The Gospel in Ten Words (5 page)

Living in Asia I had
plenty of friends who were poor missionaries. Many of those who were ultimately
successful had stories like this:

I came to the end of
my resources, I was at my wit’s end, and I didn’t know what to do. In
desperation I begged God to provide. Instead, he flooded my soul with the vast
affection of his love. I heard him say, “I love you,” and in an instant
everything changed. Suddenly nothing else mattered. The unpaid bills became
inconsequential. The problems that had been hanging over my head like anvils
became trivial. I had been set free by a profound revelation.
My heavenly Father
loves me!
How could I fail? Whether I lived or died, it did not matter because
I knew my Daddy is for me.

Have
you ever experienced the love of God in the middle of a crisis? There is
nothing like it. It leaves you dancing on the waves of uncertainty and scoffing
at the storm of your circumstances.

Have
you ever experienced the love of God in the middle of a decision? It leaves you
grinning like a winner knowing that whatever you choose you will win, even if
your choice is fatal. I know, in the natural it doesn’t make sense. But who
wants to live in the natural? I much prefer the superior realm of his love.

How
does God woo us from the jaws of distress? By having us drink from the
boundless oceans of his love, by drawing us into the sunlit fields of his
grace, and by preparing a table laden with blessings in the presence of our
enemies. God invariably deals with our problems by giving us a greater
revelation of himself and his love. Our part is to choose whether we will
continue to operate in the inferior reality of our circumstances or walk in the
higher reality of his love. This choice is the difference between success and
failure.

Mary’s
choice and Paul’s choice and the choice of every successful son or daughter of
God is the choice to live loved. It is saying, “World, you cannot pressure me.
Your carrots and sticks mean nothing to me. I run on the love of God, and when
I feel his pleasure, boy, do I run!”

A
revelation of God’s lavish love is transformational. It will resurrect a dead
marriage, heal a broken family, and rocket your ministry onto a trajectory to
who-knows-where-but-it-doesn’t-matter-because-it’s-Papa’s-business-and-I’m-just-thrilled-to-come-along-for-the-ride.

Love
is not just the first chapter in a book on the gospel; love is life. In fact,
the love of God is better than life. If I had to choose between my life and his
love I would take his love every time, for it is only in his love that we truly
live.

Lately I have been
asking myself, “What is the one supreme lesson I want my kids to learn from
me?” In other words, what is my One Big Truth? Your One Big Truth is your
answer to this question: What is the most important lesson I have learned in
life? Your One Big Truth is the truth you cling to when all is lost. It’s the
backbone that helps you stand and the keel that keeps you on course. It’s the
spark in your imagination, the drive in your engine, and the peace in your
sleep.

Perhaps
you have never thought about this before. Then consider Puddleglum the
Marsh-wiggle. Puddleglum is one of my favorite characters from
The
Chronicles of Narnia
. He is grim, gloomy, and famously pessimistic, but
he’s a good wiggle in a storm. If you have read
The Silver Chair
by C. S. Lewis, you will
know what I’m talking about.

Near the end of that story, Puddleglum and his friends,
Jill and Eustace, find themselves trapped in the dark, subterranean world of
Underland. An evil enchantress tries to convince them the world they are looking
for does not exist. Aided by incense and music she weaves a web of lies making
out that Narnia is nothing but a make-believe world and its king, Aslan, a
foolish dream. Jill and Eustace begin to fall under her influence but steadfast
Puddleglum breaks the spell with a bold declaration:

Suppose we have only
dreamed, or made up all those things … Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of
yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one … That’s why
I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t
any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if
there isn’t any Narnia.
[10]

Puddleglum’s One Big Truth was that Aslan and Narnia were
more real than the world he could see with his eyes. Acting on his conviction,
Puddleglum refuted the witch’s lies, stomped on her evil-smelling fire, and
saved the day.

As Puddleglum so brilliantly shows us, your One Big Truth
is an undimmable light in a dark world. It is an unbreakable bridge between
where you are and where you need to be. If Puddleglum had not been so sure of
his One Big Truth, all would have been lost. It is unlikely he and his friends
would have escaped the realm of Underland.

So what is your One Big Truth? What is your central
belief?

In my travels I have encountered several beliefs that
people have adopted as their Big Truths. Some say it is obedience: “The most
important thing is to obey God no matter what.” Others say it is attitude: “The
main thing is to make a good effort; God knows your heart.” Still others say it
is sacrifice: “Give God your best; he has already given you so much”—or fruit:
“Prove yourself as his disciple.”

The difficulty I have with beliefs such as these is that
they rely on
me
—my obedience, my attitude, my sacrifice, and my
fruit-bearing—and I just don’t have that much faith in me. Like Puddleglum, my
faith is in another. My backbone comes from someone else.

