The TRUTH of the Gospel

     Today in church (as usual) we had a wonderful sermon.  The topic was we are blessed to be a blessing, and Pastor Gillin illuminated how the promise given to Abram in Genesis is fulfilled in Christ and extended to us.

     As is typical for me, this spun my brain off into thoughts of love, for how can we better bless others than by showing them God’ love?  (The choir sang “Fill Us with Your Love,” too!)  But then I looked back at some of my previous posts and saw that I have written about love before, (See “Le Mot du Jour est ‘L’Amour’,” dated 2/17/14) and I felt like I should write this time on the topic of Truth.

     Someone wiser than I am has said the Gospel stands on the two feet of Grace and Truth.  Now Grace and Love, while not the same thing, are inextricably linked, and I’ll save that discussion for another time.  Today, I am more interested in exploring the “Other side of the coin,” as it were.  I want to talk about God’s Truth.

     As some of you know, I’m fascinated by what non-Christians might call the “Misleading Contradictions” of the Bible, but what I like to think of as the Dichotomous Nature of God.  (I hope I’m not being blasphemous here!)  I’m thinking for example of seemingly contradictory verses like “Take up your cross and follow me,” versus “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 16:24 (paraphrased) and Matt 11:30 respectively)  To “Take up one’s cross” literally meant one was going to die a horrible, painful, and extended death.  How can the same Christ who charges us to march to such a graphic end assure us that it won’t be a hard burden to bear?  (Another discussion for another time!)

     God’s Grace and Truth also fall into that pile of seemingly contradictory concepts.  On the one hand, God is Love (I John 4:8) and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,” (I John 1:9).  So those who are at least tacitly of the opinion that God will overlook their small “Indiscretions” are at least in part correct!  (Providing they confess those indiscretions!)

     On the other hand, there is the truth of our sin and its consequences.  (Finally I come to the point of my ramble!)  Too often Christians in today’s world schmeer “God is Love” in the metaphorical face of the world, all the while ignoring the truth that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (Rom. 3:23)  Furthermore, God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Gen. 3:17).  So we all are sinners, and what’s more, the very earth itself is cursed because of our sin.  Now here is where this “Truth-Thing” gets really painful:  our sin, no matter the perceived severity, keeps us out of heaven and separated from God!  As Hannah prayed in I Samuel 2:2, “There is no one holy like the Lord…”

     Merriam-Webster.com defines “Holy” in part as “Exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.”  Could a perfect being, utterly pure, allow one spot of imperfection in His presence?  Would He claim even the tiniest stain as His own?  Certainly not!

     Imagine you are baking an enormous cake and it calls for a dozen eggs (cnf. Pastor Gillin’s “Omelet” analogy).  You crack the first egg into the mixing bowl with all the other wonderful ingredients and everything is rosy.  You crack the second and the third and the fourth egg into the mix with no problems and it continues this way.  Eight, nine, ten, eleven eggs all go into the bowl with no hint of trouble, but then you gleefully and a bit too quickly crack the twelfth egg into the bowl, and the moment it’s opened, just when it is too late to retrieve it from the batter, the smell hits you.  It is rotten and the stink is enough to melt your brain.  Do you think to yourself, “The other eleven are fine.  I’m sure this one little mistake won’t make a difference?”  No, clearly not.  The whole batch is spoiled and not fit for consumption.  The entire batch must be discarded!

     That’s exactly the way it is with our sin!  Our sin taints our entire life, and even the whole of creation with its stench.  It is putrid and not fit for existence in God’s presence.  That is why Christ says “Behold, I make all things new!” (Rev. 21:5, emphasis added)  One little spot of sin may be all you have (not likely though!) and yet that is enough that Christ has deemed that we must be entirely re-made!

     All praise to Him eternally that, as it says in Hebrews 7:25, “…He is able to save completely those who come to God through him…!”