I Wanted to Hear the Gospel

Last Sunday I was in church for the first time since the death of my mother and sister-in-law. I was not really sure what to expect in terms of my own emotions. I was emotionally raw and not ready to engage with people as I normally would. I arrived just a few moments before the service began. As I sat there, I was surprised by the deep longing in my heart. I desperately wanted to hear the gospel!

I don’t mean the gospel as we often hear it described: Jesus died for your sins, repent and be saved, as important as that truth is. I longed to hear the what theologians might call the meta-story of the gospel. I wanted to be reminded that the world is as screwed up as it is because sin damaged, almost beyond recognition, the world that God created. I wanted to hear that for several thousand years God looked at the consequences of human sin, while instituting a plan to restore and redeem the creation.

It was in the advent that God said enough! Surreptitiously, silently He sent His Son into the world in the most unexpected fashion. That event would send shock waves through the universe. It was a paradigm shift in the way that God would relate to mankind and the whole of creation. Although quiet and virtually unnoticed God thundered His resolve that the world and all that is in it is His and He intended to reclaim it for His own.

When God enrobed Himself in flesh in the person of Jesus it was the commencement of His plan of redemption. All that was broken, painful and wrong in the world was headed for destruction. God had taken the initial steps to set things right. He was undertaking the task of redeeming and restoring what sin had corrupted and destroyed. He was addressing all the consequences of sin. Life is not meaningless. God is at work in and through His creation to bring an end to death, disease, broken relationships, injustice, abuse, and the adversary’s reign of terror on this planet. He was opening the way for people to walk in intimacy with Him and experience the indescribable joy of knowing Him.

In that moment I wanted to be reminded that God was at work in the world to set things right. In doing that He would die and rise from the dead to demonstrate that He could defeat even death. He descended into hell, the creed says, and defeated the adversary in a majestic display of superiority. He took on Himself all our diseases; He bore all our sorrows; He took away all our sin.

I knew all this, but I wanted to hear it again. I wanted to be reminded that Christmas was not about Jesus’ birthday, but was the launch of a massive counterterrorism effort against all that brings heartache, sorrow, pain and suffering.

I wonder how many people who visit our churches (especially at Christmas) are looking for us to tell them that this life is not meaningless. Jesus is at work redeeming all that is evil and sets itself up against the knowledge of God. This is the gospel! It is the only way to understand life that makes any sense.  It is the only way to understand the sense of eternity that He has placed in every human heart.