The Gospel For Newbies

"Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for humankind!"

Psalm 66:5

I've recently realized that since the internet is a fairly big space, there may be people who find their way to this page who are not church, religion, Christian or faith veterans. This post is for you! If you've never stepped foot in a church before, or if you have no idea what you believe, or if you're a curious atheist, or if you're bored, or if you're someone who feels totally lost, crushed, confused and are in search of love, or if you're all of the above or none of the above...I'm talking to you.

Every word written in my previous posts applies to you also, but just in case some of the things I've discussed don't make sense, I hope that this post can clear up any confusion and just paint a solid picture of this thing we call "The Gospel". Having said that, I've got to find a good place to start...

Oh wait, but first, should you stop reading too soon, let me say before you go that you have a Father in Heaven who loves you with an infinite and unchangeable kind of love. Jesus, who was the exact representation of the Father came to earth to prove the Father's love for you. And their Holy Spirit who comes from your Father and was poured out by Jesus is actually resting on you right now convincing you that this love is true! So just listen and allow yourself to hope. I'm not going to prove what I'm presenting to you scientifically, historically or intellectually. I'm not even going to give you tons of "proof texts" from the Bible (but if there is something I say that you'd like to check out for yourself, leave a comment and I'll show you scriptures that reveal its truth). The appeal that this message, this Good News, carries is for your heart and the deepest part of your being that yearns for the truth to be love.

The very reason that you desire to be loved and to love, to be known and to know is because that is the very substance, the very relationship, that you were created from and the very purpose for which you were born to enjoy! God is love and this love is revealed in Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (So any time I use the word "God", I am referring to Father, Son and Spirit). It is out of their loving relationship, which existed from all eternity, which Christianity has termed "The Trinity", that we hear the most astounding words spoken on the sixth day of creation: "Let US make man in OUR image." And that image was love. The Spirit defines this love as one that is patient, kind, is not self-seeking, does not envy or boast, is not proud or rude, keeps no record of wrongs and does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. Jesus' definition of love is that it lays its life down for its friends. He demonstrated that love in that while we were steeped in sin and unbelief, He died for us, to make this love known. The Father's definition of love is that it holds absolutely nothing back from the object of its affection, not even withholding its one and only beloved son.
They are wholly in agreement that love lavishes freely on others without any hint of selfish motives.

This was their dream for creation; that we would live in this environment of perfection and paradise and would receive their very life, not as mere creatures, but as sons and daughters! However, there was a hiccup to this plan, it was not unforseen by them, but it was a hiccup that brought unimaginable suffering into their dream. But rather than allowing us to suffer on our own, rather than abandoning us to this pain...they entered into it with us in the person of Jesus.

The book of Genesis paints a beautiful picture of our grand beginning. It portrays this perfection of love as the Garden of God called Eden; paradise. All of humanity was represented in the first created man, Adam. He walked with God in the cool of the day, in unhindered closeness. God gave him animals to rule and admire and delicious fruit for nourishment. He even made a wife for him, Eve, from his very own rib. She was his own likeness and God's own likeness.

There were two specific trees named in the Garden, the tree of Life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This second tree was forbidden with the warning that eating of its fruit would bring death. Many have asked why that tree was even placed in the garden if it carried such dire consequences, but you see, one of the biggest elements of God's dream for life and love was freedom and desire. They created with us with a desire for life and not death, freedom and not bondage. And that's exactly what we were given. We were given an invitation to participate rather than being forced to participate. This desire for life and freedom was intended to lead us to partake from the Tree of Life, which would've completed God's dream by revealing to us the mystery of who we were, fully divine, life-sharing sons and daughters. Aaah...but the hiccup.

We had an enemy. We're not told much about the origination or fall of this enemy, but for whatever reason, all we need to know, all that is important about him is that he was against us. Perhaps it was jealousy regarding our destiny for divinity and our adoption from creatures to sons. But this enemy is portrayed as a serpant. He is Satan, the accuser, the adversary, the deceiver, the destroyer, the devil. He used our life and freedom, and our desire for life and freedom, against us. He deceived man into thinking that the reason the tree of knowledge of good and evil was forbidden was not because we would die, but because God did not want us to become like Him, knowing everything. Our enemy persuaded us into thinking that this tree of death would lead to our freedom. We were already free and already like God, but in that moment that we believed the lie, we became slaves...to darkness, ignorant and unbelieving in the good, loving nature of our God.

