And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39

In this passage in Matthew, Jesus knows that the end of his hourglass is drawing near. He will soon be carrying his own cross.

How does Jesus respond to the will of the Father when it means that he must suffer? How does Jesus do what is difficult? Does he suck it up? Does he pray that God will give him strength to do something begrudgingly? Or is it something else?

Here is something that may be shocking to some: Whether or not you want to do God’s will does matter! Many of you will read that statement and think something like this:

“What are you saying? You just told me that Jesus said, ‘not as I will, but as you will,’ and now you’re saying that I need to want to do what God wants me to do?” Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.

Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus bore the cross for the joy that was set out before him. The joy? I mean, think about that: how do you think he was joyful about dying on a cross, and bearing the weight of sin, and the wrath of a righteously angry Father? It is because Jesus—God in the flesh—spent time with God the Father, knowing him, loving the glory of the Father, and having his will conformed to the will of the Father. Even the Son and the Spirit submit to the will of the Father; don’t you think we ought to as well? Yet, we read verses like Matthew 26:39, and John 6:38, and we get the idea that it’s ok to hate God’s plan, provided that we do what he says anyways. Where do we even get that? That’s not what the text says! In fact, it’s saying just the opposite.

How can it be true that Jesus—who is always perfect—had to submit his will to the Father, while it is also true that we must want what God wants? The answer is this: When the time came, God the Father caused God the Son to want to do what he was obligated to do. When the time came, Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set out before him.”

He did not endure the cross despite his will, he endured it because of his will—and his will was to endure the cross because he, as a son, had his will conformed to the will of the Father. Jesus did not sin in Matthew 26; rather, he acted as any son of God ought to act by relying on the Father, not only for his actions, but for his will also.

However, there is a wrong way to take this. Some of you may think that you are now off the hook. You say, “Mark said that if I don’t want to serve God, I shouldn’t.” That is not what I’m saying. I am not saying that we should not obey God because we don’t want to.

Here’s what I am saying: The fact that you don’t want to obey God is itself a sin, and that is the first thing that needs to be changed. Don’t ask God to give you strength to carry out a task before you ask him to give you joy. Do you think that God delights in a heart that doesn’t love the thing he loves?

If I don’t want to do what God clearly wants me to do, it doesn’t mean that I’m off the hook, and it doesn’t mean that I should simply follow the law; it means that my will is seriously messed up, and that it needs to be conformed in a serious way.

Jesus didn’t pray in the garden because his will was messed up. He prayed the way he did because, in his perfect goodness, he was making sure that his will was perpetually being formed by the will of the Father. He wasn’t doing what he didn’t want to do, he was making sure that the Father’s will and his will would be the same thing when it came time for him to endure the worst pain that anyone has ever suffered. If this is true about God himself, how much truer is it about you and me?

And here is the thing about the prayer of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane: it worked! Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Matthew 26:36-46 worked, because we know he endured the cross joyfully.

So, let me close with an encouragement. Though you are without a hope to please God by your own strength, and though your righteous deeds are as filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6), and though you are a sinner, whose very will is naturally in opposition to the Father, we have been given the gift of prayer. Use it! If you have been born again—not of the flesh, but of the Spirit (John 3:6)—then feed this life in prayer and with the Word of God.

Do everything you can to make sure that you want the things that God wants. And when you don’t want what he wants, repent, and rely on him, and the God who has called you will be faithful to conform you to joyfully do his will.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified

(John 7:37-39).

Here at The Gospel For OC, we believe that truth is not diminished by its simplicity; in fact, oftentimes, it is its simplicity that makes the truth so beautiful. This passage presents that sort of truth. Here are some quick thoughts on what Jesus says here, and why it totally blows my mind:

1. First, Jesus says “If anyone thirsts,” and he leaves this in the general sense. This is vastly important. Many of us tend to ask God to fulfill the need we feel for him, but Jesus makes it clear here that this is not enough. He does not say, “If anyone thirsts for God, let him come to me and drink.” He does not say, “If anyone thirsts for holiness, let him come to me and drink.” What he does is so simple, and so amazing: he dares to make a proclamation of his satisfaction–which permeates all areas of a believers heart–by telling us to come to him and drink whenever we thirst!

