God's Will: Gospel Worldview

God’s Will: Gospel Worldview

Let me say something about worldviews in general so that we are working with a similar definition. By worldview I mean the way that we interpret and understand and perceive the world around us. We all have a worldview, for we all perceive and interpret and understand in some particular way what is taking place around us in our own little worlds and in the whole world.

A gospel worldview is different then any other world- view. There is the gospel worldview and then there are all other worldviews. I have heard someone say that we shouldn’t speak of worldviews because it is secular in origin but I disagree. Worldview is simply what I defined it as, our view of the world. This is not secular or sacred, it just is. We all perceive what is taking place around us in some particular manner. What sets the gospel worldview apart (GW from here on), is that it is the only true and accurate view and therefore the best and right worldview. When we perceive the world around us as the gospel tells us that it is we are perceiving the world correctly. Essentially what has happened is that we have taken off the glasses of sin and put on the glasses of Jesus. Or more scripturally, we have gone from blindness to sight. We have not only begun to see things clearer but we are now seeing them for the first time as they really are when we see them in the gospel.

Our worldview is first changed in salvation. If I can use my self for an example. At salvation I went from anti-theism/atheism to theism. I went from a world of pointlessness and vanity to a world of purpose and meaning. Paul went from a world of human righteousness to a world of human depravity. What happened was not a change in thinking. Don’t try to convince your mind of what you do not believe. We cannot believe what we do not believe no matter how hard we try. If you believe the sky is blue no amount of arguing will convince you it is Pepto-Bismol pink. Our world view is changed not by changing our own minds, like in all the other worldviews. Our mind is changed by the Spirit of God in the effectual application of the word of God. We can really want to believe something, (like change our worldview), but if we don’t believe something then we don’t believe it. The religions of the world are all worldviews and they can be chosen and mixed as liked. They are in our power to believe and adopt. But the GW is not in our power to adopt.

Why is it that we can adopt false worldviews at leisure but cannot accept the GW except by God? As said above, we are blind to truth. We, by nature worship and serve the creation, that includes the creation of false religions. Idolatry is ingrained in us from conception. We are born with a nature that includes the ability to believe lies above the truth. It is as Pilate said, “What is truth? (Jn 18:38)”

Jesus, in a dispute with the Pharisees about His true origin and His true Father, had this to say,

“If God were your Father you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father you want to do. He was a murder from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God.”


The words of Christ to the Pharisees are the same for all men (I Jn 4:5-6). We believe lies before we believe truth because lies are our nature. Lies come natural to us. We can chose which lies we will believe but we cannot chose to believe the truth apart from the Spirit of God changing our minds. Justification by grace through faith in Christ is the first time that we see as we should see. It is the moment of passing from death to life that we first see some of truth, our worldview is first shifted to the truth at justification.

At justification, the moment we pass from blindness to sight, death to life, we, for the first time, see Jesus as He is, the Savior that saves us. Up until that time, no matter how much knowledge of Jesus and sin and the bible we may have had, truth had not penetrated our beings. Until justification, no matter how much knowledge one has, they are not seeing truth as true, for they are not trusting it. It is when we first place our faith in the truth of Jesus Christ that we first have our worldview changed.

“What does worldview have to do with God’s will, ” you may be asking. Everything. We are not to be conformed any longer to this world but we are to be transformed (Rom 12:2; Eph 4:17-19) . God’s will is this transformation. Part of this transformation is seeing the world as God sees the world. We could argue that until you see the world as God sees the world you cannot really understand what you are called to. It is as our understanding and knowledge (not just in our heads but in our hearts, our beings) are conformed to God that we are transformed, that’s why Rom 12 speaks of the renewing of the mind.

We are taught in scripture that we have the mind of Christ (I Cor 2:16; Phil 2:5), this certainly includes our understanding and perception of the world. We see differently and hear differently then the rest of the world. We are set apart from the world by the word of Christ (Jn 17:17) that only His sheep can hear (Jn 10:27), contrary to the world that hears the lies of Satan (I Jn 5:19).

What is a gospel world view? It is many things and to show the correct view of everything, to apply the gospel to every area of life would take a very long time so we will just apply it to some broad, general circumstances.

We have talked about suffering in a previous post, and what I outlined of suffering is GW. The gospel, rightly understood and believed, will enable a joy in suffering. It does not dull the suffering or make the suffering enjoyable in some sadistic masochistic manner but it brings suffering into subjection to God. For certain, and do not think otherwise, suffering is always suffering. The gospel does not relieve suffering but it gives hope, comfort and rest in suffering. The pain Christ experienced upon the cross was not deadened by the gospel. The pain Paul experienced in his lashings was not diminished by the gospel. Suffering is God’s will in the gospel but it is received in faith of His goodness. The suffering stays real though. But the way it is perceived is changed.

Now, let me just interject this, GW is not mind manipulation. This is not about tricking ourselves into believing something or forcing to accept as true that which is untrue. This is not about adopting a set of values or beliefs. This is not religion. This is about submitting to truth. When the bible says to consider it all joy when you fall into various trials, it isn’t telling you to consider it joy just to consider it joy. The considering that the bible is commanding is simply submitting to truth. Maybe a picture will help. When we get a shot for medical reasons we are not particularly excited about the needle but the medicine that is being delivered makes the shot worthwhile. We don’t see the medicine but the faith that the medicine is there leads us to pursue getting the shot. Its not a perfect picture but it works. We accept the truth of the gospel and submit to it, not because we fully see but because we trust the Physician. Maybe that helps, maybe it doesn’t help. Take it or leave it.

