[Teaching] The Gospel: Relationship
Part VI of the 2024 Gospel Series | 29/09/2024 | Romans 3v21-24
Last week ICF Noord’s 2024 Gospel Series came to an end.
It was a fun journey and preparing each part bolstered my faith in and appreciation of the Gospel.
This final teaching zeroes in on the topic of “relationship with God” as the place where the Gospel comes to life.
“And when I ask myself, as I often do, what it is that I really hope to accomplish as a teacher of ‘religion,’ I sometimes think that I would gladly settle for just the very limited business of clarifying to some slight degree the meaning of four or five of these great, worn-out Christian words, trying to suggest something of the nature of the experiences that I believe they are describing.”
This great quote from the writer-minister Frederick Buechner served as a great inspiration to me in writing this.
I come from a Church tradition where this language of needing to “have a personal relationship with Jesus” or the reminder that Christianity is “not a religion, but a relationship” was very common.
There’s a lot of truth in these statements but, alas, I fear they’ve become “worn-out” as Buechner put it (this was, at least, the case for me for a while there).
So, my hope in preparing this teaching was to clarify and call back to the great power and meaning behind the reality of having a relationship with God.
Any success in achieving that goal can only be attributed to the work of the Spirit who uses personal relationship as a primary means of working with us.
It is the greatest dignity any human can hope for. Thank God it is accessible to us all.
I hope you can be encouraged by reading this and if you’ve been following the series this year- thank you! There will be more to come in 2025.
A recording of the teaching can be watched here.
The Gospel: Relaitionship
When critiquing the Church of his day, American writer James Baldwin wrote the following…“Nor do the quite spectacularly repentant ‘born again’ of the present hour give up this world to follow Jesus. No, they take Jesus with them into the marketplace where He is used as proof of their acumen and as their Real Estate Broker, now, and, as it were, forever.”
What Baldwin was accusing the Church of was a superficial faith, one where people claimed to be followers of Jesus but, in reality, used Him as nothing more than a status symbol.
This is a common pitfall for religious people. Just look at Jesus’s conversations with the Pharisees of His own time.
We all run the risk. For that reason, it’s important we regularly check ourselves and, more so, understand just what it is that makes us followers of Christ.
And that’s what I’d like to explore today.
To help us define what does make a follower of Jesus, I believe it’s good to first know what doesn’t.
Here’s a short list…
Belief in God
Belief in Jesus
Reading the Bible
Doing what the Bible says
“Going” to church
Praying, fasting, or almsgiving
Or saying you’re a follower of Jesus
Don’t get me wrong, a Christ follower will certainly profess or do these things. But the profession/action itself isn’t what defines the follower.
Then what does?
Here’s Paul weighing in on the matter in Romans 3v21-24:
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
We’ve reached the end of our 2024 Gospel Series. Thus far we’ve discussed essential elements of Jesus’s Good News: God, humanity, sin, Jesus, and His resurrection. Today, we’re going to talk about where it all comes together, where salvation itself comes from…
…a relationship with Jesus.
This is a painting by Frederic Church. It's a land formation in the US state of Virginia (not West Virginia, that is different) called “Natural Bridge”.
I chose this painting not only because it’s beautiful but because it’s a good example of what a relationship with Jesus is: The bridge that overcomes the divide between God and humanity.
In this passage, Paul speaks of a righteousness from God made available through faith in Jesus Christ. How does that relate to a relationship with God? Well, “righteousness” itself is a term that describes being in “right relationship”, whether that be with God, others, the world, etc.
So God comes to give a “right relationship”, well what kind of right relationship?
As Paul rightly points out (and as we’ve covered in this series) all humans are born in sin- a cancerous infection on the soul that motivates the wrongness in the world and ourselves.
In contrast to righteousness, sin leads to wrong relationships. It’s what motivates us to lie, cheat, steal, and think of our own well-being over that of others.
Since God is completely righteous, sin naturally leads us away from Him. This is the fundamental problem of all humanity.
