Robert E Rasmussen.com

Until a person encounters Jesus Christ for the first time, he or she is already in a condition of spiritual death. He is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:2), and a child of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:3).   The message of the cross carries the stench of death (2 Cor. 2:16) and seems to be no more than foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18).

The only good news is that Another has died in order to bring deliverance from the eternal spiritual death of the unbeliever. This sinless Savior has surrendered Himself to the will of God and sacrificed His life at Golgotha, taking upon Himself the sin of the whole world, that all may become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). The God of all grace has initiated an earthly event with eternal benefits.

Our salvation is not of our choosing but of God’s gracious enabling our hearts to believe. Our salvation is not for us to store away for our own benefit alone, but brings with it a calling to align ourselves with God’s saving purpose in the world.

In His death, Jesus abolished the finality of death, for in dying He paid the penalty which demanded the sentence of eternal death. In overcoming His own death through resurrection, Jesus reordered human destiny. Instead of death being our only prospect, Jesus brought eternal life as a gift bought by the gospel – His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

We must not allow our familiarity with this truth to dull our wonder of it. The cross stands alone as the only claim of eternal life based on complete pardon of the sin that offends a holy God. All other religions which attempt to answer the colossal questions of origins and purpose are mere variations on the theme of greater effort and devotion.

Only the gospel therefore reaches out in grace to pardon sin while honoring the demands of justice. Only the gospel satisfies the justice of God by placing on the righteous Son of God all the sins of the whole world, inflicting on Him its punishment, allowing the Judge to justly declare righteous all who place their trust in the substitution offered by Jesus. And only the gospel grants the gift of eternal life to forgiven sinners who, in Christ, are qualified to live forever in the light of God’s presence.

Only eternity will reveal what an unimaginable gift this is. For now, we must bow our hearts in adoration of the God who shows such mercy, and the Savior who gave Himself up that we might be restored back to fellowship with the God who loves us.Save

Save

This is the third post in which I seek to illustrate how the “gospel fractal” works in our lives on various levels. Check back on pride and debt for previous thoughts.

Disagreeing with my wife about whether or not to take a ministry trip.

Simply stated, I heard about a conference in another state that really sounds interesting. I can fit it in my schedule, but my wife thinks I’ve been pushing it too hard. She speaks out of love for me, and some wisdom too. But I know she has need for more of my time and attention, so that is in the background. But could a conference about God be out of His will?

So many good decisions come down to sorting out our priorities. In this instance, I am blessed to have a godly wife who has no higher interest than living for Christ and helping me do the same. We can each experience the pattern of surrender and sacrifice simultaneously, and bring our perspectives together. There is a good chance we will come to the same conclusion, but if not, one of us will submit to the other. So the gospel cycle is at work on two levels. One, should I go to the conference or not. Two, and more important, am I dying to live the gospel in my marriage.

Battle over whether to make time for morning prayer.

Now we come to a gospel cycle that transpires in a matter of minutes. My goal is to spend time every morning to reconnect with God. I love doing this, but sometimes my schedule fights against it, or my mind is active with a list of things to do and does not want to slow down for prayer and reflection on God’s Word.

Like virtually every gospel cycle, this one begins with the question of surrender. Will I take my overactive mind, my distractibility, my “to do” list into the garden of Gethsemane and surrender it to God? When I do, I often find Jesus waiting there to take me through the rest of the way. He shows me something I can sacrifice for Him. I abide with Him for awhile, letting His peace calm the worries of the day. And a bit of His glory appears in my heart – maybe through an insight from the Word that encourages me, or maybe from the joy that I have remembered my family members in prayer.

Tempted by seductive profile pictures on Twitter

My final example happens in a split second. I’m at my computer connecting with people (ministry partners of course!) on social media. I’m following people who share a similar vision and out of nowhere there is a profile picture of “SandraXXXfun” who clearly is not a #Jesus-follower. It may disappoint you to know that I am tempted to take a closer look at Sandra.

Enter the gospel rescue team! You see, I have pre-decided that when this occasion arises, I will not click on that link. I have already decided that Sandra and Buffy and the guys that actually put her on Twitter belong at a place in my heart called Golgotha. They are already crucified and buried, not to rise again. The resurrection in this momentary episode is my victory of obedience. I scroll down and click on “BibleTweets.” (or not!)

And if my pre-decision lets me down? Then the gospel cycle looks like confession and re-surrender – hopefully right away and not after a day or week of gawking at the likes of Sandra.

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Paying off credit card debt.