We are not conforming our lives to a set of doctrines that may or may not be true. We are submitting to a Person that is Truth. I fear for those in the church that try so hard to believe but don’t but settle for their trying to believe as saving faith. They don’t believe the gospel. But they try to. This is not faith. This is, “I want to believe but I don’t.” This is not good. They have yet to see the truth of the gospel, they have yet to pass from death to life. We all struggle with faith to some degree. None of us trusts the Lord as fully as we should. But to be saved we must have faith that the gospel is true.

“What do I do if I don’t believe the gospel but want to believe the gospel?” Examine your heart. If you desire to be saved this is a work of the Lord in your life. Jesus invites all who hunger and thirst, all who are tired and heavy laden. Why do you not come? Perhaps it is because of a sin that you don’t want to let go of? Perhaps your love of money or adulterous sex or pride keeps you from coming. You desire to be saved in the superficial way of desiring to keep all your sins but not be punished. Don’t be deceived, none who do not repent of their sins will inherit the Kingdom of God. My advice to you would be to trust the Lord when He tells you that all sin leads to death and that it would be better to enter heaven with one eye or one hand then to keep both and end up in hell. Sever the sin that ensnares you. Flee the wrath to come.

Perhaps you desire heaven but you don’t want to submit to Christ as Lord. You know that to be saved is to cast your whole life upon Christ in faith and this you don’t want. You want heaven but you want it on your terms. This is not a desire to be saved. This is a desire to continue as your own god and reject the true God. Recognize the foolishness of your ways. You have exalted yourself to godhood while relegating God to servant hood. Repent. You are but a creature of the Creator and your treason, though small in your eyes, is wickedness of the greatest kind before the Lord.

If you desire salvation then believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. If you cannot believe know that no desire for salvation will make you acceptable before the Lord. Only the work of Jesus upon the cross in your place can make you acceptable to God. Faith that you are saved is not saving faith. We are not called to believe that we are saved. We are called to trust Jesus and His cross and resurrection and know that we are saved by Him, not ourselves. This is faith. True faith. Faith hears Jesus promise of salvation to all who come to Him and faith goes to Him.

GW sees children as a blessing. Always a blessing. Not a curse. Not a burden or drain on life. Children are not an obstacle to happiness or just a hurdle in adulthood. The gospel promises children as a heritage from the Lord. Children are a blessing. How sad that so many see children as an inconvenience.

Now, it may be asked how “children as a blessing” is a GW. Isn’t the verse to support that Old Testament? Yes, Psalm 127:3-5. A GW sees all of scripture as gospel. Even the law and prophets are gospel, history, psalms, wisdom and any other. Scripture is gospel if, and that is a big “if,” it is understood rightly. Every scripture rightly understood will lead us to Jesus. So much could be said on this and it could easily fill a book so let me keep it brief.

In the law we see the standard of God that should lead us to despair of self and hope in God (Rom 5:20-21; Gal 3:24). The ceremonies and temple sacrifices all pointed to a better sacrifice, namely the Perfect Lamb of God, Jesus Christ (Heb 9:11-15). The wisdom literature was all fulfilled in Christ the Wisdom of God (I Cor 1:30). The history relays us information on Israel’s deliverance and set apartness for God, perfectly showing by type and illustration of what was to come (Heb 3:1-4:16). In the prophets we see a perfect picture of what is to come in Jesus and then how it was perfectly fulfilled in Jesus (Lk 4:16-21). The Bible tells one unfolding continuous story of God’s plan for and fulfillment of redemption. We are part of this story. It is a GW that sees this story and enters into this story as now being their story. God’s story is your story in Christ Jesus. Scripture unfolds this marvelous drama of cosmic redemption, from Eden to the New Jerusalem, the story is told and unfolded. From Genesis to Revelation we see God’s perfect plan unfolding through imperfect, sinful men, redeemed by God’s Redeemer, Jesus Christ. As we see the scriptures unfolding God’s story of redemption we see the world as it really is. This is essential to living for God. This gives all of creation and history the correct definition and purpose for what it was made.

The GW does not allow us to depend on money (Matt 6:31-34). The GW does not allow us to fret in the face of opposition (Rom 8:31). The GW sends us to the poor and down trodden (Matt 25:31-46). The GW calls us to hope (Rom 5:1-5). The GW fights for marriage (Eph 5:22-33). The GW leads to personal holiness (I Pet 1:13-15). The list goes on and on, to cover every area of life.

As the gospel penetrates our lives we begin to see things as they are. No longer does sight rule but faith. We see reality for what it really is. Sin is seen as sin. Wickedness as wickedness. Righteousness as righteousness. Holiness as holiness. The world will tell us that in order to be happy we need to indulge in every desire and want, we need to free ourselves from rules and standards and do what feels good. But the GW sees the sin that dominates man and believes the verdict against sin and trusts the love of God and enters into a life of denial, trusting that God will not mislead. Never has one followed Jesus faithfully to the grave and looked back at life with disappointment, but how many have followed the world, even for a time, only to find sadness, disappointment and pain.

The GW sees everything for what it is: God’s glory and our good. Ultimately that is what the gospel promises is taking place in creation and history. God is being glorified by everything and everything is working for our good. That is quite a worldview to adopt when you consider the state of the world at any given time. We see death, poverty, war, disaster, disease, abuse, orphans, massacre, and things only getting worse. How could somebody adopt a view of the world that says, “everything is to God’s glory and our good?” As I said before, we can’t adopt this worldview on our own. In fact, there are days and times when this worldview will be challenged by what we see around us, yet, our faith has the victory (I Jn 5:4-5). How do we answer what we see? The life of Christ.

