Stewarding the Gospel

Sin separated us from God. God is the source of all life, so sin separated us from life. God is love, so sin separated us from love. The reality is that we don’t have the ability to put Humpty Dumpty back together. It isn’t like a fall on a ski slope from which we jump right back up and keep on skiing. It’s like a fall into the depth of the ocean thousands of miles from shore. We cannot be the answer to our problem. Quite apart from any action on our part, God’s action by Jesus and through Jesus and because of Jesus brings us back into oneness and invites us to join in helping people see what God has done for them.

There is a great call for equality and justice. When we steward well the gospel, we recognize that it calls us to a radical oneness, a radical equality. We are called to give up the pride of separation and see that we are all equal in two amazing ways. All distinctions of prideful hierarchy are leveled in both the condition of being lost and being found.

God’s free amazing grace to each of us calls us to a new way. Solving the sin problem is Jesus leaving the comfort of the adoring angels and the forever unity of the Trinity and putting others first.  The gospel is the perfect picture of self-donation, and when Jesus’ followers follow best, that picture of self-donation recurs in good stewarding of the gospel.

How can it be fair? If I run a good race, if I keep the faith, if I obey the law, it seems to be fair that there’s a crown of righteousness and glorious future awaiting me. It seems fair if the well-toned athletic swimmer makes it to shore and the less diligent not-so-well-toned can’t swim that far and drowns. It is horrible, but it seems fair. But how can it be fair for God to do it all, and I just benefit. How can it be right that everyone gets a gift? Who really wants to be treated fairly? And maybe if we are all treated special, that too is fair—just not our doing!

You are worthy of God’s love. You cannot hear this clearly enough or often enough, and you will never understand the depth of this great truth. You are worthy! You are worthy of all the love, adoration, affection, blessing, grace, forgiveness, sacrifice and attention of the God who created all that is. You are worthy, and God’s plan of redemption is to spend eternity lavishing you with all the love that GOD has and is. You are worthy. When we look soberly at ourselves, we might be inclined to believe that we are not worthy. After all, we are sinners; we sin continually. As Isiah said and Paul affirmed, “our righteousness is as filthy rags.” And as God said through Moses before the flood, the thoughts of humans are evil continually. Worthy? How can this be? I certainly am not worthy! Worse yet, we too often convey to those who are desperately seeking love and acceptance that THEY are not worthy. It is a lie. You are worthy. You are worthy because that same God has made you, rescued you, redeemed you, and declared you worthy. Strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering with joy, giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. Colossians 1:12. We are worthy, not because we deserve the love of God, but because he has declared it so. We most certainly have done nothing to deserve it. The false Gospel tells us to work hard, believe right, and live perfectly so that we might earn our worth, but it can never happen. We are worthy of that which we do not deserve because God has declared it so. We are good stewards of the Gospel when we proclaim to the person in front of us that they are the worthy object of God’s love and affection while humbly remembering that we ourselves do not deserve it.