However, in verse 24, Paul says that anyone who has “faith” in Christ will be “justified” by Him. This term “justified” means “to be declared righteous” or, in this context, “to be declared into right relationship with God”.
In other words: This relationship from God is the answer to humanity’s greatest problem: Separation from God due to sin.
But now a new question is raised… Paul says this relationship is an act of grace, given when one has “faith” in Jesus. What does that mean?
Like I said at the start, believing in God doesn’t mean you’re a follower of Jesus. Even believing that Jesus is God doesn’t do that! Jesus’s own brother, James, explains that demons believe these things and, clearly, they aren’t followers of Christ.
I’d argue that faith is more than simply saying “Jesus is Lord”. I’d argue that faith and, by extension, this relationship, is a way of life.
Here’s James again: In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Now before anyone’s Protestant “salvation by works” alarm bells go off, allow me to clarify what James is saying here.
He’s not saying our human works generate a spiritual power that cleanses the soul from sin. Nor is he saying that God requires us to do X amount of good works in order to get into Heaven.
He IS saying that a person who genuinely, genuinely believes the Gospel AND desires Christ will naturally reflect that in the way they live.
After all, the way we live, whether we know it or not, is our way of showing what we value most.
In other words, the litmus test for one’s faith is their life. Or, in the words of Jesus, A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit… Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
So, a relationship with God is none other than the means He uses to save us from sin and reorient our lives to Jesus.
You see, without this full life orientation, without this relationship, we cannot receive the gift of the Gospel.
God’s already done His part. He’s made the world, made us, came into the world as a man, interceded for our sins, and popped back from the dead.
Now it’s our turn.
In order to actually partake of what Jesus won, we must enter a relationship with Him. This, above all, means we’re in a relationship with a PERSON. Not a religion or a doctrine but an actual, living individual.
John 1v14… And the Word became flesh and lived among us… Isaiah 7v14… Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.
This name “Immanuel” means “God with us”. It’s a fantastic way to describe Jesus! For not only is He the perfect example of God reaching out to humanity but He’s also the place where God and humanity are joined together. Where Heaven meets Earth and hope becomes not some far off thing but a living reality before our very eyes.
Jesus is the physical and spiritual embodiment of the perfect relationship with God.
You want to know what a healthy relationship with God looks like? Simply follow the example set by Jesus.
Of course, we can’t do it by self-effort but God already knows that. This is why He gives His Holy Spirit to those He has a relationship with. This is what we see in Acts 1 & 2 and this is what Paul testifies to in 1 Corinthians 6v19 & 20.
Jesus is the goal and the Holy Spirit moves us towards that goal.
The term “mysticism”, simply defined, means union with God. And though some hold reservations about it, truthfully, it explains the Gospel really well. (Which is no surprise seeing how the concept actually grew out of the Church.)
“Mysticism,” says the writer Evelyn Underhill, “is the art of union with Reality. The mystic is a person who has attained that union in greater or less degree; or who aims at and believes in such attainment.”
Please don’t misunderstand me. “Union” with God doesn’t mean we become equal to Him or gods ourselves. It’s simply what I’ve already been explaining.
It’s God coming to Earth in human form to dwell among us.
It’s the accessibility to Him that He brings in the person of Jesus.
It’s the sustenance of that relationship via God’s Holy Spirit living within us.
It’s what Jesus meant when He said “abide in me” or, in other words, “allow me to fill every last part of your being.”
This union that mystical writers speak of is nothing more than the bridge you see behind me. Where the gap between God and humanity is no more.
That is the goal of the Gospel: For God and humanity to be joined together in the union of a loving relationship.
Now, I love all the talk about mysticism and how poetic it is but I think it would be good to talk practically as we get closer to the end.
Consider everything I’ve spoken about thus far and ask yourself, what does this mean for me? For us as a community?
How do we take this beautiful gift of a relationship with Jesus into the real world?
Well, for starters, it begins with receiving the gift! With acknowledging what Jesus has done and asking for His grace to bring you into this right relationship Paul wrote about.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of churches sort of stop there. They get people to say “Jesus is Lord”, raise their hands to “receive” Him, and then invite them back next Sunday and that’s that.
