Recently I was asked, via email, a few questions regarding certain pieces of theology that pertain to our salvation—a pretty big deal to say the least.
My friend’s questions will be in BOLD.
I hope this serves you as it did my friend. As I continue to receive questions I will post them here with my responses. Feel free to ask.
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In order to witness and spread Jesus we have to have something to stand on. That is the Bible. We stand on that. As long as it is Biblical, we are good. And as long as we don’t run around rewriting scripture, we are good. Yes.
And then there is the part about living a life that reflects Jesus. That is the most important part. Yes—it is considered “obedience” or “holiness” or “godliness.” We are supposed to live what we believe. Yes—our “fruit.” That is how people know us and come to Jesus – not so much by our words but by our works. I believe it is best when we use both—words and “works” or “fruit.” But… it is impossible for us not to sin… right? Correct. And then there is the idea that Jesus considers all sins equal. Correct. All sin is evil in the sight of God. All sin is … sin. All sin is death. Yes—the result of our sin is death; is being banished away from God forever (that is if we never see Jesus as Lord, confess, repent and follow hard after Him). From cursing at another driver to sleeping around to murdering people…Sin has different consequences here on earth but in the sight of God, anything less than perfection or complete holiness is sin, yes.
So how does this work then? How do we live our lives as reflections of Jesus, even though we sin and are imperfect reflections? As Christians 1.) We have been saved, 2.) We are being saved, 3.) We will be saved.
- We have been saved—justification, being made “right” or perfect before the eyes of God,—this is when God gives us a new heart (changing the heart of stone to a heart of flesh). God forgives our sin—all sin past, present and future. There remains two “natures.” The capacity of sin is still very real and active; we are still very much capable of sinning.
At this point we have two natures…
a.) Our “old man”, “self” “sin nature”
b.) Our “new man”, “spirit”, our “new nature”
- We are being saved—sanctification, or our pursuit of looking more like the original image of God (the imago dei) which is considered to many today to be our “pursuit of holiness.” This is the war raging within our bodies—the fight between sin and obedience; the struggle between “right” and “wrong”; killing the “flesh” and living in the Spirit.
- We will be saved—glorification, or being made “completely perfect”—all physically, emotionally, socially, relationally, spiritually, etc.—this is when our sin nature is totally removed—the capacity of sin is no longer present; we will then be incapable of sinning.
How do we witness to people even though we sin? Our lives should reflect a deeper way of life—meaning that we should be more conscious of those around us, forgiving others, offering grace when we normally would have been very judgmental, etc. Our new life as a Christ-Follower is marked by humility, peace and love—both to the outside world and within our own lives. When we sin (we will sin), we confess (to others and to God) and repent (seek to obey the Spirit rather than the flesh)—then we see and believe that God has forgiven us because of Christ’s work for us on the cross. This brings peace. This is such a comfort. When others sin (the “unregenerate” or “lost” or “unsaved”) they will eventually experience an uneasiness with their inner being, within their souls (this “soul” is what distinguishes us from other animals on the earth) that will further lead to restlessness, bitterness, anxiety, fear, guilt, shame, and so forth. As believers, we sin but we no longer see ourselves as carrying the burden—for Christ has liberated us, He has freed us from the dominion, control and power of sin—ultimately sin itself.
When we confess, we must confess to our God in Trinity (our Triune God):
- Confess to God the Father: He has forgiven us yet we still sin. We must realize that we have offended Him.
- Confess to God the Son: Acknowledge your sin before Him and thank Him for dying for you so that God could forgive you.
- Confess to God the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is “quenched” or limited when we sin—it is as if we say to Him that His “leading us” (pushing us to obedience) was not near as important or worthy as obeying and going along with our sin nature, our flesh. We must welcome Him to consume everything in us and to pull us to better obedience as we seek to see the sin in our lives killed. It is the Spirit that awakens our heart (awareness) to our sin—He reveals the sin in our lives so that we can seek forgiveness for it.
