Welcome to the Genesis of this podcast. The Pulse Podcast is brought to you by Our God Given Mission. This podcast is your chance to send in questions to the OGGM team who will answer pulse-raising questions, engaging with some of the most difficult questions Christians face.
In this episode, we consider whether Christians should believe the Genesis account of creation.
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#Vision2020 is set to be OGGM’s fourth annual retreat and like all of our previous retreats, Vision 2020 is designed with students, young adults, and professionals in mind. Over 5 days, 200 people will gather to ask the question, what would happen if we could see how God sees. If we could see our strengths, struggles, blessings, jobs, gifts how God sees them. How would your life change?
Perspective matters. The way we view things, and the lens in which we do so matters. Our vision, perspective, and lens are all integral in our decisions and determine how we live our lives. This is what we find all throughout scripture, that perspective is often far more important than reality. The prophet Jeremiah exclaims “you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:” (Jerimiah 5:21. The Psalmist David would tarry in prayer that God would “open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your law” (Ps. 119:18). In Ephesians 1:18, Paul instructs us to see with the eyes of our hearts. Proverb reads that without vision, or revelation, the people perish (Prov. 29:18). Vision of immense importance to God.
Vision isn’t simply what we see, but it is also the way in which we see. In other words, Vision is the lens in which we interpret everything which surrounds us. The problem is, our vision has been distorted. One of the fundamental differences between the believer and the unbeliever is revealed by the way in which we interpret the events which happen around us. The unbeliever uses the lens ‘self’ and interprets events through the standards of the world. The call of the gospel is for the unbeliever to receive a new sight, to see how God sees, to see with His perspective. This is what we witness with Pauls’s radical encounter with God on the road to Damascus. Coupled with a new name, he was also given new sight. Saul was struck blind on the Damascus road as a demonstration of his need to see things in a new way. For the first time in his life, Paul began to see how God sees!
This is the heart behind Vision 2020. The week is going to be focused on how can we gain a kingdom perspective. During a time where everything around us is vying for our attention, where we are all managing our various pursuits, passions, and interests, the question that remains is; Are we seeing as God sees? Are we willing to lay aside our preconceptions in order to adopt the mindset of God? At #Vision2020 we will seek to answer the following question; how do we humble ourselves enough to see as God sees and as a result, love the world as He intended for us to love it?
The retreat will take place from Monday 22nd June 2020 to Friday 26th June 2020.
A little over a year ago, I quit my job, sold my home and gave away 99% of my possessions so that I could travel the world. It was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.
To me, quitting a great job was very scary (No more income! A large gap in my employment history! Burning bridges right, left & centre! Throwing away a fabulous career!) but I’ve come to realise that for most people, that isn’t the scary part. The thing that everyone asks about — the part that they can’t quite get their heads around — is that I don’t have anywhere to live.
Then his spiel took a turn to a personal testimony of his experience with IF. He’d burnt more fat than he previously could with any other diet. He felt happier, healthier and more energetic. He’d streamlined his morning routine and was saving money by no longer buying late-night snacks. All because he didn’t eat for 16 hours of the day.
Sitting there, I felt like I was given one of those ‘too good to be true’ offers than lead to you joining a cult. I was sceptical. It sounded great and all that, but I’m a breakfast guy. Besides, it sounds like a fad diet that I wouldn’t be able to maintain. I’d drop some weight while doing it, then I’d put it back on when I realised I couldn’t maintain it.
A month later, I conceded that I might as well give it a go. Over the past few years, I had been carrying a few extra kilograms that I had tried to drop. For the six months prior, I had been going to the gym regularly to try and burn it off. In those six months, I had shifted the scales slightly, but not enough considering the work I was putting in. Intermittent fasting became a very tempting option. I thought I’d give it a go.
I spent a lot of time researching the 16:8 approach to fasting. Honestly, there are a lot of mixed things out there, with a lot of evidence supporting it’s proclaimed benefits, while others are not as sold on it. The overarching point I found was to give it a go and see if it works for you.
The first couple of weeks were tough. My body was so conditioned to eat at certain times and I had to fight hard to resist. This was one of the big learning experiences for me. I had to remind myself that I don’t need to eat right now and that it was my body responding to a change in routine. I decided to be as strict as possible in the first month, knowing that it takes about 4–5 weeks to establish a new routine, and it worked.
I started writing letters to my kids once a month when they were born.
My boys are now 16 and 14, so they have 192 and 168 letters respectively. I’m not done yet, either: I promised to continue writing to them until they turn 18.
I won’t lie and tell you I started these letters for altruistic reasons. I had selfish goals: Because I left a successful career to raise my boys full-time, I planned to provide a kick-ass chronological history of our time together so I could justify my stay-at-home-mom status.
I figured that if I documented everything I did with them and for them from birth to age 18, they would remember me as the greatest mother that ever lived in the history of the universe.
I wrote about how I pumped breast milk for a solid six months. Best mom ever! I wrote about how my son started talking in full sentences at age two because I read books and sang songs to him every night to help develop early language skills. Mother of the year!
But a devastating thing happened on the way to me documenting my star-mom status: Their dad died.
