UPCOMING PODCASTS -- airing this week

Monday, Nov. 23, Jim will by the podcast guest on Joel Brueseke's "Growing in Grace Together" series. 

Wednesday, Nov. 25, Andrew Farley, author of The Naked Gospel, will join Jim for a second podcast.  They'll be discussing the misleading language and catch-phrases Christians often use that end up preventing them from embracing their true goodness and restored identity. 

Here's the episode link on Blogtalk Radio. 

LISTEN NOW: 'The Naked Gospel' interview with Andrew Farley

Andrew and I talked about his fantastic new book, The Naked Gospel - the truth you may never hear in church.  Find out what Andrew says about our new identity and freedom.  It really is a lot better than we've been told.

• Should Christians really obey the moral law in the Ten Commandments?
• Do we really have pure and good hearts - the very same that Jesus had?
• Can Christians trust their hearts?

The answers may surprise you!

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Click player below to listen.

As always, feel free to leave your comments below!

TODAY - interview with Andrew Farley ----'THE NAKED GOSPEL'

Listen 'live' today, 11:30 EST, as I talk with Andrew Farley, author of The Naked Gospel - the truth you may never hear in church. 

Go to the Blogtalk Radio page here to get show updates for this podcast. 

Airtime:  11:30 a.m. (EST)  Monday, Nov. 16th

Go to show page.

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As always, feel free to post your comments and thoughts below!

PODCAST-guest blogger, Aida Calder - 'Forgetting the Former Things'

Here's my interview with friend and guest blogger, Aida Calder - whose blog "Forgetting the Former Things" brings hope and grace to many all over the world.

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As always, feel free to leave your comments below!

'The Naked Gospel' quiz

Hear the provocative interview with Andrew Farley, author of The Naked Gospel - the truth you may never hear in church.   The author even has a quiz, and the answers will surprise many.  Here's the quiz, taken from www.thenakedgospel.com:

The Naked Gospel Quiz
Below are ten faith-related concepts that don't seem to be regularly discussed in many churches today. But our view on each of these concepts affects our relationship with God, our spiritual growth and our fulfillment in life. So for each of the ten concepts, decide whether you think each is true or false, and you'll be presented with the answers at the end of the quiz.

1. Christians should ask God to forgive and cleanse them when they sin.
True or False

2. Christians struggle with sin because of their old self within.
True or False

3. We should wait on God even before making everyday decisions.
True or False

4. When we sin against God, we're out of fellowship until we repent. *
True or False

5. Old Testament law is written on Christians' hearts so we want to obey it.
True or False

6. The Bible tells us that Christians can obtain many rewards in heaven.
True or False

7. Christians will give an account for their sins at the great white throne. 
True or False

8. Christians should tithe at least 10 percent of their income to the church.
True or False

9. God gets angry with us when we repeatedly sin against him. 
True or False

10. God looks at us as though we're righteous, even though we're really not.
True or False

(Andrew Farley says that the answer to each of the above is false.)  Decide for yourself.
Hear Steve Brown's interview with Andrew Farley, author of The Naked Gospel.

"The Misunderstood God" - review

Our emotional health is directly tied to our view of God.  Faulty assumptions about God will sabotage your heart.  For that reason, I highly recommend Darin Hufford's new book, The Misunderstood God - the lies religion tells us about God, because the book so ably exposes those harmful assumptions and invites the reader into a deeper freedom. 

The book also has staying power.  I found myself reflecting on key portions of the book long after I'd read it.  The chapter exposing the myth of  "The Angry God" reminded me that, "Love is not easily provoked."  And despite what we may have been told, the Holy Spirit is not easily wounded or offended.  Our God's heart remains supple and open without the fragile neurosis that plagues most of us.  We need him to be strong like that.

This book will help you get that heavy pack of religious assumptions and misunderstandings off your back, because you were never meant to carry that.

Here's a link to Darin Hufford's website.

Death by assumptions

One of my greatest concerns is that we must challenge our assumptions about the Gospel -- or what we think we know about it.  It actually might be better than we think it is. 

