Faith Will Become Sight

From the Epilogue of Jonathan Dodson's, "Gospel-Centered Discipleship." This was too good not to post.

"One day the fight will be over. Faith will become sight. Our image will be perfectly aligned with Christ's image. Our affection for Christ will be so strong that it will be chief among ten thousand. All competitors for his attention will bow before him, and we will recover a childish, yet mature delight that will never cease to thrill our souls. Every act will be a natural act of obedience sparked by joy. The warnings will fade and the promises will be fulfilled. Threats will no longer be necessary and rewards will abound. The Spirit will have full sway in our gladdened hearts as we live forever in Spirit-led worship. We will no longer lean toward performance or license. The gospel will be central forever. Our conversions will be complete, our community characterized by love, and our mission colored in worship. We will no longer know our sin, fight our sin, or struggle to trust our Savior. Until then, may God grant us his sovereign grace to fight the good fight of faith, for our joy, and for his eternal glory."

He is THE Saving God

Mike, I as well am excited to have settled into a summer routine finally, and look forward to reading and sharing what we are learning. Here's something I stumbled across, which serves as such a simple reminder to me.

....

"On the one hand, 'salvation belongs to ... God.' That is, salvation is God's property, not ours. And on the other hand, 'salvation belongs to our God.' That is, salvation is part of God's identity - he is the saving God (as no other god is)...According to the Bible, religion saves nobody. God does...We are saved because God has acted, in Christ, to accomplish salvation for us...Our Christianity is the response we make, in faith and life, to the saving acts of God."

Christopher J.H. Wright, Salvation Belongs to Our God

Text: Revelation 7: 10

"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

What God Has Done For Us in Colossians

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might" Colossians 1:11

"who has qualified you to share in the inheritance" Colossians 1:12

"He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son" Colossians 1:13

"in whom we have redemption" Colossians 1:14

"But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death" Colossians 1:22

"in order to present you holy and blameless" Colossians 1:22

"the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints" Colossians 1:26

"God chose to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery" Colossians 1:27

"and you have been filled in him" Colossians 2:10

"in him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature" Colossians 2:11

"having been buried with him in baptism" Colossians 2:12

"you were raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God" Colossians 2:12

"And you who were dead in your trespasses....God made alive together with him" Colossians  2:13

"having forgiven us all our trespasses" Colossians 2:13

"By canceling the record of debt that stood against us" Colossians 2:13

"He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame" Colossians 2:13


He has strengthened us, qualified us, delivered us from darkness and transferred us to light, redeemed us,  reconciled us, he presents us holy and blameless, he has revealed the mystery of the gospel to us, he has chosen to make himself known to us, he has circumcised us with a true circumcision, we've been buried with him in baptism and raised with him in faith, he has made us alive, he has forgiven us our sins, he has cancelled our debt through the cross, and he has disarmed the rulers and authorities of this world.

All this good news in just two chapters of one book.

The Degree of God's Forgiveness

All taken from Psalm 103.

"who forgives ALL your iniquity,

who heals ALL your diseases,

who redeems YOUR LIFE from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who SATISFIES you with good"

The forgiveness we have in Christ is complete. It is not partial. In the Gospel, ALL our sins are forgiven, not just some. ALL our diseases are healed, we are not partially restored. OUR WHOLE LIFE is redeemed from the pit, and God truly satisfies us. He does not do 99% of the work then leave it up to us to earn forgiveness. He does not merely give us the remedy for our diseases in hope that we use it correctly. He does not reach his hand down into the pit in hopes that we grab it. Rather, He did what we could have never done. He accomplished our forgiveness at the Cross. He restores our wounds by His touch. He saw our helpless souls, dead to sin, lying in the pit, and in His infinite mercy reached down and pulled us up. He doesn't give us fake satisfaction as the pleasures of the world do, but He is the bread of life, who can truly satisfy the souls of men. More so, he laid down His life so that we could receive him.

And to what degree is this forgiveness?

