“Áccept him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don’t we need him?
I invite you to consider with me a proper response to this gospel. Surely more than praying a prayer is involved. Surely more than religious attendance is warranted. Surely this gospel evokes unconditional surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that he is.” -David Platt
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive our demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell the plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (Matthew7:21-23, Today’s New International Version).
The underground believers in the book gave up a lot to study God’s Word (farmers leaving their fields unattended for a couple of weeks). Do you, or have you ever, had a real hunger for God’s Word like those believers? God places that hunger within us. He longs to fill the emptiness in our souls, a void that only His Spirit can seal. I believe that by continually remaining in His Word, He will also continually shape us into His likeness. His spirit will work through us emanating the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). We must linger in God’s word so that we are not like the seeds scattered along a path where the birds can come and eat them up. Or like the seeds on the rocky places where we have not roots, or among thorns that choked the plants. Let us all be seeds in good soil that repeatedly produce a good crop (Matthew 13 1-8, The Parable of the Sower).
Some questions to reflect on for Chaper 2:
Why do you think he calls John 3:36 one of the most neglected verses concerning God’s wrath?
How is Christianity different from other religions?
Why is Christ’s sacrifice more than a picture of love?
What are some “Christian Sales Pitches” and why are they spiritually deceptive? Compare American Christianity and biblical gospel.
Platt, David. (2010). Radical. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books.
I do have a hunger for God's Word, but not quite like the underground believers in the book. Do I sacrifice anything to study? Not really. I guess I just juggle TIME like everyone else. Don't know if that actually qualifies as a sacrifice. We all need to immerse ourselves in scripture every day and pray for the Holy Spirit to help us understand, give us insight and wisdom to apply it to our lives. That's one way that the Lord can begin to change us and work in our lives. One thing that helps me is to color in my Bible! (I guess I really do fit in well with preschoolers!) I use pencil colors to mark special verses. Pink is for love, blue for God's faithfulness, green for instruction (my growth) and yellow marks verses that show the glory of God. It makes me slow down, really reflect and sort out what Scripture is saying to me. Then of course, I can go back to those verses and quickly find them or I can just flip through pages and find blue passages to remind me of God's faithfulness (or whatever kind of subject I may want to look for). As much as I love my Bible, as important as it is to me, I still haven't actually "read it through in a year". Why not? . . . . . . . I guess I that good work that the Lord began is still in progress...
ReplyDeleteI had a good post last night but then my computer kicked me off the blog :( Anyway, this part is very challenging to me. Like mom, I hardly sacrifice anything to study. I've never put work or livelihood ahead of studying His Word... in fact, I can't even sacrifice the time every day. I wish I had that kind of hunger... where I would rather go to bed without physical food if it meant that I was spiritually fed.
ReplyDeleteAnd going back to John 3:36 (i had to look it up by the way...) I think it's one of the most neglected verses because in many churches because they want to stress John 3:16... believe and you'll be saved. Most of the churches up here have membership classes that you have to attend before joining a church, and they tend to stress obedience in following Christ, but nobody's ever directly told me..."he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him." I don't think I've ever heard a sermon on that even.
It's easy to think of the wrath of God as poured out on the bad guys - the Taliban, Hitler - they really deserve the wrath of God... certainly not little ol' me. It's challenging to think that apart from Jesus we deserve that same wrath... especially for those of us who have grown up in church.
I have to ponder this a little more before I can answer the other questions. It's almost like sometimes we take John 3:16 out of context and cheapen it to where it's not much different than believing in a spiritual Santa Claus. Just believe and you'll get your presents!
John 3:36 is neglected today because it’s not popular to believe that a good God would send anyone to hell. But though He is a holy and just God who cannot tolerate sin, He is also the God who, as an old hymn says, “has regarded our helpless estate and has shed His own blood for my soul.” We have a God who came down to us, suffered and died for us, and is alive. That’s what makes Christianity different from religions.
ReplyDeleteI was about to launch a critique on the American gospel and its sales pitches when I remembered that I was saved when I heard the message that “God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life,” and that I didn’t have to work to earn my salvation, for that would give me cause to boast (Eph. 2:8-9);I only had to receive the free gift of salvation that God offered me. Being brought up in a religion that emphasized works, that news was liberating for me. It was like a light bulb went on….I understood that it is arrogant to think that I could ever be good enough to merit salvation. I know that the Holy Spirit had been working in my life to prepare me for that understanding. I also know that when I “prayed the prayer,” I also counted the cost of discipleship. When I returned to my dorm room on the night I was saved, one of the girls down the hall, who had an interest in Christianity but was skeptical, asked me what it felt like…Did I feel different? I remember feeling a peace, but not feeling jubilant or anything like that because I knew there was no turning back…that I might be thought of as a “Jesus Freak,” that I might have to face rejection from my peers.
So, all that to say that the most important thing is whether or not the Holy Spirit is working in a person’s heart, and whether or not that person is truly repentant (i.e, truly has a change of heart, or, literally, a change of mind.)
I think in many ways the Christian church is apostate. We ignore things like God’s wrath, and try to focus on “some of the gospel” not the full gospel. If God’s word was truly being taught (instead of a watered down version of it), we would all be wanting to sit and learn about it for hours on end. I could sit all day with my grandpa and listen to him talk about the Bible. All we seem to get these days is sales pitches about fire insurance and other time wasters. Sometimes it’s just flat out boring.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time someone preached on unforgiveness? Take a look at Matthew 6:15 - “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” That’s a pretty heavy statement. You mean if I accept Jesus into my heart but don’t have forgiveness, I won’t be forgiven of my sins?
Look at the parable that Jesus told the disciples when they asked how many times they should forgive in Mathew 18:21-35. “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.” Here’s a guy that was already forgiven, and the master took away his grace. This stuff is not addressed in church. But at the very least I think it’s safe to say that God takes forgiveness extremely seriously.
