Out of the Mouths of Babes . . .

Two year Joshua old sings "I See Grace..."

Jesus My help
I call out Your name
I cast my cares on You
Jesus my hope
my tower of strength
my faith has found in You
I see You pierced
wounded for me
when I look to the cross I see

I see grace
sealed by your sacrifice
I see love
reaching for me
Precious blood
washes and sanctifies
Healing flows
setting me free
I see grace

Bearer of sin
Afflicted and tried
You paid redemption's price
Bearing my curse
You set me on high
Your death has brought me life

I see You pierced
wounded for me
when I look to the cross I see

I see grace
sealed by Your sacrifice
I see love
reaching for me
Precious blood
washes and sanctifies
Healing flows
setting me free
I see grace

C.S. Lewis on The Finished Work of the Cross

"What, then, is the difference which He has made to the whole human mass? It is just this; that the business of becoming a son of God, of being turned from a created thing into a begotten thing, of passing over from the temporary biological life into timeless 'spiritual' life, has been done for us. Humanity is already 'saved' in principle. We individuals have to appropriate that salvation. But the really tough work--the bit we could not have done for ourselves--has been done for us. We have not got to try to climb up into spiritual life by our own efforts; it has already come down into the human race. If we will only lay ourselves open to the one Man in whom it was fully present, and who, in spite of being God, is also a real man, He will do it in us and for us. Remember what I said about 'good infection' One of our own race has this new life: if we get close to Him we shall catch it from Him." (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 156-157).

Notice that Lewis says, "we individuals have to appropriate that salvation." He isn't saying (nor am I) that people go to heaven automatically, whether they believe or not. What he is saying is that it isn't our faith that makes it real. The cross made it real objectively. That's the good news of an objective reality that's real whether we believe it or not. But, when we believe it, how everything changes experientially!

We All Died With Christ

Is a person included in the crucifixion of Jesus at the moment when he believes? Does it become true for her that "I have been crucified with Christ" only if she has faith in Him? It isn't believing that makes it real. Mankind's co-crucifixion with Jesus on the cross is a reality whether we believe it or not. Here's how Watchman Nee said it:

It is the 'inclusive' death of the Lord which puts me in a position to identify myself, not that I identify myself in order to be included. It is God's inclusion of me in Christ that matters." (Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, p. 46).

Nee points out that I'm not included because I believe it. I believe it because I am included and that is what matters!

Faith doesn't make it happen that we died with Jesus and that the old Adamic man was destroyed. It happened! It is a historical fact that we all died with Him. That's true whether we have faith or not.

How many ways can it be said???

The New American Standard Version says, "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died."

The New International Version says, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."

The Bible In Basic English says, "For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death."

The New King James Version says, "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died."

Young's Literal Translation says, "For the love of the Christ doth constrain us, having judged thus: that if one for all died, then the whole died."

Can it be clearer than this? Did Jesus die for all or not? Did Jesus die for all but only some died with Him? This verse (among others) shows that everybody for whom Jesus died died with Him. The gospel of grace that the human race needs to hear is that Jesus Christ has dealt with Adam's sin in The Garden and has now given us new life!

It's true! We have died with Christ and have been raised to walk in newness of life - His life. That is the gospel we proclaim to those still trapped in their own darkness. That is the gospel that will cause people to come alive to the truth of the finished work of the cross. That is the gospel that will cause those who are blind to finally see. That is the gospel that will cause those who are lost to finally know they have been found. That is the gospel that brings salvation to a person in a way that he/she will be forever transformed.

That is the gospel we need to proclaim. Let us join together and affirm that, by God's grace, we will never again declare a potential gospel but instead we will proclaim the finished work of Jesus Christ for every person. There is power in the preaching of the gospel. When unbelievers hear the truth about the cross, God's Holy Spirit will bring many to faith in Christ.

A Grace Voice From the Past

Thomas Erskine (1788-1870)was a very well known theologian in the early 19th century. His writings are a great read for those who want to dig deeper into the reality of mankind's inclusion in the work of the cross. When Erskine died at home in 1870, his last words were fittingly enough: "Lord Jesus!"

