Josh Benner

Tag: gospel

  • The gospel in Les Miserables

    Ebcosette

    Originally published as “Jesus in Les Miserables” on December 24, 2012

    Caught.

    Jean Valjean had stolen silver from the Bishop and the local authorities had caught him red handed. On his own merits, there was nothing Valjean could do to rectify the situation. He didn’t have the money to pay for it. He was guilty. But then something amazing happened. The Bishop tells the officers that the silver was a gift. He reminds Valjean that the ex-convict had even forgotten to take two silver candlesticks with him. The sacrifice for Valjean was not made by himself but by the Bishop .

    He let him go. (more…)

  • I hope your wedding day is the day you love each other the least

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    I hope your wedding day is the day when you love each other the least.

    I hope the love is there.

    But I hope a week, a month, a year, 10 years, 50 years later, that you love each other more than you did on your wedding day. I hope it’s a deeper, richer, fuller love.

    Marriage and life together is a good picture of sanctification.

    When you come to faith, you are saved. For the rest of your life, and eternity, the blood of Jesus washes away your sins. But the work isn’t done. It’s a lifelong process of growing and maturing in the faith which you believe.

    How long does it take to be a Christian? A moment. And a lifetime. (more…)

  • Jesus didn’t die to keep you the same

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    Jesus died to save sinners.

    It is out of the love that he has for that he died. But it is also because he loves us that he didn’t die to keep us the same. When the gospel takes root in someone’s heart, part of the evidence for a sincere faith is a life that has been changed by the gospel.

    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

    It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

    20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
    -Ephesians 4:20-24

    I used to enjoy watching a show as a kid called Rescue 911 which was a show that had reenactments of emergencies. But the reenactments often included portions of 911 calls (and later testimonies from the 911 operators). Often times, you’d see a reunion with the person and their rescuers at the end of a clip. I’m sure it’s natural for a person to want to thank the people who saved them. With the gospel, Jesus saved us from our sins, and it wasn’t just so we could say “thanks a lot,” and get back to our lives.

    Jesus saves us from death but the relationship he invites us into in knowing him is an invitation to life.

    Jesus didn’t die to keep us the same. That wouldn’t even make sense. Since our sin was so bad that our only way to God was through a savior, then why would he want us to stay the same? He rescued from the penalty of sin. And to realize that, how far off from God we were, and that Jesus has forgiven us, that should result in a transformed life.

    James said: You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (James 2:24). The point James is making is not to preach another gospel. But to claim to have faith and not live a life that reflects an inward faith might be an indication of a faith that isn’t real. The gospel changes lives. Faith without works works to show faith that doesn’t work.

    That’s not to say we never struggle. We do. We’re sinful people. We might have several areas where we’re struggling when we come to faith. And that doesn’t all go away overnight. But more and more, there should be evidence of faith. You will know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16).

    2 Corinthians 3:18 is part of the reason why we know that faith necessarily leads to a transformed life. Because it’s the Holy Spirit who is working in us. Beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

    Jesus didn’t die to keep you the same. He loves you too much for that. If you have faith, and you’re struggling in an area, know that it doesn’t always have to be this way. There is hope. Walk with God, love for God, love God.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Meaning of the bronze serpent: the gospel in Numbers

