Striving to Earn God's Favor

Speaking of how angry we got we got some going on the Truth Network.

This can help the world not be so angry, just need God's word is please help the Truth Network send Bibles to Africa and we know that they they need God's word. We have until the end of the month, just five dollars gets a Bible in the hands of a poor, impoverished believers all over the African continent with the help of the Bible league, just five dollars.

Think about that Robbie just five dollars a please give you give more than five dollars and would love for you to do it in the number to call is one 800 yes word, one 800 yes word on 800 yes word. This is Darren Kuhn with the masculine journey podcast were research the ancient paths to find ways that God brings light into a dark world and help set men free from the struggles that we all face on a day-to-day basis. Your chosen Truth Network podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing The Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network I'm Stu Epperson and most of us are required to carry identification to get onto an airplane to go places we flasher passport.

Our license if we get pulled over to show who we are, for purchasing certain things. What is your identity. Our identity is everything. If you are a believer Lord Jesus Christ. You are a son, you are a daughter you're a prince or princess your child of the King yet so often we get on the treadmill of performance. If I work a little bit harder, dodging likely if I don't work hard enough God's inoculate me well. We have recently been able to interview a man of God's name is Dr. Ashley Knoll. He's an author. He's an academic. He is a professor.

He's a scholar and he's also an Olympic chaplain check this out. The sky has a doctorate from Cambridge, Oxford and from Harvard is like one of two people in the world that have those doctors in a double doctorate from Cambridge so I wasn't able to interview my true thought, but my baby sister Karen was in, so get ready to be encouraged as my sister Karen interviews Dr. Knoll right here right now are to play this year to be so encouraged. This is so important. Share this podcast when becomes a podcast with everyone. My sister Karen talking to Dr. Ashley Knoll about performance identity.

That's the title of his new book, so stay tuned, be encouraged.

Here is my sister Karen interviewing Dr. Knoll, this is Carrington now for trees talk life today had the honor of interviewing Dr. Ashley now actually blessed because I been around the Epperson family and their friends for a marvelous lunch and they guest speaker was Archbishop been quashing a man whose life has been tried in fire and the result is been a life reflecting the gold of Christ in him and through him so I'm blessed right now man amen I agree with that. Ashley has written several books that warned that we want to know specifically. Today is getting off the performance treadmill or is it the performance treadmill actually the books are subject is about that title is performance identity. The folly of striving to earn God's favor.

In a nutshell what made Sheila what compelled you to write this book.

What is your story that drew the interest and this performance identity issue.

So many Christians are like the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son.

They see what they do as trying to be respectable and earn God's favor, but the reality is metals have to be earned. That's right and good. Love can't be earned.

If it's earned it's not love. And both of my own life and in the various ministerial circles in which I operate. The power of knowing that that God's love is what reaches out and grabs us and turns us around and that he is love empowers us to serve rather than thinking well if I work hard enough, God will bless me and then he will give me his love. How many Christians are saved by grace and sustained by sweat how many Christians secretly feel and fear that they're not good enough for God's love and they better try harder how many Christians experience, not the joy of being redeemed, but the shame they've heard from so many people now put in God's mouth saying they're not good enough. Thomas crammed her the mashed that he was the first promised Archbishop of England during the Reformation.

He basically had a tremendous insight.

It's the glory of God to love the unworthy it's easy to love the word rewrite glory is to love the unworthy people that let you down to trust that your love will win out over their fears and insecurities and anxieties and selfishness and all those things that in the end if you just love pure enough and long enough that it will draw out the beloved loving response. That's how he saw God because he studied the Bible and that's what Jesus taught, and that's what Paul talked, but we know every gospel inside.

In one generation becomes a gospel hindrance in the next we hang on to a past move of God to give us more security, rather than being open to what he wants to do and therefore even the good news of free unconditional salvation.

Over time, we find ways to insert ourselves in the process making ourselves more important and therefore able to convince ourselves because I've done X God love me or because I've done X other people will love me or because I've done X.

I can love me even though I know I've done Wyatt's how many Christians are have a pagan mentality that's all about getting the balancing of the two scales that I do enough good to overcome all the bad idea and then if I do that then I can be as reasonable, don't you think this one little detail right is not gospel right and we have so many Christians today who see their unworthiness and therefore they do not want to be hypocrite. They say I can't go to church because unworthy. I've got to fix myself up and when I'm good enough then look back care if I took meat and milk and put it on a door stoop and came back a month later, should I gallop the meat and milk should I say how dare they let me down. Should I try to shame them and saved another you know they needed to be better without doing the effect not because they don't have it in them to stay fresh on the road.

The huge mistake of human beings. The huge mistake of Christians is to assume that they have the power to stay fresh on their what is Philippians 212, say, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, right, that sounds like sweat equity meteorite selects what you we don't make any progress in the Christian life unless we make decisions. Some decisions are harder to make some decisions are hard stick to make bad decisions. We have to live with the consequences right.

Forgiveness comes instantly, but that doesn't take away the consequences that have to be worked out, day by day, but you know, our hope cannot in us making quick decisions about you but when I look back and I see come to hard and difficult decision is not been because I've been such a righteous person. It's because God's love will not let me go. He puts this the mirror up to C. What is really like in my heart. And then he says look at how your living. Let me enable you to live into the worth, I've given any system which is done you know you're worthless. That's combination is Jesus.

But how do we make those good decisions.

If in fact we know it's not because of us. What is Philippians 213 said, for it is God who is at work in us to will and to do his good pleasure. We can't make any progress without good decisions and we can fight hard to make this good decisions, but actually fighting hard is God's gift to us. God's handiwork in us. We don't fix ourselves. So God approves in Christ.

God approves of us with Christ's righteousness as we are, and then begins to change us from the inside out. Our hope is not what we promised to do for God. Our hope is what God has promised to do for us and that is the message of performance identity that is the message of the English Reformation. That's the message of the gospel name name. Thank you so much Dr. Ashley no, again talking about his book and now, thank you so much for sharing with us this this afternoon. This is the Truth Network