June 11, 2007
Dear Katie & Luke:
What follows is the testimony I shared as part of joining Christ Fellowship of Kansas City a few weeks ago. Also, today is a significant day because this is Granddad McGuire's birthday--He used to always say of the date of his birthday, "It's June 11, and don't forget it!" I haven't forgotten it. I remember sitting in Granddad's living room once and asking him if he was a follower of Jesus Christ. He told me that the Lord didn't actually save him until one day late in his life when he was walking out to feed the dogs (undoubtedly white German Shepherds!), and having heard the Gospel numerous times in his life, all of the sudden it made sense that he was a terrible sinner in need of a Savior. He said that on that day, for the first time in his life, he truly began to repent and rest all of his hope for forgivness of sins in the crucified and resurrected Christ. Grandma McGuire then said, "He's been a different man ever since." Both are now with Jesus.
Here's what I shared a few Sundays ago-
Terrible and Wonderful Truths: The Sovereign Grace of God in my Life
by Steve Burchett
When Jesus Christ died approximately 2000 years ago, He was crucified on a cross as a substitute for sinners “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9), bearing the wrath of the Holy God for all who would ever turn from their sins and trust in Him. Some seek to deny this good news, but Jesus did accomplish the redemption of His people because God raised His Son from the dead three days after He was crucified. Christ’s resurrection proves that He is the Son of God and Lord of all, and it reveals God’s pleasure in His Son’s sacrifice in the place of sinners—Indeed, the penalty for sin has been paid for all who will, by the grace of God, trust in Jesus Christ as the crucified and resurrected Savior of sinners. I am confident that Christ suffered God’s wrath for me on the cross. What follows is a brief account of the sovereign grace of God in my life.
It was my freshman year in high school, and I didn’t know what to expect as my sister, a senior, gave me a ride to our school for an early Thursday morning meeting of a group of students known as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Little did I know that, for the first time, I would soon be reading about the greatest truths in the world. The leader of this group was a large man—6’10”!—and I was a bit intimidated in his presence. Everybody called him “Coach” or “Coach Schroeder” because, obviously, he was a basketball coach at the school. However, he was more than just a basketball coach; he was a faithful witness to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Although my memory of those Thursday morning meetings is not perfectly clear, I do remember that Coach Schroeder taught through various passages of Romans. I’m not exactly sure what he taught, but here’s how the Lord used his teaching: I began reading the Bible at home for myself, and specifically I read and thought about the opening chapters of Romans. I can remember reading Romans 1, 2, and the first part of chapter three, and thinking, “This is terrible!” It wasn’t that I thought that what the Bible said in Romans was “terrible” in the sense of “wrong,” I was coming to the realization that I was terrible! Listen to Romans 3:9-10, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one.’” Over a period of a few months, the Lord was convicting me of my sinfulness; I was beginning to realize that I had sinned against the One true God, the God of Scripture, and my sinful attitudes and words and actions numbered in the thousands, even at the young age of 14. God was graciously revealing to me that I had failed to live for Him, that I had rejected His rule in my life, that I was simply a rebel against God which made me His enemy (Romans 5:10), and therefore I became keenly aware that I deserved God’s eternal condemnation (Romans 3:5-6, 8).
But then God revealed something to me in His Word that, literally, changed my life. He gave me an understanding of and a delight for the truth of Romans 3:23-26, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” Just as I read the first part of Romans and remember thinking, “This is terrible!” (meaning, “I am a terrible sinner!”), I remember reading this passage over and over and thinking, “This is wonderful!”, meaning, “Jesus is a wonderful Savior!” Jesus died for sinners on a bloody cross! He came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), and He did accomplish their redemption because He arose (Matthew 28:6; First Corinthians 15:20)! There is a way to avoid the judgment of God, and it is through faith in Christ alone!
These terrible and wonderful truths filled my mind for several months of my freshman year in high school. I specifically remember a time in January of 1991 when I was all alone in my bedroom, and the tragedy of my sin and the pending judgment I would face apart from Christ brought me to uncontrollable tears. What could I do but simply look away from myself to Christ and rest in His finished work on the cross for me? I needed to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness, or I would perish. I remember collapsing to my knees and crying out for God’s mercy. Looking back, I now know that God had given me a new heart, He had granted me faith, the Father was drawing me to His Son, and I became a life-long repenter and believer.
I mention that I became a life-long repenter and believer intentionally, because Scripture teaches that when God saves a sinner, He not only makes the sinner a new creation (Second Corinthians 5:17), but He begins a work of making the saved sinner more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). Everything God does, he does well. As a young Christian, I remember learning Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Not only is this a promise that all who are in Christ can never be lost, but it is a guarantee that all whom God has saved will strive for holiness to the end, working out their salvation “with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in (them), both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 1:12-13). Not only do I find assurance of my salvation in the fact that at as a freshman in high school I began trusting in and following Christ, but I find much assurance in the fact that I am still trusting in and following Christ. In fact, as the years pass by, I increasingly desire to obey the Lord. And when I disobey, I am guilty and truly sad, and that sorrow leads to repentance. Put simply, God has truly begun a good work in me and is bringing it to completion.
Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” I praise God that I am numbered among the flock of Christ, the Good Shepherd. I praise the Lord that in His sovereign mercy He gave me ears to hear Christ calling me to Himself. I thank God for giving me the grace to regularly deny myself and take up my cross and follow Christ. I rejoice that God continues to make the cross of Christ increasingly precious to me. I’m encouraged to see that my struggle to love “all the church,” even those who are a bit annoying, is less of a challenge for me now than early in my walk with Christ. I’m shocked that a sinner like me would love to hear the Bible preached, even sermons that confront the remaining sin in my life. I’m humbled that the Holy Spirit testifies with my spirit that I am a child of God. I’m ashamed that I spent the first fourteen years of my life rebelling against God, and I’m especially saddened that I have sinned countless times since my conversion, but I am confident that in Christ, I am a forgiven man. The truth that I am forgiven in Christ doesn’t make me want to “sin all the more,” it makes me want to lose my life for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s, and thus save it (as Jesus put it in Mark 8:35). “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all” (Isaac Watts, “When I Survey the Wondrous cross”).
I was privileged to profess publicly my faith in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when I was baptized in a little church in Ohio in 1997. To any who are reading this brief story of the sovereign grace of God in my life, I plead with you to renounce your sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the words of the hymn writer, “Come, ye weary, heavy laden, Lost and ruined by the fall; If you tarry till you’re better, You will never come at all.” Come to Christ, and then publicly declare your faith in and commitment to Christ by being baptized, and covenant together with a local body of believers. The local church is essential for all Christians because we need pastors to care for our souls through the ministry of the Bible and prayer, and we need other believers in our lives who will pray for us, strengthen us, challenge us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and even love us so much that they will call us to repentance if we ever fall into rebellion against the Lord.
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Praying for You,
Daddy