Here's how he explained what I've been discussing in my "Sunday Preaching" series about how salvation is the subjective experience of the objective work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

"If I find a mother weeping over the account of the death of her first-born, which I know to be a false report, am I to be considered as a very adventurous prophet, or extravagant promiser, if, when I lay before her the proof of his being in perfect health, I make the declaration before hand, that if she believes my news, she will be saved from her sorrow, and that her heart will rejoice? Why, this is no more than what every reasonable being must regard as the necessary consequence of such a belief. Yet it is true, that she is saved from her anguish by faith in my story. But her joy is not a premium bestowed on her to reward her belief; it flows naturally out of her belief. Her grief for the supposed death of her child, and her belief that he is alive and well, cannot exist in her mind together. Such a faith necessarily heals such a sorrow. Her faith does not restore her son to life-- he is alive whether she believes it or not-- but his life is no joy to her, unless she believes it. Without faith in my story, she could not be saved from her distress.

Take another example. A son outrages in a most atrocious manner the feelings of his father. The father banishes him from his house, after pronouncing a malediction on him. The son hears of his death soon after, and feels his spirit burdened with the curse; he cannot shake himself free of it-- he is a miserable wretch. A friend of his father comes to him and tells him, that he had seen his father a few hours before his death, and that he had heard him express the warmest affection for him, and the deepest regret for what had taken place between them; and that he had received from him a charge to tell him, that he had withdrawn his curse, and had prayed a blessing on him. The son receives the intelligence with grateful joy, and his burden drops from him. He is saved by faith. His mind is healed by believing the information which has been given him. His father's forgiveness is not given him as a reward of his believing this history-- but unless he believes it, the forgiveness is quite useless to him-- he will continue to feel his father's curse clinging to him. But let me now here suppose for a moment, that the friend, instead of simply relating to him the fact of his father's forgiveness, had put the whole history into the form under which the gospel is very often preached: Suppose he had said to him, your father has forgiven you, if you believe in my testimony of his forgiveness; but if you cannot do this, there is no forgiveness for you. One can easily imagine the perplexity into which the son would be thrown by such an announcement. It would appear to him as if the truth of a past fact depended on the state of his feeling with regard to it. It would be impossible for him, in such circumstances, to believe, because his informant actually told him that his belief of the pardon must precede the existence of the pardon.

The use of faith, then, is not to remove the penalty, or to make the pardon better-- for the penalty is removed, and the pardon is proclaimed, whether we believe it or not-- but to give the pardon a moral influence, by which it may heal the spiritual diseases of the heart-- which influence it cannot have in the nature of things, unless it is believed." (Thomas Erskine, The Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel, pp. 18-22).

What Flavor Is God's Church?

My wife, Melanie, often buys a brand of tea called “Celestial Seasonings”. (It sort of sounds spiritual, doesn’t it?) The package contains tea bags of different flavors. She likes the Country Apple flavor. I don’t care for it, but I do enjoy a flavor called Red Zinger. The apple flavor is boring to me, but the Red Zinger — it’s a real eye opener. When a person is thirsty for some good tea, Red Zinger hits the spot. Melanie disagrees. She thinks the Country Apple is better. However, it isn’t the actual flavor of either tea that quenches thirst. As much as we each enjoy our favorite flavor, we have never taken the tea bags out of the box and put them into our mouth to suck the flavor out of the bags. We always add water. The flavor causes the tea to appeal to us, but the water is what really satisfies.

Jesus once said, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). Only Jesus can quench the inner thirst for life experienced by every human being. Jesus offers Himself as the only real thirst quencher in this barren world. The way in which He offers His life to the world is ingenious. His life is expressed through many different flavors.

Just as there are many flavors of tea, there is amazing diversity within the body of Christ. There are distinct differences which are obvious. I’ve met some Country Apples in the body of Christ more than once. I have often seen the distinguished Earl Grey crowd. I have even met a few Red Zingers along the way. Come to think of it, I’ve encountered just about every flavor you can imagine. I’ve been in churches where the people shouted praise and in others where they whispered prayers. Some kneel at their pews, others stand with their hands lifted, while another group simply bow their heads. Some sing choruses and others prefer the old hymns. There really are a lot of flavors out there.