In Jesus we see the perfect love of God flowing out to man, not by correcting every wrong and ending all suffering but by redeeming all of creation (Rom 8:18-25). In Jesus we see the perfect wrath and justice of God fulfilled in the ultimate punishment of sins (Rom 3:21-26). In Jesus we see God’s hatred of evil and love of good. In Jesus we learn of God’s unstoppable love for us, even dying upon a cross for His enemies (Rom 5:10). In Jesus we learn that God is for us and with us (Matt 28:20). In Jesus we get the fullest understanding and image of God that man knows (Col 1:15, 19) In Jesus we see the full meaning of scripture (Lk 24:27; Jn 5:39; II Tim 3:15). In Jesus we are given the answer that unlocks every mystery (I Cor 2:7, 4:1; Eph 3:4-5). He is our wisdom, redemption, sanctification and righteousness (I Cor 1:30). In Jesus we see what we never saw. In Jesus we know God (Jn 14:9,17:3). Jesus is the gospel worldview. Look out at the world as Jesus looked out at the world and you will posses a gospel worldview and more then that, you posses the knowledge of God’s will that you desire.

Don’t qualify that last statement. Oh how we want to qualify everything till there is nothing left to believe. We have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, dwelling in us and this is better then Christ standing here now (Jn 16:7). We are equipped to do the will of God, we have the mind of Christ. And when we stand in the darkness of uncertainty, the gospel promises us an unfailing, unending, unstoppable love that cannot be defeated and cannot be overcome. The gospel holds forth Christ risen from the grave of your deserved death saying, even now, “I am for you, trust Me.” He is gentle and kind, He is merciful and full of grace, He is love. Do not let the uncertainty of the unknowns dictate the reality of the fully known: God’s love in Christ! What do we have to fear? Not death (I Cor 15:54-57). Not needs (Matt 6:32-33). Not man (Matt 10:28). Not Satan (I Jn 4:4). What do you have to fear? “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who is risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Rom 8:31-39)”

Are you persuaded? Do you yet see as God sees? Do you yet view the world even as Jesus viewed the world? The answer is in the cross and the empty grave. Look there and see the love of God, the power of God, the grace and mercy of God. Look there and see perfect righteousness and perfect justice of God perfectly fulfilled. Look there and see the wrath poured out upon sin. Look there, to the cross and empty tomb, and see life eternal. Hear the call, today. Jesus commands your repentance, Jesus commands your faith. He has come for the sick. He has come for the sinner. He has come for you. Let His love win you. Let His beauty capture you. Let His glory captivate you. Behold God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I plead, even now, be reconciled to God in Jesus (II Cor 5:20-21). Faith believes the world is even as God says that it is. Faith believes the promises and threatening of God. Faith looks beyond its own understanding and rests in God’s perfect wisdom. Faith hopes, even contrary to hope, for God is beyond all means.

God's Will: Faith (part 4:works)

God’s Will: Faith (part 4: works)

I have had to back track. I have put the last two or three posts off until I have tackled this subject of works. Let me give credit where credit is due. Everything up to this point has been an overflow of a conversation with my friend Christa. Thank you, Christa, for engaging my mind. This current post is the overflow of a conversation with Kevin and a book that he gave me. Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another,” seems to always hold true in my life. The Lord uses someone to engage my mind and heart in a subject that I might not have considered. So it is with this post.

Works. What role do they play? First, I am considering this in this series because of the emphasis I have put on faith. Secondly, works have to be one of the most misunderstood and abused doctrines.

I am reading a book right now on the “social gospel” and the need for Christians to do more, not just locally but internationally. The main criticism of the book is that secular humanitarian aid agencies do more for the poor then the Christian agencies. The whole of the book is that we have a “hole” in our gospel where our devotion is lacking to the poor and impoverished. I would agree. Where I would not agree is the answer to the problem. The answer put forth thus far in the book is that we need to be doing more by understanding how important this is to the Lord. I would partly agree with that. Where I would disagree is that doing more is not the answer at all.

Why? The gospel is not about doing. It is about believing. It is about faith in Jesus Christ. What does that have to do with all the commands to “do?” We do because we believe and where we do without faith, we do wrongly and even more then wrongly, we sin. The problem is not that Christians aren’t doing enough for the social issues of the world, that is merely a symptom of the problem, and since that is not the problem then the answer cannot be working harder for these issues. The real problem in not believing. Faith, not works, is the issue.

James teaches us that faith without works is dead, or as I paraphrase it, faith without works is not faith, it is something else all together: dead. But the answer is not to add works but to fix the faith. What the bible teaches is that if we abide in Christ (Jn 15:5) we will bear fruit. If we believe in Jesus, streams of living water will flow from us (Jn 7:38). We work as God works in us (Phil 2:12-13). We do as grace abounds in us (II Cor 15:10). The bible everywhere makes clear that works follow faith not as something that is added to faith but as the abundance and overflow of faith. If we are not “doing” (i.e.: social deeds) we are not believing. We live in accordance to our faith. Where our lives fall short is where our faith falls short.

The answer is to believe the gospel then the works will follow. We are called to faith in Christ, that is the core of the gospel and it is only when the core is right that the rest is right. Or to say it another way, the tree of the gospel is faith in Jesus, the fruit will grow from that tree; if and when we do not see fruit we are to turn back to the tree of faith in Christ and repent and believe.

