Do you know any broken records? People who can't seem to stop talking about a certain subject?
Here are a few I know:
My pastor can't seem to stop talking about the gospel. Every Sunday, the same truths are declared yet again. Yesterday in the sermon on Mark 8:1-21, Pastor Ryan spoke on how quickly we forget what God has done just like the disciples with their one loaf of bread after the feeding of the 4000 and the 5000. Don't we do the same thing? As soon as something happens our first reaction is "Oh no, what am I going to do?" rather than "To Whom am I going to go?" We forget who we are; we forget who God is. So how do we combat this? We take the gospel and "warm it up" every day by reminding ourselves of His past benefits (Ps. 103).
At the women's retreat, we didn't discuss 10 ways to have well-behaved children in a week or 7 steps for a happy marriage. Christie, the pastor's wife, walked us through the gospel. She discussed how the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness changes our daily lives. When we've sinned and we're tempted to earn our way back to God's favor, we preach the truth to ourselves. We cling to the fact that our sin was put on Christ and judged once for all. In exchange, Jesus' perfect righteousness is now credited to our account, and God sees us in Him. If you're like me, you can think of countless scenarios where this can be applied.
Last night, the elder candidates shared how they came to faith in Christ and their vision for the church. There weren't any strategies for church marketing to increase our numbers. There wasn't a plan to start a building campaign for a bigger and better sanctuary. Rather, the gospel must be central because if that's lost, the church has lost its way.
There was a time in my life when I had gotten past the gospel and thought it was Christian kindergarten stuff. Wrong. That's why I'm grateful for these broken records. May we all never stop declaring the gospel - to ourselves and to those around us.
Here are a few I know:
My pastor can't seem to stop talking about the gospel. Every Sunday, the same truths are declared yet again. Yesterday in the sermon on Mark 8:1-21, Pastor Ryan spoke on how quickly we forget what God has done just like the disciples with their one loaf of bread after the feeding of the 4000 and the 5000. Don't we do the same thing? As soon as something happens our first reaction is "Oh no, what am I going to do?" rather than "To Whom am I going to go?" We forget who we are; we forget who God is. So how do we combat this? We take the gospel and "warm it up" every day by reminding ourselves of His past benefits (Ps. 103).
At the women's retreat, we didn't discuss 10 ways to have well-behaved children in a week or 7 steps for a happy marriage. Christie, the pastor's wife, walked us through the gospel. She discussed how the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness changes our daily lives. When we've sinned and we're tempted to earn our way back to God's favor, we preach the truth to ourselves. We cling to the fact that our sin was put on Christ and judged once for all. In exchange, Jesus' perfect righteousness is now credited to our account, and God sees us in Him. If you're like me, you can think of countless scenarios where this can be applied.
Last night, the elder candidates shared how they came to faith in Christ and their vision for the church. There weren't any strategies for church marketing to increase our numbers. There wasn't a plan to start a building campaign for a bigger and better sanctuary. Rather, the gospel must be central because if that's lost, the church has lost its way.
There was a time in my life when I had gotten past the gospel and thought it was Christian kindergarten stuff. Wrong. That's why I'm grateful for these broken records. May we all never stop declaring the gospel - to ourselves and to those around us.
Beautifully said, my precious friend!
ReplyDeleteExcellent, Persis. Thanks for the (as always) thought-provoking and encouraging post!
ReplyDeleteAmen and amen!
ReplyDelete