Gospel - The Cross Purpose

Podcast – Salvation, the Cross & the Reformation

General Editor — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 12:30:39 +0000

TheCrossPurpose Podcast Episode 10 (Q&A) – We talk about church unity, salvation, the Protestant Reformation and so on… So, we hosted a very short Q&A session during an event held a few weeks back commemorating the Reformation Day. There were several questions about the reformation and about the unity of the church that were fielded by Michael and Ashok. Here’s what happened there.

You can find our “mini-documentary” on the Reformation here.

The post Podcast – Salvation, the Cross & the Reformation first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post Podcast – Salvation, the Cross & the Reformation appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

Podcast – Racism, the Cross & Righteous Reactions

General Editor — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 12:18:22 +0000

It’s been a while since the last episode, but we’ve come out of our hiatus to discuss the compelling social movement that has begun to gain critical mass in the West and is rapidly spreading throughout the world.

How do we understand everything that’s going on around the “Black Lives Matter” movement, and how do we react to it, considering our Christian worldview?

The post Podcast – Racism, the Cross & Righteous Reactions first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post Podcast – Racism, the Cross & Righteous Reactions appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

Podcast – Feminism, the Cross & Pants

General Editor — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 12:12:26 +0000

In this episode, we take on some questions that we’ve received from our listeners. Would Paul have ever heard of the saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, are women really equal to men, and what on earth do any of these have to do with pants?

The post Podcast – Feminism, the Cross & Pants first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post Podcast – Feminism, the Cross & Pants appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

Podcast – Lockdown, the Cross & TV

General Editor — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 12:06:47 +0000

A brand new episode of The Cross Purpose podcast, where we come together to answer the age-old question, “Watcha doin’?”We discuss things the lockdown in India has taught us, and how we’ve been spending all the extra time we have now, and also whether or not Christians should watch TV and movies

The post Podcast – Lockdown, the Cross & TV first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post Podcast – Lockdown, the Cross & TV appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

Radio Show – Conversations on the Cross

General Editor — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 12:02:18 +0000

The Cross Purpose podcast goes live on Resurrection Sunday for Episode 3, as we take on the topic closest to our hearts – the purpose of the Cross of Christ. Join us as we discuss the true gospel, and several questions that believers face regarding the Word of God and the local church.

The post Radio Show – Conversations on the Cross first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post Radio Show – Conversations on the Cross appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

Does God want us to prosper?

Michael Teddy — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 10:43:38 +0000

I know what you’re thinking. Is such a question even necessary? Doesn’t God tell us in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”? That settles the case, doesn’t it? God said He wants us to prosper. Now, what’s left for us to talk about? Well, quite a bit actually, and a lot of it depends on how we understand the words ‘hope’, ‘future’ and ‘prosperity’.

I was recently sent the picture of a poster hanging outside a church. The graphic on it read, GOD LOVES YOU and has an amazing plan for your life. SIN GOT IN THE WAY and separated you from God. JESUS the Son of God GAVE HIS LIFE on the cross to take away your sin. Repent, believe in Him and you will have ETERNAL LIFE AND HOPE WITH GOD!!! This statement on the Gospel represents the majority Christian position in our own culture, and around the world. But I take issue with this statement. Although each of these individual statements are actually true, stringing together a set of true statements does not necessarily communicate the entire truth in the right context. In fact, some such statements are prone to misinterpretations. That’s the problem with the message in this poster. It offers you truth, but without clarity. It seems to suggest that we were innocent creations who were kidnapped by sin. And God, in His infinite love for us, gave His life upon a cross and in so doing defeated sin. And, for those of us who repent and believe in Him shall have eternal life. Do you see the problem? This story seems to suggest that God is the protagonist and sin is the antagonist. That we are caught up in this cosmic battle as God tries to save us and sin tries to kill us. This is a common misinterpretation and is far from the truth. So what is the Gospel message then? Let us go over each statement on that poster and understand them in their proper contexts.

