Understanding the Cross and the Gospel

Ever since our review of the gospel on Easter Sunday, I have been intending to write this post. Our discussion this morning motivated me to follow through.

For those of you who were not with us, we deviated from the lesson plan and spent most of our time discussing holiness, especially as it pertains to raising our children with convictions about sexuality purity and integrity. What we did not spend time discussing was the motivating factor, the cross. Our understanding and appreciation of what Jesus has done for us is what motivates us to live holy lives that are set apart from the world.

As for our children, we must (1) set a Biblical standard that we will live by within our homes; (2) Uphold that standard without unnecessary discussion and debate; (3) Conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with the standard; (4) And pray that God would change the hearts and minds of our children and make them disciples of Jesus.

Over the next several weeks in class, we will cover Mark 14 through 16, and I will do my best, by the grace of God, to present the Gospel in a way that motivates us all to a higher standard. In addition, I strongly recommend that you read the following books. Some of them are available from our church library.

1. Living the Cross Centered Life by C. J. Mahaney. If you only read one book, make it this one. It is short and to the point but will still have a tremendous impact on your faith.

2. The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges. Bridges teaches how the Gospel doesn't just save is from hell but is essential for daily progress in holiness.

3. Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges. This is the book God used to correct my doctrinal misconceptions about the Gospel and to draw me to Himself.

4. The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor. I loved this book so much, I gave a copy away here on the blog last month. Ensor's experience in the pregnancy center movement motivated him to write this book.

I challenge you to read these four books, along with the Gospels, and the letters to the Romans. the Galatians, and the Ephesians, and pray that God would increase your appreciation of the Gospel and your love for Jesus so that you are motivated to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:13-16).

Matthew 23 from The Message

The past two weeks we have been looking at the sins of the religious establishment outlined in Mark 12. Today, we read some of Matthew 23 for the more detailed presentation of Jesus's accusations against the Pharisees and scribes. Read Matthew 23 in The Message to get a better understanding of the passage.

Matthew 23 from The Message

Religious Fashion Shows

^1-3 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.

^4-7"Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.'

^8-10"Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.

^11-12"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

Frauds!

¹³"I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either.

¹⁵"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.

^16-22"You're hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, 'If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that's nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that's serious.' What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: 'If you shake hands on a promise, that's nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that's serious'? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.

^23-24"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God's Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that's wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?

^25-26"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.

^27-28"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds.

^29-32"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. You protest too much! You're cut from the same cloth as those murderers, and daily add to the death count.

^33-34"Snakes! Reptilian sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It's on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse.

^35-36"You can't squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. All this, I'm telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation.

^37-39"Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Murderer of prophets! Killer of the ones who brought you God's news! How often I've ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn't let me. And now you're so desolate, nothing but a ghost town. What is there left to say? Only this: I'm out of here soon. The next time you see me you'll say, 'Oh, God has blessed him! He's come, bringing God's rule!'"

Louie Giglio's Video on Laminin

Here's the laminin video I mentioned in class. Be sure to watch the whole thing!