matt chandler's latest sermon is a solid message on the balance between the sovereignty of God and the love and grace He shows in responding to His people when we pray and call on His Name.

one thing that was especially meaningful and impactful to me about this message was chandler's frequent reference to the fact that nothing he's saying is new, that his theology has not changed. he constantly references old material that he's really just repackaging, showing that he's now just living out, with new appreciation, the words he's preached for years.

"it's also a great comfort to me that i don't have to reinvent anything that i've been saying to you, but i get to stand in now and 'i'm not a liar, guys.' i'm pleading with you, for you, for the glory of God."

i pray that God would help us all to speak well now, to speak truth about our great God and His love and His sovereignty now, and to live it out always, even in the most painful of sufferings, because He is truly good. may none of us be found liars.

thoughts between the cross and the empty tomb

"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

a few things that came to mind today, of how great the glory of our God in His gospel is.

it is true that Christ died the death we deserved, but it is not true that He died the death we now deserve, because we are counted righteous in Him, and we are new creatures, and that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. so we no longer deserve that death, because it was paid for at calvary.

i would highly recommend that anyone with a free hour over the next few days listen to session 11 of the resolved conference last summer, in which c.j. mahaney addresses Christ's cry, the scream of the damned, from the cross. it is powerful.

i think i've mentioned this before, but i love some of the paradoxes of the Christian faith. some frustrate me, most confuse me, but there are some that make my heart leap for joy. the fact that we celebrate the wondrous cross on which our Savior died on a day we call good friday is further proof of great our God is, to take the awful and make it wonderful.

all this has pointed me to the idea that, though we ought to take time to look at the seriousness of our sin and the depth of our depravity, especially on good friday, we ought to celebrate it all the more because of the love of God poured out in it. we ought not get so caught up in our sin that we miss the love and grace of God which is displayed in the cross. though it is dark and gory and awful, at the same time the cross is wonderful, joyful, and glorious. and so let us celebrate the cross, rejoicing in it, because it truly is good news.

"in this the love of God was made manifest among us, tha God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. in this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)

a wonderful paradox

Christianity is a religion of paradox. I've often felt at odds with songs that seemed upbeat while speaking of the horror of the murder of God. but we are a people which can sing of a great oxymoron, the wonderful cross. we rejoice that through betrayal, injustice, beatings, torture, disgrace, and lynching, God has brought about the salvation of His people. that He reconciled the world to Himself, pouring out His mercy on the sinners, the unjust, the ill-deserving, by pouring out the wrath and judgment that we have earned on His innocent, perfect Son. that Jesus would willingly and gladly bear it, scorning the shame of the cross for the glory of His name and the praise that would be bought with His precious blood. that "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". that "Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God." and so i will sing of the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, so that i might live with, through, and for Him. praise the Lord for His amazing grace! Amen.