This message is probably the most important one I’ve sent out thus far.  If any of you wants to talk about what I mean by any of this, or want to know more, please let me know.

Most of what I write to you is not so much teaching, as it is my sharing what God is pressing into my own heart, and what I hope will be encouraging to you, as it has been to me.  For many of us, we grew up in the church that just told us to obey and say a prayer – sit in the pew, give us your tithes, and that pastor won’t make you feel too bad.  Basically, a sick agreement where people kid themselves that they’re ok, when they’re not.  Alternatively, our exposure to Christianity might have been a church that focused very much on emotions or service, and didn’t really get into the Bible very much to discern anything, let alone what the gospel truly is, what true Biblical faith is, and how Christians are to live.

Individually, and as a group, before we can continue on in our fight of faith, we must ask ourselves the question, what is the object of our faith?  As Christians, we would say that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the object of our faith.  This after all is what we often hear, or have heard all our lives. For myself and many others growing up we were told that if we trusted Jesus as our savior for our sins, we would be saved – of course none of us wanted to go to hell, or perhaps we just wanted to make our parents/others happy, so we did what we thought we were supposed to do, and probably felt good about it at the time.  This is how 90% of America can claim to be Christian, yet we look around and know this cannot be true – something is wrong.  Has God lied?  What is missing?

Here is a question – what does your heart say about God?  Not just the idea of God, but when you get into the Bible, what does your heart say about the God of the Bible?  What does your heart say about joy in God over whatever sin you have in your life?  This is where the rubber meets the road – Do you love God more than football, pornography, sex, money, power, friends, family?  Brothers and Sisters, when we get to Heaven, God will be there.  We will see Him clearly.  There will be no more need for scripture, to know Him in part, we will know Him fully.  For those who love God, that is a great hope.  For those who do not love God, that idea sounds pretty unappealing, they would rather watch a football game.  Here’s another question, would your heart be joyful if the only thing in Heaven was you and God?  What good is the “good news” of the gospel of Jesus Christ, if at the end, all you’re left with is eternity with someone who you do not love, or who isn’t a source of joy for you?

My questions are hopefully pointing to a defeciency in how we view the gospel, the object of our faith.  Christ paying the penalty for our sins, Forgiveness from our sins, Reconciliation to God, these are all essentials of the gospel, but they are not the good news themselves, they are just completely necessary and essential means to the good news – namely, reconciliation with God, to love and enjoy Him forever for His glory.

Brothers and Sisters, we are called Christians, we have received Christ, and bring Him to others – do not neglect the enjoyment of God for all eternity from the gospel, without it is no gospel.  We should have similar kinds of (and superior) affections for God as we do for whatever else we find joy in life with – if we do not, then pray to God for Him to give you that, maybe even for the first time, to start building up that joy in you, for your good and His glory.  This is the gospel, that Christ bore the wrath of God for our sin, died, was buried 3 days, rose again – all so that He might bring us to God for our enjoyment of Him.  He is our treasure – not escape from hell, not the ability to live a good life or have a better marriage; God is the Gospel.  Our faith, and our struggle must be for this gospel in our own hearts, and then to others.

1 Peter 3:18 –  “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit”

Grace and Peace,
Adam