Spirituality Column #287
May 15, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville

Sin and God’s Savings Plan
By Bob Walters



I’d wonder, “Well, if that guy really died for me, why am I still condemned?  And hey, who are you calling a sinner?”

It is the Christian who is supposed to understand that the first and worst sinner he or she sees every day is the one staring back at him or her from the mirror.  And as a believing, studying Christian, I know that Christ’s work on the cross was a whole lot more involved, and important, than just forgiving and covering my many sins.

Christ on the Cross restored and reconciled the fallen world with the Creator God Almighty.   At the cross – in grace not transaction – the eternal destiny of all mankind was set upright.  At the cross, everything changed.   At the cross Christ …

... restored our our relationship with God, defined our proper fellowship with each other, defeated death, adopted us as children into the Kingdom of Heaven, revealed the truth and the true God, hastened the arrival of the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and defined our human lives in terms of sacrifice, service, and most importantly, love.

Christ gave us the peace of repentance, freedom from guilt and fear, and blessed us with the joy of hope and fullness to replace the despair of regret and emptiness.  And, oh yeah, our sins were forgiven, too.

Don’t sell Christ short thinking His death was solely about sin.  God’s savings plan is about a world full of sinners who need to be – and ought to be – loved.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) shakes his head at how many Christians condemn others rather than love others.  Buy Bob's book, Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary at Amazon.com or Lulu.com .

Friends: Dave Faust’s new book Not Too Old has a lively message for everyone. Here’s what it said to me. See the column below. The book is available at (links) Amazon and CollegePress+audio or at E91’s bookstore (a better deal, $20).

Have a great read … I mean, a great week! 

Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #910

April 23, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Living on Purpose

By Bob Walters

“Your soul gets a do-over when you accept Christ.” – Dave Faust, in his new book, Not Too Old.

Dave Faust’s new book, Not Too Old (Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years), is different: it is the first book on aging I have ever wanted to read.

Let me start by saying the above “soul” quote is cherry picked from one of Dave’s many informative sidebars (page 261) and is reflective of the book’s great information, advice, wisdom, memorable phrasing, and scriptural and human citations. You see, Dave – then senior minister at East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis – performed my baptism in 2001, when I was 47, and so was he. We are only a month apart in birthdays.

Anyway, Dave’s construct of a soul “do-over” resonates with me. I live it, with thanks, daily.

While that line struck a personal chord, the book is far more than merely an exercise in “Do you know Jesus?” It is a gold-mine of Christian, biblical, and this-world perspective on living long and living well, in faith and with purpose, on grief and compassion, on funerals, changes, and challenges.

The “senior citizen” basics – retirement, health, finance, wills, funeral planning, etc. – are addressed with Christian wisdom, but those topics are also available everywhere.  Call your HR department, doctor, financial advisor, lawyer, or funeral director. The marketplace info is the same.

But I’m telling you, this book on life’s later years is different because Dave is different.

After my baptism, I asked Dave to help me get involved at our church.  A month or so later I was invited to join the new “Facilities and Land Use Committee” to assess a church growth need.  The committee – Dave wasn’t on it – turned out to be mostly elders and other lions of the church who were burdened to figure out how E91 could accommodate 10,000 or more weekly attendees because Dave’s excellence as a preacher of Gospel Truth drew multitudes; he was different. The faithful flocked in. I was awed, and learned much about the church. Music, btw, wasn’t mentioned.

That was early 2002, and late spring Dave was called to become president of Cincinnati Christian University, his alma mater, and the committee’s work went fallow.  

Nonetheless, I stayed in touch with Dave as a friend, preacher, educator, and kindred fellow-writer over the decades which now gave me an enthused push to see what new he had to say on my heretofore discounted subject of “aging” about which I generally had been unenthused. Here’s why.  

I figure I already know how to get old – I’m scheduled to turn 70 in May (Dave in June) – and “aging,” previously in life, was not something on which I wanted to get ahead of myself.  Just like you (possibly), I believe I have become my own sovereign expert on the subject of “I am getting old.”

What Dave is an expert on, and so richly blesses us with in this 287 page book, is scriptural perspective and life stories and interviews that have made him a beloved preacher and pastor over 50 years.  Scripture abounds, interviews (Bill Gaither!) fascinate, and personal testimonies resonate.  The anecdote on E91’s now-departed Russ and Marian Blowers (page 258) made me sob fondly.

Dave and his wife Candy returned to the E91 family in 2014, when Dave felt his time at CCU had been fulfilled and E91 was in need of a friendly, familiar, calm, and steady assist in a turbulent time. At age 60, Dave returned as – and approaching 70 remains – E91’s Senior Associate Minister.

Dave says it was his journey into his 60s that sparked inspiration for the book.  His kindness-infused personality joins his writing gift for the “turn-of-a-phrase” fashioning a warmly enjoyable read.  There is scripture for virtually every paragraph, a study guide after each chapter, and familiar anecdotes about folks we know.  Not Too Old is not the same old thing about the same “old” thing.

