Stay Free :: Stay with the Gospel

This was the last study I did on staying Free as a Christian. This one looked at how to stay with the Gospel and how to carry on as a Christian.

Mark 8:31-38 says some stark statements by Jesus. This is in fact one of my favorite passages in Marks Gospel. Jesus says:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
This whole passage is a challenge. Jesus talks about how we should deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. How do we carry on as a Christian? By not holding on to our lives but giving them up in order to follow Jesus.

This is hard for us because in our culture we have so much, giving all of that up seems like an impossible task! Is it all worth giving up for Jesus?

It is good to examine and look into what things we are tempted to hold on to rather then give them up. What are the specific areas of our lives where we have to take up our cross or lose our life? These are hard questions to chew over but its worth doing.

So how do we stay Free? We stay free by letting go of everything that binds us or everything that takes our focus off Jesus and then we take up our cross and follow Jesus. We stay with the Gospel, because the Gospel is about Jesus and reminds us of who He is, what He has done and how amazing He is. We will therefore see the immeasurable treasure that is Christ which will prompt our heart to let go of everything we have got and go after that which is most beautiful and most wonderful in Christ.

Following Jesus is all about staying Free.

Stay Free :: Stay at the Cross

John Stott says ~

"The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God…puts himself where we deserve to be."

As Christians we need to stay at the Cross, no matter where we are in our Christian walk. The Cross is important. The whole of the Old Testament has been pointing towards this moment in history, it has been pointing to Jesus.

As we open Mark 15:33-39, we observe this moment the world has been waiting for. Here it comes to a climax and what happens is significant and not to be overlooked...

Three instances are unfolded in this scene -

1. The sky turns black - A sign of Gods judgment. Just imagine that you are at the movies and this chapter opens up with rolling black clouds. Something is about to happen and anger is the vibrations...

2. Jesus Cries Out - Heartfelt cry that is full of anguish and pain. Abandonment. Could this really happen to the Son of God? Psalm 22 comes to mind. Incredible how the Son of God goes through this for us.

3. The Curtain is torn in two - Suddenly the scene is cut short and the director take us to the temple... why bother going there?? Because here, in the most Holy place the curtain separating God and man has been cut. We now have freedom. We can now come near to God...this is Good News!

There at the Cross, Jesus died paying the price for our sins. He appeased the Fathers wrath by his obedient sacrifice. It is incredible and here we should stay at the Cross and be in awe of Jesus and what He has done. Because at the Cross there is no room for pride. The Cross gives us freedom, we can stay free when we are at the Cross.

I love the fact that I get to study this with students and that I am also reminded of the Cross and can stand in awe of Jesus.

This was only a glimpse of what I studied, but I wanted to share a small drop of why the Cross is amazing and why we all need to stay there!

Stay Free :: Stay in the World...

I am going through a series of studies with a student on how to stay Free. To stay Free from Sin and to stay Free in the Gospel. It is a good reminder on many levels.

One of the sessions was on staying in the world. The temptation as a Christian is to try to seperate from the world, thinking that our christian bubble is Holy and that the secular world in unclean. But Jesus makes amazing claims that actually its not what is outside us that is unclean, but its the heart that vomits up all unclean things (Mark 7). This puts a twist to things - what does that mean for us as Christians?

We are called to be in the world but not of it, not following the fleeting desires of the world, not laying up treasures on earth. And yet here we are in the world and there are some good things here. If we believe what Jesus said to be true then we know that the things outside of us are not unclean - the food we eat, the music we listen to, films, books, sex, drink, relationships, clubbing etc... God created them and they are good. However as Christians we tend not to mix with the secular culture - so instead we take all these things and place them into a Christian Sub culture, we take secular music, films, books etc and stamp Jesus on them claiming them to be Holy and Christian. However I think we are missing the point!!

Is there anything wrong with enjoying good music, films, books in secular culture? I don't think there is - I think we can engage with it and use it to bring about questions, to make us think and to enjoy! There are some great athiest writers out there which we can enjoy. Remember that things outside the heart are not unclean!!

The difference is that we need to stay in the world with the Gospel and live changed lives in it. People will notice. They will notice that you enjoy the same music, engaging with it and yet not compromising on what God has called you to be - Holy and Blaimless. Being in the world means engaging with our culture with what is there and with the Gospel, it doesn't mean we go out and get drunk and have sex with as many partners as possible. It means we live Gospel lives and still enjoy the things God has created, even if it doesn't have the Christian stamp on it.

The source of sin as Jesus says in Mark 7:14-27 is our hearts. Out of our hearts is filth in which we distort the good things that God gives us. What Jesus says should prepel us to repent and turn to the Gospel, so that we may live by Grace and not by rules. So that we may view things as not bad or unclean, but realise its out of hearts that makes things unclean.

If we want to engage with our culture and understand their perspective so that we may bring the Gospel to them and show them that their life without Jesus is not satisfying. Then we need to get out of our Christian bubbble and stay in the world living Gospel lives.

Stay Free :: Stay in the Word

Understanding is only part of what we do when we read the bible. The best habit to get into from the start is to remember that the bible is about Jesus.

As I open my study guide on Stay Free... a resource for new christians to go through and I get a chance to go through them with a student. The first one is staying Free and staying in the Word. I am confronted by the quote above - what a reminder!! The bible is about Jesus. It always has been - He has been there since the start of creation, since before that!! This is remarkable because I still always come to the bible and think its about me and its a manual for what I should do and how I should be a Christian. I hear others say that too and then my heart does a quick jump into the truth, that actually it isn't about me...it is about Jesus. Which is exactly why we should stay in the Word of God... We shouldn't stay in it because we have to or because we think it will tell us what to do... but we should stay in it, with our nose pressed to the ink because it is about Jesus and we want to know more about Him!!!

In Chapter 4 of Marks Gospel, Jesus explains how the Word is the seed and how we can recieve the word in different ways. Does that mean anything to us now that we are Christians? Absolutly! We may not be the rocky ground, but we could be the soil that has thorns.

The question to ask is - What will we do with Gods word, how will we respond??

Will we submit to His word or will we reject it? Will we submit to Jesus or will we reject Him? Even as Christians our hearts can be so hard and thats why there is a warning in Hebrews 3:15 ~ "As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Do not harden your heart. Delight in His word, recieve Him with Joy.

But that means reading His word in the first place. Staying in the Word means reading and engaging with the word of God. It means seeing Jesus walk out from the pages, it means using scripture as prayers, song, lamentation and to store up in our hearts. It means knowing Jesus more and asking the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. Don't let it become a chore, don't let it become boring. Read the bible, enjoy it. See that the creator of the world has spoken and is speaking to you about himself.

This is amazing!!! Be hungry for the word of God, not for knowledge but because Jesus is amazing and we want to know Him more.

Stay in the Word.