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You are the righteousness of God

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

Paul says in Romans 1:17 that in the gospel a certain righteousness is revealed. It's not man's righteousness. It's God's righteousness. The gospel reveals God's righteousness that is given to man as a gift. Paul spends the rest of Chapter 1, and then Chapter 2 and over half of Chapter 3, making the case for man's unrighteousness. He does this to show how ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Finally near the end of Chapter 3 he gets to what he was really leading up to: "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe."

The law and the prophets were witnesses to this righteousness, but it's made clear in the gospel that man's attempts at righteousness, no matter how "good" or how "bad," ended up falling way short. And so: the gift of righteousness.

A little bit later Paul writes, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous" (Rom 5:19). You were not declared a sinner because you committed sinful acts. You were made a sinner "by one man's disobedience." Even when you did "good," you were still a sinner.

In the same way, you are not righteous because of any righteous act or acts you have ever done. You are now declared righteous because you've been raised up together with Jesus, through faith. In the same way that you previously inherited sin, you've now inherited righteousness. Even when you do "bad," you are still righteous.

It's been given to you as a gift, and you can't earn gifts! To earn a gift is not only oxymoronic, it's moronic! Many Christians walk in fear of "losing" this righteousness through sinning. But remember, it's a gift.

Also remember:

...When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

"According to His mercy" He saved us, washed us, regenerated us and renewed us. It's ALL about His kindness, His mercy, His abundant gift of righteousness! If we're mired down with a sin consciousness, worried about every little (or big) sin, worried that we'll somehow cross God (when His cross has taken care of it ALL!), then we're missing the point. A sin consciousness won't cause you to walk according to the gift of righteousness! (Hello?!!).

TRUST what God has done for us, and we won't have to worry about whether or not we're messing up His work. Good news: His work supersedes ours! God has made you RIGHTEOUS!

Meeting the Lesniak

On our way home from Ohio, my family and I dipped down just a little bit south of I-80 to spend an hour or two with Dave Lesniak! In addition to our time spent with the wonderful friends in Ohio, this was quite a treat. I've known Dave since early 2005 (through the internet) and I finally got to actually meet him in person right around this time two years ago. I'm very honored and I feel very privileged to call him a true friend and I wish we could get together far more often (same as I feel with all my other blogging friends)!



A candid shot of my wife Tracey. :)

More pics from Ohio

Out for a walk (and RipStick) around the KOA Kampground.


Back from the walk, and we see Ryan has made new friends, and temporarily traded his guitar for a banjo!


Playing Password. Fun, fun!


Bino giving his clues.*


Matthew on his turn.


Bino and Lion-Deer


The Carolina Crew getting ready to head out.


The Bloggers!


More pics on Facebook, of course. Also, Jamie has posted some here and here.

*While playing Password, Bino had the line of the night: The clue that someone gave said something like, "Where you go to find out if you're guilty or not guilty."

With perfect timing, Bino said, "Church." =D

A HILARIOUS line for us gracers... LOL

(The actual answer was meant to be "court"). ;)

GIG 197 - Law: Bondage, Jesus: Freedom

Continuing on from last week's program in which we talked about being delivered from the Law, this week we talk a little bit more about the ministry of the Law, which is bondage, and the "better hope" that we have in Jesus, which is freedom!

The Apostle Paul uses very strong language when talking about the Law. Sometimes we glance over these things, but we've got to look at the reality of the Law's purpose and ministry so we can have a clearer understanding of the ministry of Jesus! Did you know that Paul refers to the Law as "the law of sin and death," "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation?" He brings up the Old Testament characters of Hagar and Sarah, saying they are symbols of the two covenants - one that gives birth to bondage and the other that brings freedom. Are we of the child that was born according to the flesh, or of the child that was born according to the promise!

gigcast.graceroots.org

Having a blast in Sandusky!