I couldn’t possibly know, when I began my letter-writing campaign, that my selfish goal would turn into a benevolent one. My monthly letters evolved into a memorial for a story we never expected to end so soon.
Now, whenever memories fade and the boys need a reminder of their father’s love and devotion, they read the letters.
It’s all right there in black and white.
You can read the moment we enter the teenage-angst phase because my letters have less of an “I’m so lucky to be your mom!” tone and more of a “please, Jesus, just help me get through the day” tone.
I didn’t sugarcoat our struggles, but I didn’t display them in their entirety either.
During one rebellious and unmanageable year of my older son’s adolescence, I wrote nothing at all. I had nothing positive to say. It was all too much to handle as a solo parent. Plus, I didn’t want my rage bleeding all over the page. It would be too easy for me to criticize my son’s abysmal choices and for him to base his worth on bad decisions made in a blip on the radar screen of his youth.
It’s also hard to write about good times when eye rolls, grunts, and general unpleasantness littered our days. But, that’s part of being a parent. So I rekindled my writing by summarizing the next year instead of documenting every cruel, harsh, and bitter disagreement. I didn’t sugarcoat our struggles, but I didn’t display them in their entirety either.
I promised my husband that I would do my best to keep his memory alive. I’m so thankful the letters serve two purposes: One is to help my sons remember their dad. The second is to remember how we made it through.
But, as I got caught up in all of my husband’s remembering, I’m not sure I conveyed how much of my heart and soul I put into these boys, too.
Moving forward after my husband’s death was no small feat. Grief is a bitch and I experienced the boys’ anger in all its manifestations. Maybe they’ll continue blaming me for maternal wrongdoings without understanding how hard it was to pick up the pieces as a young widow and only parent. Maybe they won’t. Only time will tell.
I tried my best to write about the realities of living with death and grief and sorrow. I didn’t pretend we weren’t hurting but I didn’t dwell in victimization either. I hope I’ve communicated, after heartbreak and healing, how much I love being their mom.
Whenever memories fade and the boys need a reminder of my love and devotion, they can read their letters.
It’s all right there in black and white.
In Hawaii, I walked around in white pedal pushers, carrying a large, white straw purse, (even larger than my mom’s) thinking that all the boys would surely notice me. Well, if they did it wasn’t as anything but a flat-chested twelve- year-old carrying a purse way too big for her and smiling like a complete dork.
In New York, I was a bit more sophisticated. Sort of. I actually fell in love and had my heart broken all in one night. This incident caused my father to go into a rage and want to go kill whoever had made his baby girl cry so horribly. (The closest I got to a Baby moment.)
When he found out I was sobbing hysterically because I would never see that boy again, he wanted to kill me!
But no matter what age I was when we traveled, I knew my father would get us to our destination safely. He would take care of everything (hotels, car rentals, food, souvenirs, fun) while we were on our vacation. And see to it that we arrived home in one piece.
Now, that’s not to say that I didn’t lose my patience a bit. Especially when my father was asking for a cocktail only a few minutes after we had taken our seats on the plane. But then I couldn’t blame him.
The first-class passengers were drinking wine and eating hors d’oeuvres, while the coach passengers were still boarding. The combined age of those first-class passengers was probably only a few years past that of my dad’s.
We arrived safely in Mexico and as I had promised my father, there was a wheelchair waiting to take us through customs. And as I had also promised there were beautiful sunrises (well, I guess I didn’t have much say in that event) and delicious huevos rancheros (again not something I prepared) and many wonderful hours playing cards, drinking margaritas and laughing.
I can take credit for some of those.
Upon returning home safely, my father grasped my hands, looked me in the eye and said, “Thank you so much. We made it home safe and sound, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we did,” I said. “But you don’t have to thank me.”
To be honest, it was difficult at times. Traveling with elderly parents presents many obstacles.
But the truth is, now that my father is gone, I wish I could do it all over again.
Dear Thin Friend, we’ve been planning this trip for months, and the day is finally here. I’m so excited to be embarking on this adventure with you. It fills me with joy to be traveling with you to far-off lands to experience new cultures and reach a level of relaxation neither of us has felt for months. The prospect of getting out of our comfort zones makes my soul tingle, as does jumping headfirst into new and exciting territory with you. I just want a cocktail in my hand and you by my side and I will be a happy person.
Before we embark on this journey together, though, I think we need to chat.
You’ve never lived in a body like mine. Your view of the world and of experiences like traveling are viewed through the rose-colored glasses of thin privilege. For this I do not blame you, but I know from living in a bigger body my entire life that there are things we need to consider when traveling: things that might not have occurred to you. I hope that after reading this you will go on our vacation with freshly opened eyes and a newfound respect for what it’s like to be a fat traveler.
My dearest Thin Friend, I know that you are so excited about your new vacation wardrobe. It’s full of colorful matching sets, new bikinis, and dresses that show off your body. My suitcase is full of colors and crop tops, mesh skirts, and bikinis, too, but they won’t fit you. Nor will your wardrobe fit me. So let’s not engage in the charade of optioning each other’s clothes, and please don’t make me try to squeeze into your wardrobe. I am just as fierce as you, but there is no way my curves and swerves are fitting into that dress and that’s okay.