It is so subtle, and it is so simple. Isn’t it? But I urge you, please don’t miss it! When you are lonely, and you thirst for relational intimacy, come to Christ, and drink of the all-satisfying, living water of the Gospel.  When you are depressed, and you thirst for joy and happiness, come to Christ, and drink of the immeasurable joys that are found in the Gospel. When you are drawn to sin, and you thirst for carnal pleasure, come to Christ, and drink of true pleasure in God.

As the Psalmist says, “Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!” (Psalm 34:9).
Do we believe this? Is it true that those who fear the Lord will truly have no lack?  Christ Jesus says, “Yes,” just as he said to the Samaritan woman, “come to me, and I will give you living water!“

2. Second, this water is alive, and it is flows from God, out of his saints…and, man, does it flow! This is not a pool of mere satisfaction, it is a living river of water that flows abundantly to meet every need as it arises. This means that the living water that Jesus gives me is custom made to give me satisfaction in the Lord in the exact way that I need it, at the exact time that I need it.

However, perhaps the most interesting thing about this living water is that it flows out of the hearts of believers. In his book, Desiring God, John Piper has a chapter on love, where he defines love as “the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others.” This is love. This is the way the Gospel works. It meets all of our needs, and out of our own joy and satisfaction, we are inclined to serve others.

So, this living water does not stay in our hearts as a pool, and it doesn’t even trickle out onto others as a stream; rather, it flows out of our hearts as a river. The abundance of God’s love is not restricted to our bodies. In fact, it is felt to a greater degree when it bubbles up and spills over onto another human being.

So, here is the question that I see when I read this passage: Where–or perhaps, to whom–do you go when you thirst? Do you recognize your neediness, and come to drink of the living water of God? Or do you drink from the cup of your carnal desire? Let us not mindlessly follow our sense of needs into idolatry; but rather, let us be led into a holy dependency and a revelation of God’s total sufficiency through the Gospel of the Cross of Christ.

Beyond the books and conferences on theology and relationships is a seldom visited world called Reality. Unlike the television “genre” that hijacked the name, this place is real.

With marriage as my passport, I have traveled to this land many times and found my home there. This passport has forced me out of my neat theological ideas and cute, fantastical thoughts (the kinds where I picture myself as the greatest guy in the world, waxing eloquent and romantic words while I lovingly serve my wife as Christ did the Church).

Marriage magnifies the Gospel. It says: I am a sinner. I need Jesus.

Marriage is like the red ink on a D+ paper. You are able to see your mistakes…a lot. Marriage shatters my rose-colored glass view. It helps me see my errors and inadequacies, which are usually fueled by my selfish motives/idolatry (Romans 1).

In this manner, marriage is similar to the Gospel: our sin is exposed for what it is, and we realize there is absolutely no way that we can do this on our own. The truth is out in the open. We cannot live righteously apart from Jesus Christ. We simply cannot. His sacrifice and atonement on the cross is the only way possible for us to be forgiven, justified and cleansed of all unrighteousness. In addition, we receive the righteousness of Christ instead!

Grace is poured out to the saints in the Lord Jesus Christ who cling to the cross as their only true means of life and right standing with God. In marriage, we can model the Gospel to the world and to one another.

My wife is a gracious woman, especially when it comes to dealing with me. She forgives me and reminds me of the forgiveness I have received from God. She is hopeful for my life as a new man, rather than the old man (2 Corinthians 5:17). She even loves me enough to say the difficult truths so I can pursue holiness, rather than mere happiness. Together we can show the world that the cross of Jesus Christ is the only REAL way that messed up people can love each other for a lifetime! All of this grace poured out is the fuel for godly living. This grace-fuel precedes any hope of “[Loving my wife] as Christ loves the Church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).

Reality is taking the theological ideas and living them out. You’ll know it’s happening when there is an appropriate and simultaneous amount of pain and joy!

They said to him, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Gospel-centered ministry is—simply, and obviously—ministry that is centered around the message of the Gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ). The most frequent complaint that I hear about Gospel-centered ministry has to do with its perceived deficiency. Many people don’t just want to hear about the fact that they have been saved by the Cross; they want to hear about the specific works that they must do after they are saved. Sadly, on the other hand many believers likewise don’t want to merely talk about the fact that they have been saved by the Cross; they would rather skip the meat and talk about practical steps people must do after they are saved.

A common response to Gospel-centered ministry might sound like this:

“I know that Jesus died to save me, and there is nothing that I value more than that, but there are other things I need to know too. How do I deal with my depression? What do I do about starving people in the world? How does a godly person respond to difficult relationships? The Gospel was obviously important—and essential—for my salvation, but I want to know: What do I do now?”

I think I understand why we ask this question. We do it because we feel that, somehow, something is still incomplete. I understand why a person would think that a ministry that preaches only Christ and him crucified is missing out on application. Moreover, this is typically the cry of a heart that genuinely wants to serve God, and wants to know how to serve God. Luckily for us, Jesus had to respond to the same question–before he was even crucified.

Just before this interaction with a crowd of people (as recorded in John 6), Jesus was telling his listeners not to labor for food, but to labor for that which endures to eternal life. In short, he was telling them to labor for him. He wanted their lives to be a reflection of the fact that they found ultimate satisfaction, pleasure, and joy in him, and not anything like bread, which simply comes from him. The point was himself—the Son of God—the one who came to save us.

Understandably, the people still don’t know what this looks like so they ask, “What works must we do in order to be doing the works of God?” They want to know what action they must take, or what rituals they must perform, in order to be working for the things that go into eternal life. Interestingly enough, Jesus answers things by playing a game with their grammar. They say “what works?” He says, “the work.” Did you catch that? He changes the game.

They want to know what things they must be doing in order to be doing the work of God. Jesus, on the other hand, tells them there is only one thing that they must do. What is this one work? In the answer to this question, we find the most interesting thing: the one work is belief in him—the one whom God has sent. The one work of God is to believe the Gospel.

If we see this, then we will be made aware of the importance and relevance of Gospel-centered ministry. When Jesus says “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” he is explaining that every work of God that we ever do is the practical manifestation of our belief in the Gospel—our belief in what Jesus already accomplished on the Cross and through his resurrection. According to Jesus, belief is what’s most important, for out of this belief will come the work of God, by the power of God.

Look to 1 Corinthians 13. We can do the following things without gaining anything: speak in tongues, prophesy, have miraculous knowledge, have all faith, move mountains, give up all our possessions, deliver our bodies to be burned. How is this possible? Aren’t all of those things the work of God? Well, yes… but only provided that they are done as a fruit of our belief in the Gospel.

Why didn’t Jesus just tell the crowd of people the things that God approves of? Because Jesus is not, has never been, and will never be, a legalist. If we preach do’s and do not’s, we are no better than the legalistic Pharisees who did exactly that. Our good works are only good if they are an overflow of our belief in Jesus.

So then, what do we do? We spend the rest of our lives preaching to the world the ways that a person can believe the Gospel. And, we preach the exact same message to ourselves daily. Our job as believing Christians is to weed out sin, and spur one another on into righteousness—the righteousness of Christ, not our own—which is shown by the carrying out of the work of God. Jesus tells it best, and he tells it true. Let’s listen to his words and recognize the significance of believing that Jesus Christ is our all-satisfying, all-desirable, and all-worthy Lord in everything we do. That is where it all begins.

Believe it today.

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (The Apostle Paul, 1 Cor 2:2)

The topic of Creation has been an evangelical hot topic in recent years.

Usually, when the subject comes up, we automatically think about the Creation vs. Evolution debate, or we consider whether there was a literal six-day creation vs. a “day age” theory. There is an abundance of literature on these subjects and for good reason. The questions and discussion about things like the origin of man are very important and Christians should enter into that dialogue. However, the Biblical Theological theme of Creation goes beyond these common quarrels about chronology and duration, so please understand that my aim is not to resolve any of these disputes on the subject. Remember our goal throughout the Central Themes in Biblical Theology series: to see what the Bible says, with a particular focus on how it says it and what it is emphasizing.

As a further disclaimer, this is not my attempt to articulate the entire Biblical Theological theme of Creation. Instead, I want to introduce you to it and, perhaps, spark your interest to study it more.

In the beginning, God…

Have you ever heard someone say something along the lines of: “That’s the kind of God I could believe in,” or “I couldn’t believe in a God like that?” This assumption that we could actually choose what kind of God we want to believe in is blown out of the water in the first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1). The question for you and I is not what kind of God we can believe in, it is what kind of God is already there. His existence is assumed, and consequently what he is like follows.

The first thing that God actually does—the first thing that is predicated of God—is speak (Genesis 1:3). This is an expression of power. It introduces something that runs right through the entire Bible, God is a talking God—a God who speaks. Think about that. The fact that God speaks means that he is a God who reveals. Not only does the fact that he spoke light into existence express power, but this transcendence makes himself known to finite humans.

God Creates

Notice, in this opening passage, that God is the starting point. He made everything, and he himself is unmade. In this truth, there is an absolute difference between the Creator and the created. It shows God’s self-sufficiency. He needs nothing (Acts 17:24-25). We do need something, based on the simple nature of our origination. We need God in order to exist, thus we are utterly dependent and insufficient in, and of, ourselves. This truth of God’s independence and our dependence is the foundation stone of grace! There is nothing we have (or are) that could sway God to act on our favor. So, even our very life and breath is evidence of God’s grace, of his showing us unearned favor. God is also personally involved with his creation. He does so by exercising his perfect love and his just wrath.

Personally involved in his wrath… how does that work? Think about it: this idea of a righteous wrath. It implies that God be personally involved in his creation. He is wrathful against sin because all sin is ultimately committed against him, the Creator. He responds because he cares to. The best example of this personal involvement in scripture is the cross of Christ. We see the wrath of God—meant for us who believe, in every right way possible—being absorbed and satisfied by God’s own Son (Romans 3:23-25). It doesn’t get any more personal than that. Moreover, the cross wonderfully demonstrates God’s personal involvement in blessing his creation, since it is the single, greatest act of love that has ever occurred.

Creator God means a God that is involved.

God’s Purpose for, and Relationship with, Man

This Biblical doctrine of Creation is what establishes our accountability to God. The truth is that God created man with intention. We rebel against this intention—against his intention—when we sin. Because of this, we are put in a place of infinite dept to an eternal God. While sitting in a class lecture, I once heard Don Carson declare with passion, “No, I can’t back off entirely… the truth of the matter is that God made you, you owe him, and you will have to give an account to him.” The Creator is repeatedly described as seeing all that he makes as good. He is making moral decisions of good versus bad, inevitably saying that evil did not come out of the world the way that he intrinsically made it!

With the creation of Man we are introduced to the concept of the image of God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Does it have to do with speech, beauty, relationships, or the ability to know? Looking at how the phrase is used in scripture, it never gives a concise definition of the term. But, if we put the pieces together as the story progresses we could articulate it by saying, “God is the creator, we are created. We are from the dust and to the dust we will return. There are still these and other distinctions, but apart from these distinctions, human beings are created to image God.” And what happens to this image of God during the Fall in chapter three? Is it lost completely? At the risk oversimplifying, the answer is no. Man still carries the ability and responsibility to exercise authority; however, the abuse of this authority by humans is a result of sin, not of the authority itself. It is not demolished, but tainted by sin.

And even still, by his grace, us humans continue to have relationships with God.

When I look at the book of Job and the Psalms and consider the peculiar place of God’s favor that human beings have over all creation, I stand in awe and wonder (Job. 7:17, 15:14; Psalm 8:4, 144:3). We must learn, as Job does in chapters 38-41, that the healthiest way to respond to creation is to put our hands over our mouths and acknowledge how much we don’t know.

A New Creation

As we trace the thread of creation through Scripture, the Creation theme grows even grander, and we meet the idea of a New Creation in the New Testament. Paul says that when salvation occurs, we become a “new creation.” We are created anew. We are given the ultimate promise is of a new heaven and a new earth. Romans 8: this fallen and cursed order is in “travail” waiting for the restoration of all things. As a part of the glorification of the saints he creates this new world order.

In sum, as we contemplate the role of creation in the great divine narrative, there should be a sense of awe in all of us at the grace that God has shown us through it. Consider how we literally have no place in determining what God should and shouldn’t be like according to our preferences. Consider how this God has revealed himself to us through words. And, we are infinitely accountable to this God in every way, as we are his creatures. We belong to him. The only way that his intention can be fulfilled in us is through our becoming a New Creation by faith in Jesus Christ.

Praise God, our Creator, for such a sweet, sweet gift.

We make time for what we truly value. We build habits and routines around the things that really matter to us. This is an important principle to understand as we seek to build our lives around the gospel. Do you want a cross centered life? A cross centered life is made up of cross centered days.

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

“What must I do?” This is the question of the rich young man, and certainly it has been the question of countless others after him. The answer:both nothing and everything.

How does the rich man get to heaven? He must pass a camel through the eye of a needle. Jesus says that it is harder for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Why does he say this? Well, according to Jesus in order to be saved, we must do the very thing that we cannot do: we must die and raise from the dead.

If I must do what cannot be done, I can only conclude that this work must be done on my behalf. It must be done by someone else—on my account—in me and through me. To the Christian who asks “what must I do?” I exclaim, “It has already been done!” And this I must say to myself daily as I find myself attempting to earn the love of a God who has already bought me at a high and precious price.

Here is what must be understood: the problem with this question, “What must I do?” is not a Christian’s desire to do good works, it is the reason for the desire.

For many of us, the desire to do good works springs out of a feeling of dissatisfaction. Many Christians come to belief, only to find themselves months later muttering to themselves, “Now what?” We begin to forget the total satisfaction, the new life that came to us through the work of Jesus Christ. We forget that his grace is totally sufficient, and that it is the only thing that can satisfy. Rather than remind ourselves of the truth that when Christ said “it is finished,” that is exactly what he meant, we look for the “next step.” What can I say? What can I know? What can I do to bring myself satisfaction? These are the questions we ask ourselves, and the answer we always end up finding is a resounding “Nothing!” Good works were never meant to save. Good works were never meant to bring us satisfaction. If we are to truly serve God and others, we must first be satisfied.

When I serve someone because I need to feel satisfaction, I am doing no greater deed than the man who eats a sandwich because he is hungry. I cannot truly be a servant if my only reason for serving is my own gain. We are to serve selflessly and sacrificially. In short, the good works of a Christian are not in order to improve upon, or earn God’s love, or our satisfaction. The good works of a Christian are, instead, a response to the fact that we already have both.

The work of Jesus on the cross has given us satisfaction, and freed us to worship him in spirit and in truth! The only response possible for someone who is fully satisfied by a God that he loves is this:adoration of that God, and love for all that God loves.

That is the only proper response to his resounding gospel claim, “It is finished.”

In seeking answers to these questions, what I found to be a very helpful piece is a little section in Jim Belcher’s new book, Deep Church; the section is called “The Quest for Mere Christianity”. In it, Belcher points out that in our quest for unity we must first agree on what binds Christians together. This is what John Stott calls the “unity of the Gospel.” It is the essential and central truths of the Gospel— the gospel-centered Orthodoxy that has been held by the church for ages past. In defining this orthodoxy, Belcher points to the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds. These creeds are the result Spirit-guided discernment and the expression of Scripture’s teaching. They draw their truths from God’s truth. We should too.

So how do we fight for unity and not compromise right truth?

There are two components to unity that Belcher says we must pursue:

• the peace of the church
• the purity of the church.

We tend to fragment into one or the other, don’t we? “We place doctrinal purity over unity, or we stress relational unity over sound doctrine” (p. 54). What’s needed is both. The Apostle Paul calls those who believe to live in this tension without compromising peace or purity. We have to be unified by the Gospel and for the Gospel. The whole reason Jesus prayed strenuously for our oneness was this: when the unbelieving world looks in, they will believe!(John 17:10-23) Unity is both apologetic and evangelistic. We are all working together as one man and one soul for the faith of the Gospel.

Many men I highly admire are taking the lead in this unity of the Gospel. When asked what brings many diverse pastors together in the Gospel Coalition, D. A. Carson replied, “We are coming to the common ground of the gospel. Before the cross, the ground is very flat. We are all broken people. We are never more than poor beggars telling other poor beggars where there’s bread. We rejoice in the grace of God in the Gospel.” This gets to the heart of what Paul longed to see in the Philippian church when he said, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).

I hate to leave something like this in the abstract. We are either contributing to or dismantling the peace and purity of the church, all the time. From the way we might talk about people with differing theological or political views to the way we avoid people we may not see eye-to-eye with on a social or relational level. Of course, we should never shy from proclaiming biblical truths. With this in mind, love, kindness, and perhaps even friendship are always able to exist amidst theological differences. As Belcher comments, “Dialogue is always a good thing even with those outside the bounds of orthodoxy” (p. 53). For some specific ways that Jim Belcher has applied this concept to his congregation in Newport Beach check out pages 66-68 of  Deep Church.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

John 17:20-23

This blows my mind.

What I believe gets so commonly lost about God’s grace is the fact that he never compromised his own righteousness, nor his perfect justice, when he chose to save us; but rather God has made a way to bless his children while still maintaining that pure and just nature. It would take a just God to condemn a sinful humanity to hell. It would take a gracious God (though his grace would be short-sighted) to just simply pardon our sin. But only the true God could pardon our sin while maintaining his justice.