We traded glory for shame. Rather than walking with God in the cool of the day, we hid from Him, ashamed of ourselves, declaring our independence and separation from God. This was the disease called sin. The word sin means to miss the mark of our intended existence. The image of God was still ours, but since He is life, our attempt to live separate from Him caused sin and death to corrupt that image until we more closely resembled that of a beast. We acted like self-serving, hateful, violent, angry, murderous beasts, driven by the desire called "lust" to compete against each other and become our own gods rather than the desire to share life with one another, enjoying unity.

Some think it's unfair that all of humanity had to suffer the consequences for the disobedience of the one man, Adam. But that's only because we don't understand the nature from which we were created. We were created from oneness and unity for oneness and unity. That means that if one of us hurts, all of us hurt and if one of us rejoices, all of us rejoice. We are an intimately connected body, members of each other and of the Father, Son and Spirit. That is why God took our hurt, our disobedience, as His very own. That's why when tragedies, like the recent shooting in Newtown, occurs, we all feel the pain as if it has happened to us.
So when Adam disobeyed, we were all literally in him. As he went blind, we all went blind. As he forgot what manner of man he was, we all forgot. That time of bliss in Eden became a distant memory and we couldn't figure out how to get back home.

But Father, Son and Spirit had a dream for humanity and, let's face it, God's purposes cannot be thwarted...thank goodness for us! God would find a way to woo the hearts of His lost ones, even if He now had to use our brokenness, which was all we had left, to bring our redemption about. The stage was now set for the Father, Son and Spirit to make their journey into the far country of sin and death to bring us all home...to life.

In their journey to come dwell with us, they began calling men out of the world whom the Spirit would move and enable to hear the voice of God. One of these men was named Abraham. He was chosen to be the father of the nation of Israel. Israel was the nation God chose to reveal Himself to, not at the exclusion of all the other nations, but so they could be the light of truth to the nations; the beacon that would lead us all home.

Without going into a great amount of detail, let me just say that they failed in their purpose. But again, this was not unforseen by God. As a master architect, He is brilliant at bringing success out of failure. And while He most certainly doesn't need or cause human failure in order to accomplish His purposes, it also cannot thwart or hinder His purposes. He causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him AND who are called according to His purpose (His purpose being redemption and sharing life with sons and daughters).

Israel has a most amazing history with God in the Old Testament. He miraculously delivered them out of slavery, provided for their daily needs as they wandered for forty years in the desert in disobedience, He brought them into the land that He'd promised to give them. Then He constantly warned them of things that would cause the surrounding nations to overcome them if they did not change what they were doing. He tried again and again through prophet after prophet to convince them that He was FOR them, not against them. But they just didn't get it because of a fallen, suspicious mindset and they were eventually exiled from the Promised Land. It was the fall from Eden all over again.

Between the Old and New Testament there was a 400 year prophetic silence where the Israelites waited and hoped for the prophecies of their coming Savior, who would rescue them and restore their kingdom, to be fulfilled. What they didn't realize was that this coming Savior, "Messiah", was not just coming to rescue them, but the whole human race. And this rescue was going to come, not in the form of mighty destruction and condemnation of bad, disobedient people, but in the same form from which we were created...life-giving, humble love.

When the times were finally right, God chose a poor, virgin, Israelite woman named Mary and, with her consent, He made her the mother through which our Savior, Jesus Christ ("Christ" means "anointed one"), would be born. The Holy Spirit moved into her womb to bring God Himself into humanity. Jesus, the one through whom all things were created, entered into his own creation, taking on our own fallen existence so that he could meet us right where we were and deliver us from our ignorance. Jesus brought the Tree of Life to us, in his own body, that we may partake of it and enjoy our existence, no longer as lost children, blind to the truth, but as fully mature sons and daughters who dwell in the light of an existence that is even more glorious than Eden!

How did he accomplish this? Well...he kind of...killed us. Okay, more accurately, he saved us by killing the disease of sin that had corrupted our entire being. When he entered our world, humanity did not recognize him as God. Even the Jews, whom he had been conversing with for hundreds of years, did not know him or believe that he was the God that was revealed to them in the Old Testament. Their perspective of him had been so veiled since the fall that they couldn't believe such undiluted grace was possible.