Just a quick post to say that the other bloggers (or at least some of them) in our blogging community are really real! Of course, I already knew that about a few of them, having met Matthew, Gary, John and Jamie in Atlanta in March. But now I've seen two more of them with my own eyes and I know they're real!! LOL

Something that we've been talking about for several months now has become a reality, and my family traveled to Sandusky, Ohio yesterday and we're spending time with Matthew, Jamie and family, Bino and Leonard at a KOA Kampground! We were able to just spend some time last night getting (re)aquainted and talking some grace talk and just having a great time together. Today we went down by the lake (Lake Erie) and walked around a bit and then had some lunch. I went swimming with my family after we got back, and otherwise it's been a lazy afternoon. We're getting some supper ready (tacos and other good food) and we'll all be spending the evening together.

It's so great to be around these wonderful friends! We're "separated" by distance, living in different parts of the country, but we're a real family and we're really soaking this in!

Jamie, me, Matthew.


Jamie, Leonard, Bino, Matthew.


Facebooking outside... LOL.


Hanging out, S'mores, etc.


Looking out on Lake Erie (that's my wife Tracey on the left).


Waiting for some good grub outside a pub.


The blogging crew!


More pics to come, I'm sure.

GIG 196 - Delivered From The Law

This week we talk about our relationship with the Law. The Law is good, holy and perfect. Is it "good" to remain in a relationship with the good, holy and perfect Law? This "marriage partner" points out all our faults and demands perfection... but yet is powerless to provide it! The end result is nothing but guilt and condemnation. And so somehow we needed to be delivered from this bad relationship. Using Paul's illustration from Romans 7 and his words from Galatians 2, Mike and Joel discuss what needed to happen in order for us to be "delivered from the law."

gigcast.graceroots.org

One week to OHIO!

I'm excited about going to Ohio... but not because it's Ohio. Not that I mind Ohio. In fact I really like Ohio! No, I love Ohio! I would've married Ohio had person-to-state marriages been legal! I wonder what kind of kids a Joel-Ohio marriage would've produced? Hmm.

But really, I'm looking forward to Ohio because me and my family are gonna meet up with some really wonderful grace-friends there next week! You're invited, too, by the way. I know this particular blog post is short notice, but we've been talking about this since October. A link to the details is below, in case you're nearby and wanna come spend some time with us!

We're staying a couple of nights at a KOA Kampground near Sandusky, Ohio, with no agenda except to have some fun and to get to know each other a little better. A few people have expressed regrets at not being able to join us, and I truly understand. The distance makes it an issue for some, and we hope to be able to have grace gatherings in other locations in the future. The people who are planning on coming to this grace gathering in Ohio, in addition to my family, are Ryan and Jamie Weeks, Matthew, Leonard and Bino's family. It's also a wonderful thing that my parents will be staying with us! Because of distance, I normally get to see them only two or three times a year, but this will be my third time seeing them in a month! Our family has made reservations to stay in a park home next to Ryan and Jamie's park home, so we'll have a common area to spend time together.

As with my experience in meeting and spending time with some fellow bloggers at the Radical Sonship Conference in Atlanta this past March (John Fincher, Ryan and Jamie, Matthew, Gary and Sherry Kirkham, not to mention Steve McVey and Paul Anderson-Walsh, and meeting a few new friends as well), I imagine that this will be somewhat of a surreal experience. Words and photographs on blogs and websites are one thing, but it's quite a different thing to be there in person! I'm really looking forward to this time with my online friends!

Here's da details.

Lives transformed by God's grace

In my last post I talked about the numerous "Objections to the gospel of grace" that I've come across in my several years of sharing the gospel of grace over the years. My original intent wasn't to just talk about all those objections but to share how those objections are overcome, not just through words and discussions (which can be very beneficial) but through the "proof in the pudding" of lives that are transformed by God's love and grace.

