Grace Roots

Hey James! Good to hear from you. I still read y...

2010-07-29T19:33:21.040-05:00

Hey James! Good to hear from you. I still read your blog but haven't commented or interacted much on blogs as of late. I enjoyed your recent "The Rest of the Gospel" posts. Yeah, good for Ravenhill. This is a fallacy that is well worth countering.

Sparrow Girl, I hear you on that. I've 'felt' prone to wander too, because of the direction my mind and actions sometimes go, but it's so freeing to know that that's not really who I am, and that who I truly am is prone to goodness and righteousness!

Sunny li, yep indeed, our fallen nature has died. It seems many people think that it's still alive somewhere, but in reality it was crucified with Christ, never to rise again. Our new nature is now the core and reality and essence of who we are!

Thanks for your article. Its true we still struggl...

2010-07-29T00:06:50.614-05:00

Thanks for your article. Its true we still struggling between the two natures and unless we
know our righteous nature and source we are prone
to fall back into our fallen nature which has died. sunnyli

I loved what you said here, Joel! In the past I'v...

2010-07-27T20:29:36.781-05:00

I loved what you said here, Joel!

In the past I've often felt "prone to wander" off into sin. It's great how He shows us we're really "prone to follow" the Good Shepherd Himself!

The Holy Spirit is a gazillion times stronger than the flesh. No contest! How wonderful that we live by the Spirit!

Amen! Good preaching! I was told once that a churc...

2010-07-27T14:33:29.321-05:00

Amen! Good preaching! I was told once that a church sang that hymn the day they invited Leonard Ravenhill to preach. He changed his sermon to attack the fallacy of the hymn. He despised it.

James

Yep, Walt, it's all about our relationship with th...

2010-07-27T10:18:52.885-05:00

Yep, Walt, it's all about our relationship with the Lord. We are His treasure... so much so that He emptied Himself and became a man and bore our sin... and indeed that is a biggest expression of love and grace that I can imagine!

Yep, great stuff Titus2homemaker! That's a great b...

2010-07-27T10:14:51.845-05:00

Yep, great stuff Titus2homemaker! That's a great book from Anderson. I've used various quotes and illustrations from it.

It is all about our relationship with the Lord. I...

2010-07-27T07:02:34.651-05:00

It is all about our relationship with the Lord. It isn't about our religious activity. Grace is expressed in the fact the the infinite Lord is even willing to have relationship with us.

Hi Joel, Great post and I appreciate you hitting ...

2010-07-14T11:33:07.025-05:00

Hi Joel,

Great post and I appreciate you hitting on the concept of understanding our identity in Christ. It really reminds me of the book "Victory Over the Darkness" by Neil Anderson which focuses on that as the first key to living victoriously. If Satan can get us to doubt our salvation, or think that it's up to us to keep it up, we're headed for trouble!

Titus2homemaker
http://oilofhisgrace.blogspot.com/

Yep yep yep!!!

2010-07-01T08:21:31.306-05:00

Yep yep yep!!!

Hi Anthony, Overall I agree with what you're sayi...

2010-07-01T08:19:24.566-05:00

Hi Anthony,

Overall I agree with what you're saying. We are indeed individuals. God has uniquely made each and every one of us, not as additional Jesus's walking around the earth, but as individual new creations. We are each unique in our own rights.

However, I also believe in what some have called the "union life," and others have called other names. But the names aren't important anyway. The point is that the scriptures say things such as "he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him," and "we are members of Him and individually members of one another," and other such truths that show that yes indeed, we're 100% individuals, and at the same time our identity is 100% with God as well.

I am righteous, not only 'because of' Jesus, but rather it's God's very righteousness that I walk in and that is my identity. Paul says, "I have died and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." He doesn't take away at all from the fact that we are individuals, but he also makes the point that our identity is both "in Christ" (we are individuals who are in Christ) and "Christ in us" (we are also identified by His very life that is in us).

The way that I begun to word it in the past several years is to say that we are individuals who are in an "inseparable union" with God. (And we are also in an inseparable union with one another).

My point being in all of this is that yes indeed, as you say, we are definitely unique individuals, and all of our individual uniqueness is a gift from God and is to be celebrated and explored and lived out. And at the same time, we are in an inseparable union with God. Not just with Jesus, but with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To put it in human terms, God doesn't just see "us" and He doesn't just see "Jesus" when He looks at us. Rather, the fullness of the Godhead exists in us and us with Him.

May I say, may more of us embrace this fact, and n...

2010-06-30T23:09:52.786-05:00

May I say, may more of us embrace this fact, and not hide behind the perfection of Jesus, and claim that when God see us, He is seeing Jesus. In a sense, it is not wrong, as we are made in the image of God, but God sees you, the unique you when you approach Him, not Jesus. Yes, your righteousness is because of Jesus, but God see you, the one and only you, and deals with you accordingly, you who eat cottage cheese with crumbled potato chips and ketchup, you who are able to hum and whistle at the same time, etc, etc. God already has Jesus, why would He still need to have another Jesus. God wants you. Yes, approach Him in confidence as you, only that you just need to respect that He is holiness, draw on the cleansing work of the blood of Jesus.

Lord, thank you for me!
AC

Well said, Joel. It's not dependent on my behavio...

2010-06-29T19:23:24.333-05:00

Well said, Joel. It's not dependent on my behavior and what I can do but it's totally dependent on what Christ has done and that's news.

Thanks Andrew... I'm pretty sure I nicked this lin...

2010-06-28T13:17:20.485-05:00

Thanks Andrew... I'm pretty sure I nicked this link off of the Grace Project website last year. Since the conference was last year, I'll just go ahead and delete this post.

Hey Joel, just thought I'd let you know that the f...

