The Gospel

“In the short, I believe Rom 1:16-17 and then jumping right to all of Rom 3 sums it up quite nicely. In the long, I once heard it said that wisdom was doing what gave God the most glory. The fall did a lot of damage to the Earth and its inhabitants. Jesus came not only to reconcile mankind, but all of creation (Rom 8:18-25) which makes sense because it’s all His (Col 1:16).

One thing that I find interesting is that Jesus preached the Gospel as well (Matt 4:23; Matt 9:35; Luke 8:1; Luke 16:16; Matt 12:18; Mk 1:14-15). He preached on the Kingdom of God. That’s very important. What is the Kingdom of God? One Scripture in particular gives us insight: Rom 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

What does this all mean? My understanding of the Gospel is that Christ came to Earth to offer Himself as a sacrifice in order to conquer evil and restore creation to a right standing/relationship with God. This was necessary as our own righteousness was and always will be insufficient to atone for our sins past, present, and future. Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection essentially covers all these time frames. Our faith in Him and His work alone grants us eternal salvation, justification, and eventual glorfication (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 8:28-30). This newfound freedom (Rom 6:18; Gal 5:1) gives us hope, and the Holy Spirit helps us to walk in this same love. Essentially, Christ is enough.

For myself, I got saved when I realized that my own works were trash and could not save me, bring me lasting joy, satisfy me, or free me from bondage. Once I understood and believed that Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection was enough, I stopped trusting in myself and my legalism and fully embraced Him. What a night. I experienced joy unspeakable and peace which I cannot explain with words. Since then, I have been freer than I’ve ever been. No longer bound to the shame of embracing my femininity, the fear of loving myself and appreciating God’s design of me (hair, skin, personality, locality), or the fear of raising my voice. So much joy. To know that I am forgiven, justified, and thereby at peace with God because of my faith in Christ’s work and His imputed righteousness brings an immense amount of joy.

The work, however, doesnt end merely with personal sanctification. As ambassadors of Christ, we too share this message of reconciliation; the hope that God will heal if not in this world, then certainly the next (Rev 21:5). To care about the welfare of government, people, animals, and so forth all matter because they all need healing/redemption and all are apart of creation. It’s OK, I mean OKAY to care about these things. To want them. And to work towards them til our last breath. This is why the Gospel applies to every situation big and small.

To want and strive for unity in the body is imperative and also apart of this work. What a beautiful work it is that the Lord has given us. May we strive faithfully and diligently to give God the most glory by living this out. “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Cor 1:30 #Selah”