Jesus Is Better Than Self Help
The gospel is more than a message about God saving you from the penalty of your sin.
Self-improvement messages are nearly everywhere. We see them on television, in advertisements, on the internet, and in magazines, newspapers, and books. You will find multiple steps to living a better life or to making yourself more attractive, a superior athlete, the smartest student, and even rich.
With constant bombardment of self-improvement messages, we must be careful that we don't reduce our relationship with God through Christ to a series of steps to living the best Christian life possible. When we do this, we belittle God and turn Him into someone who helps us achieve what we want out of life.
How do we protect ourselves from adopting selfish methods in our relationship with God? Simple. We live in light of the gospel.
According to A. W. Pink in The Redeemer's Return, the gospel is more than a message about God saving you from the penalty of your sin. It is a message about God saving you from the penalty of your sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin.
Throughout your life you are brought along by Jesus and lovingly empowered by the Holy Spirit to live for the glory of God and enjoy Him forever. So instead of formulating a new series of steps to take, look to Jesus. Preach the gospel to yourself every day as a way of placing your trust for your life in His hands, not your own.
Read Ephesians 2:1-10
How did Paul use the word saved in Ephesians 2:5, 8? (He wrote in the present perfect tense, which indicates an action that was already completed at the time of his writing. This means we have already been saved from something.)
From what have we been saved? (From Ephesians 2:1-3 we see that we've been saved from God's wrath.)
When talking about being saved, the Bible typically has two ideas in mind: (1) We are in danger and cannot rescue ourselves; and (2) Someone else rescued us. Be creative and think of ways you and your family could act out a rescue mission in your home that captures these two points.
Prayer
Thank God for his mercy and grace in rescuing you from the penalty of your sins through faith in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:1-10 NKJV
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
As we are told and promised repeatedly through all of the New Testament, through Jesus we are saved by Gods grace.. if you have problems sometimes understanding the King James Version as I do, I also like to use other versions such as the NIV or NLT.. here is the same scripture in NLT version
ReplyDeleteEph 2:1-10 NLT
1Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
2You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
3All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
4But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
5that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
6For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
7So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Oneness and Peace in Christ