We haven’t traveled together before, so I want to let you know something — people stare at me, but that’s not always a bad thing. Some of them will stop and ask to have their photos taken with me. People will call out “Yas, queen!” as we are walking down the street. Society isn’t used to seeing fat people confidently owning their space, let alone fat people with a wardrobe like mine. I’m okay with the staring; I like to talk to people, and I don’t mind having my picture taken, either. I love you, but you don’t need to defend me. I’ve got this. I have been defending my life and body for as long as I’ve been alive. I do welcome your support and I love that you care about my wellbeing, but haters gon’ hate, and I can deal with that. Watch me.
Traveling together is going to be great. After two weeks of adventures and new experiences we will learn new things about each other, explore our differences and similarities, and come away with memories that will last a lifetime. I hope that spending time with me in my bigger body gives you a new appreciation for your own body and respect for me in mine, because I can do everything you can do — and I can drink you under the table.
So get on the plane and let the adventures begin!
We know that God cares for us. We know that He gave His life for us. However, the message “God thinks you are WORTH dying for” is one which although is heartfelt, passionate and sincere is unfortunately false and ultimately antithetical to the true teachings of the Gospel. It is a message which I see plastered all over Christian social media, Christian music, and Christian sermons. I believe it is a message which is said with good intentions and is one which for the most part is sincere. However, it is sincerely wrong. At first glance, it is a seemingly harmless message but is one which is rooted in flawed theology. This has significant ramifications as to how we view and relate God and how to view the Gospel message. The Gospel is not about our own worth but rather Jesus’s supreme worth.
In an already self-centered world, this message gives further ammunition to our cultural outlook. We are far too “me” centric. It is all about what worth we can give to someone else. Our social relationships are founded on the premise of what we can provide to the other party. As is a result of this, we tend to take this premise into our relationship with God. We think that He loves us and died for us because we must have some worth to offer to Him. This is far from the truth. I understand the sentiment behind the message, I am not writing this article to say that we have no worth or that God doesn’t value you. In fact, as Children of God, we have infinite worth! However, what I am hoping to explain is that we did not have [special] worth,[ in a salvific sense], prior to Christ’s death on the cross. What I will be pointing out in this, is what should be obvious: it wasn’t our preexisting worth (prior to the cross) that prompted God to forsake heaven and die on a cross. Indeed cross was about worth, just not ours.
Theology matters
Theology matters. Our knowledge of God matters. The way we view God matters. The way we present the Gospel matters. We waste much of our lives gathering knowledge about unimportant things. When it comes to our favorite sports teams, we are glued to our screens to ensure we have up to date information regarding them. When it comes to our favourite celebrities we are so engrossed in the knowledge surrounding their daily lives. BUT, when it comes to trying to understand a perfectly Holy, infinite and marvelous God, we are lazy and sloppy. How we work our knowledge of God tells us how much, or how little, we love him.
I can imagine a lot of responses I’ll get to this article would be something along the lines of “it’s not that deep bro”. On the surface level, the statement seems pretty harmless, right? So what is the big fuss? The fuss is that it’s not a harmless statement. We shouldn’t simply brush it under the rug, instead, we should snuff out as soon as we can. It is simple, minor errors in our theology like this, which have significant impacts in the long run as to how we view God. The issue with the idea that “you are worth dying for” be it explicitly or not, the statement stems from the belief that we somehow add any sort value or worth to God. Quite frankly, it is lazy teaching and is in fact anti-Gospel. The truth is God doesn’t need us (Acts 17:25). He is not somehow deficient and we do not somehow complete Him. God is not needing of someone to love or to be loved by. Rather He exists in perfect completeness, in a perfect love relationship within the three persons of the Trinity. I am in complete agreement that God loves us immensely, and that the fact that He sent His son to die for us should blow us away. The issue I find with the message is the fact Jesus loved us so much, doesn’t really translate to OUR worth. The cross is about HIS worth, not ours.
Affirming the Consequent
‘Affirming the consequent’ describes a situation when someone takes a true statement and invalidly concludes the converse. For example, If a car has no petrol, it won’t run. The car doesn’t run. Therefore there is no petrol. There is a clear and obvious flaw in reasoning here. The conclusion fails to see that there are other things which can have the same symptoms. We commit this same logical fallacy when we make the assumption that we are valuable because Jesus died for us. From a logical perspective, there are many other reasons as to why Jesus died on the cross. Let’s examine a few of those below.
Christ died because of His worth it, not ours
There is no fathomable way that a stubborn, rebellious, sinful, flawed, created being is worthy of the infinite, marvelous, perfect, Holy, creator of the universe dying for them.You and I for Jesus is no trade at all!