Life and aging are intensely personal, and no two lives age in precisely the same way: surprises abound.  Not Too Old is a treasure chest of faith, what to say and how to say it, and what scripture says and doesn’t say about the final leg of life’s journey as our time heads into eternity.

God’s purpose pursues us to the end, and that is an encouraging message for any age.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that E91 is hosting a church book signing with Dave this Sunday near the Resource Room (bookstore). At church the books are $20 (cash, card, or check, including tax and eliminating shipping). But in this case, it’s about the message, not the money. 

Friends:  It’s my birthday week, the last week of school, Indianapolis 500 weekend coming up with family in town, Memorial Day, summer beckons … why not say something outrageous about the Cross of Christ? See the column below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #914

May 21, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Cross Off 70

By Bob Walters

“The days of our years are three-score years and ten ...” – Psalm 90:10

There you have it.  Psalm 90 says we will live 70 years. If I wake up Thursday morning, May 23, I will have proven the Bible correct, celebrating the big Seven-O.

Psalm 90 goes on to say that strength may give us 80 years, but the whole of Psalm 90 is not about the glories of old age but the pitifulness of our overall lives.  God’s been watching us, the psalmist – believed to be Moses – says, and God is not impressed. Our days are “toil and trouble,” Moses prays, “… and they are soon gone.”

Shortly thereafter, he entreats of God, “…teach us to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom” (90:14). God delivered that “heart of wisdom” fifteen hundred years later in the living, human and divine person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our “heart of wisdom.”  Living a long life will not give us wisdom; not the kind of wisdom for which the psalmist pleads: the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of man.  It is one of a gazillion Old Testament phrases that speaks directly to man’s only source of relationship with the wisdom of God, and of God Himself: Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament, throughout, sets us up to know and appreciate Christ.

The New Testament reveals the new life and covenant in the wisdom of Christ.

James 1:5 says that if any of us lacks wisdom, to ask God for it, “…who gives generously to all without reproach.”  God gave us Jesus Christ so we would pursue wisdom – in Christ – that transcends this life and bridges into eternity. And we traverse that evil-to-good bridge by the grace of the person of Christ, who actually is the bridge.

And speaking of that bridge, as I wander ever closer to the next bridge from this life to eternity, for my birthday I thought I’d say something true, but maybe outrageous.

Here goes.  Not long ago I was watching a Bible expositor draw that familiar sketch of the Cross spanning a chasm between the world and heaven, death and life, dark and light, evil and good. Condemnation, fear, guilt, sin, lies, and hell on the left; salvation, love, grace, forgiveness, truth, and the Kingdom of God on the right. 

Let me first say: “A wise man’s heart inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.” says Ecclesiastes 10:2.  But that theological drawing of the left-to-right bridge over the chasm to transcendent God?  That bridge is not the cross of Christ; that bridge is the person of Christ. Our relationship with God – salvation – depends on Christ alone.

Somehow, dependably, most of humanity loves the dark and hates the light, says Jesus (John 3:19).  We go left when the Bible says go right. Our hearts and deeds are evil, Jesus is saying.  And we prefer they remain unknown, in the dark, on the cross.

But … we are not saved by the cross. We are not saved by the Bible.  We are not saved by church. We are not saved by baptism.  We are saved by the person of Jesus Christ: His love, His grace, His obedience, and the blood of His covenant with God.

The other stuff is important: the tools of our knowing. The cross is an example.  The Bible is our guidebook.  The church is His body. Baptism is the gift of signing on to the promises of Jesus – heart, mind, body, and soul.  But salvation.  O! … salvation.

Salvation is a relationship with a real person, Jesus, and comes from no earthly relic, event, idea, or deed. The supremacy and sufficiency of Christ is unchallenged

In the Holy Spirit, we know that our salvation resides in Christ alone. Outrageous!

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) knows his birthdate – “5-23-1954” – better now than at any previous time of his life because of how often healthcare providers ask for it.  Psalm 90, by the way, is considered the oldest Psalm as the Jews wandered Sinai.  P.S. – I have written much about the Cross since beginning this weekly column / blog in November 2006. Here are 12 on the Cross, in order, my blog search button says are the best. Click on the number to see the column. #812 and #640 are my favorites (on PCs it's "control-click" on the link).

650 4-30-19 – Life Beyond the Cross (Preparing for eternity)

651 5-7-19 – Living at the Cross (The Cross is closer than we think)

652 5-14-19 – At the Foot of the Cross (Jesus lives; how do we live?

812 6-5-22 – Person to Person *** (The saving personhood of Jesus)

640 2-19-19 – Cross Purposes *** (Purpose of the Cross)

692 2-17-20 – Close Call (Church)

862 5-23-23 – Just Like That (Lessons of the Cross, and last year’s birthday)

750 3-29-21 – Father, Forgive Them (Jesus on the Cross)

663 7-30-19 – For My Sake (Understanding the Cross)

287 5-15-12 – Sin and God’s Saving’s Plan (My sins on the Cross)

527 12-20-16 – The Cross, Christmas, and Freedom (Strength of the Cross)

393 5-25-14 – Defining Moments (Importance of the Cross, and my 60^th birthday)