In his book Mystical Union (also available on Kindle), Crowder argues that there is a new mysticism on the rise, one that is coupled with a new reformation. Identifying himself as a “reformed mystic,” Crowder draws lessons from both groups. The mystics and reformers needed one another, he says. “The mystics needed the reformers’ faith. The reformers rejected the mystics’ experience.” The mystics were hungry to experience the presence of God and this hunger drove them to perform “spiritual jumping jacks”; but the reformers knew that grace in all its expressions comes to us only through faith. You don’t need to climb a mountain or explore the caverns of the soul to experience God. There are no secrets, no steps, no spiritual keys. There is only the revelation that Christ has done it all. Our part is simply to rest in Him.

The mystery of Christ

Some church folk get a bit antsy whenever you talk about experiences, especially mystical ones. Indeed, the word mystical has been hijacked by all sorts of airy-fairy, new agey, occultic groups. But the word itself is Christian in origin. The term mystics was originally used to describe believers who experienced an interactive life with Christ characterized by intimacy and supernatural power. Paul wrote much about the mysteries of God which, in a word, are simply Christ. His concern was that we would “become progressively more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that mystic secret of God, [which is] Christ (the Anointed One)” (Col 2:2, AMP).

Do you have a problem becoming more intimately acquainted with Christ? No? Then neither do you have a problem with mystical experience.

The mystical union of which Crowder writes is the simply revelation that we are in Him and He is in us. This union was made possible through the cross. We did nothing to make it happen. We are merely the happy beneficiaries of His divine favor:

The abundant blessings of this union are far too many to account. Physical healing. Financial provision. Reconciliation in relationships. Emotional fulfillment. Unspeakable joy. Righteous authority to be wielded over regions and people groups. Creative miraculous abilities. Mystical powers. Authority in this age and the age to come. The possibilities are endless, as you are wed to God. Loc. 3498

Crowder takes care to point out that we don’t pursue spiritual experiences as a means of drawing closer to the Lord. Rather, we have these experiences because we are already united with Him. They are simply a consequence of effortless union. Peter and Paul never went looking for trances; they both “fell” into them. When you are living and breathing the mystery of God, namely Christ, mystical stuff just happens.

The flavor of faith

Since I would characterize myself as more of a logos-lover than a mystic, I was really blessed by this book. I found it disarming and inspiring. I would like to think that I am open to anything and everything God wants to do, but I have, at times, been distracted by the monkish seriousness or the drunken ecstasy of those who are more experiential than me. I agree that mystical experiences are valid – they’re in the Bible! – but I have sometimes felt that they are forced upon people. “If you are not manifesting these experiences, then you’re not mature/pressing in/encountering the fullness blah blah blah.” Peer pressure is alive and well in charismatic circles. And, if I’m brutally honest, I have probably pushed others whose comfort zones were smaller than mine. (If I have pushed you, I apologize!) The truth is, grace doesn’t force itself on anyone. The flavor of faith is rest. Happily, Crowder understands this:

I’m not pressing in anymore. I’ve been pressed into. I’m not contending anymore. I’ve been contended for. I’m not a God chaser anymore. I’ve been chased down, roped, hogtied, bagged and dragged. I’m not appropriating what I have. It’s mine. I’m not getting closer to God. He’s like a Siamese twin. I’m not even seeking God anymore. He found me. Loc.2130

Mystical Union is an eclectic book full of rabbit trails but each page is infused with grace. Near the end of the book Crowder touches on the subject of work and although he doesn’t say much, what he says is wonderfully liberating. Check this out:

God is not looking for workers, but for lovers. And the lovers will outwork the workers in these days. I do not preach much about working. That’s one area where actions should speak louder than words. I preach on work by using my hands. The definition of “work” however, has changed for us. Like Adam, a new creation is now tending the Garden of Pleasure. Our chief end is toward the enjoyment of God in the midst of our vocation. In divine union, work and play should rise to meet together as one. This is your calling. Loc.3814

Amen!

Incidentally, John Crowder leads a church and regularly ministers with Benjamin Dunn. A few weeks ago I posted my review of Mr. Dunn’s book The Happy Gospel and this drew some heat from a few people who have formed their opinions of both men based on what Dunn later said were “some old stupid videos that don’t reflect our direction and heart.” If you have seen these infamous videos (I haven’t), let me just say, “We are all learning.” I have personally seen about a dozen John Crowder videos on YouTube and I have been blessed by them all. If my review of Mystical Union has whet your appetite, don’t let some “old stupid videos” deter you from checking out his thought-provoking and inspiring book.
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Related posts:
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- see all E2R’s book reviews here

All well and good. But what about the other point? Shouldn’t we turn from sin when we come to Jesus? You would certainly think so judging by the popularity of this verse:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chr 7:14)

Thank God for the cross that changed everything! In the old covenant, God’s blessings were conditional on you humbling, praying, seeking, and turning. (Phew! What if you only did three of those things? Would you get three-quarter forgiveness?) But in the new covenant, God’s blessings are poured out on us on account of Jesus:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Eph 1:3)

Here’s a question to see if you have been paying attention. If we have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing in Christ,” what blessings remain for us outside of Christ? None! Starting with salvation, every blessing comes to us by grace through faith. Every. Single. Blessing.

So with Jesus as our secure foundation, how do we define repentance? Since I have compared the old- and new covenant definitions in another post, I just want to give you a simple picture. Here it is…

In the new covenant, repentance literally means change your mind. Nothing more, nothing less. It is not something we initiate so much as it is a response to the good news. When Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15), He was literally saying, “Change your unbelieving mind and believe the glad tidings of the kingdom which is at hand.” We don’t repent to manipulate God into bringing his kingdom down; we repent because His kingdom is already at hand. (The King has come!) We don’t repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. (He remembers your sins no more!)

In the old covenant, repentance implied a turning from, as in “turn from sin.” But in the new, repentance means a turning to, as in “turn to God.” Here’s Paul:

First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. (Act 26:20)

Do you see why the new is better? Under the old, you could turn from sin to… more sin! For instance, if you managed to turn from some nasty habits, your religious flesh would soon get puffed up with pride. Just look at the Pharisees. I doubt anyone repented (i.e., turned from sin) as much as they did. But in the new, there is only one direction to turn, and that is towards God. And as we turn towards Him, we inevitably turn from sin. This is why we don’t find Paul praying like this: “I keep asking God to help you reprobates turn from your stinking sin”! No, Paul prayed that we would know Him better.

As we change our minds and come to walk in the revelation that Jesus is lovely and God is good and He thinks we’re special, we find that the things of this world grow strangely dim. We walk away from sin effortlessly because we are captivated by something, Someone, infinitely better.
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If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left (Heb 10:26)

Wow! That looks scary! Let’s take a quick survey. Please put your hand up if you have lived a sinless life since accepting Jesus as your Savior. Hmmm. I don’t see any hands. I have been saved for decades and – if I’m honest with you – I cannot say my performance has been flawless throughout that period. I’m pretty sure I sinned this one time back in 1987…

Ha! It’s easy for me to make jokes. I’ve been set free. I no longer mine at the pits of religion with condemnation. I’m drawing from the wells of salvation with joy!