Unconfessed sin will fester if left that way. It will lead to “spiritual-soul-rot.”
And how do we love on people when our witness is damaged by the evidence of our sins? Again, we seek forgiveness—when you otherwise could have cared but only very little. Now there is a deep concern when others are hurt because of you—even when they do not acknowledge that is a big deal. They see you living in emotional freedom—you are never beating yourself up for things done and confessed because you see them as gone because of what Christ has accomplished for you. Is that why some people can reach certain types and not others? I suppose this may be true. I wouldn’t think that you could build a strong case for this—personally.
Why this dude over here can bring druggies to Christ but this guy over here can’t even get them to talk to him? Perhaps it’s more the Spirit of God at work and less of a particular dude being “different” or appearing “cleaner.” Again, I wouldn’t try building a case here.
It is happening – already people are deriding my choices as I start to slowly come out of my hidden Christian closet. Unfortunately they will continue to do so. The evil (Satan) does not like you being redeemed. He feels as if you were stolen and now he wants to ruin you. Here’s the good news—1) you have been stolen, 2) there is nothing he can ultimately do about that and 3) he cannot ruin you.
You now belong to Jesus. When the opposition gets worse, know that it is a spiritual battle that the Lord can handle for you. He fights for His people! Fight with prayer—calling on our most powerful God to come to your rescue. He will. Also, in moments of intense deriding, please learn to rely on your Christian community. We are to work with one another—helping each other through spiritual battles.
And still I sin and have to repent – every single day. Your repentance is beautiful. You are living in the Spirit. You cannot live comfortably in your sin anymore. That is a testimony of the very Spirit of God within you! So I’m confused and trying to fit the pieces together. ‘Cause I need to be able to stand up and defend my Jesus. Rather, your Jesus will stand up and defend you. He will fight for YOU. Your life of repentance will show all the power of Jesus. Right now I’m totally a Peter – “Jesus Who? I don’t know any Jesus.” And I am NOT going to be allowed to sit at His feet and rest if I keep that up. Jesus is at work in your life. The Holy Spirit is at work in your life. You do not need to live in the fear of not “sitting at the feet of Jesus”—as a believer you are already there. As a believer there is no more condemnation because of Christ’s work for us on the cross.
What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact, which underlies it — the fact that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me, and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, and no moment therefore, when His care falters.
This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort — the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates — in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love, and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me. There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow men do not see (and am I glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which in all conscience, is enough).
There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.
(from J.I. Packer’s 1993 Knowing God, pg 41-41)
You are such an encouragement. It is a joy to know that you can ask me these things. It is even a greater joy when I feel that God gives me the words to comfort your soul as one of your spiritual shepherds.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jeremy
admin Christian Life, The Gospel, Uncategorized Forgiveness, Jesus, Prayer, Q&A, The Axis Church, The Gospel, Theology
storage and trailer! A big THANK YOU is in order for those faithful friends who have sacrificed their trunks, back seats and rear view mirrors!
Two weeks ago as we were setting up for our gathering, I noticed a man sitting on the park picnic tables. Let me be very honest here and say that we are very white so far at The Axis (this is humbling to confess). We pray each week during our core training for other races to be drawn to The Axis and that they partner with us. In our urban context, we must have other races…MUST. This man was from west Africa. He has his undergrad degree and seemed to be very genuine. He wasn’t interested in showing up that night.
under the circumstances and my manly example of a bear, I consider it OK). I said, “What happened bro? I heard something about you.” He said, “I am owned by Jesus.” I said, “Yes you are my friend.” He said, “I want to be apart of your family here.” I said, “Gilbert, you are already apart of our family. We are going to eat together, drink together, watch UFC together, sing together—all sorts of things that families do, we will do together.” Tonight Jacob is picking him up and taking him to supper then on to our men’s Bible study at 8pm.
felt anger towards the people of the city (we live downtown).