GOD LOVES YOU and has an amazing plan for your life. When any gospel statement begins like that, it runs the risk of putting man at the centre of the gospel message, instead of God. And we love being that child on his birthday fighting to keep all the attention on himself. You see beloved, God does love you and He does have an amazing plan for your life, but there are two things to remember here. First, there is no guarantee that God’s amazing plan for your life must match your own amazing plan for your life. In fact, the two can be complete opposites. Secondly, and more pertinent to our context here, this love toward us is probably not for the reasons we might assume. It’s not because we’re awesome. And it isn’t because He sees something in us that is worth loving. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Now, I’m sure most of you would agree with me thus far. But, that’s not all. You see, beloved, It’s not just that we are unworthy of His love, but that we are deserving of His wrath. A statement on the gospel ought to begin with GOD IS HOLY. In Psalm 5:5, we read how He hates all evildoers. His righteous judgment is reserved for all who sin. Unlike, popular teachings that say that God loves the sinner but hates the sin, the Bible clearly tells us that God hates both the sin and the sinner. Therefore, brothers and sisters, ‘GOD HATES YOU and in His righteousness wants to destroy you’, is a biblically sound statement. Surprised? Don’t be. This is the truth we read across Scripture. How can this be? How can God both love me and hate me? The answer, is the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus took upon Himself the wrath of God’s hatred and anger toward us, and in its place, clothed us with the righteousness of Christ, by which God now extends His love toward us. At this point, let me jump to the second statement on the poster and then sum up these first two statements together.
SIN GOT IN THE WAY and separated you from God. Sin, beloved, is not a person. It is impersonal. It is an impulse in our fallen nature. Sin did not “get in the way” of our otherwise innocent lives of communion with God. The point is that we are not innocent bystanders while “sin” is doing all the bad stuff. We have all turned away from God and willfully sinned in disobedience to Him. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). ‘All have sinned’, not ‘sin has captured all’. We are individuals, each with a will of his own, who have, intentionally and continually, even to this very day, disobeyed and dishonoured God. Therefore, the righteous and just response of a Holy God must be to hate us and destroy us. He is a good judge, a perfect judge, and such a judge will not let the guilty go unpunished. If we are the centre of the Gospel statement, then it’s a dire picture my friends. For wrath is what we deserve. Another problem with these first two statements and the order in which they are given, is that they seem to suggest that God’s love for us and His amazing plans for us were hindered by sin getting in the way. This is far from the truth. Sin never surprised God. The fall of man did not occur outside of God’s perfect plan in redemptive history, but perfectly in line with His sovereign will. The fall of man was always part of God’s plan, in order that He may show the glory of His wrath on those who do not believe in Him, and the glory of His salvation for those who do (read Romans 9). Surely you see it now. We cannot be the centre of the Gospel. God must be. For all this is the work of God not because of anything good or right that we have done, but because of grace. And so, no man may boast in His salvation. Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31).
JESUS the Son of God GAVE HIS LIFE on the cross to take away your sin. This is the heart of the Gospel, but do you see what happens when you take such a beautiful and true statement and put it in the context of the misunderstandings that occur above? What the Son died for and why this sacrifice was necessary are two very important questions. Saying that He died because of the overwhelming love He had for us and in order that the wrath of the devil might be satisfied tells a very different story than saying that He died to bring glory to His Father’s name by loving and saving a people for Himself in order that the wrath of our Father in heaven might be satisfied. Beloved, I tell you again, if we are the centre of the Gospel, then it is not good news. For this reason, I often say that John 3:16, although it is a wonderful summary of the Gospel, is not an exhaustive explanation of it. It does not tell us why the Son had to die, or what it means to believe in Him, or even what we need saving from. We need the rest of the Bible to elaborate and explain what this verse summarises.
Repent, believe in Him and you will have ETERNAL LIFE AND HOPE WITH GOD!!! Yes beloved. Repent and believe in Him! But not the ‘him’ who is made by the human hands of cultural Christianity. But, by ‘Him’ of whom the Bible teaches us is sovereign, glorious, majestic and holy. Not the modern depiction of a God who is desperately in love with us and is doing His best to save us, but a God who predestines and ordains all things for His glory, and does all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose, those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

Therefore, words such as ‘hope’, ‘future’ and ‘prosperity’ can mean very different and dangerous things if we have a worldview where God’s purposes revolve around us. God does all things primarily for His glory (Isaiah 48:9-11). And we are saved in order to bring Him glory. Therefore, our hope is secured in Him and His purposes, and not ours. Our future is to follow Him wherever He leads us whether it be as chiefs of big multinational companies, or the slums of India as missionaries to the poor and destitute. And finally, our prosperity is not in money. Money may be one way He prospers us, but have you not heard Jesus say that it is easier for the camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24). For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils (1 Timothy 6:10). You can have all the money in the world and yet have nothing. The hope of prosperity, or rather the reality of it, is that we can prosper even in the slums of India and be a mighty instrument for His glory all the days of our lives, and we’d have been more prosperous than the millionaire who does nothing more than go to church every Sunday. Our lives are meant to be lived, not for us, but for Him. Because we are not the centre of the Gospel, God is.

