The Gospel Transforms
John Stott says “All progress in the Christian life depends upon a recapitulation of the original terms of one's acceptance with God.”
Elyse Fitzpatrick says, “Every forward step depends upon summing up the main points of the gospel and then living them out in our lives. Over and over again, we’ve got to take ourselves back to the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension or we won’t make much real progress in the Christian life…. Maturity in the Christian life is measured by only one test: how much closer to his character have we become? The result of the Spirit’s work is not more and more activity. No, the results of His work are seen in our quality of life; they are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It is life like His. In order to grow in Christlikeness, we’ve got to intentionally apply the gospel to everything we are and everything we long to do. We’re not to sever our obedience from his perfect sinlessness nor disconnect our mortal life from his resurrected life. We’ve got to understand ourselves in the light of our new identity, seeing ourselves as we truly are: sinful and flawed, loved and welcomed. Only these gospel realities have enough power to engender faith, kill idolatry, produce character change, and motivate faithful obedience.” (The ideas from this blog post are taken from Elyse Fitzpatrick’s book, Because He Loves Me.)
We have a tendency to think of the gospel for salvation - and it is! But it is the grace of God that changes us after we are saved and gives us hope that all of God’s promises are true and will be fulfilled. It is the grace of God that allows us to respond with God-glorifying thoughts, words, and actions.
Titus 2:11-13 “For the grace of God has appeared (Jesus’ life, death, resurrection), bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Everything in life is based out of the truth that your sins are forgiven.
Matthew 9:1-2 “And getting into a boat he crossed over to his own city. And behold, some people brought him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.”
How do you think the paralyzed man responded to this initially? He hasn’t been able to walk. He had been lying down on a cot for probably a very long time. He came to Jesus for healing. He came to be able to walk.
Yet Jesus says, “Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.”
We come to God wanting healing. Maybe we want a relationship fixed. Maybe we want to heal from a disease. Maybe we want a job situation to improve. Maybe we want to have peace about an upcoming situation we know we don’t have the power to control.
How do we respond if we get “Take heart, my daughter, your sins are forgiven”? Is that a celebration of God?
Is your response, “But I want this situation fixed!”?
Jesus’ words have tremendous hope! He is recognizing this man’s biggest problem.
Jesus says “Take heart” - he is saying “have courage”. Jesus is saying, “your circumstances don’t define you, you can have courage no matter what you are facing”
Jesus says “my son” - this is a relationship! Jesus is welcoming this man because he came in faith believing Jesus had the power to heal. Jesus is making a statement about His work to bring this man into God’s family.
Then Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven”! There is NOTHING better than that! The problem of his sin, which separated this man from God, eternally, has been fixed.
What is your response to that? If we go to God with a prayer request and He says, “Take heart, my daughter, your sins are forgiven”, is there an excitement and joy in that?
Jesus is saying “Have faith, have courage in who I am. I love you and have made you my own. Your sins are forgiven because I have paid the price for them on the cross.”
This should change the way we look at every single situation, of every single day, for the rest of our lives!
The truth that our entire life has been transformed:
We’ve gone from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light
We’ve gone from eternally separated from God to living in His presence every moment
We’ve gone from being enslaved to sin to being free to serve and glorify God
We’ve gone from children of wrath to children, loved and adopted by God.
The truth that we are forgiven should change the way we look at every single moment of our lives.
The gospel matters!
Jesus was incarnated - Jesus left the throne room of heaven to be born and live on earth. He became a fleshly human while remaining fully God. Jesus lived and experienced life as we do. He dealt with sinful people, the demanding crowds, the betrayals, the false accusations, the illness that cause death and sadness, the futility of things not working as they should on earth. As a carpenter’s son and doing carpentry work from being a teenager until age 30, he had to deal with tools that break and need sharpening and fixing. Jesus really lived a life as a human. Jesus suffered as a human. Christ suffered as you suffer, and infinitely more so. Jesus taking on flesh means you are never alone in suffering. Jesus emptied himself of the outward display of his glory and made himself a lowly servant and slave.