We need to understand that faith is the root of works. We do because we believe. Where we only do, apart from faith, we sin. No matter how much “good” we do apart from faith, it is sin. Works not brought about by faith are no different then a lost person doing works. What the gospel is calling us to is not humanitarian efforts but to Jesus, and when we come to Jesus the works will follow. The Pharisees were a group of guys that obeyed the commandments very faithfully. The problem? They were void of faith. Their works were filthy rags before a holy God for they were not trusting Him. Faith sanctifies what we offer to God. There is enough sin in every person that every thing we do is contaminated before God. A sinner cannot produce anything but sin, sometimes that sin looks very good on the outside, like the secular humanitarian efforts and agencies but what does God say? “There is no one who does good, no, not one. (Rom 3:12)” How can God say that about all the “good” relief organizations? Because of sin there is nothing that we can do that is void of sin, sin infiltrates everything we do, our hearts are never right before God. Only a heart with the pure motive of God’s glory apart from anything else could offer up pleasing service (work) to God.

Jesus could offer His life to God as pleasing because His very nature was God and man. No other can ever make a sacrifice that is pleasing to God, no matter how great and noble it may appear. If one were to give everything to the poor and abstain from every fleshly sin for a lifetime, the impurity of their heart in not trusting Christ would condemn them still. We need a perfect Savior, only Jesus, the God-man, can fulfill what we need for we need one that knew no sin to be offered in our place. Only the gospel holds forth the promise that we need for salvation. Only the gospel holds forth Jesus, a perfect sacrifice in our place. We need His righteousness before God always and in all things. We receive His righteousness by faith. The just shall live (not just once but live) by faith. When we move from faith, even to something as noble as helping the poor out of obligation and need, apart from faith moving us, we sin.

How does faith move us to work? I think the better question is: how does our faith not move us? Think for a moment with me. If we really believed that the sovereign God of all of creation loved us and was orchestrating every event for our good and His glory would we ever covet? If we really believed that the sovereign God of the universe was for us, would we ever fear? If we really believed that Jesus was the Savior of all men and that we are gifted and called to preach the gospel would we ever be silent? If we really believed that the greatest problem in the world was sin and its effect of separating us from God would we ever waste our time with the mundane and boring and secular? If Jesus really did what He did for you on that cross, how can you ever doubt His love and grace? Do you see the point? The point is that we do live what we believe because we really don’t believe it. There is a break down somewhere between our heads and our hearts. We have all had the experience where something we knew suddenly became something that we knew, I mean really knew. The light bulb goes off. Things that didn’t make sense suddenly do. The puzzle pieces of life fit a little better. It is a joyful and sometimes a sorrowful thing but always a good thing.

Our faith tends to be shallow and false. Why do we not see works? Because we are not seeing by faith. The answer is not to work but to repent and believe. It looks like this: Jesus, I don’t believe you will really meet my every need and that I still need to work and strive and plan and worry about the future because if I don’t who will! Jesus, I can’t sleep at night because I don’t believe that you really are in control of my life and circumstances, I mean, how could a loving God allow ________ to happen to me! Jesus I worry and fret and am greedy and discontent because I don’t believe that you are enough! Jesus, I look down on other people because I don’t see how you could love people like “that!” Jesus, I need to repent!! Jesus, what I know to be true of you intellectually, what my pastor tells me, what your word says, these things I know, but I don’t believe and therefore my life is a mess. Jesus, help me to believe! Jesus, I know that if I confess my sins that you are faithful and just to forgive them by the power of your cross so I confess to you in my brokenness that I don’t believe You! Lord, help my disbelief and give me faith to believe.

When there is sin in my life, whether sin of omission or commission, the answer is faith and repentance. The gospel always calls us back to Jesus, not to trying harder or getting on with it. The gospel is not “pull yourself up by the boot straps,” nor is it a standard that we attempt to live up to, the gospel is the announcement of truth, truth that shapes the whole of perception and understanding. If the gospel is true, then it changes everything. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation because it is true. It is not religion. It is not rules and values and morals. It is not ceremonies and ritual and observance. The gospel is the truth of Jesus Christ and the gospel calls us to receive that truth as true because it is true.

Think. Think. Think. The gospel is true. What does that mean for your daily activities? How are you not radically changed by the announcement that though you were God’s enemy and under His wrath, now through His sacrifice in your place you are a friend, child and heir of God. We do not live what we profess to believe because we don’t really believe. Yes, we believe that what the bible says is true, but we don’t trust it. Remember what was said on the nature of faith. Faith is not knowledge or assent but trust in that knowledge and assent. It is not enough to know Jesus is Lord and that He can save you if you don’t trust Him to save you.

Now I have not been talking about the one time transaction from death to life. I am not talking about the moment one passes from enemy to heir. I am talking about everything that comes after that. I am talking about the life of faith. Let me clarify something. I do not think that anyone that has believed will stop believing. I do not think that is possible for one once brought to Jesus in saving faith to ever stop having saving faith. Why? First, because I am persuaded by scripture. Secondly, because faith is the gift of God, we are no more responsible for the upkeep of faith than the initial act of faith. Faith only saves because it is in Jesus, therefore Jesus saves through the gift of faith. We do not save ourselves through believing, but He saves us through our believing. Now, for us to lose salvation would be for Jesus to stop saving; and that I do not see.

What I have been talking about, saying that we need to believe and that we don’t believe enough is not about salvation, it is about us trusting the Lord that has saved us. It is growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18). We are not born with a full knowledge nor are we born again with a full knowledge. The Lord has placed at the head of His Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for edification, for unity and doctrine (Eph 4:11-16). These are all speaking and teaching roles because that is what we need. We need men, filled with the Spirit, to effectually teach us the gospel, continuously. We cannot place to much emphasis on the proclamation of the gospel daily in our lives. We need it. We need the fellowship of believers to surround us so that we can see just how trustworthy the Lord is. We need to be encouraged in the faith. Built up in the faith. Taught. Instructed. The word of God alone can equip us for every good work (II Tim 3:16-17). We need to hear the gospel more not less.

