Back to the Basics (And the Reason for my Hope)

_{Photo by Sarah Walker}

I’ve rewritten my intro a few times already.

This topic has been on my heart for awhile, as it is something I have been convicted of sharing and something that I feel is lost in the muddle of social media, busy lives, heart-wrenching news stories, politics, and more. It is the reason for the hope that I have…the anchor of my soul, and it is misconstrued daily in the lives of many followers of Jesus. We warp it. We look at it through the world’s glasses. We look for it in almost every place except the Bible. We accept others’ opinions on it rather than looking to the factual source. What I am talking about is the Gospel…the good news that should be the foundation of every believer’s life and faith. It is time to get back to the basics and remember what this good news TRULY is and why it is so important for us to hold fast to it.

The word “gospel” gets pretty watered down these days. It’s one of those “Christian words” that many just associate with common bible-thumping proclamations like “Jesus loves you!” or “Repent of your sins!” (Both of which are totally true, but often lose their significance when not explained). “Gospel” literally means “good news” or “good announcement.” The Greek word for this is Euangelion. It was often used in terms of royal announcements, such as the news of the start of a new king’s reign. In terms of the Bible, the euangelion of Jesus is talking about God’s establishment of HIS kingdom. This was all fulfilled through His Son, Jesus…the perfect and sinless God-man. But more on that later…I want to explain the basics of this good news, why I believe in it, and how this should be manifest in the life of every believer in Jesus.

The Gospel first begins with the deity of Christ. The “good news” cannot truly be good unless we first start here. God is essentially three persons in one. He is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus!), and God the Holy Spirit. In the beginning of time, this triune God created the entirety of the world…the heavens and the earth. In Genesis, chapter 1, we see God as the Creator, One who blesses, the Author of life itself, and the divine ruler over His creation. Jesus, being part of the triune Godhead, is therefore also divine, holy, and perfect. He is the same God that we see in Genesis. In Isaiah, chapter 9, we read this prophecy about Jesus:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (verses 6-7)

Jesus is the son given to us from the Father. Here are more scripture passages pointing to the perfect deity and divine nature of Jesus, as God and as the Son of God, though He became man on Earth:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-10)

He was God, but He left His heavenly throne to come to earth as a man (though still devine) to sacrifice himself. Because of this great act of obedience and selflessness, God exalted Him. Jesus has the same place as God: He is worthy of worship, confession, and our service.

“In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5)

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:1-3)

“My sheep hear my voice, and I (Jesus) know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)

The important thing to realize, after believing that Jesus is God, holy, all-powerful, perfect, and our Lord, are His attributes because of this. As I said, Jesus is HOLY. Holy means “set apart,” and in this context, without sin. Even though Jesus came to earth as a man, He never sinned. Not once. He is the only one to walk this earth who never once defied God. He was perfectly obedient. And because of this, He was the perfect substitute for us…we who sin ALL. THE. TIME.

That is the difference between us and Jesus…and believe me, it’s a HUGE difference. He is God. We are not. He is holy, we are sinful. He is perfect, we mess up all the time. And because of our sinfulness (see Genesis 3), we are separated from Him.

Many of us choose to ignore sin. After all, the idea and truth of sin is uncomfortable. It points out that an all-loving Creator God hates something. The fact that God is perfect and holy and sinless means that He must hate what is apart from Himself. God is not the root of sin. God does not tolerate sin. God hates sin and the horrible effects it has on His creation. He doesn’t hate us, but He hates how sin ensnares us, draws us away from His perfect design, and eventually destroys us. Sin is the opposite of what God is.

And we are sinful. We stray from God’s perfect design every single day (again, see Genesis 3). And we love to pretend that sin is not actually sin. We love to pretend that gossip is good. We love to stray from God’s intentions for sex and marriage. We love to give our attention and affection to things other than Him, creating idols in our lives. We love to give into jealousy. We love to argue with others. We hate, we lie, we steal, we kill, we covet, we lust, we are impure, we are angry, and more. We all contribute to the evil that is in the world in one way or another.

As Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (17:9)

And Paul, in the book of Galatians, says “For the desires of the flesh (our sinful nature) are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (5:17)

And yet again, Paul calls us out as the people we are…separated from God: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Many of us hate the idea that we are not enough. And we aren’t: we are lost, broken, and sinful people…separated from the holiness and goodness of God. We will not inherit the kingdom of God as such people. We will never be able to be with Him if we are so horribly enslaved by our own desires. And it’s hard for us to think that a loving God could be so strict and intolerant of sin. For God to be rid of all the evil that is in the world, He essentially would have to get rid of US…who all contribute to the evil in the world.

“As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

BUT… (A great word, really!)

“those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24)

God provides a Way to get rid of evil without destroying His beloved Creation (without destroying us!) Early in the Bible, we see animal sacrifice being used to atone for the sins of God’s people. This served as a symbol of what Jesus would do eventually. An animal can in no way take away our sins. It’s just an animal. It is another part of the fallen creation. But what God wanted to show is that an essentially perfect life must be given in place of those who truly deserve death. The animals sacrificed were spotless, in good health, strong, and the best that could be offered. A “perfect” life for a sinful life.

This was the symbol of Jesus’ atonement for our sins, but He did it on an entirely different scale than the alter of animal sacrifice. Jesus was like that perfect lamb that was given. Jesus was completely spotless. He was perfect (as we’ve discussed earlier). He was pure, innocent, and not deserving of death, but was still given in the place of others (in OUR place).

Because Jesus came to earth in obedience to His Father, He suffered a cruel fate (death by Roman crucifixion). This was to atone for our sins. “Atonement” means to cover over someone’s debt. Jesus was the substitution, the payment of our debt of sin. “For the wages of sin is death,…” (Romans 6:23a)

He even said in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

“Jesus’ death covered the debt that humans owe God for contributing to all the evil and death that is in this world” (Tim Mackie).

Jesus satisfied God’s wrath for sin. He took our deserved place on the cross and died instead. Therefore, we did not have to make a payment to God for defying His holiness and perfect Creation. Jesus made that payment for us. He atoned for our sins.

But there is even more. Jesus did not stay dead after the crucifixion. The eyewitness accounts given in the historical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all factually state that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Why is this meaningful in the realm of the Good News?

“He broke the power of death and evil…The very power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can deal with the evil in our own lives and can transform us into people who live lives of love and peace” (Tim Mackie).

So what does this mean for us? It means that accepting Jesus’ gift of atonement…His gift of substitution and ransoming us from our sin, means that we can be forgiven and free from that enslavement. We don’t have to live lives that are bound for destruction. We don’t have to endure God’s wrath for sin. We don’t have to live separated from the Creator of the Universe…the holy, perfect, divine Father God.

“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:6-11)

