Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Do we really understand the word Evangelical?


To those thinking Christians who are weary of being the spiritual hamster on the wheel of endless "principles for living," rules that tell you "what to do"and  "what not to do" and a mentality that equates spirituality with how busy you are in your local church.
 
Today's blog has good news for you! We need to get back to our roots. We call ourselves evangelicals which is taken from the Greek word evangelion, meaning "gospel." But do we really know and understand what and who we are as evangelicals?

We as evangelicals are a people who have been called by the Gospel (good news of Jesus Christ) to become children of God. We are a people who have been rescued from condemnation and judgement. We are a people who owe our salvation to God, for we realize that we can claim nothing, do nothing, contribute nothing, to our salvation; we are a people who exclaim that "salvation is of the Lord."

We are a people who realize our own sinfulness before a holy and righteousness God. We have come to know the true helplessness of our estate. We know and believe in our hearts that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), and we substitute our own names in the place of the "all". We know and believe with all our hearts that no man or women could ever be justified  (made right) or (declared righteous) before God by being good. We are a people who know that the scales do not tip in our favor--- that is the good works bad works scale. We know that our own sinfulness will sink us into a Christless eternity.

Oh, but we are also a people who shout from the rooftops that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). We rejoice that the Gospel that we believe is not Christ plus our spiritual disciplines, Christ plus our free will, Christ plus our acts of love and service to others or Christ plus our pious experiences, but the Gospel we believe in is Christ alone.

We grab our bull horns and exclaim, "that the wicked are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from any works of the law (Rom. 10: 2, see vv.1-15).

So thinking Christian---since you have started the race in grace are you now made perfect through your doing or working or following the rules? No, of course not! We are a people who live in grace and follow our king and Savior out of a heart that is burning with love and gratitude. We are a redeemed people who live in total dependence on our King.

SO:

 live in grace!

Continue in grace!

 And enter into the rest that has been provided!











4 comments:

  1. Evangelical is a meaningless term. To Calvinists its means a fellow Calvinist. To Arminians it means a fellow Arminian. To Pentecostals it means a fellow Pentecostal. It means nothing. Well, except that is, to the news media. To the news media it means one of those crazy fundamentalist lunatics. Its a label they use to lump every denomination together and then lambast them all as insane. Anyone willfully using or accepting this terminology is an idiot. Just call yourself by your denomination's name and quit accepting this "evangelical" category the news media imposes on you for the purpose of belittling you.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous, any and all terms can be made meaningless by whoever. But, I will continue to use Evangelical for its historical significance (people of the GOSPEL).

      If you remember the song "Lying safe within your arms, I'm born again" by Billy Preston in the 70s I believe, this song certainly led to the biblical term being made meaningless, but I continued to use the term then, and still do.

      I will not let the media or others redefine words---like marriage, we know what the definition of marriage is, but the media and the left are trying to redefine the word---I will not stop using the word marriage.

      Thanks for you thoughts and insight!

      Delete
  2. And as to the wicked being justified (by anything) it is not the case. "There is no peace for the wicked says my God." (Isaiah 48:22) If your God gives peace to the wicked, he is a false god, an idol. Yes, of course, if the wicked repents (as in Ezekiel 18) then he can be justified. But the wicked who does not repent will have no peace except from an idol that doesn't really exist.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous, don't quite get you thought! I noted in the blog that "the wicked are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from any works of the law (Rom. 10: 2, see vv.1-15).

      Again thanks for your thoughts.

      Delete

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