When you preach a gospel that is not based upon our performance but it solely based upon God's grace and the finished work of Jesus, it may very well seem as if you're preaching a gospel of licentiousness and lawlessness, since you're not adding a bunch of "musts," "shoulds," "ifs," "buts" and conditions to the pure words of God's grace and agape love. You're not relying on a bunch of external rules and commandments to get people to serve and to stop sinning. Without all these added extras, people think you're leading others into self-serving, sinful, destructive lifestyles. But is that really what happens when God's love and grace is spread around liberally???

I'll pick up where I left off in my last post when I said, "Let me tell you something about those who have been gripped by God's love and grace, and who don't have a focus on performance, but on a loving relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit." As God's pure unadulterated love and grace grips them, and as they become established in it and grow in it, they are the most humble, reverential, God loving people you could ever know! Are they perfect in all they do? Of course not! But their lives are transformed day by day through love and grace, and instead of relying on a bunch of external conditions, they grow in God's love and grace and their outward actions become more of a natural expression of God's life in them, rather than a plastic imitation.

As they learn more about God's unconditional love, grace and acceptance of them, that's not based upon their performance, they begin to look at themselves more and more in the way that God looks at them - not as unworthy worms, but as new creations, created in His likeness, with a holy and righteous nature. They boast about God. They stand in awe of Him and of the work that He does in them individually and in the body of Christ as a whole. They realize that apart from Him they can do nothing and with Him all things are possible... and He is in them at all times!

They find that they are FREE - not to sin, but free from sin! That makes all the difference as they relate to a God who isn't angry with them but who has set them free to truly know Him in a genuine loving, grace-filled relationship. They learn that they need not be afraid of God - EVER. They learn that they need not respond to Him out of fear of harsh discipline or hell, but rather out of joy from being loved and accepted as bonafide sons of the living God. They realize that they are not only forgiven, but that God Himself has come to dwell in them and has joined Himself to them, and they begin trusting HIS Life in them!

To be quite frank, they have a lot of crap to deal with, in regards to the legalists in their lives with their lists of commands, principles and conditions, putting pressure on them to perform and get out and serve. But as they become more and more established in God's pure grace and in their true identity in Him, they find themselves with a kind of growth in which they are much more naturally walking out the lives that God has truly given them. Many find that they just don't fit in where the church has told them they need to fit in and they find that they are much more naturally walking in the actual gifts and desires that God Himself has given them. They don't need someone telling them what to do or how to live because they become more deeply connected with their true Life source - Father, Son and Spirit.

Serving others, loving others, accepting others, forgiving others, etc, all become expressions of Christ's life in them, and not duties or rules to follow in order to maintain a right standing with God or to live a "good Christian life." Most of this doesn't happen instantly, either. Growing in God's love, grace and acceptance takes time (especially with the heavy weight of mixed-in legalism to deal with). There's no need to rush any of it. Legalists have a hard time with people not conforming on the spot. Grace filled people understand that we're not conforming to a standard but that we've already been been perfected and made complete, and that our daily lives are a matter of having our minds renewed daily to who we truly already are by the gospel of grace, and that the transformation comes across in many ways over the years, with no need to hurry any of it! It's God's work in them, not their own attempts to change.

I could keep going! You who are growing in grace understand all of this. God's unconditional love and grace are Life to you and you are resting in that. People can try to put you into a box but you know you can't be contained because the God who lives in you and is at work in you can't be contained! Life is a thrill. It's an adventure. It's a joy. It's amazing. You're not stagnant, because there is nothing stagnant about God's love and grace! Like I said, I could keep going! Suffice it to say, the problem in the church is not that unconditional love and grace are taught too much, but rather that they're not taught nearly enough!

Objections to the gospel of grace

I've been discussing the gospel of grace with people for several years, both in person and online, sharing with others my belief and understanding that not only are we saved by grace, but that God's love and grace is the essence of the Christian life. I've consistently shared that our "work" is to rest and believe, and that that's how God works in and through us. Restful trust. Trustful rest. Waiting, abiding, believing. It's not our job to produce fruit, but as we abide in the Vine, the life of the Vine flows through us naturally and produces God's own fruit. We are invited by God Himself to participate in His divine nature, but the work is His, not ours.

