ATONEMENT not ATTAINMENT

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

ARE YOU SEEKING?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I was looking for a way to end the week this morning and I ran across this little “Love Worth Finding" devotion in my inbox. I thought it good one to share to bring a little closure to our topic from yesterday, "those guilty feelings".

Romans 3:25-26 ( MSG)

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it's now—this is current history! in his rightness. God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live.

From Adrian Rogers…

“When I was a little boy, I thought that God was like Santa Claus with a long beard sitting up in heaven—making a list and checking it twice, trying to find out if I was naughty or nice. Then when my life was over, I would face Him and He would pull out these massive scales and weigh my good works against my bad to see if I made it into heaven.

Do you know what this thinking did? It made me fearful that at the end of my life I would face God and He would say, “Adrian. I’m sorry, but according to My calculations, you didn’t make it.” Then, I would have to turn and ashamedly walk past family and friends.

Friend, maybe you even believe this, but let me set the record straight: Salvation is not an attainment, it is an atonement.

You cannot atone for your sins. Your good works cannot do it. None of us could produce works good-enough and fast enough to atone for sin. Don’t even try.

Rest in the finished work of the Cross.”

I love that last line..."REST IN THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS." Man, that is a FREEING statement!

Why?

I know the enemy works hard to keeps us in that “attainment” frame of mind doesn't he, confronting us with every mistake, every sour thought, every bad decision, and every misguided choice. I also know we live in a “quid pro quo” culture that says in order to “get something” we are expected to “give something”. I know, like Adrian, the pressure that "attainment" focused faith can bring.

Yet that is not the way GOD works. This is the way GOD works...

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So when we are confronted with those “guilty feelings” we talked about yesterday, when we start having those doubts about our standing with GOD and when we start scrambling for the next “good thing” we can do to “make up for our sin”, or find ourselves scanning the block for the first little old lady to help across the street, remember it is about atonement and not attainment!

Remember that verse from Romans 5. Jesus gave of Himself as the MESSAGE says it, “when we were at our worst”.

That means this atonement was given when I was drinking. This atonement happened when you were using, or hadn’t darkened the door of a church in years.

There is NO ATTAINMENT in this equation, no "quid pro quo" requirements.

GOD loves us INSPITE of us.

In other words that further confirms what I shared yesterday.

Thanks to CHRIST, we are NOT GUILTY! Thanks to CHRIST the "work" is done!

Isn’t that amazing?

So, I leave you this week with a verse of encouragement. This little passage from Ephesians that brings this whole "guilt, attainment, atonement thing" into focus for me.

Ephesians 1:7-10
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar ofthe Cross, we're a free people—free ofpenalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

GUILTY FEELINGS?

"REST IN THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS"

PERFORMANCE ANXIETY?

"REST IN THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS"

Have a blessed weekend.

I love you all

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney