Obeying the Gospel

JESUS' FINAL INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS APOSTLES (JUNE 5)

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"And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age'" (Matthew 28:18-20).

JESUS’ FINAL INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS APOSTLES SHOULD BE OF MORE THAN PASSING INTEREST. If we wanted to know how Jesus viewed His own mission, we would need to look at the entire body of His teaching, of course, but His last words would be pertinent in a special way. What were the marching orders He gave to those whom He had selected to carry forward His work in the world?

“Disciple” is not a word we use much today, but it is a crucial word. The basic meaning is “pupil” or “learner,” but the extended meaning involves something deeper. A disciple is not merely under the instruction of a teacher; he or she is a follower of that person, one who emulates the life and character of the teacher. And that is what Jesus sought: not just students but disciples. His command to “make disciples” was a charge to proclaim the gospel to all who would listen and then to baptize those who sought the forgiveness of their sins. But while baptism was essential (there could be no discipleship without having “died with Christ”), baptism was just the beginning. Now forgiven and restored to God’s fellowship — and with the hope of heaven in their hearts — those baptized were to be taught “to observe all that I have commanded you.”

So the mission assigned to the apostles was disciple-making, and that could only be done through evangelism, the proclamation of the gospel itself. Whatever the apostles might have thought was more relevant, Jesus’ command never changed: make disciples. 

We need to keep coming back to the central concern of Jesus. Yes, He helped people physically and emotionally, but His greater concern was always with their spiritual needs. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). If we follow Jesus, our concern must be for the eternal welfare of people’s souls. So let’s not lose our focus. By God’s grace, let’s do what Jesus told His apostles: teach people how they can be with God when their broken lives in this world are done.

"The church has many tasks but only one mission" (Arthur Preston).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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SIN STRIKES DEEPER THAN WE ADMIT (JUNE 4)

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"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:12,13).

MOTIVES MAKE A DIFFERENCE, DO THEY NOT? When we fail to use good judgment, we hope people will see that we “meant well.” But there is another side to this. Actions that are good, at least in their outward appearance, may be contaminated by impure motives. If everybody could see what God sees in our hearts, they would often have to reevaluate even the best of our deeds.

So the question I must always ask is not only What did I do? but Why did I do it? The outward deed is certainly important (2 Corinthians 5:10), but the inward motive is even more so (Acts 8:20,21). God, of course, is the only one who knows our motives completely. We are “naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” He knows not only our words and deeds, but He knows “the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

All of this means that when we’re considering the problem of sin, we need to see how deep it really goes. (And please understand, I’m talking about our own sinfulness, not that of other people.) Sin strikes deeper than we admit. If all that had gone wrong was that our behavior had become dysfunctional, that problem would be relatively easy to fix. But the problem is that our hearts have become rebellious. Selfishness taints nearly everything we do, sometimes so subtly that we don’t even see it ourselves.

And if the problem is this deep, we should expect the remedy to be radical. Bringing our innermost hearts back to a position of utter unselfishness, God will have to do some serious work. The battle to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) will take more than a few days. And the process will not be painless.

It may be that our most pressing need is for greater self-honesty — and deeper repentance. The human heart is “deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). So when we find ourselves doing something for multiple reasons, do we have the honesty to ask, “Deep, deep down, what was the real reason why I did that?”

"Man sees your actions, but God your motives" (Thomas à Kempis).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE INCARNATE WORD (JUNE 3)

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"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1,2,14).

THE INCARNATION (GOD TAKING UPON HIMSELF HUMAN FLESH) IS THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL. It is, as C. S. Lewis put it, the “Grand Miracle” that makes all the other miracles, including the Resurrection, meaningful. It is very important to understand this.

Out of all our problems, there is only one that required God to become flesh: the problem of sin. To fix that problem God had to die in our place, and to do that He had to become a man capable of being killed. In the words of John Donne, “God clothed himself in vile man’s flesh so he might be weak enough to suffer.”

Toward the end of the first century, there began to be those who denied the Incarnation. Influenced by the attitudes of Gnosticism, some began to suggest that Jesus was not really God in the flesh. They denied that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” offering what purported to be a more advanced gospel. Sadly, this revision of the gospel is still extremely popular.

If the Incarnation is not true, however, then the gospel of Christ is just another religious philosophy. Take away the Incarnation, and what you have left is something that is antithetical to (“against”) Christ and His gospel. John saw this error for the perversion that it is: “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7).

It would be nice if our worst problem was nothing worse than poverty, disease, injustice, or emotional distress. God could have alleviated those kinds of hardship without the Incarnation. But there was a deeper sickness that required a more drastic solution, and we can be thankful He was willing to do what had to be done.

The gospel is about the forgiveness of our sins — and our need for forgiveness is why God had to become a man and die. May we not water the message down. The Incarnation is astonishing and hard to believe, but it is not optional. If it was not God who died on the cross, the gospel may be an interesting story, but it cannot save us.

"If we waver on the Incarnation we cease to be Christian" (Zach Kincaid).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

SALVATION IS NOT EARNED, BUT IT MAY BE FORFEITED (JUNE 2)

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"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it" (Hebrews 2:1).

NONE OF THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN WILL DESERVE TO BE THERE. Having sinned, we deserve to be punished, and if mere justice were allowed to run its course, we would all be lost. But the wonder of the gospel is that in Jesus Christ we may hope to receive what we do not deserve to receive: forgiveness. By His grace God has made it possible for us to be restored to His fellowship — and to enjoy eternity with Him in a perfect relationship.

But sometimes we leave the wrong impression. When we are emphasizing our undeservedness and the graciousness of God’s forgiveness, we lead people to believe that salvation has nothing to do with our conduct. But, in fact, it has very much to do with our conduct, and I want to mention one way in which that is true.

When we obey the initial terms of the gospel and come into a forgiven relationship with God, God begins at that point to renovate our character and make our hearts those which will be in perfect tune with His heart in eternity. We are required to participate in this process of character rehabilitation. It calls for choice and decision on our part, not to mention diligence and sacrifice.

If we don’t enter into this process of spiritual growth (or if having entered into it in the past, we’ve quit growing in the present), we begin to decline. On nearly every page of the New Testament, we see warnings about this (Acts 20:31; 2 Peter 3:14,17; etc.). There is no question that those to whom these warnings were written were actually Christians. They were “in Christ” and saved by His grace. But in many cases, they were in danger of forfeiting their salvation by complacency, neglect, and apostasy.

To the church in Ephesus, for example, the Lord communicated this warning: “You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Revelation 2:4,5). The fact is, we are never in greater danger than when we — presuming upon God’s grace — think we don’t need to be warned.

"The safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts" (C. S. Lewis).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE TEMPTING LURE OF “SELF-REALIZATION” (JUNE 1)

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"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6).

CREATED TO GROW AND DEVELOP WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF GOD’S WILL, THE HUMAN RACE HAS NOT BEEN CONTENT. Deceived, we have proceeded on the assumption that the really good life is outside of those boundaries. When Eve, and then Adam, disobeyed God, they did so because they had lost confidence in God’s goodness. Satan had suggested that God’s restrictions were unfair, and that, in fact, God was being selfish in keeping them from the knowledge they desired. They were seduced by Satan’s lie when he said, in effect, “Seize what is yours. Take what you have a right to enjoy. Break the rules and be your true self.”

Well, we are not fully developed, that much is true. But if we believe there is some true “self” we were meant to be, and “realizing” that dream requires disobeying God, then we have bought into the very same lie that destroyed Adam and Eve. God created us with great potential (we hardly have enough imagination to comprehend it), but fully becoming all that is possible for us requires staying inside the Creator’s will. Despite what the devil may say, at the end of the road of disobedience there is nothing but death.

The fact is, we are not our own. Created by God, we belong to Him. We exist for His purposes. Any declaration of independence on our part is an act of rebellion, all the more serious because it is an abuse of the freedom we were given. God wanted us to use this freedom to obey Him — not as robots but as loving children — but we have chosen to pursue our own path, in defiance of His will. How sad it must be to our Father that not only do we not see our sin, but we glory in it. We think we’re building heaven on earth. We’re the masters of our destiny, and we’re “fulfilling our human potential.”

But if we don’t turn around, we are going to spend eternity in a place where, without any more interference from God, we will be completely “free to be ourselves.” And it will be our little “self” (now fully “realized” and “actualized”) that will make hell, hell.

"The sin that shocks God is the thing which is highly esteemed among men -- self-realization, pride, my right to myself" (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHEN THE OLD SELF IS CRUCIFIED (MAY 31)

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"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin" (Romans 6:6).

CHRIST DIED BY CRUCIFIXION, AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ARE CONVERTED IS COMPARABLE TO HIS MANNER OF DEATH. We are, so to speak, crucified with him. And the thing that is put to death is our “old self,” as Paul describes it. The “body of sin” is killed, resulting in the situation that we are no longer “enslaved to sin.”

Baptism should be seen as a unique link in this chain of events. Because it takes place by an act of immersion, it aptly represents a burial. In baptism, our “old self” dies and is buried, and our “new self” comes to life (Colossians 2:12). “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,” Paul wrote, “in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Think about the physical circumstances when a person was crucified. Fastened to a cross, the person being executed could not move, not even to twist around and look behind him. Similarly, when we are crucified with Christ, we look ahead to our lives in Him — our crucifixion does not allow us to look at anything else.

Obviously, Roman crucifixion was fatal. On the cross, a person could not decide to reverse his course of life. To be crucified is to be set on a path that goes in only one direction. Just so, our death with Christ is the most decisive turning point of our lives.

But finally, and most importantly, death by Roman crucifixion robbed a person of anything that could be called his own. He was stripped of his clothes, nailed to a cross, and deprived of whatever plans he may have had for his life before that moment. In an even deeper sense, our being crucified with Christ means that we die to our previous lives, including the self-will with which we used to talk about “our” lives. With Paul, we can say, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

"There are three marks of one who is crucified. One, he is facing in only one direction. Two, he can never turn back. And three, he no longer has any plans of his own" (A. W. Tozer).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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WHO ARE THE “PEOPLE OF GOD”? (MAY 30)

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"For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:8,9).

THE “PEOPLE OF GOD” IS A PHRASE FAMILIAR TO US IN THE SCRIPTURES, BUT WHO ARE THE INDIVIDUALS TO WHOM THE EXPRESSION APPLIES? In the widest sense, these words apply to every person whom God ever created. But in the Scriptures, the phrase often refers to a subset of the human race: a group with a special relationship due to having been redeemed and rescued by God.

At the time when the Law of Moses was in effect, the tribes of Israel were God’s people in a unique sense. They were the physical family through whom God was going to bring the Messiah, or Christ, into the world. That mission having been accomplished, however, and the special role of Israel having been laid aside (Hebrews 8:1-13), who are the ones today who are the “people of God”? It is those who obey the gospel of Christ. The nation of Israel, in fact, pointed forward to this greater Israel, a spiritual people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9,10). If you want to know whether you are among these “people of God,” ask yourself these questions:

(1) HAVE I BEEN RECONCILED TO GOD — ON HIS TERMS? God’s people are His forgiven ones, having died to sin in baptism (Romans 6:3-5).

(2) DO I OFFER TO GOD WHAT HE IS SEEKING FROM HIS CREATURES? God has always looked for those who would love Him with all their hearts and live accordingly (Deuteronomy 10:12,13; Micah 6:8).

(3) DO I LIVE ON THE BASIS OF FAITH IN GOD? I am not one of God’s people if my life doesn’t show that I trust Him — taking risks to do things His way. “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

It is only the people of God who can look forward to the eternal rest that He has promised. For Israel, Canaan was the land in which they hoped to rest, but as Hebrews 4:8,9 points out, God spoke even then of a greater rest awaiting His people. “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” May God hasten the day when all His foes have been vanquished and He reigns over all His faithful people forever.

Come, Thou almighty King, help us Thy name to sing, help us to praise!
Father all-glorious, o’er all victorious,
Come and reign over us, Ancient of Days.
(Charles Wesley)

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

FROM DEATH TO LIFE (MAY 29)

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"Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness" (Romans 6:13).

IN JESUS CHRIST, BOTH LIFE AND DEATH TAKE ON A NEW MEANING. Having obeyed the gospel, the death we used to fear has no more power over us, and we find ourselves growing toward a kind of life that used to mean very little to us.

DEATH. For many people, physical death is the worst thing imaginable, the one thing to be avoided at all costs. There is, however, something worse: being dead spiritually even though we’re still alive physically. If we are alienated from God, whatever “life” we have right now is only a hollow shell, a sad reminder of the true life we were created for. It’s only a matter of time until our lives run out, and without a right relationship to God, nothing we do in this world is anything more than rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. To change the metaphor, our vehicle may still be going down the road, but we’re running on empty. Cut off from God, we are dead even while we live (1 Timothy 5:6).

This “living death” is, as I say, far worse than death itself. Indeed, physical death is a matter of small concern compared to the question of whether we are dead or alive in regard to God.