Romans 3:12 makes this abundantly clear, “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” We were ‘worthless’ in our sin. This is what makes the Gospel, Gospel! This is what makes Grace, Grace! If it was true that we were worth dying for then the Gospel is no longer a Gospel of Grace, instead, Christ’s death simply becomes the Gospel of entitlement. We are simply getting what we deserve. This is far from the truth. The truth is rather that we were enemies of God and deserving of his eternal wrath (Ephesians 2:3). so then why would God substitute Himself for us? The cross is not a display of how worthy or valuable we are. Instead, as John piper famously says, It is a display of “the hopeless, undeserving, dirty, sinful, guilty, rebellious, corrupted condition of the people who were purchased.” We were “unworthy” so we needed someone who was “worthy” to take our place. Christ did not die on that cross because you or I were “worth it”, He died because He was. Only the life of a perfect, holy and blameless lamb of God could satisfy the ransom needed to pay for our infinite debt.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” ~ Ephesians 2:8-9
The concept of Grace is one which most of us struggle with; human nature almost demands us to do something, to have some worth or some part to play. I understand the desire and sentiment behind the message, I understand the need to help people see they have value in the eyes of God. However, the message is one which is far too “me” centered. The greatest encouragement you can give someone isn’t God died for you because you are worth it, it is rather that God died for even though you aren’t. Note the difference. The former puts pressure on your performance whilst the latter allows us to rest in God’s performance. The true grasp of Grace is understanding that God loves me regardless of my worth, my past, what I’ve done and what I am yet to do. Regardless of whether I stumble or whether I fail, He loves me still because of how much He is worth. If we approach God as deserving we are not approaching Him by grace through faith. The call of the Gospel is to remove our eyes from ourselves and what we are doing and to instead focus on God and what He has done. Our boasting is in Christ and not ourselves. Through Him, we are adopted (Romans 8:23), we are forgiven (Romans 5:1), we are redeemed, purchased and rescued. All of this is found in HIS worth and His doing, not ours.
Christ died so God can be Glorified, not us
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)
God purposed for Christ to die so that He may be glorified (John 12:23, 27). This was God’s plan before the very foundations of the earth (Revelations 13:8). As strange as it may sound, the crucifixion of Christ was the greatest display of God’s Glory. Human nature and today’s culture has us exclusively thinking about the cross in relation to our own lives. “Christ died for me” we sing, “Christ died for my salvation” we proclaim. Both of which are true however, they are only mere byproducts. Christ primarily died for God. For a lot of us, this is a new way of thinking about the cross, for most of our lives we were sold a “me” centered Gospel. Jesus Himself knew that His life was to be lived to solely the glory of God and also that His death was to be for the glory of God. He came into the world, He says in John 17:4, to glorify God. In John 7:18, He came seeking the glory and only the glory of the one who sent Him. Everything He did was for God. Even when anticipating the cross, the wrath, and the pain that came with it, Jesus cries out “But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name.” John 12:27.
Jesus went to the cross, not primarily for us (although that was one reason), but primarily to be obedient to the Father. The Father had the Son killed to glorify Him (Isaiah 53:10-12). The whole of the bible is about this act of glorification of the Son (John 13:31-32). Our worth doesn’t play into it. It wasn’t that we were worth so much to God that He chose to die for us. It is that His Son was worth so much to Him that He was willing to sacrifice Him so that He might be highly exalted. This was God’s plan. We are along for the ride.
God is committed to glorifying himself and He is most glorified in the rescue of sinners. God is the only being for whom to be committed to his own glory isn’t selfish, egotistical or vain, but instead, it is the most loving thing He can do. God’s commitment to his own glory is great news for us because His glory is full of grace and love. Therefore, If He is committed to His glory, because He is so perfectly self-sufficient, the glory of the fullness of His overflows in truth and grace for his creatures. The reason that Christians live for the glory of God is that God lives for the glory of God. All the recorded events in the history of the universe are about God and His glory. We are supporting characters in the play about God. It is the story of God. The cross was the climax, the crescendo of the story. It is where God is most glorified and victorious. We are here to support that.
Christ died to give us worth, not because of it
“There is a big difference between:
I’m worthy, so he died for me.
and
He died for me and gave me my worth.
We “were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Therefore, what worth or value is there is something which is dead? Absolutely zero. However, and here is where the “good news” part of the Gospel comes in, He actually loved us despite our condition (John 3:16), and because He did, we now have inestimable worth. The righteousness of Christ, or “worth” if you like, has now been imputed onto us (2 Corinthians 5:21). This was not because we worked for it, not because we earned it, not because we are worthy of it, but because we were unworthy and unable to make ourselves worthy in any way. Our worth is not the “why” for Jesus dying for us, our unworthiness is.
I know that many people, Christians included, struggle with the idea of feeling “unworthy”. There is an inner witness in our hearts which tells us so. However, the Gospel provides a solution and I believe the more we can show people that their worth is not the issue, the better they will understand it. For us to truly grasp the Gospel message, we need to see love and grace shown to us in the time where we least deserve it. What we do instead is we try and suppress that truth, the truth that we a radically depraved and in need of a Saviour. We suppress it with cute, heartfelt human words such as the message discussed today, which although may make you feel good at the time, will not help you find everlasting joy. We find joy when we rest in the finished and perfect work of Christ. The most powerful tool the Gospel message gives us is that when we fall short, and the devil whispers in our ear to make us feel unworthy; so we then run away from God. We get to shout in response “you are right, I’m NOT worthy. . . but He is!”, Jesus’s righteousness is mine because He substituted His worth for my lack thereof.
