Gospel Awakening | in full view of the cross

The Gospel & Renewal of all things

In the never ending quest of preaching the gospel to myself (see Preaching the Gospel to Yourself), I have been studying hymns to remind myself of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross.  Isaac Watts is quickly becoming one my favorite hymn writers. In light of CrossPointe’s mission (to see the beauty, harmony and wholeness of God's Kingdom reign in our lives and in our communities, as the Gospel radically orients us to Jesus and His mission of renewing the world), his great Christmas hymn “Joy to the World” is powerful.  He paraphrases Psalm 96 in stanza 2 which is a summation of God’s historical redemptive work that culminates at the cross and is consummated ultimately by the return of Christ in which all of creation is redeemed under His rule and reign.

 

 

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,

Then, in striking language, he announces that the kingdom of Christ means the complete reversal of all the curse of sin pronounced by God in Genesis 3.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found!

The cross reverses the curse and ushers in the Kingdom of God which is the means by which all of creation will be renewed.  The reach of the curse does not exceed that of the cross. From the throne of Christ, the exalted king, flows new life and power such that no disease, decay, poverty, blemish, or pain can stand before it (Revelation 21.4). This is our hope and joy. It is a gospel joy worth repeating in worship for all of eternity.

In full view of the cross.

Chan

Penn & Sharing Christ

I know the video we showed on Sunday has been passed around a lot, but I want you to watch it again now.  While you do, wrestle with the question how much do have to hate someone to not share Christ with them? Not much.  You just need to love your comfort, convenience, reputation more than you love that person.   Feeling convicted?  Good you should take comfort in the fact that you are God’s child and that he will discipline those he loves.  “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3.19)  Let me give you 3 practical ways to be zealous and repent:

1. Begin to intercede for someone who is outside the faith. 
2. Invest humbly and authentically in their lives. 
3. Invite them to join one Sunday during our Practical Atheist or on Easter Sunday, April 12th. 

Thanks for your friendships and partnership in the gospel.

What difference does my life make?

Have you ever ask yourself that question?  What is the motive behind it?  Ambition, Fame, Wealth, Respect, Attention? I suppose deep down inside my soul at least one if not all those things lay buried in my motives to desire to help people--to truly make a difference.  In my reading I came across a couple of paragraphs in the A Journey Worth Taking by Charles D. Drew that helped me refocus on the simplicity of daily obedience. 

 

Our job is not to clamor after those thing that only God can give; it is to leave the “big picture” in God’s hands and press on with whatever requires our obedience today.  God will break in if and when he chooses.  Our job is to be found working steadily at our posts, however insignificant that post may seem to be, when Christ comes.  Every act of trust-driven obedience, however obscure, is noted.  Every choice to let go of the glory, every decision to wait for fulfillment so that I can care for somebody else, is weighty with meaning. In ways that I can never imagine, but will one day see, every such choice shifts the flow of history and increases God’s own delight.  “Whoever finds his life,” said Jesus, “will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10.39).

 

I love that.  Faithful, daily obedience “shifts the flow of history and increase God’s own delight.”  May God’s delight be our ultimate motivation. 

Power? 16 and has the car keys.

My baby is happy because she past her driving test. Homeland security has elevated the threat level. Actually she drives very well. I'm a proud dad taking pics in the DMV.

GOSPEL AWAKENING

I have just finished a biography of Jonathan Edwards by author George M. Marsden.  Most people’s only exposure to Edwards is a forced reading of his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in a high school American Literature class. This sermon heavily reflects the wrath of God, but much of Edwards’s sermons and writings dealt with the beauty of God.  Marsden describes Edwards’s thoughts on the beauty of God as:  “Sinful people were so preoccupied with their own pleasures that they never glimpse God’s true love. Once their eyes were opened to see the beautiful and wondrous love of the perfect Christ’s sacrifice for undeserving sinners such as themselves, they would be so drawn to that beauty that their hearts would be changed.  Their most fundamental disposition would be to love God and whatever God loved.”  This radical reorientation of life is a Gospel Awakening! 

 

I find deep within myself a preoccupation with my own pleasure (or lack of) that I lose sight of the beauty of who God is in the face of Christ.  I desire for the beauty of God to shape my whole life, but I am so easily distracted.  How can I live every moment of my life captivated by the beauty of God?  My conclusion is to live daily in full view of the cross.  At one glance, I see both the infinite majesty of God’s holiness and my own brokenness and sin.  The cross then becomes a reminder of God’s grace.  The very thing that comforts me at the same time also convicts me.  The cross keeps me both humble and hungry for God.  

 

So this blog is an invitation for you to join me in my journey of Gospel transformation.  I will share with you how the Gospel is transforming me as a man, husband, father, and pastor.  I pray that you will be encouraged and have a deeper Gospel Awakening in your own life.