Destroying the Comfort Zones of the Soul

Good morning GBC Family,
 

On this day in American Christian history, Sept. 30, 1865, Francis Wayland passed away. Wayland was a pastor in Providence, RI. Perhaps most significantly, he founded Wayland Seminary. This was a seminary founded to provide theological training to freed slaves. Praise God for this man!

Midweek Meditation: Destroying the Comfort Zones of the Soul Pt. 2- False Liberty

Last week we looked we began a mini-series noting how grace collides with the natural comfort zones of our soul. Let’s continue this week noting how living a life of grace requires godly accountability, and the grace of accountability threatens the soul’s desire for absolute liberty.

              Opposite the legalist is the libertine. Unlike the legalist who measures his successes on the basis of the law, the libertine doesn’t tend to measure himself by anything at all. They operate as though the law doesn’t apply to them at all, because Jesus paid it all. They consider all prohibitions as the “law” from which we’ve been freed. They view God as an overly permissive parent allowing tantrums and chaotic behavior without penalty or enforcement.

              They want Jesus. They want church. They want encouraging and maybe even biblical preaching. They want to serve. They want to be influential for good. What they cannot abide though, is accountability. They require a world where their sin is tolerated. True grace is a threat to the libertine because it requires transformation, not toleration. Grace fundamentally says that we’re not ok, which collides with the libertine’s self-evaluation.

              True Christian life is done in community. As we grow close to other Christians it becomes harder to hide our flaws. God has a plan for this. God expects his people to challenge his people. [1] When a repentant Christian sees his sin clearly, even (or perhaps especially) if someone else brought it to his attention, he isn’t threatened and defensive. He is serious and reflective. Grace at its core assumes you always need more of it. The libertine usually has a keen eye for how others need more of it but cannot abide “looking into the perfect law of liberty,” because what it shows them is uglier than how they view themselves.[2]

              Absolute liberty has never been safe. Ask Adam and Eve. Liberty united to Christ, his life, his discipline, his holiness, his purity— that is free. So, when we live communally in him, kept accountable by others living in him, we are kept safe from the lie of self-liberation. True Christians don’t want freedom to sin. They want freedom from it.

Ministry Prayer Requests

• Pray for the pastors and seminary students who attended our preaching conference—that God would build the Kingdom in IN through our time together!
• Pray for God to strengthen the church to build up in love and grace.
• Pray for a spirit of restoration to gospel motivations and mission.

Ministry Reminders

• Always be checking your bulletins.
• Ladies have an event upcoming- Oct. 29^th, 6:30 at the church. You need to sign up by the 18^th.
• We began a new Sunday school class this past Sunday for new attenders, members, or people interested in GBC. That being said, anyone who wants to hear us talk specifically about GBC, its theology, philosophy, and mission, can attend.