Which flavor is the best? It depends on who you ask. The Red Zingers think the Earl Grey crowd is too stuffy while the Earl Grey crowd believe they are too wild. They both think the Country Apples aren’t educated enough while they are convinced that the other groups put far too much confidence in the wisdom of man. This is sort of silly, isn’t it? Yet that is the exact attitude often present in the body of Christ.

God’s family is a diverse family. There is a world full of people around us who need the life of Jesus. Like you and me, each of them find certain flavors distasteful and others to be more palatable. The flavor represents the personality of different groups. Contrary to the opinion of many Christians, there is no best flavor. The flavor is not the important element. The thing that really matters is the water. If the pitcher (Christian) is filled with water (Jesus), the flavor (personality) of the tea doesn’t really matter. Some people will be drawn to Christ because of the appeal of one flavor, while other unsaved people will be more receptive to another. As long as they receive the Water of Life, what difference does the flavor make? The Holy Spirit uses the distinctive flavors found in the body of Christ to reach the world. Regardless of our own particular flavor, every Christian can cry out to the world, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8).

(This article is an excerpt from my book, Grace Rules. For more information on the book, click here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=34

You Should Strive To Do Right and Avoid Wrong - Not True

One of the worst and yet most prevalent lies I’ll present in this book is this one. The idea that we should focus on improving our behavior so that we avoid doing wrong and consistently do right seems to be the mindset of most of Christians in the contemporary church world. Most ministries are devoted to helping people know how to act better and avoid sin in an attempt to do what they imagine God wants them to do.

The problem with this belief is that it misses the point entirely. God’s purpose for mankind isn’t that we do good things and avoid doing evil. Don’t misunderstand me on this point. Of course, it’s better to do a good thing than a bad one in terms of the consequences the action will produce. That’s what makes this lie so easy to believe. However, God’s primary interest in our actions isn't about right and wrong. It never has been.

When God created Adam and Eve, do you think His purpose for them would be to do good and avoid evil? From a moral standpoint, that seems to make perfect sense. The problem is that the Bible presents a very different scenario. Our Creator never intended for our lives to be understood from a moral standpoint.

When the first couple was placed into the Garden of Eden, they were told they could eat from any tree in the garden except The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were plainly warned not to eat from that tree. Eating from it would bring death.

Take a careful look at the description of the tree. It was a tree that gave knowledge of two things. What were they? Good and evil, or to put it a different way, right and wrong. This was a tree that would activate morality if they were to eat from it. It would give them the knowledge of good and evil and, after all, right and wrong are the two great pillars of morality. Moral living leads one toward doing right and away from doing wrong. Immoral living has just the opposite effect.

As strange as it might seem, before they ate from the tree, Adam and Eve’s lives weren’t moral. Neither were they immoral. Their lives didn’t exist in the realm of morality. By virtue of their oneness with their Creator, their lives were miraculous. Their actions transcended rightness. Their behavior was righteous.

So when God put them in this garden, He told them not to eat from that tree at all. Notice that He did not say, “Eat from the good branch on the tree but be sure to avoid the evil branch.” No, God told them not to eat from the tree at all. Their lives weren’t to be based on morality. He had a better plan for them than that. Their lives were to be an expression of their relationship to Him. As they trusted Him as their life-source, their behavior would always honor Him.

But it was not to be that way. They chose to eat from the forbidden tree and, as a result, the template by which humanity began to live by was one of right and wrong – good and evil. Man began to evaluate his every action by right and wrong, despite the fact that God had told them that was not to be the way they lived.

Fast-forward many millennia later and where do we find ourselves today? Living from that same tree. Even those who desire to honor God with their lives commonly think that the way to do that is to do right and avoid wrong. Churches sound forth that message again and again. The idea that God’s goals for us revolve around our doing good and not evil is pervasive in the modern church.

The reality is, though, that God didn’t change His mind. His intent for you is the same one that He had for Adam and Eve. He doesn’t want you building your life around a system in which you try to do good and avoid evil. He wants you to recognize that your lifestyle is to flow from your connection to your Creator. Like Adam and Eve before the fall, when our lifestyle is an expression of the union we share with Him our behavior will be better than good. It will be godly.

Don’t think that doing the right thing necessarily honors your Father. The Bible says that whatever is not of faith is sin. (See Romans 14:23) So a person can do many good things, moral things, and still be committing sin because their actions from the wrong source. The Source of our lives is to be Him, not our determination to behave in a certain way, even if it is good.

