In the Proper Order

"That is the order of the gospel: God accepts us, and then we follow Him."

 "..if you add anything to Christ as a requirement for acceptance with God - if you start to say: To be saved I need the grace of Christ plus something else- you completely reverse the 'order' of the gospel and make it null and void. Any revision of the gospel reverses it...."

"To change the gospel the tiniest bit is to lose it so completely that the new teaching has no right to be called 'a gospel'.'"

        - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 38

About St Patrick...

Seven things you might not know about St Patrick (that have nothing to do with beer).

1. He was one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived.
2. He considered himself “a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful, and most contemptible too many.”
3. He was actually more of a blue man (not sad, but the color), than a green one.
4. As a teenager, he was stolen from his home and sold into slavery for six years in Ireland. He would later return to preach the gospel there.
5. Satan attacked him violently in his sleep to the point where he couldn’t move.
6. Legend has it that he contextualized and used shamrocks (an already-sacred symbol in Ireland) to teach people about the Trinity.
7. He begged God to grant him to die a martyr’s death, even if it meant being torn limb from limb by dogs or pecked to death by birds. (Maybe St. Patrick inspired Alfred Hitchcock?)

Accept No Substitutes

I consider this to be a very important reminder from Kevin DeYoung:

It is possible to transmit the gospel in a way that never really gets to the root of the problem. Sometimes we share Jesus in such a way that we simply invite people to receive more of what they already want.

“Come to Jesus, you’ll feel better about yourself. Come to Jesus, your marriage will improve. Come to Jesus, you’ll be a better student. Come to Jesus, you’ll find friends. Come to Jesus and he’ll bless you with more stuff. Come to Jesus and your life will improve.”

Now there is a way to many of those statements true. But you really haven’t given the gospel until you also tell people: “Come to Jesus and repent. Take up your cross. Follow him as your Lord, no matter the cost.”

It’s tempting to give a gospel which amounts to “Everything you could ever want! Right now!” Come to Jesus, and I’ll throw in this extra ShamWow! There are whole churches built on this type of infomercial-Jesus, this type of methodology, claiming time is running out, so come now!

Yes, you do receive incomparable blessings when you come to Jesus. But we must also hear, to paraphrase Calvin, that true Christian faith is built on denial of ourselves. This is why some folks have such a hard time hearing the gospel. We think, “God is love, and if God is love then he wouldn’t ask me to do something I don’t want to do.” But what good news is this?

The good news is that God is going to give us more than we could ask or imagine. But the reality of Christianity is that it only comes by a cross. Unless a seed falls to the earth and dies, it does not bear fruit.

When Jesus calls a man he bids him come and die.

That he might truly live.

Rediscovering Patrick

Most of the things popular culture says about St. Patrick are not true (no snakes). However, from what we do know, the real guy behind the image was a true Christian hero.  Phillip Jenkins has some details.

What makes Patrick stand out from his contemporaries, though, is that we can know him through his own unquestioned words, rather than the embellishments of later hagiographers and hero-worshipers. Somewhere around 450, he heard of attacks being made on him by bishops in Britain and Gaul. They had heard of his missionary successes, but were dubious about the means he was using to win them.

Anyone familiar with contemporary missions will recognize the picture – deep suspicion for someone working outside the mainstream agencies and churches, going off on his own, rumors of dubious financial practices. Why was he making such lavish gifts? Was he buying converts?

In response, Patrick composed a Confession, which translates best as a Declaration. In the modern sense of the word, he confessed nothing, beyond admitting his sinful and ignorant state. Point by point, though, he answered his critics. He tells the famous story of how Irish raiders abducted him from his British home. He escaped, but returned as a missionary. He offers a wonderful account of what mission actually meant in those days, in a situation where the bishop could not count on any aid from the Roman Empire or the secular power, beyond the kings or chieftains whose favor he could win.

In a society like that, gifts were an absolute foundation of social life and interaction, and to refuse them was to cut yourself off from any hope of success. Certainly, he tried to be careful about the appearance of corruption. He tells us for instance of “the pious women who of their own accord made me gifts and laid on the altar some of their ornaments and I gave them back to them, and they were offended that I did so.” It was a delicate balance.

We Love to Be Our Own Saviors

"..the biblical gospel - Paul's gospel - is clear that salvation, from first to last, is God's doing. It is His calling, His plan,. His action, His work. And so it is He who deserves all the glory, for all time.

This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity  we love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you'll experience blessing now). The gospel comes and turns them all upside down. It says: You are in such a hopeless position that you need a rescue that has nothing to do with you at all. And then it says: God in Jesus provides a rescue which gives you far more than any false salvation your heart may love to chase."

         - Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, page 17

Worth a Look

Some links that are worth a look:

How Protestants Can Justify the Doctrinal Development of the Reformation

Links in a Chain - Lisa Allen's Amazing Life

The Blogs, the Battles & the Gospel (Rules for Internet Controversies)

Five Signs We Might Take Ourselves Too Seriously

The New Pope: Novelty Following Precedent (A very good analysis)

Luis Palau's Friendship with New Pope Francis

A Gay Man Come Out Against Same Sex Marriage

Why Do We Recite the Apostle's Creed

Distinct Identity

"The gospel liberates you from having to be distinct. Your identity is secure because of Christ's contribution to you, not your contribution."

            -Tullian Tchvidjian (RT @PastorTullian)
  

Reading "Galatians For You"

I'm currently reading Timothy Keller's new book, Galatians For You, Over the next few days I will be posting some quotes and then a review. First thought - a very good book. First quotes below.

 "The gospel is the A to Z of the Christian life. It is not only the way to enter the kingdom; it is the way to live as part of the kingdom. It is the way Christ transforms people, churches and communities."  (page 9)

"The gospel - the message that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope - creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth, for obedience, for love." (page 10)

It is not simply non-Christians, but also believers who need continually to learn the gospel and apply it ot their lives." (page 11)

And that's just from the introduction!

Duck Commander Gospel

Christian testimony of Phil Robertson founder of Duck Commander and one of the stars of TV's Duck Dynasty

The Old Technique is Really New