The wrong way to interpret Hebrews 10:26

All jokes aside, Hebrews 10:26 is an oft-abused scripture. If you wanted to use this verse to scare people, there are a couple of angles you could take:

1. You could use this verse to present a “balanced” view of God, like this: “He is a God of grace and He is a God of judgment. He’s not some senile Santa in the sky. He’s a God of vengeance and a consuming fire. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

2. You could also use this verse to preach works: “You will be judged according to the light of your revelation and those who have received the knowledge of the truth will be held to the highest standard. It’s time for judgment to begin in the house of God. If you fall away it is impossible to be brought back to repentance!”

What is the problem with these messages? Well if you listen to the first one you’re going to come away thinking that God is schizophrenic, at war with His own nature. He loves you, but He doesn’t. It’s unconditional love – with conditions. And if you listen to the second you will either end up a religious fraud or a nervous wreck. You may even wish that you had never heard the gospel because ignorance is bliss.

The tricky part with these false messages is that they are composed of true statements. Our God is a consuming fire. But the interpretation is all wrong. They are anti-cross and anti-Christ. Any message that tells you that God is double-minded or that the good news is bad news ought to be rejected. You know that, right? Good. So how do we read Hebrews 10:26?

Trampling the Son of God under foot

A key to unpackaging this scripture is to recall the audience. Hebrews was written for – surprise, surprise – Hebrews. It was for those who have grown up with the “elementary teachings” of the Old Covenant. In other words, the author writes for an informed audience. They know all about the law, sacrifices, and high priests. But what they may not appreciate is that the law was only a shadow of the good things to come. The law points to the true high priest Jesus and His eternally perfect sacrifice.

Hebrews was written to reveal Christ and His work so that we may “enter through the new and living way,” “go on to maturity,” and “draw near to God.” That last bit is the key. How do I know the two sermonettes above are carnal nonsense? Because neither will inspire you to draw near to God. Indeed, they will have the opposite effect.

Hebrews 10:26 describes those who have received the knowledge of the truth (i.e., they have heard the gospel) but they have rejected it. The writer compares those who reject grace with those who reject law:

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:28-29)

This passage is not talking about Christians but those who, like Judas, have heard the truth and spurned it. Judas spent time in the company of the Lord. He not only heard the truth, he saw Grace and Truth in the flesh. But Judas rejected Jesus as Lord. He never saw Jesus as anything other than a rabbi. Calling Jesus “Rabbi” is a bit like calling the President “Mister,” only infinitely more so. It’s not just insulting, it’s unbelief.

Jesus came to give His life for Judas but Judas wasn’t interested. He preferred his own sinful life of greed and betrayal. I am sure Judas had many opportunities to repent (i.e., change his mind) and put his faith in Jesus, but he never did. He rejected the grace of God that could empower him to say no to sin.

Jesus died for Judas. What more could He do? There is nothing! There is no more sacrifice for sins other than the one Jesus provided. To reject Jesus as Lord is to trample the Son of God underfoot and treat the blood of the covenant as unholy.

How do you insult the Spirit of grace?

If I was to give you a free car out of the generosity of my heart, but you insisted on paying for it, I would be insulted. Similarly, we insult the Spirit of grace by trying to pay, with works and sacrifices, what God has freely given us. We may call it “proving our salvation” or “appropriating what God has given” but it is unbelief. It is like saying, “I don’t believe Jesus has done it all. I need to finish what He started.”

The wrong way to read Hebrews is to think that God is judging us on our performance. Over and over again Hebrews tells us that it is Jesus and His performance that matters. It is His sacrifice that made us holy, indeed, perfect forever (Heb 10:10-14). How can we interpret Hebrews 10:26 as a warning against sin when Hebrews 9:26 says that Christ appeared once for all “to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself”? Is His a finished work or isn’t it? If it is, then sin is no longer the problem. Where there is remission of sins, “there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Heb 10:18). The good news is that the Son of God is the once and final solution for sin. Because of Jesus, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit choose to remember our sins no more (see Heb 8:12, 10:17).

The warning of Hebrews

In my next post I will look at Hebrews 6:4-6, which is another passage that bothers some. But the punch-line is the same. The main warning of Hebrews is not in regard to sin but unbelief:

So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Heb 3:19)

The Hebrews of Moses’ day never entered God’s rest because they hardened their hearts to His voice. In the New Testament era, many Jews were doing exactly the same thing. They received the knowledge of truth, they heard the gospel of grace, but they rejected it. They may not have said so in so many words, but by their actions they revealed their distrust.

For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. (Heb 4:2)

The author of Hebrews writes to stir up faith. Without it we cannot please God. With it we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Heb 10:39)

Some people hear the good news of God’s grace and shrink back. They cannot believe it. “It’s too good to be true,” they say. “I’d better cover myself by doing works.” Do you see the danger? You cannot cover yourself. This is idol-worship. You are elevating yourself to co-savior with Christ. You are insulting the Spirit of grace by trying to pay for what God has already given you. This is why sermons that put the emphasis on you and your performance are dangerous. Don’t buy into any message that purports to give you a list of keys or steps that will help you achieve/accomplish/appropriate what you already have. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and the sweat of men to take away sins and it is faithless to strive for what you already have (every good thing!).

According to Hebrews there are only two kinds of people; those who don’t enter because of their unbelief and those who believe and are saved. Sin is not the variable; faith is. Where does faith come from? Jesus! He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2). Fix your eyes on Him.
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What is the solution to humanity’s problem? Jesus! He came to reveal the true character of our Father. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (Joh 1:18). Jesus came to make the Father known and He did that by representing Him in all that He did. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Joh 14:9).

All of your questions regarding the true nature of God are answered in Jesus. What is God’s will for healing? Since Jesus healed everyone who came to Him, we can only conclude that the Father’s will is to heal everyone. Jesus never gave anyone sickness to teach them things so neither does the Father. Jesus never gave and took away good gifts so neither does the Father. If Jesus is full of grace and truth, then so is the Father. If the Son has forgiven you, then so has the Father. The Son is the exact representation of the Father’s being.

Dead religion will tell you one of two things about God: (1) He’s schizophrenic (He loves you but He hates you) or (2) He’s mysterious (nobody can figure Him out). In contrast, Jesus gives us a consistently clear picture of the unconditional love and grace of God. As John Sheasby writes in his book The Birthright: Out of the Servant’s Quarters into the Father’s House, “Jesus’ entire life was one, long, streaming video that displayed the goodness of the Father.”

A revelation of the Father’s goodness is what this world needs more than anything. Instead of preaching diluted law that leaves Christians condemned and sinners shaking their heads at our hypocrisy, we need to proclaim the good news of God’s grace. God loves you! But this is difficult since most Christians relate to God as servants, rather than children. They view God as a divine employer and they treat people as sales prospects. There may be fullness of joy in the presence of the Lord but these dear servants of God aren’t experiencing it. They are riddled with performance anxiety, battling condemnation, and constantly making and breaking promises to God.

If that describes you, then you need to read this book! In The Birthright, John Sheasby paints a true picture of the Father to counter the distorted picture handed down to us by religion.

Religion tells us that first we must get our house in order. Repent or else! But what does Jesus say? He says to whoever hears his knock and opens the door: “I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). In other words, “Let’s have a feast!” But what about the wretchedness, the moral poverty, the spiritual blindness? … He knows that you, like Zacchaeus, will not be changed by performance but by his presence. The power of his love, the joy of his presence, and the peace coming from his acceptance are far more capable of changing the human heart than rebuke, censure, condemnation, and rejection. (p.94)

The devil would love for you to remain ignorant of your birthright, so Sheasby writes to make sure you know what’s yours. As a son or daughter of God you have full rights of access along with an inheritance. Most Christians have some awareness of the first birthright – intimacy – but they are less sure of the second. They are like crippled Mephibosheth who was content to dine at the kings table even as the wicked Ziba stole his father’s possessions (2 Sam 19:30).

Mephibosheth enjoyed access to the king but lost his inheritance. The trouble was his self-consciousness. He was more focused on his own unworthiness than he was on the promises David had made to his father Jonathan. Similarly, many Christians have trouble receiving from God because they see no value in themselves. Why should God be so good to me? I’ve done bad things!

The problem is this: we are unable to see ourselves as God sees us. We are so self-consciousness; the recorded memories of the past and the misunderstanding of the gospel combine to blind our eyes to the truth….is imperative that we allow the truth of God’s Word to challenge the lies of Satan who uses our history against us. ‘Behold the Lamb,’… Not once did the priest examine the worshiper! Not once!… Where is your focus? The Lamb or yourself? (pp.131-2)

You will never rise up in your true and God-given identity until you have had a revelation of how crazy much your Father loves you. You are the apple of His eye! He rejoices over you with singing! And through Christ He has made you an heir of all things.
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Here’s something else Jesus never said to any individual: “I love you.” Jesus may not have said it but He sure showed it. His selfless sacrifice on the cross was the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen. On the cross He wrapped His arms around the world and gave us a big “I love you.” It is exactly like that with grace. He may not have said it, but He showed it big time. Here are just five of the ways that Jesus revealed the unmerited favor of a good and gracious God.

How did Jesus reveal grace?

1. By showing up!

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord… Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.  (Lk 2:10-11, 14)

I have heard people preach this verse as though God was selective with His favor. “Maybe His favor rests on you, maybe it doesn’t. You’d better behave yourself and hope for the best.” But the angel brought good news of great joy that was for “all the people.” Are you people? Then God’s favor rests on you!

What does the favor of God look like? It looks exactly like Jesus. God’s favor and God’s Savior are synonymous. In every Old Testament mention of promised Savior, we get a hint of grace. Then on the night of His birth we get a mighty shout. “Peace has come to earth!” As Mary discovered and we’re still learning, we are highly favored. How so? Because the Lord is with us. He is not against us. He is for us and He is with us. You cannot have the Lord and be anything other than highly favored. He is a magnet to His own favor.

2. By proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Lk 4:18-19)

I used to think this verse was good news for handicapped people and those living below the poverty line. Then I realized that Jesus is describing all of us. Relative to God we are all poor and needy. Every one of us is bankrupt of life and righteousness. “The whole world is a prisoner of sin” (Gal 3:22). That’s why Jesus announced the Year of Jubilee. Because of Jesus, we have come home, our debts are cleared, and now we reap what we haven’t sown. In the Year of Jubilee all the slaves were freed. Again, that’s us. We were bound but knowing the Truth we are free indeed. That sounds like the good news of God’s grace to me!

3. By telling stories about grace

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for pearls of great price; it is like a treasure hidden in a field. (Mt 13:44-45)

Jesus preached law to the self-righteous, but ordinary folks typically got stories of grace. And what stories they were! These weren’t morality tales for there was no catch, no lesson to be learned. The lost coin did nothing to be found. The lost sheep did not rescue itself. The prodigal returned as a worker but was received as a son.

Without saying the word grace, Jesus left lasting impressions of unmerited favor. He came for us because in His eyes we are the treasure; we are the pearl of great price. He Himself said so! Jesus’ stories leave us, like the prodigal, speechless in the loving arms of their Father.

4. By showing (and preaching!) unconditional forgiveness

Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” (Mat 9:2)

When preaching to those under the law, Jesus made forgiveness conditional. But on the street, Jesus revealed another forgiveness that is unconditional. The paralytic had forgiven no one yet he was forgiven. It was the same with the sinful woman (Luke 7). It was the same for the whole world when Jesus hung on the cross (Lk 23:34).

If this seems confusing to you, look at the cross. The cross is the dividing line of history and the crossroads of two covenants. Before the cross it was, “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” But speaking of what would happen as a result of the cross, Jesus also said, “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men” (Mat 12:31). When was every sin and blasphemy forgiven? At the cross! Unconditional forgiveness is one of the most liberating manifestations of grace. When you know that you have been completely forgiven, you are free to forgive yourself and others.

5. By preaching faith over flesh

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (Joh 3:16)

Look carefully at the end of that verse. There is a full-stop, a period. Praise God for that period! It is the greatest period in the history of periods! That period declares the scandalous grace of God that will not share the stage with any man. The old covenant required about a hundred chapters to list all the things you need to do if you were to have any hope of impressing God, but here in the new, you just have to believe. Full-stop!

Jesus didn’t come with a list of commandments. We already had those from Moses. It’s true that Jesus preached law before the cross to those under the law but that wasn’t His main reason for coming. He came to open blind eyes, set the captives free, and give us new life. All that He asked was that we receive what He wanted to give us. This is the only thing Grace will ever ask of you. “Receive Me.”

Jesus = grace

Jesus may not have said “I love you” but those who met Him went away knowing they were dearly loved. Just ask John. For the rest of his life he went around telling people, “I’m the disciple Jesus loves.” So are you.

To know His love is to know His grace. They are inseparable. God is gracious because He is love. Why did Jesus come? Jesus came to reveal the grace of a good God who loves us like a Father. He came to bring us good news of great joy that is for all people.
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Jesus preached words that the whole world needs to hear but you are not the whole world. Some of what He said was meant for other people:

• Jesus called the Pharisees sons of hell (Mt 23:15). You are not a son of hell! So why would you heed words meant for the sons of hell?
• Jesus also told the Pharisees they belonged to their father the devil (Joh 8:44). You belong to your Father in heaven (1 Jn 3:1). So why would you heed words intended for the devil’s children?
• Jesus even preached to the devil (Lk 4). Are you the devil? Then you should not assume that words directed to the devil were meant for you.

Some of what Jesus said was meant for another time. For instance, Jesus preached the law to those born under the law. Since you are not under law, the law that Jesus preached to them is not for you. If you think you must keep the law to be righteous/blessed/holy/forgiven, then you have set aside grace and Christ died for nothing.

Jesus was the greatest law preacher who ever lived. Yet He never preached the law to non-Jews and He didn’t preach it after the cross. In a recent post I explained how and why He preached the law. In my next post I will show you five ways that Jesus also revealed grace. (It’s going to be good!)