I don't mean that we should challenge the core doctrines of Christianity, or question the supremacy of Christ.  In my mind, that's been settled.

I do mean that the version of the Gospel we've been given may not, in fact, be the Gospel; or at best, a gross distortion of it.  For example:

Much of the Church has the impression that the Gospel is either about getting your sins forgiven by accepting God's gracious pardon and receiving the promise of heaven;  or, that the Gospel is all about evangelism, outreach, and new programs for reaching the lost.  There's truth in each of these, but not enough truth.

The Gospel is the offer of a good and noble heart.  Jesus comes to restore the person -- not simply let them off the hook.  His work is deeper, more glorious, and far more supernatural than the anemic "gospel" we've settled for. 

When you said 'yes' to him, your nature, your identity, underwent a remarkable transformation.  You no longer possess a sin nature.  You're still free to sin, but it's no longer who you are or what you want.  (I know, it doesn't often seem that way, but if you judge your heart by the failures of your former self - even the ongoing ones - you will end up in despair.)

People who don't question their assumptions about the offer of Jesus scare me, frankly.  Damage has been done by those who refuse to let new information form their opinions, who muzzle any perspective that does not align with their preconceived assumptions -- even if that new perspective is firmly rooted in Scripture!

If we don't get the Gospel (the offer of Jesus) right, then Lazarus is still in his grave clothes.

Podcast:  "A better way to relate to God" challenges these false assumptions about the offer of Jesus.    Click here to listen.

Free e-book from Jim - "THE GOSPEL OF THE HEART"

I'm making this e-book free of charge.  Download or share it as much as you want.
This short e-book exposes the false gospel that manages the externals and sabotages our hearts.

E-Book-The Gospel of the Heart-Author Jim Robbins

THE GOOD & NOBLE HEART community

For those who may not know, I set up an online community based around the message of the Christian's good and noble heart.  Folks are finding meaningful connections there and talking about the things of the heart (the center of the person, in Scripture). 

Joining is free.  Set up your own page, blog, discussion topics.  Click here for more.

The full interview - Steve Brown interviews Jim about his book, Recover Your Good Heart

Full interview - Steve Brown interviews Jim about Recover Your Good Heart.

Steve Brown, Etc. interview- Guest Jim Robbins

Steve Brown (Steve Brown, Etc. radio show) talks with Jim about his book, Recover Your Good Heart -- Living free from religious guilt and the shame of not good-enough.

Steve has interviewed the likes of Frank Viola, John Eldredge, Tony Campolo .

Steve's show is a blast.

Here's the 'live' interview.  The full interview will be posted next week.

 

"A Better Way to Relate to God - Part 2" - podcast archives

”A Better Way to Relate to God - part two - Better Assumptions” 9/6/07

Many of us have been taught to relate to God with wrong assumptions — particularly assumptions about the heart (will, spirit) of a Christian. For example, are we really “Just sinners, saved by grace?” Are we really “prone to wander?” Jim continues to explore some more accurate, hopeful assumptions Christians can have about their heart as they relate to God.

You're getting hit with accusation -- the warning signs

Warning sign #1: The conversation centers around compliance -- getting you yield to an alleged standard of thought or behavior of some sort. This could be compliance to church standards of "holiness" or to corporate standards that determine how things have always been done. Or, this could be unspoken expectations one picks up from one's family of origin and carries into the job, the marriage, the parenting.  Or, you may have adopted a more healthy set of expections, but your family hasn't. 

Warning sign #2: The accuser needs to be right-- at the expense of the relationship.

Warning sign #3: Spiritual arrogance masquerading as "love." ("I'm only saying this because I love you and want what's best for you.") Hmmm...that's not what I'm picking up here...

Warning sign #4: Fight or flight? You either want to fight or run. You're wounded and want to place as much distance between you and your accuser as possible, but you don't want them to get away with it, either.  Paralysis?  Retaliation?  "Feeling overwhelmed....loosing my spiritual footing."

