If you missed the men’s meet­ing on Tues­day night (either because you had another com­mit­ment or because you aren’t a man) and want to lis­ten to the audio, you can down­load it here.  Jason’s mes­sage was called, “Con­sid­er­a­tion.”  He had us con­sider how the fol­low­ing visions should impact the way we live as men:

1. The vision of New Life

2. New Life’s vision for men

3. New Life’s vision for accountability

4. The Bible’s vision for decision-making

I hope it encour­ages and chal­lenges you as it did me.  Enjoy!

In chap­ter eleven of Liv­ing the Cross Cen­tered Life, CJ Mahaney defines legal­ism in this way:  “Legal­ism is seek­ing to achieve for­give­ness from God and jus­ti­fi­ca­tion before God through obe­di­ence to God.  A legal­ist is any­one who behaves as if they can earn God’s for­give­ness through per­sonal per­for­mance” (112).

Many Chris­tians believe a legal­ist is some­one who has made a spe­cific appli­ca­tion of the Scrip­tures with which they dis­agree.  For exam­ple, I have been called a “legal­ist” for teach­ing that every Chris­t­ian should be a mem­ber of a healthy local church.  No mat­ter what you believe about that par­tic­u­lar issue, my belief that every Chris­t­ian should be a mem­ber of a healthy local church doesn’t make me a legal­ist since I am not teach­ing that church mem­ber­ship saves any­one.  Legal­ism, as CJ says, is attempt­ing to earn God’s favor through obe­di­ence rather than through Christ.

Legal­ism is so sub­tle that we often do not even real­ize it is there unless we take time to med­i­tate on the motives behind our words and actions.  Take some time to answer these ques­tions for your­self and then share with a friend or in your Life Group:

1. Think through CJ’s def­i­n­i­tion of legal­ism.  Where do you see legal­ism in your own life?

2. What state­ments are you mak­ing to your­self and to both believ­ers and unbe­liev­ers around you when you live legalistically?

3. CJ notes, “But often with­out real­iz­ing it, we allow a dan­ger­ous shift to take place in our mind and heart.  We change what God intends as a means of expe­ri­enc­ing grace into a means of earn­ing grace” (115).  Do you believe you have done this in your life?  If so, how?

4. Are you more aware of your sin or of the grace of God at work in your life?  Why do you think that?

5. In Gala­tians 6:14, Paul says that he will not boast except in the cross of Christ.  What steps can you take to ensure that you boast only in the cross?

Next week we will look at chap­ter twelve, “Unload­ing Con­dem­na­tion:  How the Cross Removes Guilt and Shame.”

This evening from 6:30–8:30 pm our men will gather to chal­lenge one another to be the bibil­i­cal men, hus­bands, and fathers God has called us to be.  We will have a short time of wor­ship through song, then Jason Kin­nard will teach from the Word.  At the end of the evening, we will have the oppor­tu­nity to break up into smaller groups for dis­cus­sion and prayer.  All guys 12 and up are invited and encour­aged to attend.

If you aren’t yet in a Fight Club, I encour­age you to sign-up this evening at the Men’s Meet­ing.  You can learn more about Fight Clubs here.  Hope to see you tonight!

Augus­tine, who served as the Bishop of Hippo from 391 to 430, and John Calvin, who min­is­tered in Geneva, Switzer­land from 1541 to 1564, wrote clas­sic com­men­taries on the Psalms.  For fur­ther study on Psalm 19, you can read Augustine’s notes and Calvin’s notes.  Since Augus­tine min­is­tered 1,600 years ago and Calvin min­is­tered nearly 500 years ago, their lan­guage and writ­ing style takes some get­ting used to.  But, as C.S. Lewis is famous for say­ing, we should read 5 clas­sic works for every one mod­ern work.  Older works stretch both our think­ing and our faith.  Enjoy!

“The law of the Lord is per­fect, reviv­ing the soul…More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drip­pings of the hon­ey­comb” (Psalm 19:7, 10).

David loved God and His Word.  Do you?  Tonight at 5 pm, we will con­sider how God’s gen­eral rev­e­la­tion in nature and spe­cial rev­e­la­tion through His Word should lead us to wor­ship and obe­di­ence.  Hope to see you there!