Jesus’ law ministry reached its fulfillment on the cross. The law-keeping covenant has come and gone. The new covenant of grace, in contrast, is eternal. As we will see, Jesus’ revelation of grace is as important today as it ever was.
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The apostle Paul was the first of us to really catch the gospel. It was given to him in a heavenly language of inexpressible words and he spent the rest of his life trying to tell us what he had heard (see 2 Cor 12:2-5). “It’s the power of God,” he said. “It is Christ and Him crucified.” “It’s measureless love.” “It’s reconciliation and much more.” “It’s new life.”

The scandal of the gospel – once we really see it – can leave us in stunned silence. How can we speak about so glorious a thing? How can we convey the matchless beauty of Jesus with mere words? Frankly, it can’t be done. But Paul tried and we are all the richer for it.

In The Happy Gospel: Effortless Union with a Happy God, author Benjamin Dunn follows in Paul’s footsteps by attempting to convey the light and joy of the gospel of grace. It’s a tough ask, but Dunn succeeds brilliantly. I dare you to read The Happy Gospel without grinning. It is is a joy-filled book that will leave you pumping the air in gratitude and praise.

Happy God, happy gospel

For the most part, the church has bought into an unhappy gospel. You only need to look at the faces of some pew-warmers to know this is true. But this is not the gospel that Paul preached. Taking his cue from Paul’s letter to Timothy (1 Tim 1:11), Dunn declares that a happy gospel reveals a happy God:

Yes, our God is the happy God! And His message is a message of supreme gladness. He is the Source of all true bliss and happiness; to be near Him is to be near to an atomic bomb of joy! Go ahead… press the red button. You know you want to! (p.155)

If God is happy, and the gospel reveals a happy message, then how come many Christians aren’t happy? That’s the $64,000 question! One of the reasons offered in this book is that many of us have not learned to speak the new language of grace:

You won’t hear from Paul’s lips some of the phrases that are commonly heard from many Christians. In the New Creation language, you won’t find longing and wanting. You will find endless praises declaring that the waiting and wanting is over. It’s a language and song of blissful fulfillment and ecstatic satisfaction. It is the New Song mentioned in the Psalms and Revelation. It is the song of men made into the home of God, the song of mortals transformed and swallowed by Life. (p.128)

The dead language of the old covenant

Sadly, many believers don’t know how to speak this new language. They’re speaking the vocabulary of the old covenant. Or, as Dunn says, “They are stuck in the undone, instead of floating upon the finished.” What does old covenant language sound like?

Some of the phrases of the old language are: ‘I must nail myself to the cross every day.’ ‘I’m just a sinner saved by grace.’ ‘Lord, You saved me but now come and cleanse me,’ or ‘Every day I’ve got to die to my flesh.’ Obviously the list goes on, and for the sheer fact that I hate hearing them, I will say no more of the faithless jabbering. This is a dead language! (p.129)

I have read books that have fired my emotions and books that have engaged my mind, but seldom have I read books that do both. The Happy Gospel does just that – it connects with your whole being. Your spirit soars, your mind gets fried, and your face grins. It’s not the book itself which releases this joy – it’s the gospel; it’s the revelation of the Father’s love. But this book will surely help you get it. It is a liberating antidote to dead religion and stuffiness.

One more thing. You know you have picked up an unusual book when the author bio begins like this: “Benjamin Dunn is known for his child-like joy and frolicking…” Frolicking, huh? What can I say? I may be known for many things but frolicking probably isn’t one of them. But you know what? Maybe it should be. One of the problems with manmade religion is that it makes us grow up too fast. Religion is so grown up, so deathly serious. Didn’t Jesus say something about coming to the kingdom like a child? As my friend Fini de Gersigney likes to say, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

And it’s never too late to have a happy gospel!
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Related posts:
- The test of your gospel
- The gospel in one word, two words…
- see all E2R’s book reviews here

Those who insist that you must obey the commands of Jesus in order to be saved/blessed/forgiven/righteous/holy are assuming that you are either

(a)  a time-traveler from Israel’s distant past
(b)  the devil

If you are (a), then I suggest you pick up a Sports Almanac, go back in time, and make a lot of money à la Marty McFly. Alternatively you could stick around here in the future, repent and believe the good news of God’s awesome grace, then go tell others.

If you are (b), then, um, well, er… this is awkward. I don’t really have any good news for you at all. You’ve been judged, condemned and disarmed and you have no future at all.

But if you are neither (a) nor (b) then arise, shine! For the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!

For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him. (Rom 10:4, AMP)

Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is our righteousness! He is our holiness! He is our redemption! Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord!

Jesus lived under law

Jesus lived at the crossroads of two covenants. As humanity’s representative He came to fulfill the old law-keeping covenant in order that we might relate to God through a new and better covenant forged in His blood. Since the new covenant could not begin before He died, Jesus lived all of His pre-cross life under the old covenant of the law:

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. (Gal 4:4-5)

Jesus was born under law, circumcised by law, and presented in the temple according to the law. Every Jewish person that Jesus met was also born under law. We need to keep this in mind when we read the red letters of Jesus.

What law did Jesus preach?

To those under the law, Jesus preached the pure and unadulterated Law of Moses. When religious people came to trap him with theological puzzles, Jesus would respond with, “What did Moses command you?” (Mk 10:3). If someone asked, “What is the greatest commandment in the law,” Jesus would provide an answer from the law (Mt 22:36). In His law-keeping ministry, Jesus honored the Law of Moses:

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. (Mt 23:2-3)

Since the law-teachers often made Jesus angry, we might conclude that Jesus was opposed to the law. He was not. Jesus had no problem with what the Pharisees were preaching. “Do everything they tell you.” What really burnt His toast was their hypocrisy – they weren’t practicing what they preached:

Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. (Joh 7:19)

Why did Jesus preach the law?

Like every grace preacher, Jesus esteemed the law and the purpose for which it was given. The law was given to silence every mouth and hold the whole world accountable (Rms 3:19). The purpose of the law is to make us conscious of sin and reveal our need for a Savior.

Since Sinai, the Jews had had fourteen centuries to learn what the law would teach them – that the flesh is incapable of dealing with sin. However, the law-teachers and Pharisees had ring-fenced the Law of Moses with their traditions and interpretations. By honoring their traditions ahead of the law, they diluted the law and removed the key to knowledge. As a result, the menace of sin was not fully recognized and the self-righteous weren’t silenced.

If the law had been allowed to do its proper work, the Jews would have been primed and ready for a Savior. Every one of them would have had an experience like the one Paul describes in Romans 7. “Nothing good lives in me. Oh wretched man that I am!” Live under the condemning ministry of the law and you will inevitably come to this question: “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” If the law-teachers and prophets had done their job, then the entire nation of Israel would have gathered outside that stable in Bethlehem in eager expectation. “He’s here! The Savior has come!” they would have said. “The One who will deliver us from the curse of the law and reconcile us to God has been born. Glory to God in the highest!”

Sadly, it didn’t happen. Since the law-teachers had been negligent, Jesus had to do their job before He could do His own. Before He could save the world from sin, He had to preach the law that made sin utterly sinful. Before He give Himself as the answer, He had to make sure we were asking the right question. Who will deliver us?

So Jesus became the greatest law preacher of all time. As the prophet Isaiah had foretold, He made the law magnificent. He lifted up what others had knocked down and raised the standard to glorious levels of perfection. Never again would mankind be without excuse. You want to know what God expects? Just read the Sermon on the Mount. In it Jesus says that God demands perfection and nothing less.

How did Jesus preach the law?

Preaching the red letters of Jesus is a bit like drinking whatever you find in the laundry. If you’re not paying attention – if you fail to distinguish His life-giving words of grace from His death-dealing words of law – then you could really do some damage. Don’t believe me? Then consider these red letters:

If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Mat 6:14-15)

This is one of the most-quoted passages in the Bible and it is vintage law. It is a killer scripture. It is not good news. This verse should make us shudder for it says that our forgiveness hinges on our ability to forgive others and we are poor forgivers indeed. Men sin against us repeatedly. Have we honestly forgiven them all? What if we miss one? And what do we say to those who have been raped and abused? What do you say to a young child who has been molested? “Sweetie, you need to forgive that evil man otherwise God won’t forgive you.” That’s not grace. That’s the condemning ministry of the law in full bloom. How do you forgive the unforgiveable? You can’t! Then you’re in trouble. The law condemns you as an unforgiver. Now you’re beginning to recognize your need for grace and this is a good thing.

Any time you read a conditional statement from Jesus, you should interpret it as law. “Do not judge and you will not be judged” (Lk 6:37). That’s good advice but it’s also law. To avoid something (judgment) you have to do something (don’t judge). It’s a blessing you have to pay for. And anytime Jesus makes a threat, you should interpret that as law as well. “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Mt 5:22). That’s bad news for anyone with a brother!

The law is not for you

Jesus came to reveal grace but those who are confident of their own righteousness are incapable of receiving it. They don’t see their need. What they need is the law and Jesus gave it to them in spades. But Jesus’ larger purpose was to give us His life and His righteousness. So He also told stories about God justifying sinners and shepherds finding lost sheep. Then He went to the cross fulfilling the law on our behalf that He might be the end of the law for all who believe (Rom 10:4).

Jesus’ came to set the captives free and give sight to the blind. The law sets nobody free. But the law does reveal your need for a Great Deliverer.

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Related posts:
- 5 ways Jesus revealed grace
- Seven signs that you might be living under law
- Rightly dividing the word: How to read your Bible without getting confused

Image from here.

I wish I could go to that man in the burn unit and say something to ease his pain but I don’t know what I would say. However, I know what I wouldn’t say:

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? (Heb 12:7, NIV)

I have just read something that has my blood boiling. There is steam coming out of my ears. Here’s a paraphrase:

You should view every hardship in life as God’s loving discipline. God is sovereign and everything that happens to you – whether good or bad – is for your good. Indeed, it is proof of His love for the Lord disciplines those He loves.

Apparently this is meant to be a comfort to people in pain. Maybe you just lost your wife and kids in a house-fire but be comforted! God did it. Why? Because He loves you.

Sheesh. And we wonder why sinners aren’t running into our churches.

Job 2.0

One year ago I wrote that God was not responsible for Job’s loss no matter what Job 1:21 says. I still get emails on a weekly basis that say, “How dare you contradict the Bible. How dare you say that God is not the author of evil.” How can I say it? Because Jesus said it:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (Joh 10:10)

Isn’t it strange that most Christians would hesitate to tell the burned man that his family and home were destroyed by the devil – “you can’t blame Satan for everything” – yet they are quick to point the finger at our loving Father. “God did it.” But why would God kill three little kids in their sleep? Who can say. God is mysterious.

Forgive me for ranting, but this is insane! It is exactly this sort of madness that makes the church look like a bunch of whackos. This kind of thinking dishonors the name of the Lord. Worst of all, it keeps up passive when we should be taking a stand and fighting back. Instead of resisting the devil so that he flees, we submit to the devil and say, “The Lord is disciplining us. Oh we’re so loved!”

And this is why I am writing. There is a time for enduring hardship and there is a time for resisting the devil and you need to know the difference. As usual, Jesus is our role model. He did not consider sickness a hardship to be endured – He resisted it. Neither did He consider demonic oppression a hardship to be endured – He resisted it. At times He even resisted death by raising a little girl and a dead man. He spoke to storms and said we would speak to mountains. Jesus did all these things to show us how the Father responds to the devil’s work. And yes, I have no problem attributing sickness to the devil:

You know… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. (Act 10:38, NIV)

I said I didn’t know what I would say to the man in the burn unit, but Jesus would know. He is the “God of all comfort who comforts us in all of our troubles” (2 Cor 1:3-4). If I was in a position to visit that man I would trust the Holy Spirit to show me what to say and do. Sadly, accidents are a fact of life and innocent children die as a result. But there’s healing for everything. You want to talk about the mystery of God? Then marvel at how He is able to bring good even out of the most awful of circumstances.

Arise shine!

The bad news of dead religion has turned Christians into commentators on the sidelines of life. If something good happens, we congratulate each other for sowing into kingdom principles. If something bad happens, we say the Lord did it because He loves us. This is a nauseating, useless, and demonic theology. Live this way and you will never display the manifold wisdom of God to rulers and authorities in heavenly realms (Eph 3:10).

I don’t normally write reactive posts like this but I just had to vent. I’m heartbroken for that man in the burn unit and I’m heartbroken over a church that gets its theology from Job’s friends.

I began by paraphrasing some bad writing. I’m going to finish by paraphrasing something that’s pure gold. You can then decide which you will trust in.

See Jesus! See the finished work of the cross! Your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. You may have problems and hardships and yes thick darkness is over the peoples. But the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Those mountains are coming down! You may be a worm, little Jacob, but God Himself will help you. He will make you into a threshing sledge with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. (Is 41:13-14, 60:1-2)

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Related posts:
-    Speak to your mountain
-    10 myths about the ministry of the Holy Spirit
-    Life doesn’t have the last word (when you’re walking in the spirit)

Image from here.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey… (Exo 20:17)

Joseph could not afford either a decent place to stay or a lamb for the sacrifice, so the odds are that he didn’t own a donkey. So how did Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a distance of about 80 miles? She probably walked.

Right there all the mothers reading this just winced. She walked 80 miles pregnant? Seriously? Trust a man to leave an important detail like that out of his account. To be fair to Luke and the other gospel writers, we don’t know exactly how Mary got to Bethlehem. But I have a theory – a Christmas tale if you like. It begins with some good news…

The Gospel of Gabriel

Mary’s life was radically changed when an angel uttered the following words to her:

Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. (Lu 1:28)

At first Mary was troubled. I wouldn’t say it was disbelief so much as sheer incomprehension. “How can this be?” The favor of God is mind-boggling. Our minds cannot explain it. Happily, you don’t need to explain it to receive it. You just have to believe and Mary did. “May it be to me as you have said.” Boom – right there is faith. The grace-faith circuit complete, favor now begins to flow from heaven to Mary. Then the angel left.

Did you know that only two people in the Bible were regarded as highly favored? One of them is Mary, the other one is you. “He made us accepted (literally, highly favored) in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6). To the degree that Mary was favored, so are you. It’s perfectly fine to put Mary on a favor pedestal, as long as you put yourself right up there too. In Christ, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3).

