Tag Archives: Jesus

Hey Pat Robertson: It is not OK to divorce

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I couldn’t believe the tweet I read from John Piper (@johnpiper) last night:

Pat Robertson’s view of how Christ loves the church and gives himself for her. Leave her for another. http://dsr.gd/pgWJel

See it for yourself:

Russell Moore has written an excellent response Robertson’s assertion that a man is morally justified to divorce his wife with Alzheimer’s disease in order to marry another woman. Moore points out this “is more than cruelty. This is a repudiation of the gospel of Jesus Christ”.

Pat Robertson’s cruel marriage statement is no anomaly. He and his cohorts have given us for years a prosperity gospel with more in common with an Asherah pole than a cross. They have given us a politicized Christianity that uses churches to “mobilize” voters rather than to stand prophetically outside the power structures as a witness for the gospel.

But Jesus didn’t die for a Christian Coalition; he died for a church. And the church, across the ages, isn’t significant because of her size or influence. She is weak, helpless, and spattered in blood. He is faithful to us anyway.

Please read all of Russell Moore’s response Christ, the Church, and Pat Robertson.

John Piper's book This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence

Piper’s book This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence is a much needed resource for anyone wanting to think more biblically about marriage.

Publisher’s Description:

Though personal selfishness and cultural bondage obstruct the wonder of God’s purpose, it is found in God’s Word, where his design can awaken a glorious vision capable of freeing every person from small, Christ-ignoring, romance-intoxicated views. As Piper explains in reflecting on forty years of matrimony: “Most foundationally, marriage is the doing of God. And ultimately, marriage is the display of God. It displays the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his people to the world in a way that no other event or institution does. Marriage, therefore, is not mainly about being in love. It’s mainly about telling the truth with our lives. And staying married is not about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant and putting the glory of Christ’s covenant-keeping love on display.”

Available through WTSBooks | Amazon | and Free PDF from Desiring God.

The -ations of The Cross

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Jared Wilson looks at The -ations of The Cross No, not the stations. The -ations.

What a savior we have in Jesus and rest at the feet of this Cross where he ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Jared’s posts reminds me of Shai Linne’s Atonement Q+A.

Note: RSS readers may need to click through to see the video.

More Like Falling In Love

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Two weeks ago I wrote the post On Falling in Love with Jesus in response to Jason Gray’s song “More Like Falling In Love” (iTunes link). In the post I questioned whether or not the song lines up with Scripture.

Jason Gray Everything Said is Coming Untrue CD image

Jason Gray was gracious enough to reply to my tweet asking for his input. I have taken the time to read his reply and the series of blog posts he wrote about the song over on the Jesus Freak Hideout blog. After reflecting on Jason’s words I now understand more clearly the lyrics to his song and I certainly appreciate the heart of the believer who penned these words.

Regarding the “Jesus is my boyfriend” criticism, Jason wrote:

I guess I could understand it if they assume that the kind of love I’m talking about in my song is based on emotionalism – warm fuzzy feelings about God, reducing Him to a cosmic boyfriend/girlfriend. Maybe they think the love I’m talking about here is the same kind of thing our culture tries to pass off as “love”: self-centered, hormone induced, emotionally based romantic Hollywood “love” without commitment or backbone.

If I understand him now, Jason is singing about our response to our salvation, to our Savior, and to our husband. As a member of the bride of Christ, a member of the redeemed, our hearts should be joyous. The gospel creates a desire to obey God’s law out of love. I get that. I love that!

I am still troubled by one line…

Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me

I know this is wrong, but what I hear is The changes in me are a direct result of me falling in love with Jesus or said another way I did something to bring about this change. We need to be careful here, the law says Do This, but the gospel proclaims It is Finished. There is nothing for a sinner to do, salvation is a work of God from beginning to the end (Romans 8:28-30). We don’t need to run back to the law after having been freed from its condemnation.

I encourage you to listen to the song (iTunes link) and read Jason’s posts on More Like Falling In Love: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and compare both of us to the Word of God. Let us know what you think.

On Falling in Love with Jesus

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Zazzle.com T-Shirt

This morning while taking the kids to school Shannon turned to me and said, “I bet you don’t like this song.” I replied I didn’t know the song that was playing on KLTY at the time. As I listened I heard these lyrics to Jason Gray‘s “More Like Falling in Love“.

…It’s like I’m falling in love, love, love
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me

My initial reaction was disbelief. Do I really understand what he is saying? Is this the new poster child for “Jesus is my boyfriend songs”? What does falling in love has to do with the gospel?

Now several hours later, I am open to the fact that may not be completely accurate in my understanding of what Jason Gray is trying to say in the song. That said, I am still convinced that this song does not line up with Scripture.

Falling in love with Jesus has nothing to do with our salvation nor its fruits (the change Gray speaks of). How is this different from a Muslim saying they fell in love with Mohammed? Or a Buddhist proclaiming that falling in love with the Buddha brought about the change in his/her life. As Chris Rosebrough has said, what about a burrito? Why couldn’t a burrito produce this life change?

Michael Horton book The Gospel Driven Life

Folks we are not part of the gospel! My ability/inability to fall in love with Christ has nothing to do with my salvation. The gospel is entirely outside of us as Michael Horton notes in The Gospel-Driven Life:

It is an “external Word” spoken by another person to me in the name of Christ. The gospel doesn’t depend on anything in me at all; it is an objective completed work. The gospel is entirely outside of you! (p 26)

The gospel is an announcement of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15). It happened 2,000 years ago. While we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8) and rose for our justification.

Don’t I need to do something to change? Again, let me quote from Horton:

The gospel transforms us in heart, mind, will, and actions precisely because it is not itself a message about our transformation. Nothing that I am or that I feel, choose, or do qualifies as Good News. On my best days, my experience of transformation is weak, but the gospel is an announcement of a certain state of affairs that exists because of something in God, not something in me; something that God has done, not something that I have done; the love in God’s heart which he has shown in his Son, not the love in my heart that I exhibit in my relationships. Precisely as the Good News of a completed, sufficient, and perfect work of God in Christ accomplished for me and outside of me in history, the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” not only at the beginning but throughout the Christian life. In fact, our sanctification is simply a lifelong process of letting that Good News sink in and responding appropriately: becoming the people whom God says that we already are in Christ. (p 77)

Ok Eric, but can’t I fall in love with Jesus during this process of sanctification? I am not going to say you can’t. What I am going to say is that even if you do, that falling in love part doesn’t produce the change. If it did produce the change, what happens when the emotions fade? Like Paul (Romans 7) I struggle with sin. I am, according to Luther “Simul Iustus Et Peccator“, or “At Once Justified and Sinner”. For this very reason, my faith must be in the one who began the good work (Philippians 1:6) for salvation is a work of God (Jonah 2:9) from beginning to the end (Romans 8:28-30).

One last quote from Horton on this issue:

Do I define the Jesus study or does it define me? Is Jesus’s significance objective and universal, which I am simply to acknowledge and embrace, or do I determine his significance in my own life? Paul tells believers “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). (p 116)

So we are to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). This gospel of our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who in dying on the cross satisfied the justice of God; exhausted the wrath of God; removed our sins from the presence of God; redeemed us from the curse of God and reconciled us to God. But the Good News does not stop there he rose from the grave; justified us before God; and reigns as the firstborn from the dead. This gospel saves us, sanctifies us, and will glorify us. Rest in Christ alone. Soli Deo Gloria!

About that image up top, if you do think falling in love with Jesus is the greatest, Zazzle.com has a t-shirt for you.