The Gospel

If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. ... St. Augustine

What is the Gospel except good news? We call it the Gospel which is defined as good news, and yet there always seems to be something in there that we don’t particularly think is good, it pricks our conscience, it makes us fidget in our seats. It is often a verse or two that we read over fast, hoping that if we gloss over it, it might not stick to our conscience.

An Old Testament King once received a letter from the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer 36). As he began to read it, he tore out what he didn’t want to hear and put it in the fire, soon he had nothing left at all, and he had nothing else to do to make the things he (and Israel) had messed up right again. Now that his plate was cleared his conscience could be clear too. Oh by the way, this was the last king before the Babylonians overran the Israelites and carried them off into exile; maybe he should have kept the scroll.

An early president of the United States, and a framer if the constitution, Thomas Jefferson, created what was called the Jeffersonian Bible. He took the Bible and carefully cut out the parts he didn’t like. He created a Bible that didn’t hold him accountable, and in doing so, in his mind created a god that didn’t hold him accountable either. Jefferson was what we would call a Deist. He believed there was a creator, but he was like a great clock maker who after creating the universe, wound the clock and let us go to fend for ourselves. Jefferson believed in the power of man over the power of God.

We may not be as bold as these two men, but I would dare to say we all have read scripture and rationalized it to fit our lifestyle a time or two. Sure we often come back to a proper understanding, and that is called repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. What is it about the human being that hates to be held accountable, why is it that we have such problems with some things that are said in scripture?

Matthew 19:23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Romans 6:19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

1 Corinthians 5:13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."

Matthew 3:2… "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

1 Corinthians 6:8-10 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

And on and on…

These scriptures and many others mold us and shape us, much like the potter shapes the clay, or maybe more appropriately as the ironsmith shapes the heated iron, with a hammer and tongs. All of scripture is right, none of it is wrong; it is perfectly balanced and perfectly holy to observe all of scripture… but… when we cannot, as in the instance of the Ten Commandments, God provides a way through His Son that we might be acceptable in His sight. Jesus broke it down for us very simply when He stated that the two greatest commandments were to “love God with everything you’ve got, and all people like you do yourself” (my paraphrase). If we would do only that, we would go a long way toward reaching holiness, toward understanding and obeying the scriptures…