From One Degree to Another

Phil Auxier's Blog

Connect

Pardoned by Jesus

by

By true faith in Jesus Christ,
I am right with God
and heir to life everlasting.
Even though my conscience accuses me
of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments
and of never having kept any of them,
and even though I am still inclined toward all evil,
nevertheless, without my deserving it at all,
out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me
the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,
as if I have never sinned nor been a sinner,
as if I had been as perfectly obedient
as Christ was obedient for me.
All I need to do
is accept this gift of God with a believing heart.

(from Heidelberg Catechism, questions 59-60, and taken from Christ-Centered Worship by Bryan Chapell)

Thanks to the Son!

by

On Sabbath Evening, January 15, 1860, Charles Spurgeon stepped into the pulpit at New Park Street Chapel to preach a sermon entitled, Special Thanksgiving to the Father from Colossians 1:12-13. This quote from this sermon will be one I use today in transitioning from my own sermon from Colossians 1:11-12 into the Lord’s Supper…

I think, my Brethren, we scarcely need to be told to give thanks unto the Son. The remembrance of that bleeding body hanging upon the Cross is ever present to our faith. The nails and the spear, His griefs, the anguish of His soul and His sweat of agony make much tender touching appeals to our gratitude—these will prevent us always from ceasing our songs and sometimes fire our hearts with rekindling rapture in praise of the Man, Christ Jesus. Yes, we will bless You, dearest Lord. Our souls are all on fire. As we survey the wondrous Cross, we cannot but shout—“O for this love let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
The Savior’s praises speak.”

Give thanks to the Son for His work in the Gospel!

The Universal, Effective Gospel, full of grace and truth…

by

Today’s sermon from Colossians 1:5-6, entitled The Gospel, is now online. This sermon highlighted God’s Word speaking of the Gospel as truth, universal, effective, and grace. It was really enjoyable to see what God’s Word clearly has to communicate to us about what the Gospel is and what it produces in us.

I hope it encouraged you and, deeper still, hope God takes it and works repentance and belief in the lives of others.

Keller on the Gospel & Its Forms

by

Tim Keller recently wrote an article entitled The Gospel In All Its Forms. I found this article helpful as I try to weave the Gospel into conversations and sermons each week. I do tend to leave out some elements at times and feel almost guilty. Keller’s article provides some good help in thinking through these things and gives some historical background on some current charges leveled at the Gospel.

Aaron Fenlason

by

Had a great meeting this afternoon with Aaron Fenlason, pastor of New Life Church in Wichita. Aaron blogs at Hope of Righteousness. There were so many areas of agreement in which we found as we talked today. It was indeed sweet fellowship and encouraging to hear of this amazing work. The church meets at 242 S. Edwards in Wichita (north of Friends University). Pray for this work as they are currently looking for a like-minded leader to help in leading the musical parts of worship. Let’s ask God to do amazing things through Aaron and this church.

Unforgiveness as an expression of pride…

by

In his excellent book, Pleasing People, Lou Priolo encourages us to examine where pride exists in our lives and gives some Biblical manifestations. One that emerged to me was unforgiveness. He writes:

[Pride is seen, in that] when wronged, being unwilling to forgive an offender who has not demonstrated extreme submission or repentance. Proud people struggle to grant forgiveness to those who are not wallowing in sorrow over their offenses. They want not a simple “I repent,” as the Scriptures require (Luke 17:4), but the great proof of repentance. If you’re having a hard time connecting the dots between pride and lack of forgiveness, imagine asking forgiveness from someone who responds like this: “I’m not ready to extend my forgiveness to you. You haven’t offended just any old person; you’ve offended ME! And I don’t grant people forgiveness simply on the basis of their word without their somehow otherwise propitiating my anger.” (Of course, when it comes time for him to confess his own sin, the arrogant individual expects those he has offended to overlook his “little mistakes.”)

A humble believer recognizes the enormity of his own debt of sin that Christ has forgiven and considers any offenses that he himself must forgive as minutiae in comparison (cf. Matthew 18:21-35). He willingly grants forgiveness to those who sincerely ask for it. (In the absence of hard evidence to the contrary, he takes the repentant brother at his word.) (Luke 17:3-4)

I thought this was helpful in my own life. First of all, I have had to deal with people who are prideful like this. Secondly, however, and much more grievous, I’ve seen this attitude in my own life of making someone feel the sting of wronging ME. It’s time for us to humble ourselves in light of the cross and let repentance come.

Gospel-Centered Life

by

Over on Timmy Brister’s blog, he linked to the latest Small Group resource from World Harvest Mission entitled The Gospel Centered Life by Bob Thune and Will Walker. Through July 31, 2009, they are sending out a free preview copy of this curriculum for those who sign up for their newsletter. It would be well worth you time to check it out.

Here’s a summary of the contents:

The Gospel-Centered Life is a nine lesson small group study intended to help participants understand how the gospel shapes every aspect of life. Each lesson is self-contained, featuring clear teaching from scripture, and requires no extra work outside of the group setting.

Designed for:

* Pastors and leaders who want to spur Gospel renewal in their churches and ministries.
* Church-planters who want to form Gospel DNA in the churches they start.
* Students and campus ministers who are looking to live out the Gospel on campus.
* Christians who want to be more deeply formed around the Gospel.
* Small group leaders who are looking for content that “works” with diverse groups of people.
* Missionaries who are looking for simple material to disciple new Christians.

Jesus Is the Christ…

by

Thought we had a glorious morning service, surveying the wondrous cross. The sermon, The Christ (Even In Death) from Mark 15:33-39, is online. There were many applications. I mentioned three:
1) I’m struck by how Scripture-saturated the Son of God was. In His most desperate hour and incredible suffering, He ran to the Scriptures, specifically Psalm 22:1 for comfort.
2) I’m amazed at how we try to sew the temple curtain back in two by placing religious deeds before the Gospel.
3) I’m convicted that the boldness of the centurion should stand as a challenge to us all to say with our lips “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

What applications struck you?

Gospel-Centered?

by

C.J. quotes Spurgeon, who said this…

“Dear friends I am going to preach to you again upon the cornerstone of the gospel. How many times will this make, I wonder? The doctrine of Christ crucified is always with me. As the Romans sentinel in Pompeii stood to his post even when the city was destroyed, so do I…every thing else can wait, but this one truth must be proclaimed with a voice of thunder. Others may preach as they will but as for this pulpit it shall always resound with the substitutions of the Christ…Our blessed Savior would have us hold his death in great reverence; it is to be our chief memory we cannot think of that death too often.”

This is where we are headed again this weekend. We will be exploring the themes of the Gospel in Jesus’ Roman trial. I think Spurgeon is onto something here: our Savior would have us hold His death in great reverence and we can never exhaust the thought that we could give towards it. Therefore join me this Sunday as we come to awe and wonder again at the incredible Gospel of Jesus Christ. Prepare your heart as we enjoy the Lord’s Supper as well.