Explicit Gospel
By Matt Chandler
Summary:
Matt Chandler writes a hit-and-miss work on the Gospel, full of sharped barbs that are occasionally convicting but are mostly mean-spirited and glitzy.
Strengths:
I really, really, really wanted to like this book. And indeed, I found parts of it absolutely brilliant. But we get a version of Matt Chandler here that hardly sounds like himself.
Anonymous asked:
What exactly does it mean to lust? Is making out consider lust?
Well, you certainly picked the right dude to ask. Besides anger, lust has been the downright most annoying sin I’ve had the non-pleasure of struggling with. I’d say that’s true for most dudes who have that other issue called breathing.
Lust is the spiritual basis of adultery (non-legit sexual surrender outside marriage) and it kickstarts the whole fantasy scenario where you try to make your porn-infested dreams into a reality. Lusting after someone is hijacking them into your mind for a single purpose — against their will. Sort of like rape.
You’ve heard this: Give me back your man-card, usually after a statement like Twilight wasn’t that bad or I need a fork for these hot wings or Nothing less than 500 thread count sheets.
In hundreds of conversations with veteran pastors, new seminarians, drug addicts, ex-cons, single moms, high school drop-outs, and lonely outcasts: It’s easy to tell when someone has given away all their grace-cards.
It’s the slightly clenched inflection in their voice.
The head shaking back and forth with too much relish.
The blame, the shiny perfect version of themselves, the mocking of the other person’s voice.
The re-telling of so-called horror stories: And so he was like — And she goes — And can you believe that?
The constant demonizing, generalizing, categorizing, contempt-disguised-as-pity, the seething disgust and bitterness.
Never an insight into another’s point of view, never an empathy from another’s perspective, never even a half-sincere attempt at trying to understand upbringing, culture, wounds, and influences.
Or it’s just as simple as never mentioning the word grace.
I imagine the angels in heaven, right before Jesus was about to save the world by first heading to the earth as a baby in a manger, and all them telling him, “Don’t do this. Not for these people. They’ll ignore you, despise you, betray you, torture you, and kill you. You’ll come out of the grave and they still won’t believe you. Don’t do this, Jesus. Not for them.”
And Jesus telling the angels: “Give me back your grace-cards. Maybe you’ll get them back after you stop some car accidents or draw my face in more toast.”
Where is the grace?
“We have the best deal in the universe: trade in your sin for Eternal Glory and Endless Joy and the Creator of the Universe. Trade in your sorrow for rejoicing. Trade in your hurts for healing. Trade in a spirit of rebellion for a Spirit of fruitfulness. Trade in death for life. Trade in idols for Jesus. That’s a pretty good deal, you know.”
Summary:
Prolific Christian author Jerry Bridges does it again with his surgically precise work on spiritual transformation. For those confused on how transformation happens, Bridges goes into concise detail about our sanctifying journey with Christ. While there are already so many books on “How To Change,” this is the one that shows you the Holy Spirit’s role like you’ve never known Him.
Strengths:
Jerry Bridges is absolutely no-nonsense in his writing, and probably the cool philosophical uncle I always wanted. He uses the exact number of words to explain concepts with no sugar attached, never diminishes the uphill struggle, and clarifies huge concepts into a simple sentence. There are some writers who grasp their own material so well that they sort of leave you in the dust, but Jerry Bridges guides you just enough to keep your head above water while also challenging your knowledge. Of all the Christian authors I’ve dug into, good old Uncle Jerry is the most concise and plainspoken of them all.
So we want to ask that God would continue to stir up in us a heart for the nations, a passion for the nations and an open-handedness that says, “I want to be a part of what God’s doing here, what God’s accomplishing here and how He’s going to save and work here.” We want to more and more push all our chips in on the great drama that is unfolding and that we’ve been invited to, the great love story that encompasses the universe, the conquering of evil once and for all in Jesus Christ, the invitation to come be a part of something infinitely larger then ourselves.