So do we have any worth? Of couse we do. We have worth because God has given it to us. We are His image-bearers. Furthermore, Psalm 139:13-16 tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us that we are God’s own possession, chosen for the praise of His glory and that we have an inheritance in heaven with Him as His children. However, an important thing to note is that these are not things we have been done or achieved by ourselves. We were either “made” so, “chosen by God”, or it is something we “inherited” and thus, our worth is totally from Him. We are simply recipients, and now we have infinite worth in Him because of the price He paid to make us worthy. That is the good news of the Gospel.
The Doctrine of ‘Once saved always saved’ is one which is embedded in the belief that when a person commits his or her life to Jesus Christ, accepting Him as their personal Saviour, then eternal salvation is totally assured from that moment on, with absolutely no possibility of ever losing it. It is a topic which I see heavily debated in many Christian circles and one I believe after a careful and thorough examination of scripture becomes very clear . So let’s examine scripture and understand truth.
The biggest problem we face when it comes down to discussing this question is that we have so relegated the meaning of what it means to be ‘Christian’ . A Christian is not defined as someone who raised their hand at an alter call and repeated a few prayers. A Christian is not defined as someone who grew up in a Christian home and believes in God by proxy. A Christian is not someone with high moral values who performs religious duties. Rather, a Christian is someone who was once dead in their sins and trespasses (Eph. 2:1), someone whom as descendent of Adam and Eve, joined them in their rebellion and as a result shares in their guilt and corruption, (Rom. 5:12–21), someone who as result of this was an enemy of God (v. 10), and by nature deserving of His wrath (Eph. 2:3). A Christian is someone whom in-spite of all these things, just at the right time, Jesus Christ paid for their sins and drank the cup of God’s wrath for ( Mark 10:45) . A Christian is someone who by faith, through the person and purpose of Jesus Christ, through his life, death and resurrection is now reconciled, Justified and soon to be Glorified. And where you were once an enemy of God, instead you are now an adopted child of God. A Christian is someone who is redeemed, marked and sealed by God and born again. A true Christian is a person who has now put faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, including His death on the cross as payment for sins and His resurrection on the third day.
“Salvation is by Grace alone, through Faith alone, through Christ alone, according to Scripture alone for the Glory of God alone”
Ordo Salutis
Salvation simply put is the divine and sovereign act of God where He redeems, rescues and delivers sinners through the person and purpose of Jesus Christ. Salvation is not simply a response you made to an altar call — which although was necessary was not the beginning. However, Your salvation was something which was unfolding before the very foundations of the universe was formed. Your salvation began in eternity past when God planned the history of redemption, and ordained the death and the resurrection of his Son, and He chose you to be his own through Christ.
Romans 8:29-30 gives us the Ordo Salutis – Order of Salvation, which is often referred to as the ‘Golden Chain of Salvation’. Simply put it is the blueprint of how God saves and redeems His people. “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son… And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”- Romans 8:29-30.
To answer the question as to whether a Christian can then lose their salvation, it is important to note that this ‘The Golden chain of Salvation’ referred to above is fully God’s. He designed and orchestrated it. God didn’t just simply create each of the links and then depend on man’s ability to connect them, but instead He binds the links them together Himself ,through His own power, purpose and love. It is God who Foreknew, It is God who Predestined, it is God who Called, it is God who Justified and it is God who Glorifies. Salvation is all about God!
God is the centre of our Salvation. To believe that you can lose your salvation proceeds to displace God from the centre and to instead place man and his works at the centre. The bible couldn’t be more clear on the matter. We contribute nothing towards salvation, it is sola gratia — by grace alone. As Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It is not from yourself or anything you’ve done, but the gift of God.” Salvation, therefore, is a free gift of grace from God and God’s gifts are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Once made born again and made new, a Christian cannot be un-newly created. Once you have been redeemed a Christian cannot be un-purchased. Once granted Eternal life a Christian cannot become temporary. God is infallible and thus cannot renege on His Word (Titus 1:2).
The idea that salvation is totally of God and is the result of nothing that anyone does is one which is hard to come to terms with. It is counter-cultural– for many of us it almost seems too easy. The concept of Grace is one which most of us struggle with; human nature almost demands us to add something onto the end. I don’t imagine many Christians reading this disagree on the matter that it is God’s grace is which saves people. Where I often find disagreement, is over what a person’s role in this whole process is. The issue which has split the Christian Church has always been whether faith by itself is sufficient for salvation and as a result many through the ages have felt compelled to add onto the central message of Christianity. This is what separates Christianity from every other world religion. Everyone religion at its very core has the same message, they all aim to answer the question ‘ How does man become right with God’ or ‘ How does man obtain Favour from God’. Every other religion is focused on what man must do, but Christianity is centred around what God has done. Christianity proclaims that there is nothing you nor I can do, no amount of religious deeds would be enough to earn God’s Favour or to become right with him. As Jonathan Edwards famously says “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.” The Christian message is that when a person accepts the free gift of salvation by virtue of faith, he or she is said to be justified — made acceptable before (or made right with) God. The process of being declared righteous is called justification.