We do not need to lessen the preaching and teaching of the word of the gospel and start emphasizing mission and social cause. With a fuller and wider and deeper preaching of the word of God, mission and ministry will pursue. It is where the word has been preached fully and boldly that ministry has followed. We can not get the cart in front of the horse, or more apt maybe, we cannot get the man in front of the gospel.

The gospel calls us to believe and from that faith to live. We do not live more radically for Jesus because we do not believe in the radicalness (that’s a new word) of Jesus. Jesus has not changed. The Jesus of Paul that enabled the life of Paul is the Jesus of us. We often wonder why we don’t see the awesome miracles that we know once happened; can I throw this out there: God hasn’t changed. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (II Chron 16:9). But we really don’t believe that either. I mean we do because the bible says it but we don’t really trust that. We make excuses and “but” statements and “well, yes, but ______.” We don’t believe it. What if we did? What is the thing that you would do if you knew God were for you? Oh wait, He is for you. But we don’t believe that either. I mean we do, just with some criteria and conditions, right? But what does the gospel say? It says that is true and if you are unsure if it is true look at Jesus and know that God is for you. Look at the One Who left heaven and glory to come and live like a peasant amongst a wicked people so that you could have life. You do believe that. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also give us all things? (Rom 8:32)”

When we encounter unbelief the answer is the cross of Christ. We do not need to work harder, just turn back to the gospel and repent and believe. The works will follow. As James said, I will show you my faith by my works.

Let me say a little more. The book that I have been reading makes the epidemic of poverty the greatest issue facing the Church today. This is not true. If this were true than the answer would be money. If poverty were the greatest problem facing man and the Church then all we would need were bigger purses. This is not the case at all. J.C. Ryle once said that “money is not the one thing necessary.” This is true. The problem with focusing on the needed “works” is thatit shifts the focus from God to man. The greatest problem in the world is sin and its effects and the answer to this is purely supernatural, it is God. It is easy to think that we can over emphasis the preaching of the gospel to the exclusion of social work but that is impossible if the gospel is truly being preached. As scripture says, if we abide in Christ we will bear much fruit. The problem is not the over preaching of the gospel but the under preaching of the gospel. If our churches are weak in their social justices it is because they are weak in the gospel.

We are all to prone to fall into the trap of thinking that works will somehow make us more acceptable to the world and to God. Works will never do either. Sit down and read the first 12 chapters of John (I did this today). The over all impression I got was that no matter how much good Jesus did they hated Him. His works did not make Him more acceptable to the world. In fact, it had the very opposite reaction. The more they saw His works the more they hated Him (John 11:46-48). We think like the world. We think that if we do good the world will listen. Wrong. The Church’s history is littered in good. Trace literacy, democracy, education, equality, hospitals, relief agencies, etc, to their roots and you will find the church. The world does not care. They may take note. They may even discuss it. But it does not win the world. It was not meant to win the world. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation not relief work.

If we give a man a fish he eats for a day, if we teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime but if we don’t give him Jesus, he dies and goes to hell. All the fish in the world mean nothing. Jesus is the true bread and water. “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life…I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. (Jn 6:27, 35)” Serving opens a door to share Jesus by putting you with people but it does not make you acceptable to people or to God. If you think that by serving people you will win them to Christ you have forgotten that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom 10:17).

Let the gospel have its work in you by believing the gospel. Where you find a lack of works, repent and believe. There is a problem somewhere in your believing that allows you not to work. Recognize it and address it for the sin that it is. What are you not believing in the gospel? What are you believing apart from the gospel? What of the gospel do you know but don’t trust? What would you do differently if you knew that Jesus, the sovereign loving God, was for you? That is such a profound question. How would you live if you truly believed that every detail of your life was planned out by the sovereign hand of your creator for your good and that nothing could thwart that plan? How would you live if you believed that Jesus was divinely orchestrating every moment for His glory in your life and that you would never be ashamed? How would you live if you believed that Jesus was in you reconciling the world to Himself, that you are a coworker with God? The amazing thing is that all that is true. Will you believe it?

If you believed it, even a little, even as a mustard seed, you could say to that mountain be cast into the sea and it would be. Even as a mustard seed.

Let us come up upon one another to strengthen and encourage and edify. Let us surround one another that we may not be discouraged. Let us remind one another of the truth of the gospel. We need to remember Who our God is and what He has done. We need faithful preachers and teachers in our lives that call us back to the gospel. We need faithful brothers in Christ that will expose our error and sin and call us back to Christ. We need to be reminded what the main thing is always.
“Why?” is a great question that we should ask often. Why do I do what I do? Why don’t I do what I don’t do? Why do I profess __________ but then don’t do ____________ or do _____________? Why? What is the root of your life?
Let me end with this. We must be about feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison. We must do good to glorify our Father in heaven. But let us remember that faith alone is pleasing to God.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselfs; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8-9)”




I fear that many do not believe that the gospel will produce good works in us. I fear that many believe the gospel can save them but that truly after that they are left on their own to work and labor. The gospel certainly calls us to zeal and diligence and striving but only in the power of the gospel by the Spirit in faith. The mind set that we must now work and labor to fulfill the gospel is heretical. We are to carry a yoke but it is the yoke of Christ. The yoke of Christ is easy and light (Matt 11:30). When we carry the yoke of works we will live under condemnation and guilt because no amount of labor will ever be enough. We will know no rest. We will know no joy. When we carry the yoke of works trying to fulfill the work of the gospel we will burn out. We will be crushed by a new law and a new rule. Christ has come to set us free and give us rest. Yes, we will carry His yoke but it is His yoke of salvation and rest and peace and joy. It is a yoke of gratitude and humility and faith. It is a yoke of love towards God and man. Never a yoke of working to win favor or complete salvation. The gospel is the power of God for salvation, the whole of salvation, beginning to end and all between. Sanctification is the work of God. Salvation is the work of God. Glorification is the work of God. Preservation is the work of God.

