The Guilt of the Shame and Blame Gospel.
The shame
and blame gospel of religion and the guilt that it heaps on people is
not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The shame and blame gospel stems from
self-effort and the feeling of unworthiness when our self-effort does
not meet the expectations of those who expect expectations from us. The
shame and blame gospel is also used as a controlling mechanism to keep
the flock in submission to the religious denomination.
Religion's expectations of people and the believing
that those expectations are godly, is a controlling mechanism that
subjects the people under the influence of religious deception to view
the deception as truth. When people excel at meeting religious
expectations such as...Sunday-go-meeting attendance...bible
reading...prayer discipline...doctrinal agreement...submission to
appointed authorities...paying of dues...stand, sit, sing at the leaders
whim...participate in the alter call...etc..they are considered good
"Christians" in good standing with God and the denomination.
However, the grace gospel of Jesus Christ is not
about meeting religious expectations...it is about being in His
presence, enjoying Him and atmosphere that His presence brings. He is
not looking for expectational performance, He does not have a
performance check list that He puts check marks by as you meet religious
expectations. He has no expectations for you to meet, He just wants you
to spent time relating with Him, communing with Him so the totality of
who He is and the atmosphere of His presence can be seen and experienced
in the Community of Humanity because His Community of the Redeemed is
allowing Him to live His life through them in their living of life
daily.
We have been given everything we need, we have the
life of Christ within, we have His Spirit as our comforter, counselor
and teacher to free us from the expectations of keeping the man-made
rules of religion and conforming to their ideals of denominationalism.
God is not looking for us to impress Him, such
endeavors are preposterous...there is nothing that we can do for God to
be impressed by. But, the more we rest and trust in Him and allow Him to
do His work through us and believing that He is All in All and living
out lives to that end....that impresses Him because He sees that Jesus
is our life by our acknowledging His Lordship and Headship.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light...Cast of
the heavy yoke of religion, bring your burdens to the Lord and LEAVE
them there.
In the Gospel of Grace...the Jesus
Gospel...there is NO SHAME and BLAME and NO GUILT to RETAIN. Instead we
LIVE FREE in JESUS CHRIST, because of HIS SACRIFICE!
I guess Paul was a religious Christian.
ReplyDeleteIn 1Cor. 15:32-36 Paul is trying to shame those Christians who prided themselves on their knowledge with lack of knowledge of God concerning the dead being raised.The inevitable moral results of wrong doctrine are clearly seen here. 34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
In 1Cor.6:5 Paul is trying to shame those Christians who take their brother before the law with unbelievers instead of before the saints. 5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
Would to God we had more apostle Paul`s preaching the real grace message willing to shame those whose doctrine doesn`t measure up (1 Cor.15:34) and those whose actions doesn`t measure up (1Cor. 6:5).
You say and I quote When people excel at meeting religious expectations such as...Sunday-go-meeting attendance...bible reading...prayer discipline...doctrinal agreement...submission to appointed authorities...paying of dues...stand, sit, sing at the leaders whim...participate in the alter call...etc..they are considered good "Christians" in good standing with God and the denomination.
When we as Christians do some of above it is not because we are religious but because God as given us a desire to do so.
If we get a hold of real grace Gospel we will want to associate we other believers in body of Christ while other Christians would rather stay at home on Sunday and have a barbecue. We would have a desire to pray more and read the Bible more than those who do not have the real grace message.
Isn`t it interesting that in spite of all the confusion in Corinthian church concerning, prophecy, tongues and interpretation Paul didn`t discourage those Christians from coming together on first day of week but encouraged them and gave them them some correction. He said when ye com together not if ye come together.(1 Cor. 14:26) He also encouraged them to have their offerings ready when he got there on first day of week.(1 Cor. 16:2)
As far as altar calls are concerned we are living in a day when in many of our Evangelical Churches the altar is taken out or if still there not being used. I would not attend a church today where there is no altar calls given. I grew up in the time when people would not leave the altar until they heard from heaven as in case of Jacob who waited on God until his hip was put out of joint.
But today we Christians want it the same as the world. We have to get it out of microwave in a hurry or go to a drive through for fast food or we don`t want it. It is true what we heard in church this morning that God does not want to microwave us but to marinate us.
As far as doctrinal agreement is concerned the Scriptures as much to say and those of us who present the real grace message will not accept everything we hear in name of grace but test it with what the Scriptures say.
We are concerned about (1.) Sound doctrine (Titus 2:1)
(2.) Doctrine which is according to godliness(1Tim.6:3)
(3.) Doctrine of Christ (2John 9)
(4.) Doctrine of God (Titus 2:10)
(5.) Doctrine of Lord (Acts 13:12)
(6.) Apostles Doctrine (Acts2:42)
So those who say doctrine are not important are not preaching the real grace message. Standing up for doctrine has nothing to do with religion but all about standing for grace.
