Saturday, December 20, 2008

Jesus Costs Everything - Paul Washer

Thank you Noiz

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!

That was tough to sit through. I haven't have a good lashing of the law like that since I left the local non-denom church.

A little gospel would've be nice. A little more of Jesus and a little less of 'me', would be nice.

It would be nice leaving the sanctuary reveling in the forgiveness of my sins and out of that gratefulness go to the mission field or support someone else in the mission field. Instead of being beaten down by the law of what I should be doing if I was a 'real Christian'.

Unfortunately, this type of law preaching is all too common in the church. It ceates the despairing, those who just can't live up to it, or the phonies, those that fake it pretty well, and the worst of the lot, it creates the self-righteous...those that take on these tasks and actually feel they are doing a pretty good job of it and wonder why Fred in the pew next to them isn't doing as much as they are.

Question of Identity said...

Steve

My reaction too was WOW! But my conclusion is very different. I felt very challenged but not as though I have received a 'lashing'. You heard 'Law' I heard 'Grace'.

But grace has never been cheap and demands a response:
Isaac Watts got it so right:

"Love so amazing so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all!"

Dawg said...

Thanks Steve -

I understand what you are saying, but keep in mind this was an edited video for a specific point.

From this video I hear more about God than about me. This video had a point about making Jesus a focus in our lives and not just on Sunday morning for an hour and a half.

"He's everything or He's nothing."


Washer is a very passionate preacher who uses the Law and Grace correctly and biblically when when you hear a full sermon.

As far as this 'type' of preaching that is all too common in church, I would have to say the opposite. I almost never hear this type of preaching anymore in church today.

I was challenged to be 'more' on fire for Him...to make sure He gets the glory in all that I do...to make sure that Christ and Christ alone is worthy of all praise!

Dawg

Anonymous said...

As a Lutheran who is very conscious of how works can overwhelm faith if not properly distinguised, and also the power that words have to actually 'do' something to us, I have learned to seperate God's law from God's gospel and to look for the two in any sermon or lesson.

Whenever the preacher gives us a 'should' 'ough't or 'must' or a context close to that, he is giving us the law...whether we realize it or not. The law always accuses and tha law always kills (theologically speaking).

To encourage the hearer is one thing, but to prescribe certain things or actions and link them to goodness or acceptability as a Christian, is putting a yoke of slavery back onto the freed man/woman.

Whenever I leave a worhip service feeling that there is yet something I need to be doing to be a 'real Christian'...I have not heard the gospel...but the law.

Whenever I leave the worship service and I have been exposed fro not living up to what God expects/demands of me...but then I have heard that sweet sounding Word of forgiveness (and it is left there...no more law added to it afterwards) then I know I have heard the gospel.

The trouble with preaching like we've heard on the audio clip, is that you just never quite 'arrive'. There is always something left for you to be doing. 'Doing' is what got us into this mess to begin with.

Those that hear the gospel will act. The Holy Spirit makes sure of that. He (the Holy Spirit) does not need the help of the law to get us to do good.

I have said before and I'll stand by it, that law preaching (with all the best intentions)unwittingly creates three types of people. Despairing people (who just never seem to be able to live up to it) Phoney people (who play the game but know in their hearts they are just faking it) and the worst of the lot, Self-Righteous people (who actually think they are doing a decent job of it especially compared to their neighbor)

I don't say that these folks are not Christians, I only say that if they would just learn about the importance of seperating the law from the gospel, and the what those Words actually do to people, then the hearers of what they preach would become more free.

After all, why did Jesus die for us? To set us free from the religious life of 'doing' to earn our keep.

Thanks all!

Anonymous said...

Sorry for all the mispelled wurds!

Anonymous said...

And another thing...

A very Merry Christmas to you Wayne, and to all at your wonderful site!