Whatever is not of Grace

is not of God

Acts 15:11 – But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
Acts 15:28 – For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

The apostles gather in Jerusalem to discuss some extraordinary events that were taking place on the mission field. Rumors were surfacing that suggested Peter and Paul believed that Gentiles could believe on Jesus and be saved in the same way as Jews. This issue had to be discussed, and if it was indeed so, what commandments were these new Gentile believers supposed to obey? Were they supposed to obey the Jewish law? Remember this was during the embryonic days of the church and everyone was still learning and the Holy Spirit was still guiding the church into truths that would astound the early believers.

With James as the presiding pastor of the church at Jerusalem, the meeting takes place. Some of the issues were concerning baptism and circumcision, and just what outward commandments must be followed in order to be saved. The Spirit still had some work to do to completely extricate the early Jewish believers from any semblance of the Old Testament law, and James would prove to be still in that process.

So it was in this atmosphere that first Peter and then Paul gave witness to the salvation of Gentiles without the works of the law. And their testimonies were so convincing that James believed that Gentiles could indeed be saved and without the law. In verse 11 I have noted above that Peter himself strongly testifies of the gospel of grace without any preconditions of the law and without any commandments of the law after sinners are converted. Even the Jews, Peter says, are saved wholly by grace through faith.

This grace issue was a difficult concept to grasp back then, just as it remains difficult today. There is nothing attached to grace, either before salvation or after one is regenerated. Simply by faith in Jesus can a sinner be saved, forgiven, and the recipient of eternal life. Any hint of human works detracts, and possibly voids, the finished work of Jesus Christ when He died for the sins of the world. His sacrifice was offered freely to every sinner with the plea, “only believe”.

This gospel, this good news, is built upon grace alone and still men have tried their best to abrogate the very nature of grace by laying out a set of rules that must be obeyed before men can be saved. While it may be true that a sinner who is born again should exhibit some evidence of that spiritual reality, it has nothing to do with grace. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to regenerate a sinner, as well as it is to know who is and who is not an authentic believer in Jesus Christ. It is possible to identify when a person is trusting in a wrong theology concerning salvation, but it is impossible to declare with certainty a person’s eternal standing before God.

And so continues the church’s vacillating handling of grace, sometimes embracing grace fully and other times revealing a disturbing infidelity to its very essence. We attempt to monitor and even control God’s grace through various systems of self righteousness that are designed to constrict its scope by identifying behavior that might be inconsistent with Biblical exhortations. However it is those very inconsistencies that provide a spiritual purpose for grace. Is it possible, even probable, that many professing believers will be exposed as not genuine? Of course, but God reserves the right for that final analysis.

As recipients of God’s grace we should strive to fellowship in His presence, absorb His Word, spend quality time with Him in prayer, and allow God’s Spirit to mold us into His image. But just like a family that has a child who seems unwilling to conform to his family’s wishes and rules, that child is still part of that family regardless of his rebellion. We need not give false assurance to openly disobedient sinners who profess Christ, but we also cannot discount them wholesale simply based upon their unwillingness to meet our standards.

This gospel will always be one of grace, and we as believers must embrace that grace even when we are tempted to apply our personal template to those who are struggling. Grace should never be an excuse for sin, but neither should self righteousness be an excuse to ignore grace. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God. Whatever is not of grace is not of God.

Whatever is not of grace is not of God.

Abject Arrogance

It is no secret that I reject Calvinism as a Biblical misrepresentation, and even heresy as it concerns limited atonement. However I have close friends who love Jesus and are Calvinists, and many of them are humble believers who do not make Calvinism a constant thorn to everyone they meet. I thank God for them, and I envy how some of them reflect the Lord Jesus in their lives.

However these friends readily admit that there are some Calvinist brethren who project something far different than humility and graciousness. They are quick to argue, quick to judge, and quick to recite the Calvinist party line. Read their blogs and some will rehearse how they were speaking to their pastor just this last Sunday about these groups or those groups and how they are distorting the Scriptures. The error of others seems to fuel their own zest for spiritual life, and the overt implication is that each little local reformed center is an outpost of heaven planted to defend the truth.

But I came across this post written by a man who is an unashamed Calvinist, which is not a point of contention. But I want to first address the quantity of his post which supposedly deals with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You will notice that there are many references to the Koine Greek in his post, and he has said he is now studying that language. That may be helpful in some ways, but there are mountains of research materials that have already translated the New Testament a thousand times over. Many times a person’s knowledge of the Greek gives him an air of superior interpretation, which is not only self righteousness, it is belied by the disagreement among Greek scholars concerning some passages. And if you do not know the Greek, you have to take his word for all his interpretations and verb tenses etc., etc..

Now if you can wade through the Greek, you will see the infinitesimal degree in which he dissects the meaning of the gospel. And he sets strict standards and parameters that God must meet in using any flawed form of a gospel presentation lest God dishonor His own gospel. And yet there are legions of Calvinists who were saved under an Arminian message, and some even under a profoundly flawed presentation. One of my best friends, a staunch Calvinist, was saved in a meeting conducted by a world renowned health and wealth preacher. But the author says this:

“The Gospel is defined very well for us in God’s Word. It is the one and only way God has set up to save His people. If it is messed with or edited in any way then it is no longer the Gospel.”

I readily admit that some like Peter Rollins teaches a social gospel, and I have never heard him present the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. However I have heard some emergents, some health and wealthers, and many others who I would not endorse, present the gospel. And all of us – ALL OF US – have in some ways “messed with” the gospel. Is the author suggesting that his elongated definition must be presented in order for it to the gospel? And if not, let him provide a Miranda-like form from which we can recite the pristine gospel lest we remove its power.

But most disheartening of all, and yet most revealing of all, are these statements:

“The person attempted to derail the content or focus of that article by implying that God could save people any way He wanted so why should we be so narrow and judgmental. The one complaining insisted that he knew of many people that were “emergent,” but who loved the Lord and were excited about serving him, et cetera. However, they would not fit the mold of what I would define as Christian.”

How is suggesting that God can save anyone He chooses, which is the cornerstone of Calvinistic theology, “derailing” that post? It just illuminates the complex and paradoxical nature of Calvinism. On one hand you fervently teach that God will save only who He chooses, and on the other hand you can rebuke certain people for actually believing that they are saved. On one hand you can rest that God is orchestrating everything, while on the other hand you can itemize all the things that are out of control. On one hand you can suggest God will only use your version of the gospel, while on the other hand you are not upset that your version isn’t being spread more pervasively. It is “cake and eat it too” theology on display.

But when the author said these words:

“The one complaining insisted that he knew of many people that were “emergent,” but who loved the Lord and were excited about serving him, et cetera. However, they would not fit the mold of what I would define as Christian.”
(Don’t you love his caricature of someone’s views as “complaining”)

Try and digest this statement that openly suggests that a person who “loves the Lord and is excited about serving Him” does not – get ready – "FIT THE MOLD OF WHAT I WOULD DEFINE AS CHRISTIAN”. Could there possibly be a statement and attitude that was more self righteous and that contained more doctrinal hubris than that one? That is cultish as well, since most cults have their mold which cannot be altered or left to God. There are so many tare harvesters in today’s evangelical world that are in direct violation of Christ’s own admonition.

Judging a person’s salvation is serious business and must be done with humility and love. But when you suggest that loving the Lord and desiring to serve Him is incongruent to your personal mold of what is a Christian, well, that approaches the zenith of arrogance. These types of repulsive expressions, usually driven by a culture of self righteous hatred, are not confined to Calvinists. Sadly, you can find them in almost every segment of evangelical practice.

The challenge to anyone who confronts error is to remain humble, do not question anyone's salvation, and to thoroughly and passionately project the absolute truth that we are shamefully far from being mirrors of Christ ourselves.

As like Dickens once wrote, unless this is clearly understood nothing good can come from what we do.

