By Gobel Brockman
Years ago I heard an evangelist tell a story. He and his wife had bought a new refrigerator. They had no use for the old one, so they set it out on the curb and put a 'FREE' sign on it. It sat for a week with no takers. He then told his wife, "I'm going to try something." He took down the 'FREE' sign and replaced with one that said '$25.00'. The next day, someone knocked on his door and asked, "Will you take $20 for it?"
I guess the problem is that when we see something like that, our thought is, "If it's free, it obviously doesn't work." But then when we think we have to buy it, we try to get it as cheaply as possible. I think we treat God like that. He tells us that Jesus has paid the price for our salvation, and yet we continually try to earn it. However, it seems we also try to bargain with God so that we can give Him as little of our lives as possible. That simply shows just how skewed our view of Biblical salvation is.
In the Old Testament, there's a story of the Children of Israel being blatantly disobedient to the Lord. He allowed venomous snakes to come into their camps, and thousands died. But God did an interesting thing: He told Moses to make a brass serpent and put it on a pole. He then told Moses to instruct the people, "If you are bitten, look at the brass serpent, and you will live." It was that simple - "Look and live." In the New Testament, Jesus referred to this story and said "...Just as the serpent was lifted up, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And if I'm lifted up, I will draw all men unto me..."
The problem is, just like the free fridge, we can't seem to accept that it's really that simple. I was once asked to put the entire Bible into one sentence. My answer then is my answer now: "Jesus Christ and Him crucified; look and live." We don't have to earn our salvation, it's free. (Being a follower of Christ calls us to walk in complete obedience to Him, but we'll cover that later.) But my point this week is this: you and I will never do enough or ever be good enough to earn anything from God. His gifts to us are free, and He desires that we all receive them.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look and live.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Level Ground
By Gobel Brockman
The Bible says that "...every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." The time will come when everyone bows before Him - some as children, some as conquered enemies - but ALL will bow before Him. When I hear people criticize Jesus, my response is usually, "When you live a perfect life, then die for other people's failures, and do it willingly, I'll hear you out."
My thought this week is that since Jesus is the only One Who will be praised, the following two points are true:
*We have no right to put people on pedestals.
On our best days, people are still human. We ALL sin; we all fall short of God's glory. Even the greatest of Christians have struggles. It is said that Martin Luther, the great reformer, had a very vile mouth when he was upset. Charles Spurgeon, the great English pastor, suffered with bouts of depression that were sometimes so deep he wouldn't get out of bed to go to church on Sunday. A.A. Allen was an evangelist in the 50's who saw medically-backed healings in his ministry, yet died an alcoholic. My point is not to focus on their failures, for I have way too many of my own. My point is that I have seen Christians hurt by the failure of others, and we need to realize that part of the problem is we may have put them in a place where only Jesus belongs.
*We have no right to look down on anyone.
Have you ever noticed that everyone's sin is horrible but our own? We can be so quick to be judge, jury, and executioner when other people fall, but very understanding of our own failures. I think perhaps it gives us a false sense of security when we see someone else do wrong. But we need to understand that we won't be held accountable for their life, we will be held accountable for ours. I think it's both laughable and tragic when Christians wake up complaining, spend their day gossiping, spend their evening criticizing everything and everyone, then think that another Christian is a hypocrite because of their mistake.
What I'm saying is this: you're not better than I am, and I'm no better than you. We're both sinners, we both need grace, and we'll both only see heaven because of what Jesus did, not because of what we did. Because we're on level ground - at the foot of the cross.
The Bible says that "...every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." The time will come when everyone bows before Him - some as children, some as conquered enemies - but ALL will bow before Him. When I hear people criticize Jesus, my response is usually, "When you live a perfect life, then die for other people's failures, and do it willingly, I'll hear you out."
My thought this week is that since Jesus is the only One Who will be praised, the following two points are true:
*We have no right to put people on pedestals.
On our best days, people are still human. We ALL sin; we all fall short of God's glory. Even the greatest of Christians have struggles. It is said that Martin Luther, the great reformer, had a very vile mouth when he was upset. Charles Spurgeon, the great English pastor, suffered with bouts of depression that were sometimes so deep he wouldn't get out of bed to go to church on Sunday. A.A. Allen was an evangelist in the 50's who saw medically-backed healings in his ministry, yet died an alcoholic. My point is not to focus on their failures, for I have way too many of my own. My point is that I have seen Christians hurt by the failure of others, and we need to realize that part of the problem is we may have put them in a place where only Jesus belongs.
*We have no right to look down on anyone.
Have you ever noticed that everyone's sin is horrible but our own? We can be so quick to be judge, jury, and executioner when other people fall, but very understanding of our own failures. I think perhaps it gives us a false sense of security when we see someone else do wrong. But we need to understand that we won't be held accountable for their life, we will be held accountable for ours. I think it's both laughable and tragic when Christians wake up complaining, spend their day gossiping, spend their evening criticizing everything and everyone, then think that another Christian is a hypocrite because of their mistake.
What I'm saying is this: you're not better than I am, and I'm no better than you. We're both sinners, we both need grace, and we'll both only see heaven because of what Jesus did, not because of what we did. Because we're on level ground - at the foot of the cross.
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