So I recently heard a sermon by one of my favorite preachers, Matt Chandler where he asks the question: what is our motivation in regards to our Christian walk, is it fear or love? (you can listen to the sermon here and if you have an hour it is SO worth your time!) The reason it was so powerful for me is that it helped me solidify where exactly I have come from in my own personal journey with God and in many ways why I am so passionate about preaching and proclaiming the gospel specifically where God has called me in West Michigan.
So over the next 3 days I hope to look at this idea of fear vs. love examining how it has played out in my life, how it manifests itself in our lives now, and hopefully encouraging you in Christ along the way!
Galatians 5:1 "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."
I grew up in a Christian home, to a family with great Christian heritage, in a church that loved God's Word, in Christian School, and I was not free.
Here's what I mean, I grew up viewing the gospel as "If you want to go to heaven you need to ask Jesus into your heart, and not get God angry at too you so that he will love you." There were a few different factors that led to this mindset. Some of it had to do with some legalistic tendencies and interactions at my church, my school being more focused on morality than Jesus, but the main reason I believed this (by an overwhelming majority) was simply my immaturity and sinful pride desiring to make my salvation more about me than about Jesus.
Here is what this (false) view of the gospel led to in my life: I believed that my salvation was determined by Jesus + reading/memorizing the bible enough, listening/not listening to certain types of music, behaving a certain way, not watching certain movies or TV shows (Simpsons), being morally pure, not lying, ect. In short the goal of the Christian life was to not anger God too much, even though I didn't know how much that was, so God could love me and I could go to Heaven. I was a slave to morality (the law) and in my mind salvation was hanging in the balance... it was terrifying!
Here's the problem: there is NO FREEDOM in that belief system and that's not even the gospel!
And what breaks my heart is that mentality was shared by all my friends both in church and in school, I was by no means alone in this slavery. (I know this will sound familiar to many of you!) Almost all of my friends grew up with the belief that basically God was an angry dad that we had to please in order for him to love us. And what happened in my life is that the majority of my friends in high school came to the realization that "that dad sucks" and isn't worth following or loving and many abandoned the faith and ran to other idols to varying degrees.
The major negative influence my false gospel had on me was un-relenting doubt regarding my own salvation. Was I good enough? Had I sinned too much? Could God love me? And rather to running to God in repentance I carried guilt, shame, fear, and crippling doubt.
I carried this with me through most of my college years, I attended Moody Bible Institute which is a great school but does carry some legalistic and fundamentalist baggage which did not make things clearer for me. And even though I was training for ministry I felt like I was serving a God that loved my when I was holding up my end of the bargain and I was under His wrath when I wasn't.
If I am honest, the turning point in my life came while living in Orlando working as a youth pastor at Harvest Orlando that through a lot of study, reading, and listening to sermons from guys like Driscoll and Chandler that the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the fact I was covered by Christ's perfect righteousness both at my best and at my worst moments. That despite my sin and failings God's love was unchanging and unceasing for me and that the star of the gospel is Christ and what he accomplished FOR me rather than myself and "how I'm doing at the moment."
This shift for me produced 2 huge outcomes:
First was that I was no longer motivated by fear but by love! My motivation to please God and to live righteously now has nothing to do with fear of hell or condemnation but I rest assured that God loves me that I am his adopted child and the big difference is now rather than working for love and affection from God I can rest in him and serve him out of joy and mutual love. Understanding this made all the difference in the world! I now have a joy I had never experienced before!
Secondly there is a fire and passion to share God's love and the life transforming power of the gospel with others. The gospel is not merely the doorway into the Christian life but it is the sustaining force and power behind our lives. Our joy, security, hope, love, and life is all rooted in the Gospel and who we are to God through Christ. This is my passion and I am grateful for the opportunities I have at Harvest Spring Lake to proclaim this message of hope!
Tomorrow the plan is to look at what it means to be motivated by fear and Tuesday we will look at what how our love for God and his love for out should play out in our lives!
you are loved,
Cal
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