J.A. Medders > Quotes

“Paul says, “All things were created for him.” Let these four words rest on your heart: All / things / for / him. Paul’s point is so clear, you’ll miss it if you don’t slow down. Jupiter exists for Jesus. Incredible! Clownfish, caramel macchiatos, volcanoes, deoxyribonucleic acid—it’s all his. All for his enjoyment.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“We must strive to make the good news the core message we put forth, the chief model we emulate, the leading motivation in obedience, and the proprietary means of growth in the Christian life. Anything else falls dreadfully, woefully short.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“our greatest accomplishment is something we didn’t do, but rather something that’s been done for us and in us. We boast in Jesus’s cross. Paul”
― J.A. Medders, Rooted: Theology for Growing Christians

“Even the sweetness of a freshly cut pineapple from Hawaii is a sermon: “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8).”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Being gospel-centered in language and theology isn’t enough. Pharisees can yack away with hyphenated gospel-talk, but we are after the spirit and truth of gospel-centeredness: worship.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“A Christianity filled with well-intended good advice, severed from the good news, is bad news and bad advice.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Have you ever heard of a pew rat? It’s a kid-like creature that grew up on SunnyD and the Goldfish cracker crumbs found in the church carpet.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“If you are puttering about with your astonishment tank on empty, seek the Lord by soaking in the gospel.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The Holy Spirit’s goal in the Word is to show you Jesus so you can behold his glory and live in response to his radiance.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Jesus is to be exalted over all things in our lives. We are not the ones who have been given a name at which every knee will bow (Phil. 2:9”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“We live our lives in his sight, and bearing this in mind, grace-addicted people don’t take the reality of grace as a free pass. Rather, it is seen as freedom to pursue what pleases Jesus and is for our good. The gospel creates holy people.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The disciples are having a complete meltdown. And Jesus? He’s snoozing. They wake him up, and then this man from Nazareth rebukes the storm. Let that sink into your rusty imagination. Jesus speaks to a storm—and it hears him. And it follows orders—instantly.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“A life that is heaven-bent on exalting Jesus will be committed to the Bible, because we believe our Lord when he said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32).”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The early church braved the sword to gather with God’s people, and Christians in our day will hardly brave the rain. That’s a problem—one that’s bigger than church attendance. This is a love-for-Jesus problem. How we treat his bride equals how we treat him.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Community and the Bible are the bumpers we need in our lives. The Spirit of Christ uses both to transform us into the image of Christ. The Word of God without a gospel community can be abused, misapplied, and ignored. And a community that isn’t centered on the gospel and the Word of God will only gutter itself person by person into nothingness. We need the refining factory of the church of Jesus.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Lives that are all about Jesus will be lives that fight against things that aren’t about Jesus.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Since Jesus breathes, death is like a housefly to the saints. It’s annoying, but it cannot ruin the Christian. As”
― J.A. Medders, Rooted: Theology for Growing Christians

“We war against our sin because we want to obey Jesus—not to be saved by him, but because we are saved by him. It is never legalistic to want to obey Jesus. It’s stupid not to. The flesh is stupid. Tune it out. We don’t manage sin—we can’t; we’ve tried. We massacre it.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“It’s all gospel. All the time. A gospel party don’t stop.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The gospel doesn’t need to be dressed up to inspire worship; it just needs to be seen with the eyes of the heart.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The glories of Calvary ignite in Christians a mad dash away from sin, but not simply to avoid getting in trouble—also to enjoy God and glorify Jesus forever.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Christian, you must consider your ties with sin to be forever severed by the blood of Jesus.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The gospel-centered life is one that is driven by the knowledge that God has redeemed me, a sinner, through the vicarious death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The Bible says we’re to “make no provision for the flesh.” That’s because if we give the flesh an inch, it’ll take the West Coast. Sin wants to reach its utmost potential. Anger wants to become murder; bitterness wants to sprout divorce; a glance wants to become adultery.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“That’s what we need to know more than anything: Christ’s love for rascals like us. So if your pastor labors to preach the gospel, listen to him. Deeply. Intently. Prayerfully. Even if you’ve heard the gospel a bazillion times. It is never wrong for him to remind you of it; in fact, it’s safe for you.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“If we don’t think rightly about Jesus, we won’t think rightly about ourselves. Jesus is our friend and our Lord. He is the cosmic King, and he’s closer than our skin. We ought to fear him, but we should never be afraid of him. The gospel is meant to humble us. And part of the gospel is the glory due Jesus.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“The gospel of the kingdom is concerned with making Jesus’ people into holy people (Titus 2:14). But when we want an earthly power to accomplish what only divine power can do, we shift from the gospel.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“A Jesus-centered eschatology is more valuable than a tribulation-centered obsession.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Christian growth is not like a combo-lock. We don’t change by dialing in the right amount of Bible reading, prayer, Scripture memory, service, and community, and then click. By all means, do the spiritual disciplines, but know that the spiritual disciplines aren’t what change us. We are transformed, and idols are shattered, by what the disciplines are meant to show us: the glory of Jesus. The disciplines are vehicles of faith, means of grace to get us on the path of the Spirit so we can behold, see, and feel the wonder of Christ.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life

“Don’t start believing that somehow God is going to love you more because of what you are doing or not doing.”
― J.A. Medders, Gospel Formed: Living a Grace-Addicted, Truth-Filled, Jesus-Exalting Life