Gospel Life Today Friday, April 30, 2010 If you DECLARE the gospel and don't LIVE IT - you will confuse people. If you LIVE the gospel and don't DECLARE IT - you will condemn people.
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Life in the Middle
I have often said that the Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation but in community...that is to say...redemptive community...not my idea or opinion but what the New Testament teaches.
That means we live in relationships. And what happens when sinners do this? Well...it gets messy. In fact that is the title of a book I will be quoting from. Written by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp, the book is called Relationships: A Mess Worth Making...great title and one I highly recommend.
So why do relationships become such a mess? The answer is that they happen in the middle of something. They happen right in the middle of the story of redemption. Think about it. Who is married to a fully sanctified spouse? Or...how many of us have friends who always do and say exactly the right thing? Are there any self-parenting children out there?
From the authors..."The reason for all of this is that our relationships are lived between the already and the not yet. Already Jesus has come to provide salvation for us, but His saving work is not yet complete. Already the power of sin has been broken, but the presence of sin has not yet been eradicated. Already we have grown and changed in many ways, but we are not yet all we will be in Christ. Already we have passed through much difficulty, but we have not yet climbed the final hill. Already we have learned many lessons of faith, but we have not yet learned to trust God fully. Already God has established His kingdom in our hearts, but that kingdom has not yet fully come. Already we have seen the defeat of sin in many ways, but its final defeat has not yet taken place."
As we live between the already and the not yet we will experience four things..
.Also from the book... 1. Our relationships will never work out according to our plan. 2. Our relationships will never live up to our expectations. 3. Our relationships will always grapple with some kind of difficulty. 4. Our relationships will always need to improve.
"Relationships have not been designed by God as vehicles for human happiness, but as instruments of redemption."
And so we need grace. The problem is that we want the grace of ease, whereas God knows that what we need is the uncomfortable grace of trial...even the trials we face everyday in relationships.
I like what Paul Tripp says..."God will take us where we have not planned to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own."
What is it that He produces? James tells us that the testing of our faith "produces endurance." (James 1:3)
I like that word endurance. It literally means "the ability to remain under the pressure." That endurance only comes from the One to whom the trials are designed to drive us...Jesus.
James continues in verse 4 "And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
But many times..."We get blindsided by the difficulty, discouraged by our weakness, and end up losing sight of what we have been given in Christ."
That is why we need encouragement..."But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Heb 3:13)
We need to help each other get our eyes back on Christ because He is the only hope when the hardship of relationship carries us way beyond our own wisdom and strength...which by the way...is exactly where He intended to carry it. Why? Because we are not to rely on our own wisdom and strength...
"And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
No one else can give me reason to continue in something that would have defeated me long ago.
It's living the gospel life.
"The promises of the gospel provide the only accurate perspective on what I really need and the only reliable picture of my true potential for change."
And...No one sympathizes with our weakness better than Jesus does and because of this wonderful truth we have the awesome privilege to...
"...draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb 4:16)
All of us live between the already and the not yet. That encourages me!
Let's remember that each one of us is "a work in process" knowing with absolute confidence...
"...that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1:6)
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