2010-06-28T13:04:13.999-05:00

Hey Joel, just thought I'd let you know that the flyer isn't on my server anymore for Paul's event so your link doesn't work ;)

have a good day

Anonymous, I think you're right. Change isn't so...

2010-06-27T16:10:47.900-05:00

Anonymous,

I think you're right. Change isn't something we try to do for God, or to try to earn anything from Him, but it's the result of knowing Him and His unconditional love and grace. We can do absolutely nothing in our own power. We must be empowered completely by the grace of God as He Himself works in and through us "to will and to do according to His good purposes."

I know I am late, but this is spot on. Doesn't the...

2010-06-24T23:05:57.973-05:00

I know I am late, but this is spot on. Doesn't the "change" happen out of our gratitude for what God has given us? It isn't the chore of changing what we do or what we represent, it's the blessing that we are able to celebrate by changing our lives for God, through God, and because of God. Instead of changing to receive grace, trying to complete an impossible task of deserving grace, we change as a result of it.

Bibl1774, As I read all of Paul's letter to the R...

2010-06-22T13:14:15.676-05:00

Bibl1774,

As I read all of Paul's letter to the Romans, and looking at his overall points, and "backtracking" (as I call it) in Romans 1:18 through 3:20, I don't think he's making a case for ongoing wrath of God. Rather, I see him making a case for the reason why God's wrath was an issue (the unrighteousness and ungodliness of all of mankind), and then using that to lead up to the revelation of the righteousness of God that is given freely as a gift.

"The wrath of God is revealed," to me (again, in the context of the whole epistle, and more specifically chapters 1 through 3) means that a case needed to be made for the wrath of God to show why the gift of His righteousness was needed. If there is any continuing wrath of God, that's not what Paul is talking about here. If anyone is under God's wrath, it's not because of their sin. It's because of their unbelief in the gift.

Sparrow,

Indeed, the gospel is good news! What a great message for God to have sent Paul out to preach, eh! :) Paul's writings can seem complicated or contradictory at times, but when looked at in context, I think he's generally pretty easy to understand and to look to for great explanations of the good news.

Yep, unfortunately the actual undiluted "New Coven...

2010-06-22T11:20:26.641-05:00

Yep, unfortunately the actual undiluted "New Covenant" isn't often accepted in "New Covenant" churches. They preach a mixture of the covenants and call it Christianity. I think many/most of them do it ignorantly. They obviously don't think they're in the wrong, and so when someone comes along sharing the actual gospel, which is most definitely not a mixture of the two covenants, they resist, and some are even militant about it.

And yet some end up being open to it. It must be the Spirit's leading. All the best to your son. I'll be praying for him as he shares the wonderful grace and unconditional love of God with others!

Joel, you've made a wonderful point and it really ...

2010-06-21T20:11:01.648-05:00

Joel, you've made a wonderful point and it really goes to show how important it is to read the scripture in context.

You've said it so well - sin and wrath aren't the gospel, for they are bad news, not good news! The gospel is Good News - that God's righteousness is given to man! Now that is perfect righteousness - what a gift to be made right and perfectly fit to be in relationship with Him!

Sparrow

Romans 1:18. "Is being revealed" is God's answer t...

2010-06-21T16:57:07.545-05:00

Romans 1:18. "Is being revealed" is God's answer to those who assert that the Old Testament presents a God of wrath, while the New Testament presents a God of love. There is a continuous revelation of the wrath of God in both the Old and New Tesaments. He changes not. God is merciful, not because He is lenient with the sinner, but because Christ died. The gospel has not changed God's attitude toward sin. The gospel has made it possible to accept the sinner. The sinner must have either the righteousness or the wrath of God. Both are revealed from heaven.

My teenage son is starting to learn the difference...

2010-06-20T08:39:04.343-05:00

My teenage son is starting to learn the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant. We just returned from a Classic Christianity conference and he's getting it. No more asking for forgiveness, no more keeping (or trying) to keep the law; the important thing is faith, expressing itself through love.
He wants to take this new found message back to his church which is a law+grace church. I tried to take this same message to them years ago, and was refuted big time. Must admit, I'm curious to how folks will respond to the "No longer under the Law" part of the New Covenant. My son is insistent. Just hope they don't eat him alive :-(

Aida, I agree... the "sinners saved by grace" teac...

2010-06-17T09:00:39.343-05:00

Aida, I agree... the "sinners saved by grace" teaching does indeed seem to be so humble, but yet it's really a hugely deficient, destructive teaching. It really does keep people from experiencing the fullness of who they really are in Christ!

Julie, thank you for stopping by! It truly is great to meet others who are journeying out of religion into relationship. I'll check out your blog!

A new friend has given me your blog address which ...

2010-06-14T21:20:08.987-05:00

A new friend has given me your blog address which brought me here. My husband and I are tracking on the road of grace. I write on my blog of my journey out of religion into relationship. I'd love to have you visit if you'd like. http://jewelsightings.blogspot.com.

It's great to find another sojourner on this road.

It's nice to meet you!

Great post, Joel! The teaching that we're just "s...

2010-06-12T20:50:35.971-05:00

Great post, Joel! The teaching that we're just "sinners saved by grace" sounds so humble but it's the biggest, most destructive lie that religion has ever invented.

As long as we think we're sinners, we'll continue to act like sinners but, when we begin to believe that we're righteous and have been given a good heart, our behavior will begin to be conformed to that righteousness. Renewing our minds is really the key to this new life in Christ.

Yep indeed, Jim... the power of an indestructible ...

2010-06-11T19:34:23.632-05:00

Yep indeed, Jim... the power of an indestructible life is now the life we have because of Christ in us! One of the most common words in the book of Hebrews is "better." (Better promises, a better sacrifice, etc, etc). I'd say it's a good word, but yet it greatly under-exaggerates the life we have in Christ!