I would DEFINITELY consider this the Gospel…Good News. In fact, this is the BEST news. I told you I would tell you why I believe in this. First of all, I believe that the Bible is a true, historical book (this reasoning is explained by the late Ravi Zacharias in “Why Trust the Bible?“…I won’t get into all the details because that would be a whole other post). I also believe in the Gospel because I have seen the power of its truth transforming peoples’ lives. The testimonies of many of my family members and friends alone are enough for me to see and believe in Jesus. I also believe in the Gospel because of the hope it provides in my own life. I grew up in church and in a Christian family. But my belief and faith was not “real” to me (that is, not transforming to me) until I was in high school. It was there that God showed me that belief in Him and acceptance of His gift of atonement is not all there is. He showed me that the Good News MUST cause me to make a change in my life. My newfound zeal for Christ became even more so 5 years later when my brother committed suicide. My brother professed his belief in Jesus and I saw the change in him because of it. I am confident that he trusted in the Lord for his salvation and accepted His forgiveness. Therefore, after he died, my hope increased all the more. Because of Jesus’ gift of eternal life, my brother’s sinful decision was already paid for. He made a momentary decision “of the flesh” that was opposed to God’s Spirit, but because he had accepted God’s gift of atonement, my brother is in Heaven with Him. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Jesus knows that on earth, it is impossible for us to be perfect, even after accepting His gift. But the purpose of accepting Him is that we might be changed from the inside out. The old, sinful person we used to be is gone, and in its place is a redeemed person, who lives for the Lord as best as they can in their sinful body. When we are in Christ, we are a new Creation. We do our very best to not sin. We seek what is good and “set our minds on things that are above” (Colossians 3). We present ourselves to God as “instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:13b). Yes, we still sin. But that is no longer our death warrant. We have been ransomed from that bondage. We may struggle, as our innate sinful flesh battles against our new righteous heart, but Jesus’ gift is what saves us eternally from our sin. It is nothing that WE do, but everything that HE does. My hope lies in Him.

So how then do we as followers of Jesus live our lives? I think this is where things begin to muddle for us. This is where we tend to try to keep elements of our “flesh” and make them work with our new lives as God’s children. We try to warp the gospel to our own liking and what WE want it to say. We ignore parts of Scripture that we don’t like or think are “outdated.” We don’t like change…and Jesus wants to change us COMPLETELY.

These are some of the key aspects of living for Christ that I have found in my own study…believe me, there are many more, but these are foundational.

1. “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness” (Romans 6:13a). Sin has no dominion over us unless we allow it. We as Christians are called to flee what is wrong and what is against God. As Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on, sin no more.” (John 8:11) And how will we know what God hates? And what is sinful? And what to avoid?
2. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom;” (Colossians 3:16a). Looking to Jesus FIRST through His Word, the Bible, is what will guide and direct us. People will fail us. Pastors, teachers, and spiritual leaders will fail us. Books written by man will fail us. What won’t is God’s Holy Word. What are we relying on for the truth? Are we relying on the news? Are we relying on the popular podcasts? Are we relying on people rather than God? Dig into Scripture to find that truth for yourself. Daily be in God’s Word, meditating on it and memorizing it…hiding His Word in your heart.
3. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you…You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-2, 5) This is how we “admonish one another in wisdom.” Many of us stop at verse 1 here and use this to create a false theology that Jesus doesn’t want us to judge others. If we continue on, we see that He does not want us to judge hypocritically. Context is key. We are to point each other, as brothers and sisters in Christ, in the right direction. This means calling each other out (in love) if we are wrong. This means “judging” or “discerning” if we are living like Jesus. This means that we have to look inwardly at ourselves first and take care of our own sin, before we point out the sin in a fellow believer.
4. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.” (Colossians 3:12-15). There is not much to say about this. It is clear that Christians are to live differently. When the world speaks of retaliation, we are to forgive. When they say to practice “self love”, we are to practice loving others and considering them greater. Where the world glorifies power, we are to glorify submission and meekness to God’s will for the good of the whole. We live differently.

This is what is on my heart. I want all to know the truth of the Gospel. I don’t want us to rely on famous pastors, 5-star podcasts, CNN or FOX news, best-selling novelists, or anything other than Jesus for the truth of the gospel. Granted, there are many good things that can supplement our understanding of Scripture, but, Satan, the author of evil, will try to get followers of Christ to stray in any way he can. This means he will make anything evil look good. Christian music looks good. Anything labeled as “church” looks good. What I am getting at is that we need to discern what is true from the lens of Scripture FIRST…the meaning and definition of the Gospel, most importantly. Satan will try to warp our beliefs, even through means we deem “good.”

Search the Scriptures. Don’t even take what I say for 100%-amen-truth. Dive into God’s Word to discover these truths for yourselves. May we as Christians, live like Jesus did, and truly understand the power and love of the Good News Gospel!