LIFE. In Christ, we are delivered from bondage to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14,15). It no longer has power over us, and for that we’re grateful. But more important, we’re grateful to have passed from death to life in the highest sense. It doesn’t matter whether our sojourn on this planet is long or short — we are truly alive.

There is even a sense in which the longer we live (and the closer we get to physical death), the more alive we become each day. Paul, a man whose entire life as a Christian was lived under the threat of being put to death, was growing toward a greater life the whole time. He said, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

So the Christian truly has “been brought from death to life” (Romans 6:13). And there is a wonderful irony in this. It was, after all, by dying that Jesus “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10).

"Salvation is moving from living death to deathless life" (Jack Odell).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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A BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART (MAY 28)

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"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).

WHETHER WE HAVE A “BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART” IS ONE OF THE MAIN FACTORS IN OUR READINESS TO ACCEPT THE GOSPEL. If, as the Scriptures teach, the gospel is about the forgiveness of our sins, we won’t listen to it if we don’t believe that sin is a problem for us. It is “godly sorrow” that puts us in touch with our need for the grace that is available in Christ, and while grief for our sins is not pleasant, it is the one experience that opens us to the gospel.

But godly sorrow is an experience that not everybody has had. Consequently, the gospel will seem like just another “religion” in the world — one more system of social ethics and personal well-being. And seen as such, the gospel may not compare very favorably with the humanistic psychology and social ethics we’ve been using up to now. The lives we’ve put together in this world may not be perfect in every respect, but they are very good, at least for many of us. Absent the grief that comes from seeing our sins realistically, the gospel will seem silly and superfluous. Jesus Christ is an answer to questions we are not even asking.

But a broken and contrite heart changes all of that. “And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner . . . began to wet [Jesus’] feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment . . . And he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven’” (Luke 7:37,38,48).

So is there no joy in the gospel of Christ? Yes, there is a greater joy than can be found anywhere else. But here is the catch: this greater joy is available only when we’ve accepted the loss of our lesser joys, especially those of self-sufficiency and pride. As long as we’re content to believe that we’re doing all right — and that any remaining problems are within the power of science and psychology to solve — we will cut ourselves off from the highest of all joys: reconciliation with the God who created us. Ironically, then, it is only a broken and contrite heart that is in a position to receive the joy that human beings were created to experience.

"Christianity is certainly not despair; it is, on the contrary, good news — for the despairing; but for the frivolous it is certainly not good news, for it wants first of all to make them serious" (Søren Kierkegaard).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

THE HONEST ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF OUR SINS (MAY 27)

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"For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (Psalm 51:3).

THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR SINS IS PAINFUL, BUT IT IS POWERFUL. If we’re willing to look honestly at our sins against God, the door can be opened to confession, repentance, and salvation.

The problem at the root of sin is always pride. It is pride that moves us to sin in the first place (we refuse to submit humbly to a will higher than our own), but having sinned, it is also pride that prevents us from acknowledging what we’ve done. Rather than confess our sins and seek God’s forgiveness, we suppress the truth with all manner of evasions, defenses, and rationalizations.

But if the gospel is about redemption from our sins, we must acknowledge our need for redemption. The first prerequisite to the gospel, therefore, is humility — the willingness to bow before the painful truth about ourselves. We must lay down not only our rebellion but the excuses we have been offering for our rebellion.

We usually think of the confession of sin in two directions: confession to God and confession to others. But I suggest that there is a confession that must precede both of these, and it may be the hardest confession of all. We must admit the truth to ourselves. Only when we ourselves face the facts will we be ready to acknowledge those facts to God and to those we’ve sinned against.

But let’s go a little deeper. The honest acknowledgement of sin requires more than a generic “I have sinned.” We must be willing to confess our actual sins and call them by their right names. In our human relationships, we wouldn’t feel an apology was sufficient if someone said no more than, “I haven’t treated you as I should.” An honest apology requires stating specifically the error that was committed. But again, the real difficulty lies in making that acknowledgement to ourselves. We won’t seek the forgiveness of God (or the forgiveness of others) if we haven’t fully digested the truth about our guilt and laid aside our excuses.

Personally, I know of no part of the plan of salvation that is any harder than this. It is gut-wrenching. But look at the doors that are opened. Humbled, we are ready to come to the foot of Jesus’ cross and say, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).

"The knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation" (Epicurus).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com