But Jesus came to make disciples. That’s what the Gospel is moving us towards. That’s what a relationship with Christ creates, and discipleship is an ongoing process.
Jesus came as a rabbi and rabbi’s called disciples. These disciples had three main goals 1) Be with the rabbi, 2) Become like the rabbi, and 3) Do what the rabbi does.
A lot can be said about these but I don’t have the time. If you want a good run down then I recommend the book Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer. Also the Bible.
However, I think each of these points can be summed up in a simple command. One I just referenced in fact.
Abide.
Abide with Jesus.
That means stay with Him (If I’m not mistaken, it’s the same word in Dutch). Stay with Him when it’s good. Stay with Him when it’s bad. Stay with Him when it’s easy. Stay with Him when it’s hard.
No matter what life looks like, just stay with Him.
Remember that He’s with you. Remember that He cares about you. Remember what He taught. Remember that He’s here to help!
Live as if these things are true (because, spoiler alert: They are!).
When we do that, whether it’s through prayer, worship, going to work, family life, or all the boring stuff in between, we’re living out that relationship. We’re opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We’re being fueled by Him and, naturally, we’re becoming more like Him.
Let the person of Jesus be the filter through which you run your life.
Now allow me to give you some good motivation for that by simply stating facts.
God is the supreme being over all existence.
He is the greatest there ever was.
He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
The heavenly Father and ultimate authority.
But unlike the kings, rulers, and, for some, fathers we’ve known, Jesus does not put a chasm between us and Him.
He doesn’t use His authority to alienate nor does He unlawfully lord it over us.
What, then, does He do with it?
Well, let’s listen to His own words… No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
Jesus uses all that power and authority to reach out, to sacrifice, and to call us friends.
The creator of reality wants to be your friend.
Look, I’ve got nothing against King Willem Alexander but he’s never called me up and asked if I wanted to hang out. Yet Jesus, God Himself, who has more power than Alexander or any ruler desires to have a personal relationship with you and with me.
All we must do is abide.
Last week, we had the great privilege of watching a brother and sister get baptized at the Kralingse Plas.
I remember watching our brother get dunked under the water and come back up with a great, big smile on his face. The sun shone overhead, the water was shining, and, as they walked back to the shore, those watching broke out and, in Dutch and Arabic, sang:
Father God, I wonder how I ever lived
without knowing that your fatherly heart
Had cared for me for so long.
But now I am your child,
now I may live in your household
And I will never be lonely again,
for, Father, You are always with me.
Each one of us singing had felt the pain and weight of living. Our brother and sister who were just baptized have felt the pain and weight of living. And, yet, there we were, singing and celebrating our God all the same.
That is the Gospel.
Everything we’ve talked about this year… The existence of God, the state of humanity, the weight of our sin, the presence of Jesus, and the power of His Resurrection… it was all on display there.
Fulfilled not only in the relationship Nour now enjoys but also the relationship that each one of us has with God.
Souls freed and joined in the beautiful union of Father, Son, and Spirit.
This relationship is the main goal of life, the very culmination of love itself.
And it costs everything.
You see, what makes the Gospel so challenging is not that it’s seen as a relic of the past or that it seems to go against much of what we accept today as good and natural.
No, what makes the Gospel so challenging is its claim to true life. Its claim that true life can only be achieved by redefining the way you live around the teachings and person of Jesus of Nazareth (whom, by the way, the Gospel says is literally God Himself).
We’re all born aware that something is off. The choice of how to respond falls on us. Do we seek the answer within ourselves? Within others? Within money or power or fill in the blank..
…or do we dare believe that these words of Jesus, that the Gospel itself, is actually true?
It’s not for the faint of heart (Lord knows)... but is it worth it? To that I respond with this quote from missionary Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
I’d like to end with the words of Jesus in John 17v3, which, in my opinion, sum up the Gospel pretty well: And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
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