The gospel means everything to me.
If you’re reading this, I'm sure it does to you, too. When we are close to Jesus, the gospel shapes everything from the way we think about situations to the way we act.
But though the gospel affects everything in the Christian life, it can get in the way of things sometimes.
Following Jesus makes us give up comfort and do new things - hard things. It means that we have to put ourselves last. The Bible tells us to take up our cross and die to ourselves if we want to follow Christ.
Wow. That’s a bit of a repulsive message.
Jesus saved us, so now we have to give up our comfort? We have to disregard our wants if He leads us in another direction?
The answer is: yes. The gospel is quite inconvenient.
Here’s the story…
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1).
God existed when there was nothing. He created the world - trees, pterodactyls, flounder, and any natural thing you can think of. He also created us; humans, in His image.
God created the world not because He was lonely, or because He needed us, but out of an overflow of His perfection. I compare it to the reason I write - I have ideas bottled up inside of me that need to come out, and creating gives me great joy.
Creating gave God joy. When He created the world, He said that it was good.
Everything was perfect then. Snakes didn’t bite, rivers didn’t flood, and people didn’t fight. The two humans God created, Adam and Eve, were in perfect union with Him. And God gave them one rule: not to eat the fruit from a certain tree.
However, Satan disguised himself as a snake and tempted Eve to take a bit of the tree’s fruit. She ate the fruit, and gave some to Adam, too. Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s only rule.
In doing so, they brought sin into the world. God expelled Adam and Eve from the perfect world they had lived in, because sinful humans could not be in perfect union with a holy God. Sin still affects all of us today.
Mere humans are incapable of living without sin. We fail, we disobey God, and we mess things up. We need help.
That’s why God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to Earth. Jesus lived a sinless life. He was in perfect union with God, because He never disobeyed Him. But we, imperfect and disobedient humans, killed Jesus, and when He died, He, the perfect sacrifice, paid the price for our sins.
On the third day after He died, Jesus rose from the grave where He was buried. He could not be held down by death.
Jesus defeated sin. And because of it, those who put our faith in Him can be saved and reconciled to God. Jesus’ righteousness covers our brokenness. The wages of our sin is death, but Jesus paid that penalty in our place.
Since Jesus set us free, we should live a changed life to glorify Him, because we love Him and are thankful for what He has done.
You may have heard the science law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When we recognize Jesus’ great sacrifice for us, we acknowledge that we are also to sacrifice for Him. He fills us with His Spirit to help us live a changed life.
That changed life is where the inconvenience comes in.
Life with the Gospel
Belief in the gospel demands a lifestyle change. We want to become more like Jesus, because we love Him and He is perfect.
This means that we begin to put others first. We humbly admit when we are wrong and ask for forgiveness. We develop habits to grow closer to God and learn from Him.
This isn’t just a few changes to our life; this is a completely new life. The Bible says that our old self is crucified with Christ when we put our faith in Him.
That means that when our brother or sister annoys us, we are patient and remember to see things from their side of the story. It means that we help our mom out with the chores without her asking. It means that we put off doing what we want to help a friend out.
We don’t do these things to make ourselves look good or holier than other people. We do it to glorify God and point others to Him.
God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die and pay the price for our sin… and the love He poured into us overflows so we love others, too.
Denial Now, Reward Later
The Bible contains many paradoxes. It tells us things like “The first will be last and the last will be first “ (Matthew 20:16), “The greatest among you must be servant of all” (Luke 22:26), or “When you are weak, then you are strong” (1 Corinthians 12:9-10)
One paradox is that when our old self is crucified with Christ, then we can truly live. The Bible tells us that life cannot be found apart from Jesus; in fact, eternal life can be found in Him. But it also tells us that to follow Jesus, we have to die to ourselves.
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
Our old self; our fleshly, sinful self, was what caused problems in our lives. When we became a Christian, our old self was “crucified with Christ” and now we are set free to live godly lives.
Yes, living a godly life will be inconvenient sometimes. But Christ is worth the inconvenience.