Focus on God first; then behavior

Last week, I was reading several books.  One thought jumped out at me because of the different perspectives/backgrounds of the two authors.  My wife reminded me of a saying we learned from Erma Prutow at Sterling College.  Erma said "Truth is truth."  She meant the source does not matter because all truth is God's truth.

Here is the summary of what I learned from these authors: in our battle against sin and behavior, we have the order mixed up in the church.  We try to fix behavior so that we can better focus on God.  Whereas, God's Word teaches we need to fix on our eyes on Jesus first so that behavior will be fixed. 

Here are the quotes from Matt Chandler and Joseph Prince:
"What ends up happening to so many of us is that we spend so much time trying to put sin to death that we don't spend enough time striving to know God deeply, trying to gaze upon the wonder of Jesus Christ and have that transform our affections to the point where our love and hope are steadfastly on Christ.  The goal is this: that Christ would become more beautiful and desirable than the allure of sin. . .As we turn our eyes toward Jesus Christ and gaze upon him, as we really see Jesus and behold him, as we become enraptured in his infinite beauties and perfections, then the things of the world grow dim and begin by contrast to lose their power over our heart and life. . .Owens (quote not included here) knows that to crucify himself to the things of the world, he must first inquire into the beauty of Jesus." (Matt Chandler, Explicit Gospel, pg. 216-217)
"Let's not reverse God's order. When God says something comes first, it must come first. What God puts first, man cannot put last. God says "no condemnation" comes first, and then you can "go and sin no more." Christian religion has it in reverse. We say, "Go and sin no more first, then we won't condemn you." What we need to understand is that when there is no condemnation, people are empowered to live victorious lives, lives that glorify Jesus." (Joseph Prince, The Power of Right Believing, pg. 138) 
Do you agree or disagree?  Have we gotten the order mixed up in the church? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sermon Notes-"Transitional Thoughts"

Introduction: As I was thinking and praying about what to share during my final sermon on staff, I began to think of the transition that I am making as well as the church.   We as pastors have been consistently focused on three priorities over the last several years: prayer, worship and equip.   So, even though I may no longer be on staff in a few weeks at this church, as a member of this church I believe just as strongly that Hesston MB needs to continue to be about these priorities in the days ahead.   However, the more I prayed about it, the more I realized that to get to these priorities, we as a church also had to make some transitions so that is why I am entitling this message “Transitional Thoughts”.   Transition is defined as “the process or an instance of changing from one form, state, activity, or place to another.” Educate to Equip- Ephesians 4:11-16 ·          What is the difference?   o    To e...
Read more

You Are Blameless

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
Read more