So what is my One Big Truth? It is this:
God loves us with an
unfailing love
.
This is simply mind-blowing to me. Every
form of love you and I will experience in this world is
failing
love—it breaks
and it bruises, it disappoints and ultimately it dies. But God’s love
never, ever
fails. Not
ever. Not even death can stop his love. Why do I believe in the resurrection?
Because God says he loves us with an everlasting love.
[11]
Everlasting means everlasting. Either God has to raise you from the dead and
keep on loving you or else he is a liar. God is not a liar. His love for you
will never wear out or die. Cancer can’t keep you from his love. Neither can
depression, AIDs, or alcoholism. The devil and all his demons cannot separate
you from his love. Neither can death nor life. The only thing that can come
between you and his love is your refusal to receive it. The only thing that can
separate you from the love of God is you.

Think
of the prodigal son. His father loved him the same at the beginning of the
story as at the end. His love was without shadow or variation. But the prodigal
didn’t
know
his
father’s love until he was embraced. I am sure the father wanted to hug his son
every day but the son wasn’t interested—not at first. The older brother didn’t
know his father’s love either. His One Big Truth was based on his obedience:
“All these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.”
If the younger brother was a rebel, then the older brother was a right-living,
religious man. But neither son knew his father’s love. Neither had allowed the
father to fall on them in that bear-like embrace of unrestrained love.

The love of God is transformational but it will not
change you unless you know it in your heart. The truth doesn’t set you free; it
is knowing and being convinced about the truth that sets you free. You need to
let God love you the way he wants to love you. You need to let him fall on you
as he fell on those in the upper room. Pentecost was not primarily an encounter
with God’s power; it was an encounter with his powerful, transforming love. The
apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of love.
[12]

God’s love changes us.
It turns sinners into saints and haters into
lovers. Just look at Paul. When he met Love personified he became a different
man. Like the disciple “whom Jesus loved,” Paul experienced a love that was
personal and intimate, causing him to write of the One “who loved
me
and
gave himself for
me
” (Galatians 2:20).

What
about you? Can you say, like Paul, that “God loves
me
”? Do you know his
love? When you think of God do you see him as a distant king or your loving Papa?
When you consider his gaze toward you is he frowning or smiling?

I
promised myself when I started this book that I would stick to the gospel—just
proclaim it and move on. But I have to pause here a moment and play the
preacher. Permit me to ask you an important question. Do you know that God
loves you? Are you convinced he loves you when you’re good and when you’re bad,
when you’re up and when you’re down, when you succeed and when you stumble? Do
you believe he loves you for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and
that death won’t ever do you part?

Perhaps you have been following Job the sacrifice-bringer or Moses
the law-keeper in a futile attempt to merit the love and favor of God. If so,
heed the words of Elihu and Jesus: “Stop what you are doing.” Stop trusting in
your sacrifices and good deeds, and consider the wonders of God as revealed in
Christ and his work. Look to the cross and see the fierce and furious love of
God in action. Don’t ever doubt that he loves you
—
yes you!
—
with an
unfailing love. His love for you is stronger than the bond between a mother and
her nursing baby (Isaiah 49:15). You are his dearly loved child. So stop
striving and settle yourself in his arms of love. Make him your place of repose
and abide in his love.

The
gospel of grace declares that God’s love is greater than your sin and that
there is nothing you can do to earn it. All you can do is receive it by faith.

Carnal religion would have you believe that God is standing with
crossed arms, but grace declares his arms are always open. Religion says God is
angry and maybe hates you, but grace proclaims he is always in a good mood and
his favor rests upon you. Religion says you need to get yourself sorted out and
cleaned up before you can come home, but grace shouts, “Come now, just as you
are!”

There has only ever been one place to find the unconditional love
all of us need, and that place is revealed in the good news. The gospel is not
a solicitation to impress God with your love. The gospel is the passionate
declaration of your Father’s undying love for you. Everything in the gospel
—
his
forgiveness, acceptance, and righteousness
—
is good and true because your
heavenly Father loves you. He always has and he always will. God never changes.

I write to you, dear
children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. (1 John
2:12)

I get asked more questions about forgiveness than any other
subject. “Am I really forgiven? What if I sin and don’t repent? What if I backslide?”
Forgiveness seems to be a blind spot for many people. We just can’t get it into
our heads that God has forgiven us completely and for all time.
“
That just sounds too
good to be true. Nothing comes for free. There must be a price to pay.”
There was
—
and Jesus paid it.

The grace of God has many expressions but forgiveness is one of
the biggest. Miss forgiveness and you’ll miss grace. So one way to set aside
grace is to treat forgiveness as something other than a gift. Sadly, many do.
They think they have to do certain things before God will forgive them. They
think this way because of something Jesus said and something John said.