– Matt Chandler
Atheist and other unbelieving friends:
You spend all day spouting your opinions, many of which I agree with because I can agree with a fellow human being outside the purview of our “religious affiliation,” or lack thereof — and I love you and respect you outside of our proclaimed identities.
But the moment I disagree with you — not having even brought up anything spiritual —suddenly you become a trashy pedestrian version of yourself with predictable, preprogrammed, Pavlovian-reflex statements about my “brainwashed zealot hive mind.”
Anonymous asked:
What do you do when you have feelings for someone who you don’t know how they feel in return, and it is making you feel really depressed and obsessive? How do you not let that make you so depressed and take your focus off Christ? God is being faithful in my life and I am mad at myself for going into this slump for just a mere person and getting back into the spirit of depression.
Ah, well this old pickle. Feelings can suck, yeah?
Back in my younger idiot days (which was last week [just kidding] {okay sort of kidding}]), I’d attach myself to pretty much any attractive fine young woman. I was sort of an “emotional whore.” My soul would pretty much reach out with tentacles and stretch over to my dumb crush of the week, and I couldn’t do anything. I hated that part of myself and I’d get obsessive, clingy, even blame the girl for walking into my life.
But all this points to a much bigger root issue.
Justice must be about much more than balancing out the wrongs of the world. It must be about making things right, about the kind of restoration that does not reverse the pain, but moves beyond it toward something new.
– Rachel Tulloch
averageinsecureteenageboy asked:
I’m gay, and have no plans of being otherwise. I just have a question that burns in my brain. I do believe in god, I do think we were created by someone, its just that when I go to church my with boyfriend it seems like a hostile environment. The church is traditional but accepts me and my partner because of my long history of going, but I still can not shake the fact that I feel in a hostile environment when I go to Sunday service. Whats your take on it?
Thanks for feeling comfortable enough to message about this. I want you to know I got love for you and part of that means I bring some truth in, because I can’t possibly love you without being truthful. So please allow me the grace to speak to you as plain as I do with everyone else; I don’t use kid gloves with anyone.
- It’s cool when you say you have “no plans of being otherwise.” I was a womanizing, near-alcoholic, porn-addicted, hard-partying, over-violent atheist and I had no plans of being otherwise. I understand the sensitive issue of sexual orientation, but I would at the very least hear out all sides of the issue before making such a stubborn claim.
No one, and I mean no one, who actually believes the Bible is somehow specifically hating on gay people. Rather we uphold the beauty of biblical sexuality. So I would really hear out why we call that the truth. And be open to God interrupting your plans with other plans. While we’re making them, He already has one.
Hello friends!
Due to the return of migraines and an increasingly busy summer schedule, I’ll be taking an extended hiatus from blogging. I’ll continue to answer questions at least a few times a week, plus the occasional post here and there. I’ll also post Flashbacks, which are links to previous blog posts. And even if I don’t click “like” or comment, I’ll still be catching up with your blogs.
I humbly ask for your prayers in this time.
Thank you and love you guys.
– J.S.
God’s decision to forgive Peter required the death of his Son; Peter’s decision to forgive those who had offended him would cost him little more than his pride. The same is true for us.
In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feels like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another. Forgiveness is the gift that ensures my freedom from a prison of bitterness and resentment.
– Andy Stanley
Selfishness kills joy because it has unreasonable demands that change instantly. God-centeredness brings joy because He is the unchanging anchor of true goodness and glory.
This is the part we don’t like to talk about.
Pastors, Christians, the blogger, the theologian, your hi-and-bye church neighbor — they all say that suffering is for a reason.
But be clear: What reason?
If you get cancer, you can assume that it’s:
A) A specific punishment from God for something you did.
B) A preview of God’s wrath.
C) Discipline to make you stronger.
D) Grace for a bigger reason, like a testimony to relate to people, or mercy from something worse.
E) Consequences from something you did, like smoking or a poor diet or building a nuclear bomb.