Exalting Jesus Through His Church

There is much discussion about the doctrine of Jesus. There are descriptions that identify a church by certain distinctives. Baptisms, communion beliefs, theology, and other things define churches. Cities and towns are in the name of many churches. Some churches bear an apostle’s name. Many have Christian, Christ, Savior, and other monikers in their church name. There are few churches that use the name “Jesus” in their name. Most believers use denominational titles to describe their genre of Christian.

But without attempting to be technical, are we not supposed to be believers, imitators, and followers of Jesus the Christ? Why then has He, His incarnate person and model, taken such a back seat in our theology and most assuredly in our practice? In fact, most of evangelicalism is very conflicted concerning how Jesus would behave and act in our modern day society. So in essence we do not even have an accurate Jesus-template against which to measure ourselves. What kind of religion wanders about without an accurate archetypal of their God to which they strive to emulate and obey?

And stuck with such a pitiful and dysfunctional vision of our Master we resort to all sorts of makeshift substitutes designed to fill in the spiritual void that should contain a distinct and unambiguous directive, simply by applying the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so many times the church has been satisfied with being one, nondescript gospel tract that is handed out from afar without the inconvenience of relationships, humanitarian efforts, or tangible expenditures of grace, compassion, and love.

But if we are to evaluate the church in light of the New Testament revelation of the life of Jesus Christ, what conclusions should we reach? Shouldn’t the church be a collective display of ministry that is known for its many and varied manifestations of love? Shouldn’t we be a worldwide continuum that flourishes in the spirit and activities associated with Jesus? If our message is to be taken seriously, shouldn’t our living expressions be at least supportive of our creeds if not in fact visual articulations of the same? The entire Christian narrative of redemption cries out to be released through graphic displays of loving comportments showered upon human kind through the people known as followers of Jesus.

So often we have assigned total power to the written Word without acknowledging the facilitating power of unmistakable and vivid lives that are noticed wholly based upon their selfless missions to minister to whosoever is in need of anything. And if we are restrained in our acts of benevolence through fear of presenting a social message then we have been deceived greatly. The social aspect of the church must be a natural blossom through which the very redemptive fragrance of Jesus draws sinners to the good news of forgiveness and rebirth. Like a relentless suitor the church must be unrestrained in her efforts to lavish the spiritual and material gifts of Jesus upon the loving objects of His cross. We as modern day Eleazars must seek out Rebekkah with the message of Isaac along with the temporal gifts that reflect the nature of her husband to be.

The command to “take up our cross” has been defined with such spiritual narcissism. The message of cross bearing has been preached and defined as either bearing one’s burdens or being separate from this world, and yet the fullness of that message is infinitely greater in scope and even in purpose. What was the purpose of the cross of Jesus, and who were the benefactors of that amazing act? Was Jesus bearing His own burdens on that cross or were His sufferings endured for others? Wasn’t the graphic pictorial we call “Golgotha” meant to be our model as well as our salvation? And if we are to emulate the spirit of Golgotha, then how selfless are we to be? What should be held back and kept for ourselves? And when we practice an antiseptic gospel that just verbalizes the cross of Christ without the living dramatizations of that crucified love, then are we not being unfaithful to the very cross we say we preach?

The church must be the very body of Jesus Christ, living, breathing, and ministering light in the midst of profound need and darkness. What has passed for representing the Savior has sometimes been an act of convenient cowardice. Preaching against sinners has replaced eating with sinners; judgment has replaced redemption; and law has replaced grace. His cleansing of the Temple has been magnified and misinterpreted, while His silently receiving the spittle of sinners has been ignored. Jesus allowed a promiscuous woman to worship Him while we construct our gatherings to insure certain sinners feel most uncomfortable.

The church has cultivated a club mentality and is now identified most prominently by its building and gathering location instead of its remarkable expressions of redemption that permeate the community. The average American church spends most of God’s money on building debt and staff salaries and whatever may be left over may be used as a conscience soothing food pantry. They usually pay no attention to widows, especially if those widows are not believers. Which church school offers free tuition to under privileged children in their community? Which church day care opens its doors to single mothers who cannot afford such “luxuries”?

Shouldn’t the weekends be littered with followers of Jesus who offer free rides to drinking sinners, or sandwiches to hungry drifters, or counsel to those in need? Which church searches out the names of teenagers in jail and reaches out to their families, making any and all of their services available, and assuring them that their loved one is being lifted up in prayer? And where is the weekly prayer meeting where all the needs of people, specific and general, are prayed for and where intercession is a passion? Do churches provide rides for people who have loved ones in the hospital and have no transportation? Will we watch children when a parent has an illness or been in an accident and one parent must do the work of two?

The point is have we as the church sought out modern day expressions of Jesus that stray far from the convenience of the couple of weekly gatherings at the local ecclesiastical edifice? Have we become satisfied with preaching and believing the truth but have painfully and shamefully diminished the fervent efforts to show our love for our neighbors? Have we redefined Christianity itself by confining it to a set of doctrines but have viewed the acts of love as electives?

Have you ever read a church brochure or church sign that claims to “exalt Jesus” at that church? Usually what they mean is that they believe and preach the true gospel and the true Jesus and that may be very true. But I submit that exalting Jesus is much more demonstrative than just what is preached in a church auditorium. Exalting Jesus must be much more public and much more unsterilized than a gathering of unified believers. Exalting Jesus to the darkened world will be filled with compromise and contamination; exalting Jesus outside the church building will require the spiritual soiling of our ecclesiastical reputations; exalting Jesus in the midst of lost sinners will be an inconvenient journey of much more giving than receiving; and frankly, if we are to exalt Jesus through the church, we will have to change everything.

Yes, everything…

The Exclusive Kingdom

II Cor.6: 14-18 - Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Much of modern Christianity has interpreted those verses to mean that we should avoid marrying an unbeliever, or going into business with an unbeliever, or joining in an endeavor with an unbeliever that would compromise your Christian testimony. All of those things are good warnings to us as followers of Jesus, but the admonitions of these verses are more comprehensive than just those things.

Paul refers to us all as “workers together with Him” at the beginning of the chapter, and his exhortation is for us to be without offense in all things so that the ministry is not blamed. That is the thrust of chapter six – that we are blameless in all things so we do not bring reproach and misrepresentation to the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in verses 14 through 18 Paul gets more specific about the Spirit’s reasons for our separate status. Of course Paul has made it clear that we are to have contact with sinners for the express purpose of sharing Christ and His gospel, but these verses warn against being tethered to unbelievers in any form of agreement or covenant that would dilute our Christian witness. This is not some healthy suggestion, this is a spiritual mandate that has seen and unseen ramifications.

When we are unscripturally connected with unbelievers we sacrifice the Spirit’s blessing and power needed to reveal the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God desires to empower vessels that are set apart for His exclusive use. When we are yoked with unbelievers, especially in endeavors of moral reformation, we relinquish the power of the Spirit that is exclusively for the gospel ministry and witness. (Acts 1:8)

When we are unscripturally connected with unbelievers we are susceptible to temporal distractions.

Many moral and political movements bring our focus onto earthly issues and not issues of the kingdom of God. The salvation of souls is our desire and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to see that come to pass.

When we are unscripturally connected with unbelievers we may be influenced by their fallen attitudes.

Politics and certain moral issues can and do influence believers to hate people whose views are different than those expressed in God’s Word. Mockery, self righteousness, demeaning satire, and a general atmosphere of disrespect and hatred are easily seen in the political arena. This is at odds with everything we know about our Master Jesus Christ.

When we are unscripturally connected with unbelievers we can allow ourselves to use their carnal weapons.

It cannot be denied that one way to leverage political advantage is to attack and demean your supposed opponent. Instead of showing love and grace many believers have adopted the ways of the heathen, even applauding them as “conservative” voices of morality. God’s kingdom uses prayer and His Word as His only weapons, and humility, grace, mercy, and love as the wielding of His weapons.