I’m not suggesting that it doesn’t matter how we behave. To the contrary, I’m saying just the opposite. It does matter how we behave, but our Father doesn’t intend for our behavior to revolve around rules of right and wrong. He wants our behavior to be an expression of His indwelling Life, coming out through our thoughts, our words and our actions. He wants to animate our lifestyle, not some sterile list that tells us how to act right.

Most believers understand this to some extent. They’ll say to an unbeliever, “It’s not about how you behave. Christianity is all about trusting Jesus Christ! That’s what matters.” The sad thing is that they don’t see that the same thing is true for themselves. Let me say it to those who are believers that are reading this book: “It’s not about how you behave either! Christianity is all about trusting Jesus Christ. That’s what matters!”

You don’t have to be worried that your behavior will jump track and you’ll run off into a crevice of sinful living. When we stop focusing on right and wrong and start focusing on Jesus Christ and Him alone, I assure you that His Spirit within us will regulate our behavior. He will see to it that we act in the way that honors our Father to the max, and it won’t be moral living either. It will be nothing short of a miraculous lifestyle.

Seeing Jesus in Daily Life

If Jesus wants us to recognize His presence, why don’t more people see Him in their daily lives? What keeps us from identifying Him with us in everyday matters? There are several deterrents that will keep us from enjoying the reality of His presence with us.

✦ Misunderstanding How Jesus Relates To Us Will Cause Us Not To Recognize Him.
Many don’t recognize the Lord’s continuos presence with them because of the way He generally chooses to relate to those He loves. He is the kind of Lover that doesn’t usually approach us in a brash and intrusive manner. He’s not pushy. There are those rare occasions when He suddenly overtakes and ravishes a person with His love, as He did with the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. (See Acts 9) However, His normal way is to gently whisper to us in a still, small voice with the goal of drawing our attention and devotion toward Himself until we become totally consumed with Him so that, by comparison, everything else becomes unimportant.

For instance, as He walked with the disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus “their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him” (Luke 23:16). When they reached the end of their seven mile walk, Jesus “acted as though He were going further” (23:28). Why did He do that? Like you, Jesus wants to be wanted by those He loves. Intimacy with Him is the result of an invitation, not an intrusion.

The disciples urged Him – “Stay with us,” they insisted. (Luke 23:29) So He did. This is so typical of the way Jesus behaves. First, He attracts us to Himself until we long to know Him more intimately, then He reveals Himself to us more and more as we respond to the level of knowledge we already have of Him.

✦ Our Personal Circumstances May Blind Us To His Presence
It is easy to become so preoccupied with our own circumstances that it seems Jesus gets lost in the shuffle. The disciples walking on the way down the Emmaus Road with Christ were bogged down in their despair about His crucifixion. At the moment, life was hard and all they could see was their circumstances.

To call them short-sighted is an understatement. They could only see the superficial and thus, were blind to the supernatural of the moment. They were interpreting life through a human paradigm which made no room for the possibility of a Divine breakthrough into their situation.

The threat to the ability of contemporary Christians to recognize Jesus is no different. Our senses are so bombarded with the details of our lives that sometimes it becomes practically impossible to discern Him. Have you become so caught up in the demands of daily circumstances that you’ve lost the consciousness of Christ you once knew? The danger is an age-old threat, known even to those who walked beside Jesus on a dusty road two millennia ago.

✦ Looking for Jesus through a religious lens often conceals Him from us.
Maybe it seems odd to you that I would suggest that looking for the presence of Jesus with a religious perspective can hide Him from us, but that often is the case. There are certainly ways in which we can see Christ within a context often classified as religious. Most believers have seen the Lord through participation in church, through Bible study, religious books, spiritual music and countless other ways that have a religious connotation. In no way would I want to diminish the value of the ways that Christians traditionally have sought to experience the Lord’s presence in their lives. I’m not suggesting that the Lord doesn’t make Himself known to us in these ways, but rather that traditional religious means aren’t the only way that Christ manifests Himself to those He loves. My intent is to encourage you to broaden your ability to recognize Jesus in your daily life.