He lived on the earth for 30 years as a simple carpenter and he actually chose, in becoming human just like us, to grow in the wisdom and knowledge of who He was. Somewhere around age 30, the Spirit had been preparing a prophet, who was called John the Baptist, to rise up and announce to the people the soon arrival of their long awaited Savior. Jesus came onto the scene and had John baptize him. When he came out of the water, a voice called out from Heaven, it was the Father, and He announced, "This is my beloved Son in whom my soul delights." In that moment, something incredible was beginning to be revealed. Something that provokes unspeakable joy. God called Jesus His beloved son and in another place He calls him His only Son. Jesus said that God is the one Father and He is the Father of all. Do you see where this is going? If God is the Father of ALL and Jesus is His ONLY Son, then we must all be IN Jesus!! Jesus revealed the truth about who we are! He's our truest identity! The only reference that the Father has of any of us is what is true about Jesus! So it greatly behooves us to know what is true about Jesus.

For the next three years of his life, he performed beautiful miracles, healed diseases of many, cast out demons and raised the dead. He took on twelve, simple, uneducated men to be his disciples and to witness all he was doing. He frequently kept company with those who were considered the scum of the religious town: Prostitutes, thieves, demoniacs, adulterers, etc. He constantly rebuked the religious elite groups, known as Pharisees and Sadducees, because they prided themselves for knowing the scriptures so well and for keeping all of the religious rituals to a T, but they had no compassion or humility and, therefore did not know God at all.

Jesus kept redefining our understanding of our Father and we fought him all the way. The Good News was too good. So Jesus was eventually labeled a blasphemer. One of his own twelve betrayed him and the rest deserted him. On Good Friday, he was crucified. He did not fight or resist the authorities and he didn't defend himself when the false charges were brought against him. He knew that laying down his life was the only way to free us from the lies that bound us. Because if he died, and we were in him in an even more eternal way than we were in Adam, then we would die with him. He experienced the very depths of hell on the cross as he felt all of the hatred of the world in his body and understood our experience in feeling as though we're separated from our Father. Then, after declaring, "It is finished", he gave up his spirit and voluntarily tasted death for us. What was finished? The fallen race of Adam that had been created in him. Death, sickness, and sin were finished.

...But He was God. He was very life itself. Death is just no match for the Eternal One. So three days later, the dawn of a whole new creation began as Jesus walked out of his tomb in a new body, with all of us kept safely in his bosom. For forty days he revealed himself to those who would eventually go and spread the Good News. Then he finally ascended into Heaven to the right hand of the Father, and us with him. And he poured the Spirit out on all flesh so that upon hearing this truth, we would remember and believe this declaration of who we are! And, so that hearing this truth we would awaken from all the nightmarish lies to finally cry the words that God has longed to hear from us from the moment this eternal dream was dreamt, "Abba!", which is the Aramaic term Jesus used for "Father" or "Papa".

This is the Gospel, which means Good News, in as much as my language knows how to express it. But my words are only pointing to the truth. They do not encapsulate its fullness. No words ever can. Not even the Bible. Words can only attempt to describe it, but it will always be much better than our descriptions. But simply put, the Gospel is that Father, Son and Spirit have reconciled humanity to them, not counting our sins against us, that our hearts may turn back and melt in their love.

You may be thinking, "This is great! But what do I do now?" First let me say, there is nothing required of you to make this true. It's already true that there is absolutely no distance between you and the Father, Son and Spirit. But, your Father desires a very real relationship with you. He longs to be included in your life and for you to participate in His. The Spirit is urging you to respond to His kiss by kissing back. You probably already know what to do. It might just start with a smile and a simple prayer of "Thank you" as you allow your mind, soul, body and Spirit to be baptized in the warmth of this great light. As you begin to trust in His utter goodness, you may say one of the most brilliant prayers ever prayed, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!" You may wish to seek out a group of fellow believers that you can celebrate the goodness with. You may want to share this Good News with someone who hasn't heard it yet. You may want to dance or sing.

Whatever you do, stay armed with this truth as your highest, most real reference to reality. In the world we still see and experience sin, sickness and death, even though Jesus has promised us that He has overcome it. Faith sees the unseen reality, no matter the contradiction. Do not be deceived into thinking there is something you lack or that God is holding something back. He's given everything and all things. All. Things. Everything that is true of Jesus is true of us! So feel free to pray and ask Him for good, big things! All the while realizing that they're already done, in some mysterious way, even if you don't see immediate results. Trust what He says. It's the only way to live a life of abundance in every single circumstance. Walk in His grace. Delight in His joy. Rest in His peace. Rejoice in His love.

After all...this is only the beginning!