January 2010
181 posts
This has been chapter 2 of “Down to Earth” by David McDonald (@guerillahost). Buy a copy at http://samizdatcreative.com.
…you begin to understand your true wealth and wealth in the world as someone free and clean.
(End of chapter two)
Once you begin to understand what your sin costs, and what it cost Christ…
…who finally come to understand the tremendous cost Jesus Christ has paid for our sinless standing before a Holy God.
Ryan’s is a story I’ve seen retold in the lives of countless Christians…
…he’s happier…more able to enjoy life…more free from guilt, from distraction, from temptation, from the stain of his mistakes.
Because he knows that Christ willingly died not just to get rid of sin, but more importantly to give Ryan new life…
…especially not through his carelessness or lack of attention.
Because he knows that Christ had to be crucified to get rid of those sins, he’s reluctant to commit any more…
Because Ryan knows his sins have been crucified with Christ, he’s able to enjoy their absence.
Lo and behold! Ryan starts to understand just how precious a gift Jesus’ atoning death really is.
Eventually, Ryan figures some stuff out. He dives into Scripture. He gets a mentor. He’s held accountable for his indulgence.
Ryan’s cheap understanding of grace doesn’t just offend God, it hurts Ryan. It steals the only real chance he’s got to feel clean.
He still feels soiled, even after asking for forgiveness, because he thinks he’s been given a hand-me-down pair of shoes instead of the single greatest gift in the universe.
As a result, Ryan’s life is robbed of meaning. He takes no comfort in God’s grace because it’s a formula.
It’s required, but just barely, and it never interferes with whether or not he gets presents.
For Ryan, asking for forgiveness of God Almighty is like remembering to say thank you on Christmas.
Ryan has no concept of how painful it is for God to see him incur such a sin-debt, and so he lives with a disregard for God’s grace.
Ryan has no clue that God cannot merely disregard our sins, but actually has to deal with them.
All he knows is that God forgives us when we sin, but Ryan has no concept of the lengths to which God has gone to forgive that sin.
…but lives like a complete idiot because he only knows one side of the coin.
So my friend, Ryan (not his real name), grows up in church hearing about the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus his whole life…
…so you can begin to understand how comprehensive,
how involved,
how liberating,
and how powerful your new life
in Christ Jesus can be.
You have to understand just how comprehensive,
how involved,
how complicated,
and how powerful the death of Jesus really was…
But I am convinced now more than ever before in my short life that those details matter.
That, I know, was a fair amount of information to absorb…maybe more than you were thinking this book would contain.
…through repenting our old way of living
and placing our hope in Jesus Christ,
Savior of the world (Mark 1.15). http://bit.ly/6oOrXy
We participate in this New Covenant,
God’s absolute plan for healing the world
and restoring unity between Creation and Creator…
…and having exposed the limitation of sin’s power
to separate us from the life God intended us
to have (1 Corinthians 15.20-28). http://bit.ly/5fcDye
Jesus came into new life,
having been resurrected from death…
…whose perfection exposed the weakness
and emptiness of sin (Romans 5.12). http://bit.ly/8KGTeR
Now, just as sin came into the world
through the disobedience of one man,
Adam,
it was depleted by the sacrifice of one man,
Jesus Christ…
…write our own laws,
build our own little
kingdoms,
and justify our own
indulgences.
…for the sins we recklessly and franticly commit in our efforts to be our own People…#dte
He paid a terrible price that,
for all intents and purposes,
was a price we ourselves should have paid…
His blood was like spiritual liquid paper,
blotting out all our misdeeds
on the records of eternity.
…for our imperfection,
our corruption,
our rebellion,
our self-interest,
and our sin (John 1.29). http://bit.ly/7ahsO0
His death paid off any spiritual debt
the rest of the world owed to God…
He was a scapegoat (Hebrews 9-10).
His death was a sacrifice. http://bit.ly/5lB6jL
…for the crimes of all humanity (1 Peter 3.18)
by representatives of political, religious, and spiritual corruption. http://bit.ly/7nyPkN
Though guiltless of any crime (2 Corinthians 5.21),
Jesus was executed on the Cross of Calvary… http://bit.ly/8qxmHX
He lived as we should be living (1 Corinthians 11.1). http://bit.ly/71V387
…for the sole purpose of repairing creation
and reconciling man to God (John 3.16-17). http://bit.ly/92dRlQ
The New Covenant is this:
Jesus Christ,
both fully God and fully man,
came to live in this world
…empowered and sent forth by His Holy Spirit (Acts 2.42-47). http://bit.ly/5l44u6
They are lived out in a community of believers who have aligned themselves with God and His People…
This New Covenant values Justice and Mercy and Righteousness, but they aren’t just words or ideals.
…but the new Kingdom works like a franchise with each Person carrying the Kingdom inside of them (Luke 17.21).
This New Covenant has a Kingdom authority to it…
…and this new law is summed up in Loving God and Loving others (Matthew 22.34-40). http://bit.ly/7bmP4T