The Prodigal

I asked God several months ago to give me more wisdom and understanding of the Gospel. I think often we as Christians look at the Gospel as just John 3:16, we did that, and now lets move on to something else. When in reality we need the Gospel all throughout our walk with the Lord. I believe we need to constantly remember the Gospel and dive into it. And realize that the whole context of scripture pertains to the Gospel.

I finished reading the book, THE PRODIGAL GOD, by Tim Keller where he gives an explanation of the parable, "The Prodigal Son." His emphasis was much different than most. A lot of the time in the Evangelical world we tend to just focus on the son that was lost in the parties and diving into the external sin. However there are two sons in the story that are both lost, but in two very different ways. Keller expounds on the elder son. In reading this and seeing the themes, I realized the elder brother in me where I swing so far into my own self-righteousness that I forget the grace and mercy that our Father has given to me. I error on the side of being very truth oriented, which in essence isn't bad but it can bring just as much destruction without its equal, grace.

Genesis has a similar story of a self-righteous brother and a more rebellious brother in Jacob and Esau. Esau gave up his birthright but still felt he deserved his slice of the blessing because of his birth order, as though he had a right to God's blessing because he was the oldest and his other brother was deceitful in gaining the blessing. Our righteousness, the blessing of salvation before God, doesn't come from who we are or what we do, it comes from Jesus Christ.

Esau, rather than embracing his brother and his shortcomings with grace, went straight to the truth of Jacob wronging him, and he wanted to kill him for it. He didn't see the grace that God gave, knowing what Jacob did and still giving him grace and his father's blessing. Esau wanted his slice of the pie because he did what was right instead of submitting to the sovereignty and the authority of the Father.

In John 1:14 it says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." We are called to be like Jesus, who had a perfect balance of grace and truth. I believe both can be equally destructive if made completely separate because we as man pervert it. With grace we give license and with truth we bring condemnation and self-righteousness. Rather, the Gospel's truth condemns to hell but responds with grace through repentance and trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life. Both of which are greatly important and the pillars of our faith. Read Full...

People on the streets of Denver struggled to define “Glory,” with
definitions ranging from proud personal accomplishment to the birth
of a child.

Theologians struggle to define “Glory,” but all seem to agree that
Glory is best seen in the person of Jesus Christ.

Our hope is to see life change at the Denver Christmas
Conference (DCC) and ultimately, the world changed.
DCC is a gathering for college students to hear from
God, acknowledge our need for Jesus, to rebel against
injustice, to find healing for our brokenness, to obtain
freedom from our addictions, to seek guidance for our
future, and to be grounded in the Scriptures.

Over 1,500 people came together to powerfully pray
for God to reveal his GLORY to our hearts, our
campuses, and our world.

DCC 2010 attendees experienced Glory through God’s
Word as taught by conference speakers, through
interaction with other students and staff, and throughout
the streets of Denver during the Day of Faith. Read Full...