Theolatte
Nothing goes better with a steaming latte than an engaging discussion about theology and philosophy. Sit down with your favorite caffeinated beverage and peruse the thoughts of a pseudo-intellectual.
Author Archive
Bewitched
May 23rd, 2010
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” (Galatians 3:1)
The foulest forms of legalism flow from the pride of self-righteousness. When we add our works to the work of Christ in the “salvation equation” we find the sum to be less than zero. Salvation is found in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.
If you are attracted to a forgiveness formula that accounts for your good deeds, then you have been bewitched.
Wasn’t Christ clearly portrayed as crucified to you? When you first believed, didn’t you acknowledge that all have fallen short of God’s glory? Do you really think that you can add one ounce to the weight of God’s mercy in Christ? How can you merit the favor of God? From what treasury will you purchase the atonement of sins?
Christ.
Christ alone.
Nothing you do can add a single drop to the ocean of God’s love for you in Christ.
Don’t be bewitched.
You deserve Hell.
Instead God gives you Christ.
Cling to Him.
Hold fast to Him.
Find in Him life eternal.
Rest in Him.
Quit trying to save yourself.
Believe in Him.
Know he is more than enough to save your soul.
At The End of Your Worldview
May 16th, 2010
(A Note to Truth Seekers)
The gospel is amazingly powerful. This is precisely the reason why the Apostle Paul wasn’t ashamed of it. It is the power of God unto salvation, he said. It seems that Paul believed the gospel could hold up to any contrary worldview. I believe it too.
On the road of worldviews, the gospel is a monster truck in the midst of Yugos. The gospel crushes false claims like a trash compactor. It dominates the arena of ideology. It owns the market on truth.
For those who are truly searching for truth, I believe the power of the gospel will break through.
At the end of your worldview don’t be surprised to find Jesus.
Dying To Live
May 13th, 2010
Have you ever reflected on the following verse?
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
Galatians 2:19
Let’s break it down:
I. Through the law he died to the law
This is an interesting statement. It’s kind of like saying “through the water I died to the water.” It would be much easier to simply say, “I drowned.” That is of course, unless you meant to emphasize more than the mere result.
Paul states both the means (the law) and the result (death to the law). It was through an understanding of the true purposes and limitations of the law that brought about the death of the law’s abiding power in Paul’s life. It seems that the law was keeping Paul from a greater purpose. The law was ineffective in accomplishing the higher goal to which Paul aspired. It’s limitations brought about its own demise.
II. So that he might live for God.
Here’s the real deal. In being dead to the law Paul was now able to live for God. But do you really think that living for God did not involve the law? Did Paul now reject the ten commandments? Was it okay for Paul to lie, steal, and kill?
Of course not. Paul’s “living for God” certainly involved moral principles and practices. Whereas Paul lived for the law in the past, that way of life was now dead. He now lived “for God” and his morality flowed out of this relationship.
Are you living for the law or God? Are you trying to build moral character to please God, or are you seeking to live for Him based on his unconditional acceptance of you?
One of the greatest enemies of grace is legalism. Legalism is anything that you trust in or cling to in order to merit favor with God. Legalism is man’s attempt to earn God’s favor.
Die to legalism so that you can live for God. Stop making legalistic standards an end in and of themselves. You might be scared of the liberty you have in Christ, but I gurantee you won’t miss serving a cruel master like legalism.
Consider adopting a modern day paraphrase of Paul’s words:
“Through legalism I died to legalism that I might live for God.”
A Necessary Faux Pas
May 12th, 2010
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
(Galatians 2:11-12)
Paul didn’t care about impressing people. That’s why when Peter showed up at Antioch, Paul got in his face. Peter would eat with Gentile believers when other Jews weren’t around, but he turned a cold shoulder to his non-Hebrew brothers anytime the aficionados were on the scene. He acquiesced to a social standard. Sometimes the gospel requires us to commit a necessary faux pas.
There is no room for “gospel profiling” in the church.
Peter was wrong. Dead wrong.
If you are racist then you are wrong too.
If you are racist you don’t understand the nature and beauty of the gospel.
The gospel welcomes all with no respect to socio-economical status.
Maybe this is what makes the gospel so attractive to the Dalit people from Hindu regions of the world. The Dalit people are the social outcasts of their cultures. But the gospel is no respecter of persons.
The gospel is color blind.
The gospel is caste blind.
The gospel is age blind.
The gospel is status blind.
If you believe the gospel you are welcome. The gospel bids the outcasts, the less than, the unworthy to come. The gospel beckons the beggars and heeds the homeless. There is no partiality in the gospel.
On the contrary, if we had to earn God’s favor we would all be damned.
If our ethnic heritage merited anything before a holy God then the gospel would be nothing more than an elitist filter fashioned by a pernicious God to oppress the undesirable.
But that is not the gospel.
If you are guilty of “gospel profiling”, of creating mental categories of who deserves the gospel and who doesn’t, then you need to repent.
Racism is an antithesis to the gospel.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons the term “Christian” is first used in Antioch (see Acts 11:26). Perhaps it was here that the church first began to move beyond its ethnic categories to embrace an identity that was lost and found in Christ.
Immediately following Paul’s rebuke of Peter’s hypocrisy, we find these words:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
He placed no emphasis on ethnicity, education, or socio-economic status. Paul viewed such things as dead and crucified. All that now mattered to Paul was faith in Christ.
Some of my favorite preaching memories from the last few years have been the multiple occasions I have had to preach at an ethnically diverse church outside of Chicago. Their church reminded me of the beauty of the gospel. The gospel crosses every boundary, even the ones our culture frowns upon; Even the ones our culture assumes are impossible. In the end the gospel is the worst faux pas.
The gospel is a violation of any social norm that impedes a person’s access to the grace of God.
The gospel is an offense to anyone who denies God’s unmerited favor bestowed upon all who believe.
