His Message Gives Life

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, The righteous by faith will live. Romans 1:16-17 NET

Jesus Himself warned His disciples against being ashamed of Him, which shows that He anticipated they might be (Mark 8:38). The message of the cross undermines self-righteousness and challenges self-indulgence.

Whenever the Gospel is faithfully preached, it stirs opposition, often contempt and sometimes ridicule.  But we instead remember Jesus’ teachings, that the same message which some people despise for its weakness is in fact “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” 

We know this because we have experienced its saving power in our own lives. God has reconciled us to Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, forgiven our sins, made us His children, put Holy Spirit within us, begun to transform us and introduced us into His new community. How can we possibly be ashamed of the gospel?

Moreover, the Gospel brings salvation to “everyone who believes”. Saving faith is the great leveller. Everyone who is saved is saved in exactly the same way, by faith. Equally.  There is no distinction between them. 

The Gospel is the saving power of God. 

It gives us a sense of obligation (we have been entrusted with the good news), and it gives us a sense of conviction (if it has saved me, it will save others).  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. Because of the unrelenting grace of God we can enter back into harmonious relationship with God through faith in Jesus and true repentance, this is the Gospel. 

Matthew 18:11 TPT The Son of Man has come to give life to anyone who is lost.

Take that step, ask for Holy Spirit to walk with you, forgive, surrender the tight grip of control, our moving forward from this point requires accepting God’s grace and walking in the freedom He has given us from bondage that held us tied to bad habits, addictions, damaging behaviours. Do that and you will be one step closer to flourishing....  Its what Jesus Christ has done, and still continues to do for me. Its what Jesus does with our lives. He takes a tattered, broken, marked person and makes them better than ever before. When Jesus goes to work on us we become unrecognizable to the people who knew us before. 

God’s definition of restoration doesn’t just mean putting us back together, but it means to go above and beyond in making us better than before. We’re always in far better shape after Jesus has gone to work on us than before. It doesn't mean we won’t suffer or feel the growing pains because we will but  God will restore us. That’s not a “maybe” or “if He feels like it.” It’s a promise that the Lord will restore His people to a better place.

You might feel like your past has left you too broken to be of any use. You might feel so used and ashamed that God could never use someone like you. You’re not the only one because I’ve felt that. But these are lies the enemy wants us to believe to keep us down so that we won’t fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. Deny these thoughts and know that when God puts us back together there’s more than an external picture of being put back together like a broken vase, God does an internal working in our heart, soul, and mind that is a healing of sorts as well. He wants to reach down into the innermost parts of your soul where no one else can go to mend and fill with grace. To rid you of shame, guilt, sorrow, pain, insecurity, and more. These are works only God can do; no human has the ability to fill your void and depths of the heart. 

Religion tends to look for outward signs that we are qualified to follow God, but Jesus shatters that paradigm time and time again. He doesn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up or renounce our lifestyles. He finds us where we are and calls us to follow him. No application or qualifications needed. 

So, what was Jesus’ message? It wasn’t that good people go to heaven. bad people will be judged.  Jesus’ message was grace. It was salvation for all who believe in him. It was mercy and compassion and forgiveness for all who would put their faith in him. Jesus was the personification and the embodiment of grace. In other words, Jesus himself is the message. Jesus is the purpose and the point. The message isn’t mere dogma or doctrine. It isn’t behavioral change. The message is that no matter who you are or how badly you’ve messed up, grace and forgiveness are available in and through Jesus Christ. 

That’s why Jesus came to earth in physical, tangible, human form. He came not to just tell us about grace but to literally be grace for over thirty-three years. His life was His message, and His message gives life. The more we follow Jesus, the more we find our lives defined and transformed by the love and grace of God.

It’s a message of unconditional and unending acceptance by God, based on his grace and received through faith in Jesus. I’ve discovered that it’s one thing to agree with grace or even recite verses about grace, but it’s another to truly understand it and live it. Honestly, that’s where we tend to miss the message the most. We listen to grace on Sunday and then live with guilt, law, and condemnation Monday through Saturday often witholding grace from those we encounter. 

It’s not hard news, bad news, complicated news, or frightening news. It’s good news. The Good News.  The message of Jesus is one of hope, of joy, of peace, of freedom, of salvation!