy, successful, prosperous, and stress-free living. The gospel is first of all, the announcing of an event that happened 2,000 years ago. God became flesh and dwelled among human beings. His name is Jesus and He lived, preached, healed, and taught about the coming of the kingdom of God. He ate with sinners and rebuked the religious elite who were moralists and insisted on having a legalistic approach to religion.These religious elite arrested Jesus and brought him to trial, eventually leading to his death on the cross. On the third day, Jesus rose again and over 500 witnessess testified to seeing and fellowshipping with Him. His ascension into heaven was witnessed by many and He promised that He would return and reign over the new heaven and the new earth. The historical events surrounding Jesus were all determined by God since the beginning of time. He left pointers for us in the Old Testament,through the Law of Moses and through the foretelling of many prophets. He brought it to pass just like He said He would.

   This good news addresses our biggest problem:sin. Our sin separates us from God who is Holy and Righteous.The gospel is God's grace to sinners by granting them righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. God loved us so much that He gave His Son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. As Jesus hung on the cross, He took upon the sins of men and paid the price that we could never pay on our own. He took upon Himself the punishment that we deserved. The righteousness of Christ becomes the righteousness of those who believe so that the guilty are now declared just. And there's more. When we receive the gospel, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit, so that now we are no longer enslaved to sin but now enslaved to righteousness.We are able to live a life that is holy and pleasing to God.

   This is the essence of the gospel. It is big! It is radical change that only God is able to do!

What You Celebrate as a Church Is Just as Important as What You Believe

    Churches, more often than not, emphasize distinctives. Differences in doctrinal positions, worship style,  leadership structure, cultural engagement, and many others are often cited and celebrated. Because this is emphasized so much today, we look for these things in churches and use it as a basis for making judgment on whether a church is good or not. Meanwhile, we forget that the church is called to celebrate and preach the gospel. This is the unique call of the church, commissioned by Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 28:18-20). No other institution on this planet is called to do this, except for the church.

    What would happen if the preaching of the gospel and the living-out the gospel is what is celebrated and emphasized above all in churches? Think how this eliminates preferences that arise from self-interests. Think of how many worthless arguments and "church wars" would be avoided. Think about how it makes the church centered on Jesus Christ. Think of how faith, goodness, discipleship, fellowship, brotherly kindness, and love, would strongly manifest in all church activities. Think of a time when all Christians would boast of nothing of themselves but only on the cross.

This blog post from the Gospel Coalition is an excellent reminder on the calling of the church : What You Celebrate as a Church Is Just as Important as What You Believe.

What are you celebrating this Christmas - looking for pageantry and cool Christmas worship services? What are you celebrating in your church? Celebrate the gospel above all.