1064. The Religious Beatdown: "I Felt Worse, Like I Was Never Doing Enough"

A listener shares with us their story of spending decades in several different churches while working at being dedicated and committed to the cause. Over time, they began to struggle with depression, anxiety, guilt and shame. If it seems like there is something wrong with this picture, it's because there is ... and unfortunately, it's all too common. But we have some encouragement for those who feel trapped.




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1046. Religion Says You Ain't No Saint (But God Says You Are)

What comes to mind when you hear the word saint? Most will picture what tradition and perhaps even our dictionary has told us ... such as these examples:

A) An extremely virtuous person. B) A person of exceptional holiness or goodness. C) Someone regarded with deep respect or reverence. D) A person who has died and gone to heaven. E) The process of canonization from earthly humans, making the appointed saint capable of interceding for people on earth.

Some church building managers even like to flaunt the title of "reverend," which seems to be reserved for a certain few.

The Greek word appears about 235 times in the New Testament pages. Most of the time it is translated as holy. But at least 25% of the time the same word is translated as saints. Paul opens many of his letters to the "saints" and makes other references in various parts of his letters. He wasn't narrowing his remarks to "super spiritual" people who lived exemplary lifestyles of holiness. He wasn't making a correlation between being a saint combined with one's works and actions. He certainly wasn't writing to people who passed after their body died. He was simply addressing or making references to believers in Christ.

Being a saint is part of your identity as a new creation in Christ and it has nothing to do with your behavior. You are righteous, sanctified and holy. It is not something you are striving to attain so that you may boast in your accomplishments. It is because God has gifted us with His holiness. The sooner we can latch onto this, the more easily we'll begin to understand the gospel.




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1021. Identifying as a Disciple (And How to Avoid It)

"Discipleship" is often a big theme inside of many church buildings. But when we are told to be disciples, what does it mean? What pops into your mind? What do you need to do to get there? Is it your level of dedication? Your commitment to God? To the church corporation? To unwavering Bible reading and prayer? Maybe you just automatically think of the twelve that followed Jesus ... and that you should do the same and "follow Him."

A disciple is defined as a student or pupil—in other words—someone who learns from another. It was a significant part of the culture in Bible times to become like the teacher. Most who consider themselves disciples today are the result of having learned tenets and dogma from their church denomination (which may or may not have much to do with the gospel).

While growing in the knowledge of the truth and learning more about God and the gospel can be a good thing to do, it does not make you who you are. It may surprise some to find out the word disciple never appears even once in any of the New Testament epistles ... indicating it is not meant to be a part of your identity in Christ.



   
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1015. Will Your Dedication Be Enough? The Limitations of Legalism

Did Jesus really take away sins for all time? Was the blood He shed enough to complete what was necessary for eternal redemption or do you need to work at adding something to what He has done? How can you be sure your efforts of "doing" will bring justification without judgement?

Many church goers have struggled with thinking the gospel revolves around right doing while going through life being needlessly worried about whether they are truly forgiven and in right standing with God. It's tricky because even the most aggressive of legalists can bait the top of the eye-pleasing dessert with some grace-like sugar sprinkled over a religious hook underneath.

When it comes to us and our good or bad actions within the eternal life package, how much "doing" will be enough? How does that mesh with the blood of Jesus from the perspective of a new and better covenant? The good news is ... God's grace has no limitations.



   
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962. The Things We Do for Love

This week, we take a look back at some of the things we were coaxed into thinking and doing as it was being fed to us through our legalistic religious surroundings and misunderstandings ... as we strived to do whatever we thought was necessary to make sure we were in "God's good graces." After all, we were told of the risks of potentially losing fellowship with God (although the specifics were mysteriously missing in the fine print). Do more. Pray more. We thought that maybe "more" would be enough. Maybe.

You may be able to relate to our experiences a little bit, because sadly, many believers in Christ have been in a consistent state of panic—wondering whether they are still loved by God or still accepted because of things they have done. They begin to feel a false sense of contamination—and then condemnation— and will attempt to get their compass pointed in the right direction by doing things to make up for it. Their "faith" or belief becomes centered around their dedication and commitment to God instead of what God has already done for us through His Son. There will be no need for us to graduate by earning a spiritual senior discount when we begin to understand the things that have already been freely given to us by God.



   
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568. The New Covenant: It’s Not About Us

The Old Covenant which Israel was under would put the spotlight upon the people and their sin, behavior and dedication in trying to keeping the law. The New Covenant which began after the death of Christ would not be like the first covenant when the Israelites came out of Egypt. Many believers have the erroneous mindset that Christianity has to do with our performance getting better and sinning less in order to become more set apart and accepted by God. Fortunately, the second covenant is something God would make with Himself, because He could swear by no one greater. Whereas fault was found with the people not holding up their end of the agreement with the Old Covenant, it is God who will uphold the New.



   

516. Leaving the Old Behind

Continuing with our conversation on mixing the Old Covenant with the New, this week we discuss some common sense reasons from Scripture why the Old had to come to an end and be replaced with something very different. This is the basis for the gospel. If our life in Christ is meant to be centered around our dedication and effort, we've fallen back to a religious system that exalts ourselves and diminishes the work of Jesus Christ.



   

514. Randomly Addressing Commonly Held Beliefs (Part 2)

Following up on last week's program, the tables are turned as Joel throws some spontaneous questions to Mike, addressing commonly held assumptions or beliefs found in most Christian circles or church doctrine. Discussions include: Asking for God's presence when we pray, dedicating our lives to God, and faith without works is dead.



   

472. God Has Dedicated Himself to You

We often put the focus of the Christian life on our dedication and commitment to God. Under the Old Covenant, the lives of the Jewish people revolved around this sincere effort to establish right standing with Him. The results were utter failure and they were constantly reminded of their faults and inability to escape a guilty conscious. The Christian life isn't supposed to be about our dedication and re-dedication based upon our moral efforts. The New Covenant revealed God's dedication to us through the blood of Jesus Christ.


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431. Devoting Yourself to God?

Sometimes in the effort to demonstrate a love for God, people will feel the need to exercise some sort of outward devotion or dedication. It can involve time and neglect of the body, and lead to false humility. Often the purpose for this is to reassure themselves that they really do have a love for the Lord. It's an effort to show God and others that the "proof is in the pudding."

But like so many other things about the Christian life, we can easily get it backwards. Realizing first that it was God who did the demonstrating of His love for us and has declared devotion to us. Real devotion to God will occur not from our desire to show it but from discovering blessing has been given to us while we were unworthy and void of any devotion. It's simply a willing response to a love without condition.

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426. The Nature of Grace: Once Bestowed, Never Withdrawn

God's act of grace towards mankind was an action completely independent from us, not dependent on us. Any failure of dedication or devotion on our part does not cause the withdrawal of bestowed grace under the New Covenant. Whether before or after the cross, one could never establish righteousness before God through our self-efforts and devotion. It's something we've been gifted with through the blood of Christ and the covenant established between Him and the Father. The entrance of grace did not arrive through a revolving door.

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