Showing posts with label 2 Corinthians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2 Corinthians. Show all posts

John Stott on the Cross

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 11:31 PM

My sermon series right now is entitled, "The Cross," and I'm based it, in part of the book The Cross of Christ by John Stott. 


John R.W. Stott has been one of the great minds of evangelical Christianity over the past half-century. He was a principal writer of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974. In 2005 Time magazine recognized him as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World." I like him not just for all these reasons but also because I can understand what he's writing. Sometimes, our deepest theologians write in such exact and "thick" language that I find myself reading and re-reading the same page over and over again. I don't find that true with Stott. His writing is profound but also accessible. And for that I am grateful. Below is a picture of the cover of his book from Amazon.com at The Cross of Christ. Order it if you'd like to dig deeper in this incredibly important topic.



My message for Sunday, April 3, is entitled, "Why God Used the Cross," and it looks at what God did in Christ on the cross. You can go to our website and download a podcast of the message (or even subscribe to our podcasts through iTunes), if you'd like to go deeper. The theological expression is "substitutionary atonement": God took our place on the cross in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV): “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Romans 8:3-4 (NLT2): “The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”

Romans 5:8 (NLT2): “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”


I used several quotes from Stott's book in my message on the 3rd, but not all of them made it into the printed notes. Below are a few that I felt were particularly helpful or profound:


John Stott: “The crucial question we should ask, therefore, … is not why God finds it difficult to forgive, but how he finds it possible to do so at all.” (p. 90)

John Stott: “At the cross in holy love God through Christ paid the full penalty of our disobedience himself. He bore the judgment we deserve in order to bring us the forgiveness we do not deserve. On the cross divine mercy and justice were equally expressed and eternally reconciled. God’s holy love was ‘satisfied.’” (p. 91) 

John Stott: “All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and humanity. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it.” (p. 111) 

Emil Brunner: “…the cross of Christ ‘is the event in which God makes known his holiness and his love simultaneously, in one event in an absolute manner.’ ’The cross is the only place where the loving, forgiving, merciful God is revealed in such a way that we perceive that his holiness and his love are equally infinite.’ In fact, ‘the objective aspect of the atonement…may be summed up this: it consists in the combination of inflexible righteousness, with its penalties, and transcendent love.’” (p. 131) 

John Stott: “The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to man alone.” (p. 159) 

Sometimes this kind of topic can seem somewhat technical, and you may experience that. But for me, when I think about what God did for us in Jesus Christ, the pain and suffering He  suffered for us, the depths of love He demonstrated, I'm just blown away. This is the truth I need to remember and have to remember when I get down on myself or feel attacked or don't feel like I'm worth very much - Jesus Christ died for me! I hope it sinks in for you, too!

Questions for the Person Who Says They Can't Change

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 10:15 PM

In my message on January 30, I'm talking about those situations where we feel stuck, where we feel like we can't change: "That's just the way I am. I can't change." But are we really stuck? Can we really not change?

In his book, The Christian Atheist (pp. 133-134), Pastor Craig Groeschel has six simple questions he asks when a person says they can’t change. If that person says yes to three or more of these, odds are they have a problem. Listed below are those questions:

1. Do your family and friends say you have a problem? 
You may deny it, but others often see objectively what you cannot see.

2. Do you continue even though you are hurting people? 
If you look at what some folks claim has control over you, do you keep doing it or giving in to it, even though it affects others negatively?

You may well not want to hurt others, but if they continue to suffer because of your actions, odds are you have a problem.

3. Do you arrange your schedule, priorities, or spending around it? 
If you make major life changes in order to get your “fix,” odds are, your fix has a strong hold on you.

4. Can you go one week without it? 
If you can’t walk away from something for a week, odds are you’re in bondage to it.

5. Is it driving others away? 
When an addiction reaches advanced stages, it tends to isolate the one who’s addicted. When your actions continually hurt, abuse, or neglect others, they tend to pull back.

