Off Center: Finding Our Hope in the Gospel.
Have you ever looked at something that was off center? Not very nice is it?
When a picture is off center in a room, every one has this OCD desire to put it straight again.
As of late I have noticed something off center with North American Christianity that has been literally keeping me up at night.
In the midst of all our missional methodologies, our leadership axioms, church growth models and trying to regain/ reclaim our denominational distinctive, we have gone off center from the main reason we are doing all this work: The Gospel.
In the letter of Paul to Philemon, not only are we presented with the sovereignty and grace of God, but ultimately we are show a living illustration of what the Gospel is truly all about.
In this letter you have three main Characters.
Philemon: The offended slave owner who has been wronged for no good reason.
Onesimus: Runaway slave that has stolen from and disrespected his master so that he could become his own master.
Paul: The one who presents the Gospel to Onesimus and pleads on his behalf to Philemon.
Think about it.
You and I have offended God with our sin, rebellion and depravity. As a human race, we (Adam and Eve) literally chose to give up our perfect relationship with God and leave His protection and care to become our own masters.
Philemon has the right to kill Onesimus for what he has done. Onesimus cannot return, he is now separated from his master because of his actions. In the same way, God’s wrath is justly focused towards us. On our own, we cannot approach God because of our actions (Adam and Eve). We have been marked as a race by those very actions and are separated from God in light of them…we cannot return.
Onesimus returns to Philemon’s house with a letter from the apostle Paul. On behalf of Onesimus Paul pleads for mercy and acceptance on the basis of 1) his relationship with Philemon and 2) a repayment of the goods that were stolen.
Through His death and resurrection Christ has pleaded on our behalf before God for mercy and acceptance. He pleads for these on the basis of 1) His relationship with God (As Son) and 2) because He has paid, once and for all time the debt owed on our behalf to be reconnected back to God.
Through Paul’s sacrificial Christlikeness, he redeems and restores the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus.
Through Christ’s sacrificial love on the cross, he has redeemed and restored the relationship between God and His children.
All that is required of us is to believe, to have faith in Christ and acknowledge that it is through His redemptive work on the cross that allows us the honor of being connected to God.
This my friends, is the center of our faith. For over 2000 years this has been the story that has been proclaimed. It is this message that has gotten people killed, persecuted and ostracized. It is this message that has breathed hope and new life into all those who have accepted it. It has made them new creations that see the world in a whole new light and has caused them to live in a whole new way. This is the Gospel.
The Gospel is not a denominational distinctive, a theory, formula or a just a truism. The Gospel is the foundation of the Christian faith. The Gospel is the power of God for Salvation (Rom 1:16).
It is the Gospel that the church is to proclaim, not nice moralism that leads people to “Your best life now” or ” 15 ways to be happy.” We are to lead people to Christ and what he has done through the cross…not what he can do for them as a tack on in their lives.
It is when the Gospel stops being at our center that we have been at our worst. The great schisms, the crusades, persecution of one another during reformation, colonialism, denominationalism etc. All the dark parts of our history happen when the Gospel and its life altering message are not at the center of first 1) our lives 2) our churches. We have been at our worst when we have hopped onto hobby horses or have chosen particular moral/ethical fights to become the center of our focus.
We must be centered in the message of the Gospel.
Nothing in both the Old and New Testaments makes any sense removed from the Gospel.
The good works of the church are just humanitarianism outside of the Gospel.
For me as a Pentecostal, outside of the Gospel the Baptism of the Spirit for missional empowerment is pointless.
When we lose our center, we become unattractive and unfocused.
I know I’m not the only one with OCD at the party. Let us together move our faith back to its center.
wonderful post.Never knew this, regards for letting me know.