Some thought-provoking posts on the church to kick off the new year

Posted by Alan Knox on Jan 3, 2012 in blog links, discipleship | 2 comments

Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” has written some very interesting posts over the last few days. I think these are all good posts to help us kick off the new year. These three posts focus on the gospel, on the church, and on salvation.

For example, just before New Year’s Day, Eric wrote a post called “What Matters Most.” This is the post that focuses on the gospel.

He writes:

We all, myself certainly included, must remember that the gospel is a divider. It separates those who are Christ’s from those who are not. However, the wonderful thing is that this gospel is powerful enough to save any and all who repent and believe. And stunningly, our Savior has decided to use sinful us to be the heralds of this wonderful news.

In another post called “The Church Imprisoned,” Eric compares some Christian organizations to prisons. I think this is an important and useful discussion, because these types of organizational structures often bind believers from living as God desires (even if it happens inadvertently).

Like Eric says in the quote below, I also believe that many aspects of the church in the West needs to be reformed:

The church in the West is imprisoned by the above forms and structures. They stifle what the church is trying to accomplish. Let us pray that God will bring about a new reformation in his church in the West. Let’s hope that more and more of our brothers and sisters in Christ will throw off these fetters to live as the church we see in scripture.

Finally, in his post called “I’m Not Saved Because…,” which he published on New Year’s Eve, Eric reminds us that we are not saved because of what we do. Even having the “right” kind of ecclesiology does not save you.

Eric concludes:

I’m not saved because of anything I’ve done.

I’m not saved because of me.

I am saved because of the grace of God alone through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross alone.

Thank you for these reminders, Eric! I look forward to many more thought-provoking posts in 2012!

What do you think about Eric’s posts?