| — | The King Jesus Gospel, By Scot McKnight |
love is not lost
Posts tagged with "gospel"
Christian theology is about the gospel, which is focused on who Jesus is and what he said and did. Jesus is the hero of history and the centerpiece of the entire Bible…
When we limit the gospel to being spread through money, we rob God’s people the joy of living the true Christian life.
Jesus never said, “Give your money so the gospel can be spread.”
He said, “Come to me, I will make you fishers of men.”
Jesus never said, “Go & make money so I can preach the gospel.”
He empowered his disciples to spread the gospel themselves.
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A nobody, trying to love somebody, outside of myself. |
Anonymous asked...
I have been having the same revelation about the relational Jesus as appose to the Jesus binding us in law, and yet I am at attendance at a bible school that teaches such law believing they are free. I am an RA of a dorm and a leader at the school, which I don't really care about, but i am none the less. I want to remain in honor towards the school, and respect the position I'm in and yet learn more about the true and yet sometimes Cliche freedom of Jesus. How would you go about doing this?
I am glad he is revealing himself to you right now. He has never bound us to law, and he has always been relational. Consistently we see Jesus speaking of man (He called them Pharisees, Sadducees & Scribes of his day) being the ones that point us to law, and try to control us by leading us only to ourselves, through telling us to muster up our own strength. That only leads to pride and more bondage if we can do it, and guilt if we can’t. I counsel you to do what Jesus told us to do. Give up! Surrender your life to Christ and his work that he has already don for you on the cross. Jesus never got rid of the law…
Matthew 5:17–20 | Christ Came to Fulfill the Law
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
So you see, he came to fulfill the law for us. So that through his righteousness we can be free to know God! This is the Gospel! The GOOD NEWS! That he did it for us! He bore the heavy lifting! For only God can be sinless and obey the law perfectly.
So then Jesus tells us…
Matthew 22:36–40
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
He sums up all the law into two things, to love God and love thy neighbor. Two things that by his Spirit we can do when we have surrendered to the work of Christ in our lives. He tells us that ‘On these two commandments depend all the law and the Prophets’. Everything in life is about our surrender to Christ, to live out these two things.
Remember that he told us…
Matthew 10:38–39
38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
So that is my advice to you. Love God with all your heart. Pray for him to give you a hunger for him and his word that will not be satisfied with anything but him. Read your bible everyday, don’t just take my word for it, or someone else’s word for it, read it yourself everyday! Read it through, not in parts. The Bible is not an encyclopedia, it is a story. Perhaps begin with the gospels, and watch the Holy Spirit lead you and transform you.
Stay faithful to the RA position God gave you. Use it as an opportunity to allow God’s love to flow through you to those students on your floor. Live the second commandment, love your neighbor. Serve them, sacrifice for them, point them to Jesus.
Grace and peace,
Zac
| — | A nobody |
| — | Mark Driscoll |