What about you? What have you experienced when you've been under accusation's sting?

New podcast: "A truer authenticity"

" A truer authenticity:"  6/5/09
Grace without restoration is cruel, like releasing a man from prison without giving him new desires and strength.  Grace must go beyond forgiveness (pardon) to the giving of a new and supernaturally-good heart.  Otherwise, it is stunted grace.

Simply seeing ourselves as a miserable mess - yet forgiven- doesn't help a person in the long run.  We need a new kind of "real."  A new authenticity.

Loading glitch:  My apologies to those who've already tried to listen to the podcast and found it got cut off half-way through.  I've now reloaded it and it should play in its entirety.

"There's more to grace" -- book teaser

There's more to grace.
Grace without restoration is cruel. It must go beyond forgiveness to the gift of a new and supernaturally-good heart.

Misguided "authenticity"

Here's a quote from a missional church leader I have a great deal of respect for.  However, notice his self-description:  Is it biblical?...meaning, is it a true and accurate description of his identity in Christ?

I consider myself as the most miserable of all human beings, covered with sores, foul, and guilty of all sorts of crimes committed against my King; moved by sincere remorse I confess all my sins to him.  I ask him pardon and abandon myself into his hands so he can do with me as he pleases.  Far from chastising me, this King, full of goodness and mercy, lovingly embraces me, seats me at his table, waits on me himself, gives me the keys to his treasures, and treats me in all things as his favorite; he converses with me and takes delight in my countless ways ....Although I beg him to fashion me according to his heart, I see myself still weaker and miserable, yet even more caressed by God.

There's certainly a lot of grace here, but little restoration.  (At least, not mentioned here.)  What kind of God would pardon a person, then refuse to change them at the most basic level (the level of the heart), so that they need not repeat those crimes; and in fact, no longer have it in their nature to do so?

In fact, God has already met this person's longing to "fashing me according to his heart"  ..."I will give you a new heart."  (Ezek. 36:26).  That new heart is pregnant with new life, new desires, and a new will.  How else would he be able to relate well, if not for a transformed heart?  Sure, it will take time to learn to live from that new and supernaturally good heart -- but that will come. 

I'm concerned with a brand of 'authenticity' and 'realness' out there that takes grace seriously ("You're forgiven and loved"), but is unaware of the gracious gift of a new and radically good heart.  These attempts at being real are noble and certainly well-intended, but have missed the core of the New Covenant promise of a new heart -- a heart on which the ways of God are now written.  Why do we keep rehearsing our mess?

We must be urged to make the shift from external and behavioral compliance to internal and supernaturally-capable desire to love and relate well.  Most Christians are unaware that that shift has already happened ...within their own hearts. The desire and the ability to relate well and love wholly are there.

Let's bring this good news back to the center of our teaching, preaching and relating.  Only then will we see more of the transformation we long for.  Let's stop rehearsing our shame, and begin indulging our new appetites -- the desires of Jesus now resident in our new hearts.
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Update on Monday, May 11, 2009 at 6:15PM by Jim Robbins

For those who are wondering...I do think authenticity and being real is a good thing. In fact, I think we need more of it in some cases. But the kind we need now is an authenticity that more accurately honors our new and noble nature. It is a realness that goes beyond forgiveness and explores the richness, splendor and supernatural desires of a new and good heart -- the one we received when we first trusted Christ.

• "True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit--it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us."--Tryon Edwards
• "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is."--Phillips Brooks

"...and please, try not to sin."

I've spent much of the last 43 years trying not to sin.

I think it's because I'm afraid.  There's been an uneasyness with sin because there's been an uneasyness with God:  "Am I really safe? Safe-enough to screw up?  Safe-enough to really blow it and remain highly-favored and in good standing with the Father?  Or will he be...disappointed?

The Church, in a wonderful journey of co-dependence, has helped me avoid sin and to fear it.  We've turned God into a behavior-modification therapist.  Most sermons are about getting people to avoid or discontinue sin.  Avoid the wrong thing, and try harder to do the right thing.  As a result, we've taught people that God is more interested in managing externals, rather than in nourishing, strengthening and encouraging a new internal reality -- the wholly new and good hearts we received when we became apprentices to Jesus.  No wonder we haven't seen the spiritual transformation we're looking for:  you can't get there from here.

