The Best News Ever

People don’t like to talk about sin anymore. We like to talk about being “broken” or being a “victim” or “disadvantaged.” And instead of talking about forgiveness, we want to talk about “wholeness” or “Self actualization” or “flourishing.” 

There are many “religions” in this world that have a program, or steps, or a plan whereby you can learn to “be your true self,” to flourish as a human or to find your way to God however you want to define your version of a nebulous transcendent power or force. 

Have any of these “religions” brought humankind peace? NO. We all still know something is wrong. It comes out in our responses to difficulties. In our relationships. In our disappointments. Something is wrong. We are sinners. The only hope for sinful people is honest conversation about sin and forgiveness. 

Christianity is different from every other religion in the history of the world.

It tells the truth about humans. That sin is what separated us from God and messed up our lives. God says, “Only in my presence can you flourish as a human/can you be fully alive/can you be all you were meant to be.” 

And that God has done something to straighten us out and bring us back to himself. 

In all other “religions”, there is work and sacrifice required of you. 

But this is not true of Christianity. The work and sacrifice was done for us.

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“For Christ also suffered once from sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18

Shouldn’t this be the BEST NEWS EVER!

Why isn’t it to many people?  Because we are independent people. Self-sufficient and prideful. This news is humbling.

Deep inside - and sometimes verbally -we argue:

 “I want to earn God’s favor.” “I want God in my debt.” “I want to be in charge.”

Sadly, this pride shows its ugliness even after we have believed in Jesus and trusted in his life and death on our behalf.  We are all tempted to slip into self-righteousness. We say (or think) “Thanks for saving me - now I’ll pay you back!” 

And so we worship and serve for all the wrong reasons. Perhaps to earn God’s favor. To make sure things go well with us. Or perhaps to impress others. 

Paul tells the Galatians that this is foolish. “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3). The gospel, the BEST NEWS EVER is not just for us at salvation. We need to rehearse it every day. 

Next time, I would like to help us remember the mercy and grace that God has shown to us by looking at a story in Luke 7:36-50.

Jesus and the Guilty.