Only about 8% of Americans follow through with their New Years resolutions.
The comfort of our past, and our previous lifestyle, is far too often a greater pull than anything we strive to become.
The past is nostalgic.
As Christians, we can sentimentalize (or make nostalgic) the things of our faith.
Oh mY GOSH THEYRE USING THE MESSAGE BIBLE NO
ARE YOU KIDDING ME
I think he's using the word nostalgic wrong. We can make the things of our faith as habits that we don't want to stray from, but nostalgic? Ehh sentimental MAYBE. But you should read your Bible because it's a sentimental pasttime. I think I'm reading too much into his word usage.
At this point in history, the Jews had realized God's hand had sort of left them so they were like "okay we have to follow His laws as perfectly as possible" and so they became nostalgic. Ha ha HA I WAS RIGHT. He is using it correctly. Disclaimer.
A) the Gospel is a mandate, not a sentiment.
They were in a sentimental posture; does this kind of mean that they were just going through the motions? They were just doing it to do it... Without the recognition of the actual presence of God.
"Youve only known baylor football to be successful" hahaha dude no way you don't even know
When you haven't had positive knowledge of God's provision in your life, how natural is it for us to be sentimental and be protected by what's familiar and cozy?
The Jews were only known to please God through legalism, it was their happy place. (Note to self, define legalism)
We would rather purport a system and culture and way of worship other than the actual facts of the Gospel.
*realization* emancipation means freedom.
B) a lazy Gospel is a liability
Verse 7:
He calls them a bunch of snakes. Satan comes in the form of a snake. Satan began to re-evaluate everything Eve had come to value at that point.
To fully live out the Gospel in your life, it requires change.
Oh, so they use the Message which is a paraphrase of the Bible but they quote Charles Spurgeon verbatim. *silent judgement*
WORKING DEFINITION
SIT DOWN AND WRITE A WORKING DEFINITION OF THE GOSPEL
that's what he just said. Any baby ruth would recognize the significance of a working definition; a working definition is one that is accurate, applicable, and needs no further explanation. Boom. How do you... Man, that would be an important definition to derive. Lots of discussion.
I think he shouldn't be using words like nostalgic and sentimental without very clearly defining them. He's just using jargon; defining them once at the beginning isn't enough.
So what breaks us free from this laziness? How do we emancipate the Gospel from our sentiment?
Go back to verse 10. "You don't have to read it" awkexcuse you, this isn't 17th century catholicism, I can read for myself thank you
C) a lazy Gospel is a perverse one.
Well, yes. It's wrong. It's wrong to simply be going through the motions and doing things just for the heck of i or just to make yourself feel better. It's not about doing things. It's about glorifying God. It's about experiencing him. It's about sharing the good news of the Gospel and telling people that they don't have to live a life without hope.
Be a person of integrity.
I'll be honest I kind of missed that entire story he just told.
He's talking about tax collectors. And coveting.
WAIT I WROTE IT WRONG. It says "a lovely Gospel is a perverse one"
Well now I'm thoroughly confused. I would say that he's trying to express that a Gospel that looks comfortable and cozy without any risk is perverse, and not an accurate depiction of the true Gospel.
Be a blessing to people.
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