When we are unscripturally connected with unbelievers we may become blind to the reality of their spiritual standing.

Regardless of how a lost person espouses any moral issue, whether it be abortion or the sanctity of marriage, he is still eternally lost without Christ, and though he may have the most impeccable moral views he remains a rebel to the gospel and Jesus Christ. If we lose sight of that by joining with him we may well add to his blindness and ours.

When we are unscripturally connected to unbelievers we are attempting to bring two opposing kingdoms together.

Light and darkness cannot mix, and in fact, light always triumphs over darkness. When we join with the kingdom of darkness over anything we allow the darkness to have credibility. Those unscriptural associations place a bushel over the light of the gospel, and when the darkness agrees to a union with believers is exposes the weakness of the gospel light.

When we are unscripturally connected with unbelievers the gospel of Jesus Christ has been compromised and we have accommodated the lost world.

Why would we leave our resting place of divine life and redemption? Why would we succumb to the sirens that call us to Martha’s kitchen and leave the feet of the gospel’s Author? It seems so insidious, but it is in fact a dynamic that changes the entire landscape and infuses the followers of Jesus into the crowd of other causes and ultimately presents us as one of them, only with a little different take on religion.

It is time for a sweeping revival that awakens the church to the exclusiveness of God’s gospel kingdom. The early church did not set up lobbyists in Rome; the early church did not petition Caesar to pass laws beneficial to their cause; the early church did not spread the message of moral values; the early church preached and died for the message of the everlasting gospel and in so doing they shook the civilized world. It is this foundation from which we have strayed. The church now believes that politics and voting blocks can press forward God’s eternal kingdom when in fact it countermands the very message of redemption itself. People and nations do not need to come into compliance with God's moral dictates, and in a real sense they cannot do so. They need the redemption that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

Many parts of the visible church in the west regularly attack past and present presidents concerning money, morals, foreign affairs, and a host of other earthly matters. And many display an attitude and rhetoric in direct violation to the mandates of the New Testament and the life of Christ. This just adds to the confusion about the gospel since on one hand the church teaches that men without Christ are dead in their sins yet they consistently admonish them for those sins and seemingly attempt to get them to stop by a variety of vicious slurs and creative vitriol. The gospel, therefore, is by default only a caveat and not the unrivaled and exclusive message that it should be.

And in the midst of all this political verbiage and conservative vs. liberal altercations, the gospel has not only been misrepresented, the Christlike pattern of life is abrogated in favor of hostility toward “political enemies” in general and many unscriptural alliances. The sum total is a powerless gospel that reduces redemption to moral and political legalism and is a de facto rejection of Jesus Christ and His gospel. It has pervaded the church and made us spiritually impotent and prisoners of the very culture we say we reject.

The Spirit has opened new caverns of disobedience in my own life and just avoiding political involvement and moral crusades will not be enough for me or any believer. We must seek a new and vast frontier in Christ that allows us to be clothed in humility, walking in the reality of His presence, and seeking the power of His Spirit through broken obedience, prayer, and the two greatest tenants of love. Please do not use me as an example or template, for I am just a pilgrim who continues to fall and learn, which brings me to realize more profoundly each day my utter dependence of God’s amazing grace. There is no other way than grace – there is no other way than grace.

There is no other way than grace. Selah…

Moral Movements

Moral movements, however noble and righteous may be the issue, are anti-gospel. Most of these movements misrepresent God’s will as being a moral crusade rather than a “seek and save that which was lost” commission.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

The Original Languages

I believe there is an overemphasis and even a self righteousness concerning the original langauges. There are many satisfactory translations which have done all the necessary linguistic homework for all of us. A pure and passionate pursuit of following Christ does not hinge on any knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Let us openly admit that we fall embarrassingly short of just obeying the English.

The Doctrines of Grace

It is one thing to believe a theology when you print it upon a clean piece of paper, it is quite another to believe it enough to imprint upon a dirty sinner.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

The Disciple's Light

What is our hope? I do not mean what is our ultimate hope, while we treat other things as temporary hopes with some power to save, deliver, and sustain life. The time has come, and indeed is long overdue, that the believing followers of Jesus Christ walk away from everything that keeps us from experiencing and modeling an outright fanatical, desperate, and peace filled confidence in Jesus Christ, our only Hope. How is it that our lives are so conveniently hidden within a world of darkness? Where is our light? And why don’t sinners ask us about our hope?

We have dispensed out our lives in so many different directions and with so many attachments that it has become impossible for others to see any remarkable difference in us. Our worries, our cares, our finances, our minds, our emotions, our time, and most of our energies are allocated to endeavors of this world. And even when we gather together for the expressed purpose of worshiping the Risen Christ we come without prepared hearts and are consumed with the event rather than the Christ. And five minutes after we leave the building we are well on our way to the same innocuous and insipid life we lived the previous week. In short, we have become locked into a changeless and indistinct existence that reflects so little light that Christ is obscure and anonymous in the very life from which He should radiate.

It is not wrong to be faithful to the mundane concerns of this world, but it a grievous wrong when those things are the center of our lives, and in some cases, the exclusive core of our entire lifestyle. To profess that the Creator of the Universe actually lives within us, and then to exhibit such little residual evidence of that truth is to live the most profound lie of all. What we say we believe is staggering, and if true, its impact should and must be extraordinary in the assembly line world of human ants struggling to achieve some level of significance and purpose. The life of a believing follower of Jesus Christ should be a beacon of love, grace, redemption, and one that is marked by prayer and commitment that would be unexplainable under any normal circumstances. But, sadly, our churches have so lowered the bar of Biblical discipleship that many millions can be faithful to the weekly gatherings without the slightest evidence of a Christ filled life and still feel the satisfaction of meeting their religious obligations.

As the culture has compromised and even swallowed up our Christian witness, the church has diluted its message and the depth of its challenge to accommodate, and in some cases integrate, the cultural effects. What then remains is a well managed and well rounded western lifestyle that acknowledges all the correct moral views and the gospel tenants, but is so homogeneous to its surroundings that is must be considered fully clandestine and completely inconspicuous. Again we are left with a lifestyle that is alien to the Book of Acts and inconsistent to many examples of church history that, instead of receiving the imprint of their culture, have left His mark upon their human environment.

So what does it mean to be a faithful, and even a passionate follower of Jesus Christ? What spiritual accoutrements that are reflections of the Incarnate life have we compromised and even discarded? And what cultural parasites have we allowed to contaminate and misrepresent what it means to be a follower of Christ, and in fact misrepresent Christ Himself? And the overriding question will be the motivating factor as to how far and how deep we reexamine our personal commitment to the Lord Jesus.

The question is this:

Is Jesus worth more, much more, than we now give and surrender to Him?

Think on that question which should be rhetorical as well as a convicting indictment. I will in the future address certain spiritual and Biblical truths juxtaposed against what should be our practical manifestations of those truths.

Seeing Politics

If at this point you still cannot see the utter carnality and spiritual hindrance of American politics, then it is just possible you never will.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Measuring Grace by Law

It is the highest convolution to measure God’s grace through the prism of law.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

The Eternal Paradox

Redemption's Grace

Redemption is delicately durable – ruggedly frail – and imperishably brittle. It can withstand the most monstrous sins and yet collapse at the first sign of good works.

The eternal paradox God calls grace.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

When His Blood Runs Cold

Any gospel projection of self righteousness, or moral elitism, or judgmentalism, makes His blood run cold. Literally.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Which Master Will You Serve?

Read this article.

This is part of the deep delusion that has followers in Jesus confused and deceived. One of the greatest deceptions is to work in and through those who claim to be uncovering and exposing deception. It is a profound paradox in which the Evil One operates and delights. There is little doubt that men like Peter Rollins are reducing Christianity to humanitarian acts and social justice, and those deceptions are insidious and deadly to be sure.