Objections arise, of course. I can't tell you the number of times over the years that I've been accused of and/or warned about preaching licentiousness, lawlessness, "cheap grace," "greasy grace," "sloppy agape," and other such idiotic things. People have told me in various sorts of ways that I'm teaching others to sin and to not be true followers/disciples of Jesus. They've told me that demons can "rest" and "believe," and that I shouldn't use those words without adding something about "responsibility" and "effort" on our part to work the works of God. They've told me I need to "balance" grace with rules, works and principles for Christian living. They've said I'm causing harm to the body of Christ.

In my hundreds of conversations (probably even a thousand or more) with people since the mid to late 90's when I began learning and sharing the gospel of peace, I've heard every objection you can think of. Many times I've faced those objections head on and have spent a great deal of time going into deeper conversations to talk out those issues. I've enjoyed that. I've found discussions with others to be a huge part of my own learning and growing process. Many times I feel I've effectively fought off various objections and have helped to change the thinking of some with a more legalistic bent. Other times it's been a fruitless exchange of multiple Bible verses, along with interpretations and opinions, and so I've also learned to pick my battles. :)

And in the midst of all this, I've learned something even greater. Words, discussions, opinions, etc, while often having a great deal of value, never match up to the actual testimonies of lives transformed by God's love and grace (such as mine and so many other people I know).

Let me tell you something about those who have been gripped by God's love and grace, and who don't have a focus on performance, but on a loving relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All the objections listed above (and more) are not true of them! Nowhere close. Grace, to them, is not cheap. It's Power. It's Life. It's God's strength in their weakness. If God's Agape is sloppy, it's only because He lavishes it around so wastefully! God's love and grace, to them, is not a license to sin. That's not even what crosses their minds! Yes, everyone still falls short in their actions, but it's not because they think, "Hmmm, God's grace is what is calling me to live like this!" Like I said above, that's just idiotic.

In ALL my connections over the years, I've run into only ONE such "idiot." :) About 6 or 7 years ago, someone had been reading various things that I had written in an online forum and he emailed me to say, "Congratulations on your decision to 'do nothing for Jesus!'" At first I thought he was simply agreeing with my overall understanding that it's not up to us to do things for God, but rather that it's God who is at work in us. But further into his email, he (almost gleefully) used multiple swear words and talked as if we might as well do whatever the flesh desires because we're saved by grace. To me, he didn't 'get' it!

But by far, he is the exception, not the rule, in regards to how people respond to the pure gospel of grace. No, he's not even the exception. He's got an entirely different "gospel" going on! Since this is getting long, I'll talk about those who do 'get' it, and how they've responded to God's love and grace, in the next post.

Guest on 'The Good and Noble Heart' podcast

This afternoon Jim Robbins had me as a guest on his podcast, The Good and Noble Heart. We had a really great discussion, talking about several things including:

-The new Grace Roots community on ning.com
-People being alone in their grace walk
-The worldwide body of Christ being able to connect with and encourage one another in God's love and grace through the internet
-How community is not just about one person's agenda, but rather everyone has things to bring to the table
-What it looks like when people aren't walking according to God's grace and their new good heart
-Several other things revolving around being established in grace and growing in grace

Just as I had found in studying Jim's Recover Your Good Heart study guide with other people, Jim asked really great questions that provided for a really great discussion on this podcast. You can download the podcast and/or listen directly by clicking on the widget below.

Perpetually

In yesterday's post about God's Great Love, I quoted this passage from Hebrews:

...Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but (Jesus), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Heb 10:11-14 NASB

Other English versions of the Bible use the word "forever" instead of "all time." I think both interpretations are good, but someone pointed out to me the other day that the Greek word here means "perpetually," and I think that makes a stronger statement. This stands out in the Darby Bible translation of verse 14: "For by one offering he has perfected in perpetuity the sanctified" (the same word is used in verse 12).

