Paraklesis
[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]
August 2024
Peter Adam
Dear friends,
The bigger gospel is of course the Biblical gospel!
We saw in June that the gospel is not primarily about individuals, but about God’s plan to create a people for himself. ‘I will make of you a great nation’ [Gen 12:2]; ‘I will build my church’ [Matt 16:18]; ‘I have become [the church’s] servant’ [Col 1:25]; ‘a great multitude’ [Rev 7:9]; ‘the new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride … for her husband’.
In July we learnt that the gospel not only brings us to faith in the Lord Jesus, but also works to transform us into the likeness of Christ, by the power of Jesus death and resurrection.
This month I want to show you the 4 main facets of the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection, according to the Scriptures.
‘God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement [propitiation], through the shedding his blood – to be received by faith … [God] who justifies those who have faith in Jesus’ [Rom 3:25,26]. ‘We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access to this grace in which we now stand’ [Rom 5:1,2]. ‘There is therefore no condemnation for the those who are in Christ Jesus… [Rom 8:1]. ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…’ [Gal 3: 13]. ‘God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead with our trespasses – it is by grace you have been saved’ [Ephes 2:4,5]. ‘We have been made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Christ once for all’ [Heb 10:10]. ‘We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus … let us draw near to God…’ [Heb 10:19,22].
2. To create his church.
‘Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy… to present her to himself… holy and blameless’ [Ephes 5:2-27]. ‘[Christ] himself is our peace, who has made the two groups [Jews and Gentiles] one … in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility’ [Ephes 2:14,16]. ‘For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you [the church] to God’ [1 Pet 3:18]. ‘To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you [the church] before his glorious presence without fault and with great rejoicing, to the only God our Saviour, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen’ [Jude 24,25].
3. Our continued transformation to grow in holiness.
‘If we confess our sins …he… will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ [1 Jn 1:9]. ‘You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies’ [1 Cor 6:20]. ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world’ [Gal 6:14]. ‘Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God’ [Col 3:1]. ‘Our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what it right’ [Tit 2:13,14].
4. To break the power of: the world; the flesh; and the devil.
‘Now the prince of this world will be driven out’ [Jn 12:31]. ‘For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect’ [1 Pet 1:18,19]; ‘The reasons the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work’ [1 Jn 3:8]. ‘The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet’ [Rom 16:20]. ‘When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross’ [Col 2:13-15]. ‘As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved’ [Ephes 2:1-5].
So what is the relative importance of each of these, and how to they relate?
- All of them are in the Bible, and so all are important.
- ‘The relationship between ourselves and God’ is the most important, because the original sin of Genesis 3 resulted in the breakdown of relationship between God and humanity, whom he had made in his image.
- ‘To create his church’ reminds us that God is a community-minded God, who has bigger plans than the salvation of individuals.
- ‘Our continued transformation to grow in holiness’ tells us that God not wants to restore his relationship with us, but also to restore us, and to transform us even more wonderfully than he created us.
- ‘To break the power of the world, the flesh and the devil’ is important, because our flesh betrays us; the world shapes us and threatens; and the devil attacks, accuses, confuses, tells us lies, and tries to damage and destroy us. ‘What the flesh desires, the world affirms, and the devil urges.’ Our only protection is the saving death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.[1]
We need this bigger Biblical gospel. We need all that God has provided for us through and in his Son, and his saving death and resurrection. Live this gospel, and preach and teach this gospel, to bring God’s richest gospel blessings to believers and to his church, and for the glory of Christ, and the glory of God.
Let us pray together:
Gracious Heavenly Father, please may the glorious gospel of your Son bear fruit in our lives and ministries in our confidence in the saving work of Christ for our redemption, forgiveness, justification, and salvation; in our joyful participation in your church, the body of your Son; in our daily transformation into the image of our Saviour; and in our constant deliverance from the power of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Please work these gospel miracles of grace in our lives, and in the lives of our fellow-believers in our churches and ministries, for the glory of Christ. Amen.
P.S. I have a robust upright piano in good condition looking for a good home in Melbourne or Victoria. It is an Australian-made Wertheim, so well able to cope with the local climate! It would like to go to a home or a church.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
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I could also have included the transformation and restoration of creation. Rom 8:23-25, 1Cor 15:51-57, Col 1:21,22; Ephes 1:9,10, 2 Pet 3:13, Rev 21:1,5. ↑