The Gospel
A restating of Christianity as I see it
Christianity is a journey and a process that begins with rebirth and matures through several stages.
Christ’s life is not only true as written but it represents greater Truth as a whole. His work is broken into four parts.
1) Leaving heaven and being born into flesh to live perfectly.
2) Suffering and dieing on the cross for our sins.
3) Rising again from death, and walking again on earth.
4) Ascending to heaven where he intercedes for us.
His eventual return to earth to meet His bride is an outcome of His work.
1st The first part of his work represents relationship. That is key to fully understanding everything else He did. The purpose of living so long among other humans is to give ample opportunity to know people and be known by people at a very deep level.
2nd Christ meant it when He did the work of the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension. You really are dead to your old life. It was a counterfeit life anyway.
3rd You must follow Him into what you were designed to be. You were designed to be perfect and somewhere inside you desire to return to a perfect intimate walk with your creator. So this journey requires you to seek the desires of your heart. In Christ’s resurrection you grow into your place in His great commission. You must also learn God’s timing and rhythm.
4th Comes your place in the battle. In His ascension you are empowered to fight what is set against you. This is the path of warfare and deliverance, but it is also the path of healing and counseling. To heal someone is to fight for them. To share the Gospel with them is to set them free. To council them is to open their blind eyes.
The great commission is our co-mission with Christ. Christ claimed in Luke 4 that his mission statement was to—heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, set free the captive, and proclaim the day of the lord. Actually, He said He was anointed to do those things.
So this is the mission left to us, but not to us alone. We have each other and we have the Spirit of God to mentor us at all times. For some time many have claimed that our place was to introduce others to Christ and let Him do all the work in them. However, we are called the body of Christ which would support the idea that Christ will work though us to accomplish His mission.
As a person grows in Christ we should be less of a factor and Christ will work more and more directly. Therefore, I see the value in making a couple points here. If what we are doing as a religion doesn’t involve, healing, restoring, setting free and proclaiming Christ then it isn’t the real deal. The bible clearly states that “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” If anyone comes to you with a religion, or religious belief that isn’t about freedom and joy ignore them, that’s not Christianity.
These are rebellious statements to make in this day and age, but they must be said. Never let anyone tell you that your version of a relationship with God is less than their religious practices. I had a relationship with God long before returning to formal Christianity and the final lesson of it all has been that God wanted a relationship with me. I’ve had some great mentors but had I trusted my own relationship with God I could have cut years out of my training.
Nor should any of us let the hypocrisy of others be an excuse to not have our own relationship with God. I’m saying it plainly; every good thing you’ve been tempted to believe about God is true. He is too good to be true. Others may make it about so much more, I do it all the time because I put my relationship in the context of my own journey but it’s not needed. Have a relationship with God, that’s it. Let Him work out the details.
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