But some of the greatest distractions, and deceptions, are the political battles in which followers of Jesus become embroiled. Did not our Master weep over the city that would soon take His life? And where did our Lord divide sinners into political categories? But in the article referenced in my link you will find visceral hatred for a lost person named Obama, an unbiblical love for a country, and in a stunning display of hypocrisy a long quote from one who despised Christ. This is from blogger who frequently criticizes other believers who quote heretics and liberal theologians. The gander must be different than the goose.

But read this statement from the Declaration of Independence:

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…”

I now present a challenge to all who read this post. Show me in the New Testament where Christ gives us license to take up arms against an unjust government, regardless if it is over taxes or laws against free worship. And the other challenge is for others to provide New Testament verses that present the followers of Jesus with a different course that endures hardships and persecution with joy and humility.

Are we not supposed to suffer for His sake?

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Are we not commanded to return good for evil?

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Did not our Lord command us to pray for those who despitefully use us?
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So which Christ should we follow – the one who as Jehovah Jireh provides us with bombs and guns with which to kill any government we feel is despotic – or the one who lays down His life for His enemies?

In Search of Jesus

Once upon a time, in a land and time far away, a human Seed was murdered. And as this Seed died and was buried He seemed to be gone forever. But after three long and dark days, the morning of the third day arrived. And on this morning this Man got up from death and left His tomb in a resurrected mystery. And the Seed that died alone, arose with a harvest of other coming seeds.

Now the path of redemption was now complete and wide open for all who would believe in this Man, Jesus. The message of the cross and resurrection was to be preached throughout the entire world, and the offer of redemption was to be to all men. And the call, for all who by faith would become born again followers of this Risen Jesus, would be a call to humility, love, and power.

These followers of Jesus would be peacemakers and gentle, seeking the good of everyone else above their own. They would be known for their love, and although they would not compromise the gospel message, they would present it in humble boldness and bathed in fervent prayer.

These citizens of a new kingdom would eschew all earthly endeavors meant to bring about change without Jesus. They would humbly be separate and different than others yet completely engaged in other ways meant to showcase the redemption of Jesus. They were free slaves of the Most High and were busy spreading the knowledge of their Savior and Lord. Their eyes were set on eternity and their sojourning here was meant to point to the eternal. And among a world of hatred and selfishness, their lives would be remarkably different and conduits for people to see the Creator and His offer of eternal redemption.

Their lives would substantiate the gospel message. That plan, that commission, has been abandoned in favor of earthly endeavors, political infighting, words of hatred, judgment toward sinners, and using Jesus as a doctrinal tug-of-war. The life of humble sacrifice is considered too timid. Expressions of divine love for lost rebels is considered compromise. Receiving attacks without responding is considered surrender. Showing grace is considered condoning sin. And if you line up 100 different evangelical groups, from the most staunch Calvinist to the most liberal emergent, you will not see a smidgen of difference in their living expressions of Jesus Christ. The only distinct difference will be battles of ink and paper.

So if a lost sinner would ask, “Where can I go to find Jesus on this earth?”what would we tell that person? Would we have to recite the gospel plan without being able to point to any dramatic lifestyles that could be used as evidence? And when that sinner says, “You mean to tell me that you actually believe you have eternal life with Jesus, and that all who do not believe in Jesus will live eternally in a very bad place, and yet your life doesn’t seem much different than mine?” how do we respond?. And then that perceptive sinner asks these questions:

“Why are you in debt if you are just passing through this life?”
“Why do some Christians speak so harshly of lost people if they need Jesus?”
“If there are so many lost people heading for eternal death, why do you never weep?”
“If you are content in Jesus, why do care what America does?”
“If everything you have belongs to Jesus, why do you fight so much to keep it?”
“Would you give your life for me?”

Are we witnessing the death of New Testament Jesus following?

The Gospel for the Immoral

The gospel is good news for the immoral, of which are we all.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

People of Peace

The only killing in which people of peace rejoice is the slaughter that took place just outside Jerusalem a few thousand years ago.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Politics

The church must never become embroiled with politics, and we must understand that the Revolutionary War was unchristian at its core.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Doctrinal Disputes

Doctrinal disputes are never over how we should love, or how grace is displayed, and most especially they are never over expanding the parameters of humility.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Calvinism

Calvinism is nothing but divine lottery winners being stingy with God’s redemption.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

A Mystery

It will remain the mystery of all mysteries why God’s love motivated Him to die for us and also prepared a place for us to live with Him…forever.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Sinners

There only two kinds of sinners: Those who struggle with sin, and those who struggle with sin and judge others who struggle with sin.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

The Love of Christ

If the love of Christ does not overshadow and even eclipse all other expressions of our religion, then our religion is a set of lifeless doctrines wielded as weapons of death rather than wellsprings of redemptive truth poured out to give life.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

This Life

Why would a man who has a full course steak dinner waiting for him eat from a dumpster; and why would a man who has eternal life waiting for him love this life?

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Foolish Truth

Suggesting that the blood of a dead Jew can afford people eternal life is the most absurd, unsophisticated, and foolish concept ever proposed, but its effects provide confirmation that the foolishness of that suggestion is in fact the truth upon which all truths must find their veracity.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Moral Causes

Moral causes can, and often do, overshadow, obscure, and misrepresent the gospel.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Judgmentalism

Judgmentalism is a spiritual parasite that consumes its host.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Compromisers

If we as believers ever even approached exhibiting the love of Christ, we would be considered the greatest compromisers in the church.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Light

Why is it that in the midst of such darkness the followers of Christ have so little remarkable luminescence?

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Christianity

The word “Christianity” is a pitiful and benign attempt to define the immeasurable redemptive mystery given to believing followers of Jesus the Christ.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Defending Truth

Defending certain Biblical truths by transgressing others countermands all Biblical truth.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

The Incarnation

The Incarnation is beyond human ability to explain or understand; we have been given the privilege to simply love Him.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Nothing

Without redemption there is no love, and without love there is nothing.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Warnings

Reject them; ignore them; assuage them; change them; soften them; doubt them; and refuse to present them, but in the end the New Testament still contains some very ominous warnings of future events.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Grace

A sinner, drawn by God’s Spirit, can believe on Jesus and be born again without changing anything about his life or even being aware of any future changes.

Rick Frueh circa A.D. 2009

Interpreting Calamities

On August 19, 2009 in Minneapolis, Minnesota a tornado made its way through the town and in its wake it broke a small church steeple high upon a Lutheran church. On that day and in that town one denomination that calls itself Lutheran were meeting to decide, among other things, whether or not to allow practicing gay people to become pastors. I would personally say that no openly gay person should have a leadership position in the church. But that is not the issue with which I will be dealing.

A pastor named John Piper, from Minneapolis, announced that the tornado was a divine warning to this Lutheran denomination concerning their discussion of the gay pastor issue. This is, of course, just another instance where preachers ascribe divine intent to any number of meteorological phenomenons, and the gay community seems to be most likely the target of God’s wrath, or at least in the inerrant estimation of many preachers. As if presenting the Person and grace of Jesus Christ is not already most difficult, these types of enunciations undermine our credibility and profoundly misrepresent the gospel of Jesus Christ in these last days.

Where are the tornados for adultery, greed, pride, divorce, and all the rest of the sins that run rampant through the evangelical community? Perhaps God uses different weather conditions to confront different sins. Floods = divorce. Dust storms = greed. Earthquakes = pride.

It is noteworthy that our God doesn’t send caring believers, or healthcare, or humble, pleading Christians to these gay sinners, no, tornados are His messengers to denominations already significantly astray. And are we to assume that if the ELC rejects the ordination of gay clergy it would satisfy God concerning that denomination? No tornados heretofore about some of the other Biblical departures in the ECL, but God is especially irked about the gay issue?

