Matthew 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
The religious Pharisees refused to believe that a “Messiah” had come; that the Son of God stood before them and that not only the “tax collectors and sinners were in need of salvation, but them as well. Their trust rested completely on the law and their own self-righteousness and they sought to belittle Jesus for “eating with tax collectors”.
Matthew 9:12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
At first glance one might think that Jesus is comparing the Pharisees with the sinners bur, in reality, they (both groups) were without redemption. Jesus instructs the Pharisees to “go and learn what this means” ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ What a prolific statement regarding the end of the Old Testament and animal sacrifice and the beginning of God’s mercy and grace for our complete forgiveness of sin through Jesus!
The primary focus for life is placing our lives completely in the grace of God. Our confidence in His righteousness, His finished work on the cross-plus nothing! This sounds radical to some who would suggest that we need something more than the reality and the safety of Jesus’ finished work. The cross-plus nothing is radical and it is biblical. The gospel of Jesus Christ is radically powerful because nothing less can accomplish His purpose in us.
Gal. 1:8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
What is the Gospel?
It is not the “Gospel of faith”
It is not the “Gospel of prosperity”
It is not the “Gospel of good works”
It is not the “Gospel of signs and wonders”
It is not the “Gospel of church membership”
It is not the “Gospel of religion”
It is not the “Gospel of denomination”
It is not the “Gospel of church attendance”
Gal 1:6-9 “I am amazed that you have so quickly transferred your allegiance from him who called you by the grace of Christ to another "gospel"! Not that it is another gospel, but there are men who are upsetting your faith with a travesty of the gospel of Christ. Yet I say that if I, or an angel from Heaven, were to preach to you any other gospel than the one you have already heard, may he be damned! You have heard me say it before and now I say it again--may anybody who preaches any other gospel than the one you have already heard be a damned soul!
This “travesty of the gospel of Christ” preached in the church of Galatians’ is the same gospel preached in many churches’ today…the “Jesus plus something else” gospel.
And so, what is the Gospel?
1 Cor 15:1-4 (NIV) Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you have received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
“By this gospel you are saved”
“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”
Those who find the good news of God’s grace, our unmerited favor, the FINISHED work of the cross “greasy” or one that is permitting “a license to sin” objectionable or threatening are Pharisaic (holier-than-thou: excessively or hypocritically pious; "a sickening sanctimonious smile") by definition. After all do any of us really need a license to sin?
I can’t help but wonder what they are so terribly afraid of.
I heard this one recently….“He can’t forgive me for a sin I did not repent of.” Well, I don’t know about this person but I can’t remember every single time I miss it. I don’t have time to document my sins so that I can, at some point, during the day “ask for forgiveness.” Isn’t it better to be rejoicing that every single sin is now in the “sea of forgetfulness” and even God remembers them NO MORE?
After all, since “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16) isn’t that enough? Apparently not for some who would add “good works” to somehow make us more worthy to receive in greater measure the forgiveness Jesus purchased for us on the cross.
They feel the NEED to assist God, to somehow help Him redeem us from sin by adding additional steps, additional obligations, additional guilt and condemnation.
It’s nothing more than vain religion and it tiring and laced tightly with failure. No wonder we run from church and from its demands for performance.
God GAVE HIS SON, we did not earn it!!
1John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the BLOOD OF JESUS HIS SON cleanseth us from ALL SIN.”
If you love Jesus, if you have confessed Jesus as Lord – you are walking in the light and you are cleansed of all sin, past, present and future!
1John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
We certainly DO have sin, that’s why we needed a Savior! That why we needed to be justified one and for all before God our Father!
Hebrews 10:4-14 (Message Bible) “The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old “law plan” wasn’t complete in itself, it couldn’t complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution. If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins. But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt. The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can’t get rid of sin. That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ: You don’t want sacrifices and offerings year after year; you’ve prepared a body for me for a sacrifice. It’s not fragrance and smoke from the altar that wet your appetite. So I said, “I’m here to do it your way, O God, the way it’s described in your Book.”
When he said, “You don’t want sacrifices and offerings,” he was referring to practices according to the old plan. When he added, “I’m here to do it your way,” he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan—God’s way—by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. The Holy Spirit confirms this:
This new plan I’m making with Israel isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled in stone; This time “I’m writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts.”
He concludes, I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins. Once sins are taken care of for good, there’s no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.