Want to support us?

Subscribe to a paid plan for just Rs 199/-

The post Does God want us to prosper? first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post Does God want us to prosper? appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

A little theology to help wrestle anxiety

Michael Teddy — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 07:49:59 +0000

I wrote a blog the other day on wrestling anxiety, and thought it would help to follow it up with some practical theological steps to wrestling anxiety. However, let me set the stage by first saying that all of this is easier said than done. Our impulsive action in fighting our fears, is to use the truth of God’s love. Though this is a fight in the right direction, it is only half the battle won. It is equally important that we set our hearts on the path of fearing God, which is the natural outcome of a pursuit of knowing Him more and more. This is why I spent a large chunk of the previous blog on the fear of God. We must meditate and bathe ourselves in the word of God, that our hearts may rest peacefully in this holy fear of God. I know, beloved, that it is easier to preach about this than it is to wrestle with our hearts. But remember that Christ has not left us empty-handed in this battle. He has given us His word, the sword of the Spirit. And in His word, He calms us with His love (Zephaniah 3:17).

Matthew 6:25-34 – Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

I love this passage and I want to show you how I use this passage to remind me of God’s lovingkindness towards me, and to help me fight my own anxieties. I have put my thought under five headings and pray that you are encouraged to hope, with me, in God’s promises.

1. The Father knows – There is no struggle that I face, no fear that I wrestle, and no tear that I shed, that the Lord my God does not already know. He is intimately acquainted with my ways. The Father knows exactly what I fear and He knows exactly what I need. Remember the sovereignty of God and use the hope that comes from knowing that He knows. He knows it even before I let Him know it in my prayers.

2. The Father cares – Jesus gives the example of birds and plants, expendable creatures that I care very little about and yet God cares for them. He has the time to make sure they’re fed and they grow. Remember that the God of the universe has time to care for the very least of His creation such as birds and plants, how much more would he care for me?

3. The Father values you – How much more would He care for me! I am far more valuable. Far more valuable to whom? To Him! He created me in His own image. Remember O my soul that my value comes not from my heart or intrinsic self worth, but it comes from God and if God so values me more than all of His other creations, how much more would he care for me than He does for the rest of them!

4. The Father gives – I am often anxious about my wants more than my needs. Such anxieties are worthless and I must fight them. I can be assured that the Father will give me what I need and often even the things I want and don’t really need. He will give me what is truly good for me. Therefore, if I receive, I know the Father has given, and if I do not, I know the Father has withheld. I know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). I remember that the Father gives and I will not lack anything for He is my provider and He provides everything for my good.

5. Seek first His Kingdom, and do not be anxious – Christ reassures me to not be anxious. Such a command to not fearcannot merely be obeyed by simply understanding the four points above, but it requires the habitual exercise to seek, first, the Kingdom of God. When I pursue God first instead of this world or the priorities of this world, I will find that my anxieties indeed reduce. When I pursue God first, the fear of Him will increase and the desire for this world will decrease, and, in turn, so will my unholy fears. Remember that the fight against anxiety is not fought in the front lines of my particular tensions or anxieties but behind enemy lines where my unholy fears collude, and in that place I must battle with the truth of the Gospel, in holy fear of a King who has already overcome the world.

We can fight the good fight I wish to end with this encouraging thought – that no war is fought alone by any one soldier, but an army bearing the flag and colours of their side. Remember, beloved, that you are not in this fight alone, and that your brothers and sisters are fighting the same battle right next to you. Therefore, plug yourself into a healthy local church where, together, you may raise the flag of the Kingdom of God. Do not be anxious!

The post A little theology to help wrestle anxiety first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post A little theology to help wrestle anxiety appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

On Wrestling Anxiety

Michael Teddy — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 10:21:45 +0000

Fear is a great and powerful adversary that, through the ages and even today, continues to ravage the lives of many Christians! Or is it? All our struggles with anxiety, worry, depression and the likes, all stem from some form of the same root – fear. It is not a feeling that any of us ‘desire’ to experience. In fact, we live our lives constantly trying to avoid it or overcome it. But is it possible, beloved, that fear is the most misunderstood emotion?