6. Are you denying it is a problem or trying to keep it a secret? 
If you feel defensive, always claiming you don’t have a problem, you probably do.

If you’re hiding a behavior from others, there’s a problem, and it needs to be addressed head-on. Nothing can get change or begin to improve until we do. So, face the truth, and trust that God really can make a difference in your life.

“Each time (the Lord) said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT2)

St. Nicholas, Gifts and Christmas

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , | Posted On Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 6:16 AM

In the Centuries following Jesus’ death Christianity was outlawed in the Roman Empire.

Late in the third century a man named Nicholas was born, who went on to become at a very young age the Bishop of Myra, while Christianity was still outlawed. This Bishop of Myra, Nicholas, later was recognized as a saint and called Saint Nicholas. He was known for his generosity to people in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

One of the most famous stories about Nicholas demonstrates his great love for children. The story says a poor man had three daughters. He was too poor to offer a dowry, which likely meant the girls would never marry and would probably be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home, providing the needed dowries.

It is said Nicholas tossed the dowry through an open window or down the chimney and landed in stockings left by the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings to eagerly await a gift from St. Nicholas.

Through this story and many more, Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, and later, St. Nicholas, became known as a very generous, loving person, especially known as a gift-giver who had special concern for children, especially those who had little.

Within a few hundred years the story of St. Nicholas merged with the Christmas story, and it became common to give simple and needed gifts at Christmas, especially to children.

Genuine gift-giving should never be out of compulsion or to see what we get in return. Giving gifts is a way of expressing love and gratitude. Giving gifts at Christmas isn’t simply about what we get, but reminds us of what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT2): “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” 

Salvation is a gift from God – something we can’t earn or cause or bring about ourselves. It is a gift, given out of sheer undeserved grace that tells us so much about God. True gifts are always like that – they tell us more about the giver than the one who receives it. As St. Nicholas gave to needy children, it said everything about his true character and concerns.

Yet, God doesn’t give us a gift just to sit around and admire – He gives us this gift of grace in Jesus Christ to transform our lives, so that He can use us to transform the lives of others.

God’s Christmas is about giving a gift that no one deserves, but He gives anyway, so that we, too, can give that same gift to others. And they don’t deserve it anymore than we do. Yet, when we fail to give this gift, we’ve missed the point of the gift in the first place. The gift is always given to encourage others to give.

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (NLT2): “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’”

Membership Update - Dedicated to Reaching Others (September 2010)

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 4:44 PM

Late last Spring I began a Membership Series for our Gateway members (and anyone else) that is intended to help us grow and become more and more like Jesus Christ. I'm using a tool that we at Gateway call the GUIDE (which is a part of our Membership Covenant). It's an acronym that both describes what a "fully devoted follower of Christ" looks like, and at the same time lists biblical disciplines and practices that God has given us to guide us in our spiritual journey. You can read more about the GUIDE in my May Update.

This month I turn to the "D" of GUIDE, which stands for: "Dedicated to Reaching Others." We understand this to mean that "I will seek opportunities to develop relationships with everyday people, recognizing my role as an ambassador to the life-changing message of Jesus Christ."

As you probably know, "Reach" is an important part of our church's DNA, and has been from our very beginning. It's a part of Jesus' own mission: "And I, the Son of Man, have to come to seek and save those ... who are lost." (Luke 19:10 NLT) Every ONE matters to Jesus. No one is beyond his love or his desire to develop a relationship with them.

In the Great Commission Jesus told us, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19 NLT) The Apostle Paul wrote:

"So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!' For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:20-21 NLT2)

Paul says reaching others is what Christ followers do. It's not up to some of us. It is a fundamental part of what it means to be a Christ follower - period!

But before you start sweating that out and wondering if that means we're supposed to all head out to the street corners and stand on our soap boxes, hear me out. That may be true for a few of us, but notice that our statement above says, "I will seek opportunities to develop relationships..." Reaching others is almost always done best and most effectively and most naturally through relationships. Most often it's relationships we already have, though Christ followers also seek to develop new relationships to share the life-changing message and love of Jesus Christ. It means looking at those around us to see whom we can become more intentional about growing our relationship and, at the right time, sharing our story of our journey with Jesus Christ.