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    In Numbers 21, the Israelites experience victory over the Canaanites but soon fall back into grumbling and complaining.
    God brings a plague of snakes upon the people. It’s a divine judgment.
    Their grumbling against God was to their downfall. But the people beg for mercy.
    8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
    -Numbers 21:8-9
    Moses prays. God tells Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. So God doesn’t simply take the snakes away. He also doesn’t prevent people from continuing to get bitten by the snakes.
    But once bitten, a person could respond by faith in the Lord by looking to the serpent on the pole.
    It’s an odd story. A number of questions might come to mind.
    Isn’t that idolatry? Making this bronze serpent?
    In the Golden Calf episode of Exodus 32, Moses is on the mountain receiving instruction from the Lord. He’s there for 40 days and the Israelites get restless. They take their gold and melt it into the image of a cow.
    Why is it ok with the bronze serpent?
    It’s a totally different situation. Most importantly, because God told them to do it this time.
    Secondly, this wasn’t idol worship because they weren’t worshiping the serpent.
    The serpent didn’t represent God to the people.
    There are many wonderful gospel themes in this scene.
    The Israelites sin against the Lord.
    And so God brings a plague of snakes upon the people as divine judgment.
    And yet, once the people repent and the bronze snake is made, it is in looking to that by which people are healed.
    A symbol of death becomes a symbol of life 
    Snakes were bringing death, but looking to this particular snake brought the promise of healing.
    A symbol of judgment the Lord then uses as a symbol of victory.
    The cross was the greatest symbol of judgment and condemnation in the Roman world.
    A brutal punishment. And yet, it is to the cross that we see Christ’s victory over sin.
    Perhaps you look at the story and think “but why a snake? Aren’t snakes bad in the Bible?”
    Yeah, so are people, but it is through a man that we are saved. The Lord Jesus, both God and man.
    The gospel 
    In a person being healed because of looking to the snake, it took what they were doing out of their hands. It was entirely the work of God.
    So too we see this in the gospel. It is not based on us, or how good we are. We are totally helpless to heal ourselves from the disease of sin. It is looking to the cross, to looking at what Jesus has done, to trusting Jesus by faith that we can have salvation.
    It’s foolishness 
    The serpent doesn’t make sense.
    The world is confounded by the gospel and the message of grace, the idea that we can be freely forgiven based on what someone else has done.
    The world is offended by the message of salvation by grace.
    Paul says in 1 Corinthians that the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).
    We want to save ourselves. We want to see how we measure up and to feel good about how good we are.
    The gospel is that you cannot earn it. You look to what Jesus has done.
    Salvation for the undeserving 
    The Israelites were grumbling and complaining and blaspheming against God, and yet God saves them.
    Jesus came into a world where people condemned him, polluted against him, betrayed him, and killed him.
    While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
    In both looking to the serpent and the death and resurrection of Jesus, what people needed was faith.
    In the Gospel of John, Jesus will make specific reference to this event in Numbers. John chapter 3, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, the Pharisee.
    Jesus says “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” (John 3:14)
    Moses literally lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole.
    And Jesus was literally lifted up on the cross.
    There, Jesus compares himself being lifted up to the bronze serpent.
    For the Israelites who were afflicted by the serpent’s bite, life was found by looking to the bronze serpent. For us today, eternal life is found by looking to Jesus.
    The main idea of our passage this evening is that: Opposing God brings death but true life is fond by faith.
    Are you trusting in Jesus?
    We’re infected with the venom of sin. And it’s a killer. There is nothing we can do on our own to take out that poison. The only antidote is found in looking to Jesus.
    Look to him. Love him. Live for him.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Forgiveness in the shadow of death

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    In the summer of 2016, Jamison Pals drove through Nebraska with his wife Kathryne, and their three young children: Ezra, 3; Violet, almost 2; and Calvin, 2 months old. As traffic slowed down for construction, a semi truck, driven by a 53 year old driver named Tony Weekly slammed into the back of the Pals family. Their car burst into flames. All five died (a sixth person in another car also died from injuries related to this accident).

    The family had been driving from Minnesota to Colorado to train as missionaries, with plans of being sent to Japan.

    Last week, the driver was sentenced. Advocating for him was an unlikely source: the victim’s own families. “We ask the court to give the maximum allowable grace,” Kathryne Pal’s father Gordy Engel said before the court.

    Tony Evans was sentenced to six months in jail for his crime.

    The grace and forgiveness of the families I find inspirational. It’d be easy to hate this man. It’d be easy to never want to forgive him.

    But the families have publicly forgiven him. They’ve embraced and hugged him, they’ve prayed for him, and shown him love.

    That’s the power of the gospel. It’s a love that doesn’t even make sense. This man’s actions took away six lives and a beautiful young family. And yet, their relatives can forgive.

    Rick Pals (the father of Jamison Pals) said in court: “I can honestly say Tony, both families have forgiven you…I know how much God has forgiven me. How could I not forgive you?”

    For Christians, forgiveness is never given as an option. We are always called to forgive others. In the face of tragedy, these two families have shown something profound, something beautiful.

    41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

    Luke 7:41-43

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

    Let’s connect!
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