It is significant that the angel did not leave right after he made his announcement. He waited until Mary had responded in faith. God’s favor was on her but she needed to believe it to receive it. So do you and I. We need to cultivate the habit of seeing ourselves as God sees us – highly favored and deeply loved.

Mary’s mystery marathon

So how did Mary get to Bethlehem? I can’t prove it, but I suspect a miracle took place. Perhaps it was something like what God did when He brought the Israelites out of slavery:

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (Exo 19:4)

No, I don’t think Mary and Joseph hitched a ride on real eagles – this isn’t The Lord of the Rings. When God says He carried them on eagle’s wings He’s saying I brought you to myself swiftly and easily. My hunch is that Mary and Joseph walked effortlessly and without trouble. They journeyed under a Middle Eastern sun without fainting or growing weary because God “gives power to the weak” (Is 40:29). When it came time to deliver history’s most famous baby, Mary wasn’t worn out from completing back-to-back marathons. She was full of abundant life and the picture of health. At least that’s how she looks on the Christmas cards.

Bethlehem means “the house of bread.” At the house of bread Mary and Joseph came face-to-face with the Bread of Life. So in a sense, God had brought them to Himself for it was in Bethlehem that they first laid eyes on their Savior Jesus.

What relevance does Mary’s journey have for us today? Mary’s journey is the same journey you made when you got saved. When you got born again, you walked on Mary’s Trail. Think about it. Some “angel” told you the good news of God’s favor, you wondered “how can this be?” and then after a period of time you came face to face with the Bread of Life. You met Jesus and got born again. Like Mary, you may have travelled a long road, but the journey itself was miraculous. Egypt is in your past because God brought you to Himself on eagle’s wings.

The other reason for the season

Christmas is not just the time when we celebrate Jesus’ arrival into the world. It’s also the time when we celebrate His arrival into our private world. Grace came 2000 years ago but it meant nothing until the day we believed it and got born again. So in a way, it’s not just His birthday we’re celebrating, it’s our birthday too.

This Christmas, as much of the world gathers around the manger in adoration, take a moment to reflect on your own journey to the House of Bread. Jesus is the reason for the season but ask yourself this: Why did He come? He came to save you. In His eyes you are the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field. As far as Jesus is concerned, you are the reason for the season.

You are highly favored and deeply loved! Oh Happy Day! Oh Happy Christmas!

Your favorite post is not here? Find it in the archives.

So to help you spread some Christmas cheer, below are some cards that I made last year. Most greeting cards say nothing at all about the true meaning of Christmas. I wanted something that conveyed at least a hint of the good news. For more images, check out the Grace Gallery.

What can you do with these Christmas cards?

To email: click on the image of your choice, then right-click on the image and select “send image”

To share: click on the image of your choice, then right-click on the image and select “copy image location”; go to the FB wall and post into your status bar or stick it on a friend’s wall

The Supernatural Ways of Royalty

One of the four things the earth cannot handle, is a servant who becomes a king (Pro 30:21-22). A servant doesn’t know how to rule – he hasn’t been trained. Worse, an abiding sense of insignificance combined with a poverty mentality means he will undermine, even destroy, those he would govern. We were born slaves to sin but now we reign with Christ. We are servants-turned-kings. Yet we will not walk in our true identity unless we lose the pauper mindset we grew up with. Although this book lacks focus and is weakened in places by religious jargon, it will open your eyes to your royal inheritance. Vallotton’s personal stories of supernatural experiences are inspiring. This is definitely a book to read and talk about.

Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature? Revised Edition, by Ryan Rufus

Recently I asked the question, “Do NIV readers have a sinful nature?” This was a tongue-in-cheek jibe at some sloppy translation done in the New International Version of the Bible. The title of my post was inspired by the book Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature? by Ryan Rufus. Many Christians have been told that they have two natures and the one that wins is the one they feed the most. It’s the old black dog/white dog story. But this simply isn’t true. As Ryan Rufus explains, you are a new creation and the old has gone. This book is more than an answer to a question (and the answer is “No!”). It’s a primer on how to live by grace. It deals with questions many Christians have, such as, “Why do I still keep on sinning?” and “How can I stop sinning?” The revised edition comes with discussion questions and is suitable for a 5 week study course. The book is also available on Kindle.

So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore, by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman

I was initially put off reading this book because I thought it was just another church-bashing piece written by a burnt-out pastor. It’s not. For starters, it was written by two people, not one, and it’s a novel. It’s basically a conversation between a disillusioned Christian called Jake and someone who just might be the original apostle John. Jake starts the book enslaved to institutional religion. He knows something is wrong but he can’t put his finger on it. Then, through a series of conversational discoveries, Jake comes to realize that the religious system which has locked many Christians into task-based friendships based on performance and accountability, is nothing like the body-life that God wants for all of us. Grace is not just for individuals; it’s for families and communities. God is the God of community and His nature draws us into community. Church life is not about putting on a show but celebrating His work in the lives of His people. This is not our obligation, but His gift to us. This book is a is a tornado of fresh air. It will help you get real in your relationships for it shows you what grace looks like when it is experienced together with others. Jacobsen and Coleman’s book has been around for a few years now and you can get your free pdf-copy here. Alternatively, you can find it at Amazon.

The Battle for Middle-earth, by Fleming Rutledge

If you’re looking for an epic read over the holidays and you’re a Tolkien fan, this one will interest you. In The Battle for Middle-earth, Fleming Rutledge reveals that The Lord of the Rings contains not one story but two. On the surface there is the well-known story about a fellowship working together to rid the world of an evil ring. However, just beneath the surface lies a deeper narrative where the hero is no hobbit but an unseen God operating for good through the “little ones” that nobody else notices. By drawing on Tolkien’s letters to fans, Rutledge reveals the biblical motifs that frame the action in both The Lord of the Rings and its predecessor, The Hobbit. On their own, the hobbits never stood a chance against the might of Sauron. But they weren’t on their own. Although Tolkien never explicitly mentions the hand of Providence in either story, he left so many hints that you’ll wonder how you missed it. Rutledge’s carefully researched book is a fascinating read that will change the way you read Tolkien.

See all E2R’s book reviews for more gift ideas here.

Here’s something that will fry your mind: Repentance is one of the most important things you’ll ever do but it’s not worth an entire sermon. How can you say such heresy Paul? I’ll answer that question in a moment. But first, let me ask you which of the following is the best definition of repentance:

1.    Repentance means to turn from sin
2.    Repentance means to change your mind

As we saw in the last post, repentance is a lot like football. It means different things to different people. But Biblical repentance simply means “change your mind.” You can change your mind about anything, but Jesus called us to change our mind and believe the good news (Mk 1:15).

Your definition of repentance will reveal whether you are living under grace or works. In the Old Testament, sinners repented by bringing a sacrifice of penance and confessing their sins (Num 5:7). But in the new we bring a sacrifice of praise and confess His name (Heb 13:15). We don’t do anything to deal with our sins for Jesus has done it all. Our part is to change our mind, believe the good news, and say thank you Jesus! If that’s not practical enough for you, then start praising Jesus who died to free us from sin and whose grace empowers us to sin no more. See yourself as dead to sin and alive to Christ.