Of course it is good not to yield to sin; but if that becomes the point, then most of our energies will be consumed by avoiding something, rather than living in something stronger and more life-giving.

Most parents are afraid of their children's sin and work really hard to manage their kids (think "control") so that they don't err.  As Danny Silk, author of Loving Our Kids on Purpose -- Making a Heart-to-Heart Connection indicates:  "What this reveals is that we are terrified by our children's poor choices.  We try to eliminate as many as possible."  As Silk points out, perhaps the way in which we handle our children is how we believe God handles us:  Be afraid of sin, because this isn't a safe place to fall.

But fear is never an appropriate method of transformation.  It may produce external conformity, but never inward maturity.  It certainly can't produce love itself.

I've also been enslaved to the notion that sin is more powerful than me.  As Silk indicates in Loving Our Kids On Purpose, "We still believe that sin is more powerful than we are.  When children grow up in an environment where their parents are scared of sin, they learn to fear failure."

This fear carries with it the assumption that what's exterior to me has more control over me than what is interior to me.  It's the mistaken idea that what is least true of me (I still have the capacitiy to sin, but no longer the nature to sin) is more true and powerful than an already-present and growing holiness -- a supernatural goodness -- now present within me.  That's the real me.  Ezekiel 36:26 ("I will give you a new heart and new spirit) has come to pass, in me, at the deepest level.

Fear can constrain behavior -- for a while; but it can never restore freedom.

How spiritual transformation happens

What are the mechanics behind how we change; particularly how the new heart within us is strengthened, nourished and released?  How do we end up doing the things our restored hearts really want to do, while not yielding to false substitutes?

Invitation to the Jesus Life - Experiments in Christ-likeness, by Jan Johnson, is refreshing, gracious and full of well-textured thinking on the spiritual life.  The author suggests that God "loves [us] into goodness, drawing [us] with irresistable grace."   Loves us into goodness.

Isn't it true that when we feel most loved, pursued or valued, we are least likely to fall for lesser things?  So how do we access this loving-into-goodness life?

The means is through new habits of the heart, mind and body (spiritual disciplines), but the goal is not to become better Christians, the author surprisingly points out.  The goal is connecting with God.  When we connect, we receive love, and the Spirit does the transforming.  We, as Dallas Willard suggests, are then becoming the kinds of persons who naturally do and say the things Jesus did and said.  It is an outflow of experiencing love, not conjuring up good religious behavior.

Though the author of Invitation to the Jesus Life doesn't necessarily frame the process in the following way, I would suggest that as we connect with God (through redemptive habits) we experience his affection, and the Spirit nourishes and releases the goodness he seeded within our new hearts at conversion.  The point is connecting with God, not trying to become a better Christian.

New Facebook Group

I've created a new Group on Facebook called, THE GOOD & NOBLE HEART; for those who have discovered that the offer of Jesus is far more than forgiveness. "Grace" is the gift of a new, good, and noble heart. The Gospel is about the heart.  

Some great discussions are taking place! 
Check it out here.

Not about pragmatics

"There is a stage in the spiritual life in which we find God in ourselves -- this presence is a created effect of his love.  It is a gift of His, to us."  - Thomas Merton

Something bothers me about his quote: "There is a stage...." might imply that God's presence only enters us at a certain point of the Christian life, causing one to wonder if he or she has reached that stage.  But this may not have been what Merton meant.  Perhaps he meant that there is a point in which you become acutely aware that God is within you, though he's been there ever since you let him in.

There is also something beautiful about the quote:  the idea that "this presence is a created effect of his love.  It is a gift of His, to us."  Here's another way of saying that, "I am in you because I love you."

Not just to get something done.

Not merely for the sake of others.

Not to shape you up.

Rather, "I am in you, foremost, because I love you."