The Gift of the Gospel

 

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! --2 Corinthians 9:15

Growth is part of life.  Certainly physical growth is noticeable in all living things until they reach maturity.  Emotional growth, or maturity, is not always so evident.  Some may say that the male gender of homo sapiens never reaches full maturity.  If you look closely, however, you may see subtle signs of maturity, even in our culture.

Take, for example, the popular song Margaritaville by singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffet.  Released in 1977 on the album titled Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, the lyrics chronicle the epiphany of a man in the throes of alcoholism, to the detriment of everything else in his life.  He has stayed in the same place for a season without moving on, but also without knowing why.  He notices a tattoo that he doesn't remember getting, another consequence of spending so much time "wasted".

Human nature being what it is, we like to assess blame elsewhere, and in Buffet's first person narrative, this song is no exception.  Each chorus ends with an admission that his problems cannot be attributed to the fairer sex, but with each reiteration he comes closer to the truth.  The evolution of thought begins with "it's nobody's fault."  As the song progresses, it becomes, "Hell, it could be my fault."  The culmination, and the epiphany (I think), comes in the final conclusion: "But I know it's my own damn fault."

A similar progression of maturation is evident in the life of the Apostle Paul.  I read somewhere this past week (I can't find the source, but it is not original to me) that early in his ministry, Paul wrote to his followers, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1).  A few years later, he wrote a more humble self-portrait: "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of good is not....Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:18, 24).  Finally, very late in Paul's career, we find his letters to Timothy, a young pastor that Paul was mentoring.  In one of his letters to his young protege (I can't bring myself to use the more modern word  "mentee"--but that's another topic), Paul refers to himself as the chief of sinners (my translations says "foremost" of sinners: 1 Timothy 1:15).

For a patriarch of the faith, who wrote a third of the New Testament, this is quite a telling progression.  The older he got, the more humble Paul was, and the more he realized what grace means. How much more should we, who are not Paul, grow in humility as we mature in the faith.

In the Evangelical world I grew up in, the presentation of the Gospel is given in kind of a three-tiered fashion.  To the very young, we would say that God gave His Son, Jesus, as a free gift.  We cite John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."  To underscore the idea of salvation as a free gift, we also cite Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

To the more mature, we acknowledge that although salvation is a free gift, it is not received by all.  Belief is essential, but James 2:19 says that even the demons believe, and they shudder at the thought of God.  We are taught that we have a responsibility to accept the gift, or it will be offered in vain.   We cite John 1:12, "But as many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."  No, we do not teach a works-based salvation--Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

It is to the true follower, however, that the whole truth is revealed.  In order to have assurance of salvation as applied in your own life, you need to make Him Lord of your life.  It is not enough to identify with Christians; one must identify with Christ, and bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8).  It is not enough to pay lip service to Christ by calling Him Lord.  You must actually put yourself in subjection to Him.  2 Corinthians 5:15 says, "He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."

To recap, you might tell a child that God gave us a free gift, because children love gifts and know how to receive.  You might tell a more jaded adult, one who has learned not to believe everything they read, to go ahead and take the gift.  "Taste and see that the Lord is good."  Finally, to the true seeker, the one who hungers for the things of God, you might say the final (and most important) step is to make Jesus Lord of your life.

Now, an unchurched person might call this a bait-and-switch approach to the gospel, comparing it to the allure of the world.  You offer this gift, like candy (they may say), but then snatch it away at the last minute, telling them that they must follow your rules to attain it; and once it is in their grasp, then you enslave them.  Satan has followed this blueprint for so long that it has become the norm.  It is hard to get them to understand that Jesus has pure motives, and that to become a servant of His can free them of their burdens.  "My yoke is easy," Jesus said, "and My burden is light."

To those who believe, there is a danger of not progressing or maturing past the "gift" stage.  The author of Hebrews put it this way:

Concerning Him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.  But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. --Hebrews 5:11-14 

If you accept Christ as a free gift only, and fail to mature into righteous living, you are in danger of missing out on the rewards of righteousness.  Further, you are in danger of falling away.

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God...For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. --Hebrews 6:1, 4-6

Imagine a father, a world-famous astronomer, who has three children.  On Christmas morning he gives all three of them a gift.  It is the same gift for all three children, but each of them receives his own gift.

The youngest one tears open the wrapping paper and sees a high powered telescope.  "Oh, cool!" he exclaims, then he sets aside the telescope and gets distracted by other gifts and activities of the day.  The telescope winds up in the bottom of his toy box.  Only if the father gives him age-appropriate books about stars, and lets him see models of the Solar System, and takes him to a planetarium--only then may the child gain an interest in astronomy, and he may go back and find that telescope and use it to see worlds beyond his own.

The middle child opens the box, and sees the high powered telescope.  She wrinkles her nose.  "Thanks, Dad," she may say.  But at her first opportunity she exchanges the telescope for the latest trend in clothing fashion.  The clothes may look good for a season, but they will soon go out of style, or become shabby, or she may even grow out of them.  One day she may look out on the night sky and remember the telescope her Dad gave her.  But she will not realize that she traded his gift for something fleeting, fashionable for a moment and then tossed aside.  To her, the gift was meaningless.

The more mature child (not necessarily older--they may have been the same age) takes the telescope, and immediately sets it up on the highest point of the house.  He looks through the lens, and asks his father to explain the parts of the Universe that are in his field of vision.  The father lovingly answers his son's questions, and prompts him toward a career in the sciences.  The gift is truly life-changing for this son, as it gives him purpose and allows him to follow in his father's footsteps.

This story may help explain the passage we read in Hebrews.  The less mature child, the one who needed milk and not meat, grew in grace and favor while the father provided the means toward maturity.  The middle child threw away the gift; there was no going back and re-creating that Christmas morning for her--just like there is no way for Christ to come back, be born of a virgin, life a perfect life, die a horrible death, and be raised on the third day for those who reject His initial gift.  The older son made the best use of the gift, putting it immediately to good use, and growing from the experience, all the while learning from the father.

In the last post I wrote, I referenced the parable of the sower.  That thought is reiterated by the writer of Hebrews, here:

For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.  --Hebrews 6:7-8

Sometimes you may feel close to being cursed.  I know I do sometimes.  We must remind ourselves of the promise written to us in 2 Peter 1:3, which says, "His divine power has bestowed on us (absolutely) everything we need for (a dynamic spiritual) life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."  Don't hesitate to take hold of the gift He offers, but be sure to make good use of it, because it is life-changing.