I think we’re treading on dangerous ground with “sales pitches.” If the church doesn’t teach the people the full truth of what’s in the Bible, we may be sending many to a rude awakening. I had a friend once that said “You don’t have to worry about going to hell. Just say the prayer, and you are good to go. You can live however you want after that because you are already forgiven.”
ReplyDeleteI have a long way to go as a Christian. I think my number one failure is putting my words and thoughts into action. I say ‘we should forgive’, but do I actually forgive those who trespass against me?
I think we see John 3:36 neglected because no one enjoys hearing a message on God’s wrath. A message like that doesn’t “pack the pews” on Sunday. I identified with what David Platt wrote concerning today’s followers:
ReplyDelete“The gospel reveals eternal realities about God that we would sometimes rather not face. We prefer to sit back, enjoy our clichés, and picture God as a Father who might help us, all the while ignoring God as a Judge who might damn us. Maybe this is why we fill our lives with the constant drivel of entertainment in our culture – and in the church. We are afraid that if we stop and really look at God in his Word, we might discover that he evokes greater awe and demands deeper worship than we are ready to give him” (Platt, 2010, pg. 29).
Christianity is different from other religions because (I agree with mom-Margaret) it is a free gift. It is not us who can ‘work’ to save ourselves. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves – it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV).
Christ’s sacrifice is more than a picture of love because it was a moment in time where God’s fury for our sins fell on Jesus. It is a sad and horrifying thought. It evokes almost a guilty feeling. Of course His sacrifice is one of the greatest pictures of love, but it is also so much more – not all of it stirs up happy lovey-dovey feelings!
As Christians can we really sell Jesus? Do we believe that people’s souls are for sale? Paul’s answer to these questions would be a definite NO. “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life”… “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16, 4:3-5).
When I think about ‘Christian sales pitches’ I think about the Jesus Billboards. The Billboards that say the word Jesus across them, or some kind of quote and then putting ‘– God’ at the end of it. As if saying that God is trying to speak to us through a billboard. We’re trying to sell Jesus alongside Billboards for Casinos, restaurants, and even strip joints. I feel like as a follower of Christ, I am to set myself apart from the world. Paul spoke directly on this subject. He said “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
Why do you think he calls John 3:36 one of the most neglected verses concerning God’s wrath?
ReplyDeleteI don't know-- cause it's "catchy"?
How is Christianity different from other religions?
That's almost a tought question. How can we live in a world where so many people claim to be a Christian but don't know the gospel.
Do buddist have issues with half of people who claim to be be buddist don't know what budda teaches?
Jesus is the obvious answer. But in a sense, followers of Christ, are different by their fruits.
We could be systematic and have several tiers of "Christ-followers"---
we all have different fruits of our labor.
The analogy of God coming to us is a difference.
Is the Dali Llama after my heart? :)
Why is Christ’s sacrifice more than a picture of love?
In some ways it's hard to empathize the fullness. Our minds try to conceive the notion that "If I were God, and I was going to send 1 Son I magically created out of thin air to save the world, and he would die a horrible death, would I care?"
After all, I am God, I know how the story ends. Surely Jesus's pain is just a small flesh would---the pain will soon be gone.
I could hardly imagine giving my life up for anyperson (I'm sure I'd be like peter). When it comes down to the life decision of life or death I'm sure life looks pretty good.
It's a pretty complex thing in my mind---like the idea of God always being there (what the heck was he doing forever and a day before creating the world????didn't he get bored???)
What are some “Christian Sales Pitches” and why are they spiritually deceptive? Compare American Christianity and biblical gospel.
1st off I don't know what Americal Christianity is any more than Central American, Asian, European---At the root, we are ALL sinful. Americans are no more sinful than the believer who risks his life to worship. our hearts are all the same to some degree.
Sales Pitches---these are fun :)
"God loves you"
"YOU WILL BURN IN THE HELL HOLE WITH SATAN FOREVER AND GOD WILL WREAK HAVOC ON YOUR LIFE. YOU WILL SCREAM IN PAIN FOREVER!!!!"
"Just send us $20 and we'll send you this prayer carpet.."
"If you follow Christ everything will be great!"
"Just do these 5 easy steps and you'll be spiritually free."
"Just fill out this card...."---haha (had to put that one in)
"Just 20 hail marry's".....
"If you tithe God will bless you beyond your beliefs, even if you can't afford to tithe..."
As I read through the book and everyone's comments (just as good and challenging as the book!) I become more and more humbled by God's grace and majesty. As Mrs. Margaret pointed out - remembering when she was first saved - the Holy Spirit can speak to us through these messages. God's grace is incredibly simple - he beckons us to "take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." matthew 12:29-30. The amazing thing is that it doesn't stop there... it doesn't stop at the moment of acceptance; that's only the beginning!
ReplyDeleteI think that sometimes our churches want to stop there because that's what they measure as "results." I think many churches have sold out to the lure of money and crowds.... but the amazing thing is that God still can reach souls and truly transform them.
The challenging part is not getting too comfortable where we think we've grown enough and try to "do church" on our own. Especially for those of us who have gone to church most of our lives, it's easy to play the role and fake it, even if you don't feel it inside.
"Be very careful then how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:13 This verse has stuck with me all summer, and more and more I find my eyes are opening to all the evil around us. It's frightening how Satan tries to wiggle his way into our churches and homes and cause dissention. Sometimes what we need is a good "fire and brimstone" sermon to help us wake up.
As others have pointed out... often times our pastors hesitate on preaching the difficult and challenging sermons. But it's not just our pastors... many in church just don't want to hear it, and they're still on milk when they should be on solid meat.
too true!
ReplyDelete