The gospel
The gospel is the good news of salvation through God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the message that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and then appeared to his disciples. The gospel is the good news that we can enter the kingdom of God through the saving work of Jesus Christ. (1. Corinthians 15,1-5; Acts of the Apostles 5,31; Luke 24,46-48; John 3,16; Matthew 28,19-20; Mark 1,14-15; Acts of the Apostles 8,12; 28,30-31)
Why were you born?
They were created for a purpose! God created each of us for one reason - and we are happiest when we live in harmony with the purpose He has given us. You must know what this is.
Many people have no idea what life is about. They live and they die, they search for some kind of meaning and wonder if their life has a purpose, where they belong, if they really have a meaning in the grand scheme of things. They may have assembled the finest bottle collection, or won the popularity award in high school, but all too quickly adolescent plans and dreams give way to worries and frustrations about missed opportunities, failed relationships, or countless "if only" or "what could have been."
Many people lead an empty, unfulfilled life without a purpose and meaning beyond the short-lived satisfaction of money, sex, power, respect, or popularity, which mean nothing, especially when the darkness of death approaches. But life could be so much more than that because God offers much more to each one of us. It gives us true meaning and a real sense of life - the joy of being what it has created us for.
Part 1: Man created in God's image
The first chapter of the Bible tells us that God created man “in his own image” (1. Mose 1,27). Men and women were "created in the image of God" (same verse).
Obviously, we are not created in the image of God in terms of size or weight or skin color. God is spirit, not a created being, and we are made of matter. Yet God has made mankind in his own image, which means he has essentially made us look like him. We have self-confidence, we can communicate, plan, think creatively, design and build, solve problems and be a force for the good in the world. And we can love.
We are to be "created after God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4,24). But often people are not at all like God in this regard. In fact, people can often be quite ungodly. However, despite our ungodliness, there are certain things we can rely on. For one thing, that God will always be faithful in his love for us.
A perfect example
The New Testament helps us understand what it means to be created in the image of God. The Apostle Paul tells us that God is forming us into something perfect and good—the image of Jesus Christ. "For those whom he chose he also predestined to be made in the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Romans 8,29). In other words, God intended from the beginning that we should become like Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh.
Paul says that Jesus himself is "the image of God" (2. Corinthians 4,4). “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1,15). He is the perfect example of what we were made to do. We are God's children in his family and we look to Jesus, God's Son, to see what that means.
One of Jesus' disciples asked him, "Show us the Father" (John 14,8). Jesus replied, "Whoever sees me sees the Father" (verse 9). In other words, Jesus says what you really need to know about God you can see in me.
He doesn't talk about skin color, dress styles, or a carpenter's skills - he talks about mind, attitude, and actions. God is love, wrote Johannes (1. John 4,8), and Jesus shows us what love is and how we should love as human beings who are made into his likeness.
Since human beings were made in the image of God, and Jesus is the image of God, it is no wonder that God molds us into the image of Jesus. He is to take “form” in us (Galatians 4,19). Our goal is to “come to the perfect measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4,13). As we are reshaped in Jesus' image, the image of God is restored in us and we become what we were created to be.
Perhaps you are not very much like Jesus now. That's okay. God already knows about this, and that is why He is working with you. If you allow him, he will change you - transform you - so that you can become more and more like Christ (2. Corinthians 3,18). It takes patience - but the process fills life with meaning and purpose.
Why does not God accomplish everything in a moment? Because that does not take into account the real, thinking and loving person that you should be after his will. A change of mind and heart, the decision to turn to God and to trust Him may only take a moment, such as deciding to walk down a certain street. But the actual journey along the road takes time and can be full of obstacles and difficulties. In the same way, it takes time to change habits, behaviors and deep-rooted attitudes.
Furthermore, God loves you and wants you to love him. But love is love only when it is given of its own accord, not when it is demanded. Forced love is not love at all.