It is vital that we understand and distinguish between Justification and Sanctification. They are big theological terms which unfortunately many Pastors today fail to use today because they believe people can’t grasp them. However, understanding these terms is crucial to understanding the Christian message and is the very difference between assurance in salvation and doubt.
Justification: Freedom from Sin’s Penalty
Justification is a legal term. It is a definitive and immediate pronouncement where we are now vindicated and determined to be sinless in the eyes of God. The righteousness of Christ is imputed on to us (Romans 3:22) and now our sin no longer separates us from Him and no longer sentences us to hell. Justification is not earned by any work or effort on our part; otherwise, it could not be called grace. If our good works earned salvation, then God would be obligated to pay us our due. But no one can earn heaven, and God’s blessings are not His obligation; they flow from His goodness and love.
Sanctification: Freedom from Sin’s Power
Sanctification is a practical experience of our separation unto God. Because by virtue of faith we have been justified, we are positionally holy (“set free from every sin” (Acts 13:39), however we know that we still sin (1 John 1:10). Sanctification is now the life long process by which we are conforming to the image and likeness of Christ where God guides us to maturity and progressive holiness.
Understanding these two terms is crucial in the life of every believer. A failure to understand the distinction between the two would lead to all sorts of issues later on in our walk. Once our understanding of Justification and sanctification becomes lost, so does any hope we have to understand the Christian faith.
Justification in light of the question ‘can a Christian lose their salvation’
Those who have been justified never need re-justifying. When you have been justified you are at peace with God (Romans 5:1) and know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1–2). The term ‘no condemnation’ is in fact a double negative. So in fact ‘ no condemnation’ actually means a ‘positive judgement’. Where you were once condemned into hell, you are now seated in heavenly places with Christ (Romans 6:4). It is a definitive judgement made by God and you can now be assured of your salvation. It is the glorious truth of the Gospel, there is nothing you can do to get yourself in Christ, and therefore there in nothing you can do get yourself out of Christ.
Be assured of your justification. It was. One day, you were freed fully from the penalty of sin.
Be patient with your sanctification. It is. Each day, you are being freed increasingly from the power of sin.
Every time I have a discussion regarding the doctrine of ‘once saved always saved’, there are two main objections to the belief. Firstly, what about Christians who live in deliberate sin and have an unrepentant lifestyle? Secondly, what about Christians who at one stage in their lives professed they were in the faith and but have since now publicly denied Christ?
The problem with these objections is the assumption that everyone who calls themself a “Christian” has actually been born again. This is why I considered it important at the very start to spend some time defining what a “Christian” is. The Bible clearly states that a true Christian will not live in a constant state of continual and unrepentant sin (1 John 3:6). As for the second question, The Bible is very clear on this. The Bible says that anyone who claims they have since departed the Christian faith has demonstrated that he or she was never truly a Christian in the first place (1 John 2:19). The person may have had an outward appearance of Christianity, they may have simply been religious and put on a good show, but they were never truly redeemed, rescued and born again by the power of God.
So this then begs the question, ‘how can we know whether or not someone genuinely is born-again,justified and is a child of God?’. ‘Perseverance of the saints’ is a doctrine embedded in the belief that a genuine believer will persevere in the faith and in holiness until the very end. It doesn’t mean perfection, it doesn’t mean a sinless life but it means that God is faithful to complete the work he began in us (Phillipians 1:6). This goes back to the notion that God is the centre of our salvation. The doctrine of ‘ Once saved always saved’ is not a get out of jail free card, it is not a vaccination meaning, now that you have your shot you can do whatever you like. It is that instead that God is preserving us, he is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He doesn’t simply save us and then leave us on the shelf, but He is actively working and perfecting the work he began in us until the return of Christ Jesus (Phillipians 1:6). It is our assurance in the finished and justifying work of Jesus Christ which fuels us to persevere in the faith. It is important that we grasp and hold on to this message. Justification comes before Sanctification. We mustn’t get this the wrong way round, we do not persevere and work to gain favour and approval from God, but instead we work from a place of favour and approval. This is what fuels us to run the Christian race, knowing and understanding that it is already done.
In the simplest terms, perseverance is the proof of salvation. A Christians’s perseverance in the faith and obedience to the word, is evidence of their vital, saving connection to Christ and their participation in him.
So to the person who is reading this, doubting their salvation, ask yourself, are you trusting in Christ? ultimately we hope that this article will help you navigate this discussion and leave you marvelling at the miracle of Salvation.
It’s very easy to sometimes become so overwhelmed by the darkness and brokenness in our world that we lose hope. And yet at other times, we can catch ourselves thinking that the antidote is to simply ignore the brokenness and instead choose to focus on an image of the world that is easier to swallow. If this is the case with the outside world, how much truer is this when we look closer to home? Do we solely see ourselves as broken, dark and depraved, beyond any help? Or do we convince ourselves of our supposed self-sufficiency and revel in our greatness? As individuals, we all have leanings to one side or the other but as Christians, the word of God calls us to recalibrate.
