the proGnosis

About a decade ago I met a female Christian worker who had a favourite, stock phrase. Whenever a question was raised, a problem posed or a discussion held she would always come in with the same phrase. And that really annoyed me. I just thought she was avoiding the topic. It’s rather funny as I look back to some discussions where I tried to disagree with her and just ended up looking like a complete Balaam’s donkey. Why? What was the ‘stock’ phrase that she kept using? Here goes: ‘It’s all about the gospel’. Ah! It really annoyed me. Let me illustrate:

• I know a girl struggling with self image issues. Answer? ‘It’s all about the gospel’
• I’m chatting to a student who’s having a hard time believing God loves him. Answer? ‘It’s all about the gospel’
• I’ve got bad athlete’s foot. Answer? ‘It’s all about the gospel’ (that’s not true. But I did wonder what she would say)

Wouldn’t that annoy you?

But over the last 10 years I have had to admit that I was wrong and she was right (Don’t you hate it when that happens? It get’s really bad when you are married!). You see, I completely misunderstood what she meant by the term ‘gospel’. I was taught that the gospel was as simple as ABC. ADMIT you have sinned. BELIEVE that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. COMMIT yourself to living for Him.

To me the gospel was just a process you went through to become a Christian. If you wanted to go to heaven not hell – then you needed the gospel. If you wanted to be forgiven for your sins – then you needed the gospel. But that was it. As soon as you had become a Christian the gospel had done its job. Jesus died to pay the price for our sins. Once you accept that and are born again – job done.

I had nearly missed the point of the gospel. You see, the gospel is not merely a set of truth propositions that give you a 3 step guide to becoming a member of God’s family. Rather, according to Mark 1:1, Jesus is the gospel. He is the good news. And when you study Ephesians 2:1-10 you see that He has saved us from death to life, and it was through grace, but he has saved us for a new life – a life of good works. So the gospel is not just about becoming a Christian, it is about BEING a Christian.

When you become a Christian you are made 1 with Jesus. You are united (to learn more about this download Edward Donnelly preaching on ‘Union with Christ’ from the Evangelical Movement of Wales web site -it’ll change your life). So now my identity is tied up in who Jesus is. He not only paid my debt on the cross, He gave me His righteousness too. So now I am literally (although I am not allowed to use that word according to the March 07 edition of the Briefing) clothed in Christ.

So let’s go through those questions again:

• I know a girl struggling with self image issues. Answer?

It’s all about the gospel because Jesus loved you before the creation of the world, before the onslaught of zits and before you read the last edition of cosmopolitan and decided that size 8 is the new size 10. You see, although rubbish Christian boys say they will love you if you look like the porn they sneakily look at – Jesus just simply loves you. Full stop. End of question. He loves you. And what does He do to prove that love? Take you down the bowling alley in his Ford KA and treat you to a Pizza Hut? No. He came to earth to be one of us, giving up all his worship and glory in heaven, and then dies on the cross in cruel physical agony, and more importantly, in separation from the Father as a substitute for your sin. Jesus died for you. That’s how much He loves you. And he wants you to live for Him in the most amazing mission of all history – being light in the darkness. So look to Jesus ‘the gospel’ for your self image, self worth and self respect – not backslidden ‘Christian’ boys who’ll end up breaking your heart anyway (sorry lads…).

• I’m chatting to a student who’s having a hard time believing God loves him.

Answer?

It’s all about the gospel. You see, we live in a world where we have to earn everything. You earn your place on the rugby team, you earn your place in uni and you earn the respect of your mates and work colleagues. Do you want a pay rise? Work hard. Do you want to get into a choir? Practice hard. We have all been brought up on Saving Private Ryan and hear those crippling words ‘earn it, earn it’. So when it comes to our faith, if we are not living a perfect life – we doubt we are a Christian at all. Surely God can’t love me? Not the way I am! But He can. Not because he is a wimp dad in the sky who just laughs at his son as he mocks him publicly. No, because God put His wrath for our sins on Christ. Jesus has paid the price. He has united us to Christ. We have been forgiven and adopted into God’s family because of Jesus. Nothing can change that. Therefore we should not doubt whether God loves us, as a Historical act (the cross) proves He does. And we should not feel as though we have to earn God’s love as it was proved and a relationship achieved through the Cross.

But let me add this. (Here comes an aside. We need to grasp Romans 3-5 (above) as well as Romans 6 (the following) ) Most guy’s I have known doubt because they have given into a repetitive sin. In that instance we must battle the sin with all our energy in the power of the Holy Spirit. Admit it to a mate and be accountable. Why? Because of the gospel! You see, we do not give up certain sins because the Bible lists it as wrong. No. We give up certain sins because we are one in Christ – we are in a relationship with Jesus – and he should be our all in all. He should be enough. He is enough. And when you break these laws, you are unfaithful to Jesus.

Imagine this (I’ve nicked this from a great book called ‘searching for God knows what’ by Don Miller – cheers Tomos J). You are in the church on your wedding day, your all excited and loved up. As the music starts and you turn to see your bride walk down the aisle (I cried like a stupid little girl who lost her Girls aloud CD at this point. Oh well..). Imagine at that point she starts checking out the other guys! Looking at some of the guests and giving them the eye! I would go mad and run for it! You know, we are the bride of Christ (sorry for the girly language – but it’s Ephesians – take it up with Paul…Oh, and I guess the Song of Solomon -Rated 21). And as the bride of Christ, when we live for other things or put repetitive sins as a regular feature of our life – we are unfaithful. The Old Testament calls it being a whore. We kick Him in the teeth. We literally laugh at the Cross. Sin is ugly. Sin is sick. Get rid of it.

(Back to the main point)

She was right. It really is all about the gospel. We must never forget Jesus. We must be suspicious of any sermon that does not end up with the gospel. We must meditate on the gospel year after year after year. We must love the gospel/ Jesus more and more with every communion. We must never forget that ‘it’s all about the gospel’.

Thanks be to God for godly women!

That’s why the girl is always right.