The Gospel & my Christian Life

Two People:

The Self-Righteous

Some feel very liberated by the truth of Jesus. But they have the idea that this freedom gives them a reason to be condemning in their speech of others.

The Self-Serving:

Some feel very liberated by the truth of Jesus. But they are not self-aware, and they continue in active sin without any conscience.

Both of these stem from having heard the gospel, having understood the gospel but not continued to understand and increase in knowledge of the gospel.

What does real gospel freedom look like in my life?

What are some ways that I can tell where I am at in my understanding & belief of the true gospel?

(1) Our ears & our mouths can help me to identify where I am at ()

This goes to both what we say

And what we hear (what we hear has a greater impact upon us than we think) -

It impregnates our thinking with growing sin (, )

Have you recently taken in destructive talk against someone?

Is your relationship to other believers existent enough to even warrant this kind of risk?

Gossip and Garbage

This also speaks about what we say consequently ()

A gossiper usually knows where to take his garbage. Avoid making your ears someone else’s garbage cans.

This also speaks about what we say consequently ()

What reasons do you give for making gossip ok? Friendships, Family…etc)?

5615 Unlike That Pharisee

A Sunday School teacher had done a good piece of teaching her class of boys, explaining the hard heart of the Pharisee. What a thing for a man to say: “I thank thee, that I am not as other men are!” This surely was no attitude for anyone to take. At the close of the lesson she had the youngsters lead in short prayers, and one boy, without any apparent beating on his own chest, prayed: “We thank thee, God, that we are not like that Pharisee!” Do we sometimes pray like that boy? ()

—United Presbyterian

Is your relationship to other believers existent enough to even warrant this kind of risk?

(2) Our hearts & our hands can help me identify where I am at ()

Paul divides the “works of the flesh” into four areas that we cannot discuss in detail:

(1) sexual sins: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery”;

(2) religious sins: “idolatry and witchcraft”;

(3) social sins: “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy”;

(4) drinking sins: “drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (McKnight, S. (1995). Galatians (p. 270). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)

What do you want?

McKnight, S. (1995). Galatians (p. 270). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)

Doing the Unnatural

Topics: Behavior; Conduct; Depravity; Desires; Ethics; Habits; Human Nature; Lust; Morality; Pleasure; Sexual Immorality; Sinful Nature

References: ; ; ; ; ;

Many people justify a variety of behaviors by calling them “natural.” Here’s what M. Scott Peck says about that: “Calling it natural does not mean it is essential or beneficial or unchangeable behavior. It is also natural to defecate in our pants and never brush our teeth. Yet we teach ourselves to do the unnatural until the unnatural itself becomes second nature. Indeed, all self-discipline might be defined as teaching ourselves to do the unnatural.”

—M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled (Touchstone, 1998)

What do you do?

The Monster Inside

Topics: Abuse; Anger; Cruelty; Depravity; Evil; Human Condition; Human Nature; Sin; Temper; Temptation; Violence

References: ; ; ; ; ;

Journalist Hunter Thompson, longtime contributor to Rolling Stone magazine and author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, committed suicide in 2005 at age sixty-seven. His addiction to drugs and alcohol and his abusive actions toward others were no secret. After his death, his first wife, Sandy Conklin-Thompson, wrote:

He was, on the one hand, extremely loving and tender, brilliant and exciting, generous and kind. On the other end of the spectrum—he was full spectrum—he was extremely cruel.…

I will never forget something Hunter once said to me. In one of his tender moments, I asked him if he knew when he was about to become the Monster. He said, “Sandy, it’s like this. I sense it first, and before I have completely turned around he is there. He is me.”

—Sondi Wright, “He Was Full Spectrum,” Rolling Stone (March 2005)

Conclusion:

How do I become the kind of gospel-believing Christian I say that I am?

(1) Assess your life in light of Jesus Christ ()

See your entire life in light of Jesus Christ.

See all of your activities in light of what Jesus Christ has done.

Athletics

Gaming

Relationships

Are you enslaved to anything or anyone other than Jesus?

(2) Assess your influences in light of Jesus Christ ()

To assess someone’s influence upon you does not mean you are vindictive or unkind, but it means that if they are drawing you to place your faith in something or someone else, you should be cautious.

To minimize the importance of a gospel community is dangerous. Regular attendance and activity attendance under Christ-centered influence is necessary.

Who are the influences in your life, who are religious, but they draw you to believe another gospel?

(3) Assess your love for the brethren ()

Do your words & activities show evidence of God’s Spirit?

Loving to Say Yes

Topics: Brokenness; Christian Life; Evil Desires; God’s Love; Obedience; Sin; Temptation

References: ;

I cannot continuously say no to this or no to that unless there is something ten times more attractive to choose. Saying no to my lust, my greed, my needs, and the world’s powers takes an enormous amount of energy. The only hope is to find something so obviously real and attractive that I can devote all my energies to saying yes.

One such thing I can say yes to is when I come in touch with the fact that I am loved. Once I have found that in my total brokenness I am still loved, I become free from the compulsion of doing successful things.

—Henri Nouwen, “Hearing God’s Voice and Obeying His Word,” Leadership (Winter 1982)