Jesus lived a sinless life - He faced every type of temptation but never gave in sin. He did not have the sin nature that we have. Jesus’ perfect righteousness and holiness is ours in Christ. We don’t need to strive for perfection because Christ is our perfection. We can cling to His sinlessness as our hope! He lived “under the law” never breaking a single one! He embraced his father’s will for every single detail of life. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief yet He responded without sin. He was obedient to death on the cross. Jesus was sinned against in every possible way. His response to wrongdoing shows us that God can be trusted when we are wronged. Jesus did not revile in return, He entrusted Himself to His Father who judges justly.
Jesus was crucified - He took all of God’s wrath for our sins on Himself. He suffered in our place. God has accepted payment for our sins. All of our sins are completely forgiven. Jesus suffered in our place. The wages of our sin is death - yet Christ died in our place. He is the substitute sacrifice gaining for us a justified relationship with God. Christ crucified shows us the costliness of forgiveness. We are forgiven at infinite cost against a holy, holy, holy God. We too will bear the cost of forgiving others their debt against us.
Philippians 3:10 says that as we experience pain and suffering we know Christ more. There is a bond in suffering that draws us into knowing more of Christ’s love and grace for us. We can trust God when we have been sinned against knowing that His grace is sufficient and He empowers us through the Holy Spirit to forgive as we’ve been forgiven.
Jesus resurrected - The power of sin and death has been defeated in the ultimate sense. Jesus has won the battle of sin and death. We live in the times when sin and death are still present. It is a future reality when Jesus’ victory will be brought to fruition. But, we fight our sin knowing the truth that sin is not victorious. This changes how we respond! Sin doesn’t have complete power - Jesus does! We don’t battle our sin as defeated people. The power of sin is broken and we can fight temptation from the vantage point of sin already being defeated. We can depend on the Holy Spirit and choose to obey. Jesus’ resurrection is our hope that life on this earth is not all there is. Suffering is temporary because Christ came back to life and ended the power of death.
Jesus ascended - Jesus is alive and seated at the right hand of God. Jesus still has the human fleshly form, though now glorified. He is interceding for us and is our advocate with the Father. Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus always lives to make intercession. As we deal with suffering and sin, we know Jesus is praying for us! Jesus as our advocate (1 John 2:1) who defends us as righteous before God the Father when we sin. Jesus lives to “reapply” the atonement of the cross every single time we sin. Jesus’ eternal life means our salvation is secure forever! Jesus left His Spirit to indwell each believer. We are in His presence every moment of every day because Jesus’ Spirit is within us. We do not live this life or fight our sin alone. We have God with us - Immanuel - all the time! And, He will bring us “home” with a new body and soul to live eternally with Him.
Let’s look at what this means in some typical situations we face.
Story #1
Megan is a 54 year old woman who has been married for 25 years. Her husband, Jim, is an engineer and they live just up the road from church. They are involved in both serving and studies at church. Megan greets at the door to the church and does a Wednesday night bible study. She is always ready with her study done and likes to answer the questions. She has two adult daughters Claire, 25 years old and Sophie, 22 years old.. During prayer request time, Megan shares that she needs prayer for Sophie. Megan says she is very worried about Sophie and decisions Sophie is making. Megan shares how she and Jim worked so hard to instill Christian values and faith in their girls. While Claire has embraced her faith and is growing, Sophie is not attending church right now and seems to be going out with new friends on the weekends. Megan says she has had some sleepless nights worrying about Sophie’s walk with the Lord and the kind of trouble she could get into. Megan starts telling stories about other kids who “went off the deep end” after college and how she can see this happening to Sophie if things don’t change quickly. She says she just can’t stop thinking about all the times she wishes she had parented differently and now questions if she and Jim shared the gospel enough and disciplined Sophie appropriately. Megan is ready to have Sophie move home so she can keep an eye on her. She wants Jim to help her convince Sophie to return home. She wants prayer that they will have the right words to convince Sophie to make some changes.
How should the gospel help Megan in this struggle with anxiety regarding her daughter’s faith (salvation) and her choices?
Jesus’ incarnation means that Jesus knows the temptation to be anxious over family situations. Jesus’ own family rejected his claims of deity early on. Jesus was faced with temptation, yet was sinless. Jesus is the sympathetic high priest because he knows what it is like to live on earth as a human. Megan can find hope, comfort, and encouragement in the truth that Jesus understands what it’s like to watch family and friends reject the truth.
