Tag Archives: advent

Holy Week Advent Calendar Part 2: Christ is the Center

Posted by on March 30, 2010 2 comments

“Paul said if Christ ain’t resurrected, we wastin’ our lives, but that implies that our life’s built around Jesus being alive.”

-Lecrae

The great theologian Lecrae (phrase copyright Frank Immanuel Weise III) is onto something, as he echoes the Apostle Paul who was definitely onto something when he wrote to the Corinthians about the central importance of the deity of Jesus Christ. “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain,” he says (1 Corinthians 15:12-18, pleading with the Corinthian church to cherish the resurrection and glory in the person and the power of Jesus Christ.

If the Gospel is the theme song of the Christian, than Christ is the joyous, glorious chorus and refrain. He is the call to abandon all other hopes of salvation and satisfaction and to run into the arms of God-given grace. God’s grace is not cheap, though. Bonehoeffer reminds us of this in The Cost of Discipleship.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

The grace found in the Gospel through Jesus Christ is a grace that demands everything from us. It is a grace that was manifested in abundant love on the cross, and it is a grace that compels us to follow and to abandon all other worldly avenues. If the central, all-glorified person of Christ we are justified and made clean, and our messages, ministries, missions, and very lives hinge on His person and work.

How much do you focus on the central, glorious theme of Christ? When you think of the Gospel and its impact on your life, do you glory in Christ or in your own freedom? If you are saved, do you know that your discipleship allegiance is to Christ and to no other ambition? Think about Christ’s love for you and the tremendous bounds of costly grace poured out for the Church on the cross. When you think about the Gospel this Easter and continually throughout the year, pray and strive by the Holy Spirit to make Christ the center of your focus and the whole of your admiration and devotion. If our lives center around it, it’s the only option we have!

εν Χριστώ

-Riley

Holy Week Advent Calendar Part 1: The Gospel is The Foundation.

Posted by on March 28, 2010 1 comment

I’ve decided to do a Holy Week advent calendar on here. Each day this week I’ll be posting a reflection on the Gospel and the Easter message that I find to be particularly impacting. I felt the LORD really put this on my heart for a way to remind myself and us of what we really worship, 24/7, not just on Easter Sunday.

Today I want to reflect on the infinitely important role of the Gospel. The Gospel is the triumphantly glorious theme song of the mercifully redeemed Bride of Christ. Hallelujah! Praise God for a song like that. Think about that. The Gospel is the triumphantly glorious theme song of the mercifully redeemed Bride of Christ. A song that we, the body, sing in our hearts when we gather with each other to be mutually edified and glorify the Name of the LORD. But what is it really all about? Where does it start? What does it all hinge on?

Paul reminded the Corinthian church that when he was with them he “decided to know nothing among [them] except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2) The Gospel wasn’t just the harmony or even the second tune or the underlying tone, it was the glorious theme of his mission work and ministry! The Gospel was so important to Paul that he told the church at Galatia that if they abandoned it for another ‘good news’ or another ‘new thing,’ that they should be accursed (Galatians 1:9). The Gospel was Paul’s foundation in his ministry. The glorious cross of Christ was the unifying theme of God’s redemptive love for man.

On Easter, we will gather and spend time in serious corporate reflection on the day Christ died. May our hearts be grounded not on fleeting emotion, shallow feeling, or selfish pride but on the glorious unshakeable truth of the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ. That in our sin, in our rebelliousness, God came after us through Jesus Christ, an undeserved, unmerited atonement we could not begin to understand. That by the grace of God our whitewashed tombs, filled with dead men’s bones, are cleansed and stained red by the blood of the Lamb. Wow! Seriously, I hope you guys are excited about this. If the Gospel and Easter don’t make your or my heart quake in awe and grief at the tremendous sacrifice of Christ and then abound in joy in worship of the Father for freedom to have fellowship with God, may we seek scripture and the Holy Spirit earnestly to bring us to that place. It’s all about the Gospel, folks. Easter is all about the Gospel. The Church is all about the Gospel. Every day of our existence resounds with the theme of the Gospel.

“As he was drawing near – already on the way down to the Mount of Olives – the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’ ” (Luke 19:37-40)

On this Palm Sunday, may we resound with praises for the Gospel of Christ. It is the foundation of all that we are, all that we say, and all that we do as individuals and as the Body. Let’s be mindful of that.

-Riley