grace

How To Thrive After Being Crushed by the Church – Part 2

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ 4 Comments

Do you feel the church has used you up and thrown you away?

That it was a bait and switch experience? You got in, and then they threw the rule book at you?

You were promised a life of happiness, victory over temptations, and a new power and control.

Instead you were more miserable, your vices got worse, you failed more often, and you felt stuck and helpless.

And if you dared to speak of these things, instead of receiving support you were told it was your fault. You weren’t doing enough of the things (rules) sincere Christians were supposed to do.

Like more bible study, deeper prayer, being more committed to church and community group.

So you put your whole heart and soul into being more disciplined in the disciplines.

Only to crash and burn even more.

You eventually concluded that this Christian thing didn’t deliver. And you felt betrayed and angry.

You know what? You’re right to be angry!

You have a right to expect to hear the gospel preached every Sunday.

You have a right to be reminded that your sins are forgiven, that you are accepted in Christ, that you are a new creation in Jesus, that it’s not about your performance, but Christ’s that has merited heaven and God’s affection for you.

So go ahead and be angry at the church because it prefers to dole out rules for living instead of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pray and ask God to change your pastor or find another church.

What you need to see though, is that your anger is directed at the church, not at Jesus. He’s your life and freedom and joy. He has kept his promises.

You are justified. All your sins are forgiven.

You are sanctified. You are wrapped in the righteousness of Christ.

You are loved. God chose you in love from before the foundation of the world.

You do belong to God. He loves you as much as he loves Jesus.

He’s not the one who has betrayed you!

Go ahead. Smile!

How To Thrive After Being Crushed by the Church – Part 1

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ 3 Comments

Are you someone who has grown up in church where performance defined who you were?

Where most days you were a miserable failure?

And love and acceptance were foreign concepts?

I have good news for you.

You didn’t grow up with the gospel.

You grew up with moralism (law).

The law is harsh. It beats you up. It tells you what you must do in order to please God (and others), but has no power to help you get there.

So you looked at your life and said, “I can’t do this,” and got depressed.

Or you admitted your failure, got furious, and walked away.

Here’s what happened to you.

You came into the church by faith in Jesus. He loved you so much he died for you. And you accepted his gift of salvation with gladness.

Then week after week you listened to preaching about moral behavior and living, and in a flash you plunged into despair because you didn’t measure up.

Your joy in Jesus went up in a puff of smoke. You even went so far to say that this Christian thing doesn’t work.

If you can relate to this, then here’s a question to ask yourself:

Is the cross and blood of Jesus sufficient to save you even while you are still sinful? Even while you continue to fail at living the Christian life?

You know what?

Heaven is filled with Christian failures! There aren’t any other kind of people there!

Jesus’ death on the cross and his shed blood for you is all you need.

Jesus himself will welcome and embrace you!

How’s that possible? It’s because God has given you the gift of the righteousness of Jesus. You had it the moment you came to faith.

It’s the only performance that counts!

Grab a hold of it and never let it go!

How To Rid Yourself of Doom and Gloom

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ 2 Comments

Today I woke up with a long list of grievances I compiled through the night of all the things that were wrong in my life.

Instead of realizing this was a tactic of the devil, I indulged in my black mood.

I vented all over my husband. I criticized the condition of our home. My children weren’t living up to my expectations. Even the cat was wrong today, if we had a cat.

I had no desire to pray on my way to work. Truth is, I was going to continue grumbling and enjoying my well-deserved pity party of one.

But then I reached into my book bag and pulled out an article on the doctrine of our Union with Christ. It was written fifty years ago by noted English bible teacher, Arthur Pink.

God met me there because when I finished it, my gloom was gone and I was rejoicing in the gospel.

Here’s what I learned that changed my heart:

1) Those old saints knew their stuff and preached it. The deep truths, mostly forgotten today because they might offend, are the only prescription for a healthy heart.

2) The doctrine of the Union with Christ is central to our understanding of who were are as Christians. Without it, we see ourselves as individuals tied to a lifeline to Christ, much like an astronaut twirling in space who is attached by a cord to the space capsule.

3) We view Christ as a solo act, independent of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and separated from the people he came to save. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

4) Christ and his people are inseparable – it is an eternal union that began before the foundation of the world and made known and enjoyed in time.

5) It is the foundation for all the other blessings we enjoy in Christ – the new birth (regeneration), the forgiveness of sins (justification), the remodel of our lives (sanctification), and our new bodies (glorification).

6) This union is so real and vital and intimate that God has never viewed us apart from Christ! And God never sees Christ apart from his church. He is the head of the church.

4) We are told in Scripture that Jesus became flesh for us; when he died on the cross, we died with him; when he was buried, we went into the tomb with him; and when he was resurrected, we were raised with him.

We have never been alone!

We are never alone now.

And we will never be alone in heaven. We belong to Jesus and that union is secured for an eternity.

