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!

The True Elder Brother

How amazing the insight concerning the elder brother (me). If the elder brother would have gone out and search for his wayward brother what a testimony of the grace of God. As I ponder this, it will help me with my evangelism. I need to go out and search for the lost sheep, lost coin and my lost brother. I thank God that he sent the "True Elder Brother" (Jesus) to look for me!

"We will never stop being younger brothers or elder brothers until we acknowledge our need, rest by faith and gaze in wonder at the work of our true elder brother, Jesus Christ." pg 89

I want to continue to gaze upon the one who died for me! Thanks!

The proud are out!!

"The humble are in and the proud are out" scripture has really make me think. I do not consider myself a proud person but this scripture and author Keller's explanations of this parable took me back to my colon cancer diagnosis. My comment was "I don't drink, smoke, do drugs. I take supplements and take care of myself better that many people I know". I see that comment as a "proud son". I think deep down I was saying God should not have allowed this to happen.

I have never looked at this parable in the way it is being explained and do agree with other bloggers in that we do "flip" between brothers. One does not have to agree with all of Keller's interpretations of this parable. But that is the beauty of understanding or looking at something differently as I believe Keller has done extremely well. I believe it will help me work more diligently towards making me a better person.

Chuck