Think about it - an ambassador represents his or her homeland to others. Paul tells us we are Christ's ambassadors, so we represent Jesus Christ and the hope and joy and life-changing love he offers us to others. God often uses us as the "go-between" to help one of our existing friends or relatives get to know our best friend and brother Jesus Christ. We aren't responsible for their relationship with Christ, but we are responsible for looking for natural opportunities to make introductions and even walk alongside our two friends as they get to know each other better.

Our dedication to reach others begins with wherever that person is in their relationship with Christ. From no relationship to a relationship that has slipped, to a relationship that is growing. A significant part of this dedication is coming alongside others in what I would call a mentoring relationship, regardless of where they are on their journey. Mentoring is simply being intentional about sharing with another person or persons about our journeys with Christ. It's an intentional decision to reach out to another, but it invariably becomes a two-way street as God's Spirit works in and through both of us to grow both of us. We may think it's all about the other person, but God has designed this act and process of reaching out to others, of being ambassadors for Christ, as a growth opportunity for both of us. We are always blessed as we allow Christ to use us to reach others, and, in fact, there are some blessings God has reserved for us that we will never experience unless we do reach out to others.

Ultimately, this dedication to reaching others isn't a program or something we do only when the church is making a push. God intends this to be a part of our lifestyle as Christ followers. He intends it to be a natural part of the culture of any church, and we certainly want that here at Gateway. We offer opportunities for you to invite a friend, including regular events such as our Sunday services, and special outreach events, such as Ladies Night Out or our recent Date Night or our regular Bring-A-Friend Sundays (the next one is October 24!). 

I know many of us have some feelings of insecurity or even fear about reaching out to others - I certainly do, and I have to work on it! Yet, Christ wants to use us, and God has already been working in the person we feel led to reach. Even if the results don't seem to go anywhere in our first tries, God is using us to plant seeds. Sometimes we see the fruit of our efforts, and sometimes others do - and we reap the harvest that others planted before us. 

But nothing happens if we do nothing. That's why this begins with us dedicating ourselves to this journey - of allowing God to work in and through us to make the choice to be Christ's ambassador to reach out to the relationships around us. After all, in Christ we represent the one and only way to help people live forever in heaven with Jesus. There's no more important work or task in our lives, because nothing else we do can affect the eternity of another like this. God has given you and me the greatest opportunity there is - to be a part of His life-changing plan to save lives and change the world!

24 HOURS-Week 4: Jesus Took Our Place, and Now We Take His

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 7:19 PM

As Jesus hung on the cross, darkness covered the land for three hours. And then, just before he died, he cried out, "...'It is finished.'..." (John 19:30 NLT2)

What did he mean? Was his life really finished? Did he mean he was a failure? John tells us he died after saying these words, but is that what Jesus meant? Fortunately, the Christian faith teaches us he was declaring something much more significant. In that moment, he had taken on the sins of the world.

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV)

The NLT2 translation puts it this way: "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." In that moment Jesus took our place, becoming our sin or the offering for our sin, the Bible tells us. He took our place, experiencing the effect of sin and its separation from God. He died our death so we wouldn't have to. As the prophet Isaiah predicted seven hundred years earlier, Jesus became our Suffering Servant, who took on our sins and paid the price for our sins, even though he had never sinned himself, so that we could be forgiven and freed from the power of sin.

"Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5 NLT2)

He did it all for us – for you, for me, so we could be healed of the sin that ravages us, that ravages our world. He did it not just for those of us who typically read these words but also for those folks who aren’t in church, who don’t even believe in God, who even wage war against God. It was the ultimate sacrifice for us all, and that news is so good, so amazing, so incredible, that we when we understand the depth of Jesus' sacrifice we are driven to share it and help others experience it, too.

