THE GOSPEL OF FORGIVENESS – Part 2 of 3

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love… He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far He removes our transgressions from us.”  (Psalm 103:8-12)

This is the extravagant grace that is God’s heart and character. It is something we know in our heads, and yet we often struggle to accept in our hearts. We sometimes fail to understand and experience God’s grace, which is offered freely to us, continuing to carry burdens of separation or guilt that God has already removed…

Some time ago, I saw a man outside of church and said, “I haven’t’ seen you for a while. Where have you been?” “I am having a hard time coming back to church,” he said. “I did something I’m really ashamed of, and I just… I just feel like I can’t come back.” “Don’t you understand?” I said. “That’s where you need to be. The church is for sinners!” 

-- Adapted from “Forgiveness: Finding Peace Through Letting Go” by Adam Hamilton

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KINGDOM PROMISES: WHAT LIFE SHOULD BE

“Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”  (Mark 1:14b-15 ESV)

Jesus spoke a lot about the kingdom of God. In one sense that kingdom is all of creation, and God is the "King of the Universes," a phrase my Jewish friends use to address God. But human existence has been marked by rebellions against God. From Adam and Eve on, people have regularly turned aside from God's will (a practice we call sin), with the result that human history is littered with wars, acts of inhumanity, and injustice. As we say in the prayer of confession that often accompanies the Eucharist, "We have not loved You with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves." So when Jesus speaks about the kingdom of God, He is usually articulating a vision not of what life is, but what it should be. Through new birth [in Christ] and the sanctifying work of the Spirit, we seek to reflect that kingdom in our lives. 

-- Adam Hamilton in “Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It”

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A WORLD IN NEED OF A SAVIOR

Let us remember that it is a full salvation we offer. Some movements have been content to save their people and then leave them to heaven. [From early on] Methodism has insisted that we are saved so that we can grow. John and Charles Wesley believed that their somewhat ragtag group of butchers, miners, and household servants could become saints. We are challenged to believe as grandly for the computer generation, for a century of skeptics, and for the spiritually cautious.

And we are saved to serve our present age. Traditionally, we have believed we could “spread scriptural holiness throughout the land.” Now we must do so in a time when family structures are under assault while political systems build their new Babels, and when evils of misery, poverty, and war seem more entrenched than ever.

There could hardly be a better time to preach the gospel of Christ, and surely no better time to sing it. The gospel has always been needed, since it is God’s solution for the human race, but in our day the need is more poignant and more dramatic. Whether one looks at the penultimate threat of nuclear destruction, or the private anguish of the lonely soul in an impersonal society, one cannot imagine a world more starkly in need of a Savior. There could hardly be a more demanding, more exhilarating time to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

But we must have a song to sing. Without a song, we will only add to the dissonance of our times… On one of his birthdays, Wesley wrote:

          In rapture of joy
          My life I employ,
          The God of my life to proclaim:
          ‘Tis worth living for this,
          To administer bliss, 
          And salvation in Jesus’ name.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “Our First Song: Evangelism in the Hymns of Charles Wesley”

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THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST

"For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 4:5-6 NIV)

I believe in justice, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of justice; I am a preacher of the Gospel of Christ who calls us to justice.

I believe in love, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of love; I am a preacher of the Gospel of Christ who calls us to love.

I am committed to peace, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of peace; I am a preacher of the Gospel of Christ who calls us to peace.

I believe in the value of the simple life, but I am not a preacher of the simple life; I am a preacher of the Gospel of Christ that calls us to the simple life…

Let us beware of the ultimate plagiarism of borrowing great concepts from Jesus; then running off proclaiming these concepts and not sharing the Christ that empowers these concepts. 

-- Dr. Myron Augsburger

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