Josh Benner

Tag: Grace

  • 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…)

  • Not exchanging the gospel for another to-do list.

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    Many people in our society don’t understand the gospel because they don’t understand the cost of sin. We can do nothing to earn forgiveness because of our sin. The only hope humanity has is the grace of God, freely given to anyone who trusts in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    Many don’t understand that, don’t appreciate that, think that they’re basically good enough on their own.

    On the other side of the coin, a person can come to faith and have an appreciation for the magnitude of their own sin.

    One of the great struggles that Christians can face is making life about performance, even after you acknowledge that the grace is freely given by Jesus.

    But we’ll never be good enough on our own. That’s why we needed a savior!

    It’s a difficult balance to strike. Because I’m certainly not suggesting that we should just live however we want. We should live for God. But that must be done while also understanding that his love is not based on our goodness or obedience.

    When a person places faith in Jesus, you are saved from the sins you have committed and the ones you will commit. Jesus doesn’t just save you from the sins of your past and leave it up to you to figure it out in the future. Jesus saves you entirely, when you place your faith in him.

    We can know the forgiveness that we have though the gospel but still fall into the trap of making our relationship with God about our performance. Or acting like God has forgiven you, but like you have to earn his love. That’s not the gospel.

    That’s a good way to set a person up for a life that lacks joy and leads to an exhausting (and impossible) cycle of legalism and works based righteousness.

    For a Christian, you are adopted as God’s child. You’re his. God loves with an everlasting love. No matter how good you are, you can never make God love you more. Nor can any sin make him love you less.

    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.

  • The Church: serving together in the Mission of God

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    What this is saying is that we have one body but our body has many parts to it.
    In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul gives a fantastic illustration for the church. It functions like a human body. Everyone in the church is part of the body and has a purpose within the body. If a part of the body is unhealthy or is not functioning properly, that effects the rest of the body.
    The church exists to spread the gospel, to make disciples, and to support each other as the body of Christ on earth.
    The church is called to work together for the mission of God.
    I love the practicality of Paul’s illustration.
    For the body does not consist of one member but of many.If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body
    -1 Corinthians 12:14-16
    If the foot should say, “because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
     Feet.
    Kind of smelly.
    Often times out of sight. The foot isn’t nearly as glamorous as a hand.
    A hand brings pizza closer to your mouth.
    And so Mr. Foot might be tempted to feel like he’s not contributing much.
    But he helps you keep balance and to walk. The foot matters.
    “And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.”
    The ear.
    Might be tempting for the ear to also be insecure.
    It’s not an eye.
    People get complimented for their eyes. “Oh you have such pretty eyes.”
    If someone has ears that are worth mentioning, it’s not for a good reason….
    But ears are important. They’re part of the body. They funnel sound in. They hold on our glasses.
    Everyone in the church has a place, has a role. You have an area where you fit. You’re part of the body. You have a way to serve that is valuable for the church.
    Verse 17 gets at the idea that it’s necessary for there to be differences of parts within the body.
    If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
    -1 Corinthians 12:17
     Imagine that.
    Just a big eye rolling around.
    Not only are there different parts, but there need to be different parts.
    We don’t all need the same gifts. We don’t need everyone to be a preacher.
    What a nightmare that would be!
    God equips us with gifts for his own glory. And the church flourishes when people are living on a mission and committed to living lives to serve God.
    Verse 20 is somewhat of a summary verse to this entire passage: “As it is, there are any parts, yet one body.”
    Verse 21 is affirmation from the passage how every part of the body needs every other part of the body.
    The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
    -1 Corinthians 12:21 
    Every part matters.
    In the world of theater, they have a saying “there are no small parts, just small actors” and the point is that everyone ni a production is still important to the story.
    Or I think about when I would play football with my friends as a kid. My friends and I always wanted to be the quarterback or running back or receiver. We never had dreams of being the kicker.
    But a kicker is still part of the team.
    Kickers are important.
    A kicker can win you a Super Bowl
    There’s no reason to be jealous of gifts that you don’t have. Because again, everything is part of serving God’s purposes. And those are eternal purposes. Because of his goodness and grace, God allows his people to be part of his mission in the world.
    Are you serving your church for the Mission of God today?
    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.

