COV LIFE BLOG

Good Gospel Questions

In Galatians 2, Paul irons the issue out.  You are justified by faith.  Salvation comes through both dying to the propensity to trust in moral efforts under the law & actively trusting in the finished work of Christ.  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God (Gal 2:19).  The first five verses of Galatians 3 are sample set in what we’ve come to call “gospel-centered living.”  This is perhaps the clearest portion of Scripture that establishes & reminds us of truths like these:

The gospel is more than entrance into the God’s Kingdom – by it the Holy Spirit grows us up & will one day complete us in Christ.
The way the Holy Spirit entered your life is the same way the Spirit will advance in your life.
We don’t move on from the gospel.

Paul asks, Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Of course by faith!  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Then Paul moves to the present tense, Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith…?  I say all this to provide some background to these two helpful questions that have been eye-opening to work through almost on a daily basis over the last week.  Two questions that, Lord willing, will keep us as a faith family from moving on from the gospel.

1. If I am being _____________________(enter sin: selfish, angry, unforgiving, lazy, unfaithful w/ gospel, lustful), what is it that I think I need so much?  What is being withheld that I think I must have if I am to feel complete, joyful, or have hope?  If you can fill in the blank and answer the question – it is easy to see how Christ died to win you to the opposite of what it is you think you need so much.  For example

• Sin: Unfaithful to share Christ
• What I think I need: Comfort & Approval
• In Christ I have: the only approval I could ever need, a calling that goes far beyond comfort

2. Another way of asking essentially the same question:  Think of a sin you regularly commit.  What are you worshipping more than Jesus that causes you to disobey Him?  How will you replace that false savior with your true Savior next time you are tempted?

Take some time every now and again and work through questions like these.  It takes some silent, prayerful, meditating time for this exercise to bear fruit so don’t breeze through it.  I pray God uses these to fix your eyes more firmly on Christ.

 

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