Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

• Acts 2:37-41

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

• Philippians 2:12-13

“By now you’re probably wondering, what in the world does this mean for me?
“After the apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, people ‘were cut to the heart and said … “Brothers, what shall we do?”’ (Acts 2:37). The first church responded with immediate action: repentance, baptism, selling possessions, sharing the gospel.
“We respond with words like Amen, Convicting sermon, Great book … and then are paralyzed as we try to decipher what God wants of our lives. I concur with Annie Dillard, who once said, ‘How we live our days is … how we live our lives.’ We each need to discover for ourselves how to live this day in faithful surrender to God as we ‘continue to work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2:12).”

• Francis Chan, crazy love

Rev. Francis Chan had already asked if others were exhibiting crazy love in this world, and he gave a chapter of examples.  But he had one more chapter.  How?!

Or as they asked Peter at Pentecost, “What must we do?”

The answer came quickly.  “Repent!  Be baptized.”  Then the urgent plea, “Save yourself from this wicked generation.”

Regardless of what denomination is saying those words, it sounds like “works.”

But repentance comes when Christ enters our life and starts to clean house.  Some sins will be recognized as harmful to ourselves, and we gladly turn from them, trusting in what Jesus is doing.  But then, He might start confronting us with those favorite activities of ours that are not really harming anyone.  But deep down, they give us no lasting pleasure, and they detract from serving Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and spirit.

As for the baptism, it is not necessary for salvation to do the baptism with any amount of water.  It is a work.  But it is a symbol that the Holy Spirit has washed us of our sins.  In being baptized, we make a visible proclamation that we are putting all our trust in Jesus – that part about confessing with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord – and Lord meaning ruler, absolute ruler of our lives.

Don’t worry.  He loves you with a perfect love that you will probably never see from another human being.  He is worthy of that kind of trust.

But what Francis Chan says here is that we are uplifted by a great sermon and then we go out of the church, back home, and we are paralyzed with the question about what this means… when the answer is right there in front of us.

Love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves.  But do not just think it.

DO IT!

Lord, fill me with Your love.  Thank You for loving me.  Lord, I need to get out more.  I was invited to someone’s house the other day, and everyone except the host and hostess were strangers.  They were not all strangers by the end of the evening.  We all need reasons to do that kind of thing, and in the meantime, while doing it, we show your love for others.  Sitting in a home, afraid to offend people is like hiding the light under a bowl or basket.  Sooner or later the light is choked out.  Lord, help us get the courage, but motivate us to move from a place of comfort to a place where someone needs a helping hand or simply needs a hug.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Author’s Note: This book is an old book by Francis Chan. I have been made aware of some criticism of his theology of late. On 4 February, the philosophy lesson will be on Meister Eckhart’s “florid and emotion sermons.” Eckhart’s writings were on trial before the Inquisition when he died. Eckhart confessed that his emotional sermons and mysticism led him astray. I stand by this Bible study in that we must not take God’s sacrifice to save us lightly. We should be motivated to love people more – putting that love into action instead of thinking about how our heart goes out to others. But when the emotion becomes the focus and not God, we can lead ourselves astray. No one’s theology is one hundred percent correct, but when heresies are found, correction must follow. Thus, I would not recommend more recent books by this author without a biblical review.

This concludes the crazy love series.  I am thinking of one of four books, actually more, but four authors.  I may have to cast lots, but as I have done in the past, whichever is selected just means the others are next. Note: In prayer, I feel that the Holy Spirit is guiding me to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his book about the prayer book of the Bible, psalms.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.