What on earth do I mean?

Well, the point I’m trying to make is that fear is not always a bad emotion. For example, my fear of heights causes me to hold the railing that much harder when I stand out on a ledge. I wouldn’t try to touch a tiger when I visit the zoo even if I had gotten to hold a monkey just before. I would look both ways before crossing the road even if the pedestrian lights are green. Sure, some of you may say that these are evidences that fear inhibits my sense of adventure. Maybe so, but there is no denying that fear also serves a useful purpose in many of these situations. It’s similar to pain. None of us want to feel it. Yet pain is the only way we know that there is something wrong with our body and that we need medical attention. So, just because we don’t like it or want it doesn’t mean that pain is inherently a bad thing. The same applies to fear. The question that we should rather be asking is if our fear is a ‘healthy’ fear or an ‘unhealthy’ one.

What is fear?

Fear in the human soul is a God-ordained emotion. It isn’t inherently bad. It is good. Proverbs 9:10 teaches us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We are instructed to embrace the fear of the Lord. If fear was a bad thing, then why would God ask us to pursue it? Fear is nothing more than the outward expression of our belief. It is one of the ways God has enabled us to feel what we believe. Like joy or sadness, fear is an emotion. If I believe that God is altogether holy and righteous and mighty and sovereign, then I will fear Him. When I realise that I am but vapour before this mighty Creator, I will tremble. The fear there is evidence of my belief. But if I only say that I believe in such a God, and then live a life of levity, hypocrisy and sin, it shows how little I believe in what I claim. In the same way, if I say I trust in God’s good work in my life and yet live a life worrying and anxious of the things around me, then it is evidence that I do not trust in God. Therefore, there are healthy and unhealthy fears. Healthy fears are those that are the product of righteousness. They are appropriate fears that help to build and sustain the godly man. Whereas, unhealthy fears are sinful. They are worries that the Gospel assures us not to be worried about. They hinder the spiritual growth of a believer.

The Holy Fear

To quote the Westminster Shorter Catechism, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.’ Such glory and enjoyment carries with it the need for a holy fear. It is not a burden for God’s people to fear Him. It is a righteous fear and I would go so far as to call it the greatest and holy fear. None of us will be able to discern and manoeuvre these healthy and unhealthy fears if we don’t have this most important fear of the Lord. The real reason we are weighed down by our fears is because we are not nearly fearful enough. We are terrified of many things because we’re not nearly as scared as we ought to be about one thing. Beloved, the reason we are overtaken by our unhealthy fears is because we are not nearly as overcome as we ought to be by our holy fear of God. We were created to live in union with God, in holy and obedient worship to this God. But then, Adam sinned. He set aside this holy fear of God and disobeyed Him. Sin, thus, entered into this world, ushering in an age, an era, of darkness. Paul explains this well in Romans 8:20-23 – For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For all of creation is groaning along with us for the day when we will be completely redeemed, the day when all things will be restored and we shall return, but to a better state of peaceful, joyful, fearful and holy existence, worshiping the Almighty God. There will be no anxiety in that place, for all unholy fears will forever be banished.

How do we overcome unhealthy fears

The Gospel is the answer. Now, before you push away this notion because it’s cliché or because you’ve heard it a thousand times, bear with me yet one more time. I wrestle with anxiety a lot in my own life. However, ultimately, there is no denying the fact that I’m more afraid of the things in this world, things that are passing, things that are of no eternal consequence than I am of God. I’m more fearful about my health, my job, my responsibilities, my success, my family, my dreams, and my ministry. We can all have healthy fears about these things but the imbalance between these fears and our holy fear of God creates a dangerous tide of anxiety. Most of us don’t wake up as often as we should to the holy magnificence of God, where we bend with shaking knees before the majesty of the Trinity. I once heard a friend tell the story of a pastor to whom a couple was confessing their sin of indulging in physical intimacy before marriage. This pastor nodded and quietly told them that somebody had actually seen them in the act. Understandably flustered, the couple asked, “Who?”, to which the pastor responded, “God”. The couple responded with the same emotion that I believe most of us would have, saying, “Phew! It’s only God. We were afraid that someone from church might have seen us.” Do you see the irony here? That we are more afraid about the people around us catching us in an act of sin than we are of the Holy God of this universe, before whom we will all give an account on that day of judgment.