Jesus doesn’t just speak a religious language. He speaks the regular language of our everyday lives. Those who only expect to see Him within a religious context greatly limit their ability to recognize Him.

My wife, Melanie, and I have loved the chance to occasionally vacation in the Carribean. At times I have stood in scenic spots overlooking the ocean, with my camera in hand. I have felt overwhelmed by the majestic beauty that surrounds me. Blue, crystal clear water stretches out to the horizon until it becomes impossible to tell where the water stops and the sky begins. White, powdery beaches reach as far in both directions as the eye can see. Picturesque palm trees lean forward with fronds reaching out to the water as if they too desperately want to feel the lapping waves. A gentle breeze that seems to promise to breathe youth into any person who will inhale its ocean fragrance. Do you have the sense of what I’m describing?

Now, imagine at those moments that I lift a fifteen dollar disposable camera to my face so that I can take a picture and capture the beauty that lies before and around me. I don’t want to lose this moment. I love it and I want to seize it on film. I want to pull the total impact of everything I’m experiencing at the moment through that camera’s lens and take it home with me on a 3x5 photograph. I want to go home, look at this picture and feel exactly what I’m feeling as I stand on the beach at that moment.

Do you think it will happen? Of course not. A snapshot could never do justice to the beauty. It is a minuscule representation of what I’ve seen, but it just can’t do it justice. The beauty is simply bigger than any camera can capture.

That’s how it is when we try to see the beauty of Jesus through a religious lens. He is the personification of God’s love. It is a love much too big to be contained by religion, consequently He reveals Himself in religious and nonreligious ways. For instance, the Bible says that “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). Clouds aren’t religious. So God doesn’t only communicate through church-talk, but also through cloud-talk. These are only two of His dialects. The number of love languages He speaks is limitless.

(This blog is an excerpt from my book, A Divine Invitation. For more information on the book, click here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=94

I've Found A Home

I was listening again this morning to my favorite song writer and worship leader, Dave Bilbrough. Every time I hear him sing this song, "I've Found A Home," it brings tears to my eyes. In the turbulent circumstances of this world, it is so comforting to know that our home is in Him and nothing can touch us there.



(This recording was done at our "Living In Heaven's Embrace Conference" last year.)

"You Will Be Blessed Because You Tithe" - One of the 52 Lies Heard In Church Every Sunday

This is one of the chapters from my book, 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday. I'm asked about this subject often so I decided to go ahead and post it here. (The book will be released by Harvest House Publishers in January, 2011)

Here’s a serious hot potato! There are few more guaranteed ways to get people upset than to talk about their money. Even questioning the validity of tithing can get you into trouble in a hurry. But you and I are interested in truth as it is taught in God’s Word, and we can’t be afraid to question anything people say or do. Because of the sensitivity and confusion about this issue, I’m going to take more space and time to answer it.

Tithing is taught in churches all over the world. It is almost taken for granted as truth, which is one of the reasons why people react so strongly when it is challenged. I’m sure most pastors teach it because they sincerely believe that’s what the Bible teaches. But I also think we’d be less than honest if we didn’t acknowledge that we Christian leaders have a vested interest in interpreting the Bible that way. Our need for money to support the work of ministry is a constant reality and can be a daily concern. Most of us went into the ministry to preach and teach God’s Word and to serve in the advancement of His kingdom. Raising funds is, for most of us, a necessary but distasteful duty we often think we have to perform. So anything that makes it easier to do can be really tempting. I read once that when a person’s income depends on him not seeing something, it will be very hard for him to see it.

I’m not saying anybody is being intellectually dishonest or has ulterior motives in what they teach. I’m just saying that we all look at the Bible through our own lenses, and there’s sometimes a reason why we tend to see Scripture in certain ways. Certainly when it comes to the matter of what’s called “storehouse tithing” — tithing to the local church — there’s reason to question our own motives and thinking to be sure that our viewpoint isn’t influenced by our circumstances.

Let’s make sure we know what the issue is. The word “tithe” means a tenth of something. Therefore it would be redundant to say, “I tithe ten percent.” The real issue is not whether people will benefit from giving a tenth of their income away in ministry, or if it is a meaningful practice for them. The question is whether or not we have to. The teaching I’m challenging is whether God commands believers to tithe. If He does, then those who don’t tithe are living in disobedience to God.