"Perpetually" means:
- continuing or enduring forever; everlasting
- lasting an indefinitely long time
- continuing or continued without intermission or interruption; ceaseless

There is one perpetual sacrifice for sins (one sacrifice that has continuing, ongoing, everlasting, never-ending, without intermission or interruption, ceaseless consequences). And by this one perpetual sacrifice He has perfected (made complete) in perpetuity (continuing, ongoing, everlasting, never-ending, without intermission or interruption, ceaseless) all who are sanctified. (No need to mention that all who are sanctified are sanctified by grace, through the perpetual sacrifice of Jesus)!

Your behavior may change from moment to moment or from day to day but your behavior has nothing to do with your being sanctified. You have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus - the one sacrifice for sins for perpetuity! We have "the boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Heb 10:19). We "have been brought near (to God) by the blood of Christ" (Eph 2:13). His blood supersedes your behavior! Thank God that as we abide in Him, and stand in awe of Him ("fear and trembling"), we "work" this out - from the inside out - as He works in and through us to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). It's not up to us. It's His work through and through! Trust in the perpetual sacrifice of Christ and the perpetual work of God in you. Rest in that.

In the next post I'll address those who think this type of preaching leads to licentiousness. :)

Turn or burn!

;)



You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'
And you keep losin' when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin' when you oughta be changin'
Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet.

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

God's Great Love - The Kry - I Know Everything About You

I've noticed something about myself in recent years that has changed dramatically as I've grown in grace. In the song below, which I first heard probably in 1994, the lyrics go, "I know everything about you but I still love you." Those are great, encouraging, assuring words to any Christian about God's unconditional agape love. This song also has a very encouraging message about the finished work of Christ and God's never-changing love.

But what's changed for me - and I don't mean to be a stickler but this is just reality - is that I would change "but I still" to "and." "I know everything about you and I love you." No need to add "but I still..." In other words, God's love and grace that my heart has been growing deeper in, has convinced me of His love without Him having to convince me nearly as much as before that "even when I mess up He 'still' loves me." I know that all my actions don't line up with the reality of who I truly am in Him, but the issue of His love and acceptance of me has been resolved over the years. ALL of it is based upon His unconditional love and the finished work of Christ!

...Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but (Jesus), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Heb 10:11-14 NASB

I was bought for a price. I didn't pay the price. He did! There's nothing that I've ever done or will ever do that adds to or cancels His purchase. Again, I'm the one who's been redeemed. He's the one who paid the price. Let's keep that straight! Even when we were still sinners, even when we were still His enemies, Christ died for us and reconciled us to God (Rom 5:8,10). It's through nothing we've done. Only His love and work has accomplished this! We did nothing to accomplish any of this. He did it all! MUCH was accomplished on the cross and with the burial and resurrection of Jesus. "MUCH" is a huge understatement!

And so if I was a sinner and His enemy when He did all this because of His great love and grace, who am I to question or even make it an issue of whether or not He still loves me! Of course He does! Nothing I ever did made Him love me, and even being a sinner and an enemy didn't keep Him from loving me. I can see why a sinner and an enemy might question God's unconditional love (even thought they don't have to!), but now that I've died as a sinner and an enemy and have been raised again as a brand new creation, to a brand new Life, joined together with Him, having been justified and having peace with God through the blood of Jesus, why would I ever think there's reason to question His great love?

The Kry - I Know Everything About You


Bought with a price
Nothing you've done
It's a gift to you
My love is unconditional

-----

Each time you fall
Look to the sky
It won't change My love for you
It won't change My mind

Lift your head up
You will always be Mine
My grace for you
Will last until the end of time

GIG 195 - The Purpose of the Law

Last week we asked the question, "Don't we need to commit ourselves to the laws of God?" This week we begin exploring that question by going back and talking briefly about what the gospel is (in short, we talk about God's righteousness that is given to us as a gift, apart from the Law) and we move on from there.