Why do we lack in this necessary fear of God? Because we don’t know Him. We are not nearly as fearful as we ought to be of this God because we are not nearly as exposed to the reality of His Being as we ought to be. In other words, we don’t fear God enough because we don’t know Him enough. And when I use the word ‘know’ I don’t mean our intellectual knowledge about Him alone. I am speaking, instead, of our intimate and personal relationship with Him, in light of that knowledge. That is why the Gospel is the only solution to your fears and mine. God created us to be a fearful people, not in a sinful way but in a healthy, God-glorifying way. When we abandon the biblical call to fear God in true reverence, love, admiration and longing, we open ourselves to the unholy and unhealthy fears of this world. Knowing God brings holy fear, and because of it, you will no longer be weighed down by the worldly tensions brought about by sinful fears in your worldly pursuits of health, wealth and prosperity.

The post On Wrestling Anxiety first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post On Wrestling Anxiety appeared first on The Cross Purpose.

What is the Gospel?

Michael Teddy — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 07:40:56 +0000

We live in a time when the question that needs to be asked of every professing Christian is not if they believe in Jesus but if they believe in the right Jesus. Now, I know this may sound absurd to some, but I assure you that it is simply the truth. John 3:16 is probably the most memorised verse in the whole of the Bible among Christians around the world. It is the go-to verse that summarises the gospel. We use it in our sermons, our books, our bible studies, to evangelise and to teach our children the gospel.

“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.

– John 3:16

One can say that the Christian community stands largely united on their acceptance and use of this verse. It would, I think, be uncommon to come across churches or Christians who would refuse to believe in John 3:16. And if there are those who refuse this, I believe most of us would not consider them Christian, simply because if you remove this fundamental gospel of Christ, we have no basis for our faith. Although it is joyful to know that we as Christians stand united in this statement of our hope and salvation, I am afraid that many a times it is more a facade of unity that keeps us from seeing fundamental differences easily overlooked. Whatever shape or form these differences may take, it can ultimately be classified under one of two categories – a man-centred approach or a God-centred approach. Let us explore these two categories and then carefully examine John 3:16 within the Biblical context.

A Man-Centred Theology

I grew up in a Christian home where, if my memory serves me right, the first verse I ever memorised was John 3:16, maybe even the only one my lazy mind was willing to accommodate. It was, for me, the key verse in the Bible. It still is but here is how I understood it back then.

God loves me. In fact, He loves me so much that He came down to die on the cross for me so that I would be spared, and all I need to do is believe in Him. He offers me eternal life in Heaven with Him forever. So, if this God loves me so much to die for me, then that means that there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for me. He would never let me have pain, never let sickness come upon me, never let me fail. My dad would do the same for me if he could. So why not God the Father? I could always succeed in everything I did as long as I had faith. I could chase my dreams and build my future and grow my life to any heights. I could live my better life now. All I had to do was to believe.

John 3:16 taught me about my worth and value in the eyes of this loving God who thought of me, above all. It created in me this man-centred theology where I became the focus of all things that God did. Many Christians, maybe even some reading this right now, believe this. You’re probably wondering what’s so wrong about believing this way. My dear brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you today to take a closer look and recognise that this is not the truth. It may be the most popular version of the gospel you hear out there but I assure that if you feel that any other way of seeing John 3:16 is lesser, like I used to, it is truly quite the opposite. This man-centred theology is a low view of the Gospel and it takes away from it all that is beautiful and precious. This kind of theology is the birthplace of the famous beloved prosperity gospel. This is the gospel that teaches that God does not want you to be poor, or be sick, or to fail. But we know that this is simply not true. We see sickness, poverty and failures in the real world, all around us. And among them are many faithful brothers and sisters in the faith who are going through severe financial crisis, many who are sick with all kinds of diseases, and many who fail. There are some in our local churches, our neighbourhoods and even in our own families. Those who advocate this alternate gospel would say that this pain and suffering is caused by a lack of faith or that God has a higher (material) purpose – to “reward you after you overcome this struggle”. Untrue! So very false. It is not in order to sound pious that Jesus asked us not to store up riches on earth but in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). Whatever the argument, we simply cannot elude the real struggles that Paul, the other apostles and the disciples, both in Jesus’ time and down through the centuries, had to endure for the sake of the Gospel. Acts 5:41 tells us that the disciples walked away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name, when they were beaten by the order of the Sanhedrin for preaching the Gospel. None of them, not even Jesus our Lord, lived on this earth in a manner that supports the prosperity gospel. When a man told Jesus that he would follow Him anywhere, Jesus responded to him in Luke 9:58 saying, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

