Shiny Bubbles

Euan Murray, a Scottish Rugby player, has decided not to play games on Sundays. The article is a good read, and Murray has a few great explanations of idolatry (read them with a Scottish accented voice in your head),

He suggests that the path many professional sportsmen follow is “rotten”. He tries to explain. “All the shiny bubbles,” he says, holding out his big hands and shaking his head in sadness. “The money, the possessions, the fame, the great elusive relationship – all bubbles that appear perfectly spherical, all the colours of the rainbow. They’re bright and shiny and light as a feather, and you chase them because it’s good fun, but the minute you get them they burst and they’re empty.” He pauses. “I’d had enough of chasing bubbles.

and of Jesus work on the cross,

This is the tea, all dirty and horrible, this is me, yeah? That’s Jesus,” he says, motioning to the water. “Pure. He’s taken that filth upon himself and before God he says, ‘Punish me for it’. He’s been punished and look what he’s given me. That perfect goodness in the eyes of God. He’s declared me innocent.” He swills the dregs of the tea and smiles. Can it be that simple? “I’m ashamed of the things I’ve done. Of course I am. But I’m thankful I have a saviour. He’s saved me from that lifestyle. He’s given me a new life.

What the Gospel IS: Christus Victor

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:15

In Death by Love, Mark Driscoll shares a pastoral letter explaining how the doctrine of Christus Victor brings comfort to Katie, a friend that was tormented by demons:

….Three days later, Jesus your Warrior King rose in victory over death. Seeing Jesus alive, the Great Dragon (aka Satan) snatched you as his captive, drew his sword of law, covered with the blood of your sin, and thrust its razor-sharp point at your  head, naming every sin you have committed….Smiling, Jesus stepped forward and declared that he already paid the penalty for  your sins on the cross, canceled any right Satan had to hold you captive, and defeated your Enemy along with his servants and their works and effects in your life.

With fear in his eyes, the Great Dragon dropped his sword from your head and was overcome with dread as he understood the victory Jesus had won for you through his seeming defeat. Drawing his own sword of truth, Jesus landed a crushing blow on the head of the Great Dragon, shattering his helmet and bloodying his head. Jesus then stepped toward the Great Dragon and thrust the pommel of his sword against his mouth, shattering his teeth and sending them violently down his throat.

Then, with a blow to his armor, Jesus doubled the Great Dragon over, leaving him gasping for air and unable to bellow his curses and blasphemies anymore.  With a crushing elbow to the back of the head, Jesus dropped the Great Dragon into the very dust in which Jesus himself had lain three days prior, and the blood of the Great Dragon of all his armor and clothing as his bowed head and bloodied mouth moaned in the agony of utter defeat.

Ashamed of your many years at the Dragon’s side, you stood off to the side alone, gazing at the ground until Jesus came to you. Taking your chin in his hand, Jesus lifted your face, looked you in the eye, and told you that your sins were forgiven, your Enemy conquered, and your life liberated from captivity, and that God is now your Father, new life is your gift, and heaven is your home.  As tears streamed down your face, Jesus asked you always to remember to see yourself as he does, not in light of what you have done or what has been done to you, but rather solely by what he has done for you as your victorious Warrior King….

What the Gospel IS: Expiation-the removal of sin

“As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Psalm 103:12

Expiation, which basically means “removal,” accompanies propitiation and speaks of the work of Christ in removing or putting away our sin. Such is the symbolism of the two goats used on the Day of Atonement. The first goat represented Christ’s work of propitiation as it was killed and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat. The second goat represented Christ’s work of expiation in removing or blotting out the sins that were against us. The object of propitiation is the wrath of God. The object of expiation is the sin, which must be removed from His presence.

The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges

What the Gospel IS: Propitiation- the removal of God’s wrath

Jesus Christ stands forth as our advocate and intercedes for us. God designed this, desires this, and delights in this. “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). Christ’s advocacy is based on his propitiation—his infallible securing of the removal of God’s wrath for all who are in him.- John Piper

What the Gospel IS: News, not advice

After a little Sabbath from blogging for both Nathan and me, I decided to start the New Year off right, with the Gospel.  It’s been a while, so if you haven’t kept up, you can follow my Gospel series here, here, here,  and here.   After looking at what the Gospel is NOT, I would like to now look at what the Gospel IS.

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, and author of The Reason for God, states,

The Greek term “gospel” (ev-angelion) distinguished the Christian message from that of other religions. An ‘ev-angel’ was news of a great historical event, such as a victory in war or the ascension of a new king, that changed the listeners’ condition and required a response from the listener. So the gospel is news of what God has done to reach us. It is not advice about what we must do to reach God.

D.A. Carson, speaking of the greek word states,

In non-biblical sources before the NT period, euangelion customarily referred to the reward given a messenger who brought good news—of military victory, perhaps, or of escape from danger. By an obvious transfer, it came to refer to the good news itself.

In non-biblical sources before the NT period, euangelion customarily referred to the

reward given a messenger who brought good news—of military victory, perhaps, or of escape

from danger. By an obvious transfer, it came to refer to the good news itself.