It is arrogant to suggest that anyone can actually know with certainty any divine purpose in tragedy, and it is more arrogant when that purpose is mostly targeted toward those who struggle with a sin you do not. God has in these last days spoken to us through His Son. And what is decidedly outlandish is that Pastor Piper is an outspoken Calvinist, so in his own theological economy, those gay sinners have not repented because God hasn’t granted them such repentance. Against the backdrop of this recent issue, I present some thoughts about the gospel as it applies to gay people.

The gospel. It is literally “good news” in that it offers a complete and free path to eternal life, already trodden by the Son of God, already finished by the Messiah, and already purchased for the redemption of “whosoever will” receive it by faith alone. “By faith alone”, or as the Latin offers it “Sola Fide”. Easy to say, but difficult to actually believe. We as earthly sinners have been taught to achieve, to compete, and to strive for acceptance and praise for our energy and commitment to almost anything. Practice makes perfect we are told, and in sports, and business, and even relationships we are continually exhorted to “work at it” because it is that work which is the essence of success and worth in everything in our lives, and in fact, we have come to believe that our striving and achievements authenticates us as people.

It is against this backdrop that we are challenged to unpack and define the grace of Jesus Christ and dangerously consider that grace in the light of practical application to sinners. That sounds so easy and so doctrinal, but when confronted with some situations and some sinners, a retreat to the safety of the doctrinal library will not suffice; in short, we are confronted with authenticating what we have said we believe. And this is the hypocritical paradox, we are requiring sinners to authenticate their faith by works and yet we refuse to authenticate the doctrinal beliefs we have so proudly espoused concerning grace. Many of us are not willing to even entertain the possibility that a person who has trusted Christ as the only Savior, can be in God’s grace without an approved set of substantiating works. Let us examine that in the light of ourselves and the church as a whole.

Any new born sinner who has embraced Christ can rejoice and identify with the profound change that accompanies this salvation, and every child of God can also testify of the imperfect post-salvation path we all have followed. We have a camaraderie that accepts chronic imperfection among God’s people as it pertains to certain sins, and even grievous sins such as adultery and divorce have a built in plan of redemption and restoration including entire ministries dedicated to minister to these type of saved sinners. Yes, we have catalogued the sins that a saved person can fall into and those that completely cannot be committed by a regenerate person.

Now the church has also suggested that no one can be saved who practices sin, which of course in the truest sense would make everyone unregenerate since we all practice sin. How many Christians regularly drive above the speed limit? How many regularly get angry? How many lust? How many practice unforgiveness? How many gossip? In the defining context of the accepted view of “practicing sin”, we are all guilty. And not only do we practice sin that we know is wrong, we practice sin about which we are deceived and refuse to see its sinfulness including changing sin into God’s will. The health and wealth and prosperity movements have excelled in this doctrinal venture and have turned greed into God’s will. They are deceived about their sin and so they practice it. And most American believers spend money on things unnecessary and save much money to lavish on themselves in later years in direct violation of Christ’s admonition about “laying up treasures for yourselves”. The spiritual gives way to the cultural.

We must never condone sin either in others or in ourselves, however we cannot dilute redemption by culling out and magnifying the sins of others, especially certain categories of sins. The gay community has been bludgeoned enough by those who represent Jesus Christ. The gospel is offered to all sinners without any prerequisites, and we can comfortably allow God to search the heart of others to find redemptive authenticity. Our own hearts provide us with enough spiritual labor.

The Subversiveness of the Gospel

Websters defines subversive: Subversiveness: a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within.

When a country sees planes and troops coming they can prepare their defenses. Open warfare, especially with weapons that are recognizable and familiar, is much easier to deal with than warfare that is covert and camouflaged. Even though America’s war machine is unparalleled, the lament is that the covert aspect of our intelligence has been neglected and that hinders us strategically around the world. And when a country gets an undercover agent inside the government of an enemy it is priceless in its value.

And the country known as mankind dwelt in contented sin and would be adverse to any attack on its entrenched hedonistic lifestyle, especially if it saw it coming and could easily recognize the weapons that were to be used against it. The world sees atonement as unnecessary and in fact a judgment upon their lives. The church has sometimes aided this misperception by projecting God’s judgment as the core of the gospel, when in reality it is God’s love. That indeed is what is embedded in the atonement, God’s unsearchable love.

This atonement, this cross, is not meant to be bandied about and used as a doctrinal tug of war, no, it is to be preached and lived wherever God’s believers breathe a breath. We are to carry the redemptive aroma of the cross into the stench of sin and hopelessness, not just pass an orthodox doctrinal exam. It is not what we know about the cross that determines our redemptive orthodoxy, it must be how much of that cross controls and is revealed by our earthly lives. And with so much teaching on the theology of the cross, along with so little teaching on the practical manifestations of that cross in our lives, to live the cross of Jesus Christ as our own is a massive challenge with few pointing the way either by word or deed.

The smugness of orthodoxy betrays the very essence of the gospel and the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Being orthodox is one thing, reveling in it undermines the concept of a Christ emulating orthodoxy on many levels. We must always be careful about the doctrinal patting on the back with each other that affirms the truth on a vehicle of self righteousness and begins to form a culture of exclusivity rather than a community of humble followers who eschew any praise themselves and set out to passionately spread the divine love that has captured them by grace alone.

Sound scholarship. There’s the problem in two words. Much of the discernment world hang their entire Christian experience on scholarship, and of course the adjective “sound” represents pride, and they seem very lacking in grace, humility, compassion, and genuine love for saint and sinner.

Representing Christ, and living His humble life, IS sound scholarship manifested. Our Lord never called us to be Bible scientists, dissecting every jot and title in your search to find a greater detail to your systematic theology with which to challenge and debate all naysayers both in the church and without. Read the words and teachings of Jesus and if you are without prejudice you will find His teachings were overwhelmingly orthopraxic, and even His teachings on theology were usually tethered to a calling to manifest those truths through a living prism of humble grace and love. This notion that just believing and telling a certain theological truth is God’s love is misguided at best and self righteous at worst.

We see Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery when there seemed to be no repentance. We see Jesus eating with the worst of sinners without any preconditions about their lifestyles. We see Jesus choose twelve flawed men to follow and assist Him, including choosing His own betrayer to whom He showed the same love and respect that He showed the rest. The entire earthly life of Jesus of Nazareth was at odds with the spirit of this world which had been adopted by the Jewish religious hierarchy as well.

And here we are today caught in the same spiritual paradox that consumed so many Pharisees of old. There is something very wrong and self serving when we use the one instance where Jesus showed anger as the template and reference for the tone of our ministries. Those believers who show sound scholarship are those who labor in war torn Angola. They are those who put their lives at risk and minister to the earthly and spiritual needs of South African AIDs sufferers. These “scholars” share the love of Christ in Iraq while knowing they could be murdered any night or day. These believers teach sound scholarship more with their actions than with their lips and they believe spreading the gospel is defending it.

Sitting around a table or on a church platform and dispensing your “sound scholarship” is a caricature of Christianity and disembowels the power of the gospel itself. Truth becomes a museum spectacle and the scholars are doctrinal taxidermists who hang dead, stuffed truths in their books and writings and preachings and think they do God a service. And when some other believers begin a movement to elevate the life and works of Jesus, these Pharisees can see no benefit in any of their assertations since some of their theology is suspect.

There is no attitude that says, “I cannot agree with much of their theology, but their focus on living a more outwardly expressive life that ministers to the world is indicting and appealing”. No, that might appear weak and might give credibility and respect to someone who is much more easily a target than a source. And so called “Christian” conferences are reduced to reinforcing the choir rather than uncomfortable challenges that invade their own pastures. Most of us who are of the free will bent are not enamored with gathering together to revel in our free willism, and yet much of the Calvinist camp in all its forms makes it clear on their blog home page and their messages and their books that their theological perspective is a brand name complete with many different designer lines of doctrinal clothing. It was not a systematic theology that hung on that cross; it was the living Son of God.