Thank you God for sending Jesus so that we can be “greasy” and walking in Him!!
from Tall Skinny Kiwi....
Steve Malakowsky, or Steve M as most people knew him, was a poet, mystic, a Jeremiah-type prophet, a father and a builder.
He was an unique mix of humanity, at odds with the church and passionate about lifting street kids out of destructive lifestyles and onto the path of Jesus. Steve dressed hippie, acted punk, wrote goth and expressed himself with post-industrial urban grunge. His more recent work mixing street art with words seemed to bring those disparate elements together. His early poetry was dark, often ink-black but always punctuated with the hope of a God who was waiting to heal what was broken and restore outcasts to Himself.
Steve M was the author of Tattoo, the founder of Beauty for Ashes, Outcast Press, Hope Thru Art (Facebook) and the co-founder of the Underground Railroad, one of the very first networks of ministries among the alternative scene. I have often referred to it as one of the earliest emerging church networks in USA and possibly the first to go international. By the time I hooked up with trevor M and Steve M at the Underground Railroad Roundtable at Cornerstone Festival in the late 90's, there was already strong links to similar movements in Europe and beyond. The idea of roundtables inside festivals was something that our ministry has used extensively and successfully over the past decade.
Steve M wrote poetry that explored the deep brokenness of a generation unacknowledged by the mainstream world and unwanted by a church that he felt was more interested in carpet than kids. Dozens, possibly hundreds, of these incredibly insightful and penetrating poems were printed as "street sheets" and distributed in inner cities around the world. They were profound. They connected with people on a deep level. They brought tears and understanding and a small glimmering light at the end of a dark tunnel.
I have read a few of his poems aloud inside churches, but there is one that will always stay with me. Its called...
"Therapy".
can i take my addictions into your church
can i sit on your padded pews
can i bleed on your carpet or do you want
me when i'm clean and not now.
can i take my addictions into your theology
is it big enough to face my pain
or will i stain your glass with street smells
and sweat
where can i go
where can i go when i'm addicted . . .
Photos below are by Alexa Gibbon
Hope Thru Art will be continued by Steve's kids and his lovely wife Barb who could use your prayers and support.
Living On Grace friends.... Please, take a moment and visithttps://www.facebook.com/hope.thruart?fref=ts
My guess - “80 to 90% of Christians are unacquainted with the gospel of grace.”
My evidence – The large number of believers who are still trying to capture what they already possess, trying to earn what God has freely given them.
Our Bibles say...2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
We're new!
If you were to ask “religious people” about grace they would declare, “yes, I am saved by grace! I thank God for His grace!” But by their works they testify that God’s grace is not enough. Grace may have got them started, but now it’s up to them to finish. Having begun with the Spirit they are now trying to attain their goal by human effort.
And yet Gal 3:3 clearly says “Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”
Instead of working out what it means to be saved, people are working hard to stay saved!!
The religious trap of “good works” usually begins when someone tells us that God won’t accept us or bless us or be pleased with us unless we perform for Jesus. Dead religious works are sold with respectable labels like “responsibility,” “good works,” “mission,” “sowing,” and “investing.” I am not against these things! What I am opposed to is the diabolical lie that says God’s favor depends on me doing them. We were never saved to become a Pharisee!!
Your saved....LIVE LIKE IT!!! We are saved by grace and kept by grace.
Our Bible in Col 2:6 reminds us “So then, just as we have received Christ Jesus as Lord, we are to continue to live in him.” How did you receive Him? By faith. How should you continue to live in Him? By faith! It’s faith in God’s grace from start to finish.
We all have some type of insurance. I've got house, car, life, health, insurance. But my question is, are we living by faith in the Son of God? Or have you taken out a little works insurance?
Watchman Nee put it this way, the choice is between trying and trusting. “You can try or you can trust but you can’t do both.” The gospel can become perverted, here's some signs that you might be living under self-imposed law.
We need to test ourselves to help determine whether the gospel message revealed by Jesus and preached by Paul is the one we are trusting... it’s a simple test. Just four questions.
1) Does this gospel cause me to fix my eyes exclusively on Jesus?
Does the message focus on me or does it cause me to fix my eyes on the Author and Finisher of my faith? Does it emphasize what I’m doing (or not doing), or does it emphasize His finished work on the cross? Does it make me introspective and anxious or Christ-conscious and grateful?
