Love.

When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40)

This is what God wants for and from us but I think that if we are honest with ourselves, our natural tendency is to love our self more then anything or anyone else. When left on our own, we cannot keep this command. It doesn’t offer life because when we try to love God with our own strength and devoid of the gospel we do so in a legalistic religious way. It doesn’t give life as it was meant to, but condemnation. The book of 1 John paints a beautiful picture of what it actually this looks like. We learn that not only is loving God and neighbor a command but also so much more.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us 1 John 3:16
Love is the root of the gospel. It was love that moved the Son to offer himself as our sacrifice. Because of the wicked, corrupt, and depraved effects of sin in our lives,  we would never choose God or move towards him. While we were still sinners, still in rebellion, still willingly rejecting and denying him, he died for us. This goes against the pity definition of love that we as a society has created. Its radical, ruthless, shocking, scandalous and completely counter intuitive to the human heart. This is what love is. God defines it but he doesn’t stop there, he actually fulfills it and shows us what it looks like. Love is not passive, but it is also active.

We love because he first loved us 1 John 4:19
Love is the fruit of the gospel. Out of an understanding of this great love that he has for us, only then can we be fueled to love others in the same way. In understanding that in our worst, God have us his best can we be motivated to serve and love others in a way that is unconditional and selfless. Only in understanding that he died in our place for our sin, can we truly live this out, That means servings, investing, building up each other in a way that is completely selfless. Its about giving without expecting anything back.

Not Faith + Works but Faith that Works.

The book of James practically and faithfully reminds Christians how to live authentically and wisely for Christ. In its five small chapters, It has over fifty commands.

Luther wants called the book of James an “epistle of straw”. He did not like the book of James when he first read it because in his opinion there was too much emphasize on works and not enough emphasis on what Jesus has already done. He thought it was devoid of the gospel but he eventually saw that he indeed was mistaken.

Like Luther, we often have this response also. At first read it may appear that James’ view on faith is contradictory to Paul’s, but with careful study, it is clear that they the spiritual fruit that James talks about simply demonstrates the true faith of which Paul wrote. Their writings are not  contradictory but rather complementary.

God wants us to be free. That is why Jesus came. When reading through James we must be careful how we read it so that we do not mis read it and miss what James has to say and offer us.
The gospel is the foundation on which we are to understand the book of James and the bible. If we do not understand the gospel, everything we learn will turn us into self-righteous pharisees which will eventually lead us to pride, or despair. We will either become a legalistic pharisee or we will become gospel soaked lovers of Jesus.

There are two ways to approach James. (And notice the verb tenses.)We can either approach James with the mindset that:

I’m obligated to live this way so that God will love me.
or
I’m free to live this way because God has already loved me.

You are either motivated by legalism to obedience or you are fueled by the gospel to obedience. Thats it, there is no in between.

I’m obligated to live this way so that God will love me.
Unfortunately in many churches today, the Gospel of Christ is assumed and we are taught morality and ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’. We are taught a moralistic therapeutic deism, where we try harder to be better, and told to pick ourselves up from our bootstraps, Jesus is our life coach and moral example, and guide to a healthy, good works, moral and happy life. We leave the sunday morning motivated to try harder, and to perform better. Therefore when we approach God our mindset becomes ‘I do good things IN ORDER to gain Gods love and favor.’ So we work really really hard, to be moral and good people, so that God will bless us. The result is we either do well in our performance, and then are puffed up with pride, or we are defeated, and we fall into despair. This is how it works. When things crash and the world hits us, we question Gods goodness and character entirely based on our misunderstandings and poor interpretations. We let our circumstances dictate our passion. This leads to guilt-driven obedience. It is a life of shame, and condemnation. We see the gospel as “Do” and use our good works as a means to salvation. The common interpretation of James is Faith + Works = Salvation. This is wrong.