Jesus was sinless. Jesus didn’t give in to anxiety. His faith remained strong and unwavering in God’s purpose for Him and everyone else around Him. This perfect record is given to Megan through her faith in Jesus’ atoning work. Jesus was all about doing the will of His Father and resting in His plan. Megan can find hope in trusting in God’s plan knowing that even suffering is part of God’s good plan.
Jesus was crucified. Jesus died for anxiety and any parenting sin she committed. Whether she neglected the gospel or failed to show grace and mercy at times to her daughters, Megan is completely forgiven. Christ has already forgiven her and there is no punishment for her sin - Jesus already paid the price. Megan can trust God’s promise to forgive in Christ and rest in her relationship with God. She doesn’t need to rehash the past and live with regret. She can trust that God’s grace and mercy are more than abounding.
Jesus resurrected. Her doubts and worries have been overcome by Christ defeating sin and death. The power of anxiety is broken. She is no longer a slave to her desire to control her daughter’s outcome. She can faithfully fight the sinful desire and the anxiousness because she fights with the power of the Holy Spirit. No matter how strong the anxiety feels, no matter how much the pull to try to control her daughter’s outcome, she can have faith that God is more powerful and is putting to death sin within her. When she is focused on the suffering of a wayward child, she has the hope that God is wise and faithful. His plan is being worked out perfectly. Megan can rest in God’s goodness and trust that even when things are not in her control, God is sovereign.
Jesus ascended. Knowing that Jesus is alive and praying for her means that she is not alone in her situation. Jesus is our mediator who understands our situation and has the ear of God. Jesus understands the sadness of having family and friends not believe and live out of faith. He will comfort her as she relies on Him.
Megan needs to see her sin of desiring her outcome for her daughter and recognize her anxiety in unbelief about God’s goodness, wisdom, and love. But she also needs to see that her Great Savior has already paid the price for those sins and she can repent of them and find grace and mercy waiting for her! As she thinks about Christ’s incarnation, sinless life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, she can fight her sinful desire and anxiety with confidence knowing that the power of sin has been defeated. She can live out confidence in God because she is a loved and welcomed member of God’s family. The imperatives of “do not be anxious about anything” are understood from the vantage point that she is in God’s family and has been empowered to live by faith. She doesn’t need to muster up the strength to not worry, she can depend on God to help her. She doesn’t need to control, she can trust that Jesus understands her fear and pain and God is working out His perfect plan. Does it hurt to have a child that may not be saved? Yes, and Megan should pray faithfully for Sophie’s salvation. Megan should look for opportunities to share the gospel. But, knowing that she isn’t the one to “make Sophie” believe and she can trust God’s plan is best, means how she shares and interacts with Sophie won’t be strong arming her or manipulating her to get what Megan wants.
Story #2
Penny is a graphic designer at a Christian marketing company. She is responsible for creating advertising and print media for book publishers and Chrisitan events. It is a high pressure job. She is expected to put in 45 hours a week but to get her job done, she is closer to working 50 hours a week. Her boss is a bit high strung. He is always asking if things are done a day before the due date and likes to keep an eye on all of her projects. She calls this “micromanaging” and complains that he doesn’t trust her. Penny is a talented graphic designer, but like all work in the arts, she has to deal with lots of opinions, and they are all different. It’s not uncommon for a client to ask for an advertisement for a book, and then when Penny creates something beautiful and shows it to the client for approval, the client then says, “I was picturing it in blue, not purple, can you change it”. Penny thinks to herself, “why didn’t you say that to begin with!”. Penny’s boss then sees her still working on the project and wants to know why it’s not finished yet. He doesn’t ask kindly, he asks with a demanding tone of voice. Penny goes home frustrated and irritated most nights. She likes the design part of her job, but dealing with people who can’t explain what they want only to criticize her work is starting to seem like it’s not worth it. Penny says her boss makes it worse because he doesn’t understand the process of design, all he knows is she has more work to get to and he thinks nagging her is the way to get it done. Penny is becoming bitter and frequently complains about her boss. She’s starting to get headaches more frequently and scheduling more vacations so she has something to look forward to. She says, “at least I make enough money so I can spend time on the beach and just “check out” of life for a week. More and more her thoughts go to vacation time and that is what gets her through some weeks.