No matter how much I preach on grace, some people just can’t see the cross for their sins. They write to tell me I’m under-selling repentance. What they really mean is, “Paul you’re not telling people to turn from their sin.” In many churches this is exactly the message you will hear. “God is holy and He won’t accept you unless you turn from sin.” It’s sold as a “message of repentance” and it appeals to our sense of right and wrong but it’s utterly false. It’s a lie from the pit of hell designed to promote the flesh and keep you from coming to Jesus. The truth is God is holy and He won’t accept you no matter what you do. His acceptance and favor come by grace alone. Got a sin-problem? Then come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace. His grace is your only hope.

Here are three reasons why you should reject any message that defines repentance as turning from sin:

1. It puts people under law

If you preach “turn from sin or you’re not saved” you are preaching pure law. You are prescribing sin-rejection as a means for salvation. This false gospel actually leaves sinners worse off because it empowers the sin that enslaves them while scorning the grace of God that might otherwise save them (1 Cor 15:56, Rm 11:6). The righteousness that God offers is not conditional on your ability to perform. Neither your good works nor your bad works enter the equation. The gospel of grace reveals the gift of righteousness that is received by faith from first to last (Rom 1:17).

2. It doesn’t lead people to salvation

Let me give you a picture to illustrate true repentance. Suppose I call you up and give you an invitation to come to my house. You’ve never been here before so you need directions. There are two ways I could direct you. I could give you my address and provide an accurate picture of where I live. Or I could say, “flee from your house – just drive from your house as fast as possible and don’t look back.” Do you see the difference? In both cases you’re going to leave your house. That’s guaranteed. But only by trusting my directions will you arrive at my house.  Repentance is just like that. It’s not fleeing from sin like a Pharisee. It’s turning to God in faith. In both cases you will leave your sin. But only by trusting God will you actually arrive someplace better than where you started.

To get people to repent (change their minds) Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom. He painted a picture of where God wanted them to be (with Him here and now) and He gave them clear directions on how to get there (have faith in God). It was the same with Paul. He didn’t walk into Corinth, one of the world’s most depraved cities, and preach “turn from sin.” Instead he resolved to know nothing but “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Sinners need to learn how much God loves them. They need to hear about His unconditional favor and grace. The best way to tell them is to reveal the finished work of the cross. When the Corinthian Christians later fell into sin, Paul still didn’t preach “turn from sin.” Instead he reminded them of their identity in Christ. He understood that grace, not works, is the cure for sin.

3. We’re called to preach the gospel, not repentance

Should you repent? Of course! I actually think there needs to be far more repentance, particularly from believers. Repentance should be our life-style. You cannot renew your mind without repenting for repenting means to change your mind. When I discover something new about the goodness of God, I repent – I change my way of thinking so that my life lines up with what is true. I repent every day and it’s wonderful. I’m not the same person I was even six months ago because I am in the habit of repenting.

Repentance is one of the most important things you’ll ever do but you don’t get people to repent simply by telling them to repent. You just give them a good reason to repent and they’ll repent. Paul said repentance comes as a consequence of learning about the goodness of God (Rom 2:4). So if you want people to repent, tell them how good God is! Preach the good news! Faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. Repentance, like faith, is a positive response to something God has done.

Paul said, “the only thing that counts is faith expressed in love” (Gal 5:6). God loves you, He died for you and He offers you His righteousness. Do you believe it? God’s power for salvation – for your forgiveness, healing, deliverance and provision – is revealed in the good news of grace. Do you believe it? All the blessings of God come to us by grace alone. Do you believe it?

John doesn’t say one word about repentance but he talks about believing over and over. He said that he wrote his book so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Joh 20:31). The key to life is not in turning from sin but trusting in Jesus.

You want others to repent? Then preach the gospel that reveals the goodness of God: Jesus has done it all!
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Related posts:
- Are sinners forgiven too?
- What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
- Seven signs that you might be living under law

“So you like footy. Who’s your favorite team?”
“Collingwood.”
“Never heard of them. Do they play in the Bundesliga?”
“The Bundes-what-now?”

It’s a bit like that with the word “repentance.” Here on E2R there has been a lot of discussion lately regarding the purpose of repentance. Much of that discussion is like the conversation above. We’re all fans of repentance but we seem to be talking about completely different things.

So what is repentance? Like football, your answer to that question says a lot about where you’re coming from. If you’ve been raised under performance-based religion, repentance is something we must do to be saved. If you don’t repent, you’re not saved. What is the something we must we do? Turn from sin of course. But as I will explain, this is a limited and misleading interpretation of repentance.

What is repentance?

The Greek word commonly translated repentance (metanoia) literally means to change your mind. (You can check this out for yourself by looking up a Greek lexicon such as Thayer’s and Smith’s Bible Dictionary or Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.) The Greek word for repent (metanoeo) is similar and both words are derived from the Greek word for mind (nous). So to repent is to change your mind. Nothing more, nothing less. Let’s look at an example from scripture:

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mar 1:15)

This is where the football confusion starts to kick in. The religious mind interprets Jesus’ words as “turn from sin and believe the good news.” But that is not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is addressing unbelievers. He is saying “change your unbelieving mind and believe the good news.” Repentance is not primarily a sin issue, it’s a faith issue. We are born walking by sight and trusting in the flesh. Jesus says, change the way you think and believe the good news.

Now that we know what repentance is (a change of mind), I want to address three common myths or misconceptions.

Myth 1: Repentance brings forgiveness

… repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Lk 24:47)

The religious mind reads this and thinks “I need to repent in order to be forgiven.” In other words, God will not forgive me unless I do something. This is pure hubris. It’s straight out of the old covenant. God is God and He has already forgiven in accordance with the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7). As I explain elsewhere, God does not need your permission to forgive you. We don’t repent to get forgiven; we repent because we are forgiven. Forgiveness is part of the good news: repent and believe it.

Myth 2: Repentance is turning from sin

Since repentance means changing your mind, it’s certainly possible that one can repent by turning from sin and there are plenty of people in the Bible who did so. But that’s only one kind of repentance and it is not the kind that leads to salvation. In the New Testament, repentance typically means turning to God.

I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. (Act 20:21)

Turning from versus turning to may seem like splitting hairs, but it’s the difference between life and death! Someone who turns to God automatically turns from sin and from their dead religious works, but someone who turns from sin does not automatically turn to God. This is why it is misleading and dangerous to preach repentance as “turning from sin.” Paul never did. “I preached that they should repent and turn to God” (Act 26:20). As usual, Paul took his lead from Jesus:

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Luk 5:32)

Again, the religious mind interprets this as a call to turn from sin but turning from sin doesn’t make you righteous. An unbeliever who turns from sin remains an unbeliever. Consider the Pharisees. They ran away anytime sin appeared. If anyone knew how to turn from sin they did yet Jesus called them sons of hell (Mt 23:15). Turning from sin will make you a moral person, but it won’t make you righteous. Righteousness comes to us through faith in Christ alone.

