The Heart of the Gospel

Romans 8:38-39, Exodus 12:1-14, Psalm 149, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20, John 8:11, John 3:17, Romans 8:34

We come to it at last! The heart of the Gospel is grace and forgiveness. This week we will be following the theme "No Condemnation." What an amazing phrase because for those in Christ there is no condemnation. In fact, I might go do far as to say that the definition of Christian is one who is saved from condemnation. That is not to say that in Christ there is no condemnation. Jesus is spoken of biblically as not only providing unlimited love, but also as the judge who will separate the sheep from the goats, the worthy from the unworthy, and deliver them each to the consequences of their actions and allegiances. Nonetheless, the free grace of Christ is the good news of the Gospel and the primary purpose of his existence. No matter what wrongs we have done, who we have insulted, what secrets we hide, or what sin we live in: Christ's grace is enough!

In the overwhelming scripture attack above, we find instance after instance of this divine deliverance from ourselves. We are our own worst enemy, but "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to do good deeds and live life to the fullest out of thanksgiving and joy, rather than as chores and obstacles to overcome before we feel we have done "enough"? Grace does this. Grace relieves the pressure of conscience weighing down our hearts, reminding us of how horrible we are and how we are never good enough. Grace frees us to see the world through God's eyes, to relish in the blessings around us, to seek out the lost and needy because we genuinely want to and NOT because we feel it is our solemn duty.

This message hits me perfectly today as I had a troubling dream last night where I was a murderer and killed a friend of mine and most of the dream involved me panicking about what was going to happen to me and how much I deserved the worst fate possible for my stupidity. When I awoke and read these scriptures, I felt joy and relief. Certainly, it WAS a dream, but it was also symbolic of our guilt and shame that we so often feel towards ourselves. God would have it that all would seek him, repent (turn away from) their sins, and be forgiven; but many refuse to submit themselves to such injustice. We are a vengeful people who feel a need for justice EVEN when the offender is ourselves. We know we do not deserve a free ticket of grace, nor do we deserve the sacrifice of another person's life in our place, but God's love is greater than "an eye for an eye" justice. Grace IS amazing because God is the only one who could use it to rescue us from ourselves so we could thereby live life as we were meant to live it. By sharing the love that saved us with everyone else and o live in grace and forgiveness with all.

This intention of God's has always been around. In Exodus, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians such that God promised to send a plague that would kill every firstborn in Egypt. God commanded the faithful to smear the blood of a lamb without defect on the door frames of their houses. The innocent lambs died in place of the Israelites' firstborn. When the plague came to such doors, it would see the innocent blood and leave (pass over) the house untouched. Similarly, Jesus became the innocent lamb who laid down HIS OWN LIFE for all would accept him. When judgment and condemnation and death come to take our lives for the wrongs we have committed, Jesus will judge us based on whether or not we have his blood smeared on our hearts, for only the blood of God (the blood of one truly innocent), could genuinely cover over all of our defects and allow us to be saved. This is why people say Jesus died for our sins. He died in our place. And he rose again to defeat death and usher in a new era of loving humanity. The Church should stand as a symbol of that loving humanity. Unfortunately we do not always... We use words like grace and atonement and "Jesus died for our sins" as meaningless catchphrases. This cheapens their worth. May we be intentional when we use them so as to maximize their worth and multiply God's love!