It’s like standing on the deck of a ship and watching people drown but being consumed with discussing the engineering of the ship’s life boats still hanging empty along its side. No hungry man is ever fed by people arguing over the kind of sandwich he needs. No thirsty man is ever quenched by listening to the mineral makeup of the water. No naked man was ever clothed by tailors at odds about whether cotton or wool should be used to make a coat. And no sick man was ever cured by listening to discussions on the various drugs that should be used.

Jesus Himself warned us about judging the regenerate status of others since that always leads to self righteousness. We are not to pull up what appear to be tares because we inevitably pull up wheat along with the tares. And we are not to mock what we consider to be goats.

And now we come to the gospel. The plain and good news of the gospel, profound in its simplicity and glorious in its universal application. But not content to preach it, we now must examine it and dissect it and hang stipulations upon it so that the 10 year old little South African girl will not be misled about the wrong theory of atonement. I suggest that many, if not most, born again believers throughout the ages were never conversant with the theories of atonement, and many if not most were fuzzy in the mystery that is the penal view. I would strongly suggest that the most powerful "view" of the atonement should be expressed through the prism of our lives.

But doctrinal nuances have in some quarters been elevated to religious relic status, even suggesting that without that view people are not saved. Is God such an academic that he demands sound scholarship before he accepts a sinner’s plea of faith that rests upon the Christ of God? Is the heroin addict who hears the simple gospel in the Bowery Mission and begs Christ to save him, is he refused by Christ because if we questioned him his understanding of theology would be significantly lacking and possibly unorthodox? Have we taken Christ and His gospel and created a form of doctrinal magisterium which sits in sifting judgment to all who have a different perspective, all except each other?

Most of the world suffers greatly, physically and spiritually, and they know nothing of our self gratifying doctrinal squabbles. What does God think about sinners who are made whole completely by His grace and then package that same grace with the demands of doctrinal law at the smallest level? I think He echoes the words of Shakespeare,

“What a piece of work is a man…”

And some have now created a gospel that earns its stripes by acts of compassion to the earthly sufferings of sinners, which in reality is not the gospel at all. The glorious gospel is the good news concerning the universal offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ and His work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. All this focus on social justice and national peace and all the many categories of humanitarian acts is all very good, but when it finds a place within the gospel it becomes a toxic poison that is no better than spiritual hemlock. Many are draw to drink such a brew, mistakenly believing that their works will indeed find favor in God’s eyes.

This everlasting gospel is subversive to everything the world has come to expect and believe. It counters all that the carnal mind believes about itself, and at the same time it is a tour de force of what is called “grace”. To receive anything – a car, a bike, a home, good health – just by believing it to be so would be ludicrous; however, that is exactly the message of the gospel. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!”

What God has done has undermined and overthrown the systems and governments of this world. Like the wind it is invisible and can only be “seen” by its effects upon the lives of those who have embraced it. We should be the most subversive people in this world, undoing this world by a warfare that accepts death rather than inflicts it. Our battlefield is grace and our victory is in our surrender; our terms are faith and our motive is love; we have no rank and we have only one leader; our enemies are our mission and redemption is our strategy; and at the end of the day, Jesus is our all in all.

Do not take this calling lightly. And do not in any way fashion your armor according to the systems of this world. Reduce yourself to nothing and refuse any recognition and allow yourself to proceed into the darkness with the humble light of Christ. Do not fear the sounds of fury and the colossal weapons of this world, just be assured Your Master has already won the victory and in that victory alone must you rest.

You are within the enemy’s camp, but you live, move, and have your being in Jesus the Christ.

The Dream

Have you ever had a dream, a hopeful expectation that continued to unravel and prove itself more and more worthless? I can remember being born again in 1975, and with little more than a profound and demonstrative metamorphosis in my inner and outer man, I began my Christian walk. I was raised in a liturgical church that now seemed like Roman Catholic lite, and so for many months I had no idea what church I should attend. This was the greater New York City area and evangelical churches are at a premium.

As I entered Bible College in August of 1976 I had some wonderful expectations about what an atmosphere would be like when everyone was a born again follower of Jesus Christ. I envisioned a tangible aroma of love and brotherhood and an aura of God’s presence. With a fragile naiveté I entered this school of spiritual learning. Remember, my background was filled with all sorts of immorality and violence and here I was in the midst of mostly younger church kids. I was 24 years old.

Since I had been raised in the Lutheran Church of America, I had little knowledge of any doctrinal issues. The college I attended was a cross between Baptist and Christian and Missionary Alliance. Since I was the only person from the New York area, and since I had put down “Lutheran” as my denomination, many of the students were interested in my theological views. The guys in the dorm gathered around me and asked my views on the chronology of the rapture. My initial reply was that I had never heard of any “rapture”. With that admission they all moaned and rolled their eyes, and one guy called out to the entire dorm that I had never even heard of the rapture.

I quickly became very uncomfortable and insecure about my circumstances. Before I could slither away one guy asked me if I believed you could “lose your salvation”. I had never heard that question, and in an attempt to avoid being mocked for not knowing this question, I took a guess and said “yes”. Again there came a chorus of moans and snickers accompanied by another clarion call to the entire dorm about my view. The dream I had about unusual camaraderie and an atmosphere of joy and love seemed very distant on that first night and I can recall asking God if I had made a big mistake.

There are many things, doctrinally and in practice, that appear broken and amiss in the church of Jesus Christ today. But perhaps the most startling and astonishing paradox that is manifested in the church at large is the colossal lack of remarkable love and brotherhood among professing believers. Let the smallest piece of doctrinal difference arise between followers of Jesus and many times the atmosphere becomes toxic and the focus is concentrated on the different perspective rather than Jesus Himself.

We seemed to have lost the sacrificial love and commitment that was evident in the early church. Much learning has not only made us “mad”, it has cultivated an atmosphere of self righteousness and position defending that has all the accoutrements usually reserved for battle. The “iron sharpens iron” concept has given way to the “iron cuts down your opponent” practice. And instead of truth being such that draws us closer to its Author, it has become a battering ram and self righteous talismans. God’s precious Word is poured over in order to both find points with which to judge and attack others and to find verses that justify our creeds. And does it not seem, as we read the gospels, that we have ignored significant segments of Scripture while culling out others that fit into our rifle?

So what has become of the dream that brothers and sisters dwell in unity and love? Why does no one ever exclaim “look how they love one another” anymore? Even if we remove the core disagreements of redemption, we still do not see an exhibition of love and brotherhood among mainstream evangelicals that comes close to resembling anything greater than the members of the Moose Lodge have for each other. What possible explanation can we give to God our Father for our lack of family love? And what do we manifest that would cause anyone to be interested, much less astounded?

The Christian blog culture is not a unique phenomenon; it is in reality the dark underbelly of evangelicalism. The interaction and viciousness is just a revelation of what actually occurs in church halls; on telephones; around dinner tables; amidst lunch dates; and most sadly from evangelical pulpits. I do not speak of forcefully and graciously confronting gospel error and works based redemption; I speak of the Sherlock Holmes type of Christianity whose spiritual purpose is contained in investigating sinners and saints alike. And instead of humble and bold interactions, there must always be a conflict that goes beyond the issue in question and enters into disrespect, dismissiveness, and hyperbole.

But let us examine brotherhood within the context of those who agree that salvation is by grace through faith alone. I must admit I have tendencies that use fringe issues to fashion my overall view of everything Christian. Could it be that through the years we have made doctrinal non-essentials as walls of strife and towers of self righteousness? Is it God’s will that the leaves of truth should separate the branches? Where is the pathos and deep concern that believers should have for each other? I used to have a dream, a concept if you will, that the body of Christ lived in such love that it would be remarkably different than anything else upon this earth.