I appreciate that what I am saying about repentance contradicts reputable commentaries. So let’s take a look at one. To the right is a screenshot taken from BibleStudyTools.com showing Thayer’s and Smith’s definition of the word “repent.” (Click on the image to see a larger version.) You will see that they provide two definitions: (1) to change one’s mind and (2) to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins. Abhorrence is a strong word. It sounds like the experts are defining repentance as turning from sin. But do you see the problem? It is logically impossible for both of these definitions to be fully true. If the second definition is true, and repentance does indeed mean turning from sin, then we should reject the first definition as misleading. It needs qualification. But if the first definition is true, then the second is incomplete. It is as if we had looked up the word “turn” in the dictionary and found that it simultaneously means (1) to change direction and (2) to change direction by always going left.

To sum up, repentance can mean turning from sin, but since turning from sin will not save you this is exactly the wrong sort of repentance to preach. I’ll discuss this point further in my next post.

Myth 3: Repentance means feeling sorry for sin

Let’s look at another reputable source. To the right is a screenshot taken from the Blue Letter Bible showing F.F. Bruce’s definition of repentance: “Repentance… involves a turning with contrition from sin to God.” My problem here is with the qualifier contrition. Apparently it is not enough that you turn to God, you must turn with remorse, regret, and feelings of guilt. If you don’t have these feelings then you’ve not really repented and therefore you’re not saved. So go away, ponder your sins, and come back when you’re ready to have a good cry about them.

This is pure emotionalism. This is old covenant sackcloth and ashes. This is Judas killing himself with grief. The good news is supposed to release great joy, not great sorrow. When you’ve heard that God loves you and has forgiven you and carried all your infirmities and has provided everything you need for life and godliness, why would you be sad? It’s truly bizarre.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2 Cor 7:10)

Religious people read this scripture backwards: “Repentance brings godly sorrow.” Or they say “repentance is godly sorrow.” But Paul says no such thing. In KJVese he says godly sorrow worketh repentance. In other words, godly sorrow and repentance are different things. And if you read the context you will see that Paul was not referring to the repentance that leads salvation but the relational strain between him and his beloved Corinthians. They had given him the cold shoulder, he rebuked them, they felt bad about it and repented.

Godly sorrow can and does lead to repentance but it’s unlikely that you will cry every time you change your mind about the Lord. In truth, it doesn’t really matter how your emotions respond when you learn about the good news of God’s grace. It only matters that you believe it.

Repentance, like football, means different things to different people. But only one code of the game is played in heaven (rugby!). Similarly, there’s only one kind of repentance that matters to God and that’s the kind that leads you to Him. His heart’s desire is for you to come to Him. You can come happy or come sad but the main thing is that you come.
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Related posts:
- What is the unforgiveable sin?
- 3 reasons why I don’t preach on repentance
- Psalm 51: The badness of David vs the goodness of God

Fear is a very effective means for motivating fallen people who care for nothing more than their own self-interest and avoiding hurtful consequences. But it is a poor basis for sharing what is supposed to be good news. A far better way for revealing gospel is to demonstrate the love of God, just like Jesus did. His was a show-and-tell gospel. He preached good news to the poor, proclaimed freedom to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind. He announced the year of the Lord’s favor.

There is no fear in love yet many Christians are trying to balance the two. They say you have to love God yet be afraid of Him at the same time. This leads to what Wayne Jacobsen, in his book He Loves Me: Learning to Live in the Father’s Affection, calls, Daisy Petal Christianity – Christians interpreting God’s love for them through their circumstances. “I got a raise. He loves me. I lost my job. He loves me not.” When things go well, they figure they’re walking in God’s favor. When things go not-so-well, they figure they’re walking in His displeasure. Since life is full of ups and downs they are permanently insecure and confused. It certainly doesn’t help that the Bible seems to paint two contradictory portraits of the living God: a terrible Judge and a loving Father. Wayne Jacobsen asks, “Which is it? Can he be both?… So what happened to God? Did he get ‘saved’ somewhere between Malachi and Matthew?” (19-20). As I have explained elsewhere, God doesn’t change, but we do.

The root problem is that most Christians are uncertain of their Father’s love for them. They look right past the cross into the old covenant and conclude that God will not love them unless they first please Him. Never mind that Jesus gave us greatest demonstration of unconditional love the world has ever seen. Never mind that He told story after story about lost things being restored even though they had done nothing to save themselves. Never mind that He went around healing and forgiving the sick and undeserving.

A classic sign that a believer has missed the Father’s heart is that he talks more about obedience than love. Doing the right thing – and being seen to be doing the right thing – is paramount. Live like this and you’ll make “serving God” your god and miss knowing the real God. Obedience is not the bottom line. God is far more interested in whether we will love and trust Him. You can obey without trusting, but you can’t trust without obeying. Cast your mind back to the Garden of Eden and that tree. As Jacobsen reads it, this was not primarily an obedience test, but a trust test:

If obedience had been God’s only issue, don’t you think he would have made the whole scenario far clearer? He told them not to eat from that tree or they would die. He didn’t describe that death in detail… If he had they might have been obedient, but not because they trusted him. They would have obeyed only because it served their self-interest. God would merely have become a tool for their own fulfillment. Self would still have been at the center of their choice, and self would prevent them from discovering the full vitality of life in him. No, God didn’t tell them because he wanted something far better. (p.92)

Adam and Eve chose independence over trust and we repeat their mistake whenever we rely on our own strength or understanding. Doing good is just as sinful as doing bad when our motive is to prove ourselves worthy and therefore in no need of grace.

He Loves Me is a book about learning to trust in the love of your heavenly Father. If you are uncertain about the Father’s love for you, read this book. In it, Wayne Jacobsen gives one of the best descriptions I have read of what really happened on the cross. He contrasts the appeasement-view of the cross (God’s demands for justice needed to be appeased by a human sacrifice) with the Biblical view (God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ). We’ve heard that Jesus was a lonely victim of divine vengeance taking God’s whippings on behalf of humanity. But as Jacobsen explains, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were jointly executing a plan to redeem the world. This was no good cop/bad cop routine. It was a team effort.

I’ll leave you with an extended quote from the book that I recently posted over at GraceQuotes.com. This quote expresses the heart of Jacobsen’s message better than I ever could:

There are two ways to hide from God’s love – rebellion and religion. Rebellion, illustrated in the prodigal son, defies God’s love and seeks to cover up guilt and shame through the indulgence of sensual desires. Religion, on the other hand, is far more subtle. It seeks its cover-up through good works and obligation. However, like the prodigal’s older brother, it still denies the Father’s place in our lives and leads us no closer to knowing him for who he really is.

Simply, religion is keeping score – striving for acceptance through our own performance whether it be in our good works or in ritualistic activities. Those things put the focus squarely on us and what we can do to be accepted by God, thereby dooming us to failure.

Most of Paul’s letters were written because even the earliest believers found themselves trading relationship for religion. Instead of learning to live in the security of his love, they would go back to traditions, creeds, disciplines, and laws as an attempt to earn it themselves. He reminded them again and again that God’s love would take them further than their own efforts and achievements ever would…

What would you do today if you knew God absolutely loved you? God knows the answer to that question will lead you further into his life than the strivings of religion ever can. The key to a productive Christian life is not waking up every day trying to be loved by God, but waking up in the awareness that you are already His beloved. (137-8)

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Related posts:
- Your one big truth and the wisdom of Puddleglum
- Malcolm Smith on the Love of God
- see all E2R’s book reviews here

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