Aspects of the Gospel

During the last week, I came across these three verses that I thought were good illustrations of the gospel.  Since the gospel is the heart and soul of Christianity--and something I need to be constantly reminded of--, I thought I would post them here.

"I have swept away your sins like the morning mists.  I have scattered your offences like the clouds. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free."

--Isaiah 44:22 (NLT) 

We have sinned against God, all of us, offending Him more and hurting Him worse than we could possibly realize.  But God loved us and sent His Son, Jesus to die and pay the price for our sins, to set us free from them.  Sometimes, this is hard to believe.  Sometimes, when I've sinned, the sin seems so big to me.  I feel dirty, guilty, and unworthy of God's love.  At times like this, I try to push Him away, but He insists on being near to me.  While it's true that my sins are a big deal to God, I have underestimated how big a deal His love and atonement are.  Christ's blood covers all my sins, completely.  There's nothing left to offend Him, nothing left for me to feel guilty over, nothing left to spurn His love--Jesus swept all of that away, and now He bids me draw near to Him.

The Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"  But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

--Matthew 3:13-15 (ESV)

 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

--2 Corinthians 5:21   (NIV)

 But taking away our sins isn't the end of the gospel.  Some people treat it that way, though.  The other day, I talked for an hour with four Mormon guys, explaining to them that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, from the scriptures.  They agreed wholeheartedly that Jesus had died for their sins, but insisted on believing that it was now their responsibility to earn God's rewards in heaven by their own good works.  A lot of people have this mindset, a lot of Christians even.  Sometimes, I catch myself doing it (as I wrote in a previous post).  Sometimes, even if I'm not feeling guilty, I'll see some Christian do some good "Christian" thing--like getting baptized, reading the Bible, praying, or winning the lost--and I'll feel a little insecure.  Look what they did, I think to myself.  I bet if I did something like that, God would love me more.  Sometimes when I fail to do one of these things when I know I should, I begin to feel like I've lost His love.  But it's not true!

Christ's death does more than sweep away our sins.  It gives us His righteousness.  How extensive do you think that is?  Christ prayed and read His Bible regularly.  He gave three years of His life to public ministry, evangelizing the lost and ministering to them.  He memorized scripture.  He was baptized.  He performed miracles by His faith.  To top it all, He was God's own Son!  There is no righteous deed that He didn't fulfill, and He gives that righteousness to us.  He counts those deeds as if we'd done them.  That means I don't need to worry about not being baptized as an adult: Jesus did it.  I don't have to sweat if I miss a day in reading: Jesus has it covered.  I don't need to wonder if God would love me more as a full-time evangelist or a college student: God already loves me that much because He accounts Jesus' ministry as mine.

Now, this isn't to say that we shouldn't do good works.  Ephesians 2:10 says that God wants us to do good works and has some in mind already, prepared for us.  However, these good works are not the measure of our Christianity, nor an assurance of God's love.  If we lack any of them, though it would be good to do them, we need not doubt for a minute that God loves us with the deepest love imaginable.  We cannot earn His love by good works, and a lack of them cannot make Him love us less.

"Oh you of little faith, why do you doubt?"

Matthew 14:29-31 was the subject of today's Sunday school lesson.  We've been going through Max Lucado's Fearless and this week addressed the topic of fear of being overwhelmed by circumstances.  We talked about it with the background of Peter walking on the water.  He took his eyes off of Christ and looked at the huge waves around him, and when he did, he felt overwhelmed and afraid (and consequently, began to sink).  My Dad (yes, I'm a P.K.--a preacher's kid) asked what circumstances threatened to overwhelm us in our own lives (what "storms" we had).  Of course, finances figured prominently.  My Dad's taking care of finances for my Grandmother, who's in an assisted living facility because of her Alzheimer's.  Prices there were a little over her retirement income to begin with, and they keep rising.  At this rate, it seems, in a few years, her savings will run out, and then what?  As for me, I look for scholarships every year, but there's never enough to cover the full cost of school.  I have three more semesters left, but only (barely) enough money for one.  Will I be able to find a job or a paying internship this summer and save enough for my last two semesters?  With my youngest sister heading to college in the fall as well, will my parents be able to support my last year of schooling?

My Dad then asked a common, but nonetheless still valid question: why does God allow these storms in life to come at all?

Of God and the Gender Gap

I recently finished reading a couple of interesting books by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn entitled For Men Only and For Women Only (yes, I cheated and read the one for the opposite gender). Each book's aim to take a well-researched look at common gender-gap miscommunications from a Christian perspective. The basis of each book is a series of professional surveys and study groups done on women and men. Based on this research, each book tries to communicate the biggest, most common, and least understood things about the opposite gender (thus, For Men Only is “a straightforward guide to the inner lives of women,” written for their husbands/significant others, and vice versa with For Women Only). Both books were very informative. I’ve had an interest in gender-differences for some time and read a number of books on the subject, but many of the issues uncovered in these books were totally new to me. I recommend them highly, and if you’re really interested in understanding the opposite sex, I recommend reading both books since it is just as informative to read what you don’t get about the opposite sex as to read what they don’t get about your sex. For instance, in For Women Only Shaunti explains to a bewildered female readership the true meaning of the trite observation “Men are visual”--a fact of life so basic to me and to men in general that I was absolutely stunned that many women could not relate to it at all.

I have to say the most interesting part of each book was the last chapter. Here, the Feldhahns presented the results of their open-ended survey question. On each of the surveys they gave out, there was a blank space for the participants to fill in any additional complaints or comments they wished they could give the opposite gender (specifically their spouse or significant other). Here was where men could rant about control of the remote and women could complain about his facial hair, if they so chose. But the overwhelming majority of respondents chose to say something very different in that extra space. Most of the men used the space to say that the one thing they most wanted the woman in their life to know was “How much I love her” or some variation thereof. Most of the women used the space to say that the one thing they most wanted the man in their life to know was “He’s my hero” or “How much I respect him” or some variation thereof. It was ironic--considering how each gender fails so miserably at sharing their “one thing” (the top complaint among men from the rest of the survey was feeling disrespected, the top complaint among women from the rest of the survey was feeling unloved)--, but touching.

Then, I remembered Ephesians 5:25-32, where Paul begins by charging husbands to love their wives. In the process of delivering that charge, Paul delivers a stunning revelation: the union of marriage is an allegory that “refers to Christ and the Church” (verse 32). I took those two open-ended responses from the Feldhahns and Paul’s proclamation on a brief mental tour of scripture. How often to do we see God throughout the Bible (New and Old Testaments) proclaiming over and over again to His own (whether joyfully to the faithful or--as often is the case in the Old Testament prophets-- with sorrow and jealousy for the unfaithful), “I love you”? And what is it that He demands the most from His people, and the most faults them for when they fail to give it?  It is the respect (the “fear of the LORD”) that He deserves as the God He is.

What would happen if we really opened our hearts to God as He says, “I love you,” over and over again? What would happen if we really gave Him respect and reverence, replying to Him from the heart, “You’re my hero”? How many of the frustrations in our spiritual lives result from failures to do just that?