The teaching of the New Testament does not promise us a comfortable and painless life. It offers us a life of peace amidst all of the pain and suffering. James 1:2 asks us to consider it all joy, brethren, when you encounter various trials (paraphrased). This shows me a mindset that does not seem to be man-centred. They don’t see themselves as being the centre of God’s purpose but instead, they see God as the centre of His purpose in our lives. God equips us to live our lives for His glory. They rejoiced in being considered worthy to suffer shame for His name? That’s astounding!

You see, the prosperity gospel is not the Gospel. It is not even a gospel. It is a lie, an anti-gospel, that takes away from us the truth that God is the centre of the Gospel and not us. God is the focus of John 3:16 and not us.

A God-Centred Theology

It was much later that a friend shared with me a preaching by a man named Paul Washer, titled ‘The Shocking Youth Message’. You can find the video on YouTube. Many of you may have already been changed by it. God used this one sermon to change my life. I’d been suppressing a lot of spiritual and theological tensions caused by the man-centred prosperity gospel and all of it were dragged out by the scruff of the neck and cut down by the truth of the real Gospel this man preached. I still remember that day, and oh how wonderful an experience it was! It was as though my blind eyes were beginning to see real beauty in God’s word. I heard the Gospel, through John 3:16, for what it truly was, and I believed. Not like before. Not with conditions of blessings but with a conviction, as though the truth were being inscribed in my heart. All of the darkness that once blocked my view fled before the light of the truth.

What is this truth? Well, the key word to understanding it, is context. Pulling John 3:16 out of the context of the entire biblical narrative is like pulling a headline from the news and adding your own take of the events it highlights.

EXAMINING JOHN 3:16

Take a look at John 3:16. We find three persons explicitly and one implicitly being addressed here.

There is God, the Father, who loves us.
God, the Son, who is given for our sins
There is man, us, who believe in the Son
And from the rest of the Bible, we know that all things God does by His Spirit. It is the Spirit who quickens us to believe and guides us into all truth. This is the One implicitly present in this salvation process.

Now, both the man-centred and God-centred gospels make assumptions of each of these persons. These assumptions then form the basis of how we understand John 3:16. How? Let me explain. I am not a very tall man nor am I a very strong one. But, imagine if you, being my friend, met a stranger who claimed to know me and described to you how incredibly strong and tall I was, what would your reaction be? Either they are making a sarcastic joke or they have me confused with someone else. Or they have very poor eyesight. In any case, the person they are describing is not me. Any other version of me that is not me is simply not me. Now, suppose that these assumptions that you make are of the triune God and is not true. It must either mean that we are confused or joking, right? Any version of God that is not God is simply not God. Any version of the Gospel that is not the Gospel is simply not the Gospel. Paul reacts quite harshly to the Galatians, in the very first chapter, for deserting the true Gospel for another, which he says is not really another but just that some were trying to distort it. So, for even the slightest of distortions, Paul calls them fools.

That Leaves Us With The Question, “What Is The True Gospel Message?”

