John 3:16

While the gospel is very big and multifaceted, I fear that some believers tend to make it a sort of catch-all word for anything that has to do with God. The most common way I've heard it misused is in the context of the phrase "living out the gospel." What people generally mean by the is "doing good things for other people." So the gospel must be translated, in this instance, to "good things for others." I submit to you that this is a gross misunderstanding of what the gospel is.

First of all, gospel is a word that comes from an old English translation of the Greek word euangelion, which means "good news." More specifically, the gospel is an announcement. But it has to be a good announcement. The announcement that you must "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength" is news, but it's not particularly good if you're a human being like me. Historically, Christian have defined the gospel as the announcement that Jesus has died to save sinners. So the phrase "living out the gospel" makes no sense when the gospel is understood in this way: an announcement of good news.

If you watch newscasts, you know you can't "live out" the news. You can react to it, certainly, and knowledge of it may well influence the things you do. The gospel is the same way. It will, no doubt, impact your life. But that impact is not the gospel. It can't be. It's the impact of the gospel. And it should be noted that the gospel itself does not demand a certain response. It makes no demand at all. Remember, it is an announcement. Hearers of the gospel, from the apostle Paul to the atheist Richard Dawkins, have recommended responses, but again, these responses are not the gospel.

The gospel is that Jesus has died to save sinners like me, and like you.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

John 19:18 There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them.

Jesus had been sentenced to death by crucifixion on Golgotha. His cross is between two others, both of whom were thieves and criminals, and in this final moment of life, they have become his only companions - "numbered with the transgressors," as Isaiah said. Their sin becomes his. This is the scandal of the cross.

We may wrongly protect against the depth of this scandal, perhaps seeking to excuse ourselves as the transgressors that we are. But such pretense no longer remains concealed on Christ's cross. Indeed, what is revealed here is the deep truth of our sin, which he has claimed as his own. The veneer of our own righteousness is stripped from us, depriving us of any smooth surfaces we may have sought to keep in order to preserve a good standing or reputation in the world. Christ's cross is not polished. It bears all our painful coarseness and splinters. It exposes us for the sinful people we really are.

But Christ's cross reveals so much more. He is not ashamed to suffer and die in the midst of our own scandalous life and death. He reveals that he chooses to regard us, transgressors that we are, as his companions and friends. And here on the cross, all of us transgressors are made righteous through him in his loving outstretched arms. By his righteousness, we are healed

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Luke 22:19-20 - And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

As we eat and drink at our Lord's table, we remember his death as the good news that we are now delivered from all sin, death and evil. The promise of his new covenant is that it is not something we must earn to make ourselves right with God - as if we could! Instead, we trust that through his death we are joined together with him and with one another at his table in the fellowship of his grace, mercy and forgiveness.

He is the Passover Lamb whose body and blood is given for us and for our forgiveness. His blood is upon the lintels of our lives, even in the greatest of trial and troubles. As alluded to in the parable of the prodigal son, Christ is the lamb who is sacrificed at the feast for sinners who are now welcomed home and get to celebrate. Paul also reminds us of the significance of this sacred meal for the whole community of faith: "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it nt a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16).

As we eat and drink at our Lord's table, we eat and drink to the newness of life we have in Christ!

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Psalm 118:22  The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

When it comes to buildings, or anything we build, there are decisions to be made in the process. Builders choose the prize stones for their building. They are dissatisfied with stones that are less qualified, and some stones they outwardly reject.

Such building seems to match the events of Holy Week. All the cheers at the entry gates of Jerusalem in hopes of building a future of messianic promise would soo give way to jeers in a matter of days, tearing down the very fabric of that messianic hope in Jesus. Instead of the crowds shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David" before the week is out, they would be shouting "Crucify him! Crucify him!" (Matthew 27:16-26) How quickly it all moves from Jesus being honored and praised as a leader to him being cast out as a blasphemer!

Yes, Jesus was the Rejected Stone on the cross. But for us as Christ-trusters, his place as the Rejected One is the chief cornerstone of our faith. As Jesus bears his cross and is crucified on Golgotha, rejected by all, we follow him in repentance and hope. For he bore our unworthiness on his weakened shoulders in order to build us up as the church! We cannot help but say with the psalmists in response: "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes" (Psalm 118:23).

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Matthew 21:9-11  The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Hosanna means "save us, we pray!" The acclamation expresses the fervent hope that the people of Israel had for the coming of the Messiah who would deliver them. And with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred into turmoil asking, "Who is this?" The initial answer of the crowds to that question is quite understated: a prophet from Nazareth.

As Matthew tells it, Jesus is so much more than a prophet from Nazareth, of course. When Jesus died on the cross, there was a tearing apart of the curtain in the temple, opening the glory of God's promise to all. And with that, there was a stirring of the ground, with rocks splitting apart and tombs being opened and with the saints rising from the dead. (Matthew 27:51-52).

Who is this? This is Jesus Christ, the One who has come to save us and give us life beyond all death! We trust in him, even as we cry joyously, "Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

John 8:9  When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

What the critics of Jesus heard was their own convicting judgment coming back at them: "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7). None of them had the authority to truly sit in judgment of another for her sin. They drop their stones and walk away.

But now the woman stands alone before Jesus. She cannot hide from her own sin anymore. None of us can. Peter, in the presence of Jesus, fell to his knees confessing, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8). Even in our prayers of solitude, we cannot escape the penitential truth of who we are and what we have done or left undone. Nor can we deny this truth.

But when we come to God, we come under the sign of the cross. Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment" (John 9:39). Indeed, that judgment will take him to the cross, and his own death will expose us for who we truly are in all our sin. But he comes to make that judgment his own so that through his death, we may have his final word for our future. He comes to grant us standing before God in grace as God's own redeemed children. We are no longer guilty when we have Jesus by our side.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

John 8:3-4  ...and, making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery."

A woman is being humiliated by accusers armed not only with legal backing for their argument but stones in their hands to execute their judgment. But all of this is only an attempt to test Jesus "so that they might have some charge to bring against him" (John 8:6).

There is ample evidence that we so often have a hard heart of stone, exhibiting no problem whatsoever judging others. We may even invoke God as our witness. What we do not show as readily is a kind heart of mercy toward others.

Jesus did not come in order to exercise legal judgment. He seems altogether disinterested in such efforts to put others down. He came to bring us a directive of grace. And such grace is for all. He would stake that on the cross, where he was publicly humiliated and put to death for all. Through Christ's death and resurrection, we do not seek the humiliation of others but the bestowal of grace. We trust that "in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (2 Corinthians 5:19).

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,