Beautiful

The essence of sin is our attempt to take the place of God; the essence of the Christian faith is God taking our place.

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Locations 2209-2210). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

If this is correct, then legalistic, law driven obedience is sin, for it seeks to put the burden of our salvation on our own shoulders. In essence, it is us attempting to take the place of God. That burden has already been taken up by Christ. He took our place. He did what I could not and cannot do, in that He lived a perfect life and then sacrificed it on my behalf. How do you live up to that?

You don't.

You don't live up to it, but you do respond to it. And in that is beauty.

Time out for a change

A change in behavior that does not stem from a change in heart is not commendable; it is condemnable.

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Location 2100). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

That is a frightening line. I think of our Sunday School class, reading a book about the art of neighboring. Each class seems to begin with 30 minutes of discussion, therapy, or how to, and then we tag a Scripture on the end to legitimize the lesson. So we start with the behavior (because the desire is to grow the church) and end with the Scripture. But what if we started with the Scripture. One like, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." (Matthew 22:37-38) One that starts with the heart for God, then progresses to our neighbor.

There is nothing wrong with being a good neighbor. Millions of people do it everyday. Some of them even go to church. And that is the point. If someone comes to church because they view me as a good person, then they have come to church for the wrong reason. I am not good, my God is good. And I need Him as does my neighbor.

If my obedience begins with my desire to win my neighbor rather than my love for a great God who has saved me, what have I won my neighbor to? Is it a religion of do's and don'ts, and a pressure to perform? Isn't that exactly what Jesus came to rescue us from? His yoke is easy and his burden is light, because the pressure is gone! All we have to do is love Him from the heart and the behaviors will fall into place.

The best way to overcome the world is not with morality or self-discipline. Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world: Christ.

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Locations 2127-2129). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Quote of the Day

Churches centered on the gospel aggressively go for the heart, not for behavior.

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Location 2098). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Now that makes more sense!

The message of the Christian faith is not “God helps those who help themselves” but “God helps the helpless.”

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Locations 2054-2055). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Agree or Disagree?

This is the age of the sermonette; and sermonettes make Christianettes.

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Location 2010). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

How's that workin' out for ya?

The preacher should not feel as if he is carrying the burden of life change; he merely carries the burden of faithful exposition and the robust proclamation of the text at hand, trusting that God’s Word will never return void

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Locations 1836-1838). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

A while back, at a certain church we attended, a certain preacher started preaching about life-change.

He spoke of the need for this change as if it were through his own words that everyone would suddenly get it. He spent the first 4 minutes of the sermon telling the people how great they are. Then he spoke of how pleased God must be with them. In reading the church's new vision statement, he says, What if UCC became known as the church where life-change happens?"

Now life-change is a noble goal, but is it the goal of the church, or the pastor, or anyone? Life-change is not a goal, but should be a result of meeting Jesus. So perhaps if life-change is our goal, rather than tell people how to live, we should first introduce them to Christ.

It seems even Jesus was not successful at telling people how to live. All of the sermons and talks, yet Peter told Jesus that He (Jesus) should not suffer and die. And then there is that whole denying Him 3 times thing. It was not until Peter understood what Jesus must do, in fact, it was not until the Holy Spirit filled him with this knowledge, that Peter got it. Our duty is to plant and water the seeds, it is God who makes things grow.(1 Cor 3:6)

Now what?

If you are frustrated with the lack of gospel-centrality in your current church culture, understand that cultural frustration always precedes cultural transformation. The frustration is good and beautiful if it leads you to long for the grace of Jesus to permeate your theology, philosophy, and practice.

Chandler, Matt; Geiger, Eric; Patterson, Josh (2013-11-26). Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church (Kindle Locations 1772-1774). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Okay, the frustration is definitely there...now what?

It is not that there are not "good" people there. It is just that church is not defined by a bunch of "good" people meeting together to discuss their take on how to continue to be good or how to perhaps be a little better. Church is about Jesus, and what he has done for us. It is about the worship and praise that comes from broken, grateful hearts. It is about our need for grace, and seeing Jesus as the giver of that grace.

Okay, the frustration is definitely there...now what?