Hubert...Let me SHOUT it from the house top...JESUS IS OUR SHAME BEARER! that means the is NO SHAME for you to bear!
DeleteAre you so blinded by religious deception that you do not know that Christ identified with us in our shame and bore it away so our personal dignity could be restored. You shaming and embarrassing people makes them feel worthless, if you are playing the blame game you need to get a right perspective of Jesus you loving Savior and abolish you wrong religious view of Him.
You believe in exposing people sins to shame them into trying to be good...such is a work of the flesh, which maybe you should be ashamed of?
Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary ¹ gives this definition of: SHAME -- A negative emotion caused by an awareness of wrongdoing, hurt ego, or guilt. In the Bible, the feeling of shame is normally caused by public exposure of one's guilt (Genesis 2:25; 3:10). Shame may also be caused by a hurt reputation or embarrassment, whether or not this feeling is due to sin (Psalm 25:2-3; Proverbs 19:26; Romans 1:16).
Joseph, not wishing to shame Mary, desired to divorce her secretly (Matthew 1:19). Ultimately, God will expose the guilt of the ungodly, putting them to shame (Daniel 12:2). God also puts to shame the wise of the world by exposing their guilt before Him and by choosing to save the foolish of this world by a "foolish" message (1 Corinthians 1:18-31). Finally, our Lord Jesus suffered the shame of the Cross because He was put on public display as the recipient of God's wrath (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 12:2).
According to this Bible dictionary, shame is caused by one of two ways: either the awareness or exposure of guilt, or a hurt reputation or embarrassment, whether or not this feeling is due to sin. I would only add that shame is also caused by being wronged, abused, or mistreated when one's personal rights are violated.
I believe Jesus Christ is alive today and able to meet our deepest needs of people, the right perspective on grace will allow revolutionary healing in the deep cores of hurting people because the shame and guilt of their past has been borne by Jesus. They will no longer need to medicate pain because their gut feelings will be healed and their compulsions will be forgotten in the light of His grace! Jesus is not only our Guilt Offering, but our Shame Bearer.
All His sufferings on our behalf, in a general sense, were for our shame when the Messiah was publicly beaten, mocked, whipped, and nailed to the Cross.
Jesus Christ was spat upon during the course of His vicarious sufferings (Matthew 27:30; Mark 15:19). He foretold this would happen two different times: when He was on earth (Mark 10:34; Luke 18:32) and centuries before He became flesh. The Word spoke through Isaiah, "I gave My back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from SHAME AND SPITTING" (Isaiah 50:6).
Notice how the phrase "shame and spitting" go together in Issiah's prophecy. Jesus actually bore our shame when He was spit upon so we could be emotionally healed of shame and disgrace! Christ was mocked and devalued, jeered and mistreated on our behalf.
Jesus Christ made those He contacted feel better about themselves. Even an adulteress walked away with her sense of worth restored (John 8). Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would be "...despised and rejected of men" as Spurgeon commented "so the reader need not bear it" (Isaiah 53:3). Christ bore the emotional ills of His people so we would not have to medicate our pain. Instead we can believe that He "...carried our sorrows" for us (Isaiah 53:4).
Hubert, believe and minister the way Christ did. Paul speaks to our shame because we have left our first love by falling from Grace back to religious rule and law keeping...your involvement in such should speak to your shame as well.
Probably I should go out and rape a few women. Then when I stands before the judge tell him I don`t feel any shame or I am not feeling guilty for what I did because these grace teachers told me I shouldn`t because God doesn`t see this sin that I did all he see is how righteous I am. The judge would just laugh at me and rightly so.
ReplyDeleteYou end by saying Paul speaks to our shame because we have left our first love by falling from Grace back to religious rule and law keeping...your involvement in such should speak to your shame as well. Show me the Scripture for this in its context.
Here is Scripture that I quoted in context and there is not one word about the law there but rather Paul was ashamed of them because of what they believed about the resurrection.
! Cor. 15:
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
Mr. Mouland, it is a sad witness to the Gospel when you reference that it is God's Amazing Grace that would allow you to do what you have stated in the first paragraph in your response. As Paul would say...You should be ashamed for believing such. It is not the Law that will keep you from such sin...it is the power of God's gracious Grace.
DeleteI do not believe or teach that Grace permits people to sin as they please because Grace is there to appease...neither do I know of any Grace Loving person who believes such nonsensical fabricated nonsense
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