Our church's Wednesday evening small group Bible Study is currently going through the Pastor Louie Giglio video series on God's Grace. The session this week was a life-changing way to focus on our Christian faith, that transforms the way we live out that faith daily. How? It is essential that we
understand the whole gospel; not being a half-gospel type of person. I know
that Christ died for us, and that it great news in and of itself. Jesus died to
pay our debt of sin. Because of Jesus Christ, we can have eternal life with God
forever. Up until salvation, life was about what He did for us, then the rest
of life is about what we can do for Him … right? But, guilt-trips can be
produced from such theology, that our Savior saved us to go to heaven when we
die, but until then we must find a way to spiritually live out this amazing
Christian life. Good luck with that.
Colossians 3:5-16 says, "Therefore
put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because
of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in
which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves
are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out
of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old
man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is
renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where
there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility,
meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another,
if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you
also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is
the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your
hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be
thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
As a Follower of Christ, how
do you live this Christian life out? When we repented of sin and accepted Jesus
Christ as your Savior and Lord, we knew that you were a Christian because we
understood that Christ died for us. We know that if we were to die tonight,
that we’d go to heaven and be with God. But the problem is, how do you do it?
That Colossians 3:5-16 list is fearsome and formidable. We read and hear the
words of the Bible, but we see ourselves so far away from that description. We
know that the Word of God tells us how we are supposed to live, but we are
nowhere near that person. So, we continually rededicate ourselves t God,
promising that “from here on out” it would be different. It is a bitter pill to
swallow when it is not different. As a Believer, one of the worse things to do is to
rededicate your re-dedication, saying: “This time, I mean it!”
There are two certain impossibilities in the Christian life. (1) With a just and Holy God, because of our sin, it is impossible to make it to heaven on our own strength and merit. (2) Because of our sin nature, it is impossible to live out the Christian life in our own strength and will. Truth be told, it is not "difficult" to be a Christian and live it out; it is impossible, in our own strength, to be what Christ is asking us to be. We need the grace of God.
Let's continue this message of God's grace in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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