“This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” — and I am the worst of them”
1 Timothy 1:15 (HCSB)
Formerly a law-abiding Jew, seated under the expert teaching of a top Hebrew scholar, Paul thought he was good, or righteous in relation to God. He didn’t need anyone or anything to trust in, apart from his own training and education. So what happened? What changed the man we see seeking the demise of Christians in at the beginning of Acts 9, to instructing his son in the faith that he was “the chief of all sinners”?
It was his encounter with perfection, only found in the person of Jesus, on the road to Damascus that led to his recognition of his brokenness and sin. All through biblical revelation, we see the holiness (in one general sense perfection) of God presented and as biblical revelation progresses, the response alters. Under the Old Covenant, God’s holiness was something to be feared and to draw away from. Countless times the Israelites, in awareness of their own inadequacy and inconsistency, would draw away from the Lord their God (Exodus 20:18,19). However as we see Jesus (the image of the Invisible God – Colossians 1:15) and even in the Psalms, we know that God’s holiness, whilst maintaining the utter power and majesty of God, not only exposes our depravity but also is a matter of worship and surrender. So after Paul encounters the glorified Jesus, instead of cowering and wallowing in his sin and shame, Paul declares his sin to be the reason why Jesus has saved him and leaves shame behind. Instead he is “unashamed of the Gospel” (Romans 1:16). Perhaps this is why Paul lives so fulfilled in Him.
Paul is a great example and yet he always points us to look at Christ. Upon investigating the life of Jesus, it is abundantly clear he accomplished many considerable feats whilst on earth: fulfilled the law, raised the dead, healed the sick, the list goes on. At the heart of his mission, nonetheless, was the salvation of sinners. The salvation of you and I who would, by His grace, go on to believe in Him. What’s really profound in this is Jesus’ attitude towards sinners. As the Son of God, Jesus came revealing the nature of God, who we already know is infinitely holy, and so when asked why he associated with sinners, Jesus replied: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Luke 5:31). This is striking. The attitude one might expect is one where, he tells them to get clean and then you can sit with me. That is not what we find here. What becomes clear is that God’s holiness was never going to remain a barricade but, in Christ, was looking to make the unwholesome, whole, and the unholy, holy. The Great Physician longs to make you well.
One then has to ask are you “too healthy” for Jesus? Are you “not that bad”? Are you quite sufficient in yourself? If that’s true, you might want to compare yourself to the holy, all-sustaining God revealed in the Bible, a test none of us pass. The word sin in the Greek, Hamartia literally means “to miss the mark”, something which since Adam all mankind has done. Not only have we missed the mark, but we have also transgressed (broken God’s laws) and pursued evil instead of good. Not only that but we have delighted in it.
When you realise all of this, you may well be overwhelmed by your brokenness and the weight of your sin. In fact, you might believe that you’re “too bad” for change. Beyond redemption. A lost cause. The Good News is that no one is too bad for God. In fact, you can count yourself in the same boat as Paul in the verse above. That verse is sandwiched between two verses which give context to his statement: God showed abundant love and grace to save Paul, the worst of sinners, to reveal His extraordinary patience. So, if the “worst of sinners” could be saved and changed to a man who was used by God to author so much of the New Testament and build the foundations of the church, imagine what God can do with you! Not only that but instead of identifying you by your sin, God invites you to be His blameless son, with Jesus as your elder brother. The Spirit of God in a believer testifies to this and seals you as a saint. You are a NEW creation.
12 “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. “
Hebrews 3: 12,13 (NIV)
Sin’s deceitfulness has two arms and they work in tandem to “turn [your heart] away from the living God.
“ Sin’s deceitfulness has a way of fading God and His holiness into the background and bringing us in our pride to the foreground. It excessively elevates the goodness of man and dangerously demotes the holiness of God and His subsequent demands for holiness from His people “
If by God’s gracious providence you are reading this today, here are some final warnings and encouragements. Do NOT believe the lie that you’re “not that bad”. One arm of sin’s deceitfulness has an almost self-justifying influence. Rather than seeing our sin, repenting and trusting in the all-sufficient, wrath-satisfying, free work of Christ at the cross, sin subtly sedates us into thinking: “It’s not that deep”, “there are worse people out there”, “I’m not hurting anyone” amongst others. And we accept it as truth. When we look at Paul, as we did earlier, admitting he is the “chief of all sinners” and David in Psalm 51 acknowledging “[he] was sinful at birth” (Psalm 51:5), there is a sharp disparity between what these heroes of the faith saw in themselves and what we often think we see. Sin’s deceitfulness has a way of fading God and His holiness into the background and bringing us in our pride to the foreground. It excessively elevates the goodness of man and dangerously demotes the holiness of God and His subsequent demands for holiness from His people. So while today you may think you’re not that bad. The truth is, according to God’s holy standard, you’re probably even worse. Christianity is not for those who are good. Rather Jesus’ whole mission centred around saving those who recognised they weren’t good enough and that still remains the case today. You can’t accept the healing Christ offers until you confront and acknowledge the reality of your sickness.