It is getting better and better
God's purpose for you is not only to be like Jesus 2000 years ago - but also to be like He is now - resurrected, immortal, filled with glory and power! He will “transform our futile body to be like his glorious body, according to the power to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3,21). If we have been united to Christ in this life, "we shall also be like him in the resurrection" (Romans 6,5). "We shall be like him," John assures us (1. John 3,2).
If we are God's children, Paul writes, then we can be sure "that we also will be exalted with him to glory" (Romans 8,17). We will receive a glory like that of Jesus - bodies that are immortal, that never decay, bodies that are spiritual. We will be resurrected in glory, we will be resurrected in power (1. Corinthians 15,42-44). "And as we bore the image of the earthly, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly" - we shall be like Christ! (v. 49).
Would you like glory and immortality? God has created you for this purpose! It's a wonderful gift he wants to give you. It is an exciting and wonderful future - and it gives meaning and meaning to life.
When we see the end result, the process we are in now makes more sense. The difficulties, trials and pains in life, as well as the joys, make more sense when we know what life is about. When we know the glory we will receive, the sufferings in this life will be easier to endure (Romans 8,28). God has made extraordinarily great and precious promises to us.
Is there a problem here?
But wait a minute, do you like to think. I will never be good enough for this kind of glory and power. I am just an ordinary person. If heaven is a perfect place, then I do not belong there; my life is messed up.
That's okay - God knows, but he will not let that stop him. He has plans for you, and he has already prepared for such problems so that they can be resolved. Because all people have messed things up; The lives of all people are botched and nobody deserves to receive glory and power.
But God knows how to save people who are sinners - and no matter how many times they mess up everything, he knows how to save them.
God's plan is for Jesus Christ - who was sinless in our stead and suffered for our sins in our stead. He represents us before God and offers us the gift of eternal life if we want to accept it from him.
Part 2: The Gift of God
We all fail, says Paul, but we were justified by the grace of God. It is a present! We can not earn it - God gives us out of His grace and mercy.
People who are getting by in life on their own don't need saving—it's people in trouble that need saving. Lifeguards don't "save" people who can swim themselves - they save people who are drowning. Spiritually we are all drowning. None of us comes close to the perfection of Christ, and without it we are as good as dead.
Many people seem to think that we have to be "good enough" for God. Suppose we were to ask some, “What makes you believe that you will go to heaven or that you will have eternal life in the kingdom of God?” To which many would respond, “Because I have been good. I did this or that.”
The truth is that no matter how much good we have done to earn a place in a perfect world, we will never be “good enough” because we are imperfect. We have failed, but we are made righteous by God's gift of what Jesus Christ did for us.
Not by good works
God saved us, says the Bible, "not according to our works, but according to his counsel and his grace" (2. Timothy 1,9). He saved us, not because of works of righteousness which we had done, but according to his mercy" (Titus 3,5).
Even if our works are very good, they are not the reason why God saves us. We have to be saved because our good works are not enough to save us. We need mercy and grace, and God gives us that through Jesus Christ.
If it were possible for us to earn eternal life through good behavior, then God would have told us how. If obeying commandments could give us eternal life, God would have done it that way, says Paul.
"For only if there were a law that could give life, would righteousness really come from the law" (Galatians 3,21). But the law cannot give us eternal life - even if we could keep it.
"For if righteousness is by the law, Christ died in vain" (Galatians 2,21). If people could work for their salvation, then we wouldn't need a Savior to save us. It was not necessary for Jesus to come to earth or to die and be resurrected.
But Jesus came to earth for that very purpose—to die for us. Jesus said he came "to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20,28). His life was the payment of a ransom given to set us free and redeem. The Bible repeatedly shows that "Christ died for us" and that He died "for our sins" (Romans 5,6-8; 2. Corinthians 5,14; 15,3; Gal
1,4; 2. Thessalonians 5,10).
"The wages of sin is death," says Paul in Romans 6,23"But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". We deserve death, but we are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. We don't deserve to live with God because we're not perfect, but God saves us through His Son Jesus Christ.
