“Ruminations”
Prepositional Salvation
January 24, 2011 | 
Author We are saved:
- From God
- By God
- To God
- For God
We are often perplexing the masses for a blanket call to “be saved.” The question begged is, “What do we need to be saved from?” We know where this is going: sin, because it’s against God, because He’s Holy, because He will punish . . . and so on. The reality is that not only are we thorougly plagued by a very small view of God, but we are also plagued by a very small view of sin. In Ezekiel, God says. “Is it so small a thing?” Based on how we respond to so much of the sins we encounter, we would answer in the affirmative – no big deal, right?
The reality is that we are not in trouble with sin, rather because of it. This kills us and now death is our enemy (more on that another time). The reality is that the death we receive is at the hand of God and it is His wrath that we need to be saved from, “For the wrath of God . . .” (Romans 1) Since we cannot “save ourselves” we are helpless, hapless and hopeless – were it not for a Savior. It is marvelous that the Savior is God, though. So, truly, we are saved from God, by God.
DailyTheocentrism: He’s not “like”, He Is.
God is not a holy God, or a just God or a loving God; HE IS Holiness, HE IS Justice, HE IS Love- these do not describe Him, they flow from Him. Reality was born by the self-revelation of He, who IS the Sovereign. To attempt to capture the Source by a reflection or copy – or worse yet, a perversion is to diminish to the point of offense. Definition begins with Him.
Discipleship 3.1 – The Method
Whenever we encounter elemental, or core theological principles, we often feel as though a tsunami-like wave has crashed over us – because we just want to know:
1. What do we do?
2. (and maybe more forefront in our minds) How do we do it?
Now, there is a danger crouching behind these questions, but I will deal with that in 3.2.
So far we have seen that we have been given a Mission and such an imperative has the implied call to obey it. I suppose it isn’t too cliche to say that God doesn’t make suggestions. This should be delightfully obeyed, because it should find an immediate harmonious connection within our own desires, thus given us a very organic internal Motivation – namely, that we are Christians who love Jesus and we want others to love Him too. If you have trouble agreeing with the first two points in this paragraph and series, then you may not know Him, even likely so. If that is the case, go here.
So, to answer the first question, we are to make disciples of Jesus Christ. This must never be eclipsed by men, fellowships, denominations, traditions nor religion.
We DO NOT make disciples of ourselves.
We DO NOT make disciples of (human) leaders.
We DO NOT make disciples of our local fellowships (churches).
We DO NOT make disciples of a denomination.
We DO NOT make disciples of a particular school of thought.
We DO NOT make disciples of Christianity.
Discipleship 2 – The Motivation
As we saw in the first post, we have been sent on mission. Now, I did neglect to go back and back to THE Mission, which is to glorify God – to radiate and reflect His glory. That is the Big Picture. This has also been born into an organism – not an organization – called the Church – but making followers of the LORD predates the Church, only now the disciple-making has taken a very personal fulfillment in God, the Son. We are to Glorify God and do what He has said to do, which is also glorifying God.
Having said that, we might ask “Why should we be a disciple of Christ?” Is this just a modern movement? Is it biblical?
Well, to get right (back) to the point, we do it because we were told to, both in Matthew 28:18-20 and in the echo of Jesus’ call to His disciples, when He said, “Follow Me.” That call still echoes today and will continue to echo until He returns. We are Christ’s disciples because the God of the universe has told us to be.
Also, implied in the “Why?” question, is “What’s in it for me?”
Posted in "Ruminations", Lessons Repository | 
Tags: Chief End, Christianity, Discipleship, Religious Affections | 
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Discipleship – 1: The Mission
What if we were given one thing to do – just one main mission – and we didn’t do it? Now, this does not imply that this one thing is an all encompassing definition of our lives and all of the reality adjacent to our lives – but, it is the one thing – the main thing we are to do. I guess it would depend upon who gave us the mission and what was at stake . . . right?
When reading Acts 14, specifically Acts 14:21-28, I see an interesting, rather arresting pattern. The text says that Paul “made many disciples . . . strengthened the souls of the disciples . . . and spent a long time (not a little time) with the disciples.” This is a profound narrative. Paul could have, according to some – should have, kept working “for the faith”, since all of these people were already converts. Yet, he spent precious time encouraging and building up the Church and he spent large amounts of that time. Why? Why would he do that?
Posted in "Ruminations", Lessons Repository, Paradigm Shift, Sovereign Christ Church | Tags: Discipleship, Obedience, The Gospel | No Comments »