"God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you." (2 Corinthians 5:19-20 Message)

Jesus took our place on the cross, but at the time no one understood that. Today many still don't understand, but for those of us who do, God tells us we are Christ's representatives, given the task of "telling everyone what he is doing." We are called to speak for Christ, to be his voice, his hands, his feet.

I feel inadequate to even begin this task, but the Good News is that Christ has not left me by myself to accomplish the mission he has given us. When we place our faith in him, his Spirit comes to live in us, empowering us, transforming us, enabling us to be and do what we otherwise could not do. In every step of this journey of faith we are completely and totally dependent on God, but He is able to do far more than we can even imagine...when I'm submitted to Him.

As Jesus died, he finished his work here on earth, but the mission was only beginning. Greater things were still to be done, by the power of his Spirit living in his followers to do his work. And we are called to continue his mission until either Jesus returns or we leave this earth and meet him face to face. Jesus took our place so that we could all take his place and fulfill his mission to seek and save all people.

Jesus' Spirit is the Difference Between Moralistic Religion and a Relationship of Freedom

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 12:01 AM

Today's reading takes us through Acts 19-20. Paul is on his third missionary journey and he comes to Ephesus, where he found several believers. However, their belief and knowledge was incomplete. They had received only the baptism of John and not baptism in the name and power of Jesus.

The "John" being referred to here is John the Baptist, the older cousin of Jesus. John began his ministry before Jesus, calling people to repentance. The word "repentance" means to change your mind, to turn around and go in a different direction. It's important to understand that repentance is not simply changing your mind, but changing it so that you actually act and go in a different direction.

John baptized those who sought to repent and change their lives. Their repentance was to turn away from sin and turn to God, but it was a human endeavor. It was, "give it your best shot," "try your hardest," etc. Even John knew that what he was doing was only an intermediate step. John explained it this way: "...'I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'" (Luke 3:16 NLT2) John knew something more was coming, but it wasn't in his power to give it.

Jesus told his followers he would need to leave so that the Holy Spirit could come and live in them. After Jesus' death and resurrection, just before he ascended into heaven, he promised that his followers would soon receive the Holy Spirit: "'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'" (Acts 1:8, italics added)

In Acts 2 we read of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The coming of the Spirit brought the presence and power of Jesus Christ into the lives of his followers. No longer would a person have to try to repent and do better on their own, in their own power. Now, the Holy Spirit came to live in those who received Christ into their lives to empower them and transform them increasingly into the image and likeness of Jesus himself. "...the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

What Paul discovered in Ephesus were believers who were trying to live good, moral lives in their own power. They were moving in the right direction, but without the power of Jesus Christ living in them through the Holy Spirit, they were still enslaved to sin. This is still often the case in the church today. Good hearted people are sorry for their sins and turn away from sin, trying to do better on their own. But they get worn out and feel like failures, because eventually they realize they never can live up to the standards Jesus set for us. They have not completely sold themselves out to Jesus Christ. They have been trapped in a moralistic religion rather than a relationship of freedom.

Through a life committed to Jesus (not just to trying to repent and turn away from sin), the power of sin is broken, and his Spirit begins to work in us as we profess our faith in Christ so that not only is the guilt of past sins taken away, but the power of sin is reduced in our lives. The love of God begins to replace the self-centered sin-filled nature that we're all born into. This is why Jesus is not simply a great moral teacher. As Jesus said, "'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'" (John 14:6) There is no Christianity apart from Jesus, and there is no genuine, lasting life change unless we commit our lives to Jesus Christ, trust him with our whole hearts, and welcome his Holy Spirit to come and live within us to guide and teach and empower us.

As the Ephesian believers understood the difference between their baptism by John, and the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit entered their lives and gave them the gift of tongues and prophecy. (As we look through Acts, we find that this is one of only three conversions that specifically mentions the receiving of the gift of tongues - seven others do not expressly state this.) From that day forward, as they cooperated with the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they began to be transformed increasingly into the image and likeness of Jesus himself - the goal for all Christ followers.
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