How does the gospel help Penny in her frustrations at work?
Jesus’ incarnation: Penny needs to think of the ways Jesus endured difficult people. He had people mock him, falsely accuse him, beat him, and question his motives at every turn. Jesus understands working alongside sinners! Penny is not alone in her suffering. Jesus lived in a human body. He suffered the same frailties of needing sleep and food. He sweated blood in his anguish over going to the cross. Jesus still lives in bodily form in heaven. Our bodies matter and they will be glorified when Christ returns! Jesus understands that the pressures of life affect our physical bodies. God cares about our physical body. As Penny experiences headaches from stress, she can trust in Jesus’ understanding of having a body and know that these temporary bodies will be glorified in heaven. God values our bodies and wants her to care for herself and she can talk to God about physical symptoms.
Jesus’ sinless life: Penny doesn’t have to strive for perfection in work. There is only One perfect person, and it’s not her. When people criticize her work, she can think about Christ’s perfection and that even when people criticized Him, he responded with humility and grace even though He truly was perfect in every way. Penny has Christ’s sinless record credited to her. Jesus didn’t “escape” from the difficulties of people, he trusted in God’s plan that included people who disapproved and even hated him.
Jesus’ crucifixion: As Penny thinks about her anger and bitterness, she needs to acknowledge and confess her sin. She has wanted the approval and appreciation from clients and her boss so much that she is angry and bitter without it. That’s a sure sign appreciation and approval are idols. Jesus took those sins on himself and paid the price. Penny doesn’t need to justify herself and her responses, she simply needs to repent of her sin. She can confess that she has worshiped idols rather than her Savior and live in the freedom of complete forgiveness.
Jesus’ resurrection: Penny needs to see the temporary nature of suffering. Jesus suffered on this earth and now has gone on to glory. Jesus’ resurrection is the evidence and guarantee that suffering on this earth will end. When Penny is frustrated at work and is tempted to put her hope in vacation, she needs to put her hope in eternity. Penny doesn’t need to live for approval and appreciation. By the power of the Holy Spirit given to her, she is a new creation who can hope in Christ making a new home for her. The power of sinful desires is broken and she can rely on God’s power to continue to sanctify her. She can live free from bitterness and anger because she has been set free from being enslaved to selfish desires. She can depend on the Holy Spirit to help her respond with humility and grace.
Jesus’ ascension: Jesus is alive and praying for Penny. He is her advocate with God when she goes home angry and bitter and confesses it. Jesus is watching over her life and is “for her”. Nothing can separate her from His love. As Penny thinks about her living Savior, she wants to please Him and respond to her circumstances to honor Him. For the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross. She thinks, “I can endure an angry boss for the joy of pleasing my Lord”.
Penny needs to see her heart revealed in her circumstances. It’s not the clients or her boss that are the problem. She has been worshiping acceptance and approval and her bitterness is the evidence. She can run to God and confess her sin and ask for Jesus’ cleansing once again. She can trust that the Holy Spirit empowers her to be the new creation Jesus’ work on the cross made her. She is free to please God by trusting in her acceptance and approval through Christ’s atonement. She is free to do her best work (which won’t be perfect or please everybody) but she can trust that God sees her effort and desire to use her talents and He will reward her faithful work in heaven if not on earth. Penny can depend on the Holy Spirit to communicate with kindness to both her boss and her clients. As she drives home at night, she can ask herself, “Did I honor the Lord today with my attitude, thoughts, and words?” and let that be the measure of a good day.
In conclusion:
The gospel is the power to save and to transform a life. Jesus’ life, sinlessness, suffering, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension are intentionally designed by God so that Jesus is not only the perfect sacrifice, but so that we are intimately connected to Him. He is our High Priest who mediates perfectly as the One who lived sinlessly in the face of every temptation, suffered more than we will ever understand, and rose victorious over sin and death so that we are free to please Him and bring Him glory. Jesus is alive and interceding for us. This is the power to continue to change us to be more like Him.