Before The Nations

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.  Isaiah 61:1-5

But you will be called the priests of the Lord; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast. Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs. For I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them. Isaiah 61:6-8 NASB Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed. I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.  Isaiah 61:9-11 NASB

Jesus Himself is the Gospel of salvation. He teaches us that no matter who we are or how badly we've messed up, grace, forgiveness and our salvation are available to all who believe in Jesus Christ as the risen Saviour. 

And the Gospel isn’t just for a few ....it is not only to serve a “saved” Christian in righteousness .... The Gospel is for everyone, and an amazing thing about it is that it is the one thing that unites all Christians, surrendered to Jesus Christ, together better than anything in the world. 

Wild!! Amazing grace .... think about it, there are Christians who are male, female, rich, poor, Caucasian, African, Asian, South American, Hispanic, liberal, conservative, quilting fans and motorcycle fans, male, female, adult, child, janitors, doctors, and homeless ....EVERYONE!  Paul writes to the Ephesians and to us today, that we were once dead in our sins but all of us have been made alive in Christ. We have been shown the immeasurable riches of His grace.

Ephesians 2:4-7 NASBBut God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! – and He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

God has graciously invited mankind to be part of His work in the world.  It is the conviction of the Gospel Garage family not to deny any person access to Jesus Christ and His church community, brothers and sisters - we are not to block anyone from hearing the Gospel or from taking communion based on a personal health decision (or any other non-biblical categorization of people). We believe that this is consistent with God’s grace in welcoming all people.  

When I try to put words to describe what the Gospel is, I’m taken back to a recent   morning, its the first real week of autumn here and the simplicity and the complexity of the warm sunshine on the early frosted lawn got me thinking about the complexity and simplicity of the Gospel. The good news of reconciliation, the cross, divine rescue, hope, love and God leaves me awkwardly speechless, rambling and tongue-twisted at the same time.

Psalms 34:3 NASB O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.

The overwhelming revelation of God, the revealing impact of sin, the generous sacrifice of Jesus, and my response of true repentance are simultaneously linear and abstract. Pondering these deep truths is like looking at that sunshine pouring forth, and then glancing from right to left in amazement and wonder, only to find myself retracing from right to left, but seeing it again – old, but new – a new beautiful scene.

I’ve resolved that the Gospel is both more simple than I realize and more complex than I can grasp. I’m okay with that, because every glance at the Gospel is more inviting, more awakening, more engaging than the last. The Bible reminds us, 

teaches and reveals God’s immense love for all His creation. 
This is the Gospel: God, limitless in authority and power, was determined to provide an adequate solution to the disastrous pain of sin. The separation that sin has caused between humanity and God needed resolve. Jesus Christ came to be the perfect and full payment for sin and by faith in Jesus and true repentance we can enter back into a reconciled, harmonious relationship with our Heavenly Father.