Matt Chandler

Nathan and I are both fans of Matt Chandler.  He is an incredibly gifted communicator and God has used him well  at The Village Church and in the Acts 29 Network .  On Thanksgiving morning Matt had a seizure and doctors discovered a tumor on his frontal lobe.  Last Friday morning they removed the tumor and as of now it seems that he and his family are resting and waiting for the pathology results.  Below is a link to a video Matt recorded before he went in for brain surgery.  Please pray for Matt and his family.

Jesus in Genesis 3

Spectacular Sins

From John Piper’s book Spectacular Sins (which you can read online for free here):

In Genesis 3:15, after the serpent lures Adam and Eve into sin, God pronounces judgment on the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”Notice that at first it looks like the warfare will be between two offsprings: “between your offspring and her offspring.” But in the next statement, something surprising is said: “He shall bruise your head.” Who is he? Answer: the woman’s offspring. Who is your (“he shall bruise your head”)? Answer: the serpent himself, not his offspring. That is significant.

The Crushing of Satan at the Cross

The day is coming, God says, when you, the serpent (not just your offspring), will be defeated and removed from the earth. The offspring of this woman will crush you. That’s why the Son of God became human. It was a human who would crush Satan—the seed of the woman.Hebrews 2:14 describes the connection between the humanity of Jesus and the destruction of Satan. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” The decisive blow was struck by the perfect offspring of the woman, Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross. 

Big Night, Big Suh

When I was little, one of my favorite stuffed animals was a sock monkey named Turner Gill (formerly  the amazing Nebraska QB and current head coach at the University of Buffalo).  I’m not sure if I named it, or my parents, but either way we had good taste.  So, it was only fitting that Gabe would be given a sock monkey by his Husker loving grandparents.  Last night, we held a naming ceremony for the sock monkey. I chose 3 finalists for the name based on their ability as football players, the coolness of their names, and the apparently decent nature of their character.  The finalists were Rex Burkhead, Roy Helu Jr., and Ndamukong Suh (with Prince Amukamara coming in a distant 4th).  We left the final naming to Gabe.  Our method was for Katie to hold up the sock monkey and say a name.  Whichever name got the greatest response from Gabe won.  Without a doubt, the greatest response and the biggest smile from Gabe came when we announced “heeeeerrrrrreeee’s Ndamukong Suh!”  So, the final name of Gabe’s sock monkey is Ndamukong Suh.  We’ve decided to just call him “Kong” (but I’m hoping that Gabe can pronounce his full name correctly before Suh gets drafted.)

What the Gospel is NOT: Cheap Grace

This will be the final installment of “What the Gospel is NOT” series, and then we can move on to what the Gospel is.  Cheap grace is our final “thief” of the Gospel. By cheap grace, I mean the belief that goes something like this, “Well, although it may be a sin to do………..I know Jesus died for my sins and he forgives me.” It is basically a license to sin because Jesus already paid the price. I have to confess that I lived most of my life this way before the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the Gospel.  Paul addresses the issue of “cheap grace” in Romans 6. Verse 1 states,

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

To this Paul replies “By no means” or “God forbid” and then proceeds to give 3 illustrations of why we should not. He says that we are now:

1. 6: 1-14 Alive to Christ, and dead to sin. (So, to put it another way, would you prefer to live with sin, that leads to death,  rather than live with Christ, who wants you to have life to the full (John 10:10) God forbid! )

2. 6: 15-23 We are slaves to Christ, no longer slaves to sin. (Would you prefer to be a slave to sin, a master that will kill you, rather  than a slave to Christ, who was killed for you? God forbid! )

3. 7:1-6 We are now married to Christ, no longer married to the law. (Would you prefer to be married to the law that weighs you down rather than married to Christ where the burden is light? God forbid!  )

 

Cheap grace is a fundamental misunderstanding of what the Gospel has done. To make further  illustrations, lets say I’m an athlete.  My coach, who loves me and wants the best for me as a player, tells me that no matter what I do he will always support me and never take me out of the game. Would my reaction then be to slack off and be lazy and not play hard? God forbid! I would give it my all and seek to honor my coach. Or, lets say my wife tells me that no matter what I do, no matter what sin I commit against her, she will always love and serve me and never leave me. Would my reaction be to then seek out other women and neglect my wife? God forbid! That is a woman I want to lay down my life for.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ died on the cross because he loved us.  He did this based on nothing we have done, and nothing we do in the future can separate us from that love.   That is the Gospel. That is grace. It ain’t cheap.

It seem like the less we blog…

Less is more

…the more hits we get on the site.  Interesting.  Less is more, I guess.

Anyways, we haven’t been writing much in the midst a few very crazy weeks.

As a guide, here are some of our more popular content to serve as a guide if you are returning here or are here for the first time.

• You can check out the reviews we did of Mark Driscoll’s latest book here.
• I lamented over a lost friend and rejoiced over the Gospel a few months back in this post.
• Andy has started some content about the Gospel.  Here are his thoughts on Moralism and how it is NOT the Gospel.
• Matt Chandler calls out the people in his church during a sermon earlier this year.
• Jesus or football? This one got me.