Of First Importance is a great site and if you do not visit the site regularly or receive the email then you must. There was a great quote on there from a couple days ago from John Stott. It speaks to us of our total unworthiness and the absolute surety of cross centered focus producing humility in our lives. We desperately need to look at the cross every day so that our thinking is radically transformed and we live in His strength and not ours. Looking at and meditating on the cross produces something in us. It produces an intense passion to live for the one who died for us to the glory of God the Father. Life is not about me. Life is not about you. Life is about Christ. Becoming like Christ and pursuing to know Christ in everything that He is so that we can bring glory to God the Father. That is why we are here. That is why we were created.
Through my time at Northland and friendships created there as well as messages by numerous pastors and sermons by John Piper God has instilled in me a passion to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named. John Piper calls it a Holy Ambition. That is the title I selected for the blog because the first step in that passion to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named begins this summer in North Africa for 6 weeks. Lord willing I will be uploading pictures and giving updates periodically over the next 6 weeks. May God be glorified and may Christ be known among the nations. "May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His sufferings!"
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One More Quote (This chapter was too good)
"We often blame God for the injustices done to us and harbor in our souls the bitter feeling that God has not been fair toward us. Even if we recognize that He is gracious, we think that he has not been gracious enough. We think we deserve more grace.
Please read that last sentence again: We think we deserve more grace. What is wrong with that sentence? Grammatically it is fine. But there is something seriously wrong with the content, with the meaning of the sentence.
It is impossible for anyone, anywhere, anytime to deserve grace. Grace by definition is undeserved. As soon as we talk about deserving something, we are no longer talking about grace; we are talking about justice. Only justice can be deserved. God is never obligated to be merciful. Mercy and grace must be voluntary or they are no longer mercy and grace. God never "owes" grace. He reminds us more than once: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" (Exod. 33:19) This is the divine prerogative. God reserves for Himself the supreme right of executive clemency.
Suppose ten people sin and sin equally. Suppose God punishes five of them and is merciful to the other five. Is this injustice? No! IN this situation five people get justice and five get mercy. No one gets injustice. What we tend to assume is this: If God is merciful to five, He must be equally merciful to the other five. Why? He is never obligated to be merciful. If He is merciful to nine of the ten, the tenth cannot claim to be a victim of injustice. God never owes mercy. God is not obliged to treat all people equally. If He were ever unjust to us, we would have reason to complain. But simply because He grants mercy to my neighbor, it gives me no claim on His mercy. Again we must remember the mercy is always voluntary. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."
Please read that last sentence again: We think we deserve more grace. What is wrong with that sentence? Grammatically it is fine. But there is something seriously wrong with the content, with the meaning of the sentence.
It is impossible for anyone, anywhere, anytime to deserve grace. Grace by definition is undeserved. As soon as we talk about deserving something, we are no longer talking about grace; we are talking about justice. Only justice can be deserved. God is never obligated to be merciful. Mercy and grace must be voluntary or they are no longer mercy and grace. God never "owes" grace. He reminds us more than once: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" (Exod. 33:19) This is the divine prerogative. God reserves for Himself the supreme right of executive clemency.
Suppose ten people sin and sin equally. Suppose God punishes five of them and is merciful to the other five. Is this injustice? No! IN this situation five people get justice and five get mercy. No one gets injustice. What we tend to assume is this: If God is merciful to five, He must be equally merciful to the other five. Why? He is never obligated to be merciful. If He is merciful to nine of the ten, the tenth cannot claim to be a victim of injustice. God never owes mercy. God is not obliged to treat all people equally. If He were ever unjust to us, we would have reason to complain. But simply because He grants mercy to my neighbor, it gives me no claim on His mercy. Again we must remember the mercy is always voluntary. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."
1 comment:
We will be praying daily for the unleashing of the Gospel. Praise God that you were able to share the Gospel with the Somalians, the family from the Congo, and the Spanish man. Just let the Gospel do its work. Continue that holy ambition.
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