I recently posted on facebook a book/author I found, Dan Trimmal, who wrote They like Jesus but not the church and I like Jesus but not the church. Pretty sure I got some funny looks from all sides, but I wanted to comment on it by posing this analogy.
Zach liked this so I thought I would blog it.
Let us say, that you have never met my husband Zach and I. Say you met us at a party. And you thought, "hey, I really like Zach, he seems like such a nice guy and has so many good things to say, but I don't like Haley. She is really annoying, and I don't like her."
So, you really want to be friends with Zach, but the thing is, Zach is married to me. He loves me, and while getting to know Zach and spending time with him, you will begin to get to know Haley as well. Or maybe, before that even, the fact that Zach DOES love Haley and is commited to her.
Jesus loves His church, he sacrificed his life for her. Jesus has a similar relationship with the church of believers, as a husband to his wife.
More than anything, I would like to see the universal, Christian church wake up and get back to preserving the gospel truth. Zach and I looked at our budget of giving funds and realized that we are mostly supporting missionaries in the United States. I think this is because the truth the Bible tells us has either been watered down or skewed so much. God's gospel, simple and elegant, able to be understood by a child and still amazes a theologian or philosopher.
Sometimes, we can walk around in life feeling like we have gotten bits and pieces of information but never the whole story. Or, if you have ever taken a high school or college course and the professior failed to hand out a syllabus. And every class assignment and lecture feels random, and you may walk away feeling like, yeah, I did learn something... I guess I can try to use that somehow. Well, here is the syllabus that put it all together for me.
My syllabus for Life:
1. I was created for God, by God:
Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and eath and does not live in temples built by hands.
2. I have sinned:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
3. Sin's penalty is death, I will die physically and spiritually:
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
4. Christ paid my wage-what I earned, by his death and resurrection, paid in full.
2 Cor. 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
5. I believe and I am assured in Christ, and He leads me to life.
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-
John 5:24 I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Eph 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment