The Gospel is not only the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, it is the good news of a whole Life (here, now, and for all eternity) lived in His hands. Jesus is not only the starting point, He is the beginning, end and middle of life. There is never a second that we don’t need Jesus. Disciples need Jesus as much as sinners do. He is the only way to recapture true humanity, to become our best self, and to live for a vision beyond ourselves — giving our lives away. In Jesus we are moving from our former identity (sinners) to embracing the fullness of our new identity (disciples)....

“True spirituality is not a superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit. This is given to us as we grasp by faith the full content of Christ’s redemptive work: freedom from the guilt and power of sin, and newness of life through the indwelling and outpouring of his Spirit.” - Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 19-20. [HT: Of First Importance ] SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "True humanity + the Spirit", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2009/05/20/true-humanity-the-spirit/"...

Last time I pointed out there may be three Gospel-distorting approaches to change (proving ourselves to God, to others, and to ourselves). We distort God’s grace when we think we can earn it, that others opinions matter more than God’s, or having a higher or lower view of ourselves than is true (Rom. 12:3). The root problem is that we see the source of our solution as in us. It’s not. It’s in Christ, who is God come to live and die in our place. When He is our motivation, and what He did becomes the basis of what we do , then life begins to make sense, and we will be transformed...

There are a number of "churchy" ways to try to change one’s self. Like church attendance, volunteering, etc. — but these are often not rooted in the one key thing: desiring to know God and serve Him as King. In general, there may be three Gospel-distorting approaches to change: Proving ourselves to God Proving ourselves to others Proving ourselves to ourselves These are not in keeping with our new identity in Jesus. I’ve been continually challenged to move past this nonsense as I slowly read How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp, as well as look forward...

It is amazing to me how simply it is to please God. My whole identity and worth is wrapped up in Who Jesus is and what He has done. He has enabled God-pleasing over and above self-pleasing. Consider 2 Corinthians 5:6-15 — I love the God-pleasing aspect of the whole thing, especially in verses 14-15 where the motivation for life is that God’s love controls us, and we make the (continual) decision to live for Him and others, more than ourselves: 6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by...

"My dear friends, most churches make the mistake of selecting as leaders the confident, the competent, and the successful. But what you most need in a leader is someone who has been broken by the knowledge of his or her sin, and even greater knowledge of Jesus’ costly grace. The number one leaders in every church ought to be the people who repent the most fully without excuses, because you don’t need any now; the most easily without bitterness; the most publicly and the most joyfully. They know their standing isn’t based on their performance." - Tim Keller (emphasis...

The Gospel is enough, because Jesus is enough. His infinite love and beauty, His sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection are all-sufficient for the Christian life. God came near and rescued us. This one event changes everything, and without it nothing matters. Timmy Brister, a pastor at Grace Baptist Church pointed this out in a recent post . He notes that C.J. Mahaney, in the concluding chapter of his book, Living the Cross-Centered Life , talks about the centrality of the gospel and how you never move beyond your need for the gospel.  When asked, “But don’t I need more than the cross?”...

Jonathan Dodson seems to always hit the nail on the head with his insights. Here’s an excerpt (okay, almost every word) from his recent post, "Are we community-centered or Gospel-centered? " In asking whether his church could get too mature for community , he notes: "The level of authentic confession of sin, persistent belief in the gospel, love for one another, and sharing of life and mission is remarkable. This is not naive community; it is redemptive community, a community of grace that holds in common brokenness and belief, failure and success, repentance and faith. As...

“God’s work in us does not eliminate our work; it enables it.  We work because he is the one at work in us.  Therefore, the fight for joy is possible because God is fighting for us and through us.  All our efforts are owing to his deeper work in and through our willing and working.” - John Piper (still looking for in which of his books I first read this) SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Enabled", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2009/02/06/enabled/" });

Don’t Eat the Fruit is the title of an insightful blog run by John Dyer, a web developer in Texas with an obvious passion for the Gospel and for people. He brings some great insights as a technology enthusiast who seeks to explore the intersection of theology, life and technology. Plus, understands that technology isn’t evil, but neither is it neutral. (His recent series "Five things the church should know about technological change " is helpful.) Here I want to point to another post , where John gives a quote from the latest edition of online journal Themelios (which is...