The Incomplete Gospel

JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND FOREVER. HEBREWS 13:8 (NLT)

God designed each person with a unique personality and character. I love learning about people’s aptitude and behaviour profiles. I guess you can say I am a bit of a test junkie when it comes to profiles. The goal with profile testing is not to label people or put them into boxes, like many object, but to better understand how they approach the world.

Even when looking at how we understand and interpret theology, we need to keep people’s unique design in mind. A group of people might be more susceptible to one interpretation than another, often-times creating a tension where there should be none. One of these aspects is the focus of the influence of the Gospel.

Like this verse above says, God is in charge of historical events, present reality and a future hope. Yet, those who are more inclined to tradition will interpret the Gospel as a past event and do so at the cost of its present reality. To a pragmatist, the Gospel message might sound more like a KINGODM NOW message. Then you find those who have an utopian view on life. They desire heaven and look forward to the consummation of all things good at the Return of Jesus.

None of these are wrong per sè. Yet if they would stand in tension to the other interpretations, or even in competition with them, they would all be wrong. Not wrong in the message they preach, but wrong in the message they deny.

THE HISTORICAL GOSPEL.

Many people will say faith is the belief despite evidence. Nothing can be further from the truth. Faith is the trust in the presence of overwhelming evidence. This is the ultimate message of the Gospel of Jesus. We did not found Christianity upon a book written by a religious guru claiming to have received a new revelation (Jesus wrote nothing). Nor was it founded upon some mythological message. Christianity is a historical and evidence-based religion that can be tested and researched to prove its reality.

When someone wants to deny the reality of God and the claims of Christianity, they make arguments that are unfounded and based upon biased beliefs, not facts. This is the wonder of the Gospel. It can be proven. The way they compiled the bible over many centuries … multiple authors, historical evidences, and the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are only some things that people have to contend with if they are opposed to the evidences of Christianity.

But for those who are prone to look at evidence and historical facts, there is a danger of denying the current reality of the Gospel. To them the Gospel is a past even that happened so God can redeem us from sin. They will often deny the current application of the Gospel’s power through the present Holy Spirit and how people’s lives are impacted today. There might the belief that we need faith in the past evidences alone and that God revealed Himself to us through history.

THE PRESENT GOSPEL

One of the most astonishing aspects of the Gospel is the way we can pray “As it is in heaven, so let it be on earth”. When Jesus left the earth in his physical body through the ascension, He promised He would come back. It wasn’t many days after that He returned as the Holy Spirit.

This means God did not limit the Gospel to the place where Jesus walked, but it’s active everywhere you find people who are filled and baptised in His Spirit. The Gospel is not only a historical event, but a present reality. The same miracles Jesus did back in Galilee is available and active as a present power in our lives.

Those who believe the Gospel is for today might be prone to reject the historical and philosophical proof of the Gospel as part of our evangelism efforts. To these individuals, the present power of the Holy Spirit is a reality, but often the only proof to bring people to salvation. They might deny the authority of historical evidence and only rely on a miracle to happen in the moment. 

As impressive as the current reality is of miracles are, there might be a tendency to manufacture experiences because they believe the Gospel is only powerful if there is a current proof of its power through an individual. They might forget that God doesn’t need a manifestation. He can, and often does, work in someone’s life despite our involvement. 

We need to believe that the Gospel is proven by its historicity and watertight intellectual evidence, yet the power of its current reality makes the work of Jesus in the four Gospels as real to us today as what it was 2000 years ago.

THE FUTURE GOSPEL

The interesting reality of the early church is how much their message differed from the Gospel we preach today. It seems like so much of our modern day sermons focus on Heaven and going to spend eternity with God. Yet, the apostles preached the second coming of Jesus as the gospel. To be honest, I like that message more.

This is the hope of the Gospel. We have not only a promise of being saved from past sins, or an uplifting from the ashes in our current situations, we also have the promise of a future reconciliation with our Saviour and an eternity without the death resulting from immoral sin. The Gospel is truly timeless.

Yet, for some who are more prone in their personality to deny the current situations and live with a view of tomorrow might deny the past and present reality of the Gospel and preach only parts of the Gospel. You need to save yourself from this present dangerous world, seclude yourself from others so their sinfulness won’t defile you and wait for the return of Jesus. There seems to be a denial of the present power of the Holy Spirit. They also do not look at the way God constantly revealed Himself through scripture to be more powerful than any evil government or self-centred society.

The Gospel talks about a future hope, but never at the expense of us influencing the world with the Kingdom of God here and now.

Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NLT) “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.” 

You take the bread and drink in the present to celebrate a past event, so you can remember a promise of the future. The Gospel is genuinely timeless in its application and its promise.

The reason God designed individuals with the proclivity to focus on different areas is to make sure we will miss nothing. 

I love the Gospel.