F) A random event, because God or fate or the universe felt like it.
At times it seems like all this is based on our human perspective, so that pain can be “made good” and suffering can be “redeemed.” But I’m not sure if it’s that simple, that trite, or that easy.
So which is it? What is the fine line between punishment and discipline and grace?
Very often people are afraid to forgive because they assume that if they forgive, injustice will triumph. Yet the counterintuitive wisdom of Christ reveals that the very opposite is true. It is forgiveness alone that has the capacity to break the chains of injustice and give us the possibility of a new future — a future unchained from the past and free of bitterness.
– Brian Zahnd
Hello friends. I know it’s a small matter amidst bigger concerns, but I believe I’m up for another season of migraines. They stopped last summer but seem to have returned like a bad horror movie sequel.
Honestly, they get so bad I usually wish for death during them. That’s not very Christian of me, but if you’ve had serious migraines then you understand. It feels like a slowly grinding axe wound through your head. Usually I cannot see or walk when they happen, and they’ve come at odd times like in the middle of preaching (I’ve always finished even then).
I humbly ask if you would pray for strength over me, and drawing nearer to Him, and for Him to be elevated no matter what I feel. If anything, I’m sure some honest writing will come of it.
Thank you friends, and love you all.
Anonymous asked:
what do you do when you want something so badly, and you know it’s completely against God’s will, but you just don’t want to give it up? i can’t state it explicitly here, but it’s not a tangible object, and it’s not lust. i’m sorry for being so vague. i just don’t know what to do anymore. i haven’t brought it before God wholeheartedly considering the nature of the problem; there’s such a huge gap between my conscience and the rest of me. i know i need to surrender but it’s easier said than done.
I’m assuming you’re talking about some kind of temptation since it’s against the presumed Will of God. You’ll have to clear up if it really is against God’s Will, or if maybe there’s a hyper-religiosity happening.
With temptation, I feel for you there. That’s just one of those things that gets right in our face until we can’t see much else. But you have a choice now to run to the balcony and see it for what it really is.
Like I’ve said before: I wish I could bottle up all the regret you’re going to feel after you keep pursuing this thing, then hand it over to you as Liquid Regret After-Juice, so you can drink that and go, “Oh yeah, duh. That would be stupid.”
Rebuking is one of the hardest things to do. We’re either too soft or too strict, and for most of us polite church people, we would rather go on a mission trip to a war-torn third world country than speak truth to our neighbor.
But once you’re ready to pay the cost of awkwardness, there’s some things we need to know.
Sometimes you do the right thing because you’re tired, not because you love doing the right thing.
We obey God because we’re scared not to. There’s no real love for Him; just a fear of everything that could go wrong.
At times I imagine quitting this whole God-thing and going to Vegas, sleeping with hookers, ingesting every drug known to man, and crashing all the parties until I die from it. Maybe that’s too honest, but that’s my wicked heart. It wants evil because evil looks delicious.
Except I don’t do those things. Because of the law. Or I’m scared what people will say. Or the consequences of hookers and drugs and waking up with no teeth.
Very rarely do I think, I can’t do that because I love God, and I have better. Again, my wicked heart.
Maybe we’re not really growing here, but just getting too old to sin. Maybe it’s just a resignation to comfortable, boring modesty.
I am naturally a coward and I forget: God gave me a new nature. He gave me a God-sized heart that can hate evil and ferociously love Him. A Spirit of love, power, and self-discipline. A Spirit that says no to fear, which I must choose. I just forget.
You’re either growing up or just getting old.
I fear that far too many followers of Christ have been sucked into the angry political polarization that characterizes our culture — a culture that has come to venerate the enraged rant as an art form. And when we do this, the name Christian is diminished to an adjective for modifying certain political positions rather than a noun for a person who is deliberately attempting to imitate Jesus Christ. This absolutely must change. We can hold all the convictions we want, as long as we can hold them in love.
– Brian Zahnd
