Rewind: Week Three

Wow. Three weeks? Really? That time has seriously flown by. This morning was the third Sunday service at Coram Deo that I have been able to attend since I have been here. Kendal was preaching on worship and what it should mean to us. His message was that we do not need to learn how to worship, but how to worship God. The biggest problem with our struggles in worshipping God is that we are placing something other than God as ultimate in our life. We all have a god. The problem is the object we worship. He said that for Christians, worship is the act of ascribing ultimate worth to God in such a way that engages our whole being. And we do this through a Gospel-centered life that comes through community and rhythmical living, intentionally pursuing and incorporating Truth in our lives. Worshipping God is the only thing that doesn't distort our lives because he reorients us and fulfills our joy to its most complete level. I really enjoyed his sermon.

There was a guest in the congregation this morning as well. JD Senkbile was one of the people who helped to start Coram Deo four years ago. Since then, he has gone on to move himself and his family to Capetown, South Africa where he now lives as a missionary for the Gospel. He updated us all on what has been happening over there since he arrived. It was really neat to hear his stories and learn about how God is moving over there right now. And it was nice to finally put a face to the name of the guy I've heard so much about. This next year, he and his wife will probably be embarking upon a journey of planting a new church there through the Acts 29 organization. So be in prayer for them in that.

I have been listening to a lot of sermons during my time here in Omaha, mostly from Matt Chandler and John Piper, and I have noticed that they love to underscore the fact that we are all completely hopeless and worthless sinners outside of a relationship with Jesus. Without Christ in our lives, we are all condemned to hell. But the beautiful avenue of hope that exists in our world is that we were created for a relationship with our Heavenly Father and to worship Christ for the sacrifice he made for us. What is interesting to me is how simple the Gospel really is in theory. We are to emulate the character of Jesus, worship the Lord our God with all our heart and soul, and love our neighbors as ourselves. However, these simple commands are so difficult in practice as we begin to stumble over the realization of our hopelessness in breaking the chains that have enslaved us to sin. The challenge is growing in our respect for the holiness of God while simultaneously deepening our understanding of the sins that plague our character. A healthy growth in Christ should not lead to us feeling better about ourselves. Rather, it should lead to a deepening sense of love and worship for God as he hollows out the rotten portions of our lives in order to fill them with his purpose. We should become less dependent on our own abilities in light of our sins and more dependent on God to cleanse us of them and use them for his glory. Paul understood this well and there is a verse in 1 Timothy in which he underscores this point plainly:

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."
1 Timothy 1:15-16

I find a lot of encouragement in these words. The fact that Christ Jesus has unlimited patience towards the sins of those who trust in him and receive a relationship with him gives me sincere hope. But what strikes me most about this passage is Paul's description of himself as "the worst of sinners." I mean, when it comes to the New Testament, this guy is THE man. In fact, when it comes to any influential ambassador of the Word of God, Paul has the gold medal. He was deeper in his faith, understanding, and love for the person of Jesus than most of us could ever hope to be. He could cast out demons with mere words and he had the power to heal those crippled by disease and physical ailments. And in response to all of this, he considers himself "the worst of sinners." This passage emulates a Gospel to me that is so often overlooked in our culture. People think that a relationship with Christ is supposed to make you feel better about yourself and that reading the Bible will be a self-esteem boost. But I would suggest that if you think the Bible is supposed to improve your perception of yourself, you have no idea what the Bible really says.

God's Word is Truth. And truth hurts. It serves to remind us that Christ came into this world to die on the cross for our sins so that we might enter into a relationship with him that would bring us into an eternal place of worship and glorifying him for loving us. We do not deserve it and we cannot earn it by any means of effort or perceived obedience because "our righteous acts are like filthy rags" before the feet of the Lord (Isaiah 64:6). It is not about religion. The Gospel is a relationship. And as we grow in that relationship, we realize more and more how wicked a people we are because we grow in our understanding of God's perfection and holiness. But I feel sorry for those who forget God's forgiveness for our sins. How easily we forget these Truths as believers. And I am saying this in light of a scripture I happened over in the last couple of days. I cannot tell you how many times I have read this without it sinking in to my heart. But it speaks directly to our relationship with our sins after we have begun our relationship with Christ. And that goes for any sin, cyclical or not.

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sin against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."
2 Corinthians 5:16-19

How do we miss this? How have I glanced over this Truth without it ever speaking to my heart? Or more specifically, how have I read this without understanding how it translates directly to my sins? When we enter into a relationship with Christ, we are a "new creation." Therefore, whatever sin has haunted your life, it is part of the past. Whatever pain has defined the person you are has since come to pass. You are not your sin. You are not your pain. You are a child of God. Moreover, God sent his Son to die for us so that we might be reconciled to him. His primary objective was not even to punish us for our sins! For a humanity drowning in evil, how loving a demonstration is this by the God who created us? How gracious is he that we would be permitted to live in this life even in our wicked state of continual disobedience? Life is a journey through which we are given opportunities to experience the Gospel with every breath in every day. When we enter into a relationship with Christ, we are incorporated into his story and are given opportunities through which we can allow others to see and experience the Gospel with our lives. It is so important that we spend our energy to learn these Truths and receive them in such a way so as to share them with others. By receiving Christ's forgiveness of our sins and allowing him to change our hearts in such a way that we become a new creation in him and rest in the grace that our sins are not counted against us, we become living vessels of God's word in order that the lost might experience the hope found in Jesus' sacrifice. Because the purpose of the Gospel is not to make us feel better about ourselves. In fact, the purpose of the Gospel is simply to emphasize the fact that it is not about us at all.

For me, that is a comforting feeling. Because I know from previous times in my life that when I try to make my life about me and do things on my own, I always disappoint myself. It is comforting to let go. There is peace in giving up. And there is so much life to be found in discarding our own ideas of what will give us joy and worth. Truth should be our ambition. Know it. Pray for it. Share it. Because this is who we are.

His Story.

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will to suffer for doing good than evil."
1 Peter 3:15-17