How I desire to set God before you that you would see the adequacy and sufficiency of God in all things and for all things. That you would see His majesty and glory and grace and be humbled and changed and filled with awe. Remember Paul, the glory of God on the Damascus road could sustain him through the revelation of all that was to come upon him. So to we, let us look to our Savior Jesus Christ and be overcome by His beauty and love. Let us behold our holy and awesome God and see that life abides in him. Set your mind and heart and affections on God in Christ and allow His glory to change you and move you.

Our pastor has relayed the story several times to us that during a great plague, when the masses of people were fleeing the cities and leaving everything behind to avoid death, that the Christians were going into the cities. They went where no other would go. They walked into the face of death and did not fear (Ps 23:4). They did not need a relief agency explaining to them the need to do works of mercy. No, they, like Paul, were compelled by the love of Christ (II Cor 5:14). I am not knocking agencies calling us to serve. I am simply saying the greatest need of every man, saved or lost, is the gospel. We need more preaching of the gospel. Not the preaching of morals and values. Not the preaching of humanitarianism. But the preaching of the cross. The gospel is God’s power for salvation, sanctification and glorification. We must believe the gospel.

upcoming posts

Just wanted to apologize for the long delay between posts. I am having to backtrack a little. But I am going to finish this series as soon as time allows. thanks again.

God's Will: Faith (part 3, making decisions)

God’s Will: Faith (part 3: decision making)

God’s will is faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That much is certain and undeniable and more then that it is foundational. You cannot expect to know God’s will much less do God’s will if you are not living by faith in the work of Jesus Christ. You cannot start with this post if you really are interested in doing God’s will, for God’s will is much larger than your life. The questions of now, the questions of what should I pursue in life, what job, what spouse, what location, when, how and all the rest of the questions that are grounded in the finite, are secondary questions. The answers to those questions are only valid if you are living by faith in Jesus Christ. And more then that, those questions are only valid if you are not just wanting to know the answer but are truly surrendered to doing the answer. We cannot seek the will of God apart from a genuine desire to do the will of God, for surely, to seek without the willingness to complete, is futility (James 1:5-8).

In preparing to seek the immediate answers of today in God you must be prepared to do them. Again, I wrote of suffering because so often God’s will includes suffering and we have such an aversion to suffering that more often then not we opt out of God’s will for our lives because of the potential of suffering. If you have not grappled with the issue of suffering, if you are not prepared to follow Christ even to pain and possibly death then you are not prepared to follow Christ at all (Luke 14:25-33). Christ demands the whole life, not part or most. He who puts his hand to the work of the Lord but looks back is not worthy of the Lord (Luke 9:62). We must seek the will of the Lord and even know the will of the Lord (Eph 5:17) but more then that we must being doing the will of the Lord and that begins with faith in Jesus as the all satisfying and all sufficient Savior.

Apart from faith in Jesus it is impossible to do the will of God, even doing the revealed will of God, apart from faith, is sin. It is impossible to please God without faith (Heb 11:6). This is the weakness of the law: that by our sin we cannot truly keep even one precept for the wickedness of our very being permeates even the greatest and best work of man (Gal 3:21-24; Rom 7:1-25). We must understand this. Faith is the fulfillment of God’s law and will. When the scriptures speak of, “there is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seek after God…there is none who does good, no, not one (Rom 3:10-12),” we must understand that the reason this is so is because no man is naturally (by birth) living by faith or able to keep the whole law. Man is corrupted to the root of his being. Do you believe this? Do you know your own total and complete wickedness? Do you grasp that even in your best moments sin has so permeated you that your best work is full of sin? You must get this. To the extent that we deny this sinfulness of ourselves is the extent that we will truly rely upon Christ. For if we are not quite fallen completely, then we are not completely in need of a Savior. Instead of resting all our hope upon Christ we will rest just a little in ourselves. We must see that we are spiritually bankrupt in everyway before God, there is nothing we can do ever to pay back our dept. The wages of sin that we owe, we all owe, is death, not temporary and once, but death eternal (Rom 6:23).

When the bible speaks of eternal life in knowing Christ (John 17:3) it is not only speaking of duration, in fact, duration is the last thing that it is speaking of for all will continue on for eternity. We are spiritual beings and our spirits will never cease to exist, so a promise of eternal life only in duration would be pointless. For what we must understand, and the point that I am getting at, is that even the damned lived forever. Those who reject God and His Savior Jesus Christ, will also receive eternal life in duration. The bible in speaking of eternal life is not speaking of duration but of quality or of content, neither word seems adequate for what they describe are beyond mere words. The joys and glories of life with Christ for eternity are void of descriptive words. The bible speaks of streets of gold, a great city decorated in fine gems and jewels, but what are those things, they hold no eternal glory, they are but descriptions of something for greater and more breath taking. For the glory of heaven, the reason heaven is heaven is not the material reward; heaven is heaven because Jesus is there. It is the glory of Christ that makes heaven glorious. We will spend and eternity of eternities before Him and never cease to marvel at the richness of His grace. Words fail to adequately express the glory of what is to come.