The beauty of his plan—the purpose and intention behind everything that happened leading up to the birth of Christ, and everything that has come after—all testify of the great miracle that is known as salvation. I’ll admit: It is true that I take my salvation for granted. It is also true that I am prone to seeing the story of Christmas as merely the time in History when God’s attitude toward sin changed. But God’s attitude toward sin did not change. God’s attitude toward sin will never change. God’s wrath against sin will forever remain as a testament to his purity and holiness. God hasn’t changed himself, he has changed me.

And this is how his righteousness was able to kiss peace. This is how his justice was able to extend heaven to me, a sinner.

Let us not continue in maligning God’s character by thinking that he has given away gifts that he did not pay for!

You see, we tend to think that Christmas is about the day that God changed his mind, but this is the truth: Christmas is about the day that God purchased our sin by sending the life of his only Son, Jesus, who would eventually suffer and die for ill-deserved sinners. Jesus willingly accomplished this so that those who believe in his name will not suffer death under the wrath of his good and righteous Father, but rather they will be washed clean and given a new nature—his own. It is in this new nature, freely given by God, that you and I will find eternal life.

May we live in awe of the great wonder that is God’s righteousness kissing God’s peace towards men. And may we never forget that this could only happen through the righteousness of Christ, which God has chosen to give to his children.

A question that bothers me: What Would Jesus Do?

Remember all the “WWJD?” paraphernalia from the 90′s? Yeah, you do. The key chains… bracelets… necklaces… bumper stickers… license plates… Who hasn’t seen the popular acronym before? I couldn’t help but laugh when a few days ago I stumbled upon the old “WWJD?” key chain that faithfully held my first car key during my sophomore year in high school. What made this especially funny to me is that I wasn’t even a Christian then. I thought I was a Christian (but only by default, since I went to a Christian church); however, it would be another few years til I truly knew the gospel and came to that radical saving faith in Christ.

So, with key chain in hand, I asked myself: what was it that inclined an unbelieving Chris Poblete to dig the “WWJD?” phrase at the time? Perhaps it was an attractive ideology to live by?

That’s when I realized that, though totally well-intentioned, “WWJD?” was the wrong question to be asking myself.

I don’t think it’s a bad question… not at all. However, it does miss the point. Hugely. “What would Jesus do?” sells Jesus Christ as an ideology… and idea for how to make good decisions for living a proper life. It sells us short of knowing the Gospel. He becomes our friendship model, our self-help mantra, our ’5 steps to a better marriage’ and our ’10 steps to worry-free living.’

But Jesus came to bring the Gospel.

And the Gospel is good news… not good advice.

Now that I’m saved, I understand that God did not send his Son to teach me the right things to do in this life…

Jesus didn’t come to make me more religious and spiritual. He didn’t come so that I would be overcome by emotional religious piety and experiences. He didn’t come so that I would vote for family values and lowered taxes. He didn’t come so that I would passionately serve in the latest cause, raising awareness for health pandemics and social injustices. He didn’t come so that I might be encouraged to drive a bag of collected plastic bottles to the recycling center in my Toyota Prius because God cares about his Earth. He didn’t come to teach me to be accepting and open-minded to everyone else, everywhere and no matter what (unless they are not as “open-minded” as I am). He didn’t come to make me a better people person with a charming smile, a good handshake and polite manners.

Definitely not saying that these are all bad (though some are), but he didn’t come because I needed the perfect example on how to do good “Jesus-things”.

He came because I needed a Savior.

You see, the Jesus Christ we need is the Great Reedemer–the Savior King. This King of Kings showed God’s own love for us by leaving his great throne in heaven to live a life that we were supposed to have lived, die a death that we are otherwise condemned to die, and rise victoriously from the grave in triumphant victory over sin, satan and death. He came to free us! He absorbed the wrath of God and ushers us not into a life of reconditioned morals, but rather, into a life marked by God’s irresistible grace, the forgiveness of sins, and the free gift of salvation.

That’s what Jesus did.

“… he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” -Isaiah 53:5

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” -1 Peter 3:18

This is a message worth sharing. It’s a life that he provides–a NEW life–not a lifestyle. It’s a Gospel that saves. And thus the new question we should be asking:

What DID Jesus Do?

… let us ask and remind ourselves daily.