Profoundly Simple...Simply Profound
Just over two weeks ago, three Medford, Oregon teens were tragically killed in a car accident. All three has just graduated from high school. That Sunday, a memorial service was held for them at Applegate Christian Fellowship. Ben Courson, a former classmate of the deceased and a pastor at the church, delivered a message that proclaimed “you must be born again.” At the end of the service, over 100 teens gave their lives to the Lord and were baptized there on the spot.
While waiting in the drive through at In-N-Out on our way home from a golfing outing (a perpetual breeding ground for great conversations), my dad and I talked about these events. We talked about how easy it is to complicate Christianity and to even become critical of what happened.
But to borrow words from Jon Courson, the message of Christianity is profoundly simple and simply profound. However, I know that I often make attempt to make it much more complex. If someone asked me, “What must I do to be saved,” I would probably begin a five-minute discourse that would end who knows where. But the apostle Paul simply answered that question when he told the Philippian jailor, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.” The jailor did believe, “and immediately he and all his family were baptized.”
Do we complicate Christianity? Do we confuse the message that we proclaim to the world? Do we obscure how the gospel is to affect our own lives? The message of Christianity is simple—it’s all about Jesus Christ. That’s why it’s called Christianity.
I was recently encouraged by watching a short talk by Jon Courson as he talked about the simple message of the grace of Christ. He said, “It’s grace…It’s not legalism; it’s love. It’s not responsibility; it’s responding to what He has done for us. It’s not do, do, do; it was done. That on the cross, Jesus cried out ‘te telestai,’ which means ‘it is finished.’ He did not say, ‘To be continued.’”
The whole Christian life is about Christ. Paul says in Colossians, “As you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” If we have indeed been born again, we are free to a whole new kind of living as we have become a new creation in Christ. I know that I need to remind myself of this constantly by preaching the gospel to myself every day. Christians need to be faithful to proclaim and live the profoundly simple yet simply profound message of Christ.
While waiting in the drive through at In-N-Out on our way home from a golfing outing (a perpetual breeding ground for great conversations), my dad and I talked about these events. We talked about how easy it is to complicate Christianity and to even become critical of what happened.
But to borrow words from Jon Courson, the message of Christianity is profoundly simple and simply profound. However, I know that I often make attempt to make it much more complex. If someone asked me, “What must I do to be saved,” I would probably begin a five-minute discourse that would end who knows where. But the apostle Paul simply answered that question when he told the Philippian jailor, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.” The jailor did believe, “and immediately he and all his family were baptized.”
Do we complicate Christianity? Do we confuse the message that we proclaim to the world? Do we obscure how the gospel is to affect our own lives? The message of Christianity is simple—it’s all about Jesus Christ. That’s why it’s called Christianity.
I was recently encouraged by watching a short talk by Jon Courson as he talked about the simple message of the grace of Christ. He said, “It’s grace…It’s not legalism; it’s love. It’s not responsibility; it’s responding to what He has done for us. It’s not do, do, do; it was done. That on the cross, Jesus cried out ‘te telestai,’ which means ‘it is finished.’ He did not say, ‘To be continued.’”
The whole Christian life is about Christ. Paul says in Colossians, “As you therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” If we have indeed been born again, we are free to a whole new kind of living as we have become a new creation in Christ. I know that I need to remind myself of this constantly by preaching the gospel to myself every day. Christians need to be faithful to proclaim and live the profoundly simple yet simply profound message of Christ.
posted by Ben Blakey at 8:38 AM
2 Comments:
Profoundly profound. We'll have to go to In-N-Out again soon where we can stimulate one another to love and good deeds.
Dad
Good blog.
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