I want to be a pastor. Whether that’s a preacher, music minister, elder, or teacher, I feel the call. The problem is that I’ve also felt for a long time that I don’t have a specific passion for anything. I feel kind of like I’m in a boat with the motor at full speed; but after having island-hopped all over the ministry archipelago, I end up dry and unmotivated to pursue anything with fervor. This continuous feeling of hopelessness was just what God used to reveal His strength by exploiting my weakness. He gave me a passion that I would have never found on my own- a passion more life-changing and worldview-transforming that I can't think of many other things worth much time in my life. That passion is the Gospel.
Speaking of the Gospel, here is the song that is going through my headphones right now-
“He is jealous for me. He loves like a hurricane; I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. When all of a sudden I am aware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory- and I realize how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me. Oh! How He loves us! Oh! How He loves us! How He loves us!”
These are the meditations of a heart, mind, and soul that have been completely gripped and helplessly enraptured with hope, love, and acceptance that only God through the Gospel can provide. You might ask, “How do these lyrics, specifically, reveal a Gospel-saturated heart?” The answer is fairly simple. To clearly communicate that answer however, I want to tell a historical-redemptive version of the Gospel, just so you and I are on the same page.
The Gospel begins with God’s perfect creation: no death, disease, torment, or pain. God was so pleased with what He had made that He walked and spent time with this creation every day. Then, His creation decided to believe a lie. It was a simple lie. Believe it or not, it’s the same lie that we all believe whenever we sin. This is the lie that God is not good enough, wise enough, or strong enough to satisfy our deepest longings more than thing “x” with which we decide to replace God (disbelief in the Gospel). So having believed this lie and having disbelieved the promise of God, imperfection (sin) was introduced into God’s previously perfect world. Because God’s perfection burns too hot for any imperfection to even stand near his presence, this creates quite a problem, because all of humanity is imperfect. For indelibly stained humanity to have any chance at reconciliation with God, something very otherworldly needed to bear the consequence that our imperfection deserved. Although it took over a couple thousand years, Jesus- God wrapped up in human skin- came to earth to live a life that was impossible for any other being to live. Not a spot of imperfection was found in Him. He gave up a glorious life of wealth, fame, and popularity, and underwent intense torture, slander, mockery, and abandonment. And finally, (while I don’t know how this is possible) His Father placed the sins of His people on His shoulders to bear the consequence as He prepared for and finally died, nailed to a tree. It was at this point that He experienced what every single person that has ever lived truly deserves; He was separated from His Father, Yahweh, the Great I AM, in what must be the worst anguish possible. I can’t imagine having my father turn His back on me in an act of disapproval after living with him and knowing him and laughing with him for 19 years. Multiplying that times infinity to a Father and Son that have been together since eternity past then being separated like this for the first time ever is too mind-blowing for me to even consider. So Jesus has now died and has been in a grave for three days; He is quite dead at this point- there’s no mistaking that. Then just as things began to get really hopeless, there was a giant earthquake, and Jesus stormed out of the grave, rolling away an enormous boulder, without any opposition at all! He did it! Completely through His own power, He thoroughly defeated any power that sin and death previously held. The good news is complete! This is the Gospel! Jesus died and then was raised from death so that we could believe in this death-conquering power and be utterly transformed by this message. It is tremendously important to remember that Jesus did not owe it to ANYONE to condescend to our level, to die, or to be raised again. He did it because to Him, it was worth it. He loves His people.
This is where I find myself very passionate- the Gospel does NOT BY ANY MEANS stop at salvation! The Gospel of grace (we don’t deserve any of this sacrifice, it’s all totally undeserved) applies EQUALLY as much to our growth as Christians as it did for our salvation. At salvation, we must recognize that there is nothing we can do to get ourselves to God; and during Christian growth (or for the Bible junkies, sanctification), that fact remains just as meaningful before salvation as it does after salvation. Paul says in Galatians 3, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you being perfected by the flesh?” I've heard some preachers talk about how we need to clean up our act and stop doing all sins (which is factual) with no mention of the fact that we can do NOTHING in our own strength to eradicate sin. They’re missing the point. Sin is a symptom of a heart that doesn't think that Jesus is better! When one believes that being a good Christian means being satisfied with ANYTHING other that Jesus’ conquering of sin and death on the cross (including living a “pure life”), such a person has failed to believe the Gospel. According to Romans 5, God looks at us seeing either the righteousness of Jesus (in the regenerate) or he sees the filth of our humanness (in the unregenerate). When we are regenerate, He sees Christ’s perfect work covering us; not the good things that we want to do or the bad things that we don’t want to do. He loves us all the time! This is why Jesus sums up the Law and the Prophets thusly, "Love God, and love people." A deep-seated understanding of how loving and forgiving God has been to us should free us from trying to be “good people.” There is no such thing as a “good person.” Only God is good, and by His grace He loves us in spite of our imperfections or lack of goodness (which incidentally Christ still covers).
Now, someone may say, “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?” I would respond, “Not at all! How can someone who deeply feels the love of God and the undeserved grace of the Gospel want to go out and offend the God that gave everything to us when we had absolutely nothing to give to Him?" The two ideas are diametrically opposed.
This is why “How He Loves” is the meditation of someone who loves the Gospel of grace. Grace begets grace- when one truly feels grace, he ALWAYS turns and passes it to another. Dillon Chase added a few lyrics to accentuate this message of how helpless we are and how much God loves us in spite of our helplessness and even direct rebellion against God:
“You have sought me while I kept on running, fingertips stripped away, chains I was hugging. I willfully spit in your face with my lips, You wiped it off and let your blood drip. Oh, how He loves us so!”
I’m choking up now as I listen to this song again- WHY DON’T WE HEAR ABOUT HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US??? I’ve heard so many sermons on why we need to preach the wrath of God and do not want to be just a church that “loves” everyone to the detriment of orthodoxy, and to that I say yes and amen- but part of the glory of the wrath of God is that Jesus already bore that wrath for His people! For those who believe the Gospel, THERE IS NO WRATH ANYMORE! PRAISE OUR AMAZING GOD WHO GIVES GRACE ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!
So that’s the Gospel. Jesus did what we could never do, because He loved us for nothing we could ever do, and He grows us in spite of everything we try to do in our efforts to find peace and satisfaction in some place other than in Him.
“We are His portion, and He is our prize, drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes. If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking! And heaven meets earth like a sloppy-wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest. I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us! Oh how He loves us! Oh how he loves us! Oh how He loves!”
The Gospel says that God alone is our hope.
Deus Spes Nostra.
For Part Two on my presentation of Legalism, click here!
