Forgotten God by Francis Chan

Forgotten God is the next book the AGCC Bookclub will tackle. Here is the brief description given to it on Amazon.com:

"A follow up to the profound message of Crazy Love, Pastor Francis Chan offers a compelling invitation to understand, embrace, and follow the Holy Spirit's direction in our lives. In the name of the Father, the Son, and ... the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two? As Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit--the Helper--so that we could be true and living witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, today's church has admired the gift but neglected to open it. Breakthrough author Francis Chan rips away paper and bows to get at the true source of the church's power--the Holy Spirit. Chan contends that we've ignored the Spirit for far too long, and we are reaping the disastrous results. Thorough scriptural support and compelling narrative form Chan's invitation to stop and remember the One we've forgotten, the Spirit of the living God."

By clicking on the picture of the book to the right you will be directed to an inside view of the book at Amazon...this way you can view the table of contents, etc.

You can pick the book up at our church bookstore, amazon, or wherever else is convenient to you...Enjoy!

Self Righteousness - ch 3

"Self-righteousness turns grace on its head because it views the sinner as deserving God's blessings rather than as undeserving." p 43

This can happen in deceptive ways. When I consider how I am apt to turn grace on its head, I realized that when I am asking God to help me in some way, the thought that God is evaluating my actions affects how I act. As if God is evaluating my actions in order to decide whether or not to answer my request as I want. So, if I have asked God to give me favor in a conflict at work I may not stop at the store for a snack on the way home from work... as a way of showing God that I am denying myself. As if this will lean the scales in my favor. I may even stop from sinning in my attitude or action in order to show God how self-controlled I am. Having Gods "decision" in the back of my mind I am attempting to sway him. It is like I am showing God that even though my heart is bent towards evil, I have control and therefore deserve my favorable outcome. Or maybe I want him to know how impacting his word has been on my life... as if he does not see me giving into temptations when there is no "decision" at stake. Oh, how deceitful is my heart.

I have an unbelieving friend at work, and we discuss spiritual things every once in a while. Inevitably our discussion comes back to the justice of God. He thinks he is a pretty good guy, and that many people have a sincere desire to do good and know God but are rejected by him because they do not know about or believe in Jesus. In his view, their sincere desire should be enough for God to accept anyone, and he says that God must be very angry and unfair to make it impossible for those who do good, and whose only crime is not believing in Jesus to have eternal damnation.

How would you answer this accusation?

Both the saved and unsaved are affected by self righteousness. As a believer it can help us have a deeper love for Christ as we see how he loves us despite our sin.

How does self righteousness manifest itself in your life?

Motivation of the Gospel - ch 2

Page 34 says, "Genuine love for Christ comes through 1) an ever growing consciousness of our own sinfulness, and unworthiness coupled with 2) the assurance that our sins, however great, have been forgiven through his death on the cross." He explains how this truth impacted both the "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus' feet and the "highly respected Jew", Isaiah.

I thought these were great examples, and he said "Isaiah's experience parallels that of the sinful woman." (p 36)

This doctrine of indwelling sin and the assurance of Gods acceptance is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest truths in the christian life. This impact of humility mixed with confidence that it produces is so joyous that it is hard to describe unless it is experienced.

The Righteousness of Christ - Ch 1

Phil, that is a great quote, "The obedient death of Christ is the very apex of the righteousness of Christ." (p.23)

When I read the first chapter I had a couple of thoughts. One was on page 20, the authors quote Galatians 3:13, "Christ Redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us". Then he says, "... apart from the saving work of Christ, every one of us still deserves God's curse every day of our lives". (p 20)

Sometimes, when I am hurt, or my children are sick, I think what it would be like if our bodies never healed. What if we just had to live with that affliction for the rest of our lives? That, and so much more, is what we deserve. But it is easy to take for granted the fact that God has made our bodies to heal. Most of us do not have to live with perpetual injury in our bodies. But one definition of a curse is "a call on divine power to send injury upon". If all that separates us from being cursed by God is Jesus, then we are completely dependent on Jesus to make sure that God knows we are off the "Curse List". Thank you Jesus for not being ashamed to acknowledge you know me!

And, this leads to another thought I had. Our righteousness before God is completely dependent on knowing Jesus, and having his righteousness.

"For our sake he make him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2Corinthians 5:21)

We know, because of Gods perfection, that he will not make a mistake and leave us on the "Curse List"; however, should we also be aware of how dependent on Jesus we are to rescue us from Gods just wrath against our sin?