At Liv It our purpose, our great joy is to reveal more and more of Jesus. If we love the King we will love the kingdom. Whatever we need, our answer is found in Jesus and His finished work.
In 1 Colossians 2:2 Paul resolved to know nothing but “Christ and Him crucified”.
Question 2...Does this gospel increase my dependence on Jesus?
Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Sadly, much is being done apart from Jesus and most of it will amount to nothing! Some are focused on doing other stuff. And because they have become so busy doing other stuff they are worn out and missing opportunities to do the works and greater works of Jesus.
Christ in us is able to do greater things! Do ya trust Him? Working out your salvation with fear and trembling describes the adventure of learning to do impossible things with Jesus. We can do the impossible with Christ!
Question 3 “Does this gospel empower me to overcome sin?”
We have two ways to deal with sin; (1) preach law or (2) reveal grace. A law-based message will stir up the flesh in a human-powered quest for a change in behavior. This approach is inherently flawed… Romans 7:5 reveals that the purpose of the law is to inflame sin. Thus, any “success” with this approach will only lead to sins of pride, self-righteousness, and the truly fatal sin of unbelief in the grace of a loving God.
Colossians 2:23 reminds us “These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” Ultimately the law is powerless to deal with sin because it leaves the heart untouched. Worse, it releases condemnation which some mistake for conviction and ministers death, just as it was designed to do.
In Hebrews 9:26...Grace declares that Jesus conquered all sin on the cross.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30 “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God” -that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption are not holy because of our behavior but because of His. You are a new creation with a new nature. Your old sin software has been nailed to the cross and you are no longer sin’s slave (Romans 6:6,20).
The law does not provide useful guidelines for Christian living.
We turn rules into idols when we put our faith in them instead of Christ. The Bible is very clear; the law empowers sin (1 Corinthians 15:56) and only a revelation of God’s grace can teach us to say no to ungodliness (Titus 2:12).
You are a sinner saved by grace only ONCE!
Question 4 “Does the gospel release peace and joy?”
Do you leave church better than when you walked in?
Romans 14:17 tells us that the kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If the gospel we’re listening to doesn’t reveal Jesus and the gift of His righteousness, then we will never experience the peace and joy that comes with it! It really is all about Jesus.
(Pastor Ron, during our most recent Pastors meeting gave this simple advice to those of us who are blessed to share his pulpit…”Be sure, to leave them wanting more of Jesus when you minister here at Liv It!”
2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that He (Jesus) took our sin and gave us His righteousness. This is what the gospel reveals – in Romans 1:17, a righteousness from God that is received by faith from first to last . Romans 5:17 puts it this way, when you know that God has made you as righteous as Jesus, you will be empowered to reign in life.
This test is actually all about righteousness: Are we resting in Him or are we trying to impress Him with our righteousness? A false gospel will seek to manufacture righteousness through works and holy living. By prescribing a course of action for you to take, it will instantly fail the above three tests. It will burden you with loads you cannot carry and expectations you cannot live up to. Before you know it, you will be as stressed and joyless as Martha.
Here’s a thought. If you stopped doing the things you are doing for Jesus, would you feel guilty? What if you sinned, stopped giving, or skipped church? I’m not encouraging you to do any of these things – that would be foolish and your not foolish. But someone who knows they are clothed with His righteousness will never battle guilt and condemnation. John 16:10 tells us that even when we sin we will sense the Holy Spirit convicting us of our continued righteousness in Christ.
On the other hand anyone who is bought into a false gospel will never know lasting peace. Even when they’ve performed there will always be a sense of “but have I done enough?”
Paul began every one of his letters with the phrase, “Grace and peace to you from God the Father.” It is only a revelation of God’s favor that brings true peace. Know grace, know peace. Worldly peace is temporary, Philippians 4:7 reveals that the peace of God – that sense that everything is coming together for good because you belong to Jesus and His favor rests on you – passes ALL understanding. In other words…your understanding of your situation does in no way compare to how God sees your circumstance!
Col 2:7 says it fortifies your heart and mind so that in all circumstances you find yourself overflowing with thankfulness. No matter how severe your trial, you will be able to find rest – indeed, even joy – in His mighty, loving arms Philippians 4:4.
So how did your gospel do? If you honestly answered no to any of these four questions, there is great news for you. Rejoice, for you are living and walking in pure, undiluted grace!___