So also, with eternal death, it is not about duration but the content of that eternity. Life with Christ is glory for eternity, life separated from Christ, condemned to an eternal suffering in hell, it is everything opposite of glory. The descriptive of hell given in the bible is only meant to illustrate the horrors for those who refuse to submit to their Creator and Savior. Fire, darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, the worm that never dies, are not literal things, though hell is a literal place, an eternal place. Those who reject their Creator and His Savior do not cease to exist, they are not annialated or moved to purgatory to work off their sinful deeds, no, they are condemned to what can only be called eternal death.

Some questions do beg to be asked when speaking of hell for it is a very hard thing. The first question is, “why for eternity?” Those condemned to hell will never want the other option. Those in hell are not realizing their error and repenting, no, there is nothing good in hell, not consideration or remorse and repentance. Their pain and agony for their sins does not lead to genuine repentance but to a greater and ongoing hardening. Those is hell do not long for God but hate Him even more, even in seeing His perfect justice and righteousness, even in now seeing the truth and knowing their error, they are not broken in a genuine repentance but only aggravated in their sin. We don’t think this of people because as was said above, we just don’t think that we are quite that wicked. But we are. Any good we see in man is only by God’s grace and mercy, yet the wickedness of man takes that grace and mercy and is unthankful and denies the very grace that made any good possible.

The second question is, “what makes hell, hell?” Now, my answer to this is not a dividing point but something that I do hold as a conviction, though surely disagreement is open. Hell is hell because God is there. It is His very presence in the lives of the wicked and damned that makes hell so hellish. God is everywhere, there is no where that He is not, hell is not the exception. God is omnipresent. Hell without God would almost be giving the unrepentant exactly what they wanted, God’s absence. We struggle because of the cartoons picturing Satan with a red tail and pitch fork poking people. This is not the case. Satan does not rule hell, he is as much a prisoner there as are those who deny their God (Rev 20:10). Hell is a real place created by God, ruled by God and for God’s glory (Col 1:15-16). This is hard for us and we wonder how it is glorifying to God. We do not understand (nor would I expect any to understand) nor see but we will. Hell magnify’s God’s perfect righteous judgment against sin, hell glorifies God wrath and God’s holiness, and hell glorifies God’s justice. Perhaps also hell glorifies God’s mercy and grace, for by His amazing grace and rich mercy He has secured a way for escape. Surely those in heaven are aware of hell and it only tends to their more glorying in God’s love, grace and mercy and kindness given them in Jesus Christ. Hell is real. Wrestle with this. Hell is avoidable. Receive this. Jesus paid for sin on the cross, and by faith we receive His sacrifice on our behalf. Believe and be saved from the wrath to come.

In the light of the eternal that is rushing upon us all at every moment it certainly does put the immediate questions of job and spouse and location into perspective. Faith is the first and essential to knowing and doing God’s will today. Even in the revealed will of God, things like prayer, bible study, evangelism, mission, tithing, brotherly love and all the rest of God’s precepts for man are only acceptable in faith. Paul wrote that he lives by faith in the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him (Gal 2:20) and we are told the same thing, that we must live by faith to be just before God (Rom 1:17), to be accepted and to make our lives acceptable we must live by faith (Gal 3:1-13). Prayer is acceptable to God by faith. Bible study by faith. Tithing and the rest; faith makes them all acceptable to God. The Pharisees practiced all these even in greater measure and obedience then we, yet they were wicked and full of evil, being void of faith, trusting only in themselves. Do not be a Pharisee but with the absence of faith you can not be but a Pharisee, one that trusts in self and not Christ and thinks that they have something to offer God (Matt 23:1-39).

Faith works itself out in our lives through faithfulness. Sin permeates everything through our sinfulness, in the same way faith must permeate everything through faithfulness. Faithfulness is the outworking of faith. The gospel calls us to Christ not once in a lifetime but to a lifetime of Christ. This I call faithfulness. It is the ongoing work of us pursuing Christ by faith and repentance. We live by faith, not by sight, not by our understanding, but by a reliance upon God in the gospel as revealed in His word, the bible.

What does it mean to live by faith? I think that we tend to define living by faith to narrowly, thinking that this is referring only to the immediate transition from death to life, the one single act of being born again. Faith is not the means of new birth only. Faith is not the one time act by which we are made righteous and just before God, but faith is the ongoing continual posture of a true Christian. It is by faith that we live every moment of every day and to the extent that we don’t live by faith every moment of everyday, is the extent that repentance will be in our life. Which means that repentance is the other posture of a true Christian. In fact, if we understand faith and repentance as the bible teaches you cannot have one without the other. So when you read “faith,” hear also repent.

We live by faith by trusting, first: Christ and His work on the cross as the means by which we are accepted and made right with God, changing our relationship from that of enemy to that of son and heir, from one being under the curse to one being under the promise and from one treasuring up God’s wrath to one treasuring up God’s blessing and goodness. First, we trust Christ, and continually trust Christ for a lifetime. Secondly, we trust all that Christ reveals of Himself in His word. We trust that He is good and kind and righteous and sovereign. We trust that He loves us and is for us, that everything really is under His hand for His glory and our good, the two being inseparable (what a glorious truth that is). We trust that He is all that He says He and that He will do all that He says He will do, here lies true joy, contentment, rest and hope. By those two things, trust in who Christ is and what Christ has done we are equipped to answer and decide every dilemma with confidence.