Was the Law given to help us live right and overcome sin? The Bible says that we've been set free from sin and that sin does not have dominion over us! Why? Does God's Law have anything to do with this? What is the Law's purpose? We'll talk about this and more on this week's episode of Growing in Grace.

gigcast.graceroots.org

Three years of blogging!

Before June 12, 2006, I didn't really know all that much about the world of blogging. I had heard of blogs but I didn't know of anyone who blogged. I had my website on which I wrote an article or two, but it was nothing like having a blog. But then Dave Lesniak asked the question "Do Any One Of You Have A Blog?" on the Grace Walk Forum. Within a day or two, this blog was up and running and life has never been the same since! It's been a BLAST getting to know so many wonderful other bloggers and commenters, both on this blog and on many other blogs!

Here's what I wrote on my first post:

Hi there! Thanks for taking some time to be here. "Grace" is what this is all about - grace that saves and grace that is the power for everything in life. If you've ever felt frustrated in your Christian walk, struggling and striving to get it right but never quite making it - and even knowing you've fallen far short of God's holy standard - then I have good news for you! God's grace certainly is what saves us, but His grace goes far beyond simple forgiveness of sins! God's grace is the power in us, that is not "us," that provides all we need for Christian living. ALL we need! Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" and Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

So if we can do nothing apart from Jesus, and we can do all things through Him, I think that goes to show that we are completely dependent upon HIM, and not our own striving and struggling to make it all work. There is peace and rest in this! As we rest in Him (abide in Him), His very life in us is what animates us and provides the power and energy for all He has called us to do. If it's up to our own personal efforts and struggles, the work produced will amount to nothing more than wood, hay and straw. If it's His life working in and through us, we will have adundant fruit that lasts forever.

So if you're riding the up and down rollercoaster of self-sufficient Christianity, stop fooling yourself and stop being so hard on yourself! You CAN'T do it! You will never do it! Besides, "you" have died - you have been crucified with Christ. Stop trying to bring that old man back to life to work the works he could never do in the first place! Let go and let the life of Christ - which is now your life ("I no longer live but Christ lives in me) - become your sufficiency. God's grace is not added to our efforts. God's grace is not a "part" of our lives. God's grace is the complete power for Christian living, and God's grace is - sufficient!

The wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace!

Steven Curtis Chapman - The Great Adventure


View higher quality video on youtube (embedding disabled)

Saddle up your horses!

Started out this morning in the usual way
Ten thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle, try to make it better than the last

I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say "let's go!"

(Chorus)
Saddle up your horses
We've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other
This is The Great Adventure!


Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for!

(Bridge)
We'll travel over, over mountains so high
We'll go through valleys below
Still through it all we'll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams

Oh saddle up your horses
Come on get ready to ride!

Walking by faith

What does walking by faith look like? Does it mean you you go to church, you read your Bible, you give to the church and to others, you get involved in church activities, you become a missionary, you pray without ceasing, and so on." Not that some or all of those things can't be a part of your own personal walk of faith.

But as I've read through the "faith" chapter of the Bible - Hebrews 11 - it's occurred to me that a life of faith is really far more deep and rich. There are really a lot of things that people have done "by faith" that really don't look "churchy" or "religious" at all. A man builds a huge ship in the middle of dry land. Another man moves his entire family to another country and lives as a stranger, camping in tents. An old, barren woman gives birth to a son. A prostitute receives spies and hides them. A baby is hidden by his parents. Kingdoms are subdued, righteousness is worked out, promises are obtained, lion's mouths are stopped, people are made strong out of weakness.

Others were tortured, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, etc... all because of their faith. I don't mean only that these things happened to these people because of their faith, but they walked into these things and willingly endured these things because of their faith.