All of these blessings come to us through the gospel and by faith in Christ.

He secured them. He merited them for us. He has given them to us.

Ephesians says we are seated with him in the heavenly places. That’s because Jesus is there, and where he is, that’s where we are, too.

Go out and tell somebody you have a new address!

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Love Difficult People

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ 5 Comments

At her husband’s funeral, the widow says to her adult daughter, “Your father and I would have had a wonderful marriage if only he had been someone else.”

Let’s be honest. We’ve all had those thoughts.

Your life would be so much nicer if you had a better spouse, kids, parents, boss, friends, and neighbors.

The old saying is true:

The problem with the world is the people!

All of us live with difficult people.

The trick is how to do that well.

Some difficult people are sincere Christians who love the Lord Jesus and mean to do good.

But they’re lacking in self-awareness, sensitivity toward others, discipline, or some other quality that would make your life easier.

Then there are those whose habits and quirks drive you nuts. Eating with a full mouth. Burping. Not listening. Being too loud.

What does God tell us to do?

To suffer long with them and to be kind.

What you don’t want to do is use the law. To tell them to change. To demand that they change.

Instead, remind yourself of the gospel.

You are a difficult person, too.

And yet God loves you, forgives you, shows his mercy and patience toward you.

That’s reason enough to show the same to others.

And one day, when Jesus returns, all of us will be perfect!

 

 

Who’s Doing The Work?

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ Leave a comment

Who is responsible for your maturity in Christ? Is it all about you and your obedience or is all the Holy Spirit’s doing?

Do you have days when you feel you’ve done nothing but blow it as a Christian? You haven’t loved well, you ran out of patience, you didn’t think about God for an instant.

What does God think of you when you’re in that condition?

“Return to your baptism everyday,” Luther said. Remember you died in Christ, were buried in him, and were resurrected in him. All your sins are forgiven and washed away. God sees them no more.

Paul would say,

“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” – Romans 6: 5-7

You have been set free to live as a believer in Christ.

Before faith, you were a slave to sin. You couldn’t love or serve God. The only things you could do were to:

1) live in darkness

2) provoke God’s wrath

3) heap judgment on yourself

But God, who in his mercy called you from death to life, who gave you the gift of faith to believe in Christ and him crucified, now enables you to freely love and serve him.

You are a freed slave learning to live as a free man or woman in union to Christ.

How does this work out in daily living?

Justifying faith is God acting upon you – you are a passive recipient. He changed your heart, he made you capable of believing the gospel. You didn’t produce that yourself. You had no power.

Sanctifying faith is accomplished by the Holy Spirit who causes you to desire God and enables you to obey God. This new action will result in your good works.

You will produce fruit.

So if you’re worried about how you’re doing, don’t be. Looking inside your heart will demoralize you. It’s not pretty in there.

The solution is to keep looking to Jesus.

He’s the author of your faith, and to God who will give you everything you need to keep loving and serving him.

How Three Little Words Can Change Your Life

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ Leave a comment

All world religions, no matter which one, have three words in common:

Get to work.

That is very bad news.

It means the responsibility is entirely on you to appease the god, to win his approval, to satisfy his demands.

And the worst news of all is:

You never know if you’re doing enough.

You have no confidence, no peace, no rest in your own work because you know it’s not perfect.

And the deity doesn’t help you either.

In fact, he’s silent.

In contrast, the gospel is utterly unique.

Christ’s three words are:

It is finished.

What is finished?

Everything you need in order to be reconciled to God the Father.

That is Good News!

1) Christ paid for all your sins so you could be forgiven. All your sins – the ones yesterday, the ones today, and the ones you’ll do tomorrow.

2) Christ appeased God’s wrath by becoming the sacrifice to atone for your sins.

3) Christ closed the enormous gap between you and God so now you have a Heavenly Father.

4) Christ, with his own life, paid for all your disobedience, transgressions, deliberate and unintentional sins, unbelief, and willful denial of God.

5) Christ satisfied God’s law by dying a death you should have died.

6) Christ paid the debt you owed God. You are now free from it.

Christ is the only true solution for your sin problem.

He did it all.

The job is done.

Why would you ever want to settle for anything else?

 

How To Witness Badly

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ Leave a comment

Today on the subway a young woman gets on juggling two bags and a purse and sits across the aisle from me. She turns and asks, “What church do you go to?”

I tell her.

“How nice to see people reading the bible on the subway. I do that, too.”

“How nice,” I say. I don’t want to talk. She’s interrupting my quiet time. I hate it when other passengers talk, so I want this to end.

“Where are you from?” she asks.

“Argentina,” I say, keeping my answers to one word, hoping she’d get the hint.

Her face goes blank. A few seconds later, she says, “That’s not in this country, is it?”

Holy cow.

“It’s in Latin America,” I say.

“Where do you work?”

“In San Francisco.” Okay, that’s a three-word answer.

“What do you do there?”

