Good advice or good news?

711 good advice or good newsDo you go to church for good advice or good news? Many Christians consider the gospel to be good news for the unconverted, which of course is true, but they fail to realize that it is also excellent news for believers. "Therefore go and teach all nations: baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28,19-20).

Christ wants disciples who love to know him and who will spend a lifetime learning to live in, through, and with him. If the only thing we hear as believers in the church is good advice on how to recognize and avoid evil, we are missing a big part of the gospel. Good counsel has never helped anyone become holy, righteous, and good. In Colossians we read: "If you have died with Christ to the powers of the world, why do you allow statutes to be imposed on you as if you were still alive in the world: You shall not touch this, you shall not taste it, you shall not do this touch? All this must be used up and consumed" (Colossians 2,20-22).

You may be inclined to remind me that Jesus said: Teach them to keep all that I have commanded you! So we need to look at what Jesus commanded his disciples to do. A good summary of what Jesus taught his disciples about a Christian walk is found in the Gospel of John: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15,4-5). They cannot bear fruit by themselves. We read what Jesus said to his disciples at the end of his life: I am with you always, to the end of the world. In other words, only through partnership and communion in an intimate relationship with Jesus can we obey Him.

Good advice throws us back into a futile struggle, while the good news is that Christ is always with us, making sure we succeed. We must never think of ourselves as separate from Christ, for each of our so-called good works is like a dirty rag: "So we were all like the unclean, and all our righteousness is like a defiled robe" (Isaiah 64,5).

In connection with Jesus Christ you are valuable gold: «No other foundation can be laid except the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, then the work of each one will be revealed. Judgment Day will bring it to light; for with fire he will reveal himself. And of what kind each work is, the fire will show" (1. Corinthians 3,11-13). The message of being one with Jesus is so good because it changes our lives.

by Christina Campbell