Failed Sinners Following Jesus

from J.D. Walt

This is the gospel of Jesus Christ: pardon from the penalty of sin, freedom from the power of sin, deliverance from the grip of death, and awakening to the supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit to live powerfully for the good of others and the glory of God.

Jesus asks only that we acknowledge our broken selves as failed sinners, trust him as our Savior, and follow him as our Lord.

Following Jesus does not mean an easy life; however, it does lead to a life of power and purpose, joy in the face of suffering, and profound, even world-changing, love for God and people.

105 words

J.D. Walt calls himself the “sower-in-chief” at Seedbed, which he founded in 2012 as the publishing arm of Asbury Theological Seminary. As an author, Walt’s most popular book is The Awakened Life, “an invitation to the people of God to band together and sow for a great awakening.” This OMG is taken from his January 7, 2024 devotional, forwarded to me by my friend Dave Uhrich. I met J.D. Walt briefly at a New Room Conference.

There’s so much to appreciate in Walt’s OMG. In three sentences, I count at least a dozen power-packed phrases, each one written with careful precision.

The title I’ve given to it merges two quotes within the OMG but is sorely inadequate. The good news is that we become more than “failed sinners” when we follow Jesus. We are pardoned, freed, delivered, awakened and empowered.

The gospel says I can “live powerfully for the good of others and the glory of God” out of a “profound, even world-changing, love for God and people.” Sign me up!

Your comments are always welcome.

Next post: January 16, 2024 “God Is So Much More Than Your Problem Solver” from Eugene Peterson

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The Promised, Powerful Gospel

from Paul, the Apostle

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 

Romans 1:1-4, 16 NIV

100 words

Paul begins his letter by introducing himself to the Roman believers, but his primary objective is to introduce the gospel. In the NIV Paul uses the word “gospel” 12 times in this letter. Half of them (and the occurrences with most meaning, generally) are found in chapter 1.

First, we see that it is “the gospel of God.” This means it is the gospel from God, because “he promised it beforehand.” It’s also the gospel about God, that is, what he has done “regarding his Son.”

Second, Paul links his proclamation about Jesus with Israel’s prophets of the past and “the Holy Scriptures.” The New Testament gospel stands on the foundation of Old Testament promises.

Third, it’s the story of David’s descendant, “Jesus Christ our Lord.” We should understand “Son of God” here as a royal title (as in Psalm 2:7), so that Jesus’s death and resurrection become like the coronation of his kingship.

Paul uses the word “power” in verses 4 and 16. God’s power raised Jesus from the dead, and it is God’s power “that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” Both are tied to the gospel. Jesus’s death and resurrection are central to the gospel message, and whenever that gospel is proclaimed, it is powerful. It carries with it the power to awaken the hearer and save those who believe it.

No wonder Paul announces boldly, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”  

What are your thoughts? Please leave them below.

Next post: Friday, January 12, 2024, “Failed Sinners Following Jesus” from J.D. Walt

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The Light Gives Life

from Marea Campagna

In the beginning, the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep. God said, "Let there be light." Light conquered the darkness. The light shone on the darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it. The glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. Jesus is the light of the world.

Born sinful at birth, our darkness turns to light when we invite Jesus into our hearts, his blood sacrifice taking the place of our sins. He lights our lamps. When we believe in the light, we become children of the light.

100 words

Up until today I’ve been limiting my OMG contributors to pastors, professors, authors, and scripture passages. Then my friend Marea Campagna, a lay person in her church, surprised me with her 100-word summary. I said I’d gladly use it.

The first paragraph of Marea’s OMG is packed with scripture quotes about light and darkness: Genesis 1, John 1 and 8, Revelation 21. In the second paragraph Marea summarizes how we fit into that story of God’s light invading the darkness.

It’s good news for sinners that “our darkness turns to light” through faith in Jesus whose death remedied our sins. 

It’s good news that when Jesus is invited in, “he lights our lamps,” dispelling our darkness.

It’s good news that we can be brought into God’s family and “become children of light.” 

This phrase, "children of light," is used by both Jesus and Paul.

Jesus: “Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light” (John 12:36 NIV).

Paul: “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5 NIV).

Paul: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8 NIV).

I’d love to get your comment, even to let me know who’s reading today.

Next post: Tuesday, January 9, “The Promised, Powerful Gospel” from Paul the Apostle

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Reign of the True King

from Tim Mackie and the Bible Project video “Euangelion/Gospel”

When he went around announcing the euangelion of God’s kingdom, Jesus claimed that God was restoring his reign over his people Israel and over all nations. And he was the one bringing it all about. 

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As Jesus was being executed by his enemies . . . . He displayed true royal authority by forgiving his tormentors. Jesus was the one in charge that day, giving his life for the sins of others.

Then a few days later everything changed. Jesus rose from the dead as the true king whose love is stronger than death. He appeared to hundreds of his followers and told them to spread the euangelion that all authority on heaven and earth now belongs to him. 

119 words

Happy New Year!

I’ve learned a lot from the videos at BibleProject.com—from Tim Mackie and his team. The videos are simple, concise, well-researched, and insightful. Euangelion is the Greek word for gospel or good news. Watching the entire four-minute video about it would be well worth your time.

