The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in 1 Timothy 1:15a,
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..."
Here is a clear and straight forward statement. Paul tells us why the Son of God came to planet Earth. It wasn't to establish a new religion. It wasn't to create a new priesthood (well, other than in the sense of 1 Peter 2:4-5, "As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." - a priesthood all believers share in.) It wasn't to build a new temple or anything other building. He didn't come to provide religious occupations for the many who have them, he didn't come to provide new denominations for people to split off into, he didn't come to insure a tax exempt status in the tax code. He didn't come to provide youth groups to keep teens out of trouble (he came to save them), or Sunday School to instruct our family members (however, hang in there and see below). Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Sinners like you and me.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus put it this way, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” In Romans 3:22b-25a, we read, "There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith." This is why the Son of God came to planet Earth, to offer himself as a sacrifice to pay for our sins, making a way for us to eternal life in his kingdom. We read in 1 John 4:10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
There may be nothing wrong with some of the things I listed above. Some of those may facilitate the pursuit of why the Son of God came into the world. Therefore, there may be good in those kinds of things, but not if they supplant the primary agenda of why God the Father sent his Son into the world. Certainly, instruction in the word of God for believers is something the Lord wants us to do. The pastoring of believers, the providing for corporate worship of believers are all things we are instructed to do within the church, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13. Also, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25. So, yes, there may be very good reasons why we are all doing what it is we do, but... maybe not. Do we all have clarity on what we are doing?
Having clarity on this is of utmost importance in my thinking. Things have a way of getting muddied up such that we may lose sight of why Jesus Christ came in the first place. We might find our priorities confused and focus our efforts on secondary or unessential things, to the neglect of seeing sinners saved. Jesus left his followers with the following command, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20a. I don't see anything in there that specifically speaks of a new church building. I don't see anything in there that speaks of establishing denominations with their cherished "denominational distinctives." I don't see anything in there that speaks of my favorite foreign missions board. I don't see anything in there about youth groups, Sunday School, Sunday evening prayer meetings or a Wednesday night mid-week service. I don't see anything in there about a "praise team" or drama ministry or food pantry.
My point isn't that any of those things are wrong. Many of them may, in fact, be very right. But any of those things only have value of they advance very specifically the purposes of Jesus Christ, his agenda... not ours. That purpose could not be clearer. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. What moves that agenda ahead is of value, what does not needs to be discarded in favor of that which does.
I don't know about you, but it has appeared to me that there is a lot of religious junk that is pursued in the name of Jesus Christ that seems to hardly advance the saving of sinners for God's kingdom. It never hurts to ask: is the time, treasure and talent I invest each week used in the most productive ways to see sinners saved?
I don't intend to be a trouble maker, but I do intend to get us rethinking what it is we are all doing.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..."
Here is a clear and straight forward statement. Paul tells us why the Son of God came to planet Earth. It wasn't to establish a new religion. It wasn't to create a new priesthood (well, other than in the sense of 1 Peter 2:4-5, "As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." - a priesthood all believers share in.) It wasn't to build a new temple or anything other building. He didn't come to provide religious occupations for the many who have them, he didn't come to provide new denominations for people to split off into, he didn't come to insure a tax exempt status in the tax code. He didn't come to provide youth groups to keep teens out of trouble (he came to save them), or Sunday School to instruct our family members (however, hang in there and see below). Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Sinners like you and me.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus put it this way, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” In Romans 3:22b-25a, we read, "There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith." This is why the Son of God came to planet Earth, to offer himself as a sacrifice to pay for our sins, making a way for us to eternal life in his kingdom. We read in 1 John 4:10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
There may be nothing wrong with some of the things I listed above. Some of those may facilitate the pursuit of why the Son of God came into the world. Therefore, there may be good in those kinds of things, but not if they supplant the primary agenda of why God the Father sent his Son into the world. Certainly, instruction in the word of God for believers is something the Lord wants us to do. The pastoring of believers, the providing for corporate worship of believers are all things we are instructed to do within the church, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13. Also, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25. So, yes, there may be very good reasons why we are all doing what it is we do, but... maybe not. Do we all have clarity on what we are doing?
Having clarity on this is of utmost importance in my thinking. Things have a way of getting muddied up such that we may lose sight of why Jesus Christ came in the first place. We might find our priorities confused and focus our efforts on secondary or unessential things, to the neglect of seeing sinners saved. Jesus left his followers with the following command, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20a. I don't see anything in there that specifically speaks of a new church building. I don't see anything in there that speaks of establishing denominations with their cherished "denominational distinctives." I don't see anything in there that speaks of my favorite foreign missions board. I don't see anything in there about youth groups, Sunday School, Sunday evening prayer meetings or a Wednesday night mid-week service. I don't see anything in there about a "praise team" or drama ministry or food pantry.
My point isn't that any of those things are wrong. Many of them may, in fact, be very right. But any of those things only have value of they advance very specifically the purposes of Jesus Christ, his agenda... not ours. That purpose could not be clearer. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. What moves that agenda ahead is of value, what does not needs to be discarded in favor of that which does.
I don't know about you, but it has appeared to me that there is a lot of religious junk that is pursued in the name of Jesus Christ that seems to hardly advance the saving of sinners for God's kingdom. It never hurts to ask: is the time, treasure and talent I invest each week used in the most productive ways to see sinners saved?
I don't intend to be a trouble maker, but I do intend to get us rethinking what it is we are all doing.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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