Sunday, April 6, 2014

"called to belong to Jesus Christ" (Rom. 1:6)

"The ending of our calling is not to know good, do good, or be good-- the end of our calling is 'to belong.'  The knowing, doing, and being good come out of our belonging to Jesus Christ."
-E. Stanley Jones

Still reading The Word Became Flesh, which is still complaining about sterile preaching.  Jones identified moralism as the main problem with the sermon he heard at that time (book published in 1963).  The Gospel was reduced to moral principles.  Jesus was reduced to a teacher of moral precepts.  The preachers told people to be good.  They defined what they meant by doing good.  They connected their definition of good to something that Jesus taught or did.  Jones called such preaching sterile because it did not produce faith, which is necessary in order to know, do, and be good.

Below is today's devotional lesson sandwiched between highlights of the lines that stood out for me and my reaction to those statements.  What do you think of the format?  Is it readable or too distracting?