I’m free to live this way because God has already loved me.
But if we interpret the book of James through the lens of the Gospel we learn the Its not Faith + Works but rather Faith that Works.The gospel says that I do good things because God has already loved me. God came in Jesus through the Gospel not to just set non-Christians free from the penalty of sin, but to set Christians free from the power of sin. The Gospel is our motivation in our obedience to God. We don’t do good works in order to gain his love and acceptance, but we do good works because Christ has already gained infinite love and acceptance on our behalf. We are free to be harsh with sin because we know the cost that Jesus, our savior (not our life coach) paid. We understand our wretched, wicked and corrupt state and that God has done something in Christ to save us. We understand that Christ has done something totally radical, and counter intuitive to every performance driven impulse of our heart. He has actually done the work. It is finished. Therefore good works are not a means to salvation, good works are the fruit of salvation. In a thankful and appreciation to what he has done, we respond. Those who have saving faith, have been given a new heart, and are being regenerated into the likeness of Christ. It is impossible to have saving faith and not do good works. That what James means when he says “faith without works is dead” he isn’t saying that Faith + Works. He is saying Faith that Works. Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone.

When we read the bible it must be interpreted through the lens of the Gospel because believe it or not, the bible is not about you. Its about Jesus.

Passing the Torch. From one Gman to another.

2 Timothy is the most personal, intimate, emotional, and pastoral book I have yet to study here at ESBS. Before dying, Paul writes 2 Timothy to express his deep affection for his faithful friend and to ensure that his ministry would continue after his death by younger Christians, who would pass the torch from one Gospel man to another.

Timothy is likely the last letter that Paul penned and may have been written only days before he was murdered by beheading at the hands of the Emperor Nero in 68 AD. As he sits alone in his dark, filthy, roman cell, scarred by beatings and persecution, not complaining nor questioning Gods goodness or faithfulness but rather with his head up high determined and confident that he will soon be in Glory, face to face with his Savior and great King Jesus.

Paul has served faithfully as an apostle, he has been ship wrecked, stoned, flogged, harassed, and beaten. He has run the race, he has fought the good fight, he has been faithful and he will soon be in glory.
Paul is about to pass the torch to the next generation of Christian leadership and It is interesting what Paul wants Timothy to understand and accept at this defining moment.
What does biblical leadership look like?
His Instructions:

“Preach the Word in season and out of season” 2 Tim 4:2
Be faithful to the word of God and preach the bible for what it says, not for what you want it to say. Make it sound as good as it really is. The Bible says some radical, offensive, ruthless, shocking things that offend every self righteous, performance driven, post-modern, rebellious impulse of our hearts. People do not want to hear truth but would rather have their itching ears satisfied and wander off into myths. Hold firm to the word, be faithful in times of fruit, and in times of drought. Do not relent. Preach without apology. Do not be silent. They chopped off Paul’s head, stone stephen and crucified Christ because it was the only way to silence them.

“Remember Jesus” 2 Tim 2:8
The bible is about Jesus. Tell people about Jesus. Tell them of his goodness, of his character and his radical grace. Tell them that they are sinners in need of a savior. Tell them that he is a good and forgiving God. Tell tell about the good news that God has done something in Christ to Save wicked, wretched sinners like them. Warn them about Hell, and paint a beautiful image of what Heaven will be like. Inspire them to Love Jesus. Herald. Proclaim. Announce.

“Fulfill your ministry” 2 Tim 4:5
You have YOUR own calling from God. This is not someone elses ministry this is your ministry. If God wanted someone else, he would have picked someone else. It is important and good to learn from others, but not to duplicate their ministry. You are who you are, by the eternal love of God. Offer yourself to God, and reach for YOUR destiny. You are approved and qualified by God.

Do we see Him?

Do we see him?

Ricky: "Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers in the South call you: 'Jee-suz'. We thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious...Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife's father Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. It smells terrible and the dogs are always botherin' with it. Dear Tiny Infant Jesus..."

Ricky: "Dear Tiny Jesus, in your golden fleece diapers with your tiny, little fat balled up fists...Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money.... "Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Baby Jesus, don't even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent.....”

the script below was taken from a famous dinner scene from the movie Talledega Knights; the ballad of Ricky Bobby.

When I first saw this specific scene I was filled with all different kinds of emotions.
First, It was a funny, so I was filled with laughter.

But the more I chewed on it the more I was filled with a sadness, anger and drive. I was filled with these emotions because, this mindset isn’t a far cry from the one that our era has today.

I think if you are honest with yourself, you would agree with me also. You would agree that this is indeed a familiar mindset that many people have whether they admit it or not. The reason for this mindset, is that in reality we like this Jesus best. We tend to only see the baby Jesus and never move past it. Why? this baby Jesus is safe. He is not a threat. He isn’t offensive, radical, or ruthless but cuddly, cute, soft, fun, harmless, safe, you can pick him up and rock him to sleep, you can pick him up and take him where ever you want. Who doesn’t like babies?

No one would every say this or admit this but in our minds, in the way we live life out, in the way we approach God, we can in fact have a Ricky bobby, baby Jesus mentality. A cute baby, who gets us good things, makes us feel nice feelings, or get us out of hell.

Do we see him?

In The book of Colossians we are forced to see a glorious and accurate portrait of who Jesus really is. We see a portrait that is radically different then the “Christmas baby Jesus”. We see a Jesus who has authority. A Jesus who is King.

He is the very picture of God, The invisible God becomes visible. (1:15) At one point we could not know, see, or be in relationship with God. People could know of him, but they couldn’t actually know him in a real relational way. Through Jesus we now can. Jesus is God revealed to us. If we want to know his character, look to Jesus. If we want to know his will, look to Jesus. If we want to know his emotions, we look to Jesus.

He is he both the cause and the source of creation. There is nothing that exists without him. He is the ground for reason.He is the very point of everything. It is all about Jesus(1:16, John 1:3)
He is the Head of the church. The Senior Pastor. He calls the shots. Our authority must reside in Him, we must be submissive to Him, organize our leadership around align our mission to him. He is not functional figure head, rather then the Pastor in which all other pastors yield to in leadership. It is all about Jesus, if it isn't, we have a problem.(1:17).
He is the fullness of God (1:19) Jesus is the fullness of The Old Testament God. He isn’t a new God, he isn’t a more ‘chill’ God, or ‘more loving’ God. He is the One true God.

The same God who:
made all of the world in 6 days,
afflicted the Egyptians with plagues,
parted the Red Sea and provided the Israelites travel on dry land while being pursued by the Egyptians,
was a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night,
sent manna down from heaven,
water from a rock,
made the sun stand still,
rose up judges,
commands the ground to open and swallow rebells,
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

Do we see the baby Jesus, or the Jesus:
- that tells the wind and waves to shut up and they do because the authority that he has in his voice.
The Jesus who is the sustainer of everything and when he speaks things happen.
The Jesus who flips tables in the temple,
picks fights with the pious religious teachers who would not accept his message.
who is Glorious,
who is Perfect,
who is Holy,
who is Just and Supreme,
who is King of Kings,
who is Lord of Lords,
who Deserves nothing less than eternal glory and everlasting worship.
The Jesus who wrapped himself in the flesh, ate with us, did life with us then we striped him naked and crucified him, nailed him to a tree because we refused him as God.
The Jesus who on the cross he Paid our debt in full, took our sin and shame and gave us his righteousness,then sealed us with the Holy Spirit and made us his own.
 Do we see him?

Yes, the baby Jesus scene is important, and it paints a glorious picture of his humanity, and humility. It speaks incredibly about his love and his nature and character. But He did not stay there. He grew up, discipled, then he went to the cross, rose three days later and is now sitting at the right hand of God in glory. Sin, Satan, Death and Hell Defeated.


Do we see him?

Baby Jesus isn’t going to get you through this year.

The Way Of The Gospel.

We live live in a culture that values self reliance, and performance. If  One is going to succeed in life, and accomplish things they need to be the smartest, the biggest, and the best. They need to be strong and able to out-perform the rest. In the bible, but more specifically 2nd Corinthians we see that the way of the Gospel takes our lust for power and significance and turns it upside down.

The way we see Paul live is irrational, and inverted to societies thinking. His ministry is not flashy, eloquent,  or comfortable, but simple, straight forward and irrational to everything we know and expect. Paul embodies the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and the religious, pious false teachers do not like and will not accept the crux of his message; a defeated savior.

What does it mean to live a cross centered life? Paul has some radical things to say.
Acknowledge your frailty to God. Look to the Savior. He embraced the weakness of the cross so that you and I, weak moral sinners, can experience the blood-bought power of God.

What is your strength (that thing you rest on ) charm, intelligence, charisma, humor? Cross centered living means we do not ignore our weakness, but lean into them.
why? because we know, “When I am weak I am strong” because God will reveal his power

So, let’s boast in our weakness instead of our self-righteousness and strength. This is obviously folly and nonsense to the world, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.