Category: Gospel and Culture

You Can’t Prove Yourself (so stop trying)

Posted on March 16, 2010

Do you ever find yourself trying to prove yourself…to Others, to Self, or to God? Here are a few ways we slide away from the approval of the Gospel to proving ourselves. The categories of proving yourself to Others/Self/God are adapted from Tim Chester’s forthcoming U.S. publication of You Can Change, an excellent book for Gospel Change. The explanations are largely mine, as well as the Gospel aphorisms. So, don’t expect all of this in You Can Change, but do expect some great material that thinks about change along similar lines. As you read, consider which one of these categories fits you and let us know how you’re finding the Gospel more reliable than yourself.

Proving Yourself To Others

When we try to prove ourselves to others, we set ourselves on impressing them—a spouse, a boss, a parent, a peer. We want so desperately to be cheered by them, that we’ll overwork or compromise our health or morals. The approval of others becomes the most important standard in our lives, so we sacrifice our beliefs, our convictions, our standards so that we will be accepted by others. When others are our standard, we will always fail to find the approval and acceptance we long for. Performance Fail. The Gospel reminds us that others cannot offer us lasting acceptance. That God not others are our standard. We will never sufficiently prove ourselves to others because we are flawed. God is our standard. We fail to meet it, but the gospel reminds us that Jesus has met God’s standard for us! Others aren’t nearly as forgiving as Jesus is. We need not prove ourselves because Jesus has proven our worth. We don’t’ have to seek approval from others because are approved by grace in Christ. That is Good News.

Proving Yourself To Self

When we try to prove ourselves to ourself, we set ourselves on improving upon our past.  We try to perfect ourselves. “I used to look at porn but now I don’t.” “I used to not go to church, but now I do.” “I used to not be missional, but now I am.” This may work for a while, as long as we succeed, but as soon as we fail ourselves the bottom of our worth drops out. Our sense of worth and acceptance comes from moral or spiritual self-improvement, not from Jesus. Our standard is Self not God. Peformance Fail. Self isn’t nearly as forgiving as Jesus. The Gospel reminds us that we have not sinned against ourselves, but we have sinned against God. But the Gospel reminds us that we must look to God for the ultimate standard. God provides a righteous, not relative standard, and it can be met alone by faith in Christ, by resting in his acceptance. From our place of acceptance and rest in Jesus, we can live a life that reflects God’s holy standard, instead of striving against ourselves. We don’t have to perfect ourselves because imperfect people cling to a perfect Christ. This too is Good News.

Proving Yourself To God

When we try to prove ourselves to God, we set ourselves on impressing God. We try to perform for his acceptance and approval. “Look how devoted I’ve been to you.” “I’m involved in so much mission and church ministry, surely God is happy” We content ourselves with proving ourselves to God. We try to be good enough, missional enough, spiritual enough. We may even secretly believe that even though we’ve been forgiven in Christ, God’s favor is based on our performance after salvation. We think to ourselves: “If I practice enough spiritual disciplines, then I will gain the spiritual intimacy I long for.” We think that we can put God in our debt. Our standard is God, which is good, but the problem is that we can’t reach his standard. Performance Fail. The Gospel reminds us that we are still sinners, never good enough apart from Christ AND it calls us to stop trying to prove ourselves to Him. The Gospel calls us to rest in God’s approval of us in Christ. To receive his forgiveness for sinful performance and rely on Christ’s performance for us. We need not impress God, because Jesus has impressed God for us. This is Good News!

Gospel Approval (it’s so much better!)

Here are a few gospel aphorisms that might be helpful to memorize when you are tempted to prove yourself to others, yourself, or God.

  • We don’t’ have to seek approval from [Others] because are approved by grace in Christ.
  • We don’t have to perfect [Ourselves] because imperfect people cling to a perfect Christ.
  • We don’t have to impress [God] because Jesus impressed him for us.

Free SXSW Shows

Posted on March 15, 2010

Here are some of the great free shows you can catch during South by Southwest:

Here is a link to a bunch more you can wade through.

*Leave us more tips in the comments for great free shows!!

How Can We Work for the City? (new article)

Posted on March 14, 2010

This year, over half of the global population will live and work in cities. That’s a remarkable development considering the fact that humanity began in a garden. In fact, the biblical vision of the future is a massive, resplendent city teeming with life and culture, ensconced in a new creation (Rev. 21-22).

Much of urban life is the product of work. If we are working in cities and moving towards a new city, then we do well to think about how our work relates to the city. In this new article written for the High Calling, I offer some suggestions on how we can work for the city.

Hope in the Tragic Keldie Funeral

Posted on March 14, 2010

On Monday I attended the funeral of fellow Acts 29 pastor Barry Keldie. Barry was a strong leader and planted Providence Church in Frisco, Texas. He tragically died of an accidental overdose of Tylenol PM and left behind his wife Charity, his son Will, age 3, and his daughter Layla, age 1.

As I sat through the funeral, sorrow and hope churned in me, over and over. The thought of Barry’s life and ministry being cut so short fit strangely with songs of hope where we sang: “There is none like you God”, knowing that Barry now knows this in a way that all of us have yet to conceive.

Then, to our surprise, his wife Charity stepped up to the microphone. This would be one of the most profound public speaking moments I have ever witnessed. After sharing some details of Barry’s life and his life goals, Charity took us with her into her grief and her hope, right into the hosptial room. She told us about how she was reading Psalm 116 over Barry’s unconscious body. Then she came to verse 15: “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Charity asked the Lord: “What is precious about this?”

After returning home, she went to her husband’s library and pulled Charles Spurgeon’s commentary on the Psalms off the shelf. She turned to Psalm 116 where she read this:

They shall not die prematurely; they shall be immortal till their work is done; and when their time shall come to die, then their deaths shall be precious. The Lord watches over their dying beds, smooths their pillows, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls. Those who are redeemed with precious blood are so dear to God that even their deaths are precious to him. The deathbeds of saints are very precious to the church, she often learns much from them; they are very precious to all believers, who delight to treasure up the last words of the departed; but they are most of all precious to the Lord Jehovah himself, who views the triumphant deaths of his gracious ones with sacred delight. If we have walked before him in the land of the living, we need not fear to die before him when the hour of our departure is at hand.

Charity then assured us of her hope in a God who makes men immortal, including her husband, until he wills to take them home. She took great comfort in the fact that none of this had caught God by surprise, that Barry’s death and life was filled with purpose. Her resolute faith in the sovereignty of God made her strong when we were weak, when it actually should have been the opposite–her weak and us strong for her.

She stood there, broken-hearted but filled with bold faith. Godliness shining out of her soul, chasing away the dark cloud of grief and despair that hovered over us. Charity has already learned much from the death of this saint, her precious husband. May we follow her in this lesson. Resolute faith in a sovereign and gracious God is no abstract doctrine; it is practical in every way, all the way to the grave. Our God finds us precious, not only in redemption but also in death. Let us walk the land of the living without fear knowing that he has “smoothed our pillows, sustains our hearts, and receives our souls.”

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Care for the Keldie family by going here.