THE GOSPEL

God created a good and perfect world, a world with no sin and no pain, a world of joy and pleasure, a world of peace and harmony. He created man and woman to rule over the earth and they were the most privileged of His creation, for they were created in His very own image. This man and woman, the very first generation of all our ancestors, disobeyed God and broke the one command that God gave them and through their disobedience, brokenness entered into the world. Sin entered into mankind. All that was once beautiful was now filling with evil. It wasn’t anger that prevailed in the moments that followed the fall of Adam and Eve, but mercy. Mercy that stayed the hand of God from wiping them out permanently. Instead God, even though He warned Adam of the consequences before the fall, acted in mercy and banished him to work and toil on the earth till the day he died. All that remained for humanity was to await the judgment of God where all men would perish under His wrath in the flames of His just anger for He is a Holy and just God who would never let the guilty go unpunished. Justice demands our lives and we deserve it. The sin we carry is sin against an eternal Holy God and such a sin deserves an eternal punishment. Yet, He abounded in love. Whose mercies are new every morning. God is perfect and this perfection is reflected in all His attributes including love and justice. Perfect love and Perfect justice can be met in the destruction of mankind. Hard to believe? You see, it is quite simple. If one must love, then one must also hate. A love for all that is good has to hate all that is evil. In fact, the greater the love for good, the greater the hatred for evil. Hence, the destruction of humanity would fulfil justice in the punishment of our guilt and it would fulfil love by our death because we are all evil born into sin as sons and daughters of Adam. There is none among us who desire God, no not one (Romans 3:11). If He destroyed Adam and all hope of a future for mankind, He would be perfectly just and perfectly loving. On the other hand, if He spared us without punishment, then He would not be perfectly just or loving. And in here lies the question, why are we still alive? What is the purpose of life without any hope of salvation? Wherever we go, whatever we achieve, they greatest of these are still filthy rags before this Holy God (Isaiah 64:6).

Under the shroud of this dark hopelessness, shines the perfect and righteous purpose of God in our lives that was purposed before the very foundation of the earth. Throughout history, God spoke of this, the hope of humanity, of the One who would come to save us from our sins, the Messiah. He came in human flesh, God incarnate, and He was called Jesus. He was born to die, a sinless and perfect man, truly human yet truly God. And thus, here is born a word called ‘grace’ – unmerited favour to an undeserving people. O the depth of God’s love that He has Himself come down to His own people to save them. O the depth of His love, that He has chosen to change the hearts of those who are called to believe in Him, by dying on their behalf, and restoring them to the place of life that Adam and Eve once enjoyed, by rising from the dead. On the cross of Christ, we see God’s perfect justice, that should have fallen on us, fall on His only begotten Son and we see God’s perfect love in saving a people for Himself, those who believe in this Son.

The cross is the display of perfect love and perfect justice, united. Now, we who are the fruits of His redemptive work are washed clean of our sins and set as lights for the world, to proclaim the hope of the Gospel of God in Christ Jesus. He does not promise us comfort or luxury in this life on earth. For who, now clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness, would ever pursue something as futile as material prosperity? Sadly, many. We who follow Him will be hated just as He was hated, but no longer can we consider these trials as sorrowful because we have received grace upon grace, hope that is imperishable, that we are His and He is ours. We trade in our earthly treasures, that moth, rust and thieves plunder, gladly and instead store for ourselves treasures in Heaven that none can take away. For to us, to live is Christ and die is gain. This is the purpose for which we were created, not to live for ourselves but to live for Him. So, we consider it joy to be humbled under trials and failures because we know that we are loved in spite of our flaws, and in Him we will grow more and more to be like Him. Therefore, we, who now believe in Him, who love Him and obey Him, must decrease, and He must increase, for He is the centre of our world, the purpose for which we live because all that was once lost has now been reclaimed. To this God who does all things for His glory, the lover of our souls, be glory and majesty and honour and praise forevermore.

Conclusion

You are not the centre of God’s universe, God is. I pray that you stay your pursuit of God for the sake of your earthly pleasures and pursue Him for Him, for His love for you is unlike any you can experience elsewhere. A day in His courts is better than thousand elsewhere. This is the Gospel of Christ and this is the Gospel that unites us.

John 3:16 makes no sense if you don’t know the supreme glory of the God who loves, the grace of His begotten Son who was given, the invincible power of the Spirit who quickens us to believe and the unbridled depravity of the man who is offered the imperishable hope of eternity. The Christian community at large agrees on the centrality of the gospel statement in John 3:16 without a unified understanding of what it means. If we don’t seek for deeper clarity among churches in this statement of faith, we would, in the name of unity forsake the very gospel that unites us.

John 3:16 is the headline to the story elaborated in 66 books that form the Bible which is God breathed where He explains the redemptive purposes of His will and reveals the very nature and character of who He is. Let us be careful not to read the headline and make baseless assumptions. Instead, let us pick this book up and read it and sing to Him with joy,

“…like a rose, trampled on the ground, You took the cross, and thought of You, above all.”

Michael Teddy

The post What is the Gospel? first appeared on The Cross Purpose.

The post What is the Gospel? appeared first on The Cross Purpose.