  • Couldn’t God just forgive us? Why was the cross necessary?

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    A person might look at the crucifixion, look at what the Lord did on the cross, and wonder “Why was that the only way? Why was that necessary? Couldn’t God simply forgive us?”
    No.
    This is an idea I’ve heard from Tim Keller before, and it’s an important idea on having a theology of forgiveness.
    In any meaningful way a person has ever wronged you and you’ve forgiven them, when you forgive, you then bear a burden. You bear a burden for the way they originally sinned against you, and whatever you lost in the process: opportunity, time, happiness, money. Whatever it was. You were wronged and lost something. And when you forgive, you bear a cost a second time because you are relinquishing an opportunity to get even, to inflict vengeance upon them.
    And the worse the wrong is, the harder it is to forgive. The more costly the forgiveness, because it’s a greater debt that you’re forgiving. Not to say that people shouldn’t have consequences when they’ve committed crimes or acted violently. But even in those situations, we are called to be forgiving.
    But forgiveness is not as simple as just ignoring a wrong done.
    If someone destroys something you own, you can make them pay for it. That’s often what happens. Or perhaps you and the person can both pay for part of what was destroyed. Or you can personally pay for it. You can bear that cost yourself.
    My point is that in either event, someone has to pay. Forgiveness is not a write-off that where the wrong disappears and is forgotten about. Someone has to pay the price for what was broken.
    So with our sin against God, how does God approach forgiveness? All of the wrongs and injustices in the world. All of the wrongs and sins in our own lives, in our hearts, our actions.
    We could have never paid that price. We could never have done enough to earn our forgiveness. There was no hope.
    But on the cross, we see that Jesus himself bore the cost for us.
    That was the cost of forgiveness. The horrible death he died, the injustice that he faced. All of that shows us the cost of our sin.
    At the cross, we see the love of God.
    God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
    -Romans 5:8-10
    Because Jesus bore infinite wrath for sin. There is infinite grace when we turn to him. There is no sin he is unable to forgive. It’s not that he died and can forgive every sin, but he can’t forgive that one, or this one, or what you did, or what you’re struggling with.
    Infinite wrath because of our sin. But infinite mercy on the cross because of his grace.
    If you’re not a Christian, you need to know that Jesus paid for sins on the cross. Jesus showed that he is the way to God. Jesus died so that we could have a relationships with him. He promises eternal life for everyone who comes to him.
    All you have to do is believe in that. The Bible says that faith is credited to you as righteousness.
    “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
    The Bible teaches that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
    And the proof of that is on the cross. Many other places where people look for salvation, where people look for life.  None of those things will give you life. On the cross, Jesus died so that you could have life.
    You can’t earn God. The cross shows us that. If we could earn it, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus to die.
    2 Timothy 2:5-6 says:
    There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time
    Jesus said “I am the way and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me (John 14:6).
    The validation for these things, what testifies to the salvation and ope that is found in Jesus…is the cross.
    Because he died on the first Good Friday. But he rose on Sunday. God has authority over life and death. God has authority over how to be made right with him.
    And while we didn’t deserve it, the good news of the gospel is that he made a way.
    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.

  • Sexual abuse victim preaches gospel at sentencing

    It’s the best sermon I’ve heard in a long time. The truth and weight of her words were astounding.

    Rachael Denhollander was one of the many victims of former USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. His abuse of Denhollander started in 2000 when she was 15. Today, Denhollander is a lawyer, and was the first of his victims to come forward with his abuses.

    Yesterday, she was the final person to speak at Nassar’s sentencing.

    In our early hearings. you brought your Bible into the courtroom and you have spoken of praying for forgiveness. And so it is on that basis that I appeal to you. If you have read the Bible you carry, you know the definition of sacrificial love portrayed is of God himself loving so sacrificially that he gave up everything to pay a penalty for the sin he did not commit. By his grace, I, too, choose to love this way. (more…)