I have my issues; I have my doctrinal prejudices; I have my foibles; I have my subjectivities; I have my perceptions; I have my judgments; but I wish I did not have some of those, and in fact, I deeply wish God would extricate me from all that is not like Jesus, both inside and out. I am most miserable about the lack of significant progress in these later years. Why do many of our Christian testimonies deal with events that occurred right after our conversion and little to do with anything substantial that God did in our lives last month?? Why has the initial spiritual momentum we experienced at conversion slowed to a snail’s pace and now we are relegated to defending spiritual ground already occupied and not pursuing Christlike ground yet to be inhabited.

Read the gospel narratives of the life of Christ and see if you (or I) are closing in on the written revelation of the One we profess to be following. See if there is any room for politics and separating people according to manmade descriptions of “liberal” or “conservative”. See if Jesus was an example of castigating sinners or using demeaning invectives against all who He deemed immoral and unworthy. Watch as the Savior allowed worldy women to worship Him even before they repented of their many sins. Are sinners drawn to you or do they keep their distance so as to avoid being verbally dressed down?

Do we even have the dream to be like Jesus anymore? To be sure it is not easy, especially with a thousand voices presenting a different manifestation of Jesus of Nazareth. You can have the most accurate doctrinal representation of Jesus with all the necessary elements of Incarnate truth; but if we do not have the living model of Jesus that leaps from your creed and walks among a hopeless and hurting world within your very being than all we have is ink and paper.

Have you lost that dream? Do you even know what that dream is? Without a fresh and tangible revelation of the Person of Jesus Christ in the church we will continue to have nothing more than a doctrinal food fight which lets the spiritually hungry continue to starve.

Be sure to let God place more mirrors in your house than windows.

Redemption

A man named Vick allows and participates in the cruel “sport” of dog fighting. He is caught and serves two years in prison and loses millions of dollars and years of his football career. During his incarceration he seems repentant and even partners with the humane society to help spread the word about the viciousness of dog fighting. He is being mentored by Tony Dungy, an outspoken follower of Jesus Christ.

But even after all this, many are still unwilling to offer him redemption. I am a dog owner, and I treat my dog with a love and affection that are borderline embarrassing. I hug and kiss my dog, and I speak baby talk to him, a 120 pound German Shepherd. I realize it is overboard but I do not care. I love my dog, Rudy. Should my love for my dog override my heart for redemption?

Remember, Rudy is still just a dog. My point is this: We as Christians must always be the frontrunners for redemption. We should not mirror the tabloid journalists whose very job is to find and expose other people’s sins. Unless you have twisted the Scriptures, you must see that God has offered every sinner His eternal redemption. That is our message, that is our calling, and by God’s grace that is wherein we stand personally.

It is sad to see that redemption has become passé in this generation, and even sadder that so many Christians have replaced redemption with moral judgment. The gospel of Jesus Christ is for the immoral and not the righteous. Until you have been accused of condoning sin, you have not really preached the gospel of grace in Christ Jesus.

Redemption is the offspring of love, which the Scripture tells us, is God. Let us imitate that God by showing and exhibiting God’s redemptive love which is found in Jesus Christ.

To Be Like Him...

Can you feel your spirit grow ever thirstier for something more, something much more than you have ever experienced in Jesus Christ? If you are one who eschews any emotion and palpable brokenness, then this post is definitely not for you. Have you grown weary of what passes for following Jesus Christ in these last days? How, in God’s dear name, can we claim to a world in need that this visible church is the living, breathing manifestation of the Lord Jesus?

Truth not lived is hypocrisy, and relevance without truth is error. Doctrinal purity can become every bit an idol as the golden calf of Aaron. If God had to wait throughout church history to only send missionaries with impeccable doctrinal credentials then hell would have been enlarged. The redemptive truths can never be compromised, however, many of the doctrinal accoutrements that some hold in high esteem are stumbling blocks to the gospel itself.

The church seems to love the world and the things in the world, and she acts like the world and lives like the darkness that surrounds her. The church is filled with adultery, lying, greed, hedonism, sexual impurity, and an astounding amount of self righteousness. And when God provides the internet to His people for a vehicle for redemption, the church has filled its electrons with falsehoods, flesh, pride, and an array of revelations that distort, and in many cases, completely miss the very Person of Jesus Christ.

Think about what we owe Him with Whom we are to do. He Who created everything and Who has sustained the entire universe, has received us as sinful rebels and washed us clean before Him. What did we bring to Him that found favor in His redemptive eyes? And after we were given His everlasting grace by a Spirit led faith, what did our Lord ask of us? The Word of God asks , if not commands us, to be like Jesus. Have we treated that like a hardship and sacrifice? And not only are we “invited” to live the most rewarding and fulfilling life available to anyone, we are given the Spirit of Christ to enable us so to do.

Why would we take that promise and that commission and drag it through the fallen mud of carnality and hedonism? And armed with the knowledge of His grace, how could we ever exhibit the slightest portion of self righteousness and pride? The suffering that was most assuredly endured on that Roman cross was not just some exercise in prophetic fulfillment, no, it begins with that glorious fulfillment and continues to travel into 2009. Those wounds are our marching orders and our banner, and His empty tomb is our power. We must put on Christ, not just defend His truth and surely not change the very truth He has eternally established.

What does it mean to spiritually and practically “put on Christ”. Did not our Lord weep over those who rejected Him? Did Jesus not reach out in redemption to those who lived in sexual iniquity? Did Jesus endure the contradiction of sinners against Himself? And as we gaze at that wooden altar of eternal forgiveness, can we at least see the selflessness that embodied the life of God’s Son? Selflessness; now there is a practice that seems out of vogue these days.

Sometimes God’s truth is most accurately defended by a remarkable demonstration that responds to attacks against it with the greater truth of humility ignited by the boundless and immeasurable love of Almighty God.

Living the tangible life of Jesus Christ is the light that penetrates the darkness with the brightness of His redemptive love. Of course the gospel must be spread by the words of our mouths, but those words must make their way to a sinner’s heart upon the wings of the humble and dedicated expression of our very lives. Words seem hollow and worthless, and even counterproductive, when they are communicated through an organic epistle that demonstrates a willing disregard for many other words derived from the same source.

We are called to abide shame; to endure attacks; to receive condescension; to be despised; to accept ridicule; to allow mistreatment; to be demeaned; and all of this with joy and humility. Our weapons are not mirrored responses; our weapons are those of the Spirit that confound the wisdom of this world and many times achieve the victory clothed in the seeming garments of defeat. We have formulated and perfected the art of responsive dialogue that uses God’s truth as a means to the victory of debate, however we have long since abandoned the Incarnate example of victory through obedience to the death of our own reputation, our own linguistic arsenal, and indeed our own lives. Have we not set our sights on the lost wanderers of this culture and taken it upon us to aggressively dismantle them by our words and actions? Jesus was a friend – a friend I say – to sinners. Let us release our moral talismans and bear His reproach in the very midst of those who so easily dismiss Him. We were once like them, were we not?

The gospel is tailor made for the immoral, and to command them to cease to sin is to abrogate the gospel message itself. We are so smug and self righteous sometimes that it is a wonder that any sinner can be reached by our abject hypocrisy that so openly suggests we have arrived at God’s truth by the strength and cunning of our own investigation. The picture of a dead Jew on a cross can only be accurately perceived through the gracious enlightenment of the Spirit of God and is only hindered by any hint of intellectual acumen. And the ones who live fully by His grace only camouflage the glory of that grace when they speak as a warrior of truth and not a unworthy conduit of that same truth; one that strives to, but falls short of displaying an unabridged version of that truth.

After all the clamor and ecclesiastical dust settles, there is one supreme truth that should consume each and every born again follower of Jesus Christ:

He is worthy of all our obedience, love, and worship from this very moment and into eternity.

