This chapter echoes the message from our guest preacher, Ryan Kwon, Lead Pastor of Resonate Church in the San Francisco Bay Area. Though not the focus of his message, he spoke about the tension found between a position that suggests God’s promises are conditional and a position that they are unconditional. On the one extreme, we begin to believe in a different gospel that is really no “good news” at all because is depends upon our ability to keep the law. On the other, we fall into a lifestyle of sin and doing “what is right in our own eyes” because we believe that Christ has done all that is needed for our salvation on the cross.
The tension is resolved in Jesus’ words from John 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”
As Pastor Ryan said, “The tension between conditional and unconditional is found in conversion. Our salvation is conditional, but Jesus is the One who met those conditions on the cross and who meets the conditions by changing our heart.”
Joshua is telling the Israelites the same message at its core: Your ability to do what God has called you to do rests in God alone! But God will not force us to worship Him or to serve Him.
What is God calling you to do that only He can accomplish? Are you trusting Him to do what He said He would do? Are you following His lead and watching Him part the seas and vanquish your adversaries?
The tension is resolved in Jesus’ words from John 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”
As Pastor Ryan said, “The tension between conditional and unconditional is found in conversion. Our salvation is conditional, but Jesus is the One who met those conditions on the cross and who meets the conditions by changing our heart.”
Joshua is telling the Israelites the same message at its core: Your ability to do what God has called you to do rests in God alone! But God will not force us to worship Him or to serve Him.
What is God calling you to do that only He can accomplish? Are you trusting Him to do what He said He would do? Are you following His lead and watching Him part the seas and vanquish your adversaries?
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