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Jesus,
when He began His ministry, said, "The Spirit of
the Lord is upon Me, because He
has anointed Me to preach
the gospel to the poor" (Luke 4:18). Jesus came into
this world to preach the gospel.
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With the
word translated gospel meaning " the good
message," Jesus came to tell
the good news that the kingdom of God had come,
salvation had come (Mark
1:14).
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Originally,
the word translated gospel meant "a reward for
good tidings."
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Eventually,
it came to mean simply "the good message."
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The root of
the original word is a compound word that
means, "to announce good news
("evangelize") especially
the gospel."
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The two
words that make up the compound root are
"good" and "a messenger".
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"Furthermore,
the word meaning "a messenger" has
as its root the meaning of "to lead."
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The
good message, the gospel, is that which leads man out
of the perils of his life.
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When
Jesus came preaching the gospel, He was more than
just the messenger of a good message.
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The
true meaning of the gospel declares Jesus Christ
Himself as the gospel.
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He is the
only means by which man is save: "Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there
is none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts
4:12).
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The
good message is not a message about Jesus--It is the message
of Jesus.
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It is
His life, His teaching, his death, His resurrection, His
ascension, and His coming into the life of the believer.
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Ultimately,
the good news is that man can have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, a personal relationship
with God Himself.
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Since
the gospel is the life of Christ, how did Jesus live his
life in his earthly ministry.
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Did he
live his life doing the will of the Father?
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The will of
the Father was certainly done and was seen
in the life of Jesus.
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Or,
did the Father live his will in and through the Jesus?
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Jesus
lived his life in such humble submission that it
could be said that if you saw Jesus you saw the Father.
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The
humble submission of Jesus was not in his willingness and in
his capability to do exactly as the Father told him
to do.
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His
humble submission was simply he never attempted to do what
he thought the Father might want him
to do.
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In the innocence
of his mind, Jesus experienced his life as the Father
produce his will in and
through Jesus.
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Jesus
experienced the Father working in and through him:
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"Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he
doeth the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me: or else believe me for the
very works' sake." (John 14:10,11)
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All the work
of God seen in the life of Jesus was not Jesus
doing the work of God for the Father, it was the
Father doing the work of God through Jesus. Jesus
lived of, by, and in the Father.
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Jesus lived
of, by, and in the Father.
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Jesus could
say, "believe me for the very works" sake
because the man Jesus knew that he could never
do the work that was the will of the Father.
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Jesus could
experience the will of the Father in
his life because the Father would actually do
the work.
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Jesus
also stated, "As the living Father hath sent me, and
I live by the Father: so he that
eateth me, even he shall live
by me." (John 6:57)
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Jesus lived
his entire life by the Father.
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Just as
Jesus lived his life by the Father, the believer
would live his life by Jesus.
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Jesus
living by the Father and the believer living by Christ was
called living by the grace of
God in the writings of the early followers of Jesus.
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The
early followers of Jesus understood the "grace of
God" entirely different
than what is commonly understood today in the modern church.
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Grace for
most believers today is understood to be
the "unmerited favor" of God--which it is.
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Most
understand grace to mean, "a gift."
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But most are
not quite sure what the gift is.
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Ultimately,
the gift is Jesus Christ but most understand
that only in the light of his death on
the cross.
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They see
Jesus as their Savior, but struggle to
understand him as the essence of their life.
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Most see
"grace" as the willingness and capability
of God to forgive them of their sins--they
associate the grace of God with failure.
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The
early followers of Jesus saw the grace of God differently.
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They did not
associate grace with failure but with success--not
with falling but with standing.
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"Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God." (Rom.5:1,2)
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"(For
he that wrought effectually in Peter to the
apostleship of the circumcision, the same was
mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) And
when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed
to be pillars, perceived the grace that
was given unto me ...." (Gal. 2:8,9)
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"But by
the grace of God I am what I am: and
his grace which was bestowed upon me was
not in vain; but
I laboured more abundantly
than they all: yet not I, but the grace of
God which was with me." (1 Cor. 15:10)
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Jesus
and the early followers of Jesus lived their lives in, by,
and through the grace of God |
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