The following 15 minute video is from the Verge Conference in Austin, TX. Jeff Vanderstelt speaks on unleashing everyday people into God’s mission. It is a helpful reminder of the things we have been discussing for the past several months.
Memorial Day was purposefully and rightfully designed to be a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. It is a tribute to ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives and gave the ultimate sacrifice so future generations could enjoy the fruit of their offerings. When this day rolls around on the calendar, I can’t help but be reminded of another Day of Remembrance that was instituted many years before this one.
And when Jesus had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in REMEMBRANCE of me of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:19-20).
From the front porch of my home I am able to witness a spectacular sight each morning. With coffee in hand, I watch the sun rise up over the Wasatch Mountains and declare that it is day. Because of a text in Romans, this morning ritual has become a Gospel memorial to me! I hope it will be an encouragement to you.
In Romans 1:4 the Apostle Paul said that Jesus “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness…” The word “declared” means to distinguish or to mark out the boundaries. We get our English word “horizon” from this Greek term (horizo). This is fitting since a horizon marks boundaries between land and sky. From the vantage point of my front porch, the horizon distinguishes the snow-capped mountains from the wild blue yonder. Think of this…just as the horizon serves as a demarcation line, dividing heaven and earth, the resurrection clearly divides Jesus from the rest of humanity, providing irrefutable evidence that He is the Son of God. The horizon is a magnificent memorial to this moment in redemptive history. But that’s not all…
Later on in Romans, Paul encourages and compels his fellow believers with this statement:
“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—” (8:9-12)
There is life-altering power in the resurrection, and Paul says that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and declared Him the Son of God is available to those who follow Him. The Holy Spirit indwells and enables ordinary people (the church) to live extraordinary lives to the praise of God’s glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).
May every morning horizon declare a Gospel Memorial Day and bring to remembrance these magnificent truths from the Word!!!
This week we celebrated our first wedding as a church plant. 
It was a wonderful experience and a vivid reminder of the Good News (Ephesians 5).
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (vs. 25).
In God’s providence, this Sunday our study through the Gospel of Mark brought us to a text (2:18-22) where Jesus used a wedding illustration to reply (riposte) to a public challenge issued by a few zealous religious folks concerning His disciples lack of fasting. A special thanks to Andrew and Natalie (The Newlyweds) for providing us fresh images (bride, bridegroom, feasting, new garments, new wine…) in which to relate to the metaphors Jesus used to make His point.
As we walked through the passage and reflected on several of Jesus’ other conflicts with religious leaders, we noticed a common set of underlying questions beginning to emerge…Who is justified before a holy God? How can a person be found righteous in God’s eyes? How can sinners be justified? We looked at the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector which Jesus told in response “to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). The Pharisee seemed to jump through all the right religious hoops (fasting twice a week, paying tithe…) but the tax collector had nothing to offer God except utter brokeness over his rebellion. Yet, it was the tax collector who went to his house justified rather than the self-righteous Pharisee. The tax collector seemed to understand the holiness of God, his sinfulness, and that unless God made a way and provided an external righteousness outside of himself that he was without hope.
Of course, this is exactly what God did so sinners could be justified before Him. Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Martin Luther called this THE GREAT EXCHANGE. On the cross Jesus took our sinful unrighteousness and gave us His sinless righteousness…a double imputation. Luther once prayed, “Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness, I am Your sin. You took on You what was mine; You set on me what was Yours. You became what You were not, that I might become what I was not.” All of this so that, “having been justified by faith, we have peace (absence of conflict/no more war) with God through our Lord Jesus” (Romans 5:1).
In closing we moved from the illustration of the bridegroom in Mark 2:18-22 to John 14:1-6 where Jesus gave His disciples a mini-glimpse of the eternal marriage that was being arranged through Him (Note: Remember the beautiful wedding images from the 1st century world that are driving this conversation.). He was about to leave the Passover meal, be taken away (Mark 2:20) and go purchase His sinful bride, the church, with His blood. So, while Jesus was with His disciples, fasting had to give way to feasting!!!
By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone…we are THE BRIDE OF CHRIST. How will this new identity in the Bridegroom compel us to live?
On Sunday we reflected on a pattern in Paul’s letters. He had a serious habit of preaching the Gospel to folks who already knew and believed the Gospel. For instance, look at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (ESV) and make a special note of who he is reminding:
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
Over and over again (see Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians…) Paul proclaimed the Gospel to believers. Why? Because we are saved and sustained by it (see vs. 1-2). It not only justifies us but it also sanctifies us. The Gospel not only gives birth to us but brings us to maturity as well. Perhaps this is why Paul told the Ephesian church to keep speaking the truth (Gospel) in love to one another so they could grow up in all aspects into Christ (4:15). As Christians ”our whole world is between Good Friday and Easter Sunday” (Tim Chester, A Meal With Jesus).
What does all this have to do with Mother’s Day? Well, although the pattern of Gospel preaching to both unbelievers and believers has powerful implications for everyone in the body of Christ, I believe the context of “motherhood” is especially unique. Think of this…Almost every single day (and for some moms almost every hour) a mom has the sacred opportunity to continually saturate those in her home with the Gospel – that God saves sinners through the through the perfect life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection of Christ. A child with a Gospel Mom is greatly blessed! What is a Gospel Mom? It is a mom who lives in such a way that every single day revolves around 3 Days (Good Friday to Easter Sunday). May her children rise up and praise Jesus!!!
Attention Gospel Moms! “Abide hard by the cross and search the mystery of His wounds” (Charles Spurgeon).