While my struggle against pride hums in the background, and my efforts to love my parents visits me month by month, there is also this matter of mounting personal debt. How did we come to owe so much on these two credit cards? Yes, we are theoretically committed to paying them off every month, but things happened, needs arose, an opportunity for a special family event came along and we felt we could not let it pass. But now God has convicted us. We must get tough and eliminate all our credit card debt.

I surrender! First thing is to cut up one of the credit cards. Next is to stop using the other one. Then I put up a paper sign in my office showing the debt, and each payment I make to reduce it. I’m encouraged by the progress. I feel more responsible, and in control. After a few months, I’ll be out of debt and can start building up an emergency fund. I will have money to share with others. Joy! (This really happened by the way.)

Working through a misunderstanding with a colleague.

How could this have happened? My teammate thinks I’m a flake! Despite my best intentions, I let him down. I didn’t handle a tense situation very skillfully. I did not make provision for his goals. I failed to intervene when the discussion was going sour. I blew it. Or not. Maybe he saw fault where there was none – took offense wrongly. Either way, we have a misunderstanding and our relationship is tense until we can clear it up. Perhaps this has gone on for days or weeks.

It’s no fun, but I know I need to take the first step and apologize – and mean it. Gethsemane asks me to surrender my pride, and Golgotha calls for humble words. I must ask my colleague for forgiveness, even if he does not say he too is sorry for contributing to the problem. Christ’s new life arises in me in our restored relationship. But even deeper than that, Christ has been displayed in the fact of my obedience, whether the outcome is satisfying or not.

Decision about a purchase.

Meanwhile, there is an item I would really like to own. Maybe it’s a book or a tool. Maybe I’d like to splurge and get my wife a new sofa for our living room. Our commitment to paying off credit cards rules out the sofa for now, but what about a smaller purchase?

The gospel cycle helps me with the decision. Remembering that Jesus accompanies me on this journey, I bring the desired purchase into my relationship with Him. In a sense, I bring the book or the tool into Gethsemane and tell Jesus I would like to have it. I try to hear His voice, and bring myself to the posture of “nevertheless” – wanting nothing other than His will. At that point, I am ready to go ahead and make the purchase, or to sacrifice my desire and go without it. Either way, I have a measure of joy because I submitted the decision to God and obeyed.

To be continued…

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Illustration of the “gospel fractal” on various levels.

Let’s take a snapshot of a disciple’s life to illustrate how the gospel cycle is at work all the time on various levels. As you see these examples which range from extended to instantaneous, you will better understand the fractal nature of the gospel, i.e. the same pattern multiplied over and over in differing scales. I will use my own life as an example. I will try not to belabor the four aspects of the cycle, so I will trust you to think of how surrender, sacrifice, abiding, and manifestation are at work in each example. Remember, all of these may be happening in one person at the same time!

Life-long struggle against pride.

Let’s start with the big picture. I am wired to watch out for myself, think about myself, and gratify myself. I am offended when overlooked, jealous when under-recognized, defensive when accused. When the communion elements come around and the pastor encourages us to confess our sins, the first sin which comes into my mind is my pride. I’m even proud of the paragraph I just wrote!

Obviously God’s desire that I grow in humility is constantly calling me to a place of surrender. This takes the form of confession of my pride and repeatedly putting to death my egotism (without becoming self-loathing, for I am valuable to God as one made in His image). The abiding in Christ takes the form of contentment and resting in who God has made me. I don’t have to compete or win. I am accepted for who I am. When I, by faith, stay in that place of rest, I experience joy deep in my heart. I can love others, and minister to them out of genuine heart. That is Jesus being manifest in me. Resurrection now! (But then there is tomorrow….the struggle will still be there.)

Extended illness of an aging parent.

At the same time one of my parents may be in a stage of declining health which has already lasted for several years and may go on for several more. Maybe dementia has set in and my parent is no longer able to be the kind, responsive person he or she would normally be. There are difficult decision to make about levels of care, dwindling financial resources, sibling responsibilities, and efficiency of caregivers. Maybe a diagnosis is made which requires difficult end-of-life decisions.

This example shows several ways the gospel calls me to honor my parents by loving them through this difficult stage of their lives. My selfish longing might be to avoid the hassles and leave it to others to worry about. Or I might be inclined to take care of the decisions and finances but do so without being kind to my parents. So my sacrifice is that of love. I take time to visit them, pray with them, manage the funds and pay their bills. Mixed in with all of this is my grief in seeing them struggle with declining health, loss of independence, and disorientation. They don’t have their home anymore, or their special belongings. Many of their friends have died. This is sad. But the love of Jesus comes through me and my siblings as we visit and call our parents.

To be continued….

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