Where tithing is taught as a command, this is the passage almost always used in support:

Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:8-12).

The context is God rebuking the nation of Israel for her unfaithfulness to the Old Covenant. The Lord spoke this message through Malachi, one of the last Old Testament prophets, around 400 B.C.

Let’s take a moment to recall how Israel was to live. God separated one tribe, Levi, out of the nation to serve as priests and teachers of the people. From the Levites came the line of High Priests who descended from Aaron. They were responsible for the formal worship at the Tabernacle and Temple. Unlike the other tribes, all of whom received a portion of the land, the Levites were distributed in cities throughout the nation, and were forbidden to work as the others did, such as farming. How were the continuous worship system and Levites to be supported? It was through the tithes of the rest of the people.

That’s why the Law of Moses commands the Israelites to bring tithes of all their blessings to “the storehouse.” The storehouses were literally places to receive the people’s tithes of grain, fruit, wine, sheep, cattle, and so on, for distribution to the Levites and priests — to support the worship and sacrifices at the Sanctuary and for the support of the priests and Levitical families. It was a very practical system. But get this clearly: This was a feature of the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant. And notice, there was nothing voluntary about it. The tithe for Old Testament Israel was no more optional than what you or I must give to the Internal Revenue Service when we pay our taxes. The tithe from Israel was mandatory, not an option.

As we have seen so many times in this book, we do not live under the Law. We live in the age of the New Covenant, and the New Testament after the cross and resurrection is where we learn principles of living that apply directly to us.

I know somebody is going to say, “Now wait a minute, Steve! You’re saying tithing is Old Covenant, but they tithed even before the law was given.” Well, that’s true. Tithing was fairly common in the ancient world for the support of one’s religion and to recognize one’s sovereign. There is a well-known example of Abraham giving a tithe to the priest-king Melchizedek following his military victory in Genesis 14:17-20. This is how some teachers argue that, since this was before the Law of Moses, the principle continues after the Law of Moses.

But may I point out a few things? They also sacrificed animals before the Law was given. I don’t hear anybody at church on Sunday insisting that we ought to be sacrificing animals today. God gave Abraham the practice of circumcision centuries before the Law, but I don’t hear preachers demanding that today. Also before the Law were the practices of polygamy and Levirite marriage (where a surviving brother must marry his dead brother’s wife). So the fact that something was practiced before the Law means nothing in regard to whether the principle continues after the Law.

And one more thing: Did you know that according to the Bible, the tithe actually was not just ten percent? There were additional tithes throughout the year. So if you add up all the tithes that they gave, it amounted to around 22 percent! So, if they only gave ten percent, they were still robbing God, according to Malachi 3:10. Is there any verse in the Scripture that’s been used to beat people over the head more about money than that?

The idea that we will be blessed because we tithe, or punished if we don’t, is solidly an Old Covenant teaching. You will find nothing about tithing in the New Testament. Does that mean we are left without guidance for Christian giving? Far from it! The New Testament teachings on giving go far beyond tithing. Let me summarize them in the following points:

1. New Covenant giving is responsive. Just as the whole Christian life is motivated, we freely and gratefully give because we have first received from the Lord. “We love because He first loved us,” says 1 John 4:19. You could also say, “We give because He first gave to us.” Those whose hearts have been touched by the amazing grace of Jesus Christ find themselves stirred with the desire to give.

2. New Covenant giving is gracious. Unlike the law of tithing, which was mandatory and specific, Christian giving is voluntary and comes from the heart. It is absolutely not a command, which the Scriptures make clear. As Paul was urging the Corinthians to join him in giving to support the poor at Jerusalem, he writes:

Just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also (2 Corinthians 8:7-8).

Paul said that, when it came to this matter of giving, he had no “command.” The motivation for the Corinthians to give would be “the sincerity of [their] love.” He even called the act of giving a “gracious work.” It is a work of God’s grace operating in us that motivates us to give, not an external demand to tithe. He wrote, “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

As you can see, this is totally different from the command to tithe, with curses or blessings tied to disobedience or obedience. And there is no specific amount Christians are told to give. Paul says, “as he has purposed in his heart.” It’s between you and God.

