Cross in Context
In the Bible, in the book of John, Nicodemas a religous leader of his day, asks Jesus how he can enter the Kingdom of God, the paradigm of life the Jesus descibes throughout His ministry. Jesus replys that one must be born again...by water and the Spirit. In 3:15 He says that everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.
Bill Bright illustrates transformational faith in this way:
Suppose you meet a certain young man or woman about whom you have heard many fine compliments. You like what you see - looks, personality and many other qualities. Would this be enough on which to launch a marriage?
No. There is more to marriage than mutual respect and admiration.
As you become better acquainted, you soon fall in love. Is this sufficient for marriage?
No. There is more to marriage than the intellect and the emotions.
Then you become engaged, and the wedding day arrives. How exciting! Intellectually you believe he or she is the most wonderful person in the whole world. Emotionally, your heart beats twice as fast when you are together.
But now something even more important is about to take place. As you stand before the minister or priest to exchange your vows, you commit your wills one to the other. The marriage is not a true marriage if there is no mutual giving of one to the other.
So it is when you become a Christian. When you commit yourself to Christ, you must give yourself wholly to Him in a commitment of your intellect, emotions and will.
http://www.transferableconcepts.com/transconcepts/english/christian/index.html
You may know who Jesus is, even like Him or love Him but until you surrender yourself to His authority and humble yourself under His love and grace, you will not be able to see God's Kingdom.
Why do I mention this here? Too often, in evangelism we limit the gospel to personal salvation from sin...Jesus dying on the Cross for our personal salvation. Jesus' message was a visionary one...it wasnt simply to give us a ticket out of hell...to assure us that we are a "10" on a scale of 1-10 of how sure we are we would get into heaven....but He came so that we could enter into the Kingdom of Heaven...to experience abundant life under the reign of Christ in out hearts & lives now and forever. We must begin to give people the context for this salvation. The context is the Kingdom. The Cross is a beautiful bridge of God's grace and mercy, of justice done...it is the rock that abundant life flows from. You will notice in many of our current evangelical worship songs that the focus is on the cross...how thankful we are for the forgiveness of Christ...how much we loveHim for that...which is great...but Jesus gave us a promise of a life built on the cross. The life is the vision. The Kingdom Vision makes us want Jesus. It is new life because of death. It is not merely a stopping place for sin. Let us live in that, and give people the cross in context of the Kingdom life.
I am so greatful that Dr. Bright did not cheapen salvation to simply praying a prayer and getting your ticket out of hell...from this Tranferrable Concept #1, he explains that salvation includes our intellect, emotions, and will. We must kneal at the throne of the King once and forever, and enter into new life, life in His Kingdom.
Bill Bright illustrates transformational faith in this way:
Suppose you meet a certain young man or woman about whom you have heard many fine compliments. You like what you see - looks, personality and many other qualities. Would this be enough on which to launch a marriage?
No. There is more to marriage than mutual respect and admiration.
As you become better acquainted, you soon fall in love. Is this sufficient for marriage?
No. There is more to marriage than the intellect and the emotions.
Then you become engaged, and the wedding day arrives. How exciting! Intellectually you believe he or she is the most wonderful person in the whole world. Emotionally, your heart beats twice as fast when you are together.
But now something even more important is about to take place. As you stand before the minister or priest to exchange your vows, you commit your wills one to the other. The marriage is not a true marriage if there is no mutual giving of one to the other.
So it is when you become a Christian. When you commit yourself to Christ, you must give yourself wholly to Him in a commitment of your intellect, emotions and will.
http://www.transferableconcepts.com/transconcepts/english/christian/index.html
You may know who Jesus is, even like Him or love Him but until you surrender yourself to His authority and humble yourself under His love and grace, you will not be able to see God's Kingdom.
Why do I mention this here? Too often, in evangelism we limit the gospel to personal salvation from sin...Jesus dying on the Cross for our personal salvation. Jesus' message was a visionary one...it wasnt simply to give us a ticket out of hell...to assure us that we are a "10" on a scale of 1-10 of how sure we are we would get into heaven....but He came so that we could enter into the Kingdom of Heaven...to experience abundant life under the reign of Christ in out hearts & lives now and forever. We must begin to give people the context for this salvation. The context is the Kingdom. The Cross is a beautiful bridge of God's grace and mercy, of justice done...it is the rock that abundant life flows from. You will notice in many of our current evangelical worship songs that the focus is on the cross...how thankful we are for the forgiveness of Christ...how much we loveHim for that...which is great...but Jesus gave us a promise of a life built on the cross. The life is the vision. The Kingdom Vision makes us want Jesus. It is new life because of death. It is not merely a stopping place for sin. Let us live in that, and give people the cross in context of the Kingdom life.
I am so greatful that Dr. Bright did not cheapen salvation to simply praying a prayer and getting your ticket out of hell...from this Tranferrable Concept #1, he explains that salvation includes our intellect, emotions, and will. We must kneal at the throne of the King once and forever, and enter into new life, life in His Kingdom.
posted by Melinda at
6:48 PM
1 Comments:
Here's a little interesting personal tidbit: for the last I don't know how many years, and especially recently, I have been on a journey of increasing in respect, admiration, love, and understanding of Jesus so that when I do choose to follow Him with my will, it is not an empty choice, but one full of life and heart, soul, mind, and strength devotion.
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