“What job should I take,” is never a question that we see asked in the bible. Rather what we see is that Christ promises us that if we trust Him and seek Him in faith, that He will guide our every step (Prov 3:5,6). We are to submit our plans to him (James 4:13-15) and then act in faith. God has told you that He will direct your steps, that He is for you, that He is sovereign, that He loves you enough to have died for you, and that now, even if you err, He will work it for good. Does God have a specific will for you, who you should marry, where you should go to school or work, if you should move; yes. Does He reveal it to you? Maybe. Maybe not. If you are living by faith, walking by faith, you are ready to make the decision. “But what if I mess up and go to the wrong place?” God is much bigger then your mistakes. You will not find a person in the bible other then Jesus that lived perfectly in accordance with God’s will. The Hebrews 11, “hall of fame,” is riddled with those that made tremendous mistakes in judgment and committed atrocious sins, yet, by faith, God was well pleased with them, enough so that He has set them before you as an example to follow.

What this so often comes down to is that we want to know God’s will because we don’t want a “hard” life and we think that if we mess up God will give us terrible consequences and chastise us for a lifetime. How perverse and askew this view of God is. Thinking of God like this is void of the gospel.

First, God promises what many would consider a “hard” life not the opposite. God does not promise long life, healthy life, financially prosperous life, not that He never gives those things, He does, but His word speaks of the “hard” things much more. For, “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution,” and “because you are not of the world, therefore the world hates you.” If we love money we cannot love Jesus. If we seek to save our lives we will lose our lives. The gospel promises life to those who die to self. The call of the gospel is not to a life of ease and comfort and riches but to one of only continual death, “for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” “Yet,” oh what a glorious “yet” that it is, “yet, in all these things we are more then conquerors through Him who loved us!” God promises the “good” life, His life. Look at the life of Christ and see the “good” life that will be yours by faith (John 15:18).

Secondly, this thinking of God is wrong because we still think of difficulty and suffering as being bad in and of themselves, that somehow only the wicked should struggle and only the wicked should have trial. But as we looked at in a previous post, this thinking is so wrong, so unbiblical. It was through suffering that Christ was perfected, surely what is good for Jesus is good for us (Heb 2:10). But we are not alone in this struggle with suffering. Psalm 73 records a mans bewilderment at the prosperity of the wicked and the continual grief of the righteous, till he saw the end of both (73:27,28).

Third this view of God is wrong because it is in denial of the gospel. This view of God does not accept that God is a Father towards us, always for our good, it does not believe that what Christ ascribes to His atonement is true. That somewhere in God He is still against us, opposed to us, that there is still wrath stored up. Yet, the gospel promises us that God is for us (Rom 8:31), that there is no condemnation left for those in Christ (Rom 8:1), that if while we were enemies He gave His life for us, how much more now that we are His children (Rom 5:10, 8:32), that nothing can stop His love (Rom 8:35). If we believe the gospel we are freed to live for God with no fear of wrath or condemnation. We need not fear ourselves as though we could thwart God, His grace is far greater than our sin (Rom 5:20). The gospel frees us to peace with God, in every situation. We can make mistakes for sure, there are good and bad decisions, but we must ascribe to God more power then we ascribe to our choices, even our mistakes. It is God that is sovereign, not our choices.

Lastly, the great problem in this view of God is that it ignores His sovereignty. This would fit under all three of the three above mistakes but it deserves its own spot. We cannot forget or undervalue the sovereignty of God. He can bring life from death, create everything from nothing. All of creation is at His use and, even more, for His use. Nothing is off limits from God, He is supernatural and above the natural in everyway. You see this in that water is only a substance for His bidding. He can make water stand on end. He can turn it to blood or to wine. He can make it rain or send a drought. He can calm waves or make water hard enough to stand upon. Let us look beyond what is seen to Him that is invisible and all powerful. Not to seem mystical or fantastical but nothing is just the way it is. God can cause the sun to stand still, to hide, to go back. Nature is at the beckon of God, so is man. There is nothing that God cannot do, and though we know not what God will do, we know that He is sovereign and for us. He has already overcome death and the grave. Do not fear but hope in your sovereign God.

Decisions are hard to make but they need not be. Decisions are sanctified by faith. Decisions fall under all the gospel promises, they are redeemed. We need fear no action of man, not even our own, if we will fear God in faith.

Now, to close this, yes, we need to pray about decisions, yes, we need to regard all that God’s word says about the choices before us, He has given precepts that we must follow and obey, but in the final analysis we must have faith and live by that faith. Faith is what is pleasing to God and so, even if you are attempting to do what is God’s will but doing it void of faith, it is in vain, and if you are attempting to do God’s will with faith there is nothing that you do that is in vain (I Cor 15:58). We are prone to stand still waiting for neon signs and writing on the wall, seldom is this an act of faith, usually it is an act of fear and unbelief, the gospel frees us to go and do, in faith.

I am hoping that I have not over simplified this. We want direct answer from God to all our questions not because we are really wanting to do right before Him but because we are afraid to trust Him beyond what we see. What we think of as faith, our desire for every answer in writing, is actually fear and unbelief. Faith trusts God even when, especially when it does not see Him, for hope that is seen is not hope (Rom 8:24). What made the faith of Abraham so wonderful was that it was so void of earthly hope, he hoped against hope and in hope believed (Rom 4:18). Faith should not be stagnant. God will (and you know this by faith) direct your steps. God will (and you know this by faith) work all things for your good. God will (and you know this by faith) never forsake you nor leave you. God will (and you know this by faith) always be for you in Christ Jesus. Now live by that faith.

Next we will consider the gospel as worldview, seeing the whole of creation and time and history through the lens of the gospel. That will be the planned end for this series (though it might take two posts) unless there is something else that you think I should clarify or extend or add. Thanks for reading.