3. New Covenant giving is purposeful. That means it is thoughtful and intelligent, and is aimed at specific objectives, chiefly two: (1) To advance the cause of the gospel, through supporting people and ministries, and (2) To meet the needs of people, the poor, hungry and needy.

To the first point, Paul says, “The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him” (Galatians 6:6). To the second, Paul explains some of the positive results that happen when God’s people give generously:

For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you (2 Corinthians 9:12-14).

Genuine grace giving meets the need of people, motivates the receivers to honor God and give thanks, proves the reality of our faith, advances the work of the gospel, and builds unity and love in the body of Christ. What more reasons do we need? Well, if you need one more, the Lord Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

The Old Testament tithe was a tax, not a gift. A lot of times today, people have that same legalistic attitude about giving. They think they have to give ten percent of their income. They believe that if you don’t tithe, your refrigerator will tear up, or your car is going to need repair, or your kids are going to need braces. You know the kind of thing. They’re really paying insurance more than anything when they give that way. I’ve said that sometimes the way people pay their tithes, you would think they’re being held hostage by God. They better pay up that ransom or God’s going to allow some bad thing to happen to them. What nonsense.

Others have said that the matter of tithing is a “revelation” that must come to you. If by that, it is meant that God’s Spirit will reveal that everybody needs to give ten percent, I strongly disagree. The Holy Spirit won’t reveal something that contradicts what the Bible teaches and the Scripture teaches grace giving, not tithing.

Are we blessed when we give? Yes, it is a blessing to give, if you are giving out of faith and love for the Lord, and from a desire to do good for others in Jesus’ name. But if you understand tithing to be a set amount you must give to be obedient to God, the answer is no. There is no blessing to be found in obeying a demand to give a tenth. The blessing comes from giving itself, just as Jesus said. The amount depends on what the Holy Spirit leads you to give. If you are giving in faith and love, you will be blessed for giving 5% or 8% or 15%. We give according to our ability. For some, 10% is currently impossible. Some may consider giving much more because of the abundance the Lord has granted them. “For if the readiness is present, it acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have,” is the way Paul described it in 2 Corinthians 8:12.

We live in a day of grace and we practice grace giving. Do I believe in giving? Yes. Do I believe that we are to be generous in what we give? Yes. I can’t imagine that grace will ever cause you to do less than legalism will. We live in a time of grace where we’re motivated to give because we love. We love the Lord Jesus Christ and we want to give. We want to give to the work of the kingdom. We give because we’ve received the love of the Father, we have the nature of Jesus Christ, and it is our nature to give. I can assure you that grace will cause us to be more generous and to be cheerful givers, as opposed to giving grudgingly from a heart that is locked into the Old Covenant teaching of tithing. We give because we love and because we want to, not because we have to.

Do We Proclaim A Potential Gospel or a Finished Gospel?

For many years I proclaimed what I now believe was only a "potential gospel." I taught that if a person believed on Jesus Christ, then God would forgive his sin and reconcile that person to Himself. Studying the Scripture over the past few years, I've come to see how misguided, albeit sincere, my approach to the gospel was. I didn't preach a finished gospel. The word "gospel" means good news and the good news of the work of Christ is that it is a finished work. Jesus said from the cross, "It is finished" and He meant it. In fact, when our High Priest ascended back to His Father He did something no other priest of God had ever done in the Holy of Holies. He sat down.

Jesus didn't sit down by the right hand of the Father because He was tired. He sat down because He was finished. All that the Father, Son and Spirit had planned to do for mankind had been accomplished at the cross. The first Adam had brought humanity down into the darkness of sin, but the Last Adam remedied what the first Adam had done. He gathered us all up into Himself, took us to the cross with Him, and then and there the Adamic race died. Out from the tomb walked a new humanity - one reconciled to God because in Jesus we were forgiven and justified.

The gospel is the fantastic news that because of what Jesus has done, we can now live in freedom. Freedom from our religious attempts to justify ourselves before God. Freedom from guilt and condemnation. Freedom from fearing God. Freedom to be who we are - a new creation in Christ Jesus.

