Jesus Did Not Die to Fulfill God's Wonderful Plan for Your Life

I listen to Christian radio sometimes while I'm driving. I'm not too big on Contemporary Christian Music, but I do enjoy some of the worship and praise songs that my local station plays on occasion; occasion being the key word, there. Most times, I hear self-absorbed, self-centered music with a few God and Jesus lyrics thrown in for good measure.

Because our culture has been on an ever spiraling decline of selfishness the church has seemed to follow suit. With a large majority of churches now catering sermons about self-help and improving your life in general, it didn't take too long for Christian music to pick up the mantle. I'm certainly not accusing all Christian artists of being plagued with the self-help mentality, but by and large a good number of songs reflect the current trend of our culture.

For example, just on the way home today I heard song with the lyrics (I'm paraphrasing) that talked about trusting God because, "what else do you have to loose; you were made for something more." Of course, there is nothing maniacal at all with those words. But I still have a problem with it. A HUGE problem!

My problem is that the gospel has been reduced to Jesus dying simply to fulfill God's plan for your life. Since the majority of songs that I hear reflect this same thing it is no surprise that many Christians have bought into this lie! I am sorry to inform you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, but Jesus did not die fulfill God's wonderful plan for your life.
Jesus did not die to heal your broken heart because your boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you.
Jesus did not die to give you a second shot at fulfilling your dreams.
Jesus did not die to give you better self-esteem.
Jesus did not die so that you could pursue a dream of becoming the next American idol.

Jesus died for a specific purpose. What was it? Scripture tells us that:

1. Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of God due to His elect people (Isa 53:5, 10, 1John 2:2)
2. Jesus died to demonstrate the justice of God in punishing sin and imputing righteousness to the undeserving (Rom 3:21-26)
3. Jesus died to save His own people from their sin (Mt 1:21)
4. Jesus died fulfill the Law for sinners because it was impossible for us to meet the demands ourselves (Gal 3:10-14)
5. Jesus died to show His incomparable love to humanity (Eph 2:1-9)
6. Jesus died to to make His people His workmanship (Eph 2:10)
7. Jesus died to reconcile sinners to God (Rom 5:10)
8. Jesus died to present His people as holy and blameless unto the Father (Jude 24-25)

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. The most important thing to remember is that Jesus died for the glory of God! So the next time you're sharing the gospel with someone please, please, please, do not tell them that Jesus died so that He could fulfill God's wonderful plan for their life. Just tell them that Christ died to save sinners. 

Keep on standing for truth,

Steven

Has Jesus Accepted You? Steven Long 10/18/2012

It is a common phenomena in our culture when sharing the gospel with people to ask, "Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior?"

While the Bible does place emphasis on personal faith and relationship with Jesus, the question is not actually relevant to Scripture. The proper question would be, "Has Jesus accepted you?"

Now, most people would immediately point to John 1:12 and John's usage of "receiving" Christ and affirm the first questioned mentioned. However, the context of John's usage in the first chapter of John has more to do with Jesus' own people, the Jews' acceptance of Him.

Many may accuse me of being over-the-top on this issue but with so much false teaching abounding and with focus on self rather than Christ's finished work I think it is a crucial issue that people realize that nothing, not even their faith (which is a gift according to Scripture: Acts 11:18, 2Tim 2:25) had anything to do with their salvation. A "decision" or "acceptance" does not affect your standing before God.



Rather, what affects our standing before God is that we have been accepted by the Father based upon Christ's finished work on the cross!. Everything from our faith, to our repentance, to our sanctification has already been purchased. Even the works that Christ has for us to do as believers are already chosen (Eph 2:10).

Therefore, it is important when evangelizing to make sure that people understand that God doesn't care about whether or not they "accept" His Son as Messiah, Lord, God, or whatever; what is the most crucial thing is for them to be aware of whether God has accepted them based on Christ's perfect work. The understanding must be that God's standard is absolute perfection (Ex 20:1-17), that we will all be judged by that standard (Heb 9:27), and that if we have violated any of those standards God will separate us from His presence for all eternity (Re 20:15).

Praise God that He sent His Son to live the Law and meet God's standards for us (John 3:16, Mt 5:17), and give His life a ransom for all those who would ever believe (John 10:11). God now only requires us to repent of our sins (again, stressing that even this is a gift from God) and trust Christ's work and His work only for salvation that He might clothe us in Christ's righteousness and cause us to stand before the Father and have judgment pass over us as it was in Christ (1Thess 3:13, Jude 24-25).

Thank God for His mercy and gifts of faith and repentance!