However, sin’s deceitfulness has another arm. And this arm has a self-condemning function. Today I also want you to REJECT the lie that you’re “too bad” for God. The bible says there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9) and God sees all. Romans 5:20 declares that “whilst sin abounds, grace abounds all the more”. These are not excuses for sin. Rather they are means of God’s grace to show you that God is not put off by your mess. Your mess is not bigger, smarter, or more powerful than the Almighty, Omniscient and Omnipotent Only-Wise God (1 Tim 1:17). There is more good in God than evil in you. Nothing surprises him and it has not stopped Him from passionately pursuing you from all eternity to show you His love and grace in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 13:14). When you believe, you are no longer identified by your sin but by His sacrifice. You are the righteousness of God in Christ and He has amazing plans to fulfil for you and through you.
Somewhere between being too bad and not bad enough, God is waiting to meet you. Today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart. Today if you know a friend who thinks they are too far gone, let them know about the grace of God. Today if you know someone who thinks they are fine in and of themselves let them see the holiness of God. Today if you are either of these people…Will you accept His invitation to forsake yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him?
“Nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves” – John Calvin
The knowledge of self and the knowledge of God are interdependent. The two are so finely knitted into a system of inference that there is no true knowledge of self without firstly knowledge of God.
Human nature has it the other way round, what we do instead is we try to go from our understanding of ourselves and use that as a platform to try and understand God. Which simultaneously and consequently leads to a poor knowledge of ourselves and even a worse and abhorrent view of God. We must begin with the latter if we have any hope of seeing ourselves rightly.
This is what was see in Isaiah 6 when the Prophet Isaiah is given an image of God, he immediately becomes aware of himself and his sin. This is the same with Peter when he goes fishing with Jesus and there is a miraculous catch of fish, Peter’s immediate response to witnessing the divinity of Christ is to falls to his knees cry out ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord‘” (Luke 5:8).
“For we always seem to ourselves righteous and upright and wise and holy–this pride is innate in all of us–unless by clear proofs we stand convinced of our own unrighteousness, foulness, folly, and impurity. Moreover, we are not thus convinced if we look merely to ourselves and not also to the Lord, who is the sole standard by which this judgment must be measured”- Serene Jones
Once we begin to see and understand God for who He is, we will also begin to see and ourselves for who we are. We see in Genesis 1:26 of God’s desire to create man “in our image (tselem), after our likeness (demut).” it is vital importance that if we are to be image bearers, we must first spend to time understanding what that image is. So how do we do so? Fortunately for us, the Bible gives us ample information to do so.
The are two main categories when we look at the attributes of God in scripture.
There is firstly the incommunicable attributes of God. These are the attributes of God which belong to God and God alone. Only God is Omnipotent (Isiah 40:28), only God is Omnipresent (Jeremiah 23:24), only God is Sovereign (1 Timothy 6:15) , only God is Immutable (Malachi 3:6) and only God is Omniscient (Romans 16:27). These are all attributes which can only be true of God and cannot be true about us.
The second category are the communicable attributes of God. These are the attributes of God which are true about God but can also be true about us. God is love therefore we can be loving (1 John 4:8) but we do so imperfectly. God is just and thus we can have a sense of justice but once again, we do so imperfectly. God is the creator and so we can be creative, however cannot do so ex nihilo (from nothing) as God has. These are the communicable attributes which as a result of being made in his image ‘imago dei’, God shares to some extent with us.
What we tend to see today is that because of the poor understanding of God we have, we tend to gravitate towards the first category, we try to possess attributes which are only true about God. Human nature has us trying to become god in our lives. Naturally we strive to be all knowledgeable, we strive to be sovereign, we want to be all powerful, these are all traits we see in developments of modern technology. Even as christians we fall into this same trap, we also want to be sovereign. How often do we pray that our will to be done rather than God’s. We spend so much time focusing on the incommunicable attributes but it is important that we understand that God is completely and utterly distinct from us. The incommunicable attributes of God are what make God, God. When we fail to realise this we tend to become god in our own lives. Instead when we see that we cannot possibly possess these incommunicable attributes, we are then able to see our condition, where we fall short and why we are in need of a Saviour. The incommunicable attributes of God should cause us to behold Him for who He is, it should lead us to worship and treasure the Creator. This then leads to enjoy our sharing in God’s communicable attributes which is only possible due to His design and for His glory. If we do not see God rightly, it proceeds to rob God of his glory and leads to a misunderstanding of what it means to be an image bearer.
“Know God. Know yourself. Know yourself to know your need of God. Know God to know you are not gods.”
To be an image bearer is to bear the communicable attributes of God. When we try and bear the incommunicable attributes we no longer bear the image of God but instead create idols. As Jen Wilkin brilliantly puts its, ‘working towards the incommunicable attributes is to say I am instead of acknowledging the I AM’. To be an image bearer means that when people see us, they ought to see something about our character which teaches them something about who God is. Genesis 1 teaches us that we are made in the image of God, Genesis 3 teaches that something abhorrent and terrible happens to that image, so now the goal of our salvation is not simply to be forgiven and escape hell, but it is primary to restore this image of God.