What Jesus has done, He has done and nobody's unbelief is big enough to negate it. Unbelief simply causes a person to continue to stand in his own personal darkness, with all of its implications and subjective consequences, despite the fact that the Light of the World has come and taken care of the need of every one us without asking so much as an opinion on the matter from us. Our faith doesn't make it true. Faith simply allows us to walk in what was already true before there was an inkling of belief stirring inside us. God showed mankind just how much He loved in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (See Romans 5:8)

The Bible doesn't present a potential gospel - what can happen. It presents a complete gospel of what has happened in Jesus Christ. Theologian Thomas Torrance summarized the gospel well:

God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualised his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself. Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. (T. F. Torrance, “The Mediation of Christ,” 94)

Let's make sure when we share the gospel that we offer the finished work of Christ as the answer. Anything less is a watered down version of the gospel and a watered down gospel is no gospel at all.

God's Not Who You Think

Here are two more interviews I recently did with my friend, Greg Albrecht, of Plain Truth Ministries in Pasadena, California.

He Lives In You

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the firmament and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).

A Personal Prayer Request

Dear friends,

As those who've been reading my blog through the years know, I said from the start that this blog would include personal matters as well as public issues in my life. This one is personal. I'm writing this blog to ask you to pray for my wife, Melanie, tomorrow.

A couple of years ago, Melanie was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal disease that has become progressively worse over time. She has been through therapy, medication, neurologists, pain management treatment, and exercise to address the situation. As we have prayed and trusted our Father for healing throughout the process, we have sought to be sensitive to His leadership in how to proceed. Her pain and degree of debilitation has reached a level at which we have been advised that surgery is the best route to address the situation.

After prayer and doing our due diligence with a particular surgeon, Melanie decided to move forward with the operation. That surgery will take place in Atlanta tomorrow morning at 8:00 EST. She will spend several nights in the hospital afterward and will come home in a back brace they tell us she will wear for four months. They plan for her to have two months of physical therapy and believe this will both restore some normalcy to her lifestyle and eliminate pain in that part of her back.

Because we believe those who read this blog sincerely care, not only about my ministry, but about us as people, I am posting this to ask for your prayers. We don't need anything other than the knowledge that you are praying with us about this.

For the record, we believe in Jehovah-Rapha - the LORD our Healer. I didn't grow up in a charismatic environment but have learned much from my charismatic friends. So you guys go ahead and name it, claim it and proclaim it from the bottom of your hearts. To those who grew up like I did, please utter a prayer for me to have peace and cross your fingers, will you? (Okay, I'm just having some fun here. Don't take those last two sentences seriously! :)

But I am serious about wanting you all to pray for us. We trust our Abba but at the same time feel nervous. The Doc says these first few days for her won't be fun, to put it mildly. So would you pray with us that her recovery would be easier than they project? And pray that it will be sooner rather than later? And pray that the surgery will have the desired result?

Do I think prayer manipulates what God will do? No, I don't. But, if you are so moved, it is a great way for you to join Him and us in what He is doing in our lives. We know that, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't a biggie - but it sure feels that way right now. So we ask that our friends share this experience with us through your prayers.

I thank God that we have wonderful children who are committed to attend to specific, practical needs after the operation. Now, I'm finally finding it was worth those teen-age years after all! :)

Thank you, my friends. Our Father's grace is sufficient. I don't just teach this stuff. I believe it. For many years, Melanie and I have regularly declared to each other out loud, in these words, "God is God...and God is good." We believe that, no matter what life's circumstances may bring.

I'll update you on her progress as I'm able.

Steve

New Covenant Evangelism

Here's a note I received in response to last week's "Sunday Preaching." This is New Covenant evangelism . . .

From Rob:
"I was called to the home of a dying elderly man to sing and pray with him. A few folks from church came with me. At the house the man had lots of family around, inside and outside the house. Many were smoking outside and wouldn’t come inside with us, so I asked everyone to come outside for a moment. I told them all “I want to share great, great news. The gospel is not understood by most but the message of the gospel is our sins are already forgiven and I can tell each one here, your sins are forgiven. You don’t need to be forgiven, you already are. The gospel is not to make us ashamed and guilty but to take those things away. All you have to do is acknowledge that, believe it because it is true.” I used the thief on the cross as the example. Many of them wept and it was so easy and exciting to share the gospel this way. We had a great time with the old man and we shared it all with him as well. It felt as natural as when Jesus looked at people and told them their sins were forgiven."