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him." --Psalm 103:11-13

"But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him"

Psalm 103:17

David gives 4 examples to measure God's love and forgiveness to His people. As with the first verses we read, none of them are partial. They aren't quantitative. They are infinite, eternal, and unconditional. His steadfast love reaches as high as the heavens. Our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west. His compassion is compared to a Father's love for a child. Lastly, his steadfast love is said to be from everlasting to everlasting. So, how far are the heavens above the earth, or far is the east from the west. Immeasurable. Infinite. If our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west, they are NO MORE. In the words of Charles Spurgeon, "If this be the distance of its removal, there is no shade of fear of its ever being brought back again."

The LORDS love to His covenant people is forever. It is complete. It is eternal. He is faithful. My only response is to echo David in saying

"Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless His holy name!

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all His benefits"

Psalm 103:1-2

What Do You Rejoice In?

"What you rejoice in is the thing that is your central sweetness and consolation in life. To rejoice is to treasure a thing, to assess its value to you, to reflect on its beauty and importance until your heart rests in it and tastes the sweetness of it."

Tim Keller

What do you rejoice in? The Bible says we are to 'rejoice' and 'delight' in God. Sometimes I wonder why it often so hard for me to do this. It is far easier for me to get excited, and treasure watching my favorites athlete (Derrick Rose) take over a game in the 4th quarter and lead his team to victory. I have no problem delighting in earning good grades, or having a good time with friends. This sunday, I will be quick to rejoice when the Bears score. But why is it so hard for me to delight in God? Why is reading the Bible more like pulling teeth than it is a joyful delight. Why am I more drawn and enamored with stuff instead of God and His Word. Why do I often times delight in trivial 'things' more than God.

At a fundamental level, it is because I do not fully believe the Gospel. I think Tim Keller's quote hits the nail on the head. We delight in something because it is valuable to us, because we have assessed it's beauty and treasure it. If this is true, the reason I don't delight in God is that I have failed to properly assess God's value and the true treasure that He is. I have failed to see the beauty of the Gospel. In my few moments of Gospel sanity, when for a moment, I taste the overwhelming goodness of the Father expressed through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on my behalf, in those moments, I am apt to delight in God. During those glimpses of grace (shout out Erik Most), I experience the fullness of joy that is in Christ.

However, in order to do this, we must properly assess the value of the Gospel. Tim Keller defines the Gospel as the fact that we are far worse, and far more hopeless than we could ever imagine, yet, in Christ, we are more loved and accepted than we could ever hope. In order to assess the value of the Gospel, we must understand both sides. If we don't see ourselves as utterly sinful, naked, blind, poor, lost, miserable souls, who if it weren't for the sheer grace of God, would be justly consumed by His wrath, the Gospel will never be valuable to us. It will never be good news. There is a reason Jesus said, "He who is forgiven little, loves little. But he who is forgiven much, loves much". Grace won't be amazing to us unless we realize what we've been saved from. A shackled slave who is redeemed rejoices. A beggar who has been adopted by the King and made into a Son rejoices. Someone who thinks they are a generally good person and deserves salvation on their merit does not rejoice.

More so, we will only be able to rightly rejoice in God when we realize God's absolute benevolence towards His children. If you are in Christ, you are beloved. You are more loved than you can imagine. Christians should rejoice in God because they have been saved from their utter state of sin and brought into the glorious light. We were unlovely, but we have been loved by the most lovely. Love to the loveless shown, that we might lovely be. When I dwell on this, I treasure God above all else. Knowing both ends, that we are utterly sinful and hopeless, yet completely loved and secure in Christ's finished work, will cause us to rightly assess the Gospel's value, to rightly treasure it, and to see its pure beauty. And when this happens, we will rejoice and delight in God.

I pray God will continue to illuminate my heart to the true treasure that Christ is, and the absolute beauty of the Gospel; that God saves messed up sinners.

Some Rest Y'all

simple but great song by Coffey called 'All Ye'

Underlying Sin

"The sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ, that we must take matters into our own hands."

Martin Luther

Famous Last Words

Buddha: "Never cease striving"

Jesus: "It is finished"

Redemption is accomplished. Period.