Apprentice

Narrator : Previously on Apprentice: http://apprenticeblog.org/2008/04/22/re-rediscovering-the-gospel/

Keith McCrory has continued his great series “Rediscovering the Gospel” and so I’m going to continue responding on this blog. Here’s my response to his latest post:

I agree with Keith that the Pharisaical yeast of legalism has to go. If we want the church to rediscover the joy that it should have we have to tackle this legalism and fight against every attempt to add to the Gospel. The Gospel is perfect and any attempted addition to it is in fact a subtraction.

On a personal level I know that legalism creeps into my life through my pride. Acknowledging that I am saved only by the grace of God means that there is nothing in me that could earn me God’s love. God is the ultimate “guy who has everything” so what could I possibly have to offer Him? For a proud man like myself this is a hard pill to swallow.

We need to preach the Gospel boldly. Don’t make excuses for it, don’t dull the message out of fear of people getting the wrong idea. I think we worry too much about over-emphasising grace and people getting the wrong idea. Unless we all get it into our heads that we are saved by grace and grace alone, that we are accepted and loved by God, all the discipline and rules in the world will ultimately go to waste.

Never ever forget that you are not good enough to earn God’s love. Never ever ever forget that you don’t have to. Through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us we are God’s children, instead of the filthy rags of our own righteousness we have been given the royal robes of Christ’s righteousness to wear.

We must believe in God’s love for us, to doubt it is the end of joy and the beginning of legalism. This is why I still think we need to preach this Gospel to ourselves. In order to believe it we must remember it and focus on it. This is what I mean when I say “preach the Gospel to ourselves”.