While Jesus does forgive his tormentors, the emphasis in this OMG is not on atonement. It’s about a new kingdom. God’s reign is being restored through Jesus. He is “the true king,” and “all authority in heaven and earth now belongs to him.”

Easter Sunday 2015 my message proclaimed this big announcement: “Jesus now reigns as this world’s rightful king, and he’s bringing it to life through power of love.” The congregation’s enthusiastic reception to this message surprised me. This was good news to their ears.

I believe the announcement of the reign of Jesus Christ, the King of kings, is central to the gospel. Atonement and forgiveness fit inside it, rather than the other way around.

Love to get your comments. Please share this blog with others. Thanks.

Next post: Friday, January 5, 2024, “The Light Gives Life” from Marea Campagna

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The Gospel of Costly Grace

from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
 
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again . . . .

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It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.
 
Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
 
118 words
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) was, says Wikipedia, “a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church.” The quotations above come from his 1937 book, The Cost of Discipleship.
 
The words I found especially compelling from Bonhoeffer about the gospel of costly grace are these. “It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.”
 
Many today want a grace that accepts the sinner by excusing sin, as if God doesn’t care about sin, as if it costs God nothing to forgive, as if there is no expectation that we repent and seek transformation. Bonhoeffer called this cheap grace. True grace is costly because it “cost God the life of his Son.”
 
Bonhoeffer’s resistance to the Nazi government was borne out of his loyalty to Jesus, and it cost him dearly. He was executed in the final days of the Nazi regime. He fulfilled what has become perhaps his most famous quote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
 
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave them below.
 
Next post: January 2, 2024, “Reign of the True King” from Tim Mackie
 
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The Word Became Flesh

from John, a friend of Jesus

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5, 14, NIV

98 words

Years ago I met and had a conversation with one of my favorite authors. It’s as if I already knew him from his books and articles, which I had quoted many times. I admired his courage to ask the hard questions, even when he didn’t know where they would lead.

As it turned out, this author was all I expected and more. I found him to be humble and personable and genuinely caring. Then I introduced him to a crowd of about a thousand, eager to hear him speak.

The Word of the Old Testament had already taught us that God is perfectly just and merciful, righteous and holy, faithful and unfailing, slow to anger and abounding in love. In the Hebrew scriptures we learned what God hates and what God loves. We discovered the holiness this holy God desires from us. We meet a God who would rather bless than curse, forgive than punish, restore than destroy.

In Jesus we meet the Word in person. “The one and only Son” is the fullest expression of God. In him we see God’s glory face to face. He is all we expected and more.

E. Stanley Jones, the renowned Methodist missionary a century ago, said that John 1:14 was perhaps the most important verse in the Bible. He wrote an entire book, The Word Became Flesh, with 364 devotionals based on that one verse.

In the Old Testament God’s presence was made known to the Israelites, veiled in a dense cloud at the sacred tent called the Tabernacle. Now, God’s presence is made known to us in the unveiled tent of flesh in the person of Jesus.

And we have found him to be “full of grace and truth” (NIV), “full of unfailing love and faithfulness” (NLT). And the good news is that God is like Jesus.

I welcome your comments below.

Next post: December 29, 2023, “The Gospel of Costly Grace” from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Mercy from Generation to Generation

from Mary, the mother of Jesus

“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
    and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One is holy,
    and he has done great things for me.

"He shows mercy from generation to generation

    to all who fear him.

His mighty arm has done tremendous things!

  He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.

He has brought down princes from their thrones

  and exalted the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things

  and sent the rich away with empty hands.

He has helped his servant Israel

  and remembered to be merciful.

For he made this promise to our ancestors,

  to Abraham and his children forever.”

128 words; Luke 1:46-55 NLT

I contend that Mary and/or her family members were among the eyewitnesses Luke interviewed before composing his “orderly account” of Jesus’s life (Luke 1:2-3 NIV). The first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel reflect Mary’s point of view, while Matthew’s Gospel puts Joseph center stage of the birth narrative.

Mary’s song is historically called the Magnificat from the first word in the Latin translation. You will find parallels here to Hannah’s song, who praised God for her miracle child (1 Samuel 2:1-10).

The first part of Mary’s song is personal, praising God for what he has done for her. She isn’t specific about that, but the angel Gabriel and her cousin Elizabeth have already let us know what God has done. She is a “lowly servant girl” who will forever be called blessed for being, as Elizabeth says, “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43).

Then Mary begins her OMG. Through her son the Messiah, our merciful and mighty God shows favor through all generations to “all who fear him,” to the humble and hungry.

In contrast, God brings judgment upon “the proud and haughty,” princes (not known for being humble) and the rich (who are never hungry and are rarely generous with those who are). This reversal is common in Luke’s Gospel where the oppressed and outcast are, in God’s kingdom, lifted up.

No wonder Timothy is instructed to tell rich Christians “…to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others” (1 Timothy 6:18 NLT).

If the gospel we proclaim does not sound like good news to the poor, forgotten, abandoned, hungry, and oppressed, then it’s not truly the gospel—or at least not all of it.

Next post: Tuesday, December 26, “The Word Became Flesh” from John, a friend of Jesus

Please comment below. Thanks.

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