Jason Micheli > Quotes

“So long as our faith is relegated to a private affection of the heart, to a matter of personal choice and subjective belief, then Jesus is necessarily demoted from LORD to Secretary of Afterlife Affairs.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Here’s the rub: nobody ever drifts towards the gospel.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“In other words, the fruits of the Spirit are not attributes to which any individual should aspire, nor are they a code of conduct individual Christians ought to obey. They describe the body of Christ that the Holy Spirit makes flesh for the world.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Our sanctification comes by continually revisiting our justification.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Paul is saying that it’s the faithfulness of Jesus Christ that justifies you. It’s not, “Believe in Jesus Christ and you’ll be justified.” It’s, “In Jesus Christ, you’re justified. Believe it!”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“The reason we can never assume the gospel and move on to our preferred topics and personal projects is that even the best of us are attracted to false gospels.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Paul’s describing Jesus, not us. Likewise, in this section of Galatians he’s talking about Jesus.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“You see with Jesus all the ‘good’ we can do isn’t the point. It’s not an End in itself. It’s just what happens when we pour ourselves out completely, when we waste everything we have, for someone else.”
― Jason Micheli, Preaching a Better Atonement

“God’s grace begins where you end. But God’s grace does not begin until you end.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Paul’s referring not to our faith in Jesus Christ but to the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“In other words, it’s possible to be a community of the gospel—celebrating baptisms and consecrating bread and wine, singing hymns and studying the Bible, preaching and praying and serving the poor—that has lost the gospel. According to Sayers, a lack of eventfulness, excitement, expectation, surprise, playfulness, and astonishment—in other words, drama—are the telltale signs. It’s possible to be a community created by the gospel that is no longer centered in the gospel.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Hear the good news. Whatever your story: The hurt you can’t let go of. The gossip and backbiting and double-talk. The forgiveness you withheld until it was too late. The doubts that linger. The disappointments you still resent. The relationship you let fester. The lies you tell to shroud your addiction. The truth you’re too cowardly to come out with. The handout you withheld. The frustration that others aren’t as faithful as you. The gift you gave with strings attached. The if-bombs you throw down as conditions of your love. The prodigal you won’t welcome home. The prejudice. The self-righteousness and sanctimony that feels good for a second—especially when it’s about politics—but then it sticks on you like a bad smell on your shoe. The secret you keep hidden in the dark corner closet of your heart. Whatever your story—what story? Christ Jesus has set you free from that story by becoming that story for you.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“So here’s how you spot a false gospel: • If it makes you anxious or afraid, it’s another gospel. • If it leaves you feeling exhausted or burned out or guilty, it’s some other gospel. If it insists that in order to be a good Christian you must belong to this political party, you must not support that candidate, you should have this interpretation of Scripture for that issue, and/or you ought to abstain from these critical theories, it’s a different gospel. If it’s about your behavior rather than Christ’s, if it’s about your need to believe in anything other than his saving work for you, it’s not the gospel. And—I say this for all the mainline preachers eavesdropping—if what you are preaching can be true without requiring the shed blood of Jesus Christ for sinners, it’s no gospel at all.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“There’s simply no way of following the Crucified Jesus that doesn’t require your readiness to carry the cross.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“The path to a newer and newer you, therefore, is not back to the works of the law but to the word of the cross, the word that continually kills in order to make alive.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Jesus instead invites us to be a People who meet the world’s su ffering and sorrow head-on and share it. He invites us to be a People who pour ourselves out in order to fill the world’s emptiness. What Jesus wants are people who know a love that’s worth dying for. And a love like that will pull us into some hard, painful places.
But a love worth dying for is also the only way to live. Forever.”
― Jason Micheli, Preaching a Better Atonement

“This is a mistake that many, many, many Christians make, including—especially—preachers; that is, we think we’re justified by faith in Jesus, but we’re sanctified by trying really, really, really hard to live like Jesus.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“Hear the good news: If the faithfulness of Jesus Christ is your enoughness before a holy and righteous God—if the faith of Jesus Christ is your enoughness—then you never need to worry about whether or not you have enough faith. Get out of your insides and grab ahold of him.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“We make it sentimental: God loves you just the way you are. We make it moralistic: Do unto others as you would have done to you. We make it legalistic: As a faithful follower of Christ, you must _________. Or, A faithful Christian ought not_________. None of this requires Christ and his shed blood in order to be a coherent message.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“In other words—think about it—it’s easier to get by in the empire by going under the mohel’s knife than by refusing to take up the sword. It’s easier to get by in the kingdoms of this world by keeping kosher than by pledging an allegiance to Christ the King.”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians

“What is baptism? Baptism is the faithful work of Jesus Christ applied to you, such that, now, no matter your sin, no matter your doubts and unbelief, no matter your spotty performance as a disciple, no matter if your puny faith makes a mustard seed look like a mountain, by his faithfulness applied to you, through water and the word, you are in Christ now. Believe in that. Put your faith in that. Cling to that. When life sends twisters swirling all around you, grab ahold of that. It’ll hold. What good is your faith? John Stott answers,”
― Jason Micheli, A Quid without Any Quo: Gospel Freedom according to Galatians