Hmm…do I really want to get into this?

I notice others around us have put down their books to listen to the exchange. The woman next to her has overflowed into the young woman’s seat. She’s a regular commuter. Every morning she gets on with a phone stuck to her ear talking at full throttle with her mother about her woes at work. I’ve written her notes reminding her of the no-phone rule. I’ve glared at her. Nothing’s worked. One time I gave her a gospel tract, thinking that would quiet her. She sneered at me, shoved it down into her purse, and kept talking.

“So what do you do in San Francisco?” the young woman asked again.

“I work for an organization,” I tell her. How lame is that.

“What do you do there?”

Now I’m ticked. This woman has no boundaries.

“I work for a missionary agency and we tell people that Jesus is the promised Messiah,” I say loudly.

Her seatmate smiles.

A man behind her sits bolt upright.

“Do you have conventions?”

“No.”

“How do you find people to talk to?”

“On the streets.”

“Oh,” she says. “How does that work?”

“It’s tough.”

“What makes it so tough?”

“Most people, including Jews, resist the truth that Jesus is the Savior of the world and without him they don’t have a relationship with God.” I say in one breath. “Here’s my card.”

We screech into the station. She slips my card into her purse, grabs her bags, and gets up.

“Okay thanks,” she says and gets off.

The talker and the man behind also get off.

I slump in my seat. Shame on you! You could have engaged her. You could have asked her who she thought Jesus was and have everyone listen in.

Then I smile.

I remember.

When God wants to use you to speak the gospel, He’s gonna get the job done even if it’s done badly.

 

How Being Baptized Can Get You Killed

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ Leave a comment

You’ve heard stories about the underground church in China. You’ve also read stories about Christians who have risked their lives for the gospel in foreign countries.

This is a true story that is a little closer to home. It’s from a man who teaches a bible study in a federal prison in Northern California.

“We had six baptisms today. We have a tank outside the church and they fill it up when we do baptisms. One white man and two black men and three Latino men were baptized. One of the inmates told me that these men’s faith was genuine. I asked him, ‘How do you know?’ He said, ‘Because they were all baptized in the same tank.’

“You see, in this prison, everything is segregated by race. Each race has its own shower and toilet, sink and place to eat. You never eat or shower at the other race’s area. It can get you stabbed or killed. These men, of different races, were being baptized in the same tank. That can get them in trouble with their own race group. All they really have now is the church body.

“In our day, and in our country, I never thought that a baptism could get you killed.”

Here is risk for the sake of the gospel.

Here is also a beautiful picture of how Christ tears down the separation of the races and creates one new race in himself.

Those who belong to Jesus Christ are now brothers with the same Father, who share in the same inheritance, and look forward to the same eternal destiny.

Christians Are Human, Too

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ Leave a comment

Have you had days when you feel despairing and without hope? You wallow in unbelief and self-pity accompanied by great heaving sobs? And to top things off,  you know those thoughts don’t honor the character of God, which makes you feel even more wretched.

Does God still love you in times like these?

Did God love David, Job, Jeremiah, and countless others who poured out their feelings in times of crisis and suffering? Some, like Job, even took God to task.

The answer is a resounding YES! He does love you.

You know what? Christians are human, too.

Just read the Psalms. Every emotion is there. The ups and downs, the anger, the confusion, the despondency, the hurt and the suffering.

There isn’t a human emotion that isn’t recorded there. And aren’t you glad. You serve a God who isn’t turned off or shocked by your raw feelings.

And he still loves you.

Jesus understands. He faced it all. And he suffered perfectly, without sin. And that perfect record has been given to you!

“This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (New Living Translation)

Whatever else you do while the going is rough, remember to run to Jesus, your sympathetic High Priest, and tell him how you feel, and  he will comfort and give you grace.

Why Doesn’t God Answer Me?

~ godisnotlikeyou ~ 2 Comments

Have you ever wondered why God sometimes doesn’t answer your prayers?

Well, you’re not alone.

Not all of Jesus’ prayers were answered either.

C.S. Lewis has some stunning thoughts on the subject:

It would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as a sort of court favorites, people who have influence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer enough for that.

You’re in good company if you have prayers that have gone unanswered.

It’s also the experience of every Christian. Paul didn’t have his prayer answered for the thorn in his flesh. Instead, he learned that God’s grace was sufficient for him, especially in his weakness, so God’s strength could show through.

If you’re struggling with this, here are 4 things to comfort you about unanswered prayer:

1. God hears every prayer

2. Every prayer will be answered in its fullness when Christ returns

3. Even if your prayer is answered here and now, it still is not fully realized until the Kingdom comes

4. The Holy Spirit, which God has given you as His guarantee of the coming Kingdom, is God’s promise of all your hopes and dreams for yourself, your family, your ministry, the masses of people who don’t know Christ that you have been praying for — all will be fulfilled in Christ.

God invites you to trust him because he’s up to something far more grand!