Which is Clearer?

I've come across two different interviews of famous (or sorta famous) people who are attempting to articulate their understanding of the Gospel. One of the interviewees is well-known pastor. The other is the lead singer of one of the most popular rock bands of all time (and probably the only person whose picture actually does appear in the dictionary under the definition of "cool."). Who do you think more clearly articulates the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Interview #1
"I often put it this way: If there is a God, some sort of Divine Being, Mind, Spirit, and all of this is not just some random chance thing, and history has some sort of movement to it, and you have a connection with Whatever—that is awesome. Hard and awesome and creative and challenging and provoking.

And there is this group of people who say that whoever that being is came up among us and took on flesh and blood—Andrew Sullivan talks about this immense occasion the world could not bear. So a church would be this odd blend of swagger—an open tomb, come on—and humility and mystery. The Resurrection accounts are jumbled and don't really line up with each other—I really relate to that. Yet something momentous has burst forth in the middle of history. You just have to have faith, and you get caught up in something."

Interview #2

"But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled … It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven."

You can click here for the full Interview #1 and here for Interview #2 and to find out who is who.

Faith & Repentance

God is a loving God. Sin is deadly. Jesus saves. These statements are all true. But the question is, “How do these become true in my life?” Jesus taught that they come by repentance and faith.

What is repentance? Repentance is a 180 degree turn. It means to renounce any belief that you are able to make yourself right before God. It means to confess to God your sin, wrong attitude, evil desire, and guilt. It is turning from yourself and turning to Jesus Christ in faith.

The other side of the coin of repentance is faith. What is faith? Faith is the knowledge of God’s promise, the belief that God’s promise is true and the trust that God’s promise will work. If I am rappelling down a cliff, I can know that the rope will hold my weight and still not rappel. I can believe in the knowledge that the rope will hold my weight and still not rappel. I will only rappel if I trust the rope to hold my weight. Trust is putting the belief in the knowledge into action. It is not enough to stop short of trust. Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

Repentance and faith go hand in hand. Faith is turning to Christ and repentance is turning from sin. You cannot do one without the other. This also means that when you trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation, he becomes your Savior and your Lord.

So, where does this sit with you? Do you understand the Good News? Do you believe it is true? More importantly, do you trust your life to it? Would you like to receive Jesus Christ? It is a call to repent of your sin and self trust and believe in faith in the person of Jesus Christ. The reward is to know God as a father. John 1:12 says, “But to all who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

If you truly want to repent and believe in Jesus Christ, you can do so right now. You can pray and ask for understanding of the Gospel. You can ask God for the ability to repent and turn from sin and self trust. You can ask God for the faith to trust in Christ. Here is a sample prayer:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I need your forgiveness. Thank you for living a sinless life and dying a sinner’s death on the cross for my sins. I now turn from my sinfulness and self-trust, and I place my trust in you alone for the forgiveness of my sins and the free gift of eternal life. I now receive you as my Risen Lord and Savior. Thank You for taking my sins upon yourself and giving me the gift of your righteousness through faith. Take control of my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.

The Good News After the Bad News

The issue of sin is a gloomy one. It is even more so when it becomes apparent that sin is not only an out there issue, but an in here issue. There is Good News, though. God is not unaware of our tremendous need. He knows that are dead, lost, and helpless in our sin, and he has provided the solution in person of Jesus Christ.
God is just. He must punish the sin that seeks to rob him of that which can only be his. God is also merciful. He loves to show mercy. Our sin deserves God’s punishment, but God in his mercy has provided another way. This is through Jesus Christ. It is through what Jesus Christ did and what Jesus Christ promises.
Jesus is God. He is God who took on humanity and lived the sinless life. Jesus was faced with every temptation that we face. The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Every issue that you face, Jesus faced. There is no pressure, issue or temptation that you deal with that Jesus has not met head on and been victorious. This is the Good News, because we all struggle with issues that constantly seem to drag us down. We all feel the weight of failure before God. We have all felt unworthy. God knows those issues, and he has overcome them. And that victory can be given to you. Instead of the defeat and weight of failure, we can be credited with Jesus’ victory and freedom.
How? Jesus lived the life we could not live and then died the death we deserved to die. Death on the cross was one of the most horrible manners of death. The pain would be excruciating, slow, and brutal. But the physical pain of the cross was not the worst suffering that Jesus faced. He also faced the full wrath of God, paying the full penalty for sin. The punishment that God demanded for sin was fully paid by Jesus. God’s justice had been satisfied, and those who have faith in Christ stand before God as righteous. But that isn’t all, Jesus did not remain in the grave. In a demonstration of the satisfaction of God’s justice and of Jesus’ victory of his enemies, he rose from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is the proof of his victory for us. Because of what Jesus did, we can believe in what Jesus promises us. The apostle Paul wrote, “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus’ record of withstanding temptation is given to you through his death and resurrection.
Jesus not only promises us a new record before God, but a new heart. Our heart before Jesus was enslaved to sin. That enslavement has been broken through Christ and he has given us a new heart with new desires. Through Christ our passions are turned so that we long to honor God and enjoy him. We are given the Holy Spirit who empowers and guides our lives. We still live in a world that is dominated by sin and we will continue to feel the affects of sin in our own lives until heaven, but we begin to know the freedom from the bondage of sin.
And the benefit of a new record before God and a new heart for God is added with a new creation. God will completely redeem his world. We will be completely delivered from the power and presence of sin in this world. There will be no more death or pain. Our bodies and souls will be made new and whole. The world will be as it was intended.

A Message about God

There is a God. It is a pretty simple statement with which most people agree. Increasingly, though, people have questioned this most basic of statements. There are many avenues we could look at to try and prove there is a God. But it ultimately boils down to this, there either is or there isn’t a God.
If there is no God, then none of this matters. Really, nothing matters beyond yourself…so if you can get away with something, do it…and enjoy. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die. And that’s it. You live, you die, nothing of consequence happens in between. It may seem consequential to you, but after you’re dead, it is completely inconsequential to you. That, however, probably doesn’t sit with you. You have a sense that there must be something more. But if there is no God, there is nothing more.
But what if there is a God? If there is a God, what is he/she/it like? If there is a God, has he told us anything about himself? The Bible speaks of a God who is there and who has spoken. There is a God. He is a God who is both infinite and personal. He created all things and knows all things.
There are many attributes of God but two speak with great import to our situation. The first is that God is just and requires punishment for sin. The second is that God is merciful and loves to show grace.
God’s justice is tied to the fact that he is holy. Holiness is being set apart, separate, pure, and undefiled. For God to remain holy, he must eradicate anything which would defile him. God’s justice sees sin as a gross offense and seeks to punish and eliminate it. Our sin is a rebellion against God. God will not tolerate a stain on his perfection. His justice demands that sin be punished. “Yet, he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation,” (Exodus 34:7b) and “…for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:8, 9).
The situation is dire for all humans. There is not a one who has not done evil. None of us can escape the wrath of God based on our own goodness. God will justly mete out punishment.
But God is also merciful. God loves to show grace and mercy. God created all people in his image. He loves us. We are made to reflect his goodness and this pleases him. “As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” Ezekiel 33:11. God desires to show us mercy.
These two attributes are not in opposition to each other. It is not that one of these attributes takes a back seat to other. Both are fully realized. God’s justice has been fully realized and his mercy has been and will be fully realized. They do not oppose each other; rather they meet in one specific point. They meet at the Cross.