I remember being on a jury and going through the long but interesting process of a trial. On the third day it was time for the jury to decide the guilt or innocence of the defendant. I will call her Jane, although that was not her name. Watching Jane stand before the judge as we entered the courtroom to read the verdict her eyes pleaded for mercy. She knew her fate rested on the next few words that she heard, and the weight of it could be seen in her body and face. One day when we stand before the awesome, penetrating eyes of a perfectly holy, pure, righteous, and completely sovereign Judge how will we respond? How much awe, reverence, and holy fear will we experience because of the finality of this judgement seat, and the weight of this verdict? There was no one to rescue Jane in the courtroom where a guilty verdict was read. She crumbled into the arms of her lawyer who tried to comfort her. If Jesus does not come through for us then we have no hope. If Jesus does not acknowledge to God the judge that he knows us at this moment then who will save us? There is no one. No one can, and would anyone be willing? I do not know the reference, but Jesus said there would those who come to him and say that they have done miracles, cast out demons and prophesied in his name, but he would say, "I never knew you". As a result they would be sent away to a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. If we are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ then we will not be recognized. The authors main point is that, "The righteousness of Christ, which is credited to us, is the first bookend of the Christian life". (p. 26) How sweet is that righteousness!?

This righteousness of Christ saves us from the daily affects of being under a curse, and saves us from the eternal consequences of Gods judgement. I love Jesus!!

The Righteousness of Christ

As I have begun reading the bookends of the Christian Life, I was freshly struck about the obedience of our Savior Jesus. Bridges says, "The obedient death of Christ is the very apex of the righteousness of Christ." (p.23)

Jesus death on the cross shows His love for His Father and for us. He willingly endured pain, suffering, wrath and being forsaken for me. He did this so that I could have fellowship with God and stand in His obedient righteousness and not my own.

This allows me to come humbly to God with a confidence not from me, but from Christ to worship, adore, honor and love the Father. To cultivate my relationship with Him.

I need to be reminded of this daily! Thanks be to God!

The Next Book - Hooray!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first month of the Book Club!!! We read a book and allowed God to use it to challenge and strengthen our beliefs! Hooray!!

Starting May 18th we are beginning the next book "The Bookends of the Christian Life". The authors of this book have created a study guide. The below link should open that document for you. Copy and paste it into IE. Use it as a tool to help you study this book.

http://www.thebookendsbook.com/media/TheBookendsStudyGuide.doc

Keep an eye out for the dates of the next discussion.

Last Chapter

I finished the last chapter a bit ago and have been pondering several things that Tim Keller said. I have to say that this chapter has somewhat captured my thoughts.

Let me see if I can walk through what impacted me and if it is clear. At the end of this entry I will close with a question/topic that I would welcome everyone's input on.

The first quote on page108 says, "Jesus' salvation is a feast, and therefore when we believe in and rest in his work for us, through the Holy Spirit he becomes real to us. His love is like honey, or like wine. Rather than only believing that he is loving, we can come to sense the reality, the beauty, and the power of his love. His love can be more real to you than the love of anyone else. It can delight, galvanize, and console you. That will lift you up and free you from fear like nothing else."

Then he starts the next paragraph and says, "This makes all the difference.". What a simple and profound statement. When we boil it all down this is the difference. Our view of Gods love for us has the potential to completely change our life. I say our view of Gods love, because one believer is just a loved as another by God; however, both believers may not experience the reality of what Tim says in the paragraph above. He says later that "He(Jesus) offers us access to the presence of the Father".

For me, I realized how I have drifted from the comfort of this love. After reading this I wanted to be freshly aware of, and experience this love again and again.

The next quote on page 115 says this, "We can only change permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts. We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting it and making it part of ourselves. This is how we grow.". And again on page 114 he says, "We must personally appropriate it (the gospel) making it more and more central to everything we see, think, and feel. That is how we grow spiritually in wisdom, love, joy, and peace."

I saw what I needed. It was a consistent time with God. I need to drink from the water of his grace... often.

Then he said something other than I expected, and here is where I would like to get input. Each of us tends toward either cheap grace, or legalism. The solution he say on Page 122 is to, "... focus on how seriously God takes sin and on how he could only save us from it at an infinite cost to himself. Understanding this must and will profoundly reshape our lives."

When I consider the cross, and the cost of sin I think about the great sacrifice that Jesus made to pay that price. I am deeply impacted by what he went through mentally (knowing what was in the cup and still moving toward it), emotionally (all on earth either leaving, or rejecting him), physically, and spiritual (separated from his father). I have always focused on the great cost of sin to Jesus, and the infinite cost it was to him. I find my contemplations about the cross and Jesus rightfully moves my heart, but do you think he is saying I should be equally affected by what the Father went through? Explain.

I know, that sounds like an essay question... but I would like to know!