So should the lost world see that Christ has made us strong or should they notice He has broken us? Are we to be blinding lights that repel or soft lights that illuminate, warm, and draw the attention of the hopeless? Is our salt meant to make us unpalatable to the lost or is it meant to season just enough to create a thirst? Is our hill supposed to be so high it cannot be seen or is it perfectly placed as a pedestal for Christ? Calvary was never meant to be Mt. Everest; it was always to be a hill of grace that beckons those who recognized its condescending zenith is made accessible through the grace of the One who scaled it for us. And when we portray ourselves as something, we are nothing; and when we portray ourselves as nothing, we are something.

There is no greater calling than to emulate and reflect the Person of Jesus Christ through an earthen vessel. It is the pinnacle of the Christian faith and it is the greatest honor ever bestowed upon a redeemed sinner. But in order to pursue that goal we must first have an accurate picture of the Lord Jesus. All the particular events in the gospel narratives that give an account of Jesus’ life are facets of the one gem called the cross. If we really are serious about doctrine and theology and systematic Biblical truth then we must begin with the cross and go forth from there.

Truth is ultimately important, but that truth is Jesus, and He must be communicated not just by the vibrations of forced air through a human larynx; He must be seen by a continuing gospel narrative that is a living extension of the Living and Risen Redeemer. Jesus is to be witnessed through both the uttered words of the gospel message as well as the uttered words of visual acts that emulate the author and finisher of that same gospel.

Let us die daily to the things of this world, and most especially to ourselves.

We Are Losing Christ

Gal.2:17 - But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

Think on that phrase: The ministers of sin. Not just sinners saved by grace, but ministers of sin. Those who sin and by their example teach others to do likewise. And sin has all its different forms, some of which are hidden even among discussions of Christian truth. But if, while we seek to defend Christ, we ourselves also are ministers of sin, have we really defended Christ at all?

If you suggest that we are losing Christ in the community of professing believers you may well get a variety of responses. The militant orthodox crowd will wholeheartedly agree since they base that question completely upon the Biblical centeredness of their systematic theology. The emergent crowd will agree since they believe that without a post modern reformation we will be stuck with a caricature of Jesus and not the “now” revelation of His person. Many will disagree and suggest that they are fine with the Christ they have. Many, if not most, still will not even care about the statement at all.

But where can we catch a glimpse of Christian behavior that has a greater cross section of different “camps” than just our local church community? And where can we get a perspective of the overall manifestation of Jesus Christ among the overarching panorama of the many different Christian colonies? And I would like to address those manifestations without actually dealing with the important issue of “doctrinal truth”. If doctrinal truth was all that is needed to manifest the Person of Jesus Christ then all we would need to do is create legs on a mechanical book of theology and let it walk around in our cities. That may sound absurd but that is in essence how some view being faithful to Jesus Christ.

In just over three years I have found an intriguing looking glass into what passes for Christianity, and more specifically, what passes for manifesting Jesus Christ Himself. That looking glass is the internet and all the varying Christian blogs. I have watched, participated, and pondered what I have seen and experienced in the quirky and sometimes disturbing phenomenon we call Christian blogs and their accompanying forums we call comment threads. To step back and assess this genre against the backdrop of what we are called to as followers of Jesus Christ leads us to a distressing disconnect that is tantamount to spiritual fraud.

To summarize, how we interact with each other and the world in general is painfully at odds with what we say we believe, what the Scriptures command of us, and what we should know by now concerning the life of Jesus Christ, which is encapsulated in one magnificent and transparent event, namely, the cross. Is it not apparent that believers cannot even interact with each other without resorting to verbal violence? Read the high browed dismissiveness in some of the comments, or the hyperbolic ridicule of any commenter’s inaccurate or clumsy thoughts. The more masterful in the linguistic lambasting, the more appreciative are those who are of the same view. The civilized back and forth may be but a few comments before the verbal fireworks begin and the end result is a bone fide example of how a believer should not behave.

Commenters castigate each other and the indictments range from questioning their intelligence to questioning their salvation. The incendiary remarks can be laced with cursing or laced with self righteousness. And when someone turns a creative phrase that is an exceptionally caustic invective, that person is applauded as having vanquished the “enemy” by his oratorical prowess. And where, pray tell, is Christ in any of that? Even at the most basic level of civil discourse, one that requires no real sacrifice, we are found to be revelators of men and not of Christ.

And like a movie reviewer who is looking for it to be faithful to the book version, we too can and should review the evidence as to how faithful our behavior is to the original “Book”. Read some of the blogs of those believers who take on the “conservative” moniker. Are you surprised when they call President Obama all sorts of nasty and degrading names? Does it shock you when believers support and quote talk radio hosts who daily fill people’s minds with hatred for the group they call “liberals”? Where do we find that in the Scriptures and the life of Jesus Christ? We must make a choice; is the Old Testament a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ and His redemptive grace, or are we supposed to live and judge according to the Old Testament narratives?

The visceral atmosphere in so many of the Christian blogs is so unchristian that without the subject matter no one would ever suspect that they are believers. The disdainful and pretentious tone of some Christian blogs contribute to the detour away from Christ and His powerful and humble love, and lead us into the world of victory by carnal vitriolic force. And while we may be winning the debate, we are losing Christ, which is the ultimate defeat.

Do not assume that I speak of one certain group and not another. When you juxtapose the New Testament, including the teachings of Jesus Himself, you will find no interactive indulgences for those who are considered orthodox based upon the “end justifies the means” principle. Many less “conservative” blogs are no different in their tone and verbal application. And if, perchance, someone actually understood and taught the complete and perfect interpretation of the systematic theological truths revealed in Scripture, that would still not license him to speak with caustic invectives and careless and hurtful hyperboles. We are Christians, and even our corrections must have a flavor of love, humility, and grace.

It would seem that in all our battles we are losing what it means to be Christian, and indeed, losing Christ Himself. Our debates sometimes quickly escalate into personal attacks and demeaning verbiage that must grieve the Spirit and present an odd manifestation of the Person of Christ. Search the internet and you can easily find scathing invectives used against lost sinners, humorous posters meant to disparage, and an overall tone of spiritual elitism. And I suggest that if a person understood all mysteries and had captured all truth with unabridged comprehension, that person would exhibit a humility and love that substantiated that very fact. To the very degree that a believing follower of Jesus Christ exhibits and practices a humble and gracious lifestyle is in direct proportion to his comprehension of the Person of Christ and His truth.

To run clean water through a dirty pipe is to contaminate the water itself, even if that water was pure as it entered. And if that pipe was clean, and if that water ran through it and retained its purity as it came out the other end, the pipe cannot and should not boast. The pipe must feel a humility and honor that it was used to deliver such refreshing water, and that same pipe must acknowledge and be constantly aware that it was created and is sustained by that very water. In essence, the pipe is a created conduit made to bring forth the water that created it to the people who are thirsty.

It has become apparent, at least to me, that we/I have a distorted target to which we aspire as believers. The picture of Jesus has, in many ways, become a caricature that does not accurately reflect the fresco of the New Testament and certainly not the most striking examples of divine humility and love that are depicted throughout the gospels. It would be impossible to comprehend the extent of loving and gracious condescension as it concerns the life and behavior of Jesus Christ, culminating in the cross. And yet we seem oblivious to the many ways in which we as believers exhibit traits and behaviors that are profoundly inharmonious to any reasonable understandings of the gospel narratives and the commands found in the epistles.

So the questions before us are these: Are we going to pursue Christ in all His fullness, or are we going to defend His truth with the energy of the flesh that ignores the finer revelations of His character in favor of a limited doctrinal triumph? Are we willing to be perceived as weak in order to exalt Christ? Are our arguments worth “winning” at the expense of retreating from Christ Himself? Does our doctrinal orthodoxy include manifesting humility, love, and grace? Can we speak the truth in love or must we win the battle with the weapons and power of our own words? Is there an indispensible relationship between Biblical truth and Christlike behavior?

Are we losing Christ as we seek to be His witness?