All of these stories and so much more are packed into the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, describing what various people did "by faith." It's pretty amazing to me when I contrast all of this with the things that are expected today from Christians as acts of faith. Again, if you're involved in various sorts of "church activity," and you pray and you read your Bible and you give and you love it and know you're called to it, that's absolutely wonderful! My purpose here is to simply show how my own understanding of the life of faith has been greatly expanded far beyond "church life."

I realize that a few of the New Testament scriptures show what life in the early church was like. We can glean a lot of great stuff from all that. But if we limit our expressions of faith to "church life," I think we've missed the boat. Even in regards to the "gifts of the Spirit" --- Are God's gifts only for use in the context of a church meeting? And are the His gifts only limited to the ones Paul happens to mention? One helpful thing that I get out of Hebrews 11 is the idea that we're all different kinds of people and our expressions of faith are essentially limitless! Read through the chapter and note the diverse types of people and the diverse things they did "by faith." We have a great big God (a gross understatement). Doesn't He express Himself in and through us in so many ways beyond activity that seems religious and churchy? Can we open up our minds and hearts and ears and eyes and other senses and get a taste of what a real life of faith is? Isn't it really a great adventure?!

GIG 194 - What Place Does the Law Have in the Life of the Christian?

As we talked about last week, a recent Barna study showed that a majority of Christians believe that spiritual maturity is about keeping the rules. Many people think that God gave the Law to teach people how to live righteously and according to His "standards." It may be surprising - or even shocking - to some Christians that the Bible actually says that the Law was added so that sin might increase. It also says that sin's strength is the Law!

So what place does God's Law have in the life of the Christian? Listen in as Kap and the Breezeman begin a series of podcasts on the true purposes of the Law and of the true source and motivation of the living out of the Christian life. We hope you'll be greatly encouraged and freed from the chains of legalism!

gigcast.graceroots.org

The Law and Chocolate

I posted this quote a couple of years ago but thought I'd post it again. It came in a daily radio prep email that I've subscribed to since my radio days.

If you're jones'n for some chocolate just give in. New research shows the more we try to fight off a chocolate craving, the more we desire it.

Sounds a lot like the effects of the law, doesn't it?

How God sees us even when we don't make sense :)

My friend Mike Kapler posted this video on Facebook with these words:

Cute video & very short. I want you to notice the look on the Dad's face. Watch the thrill & emotion. He inherited these traits from God the Father. Even when you and I aren't making any sense, God still gets a kick out of us.

(If the video doesn't show up, here is a link to it).

Come to church, we'll scare the hell out of you.

I haven't had much of an opportunity to blog lately, but as I was getting caught up on some of my blog reading this morning I came across some posts from others that I wanted to share. A somewhat similar theme is present in each of them. In short: judgment and hell vs. love and acceptance.

Gary Kirkham: The Finger
Steve McVey: Confronting Other People's Sins (make sure to check out the video at the end, too).

The third post that I wanted to share is actually a "note" on the Free Believer's Network's page on Facebook. I'll post the link, but I think you have to be a part of the Free Believer's group on Facebook in order to view it. I imagine it will be posted on Darin Hufford's blog, accessible to all, and I'll update this post if/when that happens.

Update 6/11/09 (thanks Aida!):
Darin Hufford: Raising Hell

GIG 193 - It's Not About Keeping the Rules

A recent Barna survey found that "most Christians equate spiritual maturity with following the rules." But if you've listened to this program for any amount of time, you know that we don't believe that the Christian life is about following the rules, and this week we talk about how to not let "Christian rules" rule your life.

We find it quite amazing that Christians continue clinging to laws, rules and commandments, when that's what God has set us free from! So we take some time to discuss how the Christian life isn't about doing things for God but rather about us being in Him, and Him in us. It's not about doing. It's about being. We take a look at how many people are actually being "compliant" by trying to follow God's laws - which anyone can do, whether filled with God's life or not. The key word there is "trying," and so we also discuss the difference between "trying" and simply "trusting."

gigcast.graceroots.org