Descriptions of salvation
The Bible explains our salvation in many ways - sometimes using financial terms, sometimes words referring to victims, family or friends.
The financial term expresses that he paid the price to set us free. He took the punishment (death) we deserved and paid the debt we owed. He takes our sin and death and in return gives us his righteousness and life.
God accepts Jesus 'sacrifice for us (after all, he is the one who sent Jesus to give it), and He accepts Jesus' righteousness for us. Hence, we who once opposed God are now his friends (Romans 5,10).
“Even you, who were once strangers and enemies in evil deeds, he has now atoned for by the death of his mortal body, so that he may present you holy and blameless and spotless in his sight” (Colossians 1,21-22).
Because of Christ's death, we are holy from God's point of view. In God's book, we went from a huge debt to a huge credit - not because of what we did, but because of what God did.
God now calls us his children - he has adopted us (Ephesians 1,5). "We are God's children" (Romans 8,16). And then Paul describes the wonderful results of our adoption: "If we are children, we also are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ" (verse 17). Salvation is described as an inheritance. "He qualified you for the inheritance of the saints in the light" (Colossians 1,12).
Because of God's generosity, because of His grace, we will inherit a fortune - we will share the universe with Christ. Or rather, he will share it with us, not because we did anything, but because he loves us and he wants to give it to us.
Receiving by faith
Jesus qualified us; he paid the penalty not only for our sin, but for the sins of all people (1. John 2,2). But a lot of people don't understand that yet. Perhaps these people have not yet heard the message of salvation, or they have heard a distorted version that made no sense to them. For some reason they didn't believe the message.
It's like when Jesus paid their debts, gave them a huge bank account, but they have not heard of it, or they do not quite believe it, or they do not think they had any debts at all. Or it's like Jesus throwing a big party, and he gives them a ticket, and yet some people choose not to come.
Or they're slaves working in the dirt, and Jesus comes along and says, "I bought your freedom." Some people don't hear that message, some don't believe it, and some would rather stay in the dirt than find out what freedom is is. But others hear the message, they believe, and come out of the dirt to see what new life with Christ might be like.
The message of salvation is received by faith—by trusting Jesus, by taking His word, by believing the good news. "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved and your house" (Acts 1 Cor6,31). The gospel becomes effective for “everyone who believes” (Romans 1,16). If we don't believe in the message, it won't be of much use to us.
Of course, faith involves more than just believing certain facts about Jesus. The facts have a dramatic impact on us - we must turn away from the life we have created in our own image, and instead turn to God, who has made us in His image.
We should admit that we are sinners, that we do not deserve the right to eternal life, and that we do not deserve to be joint heirs with Christ. We must admit that we will never be "good enough" for heaven - and we must trust that the ticket Jesus gives us is indeed good enough for us to be at the party. We must trust that in his death and resurrection he has done enough to pay our spiritual debts. We must trust in his mercy and grace, and admit that there is no other way to enter.
A free quote
Let's go back to the meaning of life in our discussion. God says he made us for a purpose, and that purpose is to become like him. We are to be united with God's family, the siblings of Jesus and will receive a share in the family fortune! It is a wonderful purpose and a wonderful promise.
But we haven't done our part. We haven't been as good as Jesus - ie we haven't been perfect. What then makes us think that we will also receive the other part of the “deal”—eternal glory? The answer is that we must trust God to be as merciful and full of grace as he claims. He made us for this purpose and he will carry out this purpose! We can be confident, says Paul, that "he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1,6).
Jesus paid the price and done the work, and His message - the message of the Bible - is that our salvation comes through what He has done for us. Experience (like Scripture) says that we cannot rely on ourselves. Our only hope for salvation, for life, to become what God made us to be, is to trust in Christ. We can become like Christ because, knowing all of our mistakes and failures, He says He will do it!
Without Christ life is meaningless - we are in the dirt. But Jesus tells us that he has bought our freedom, he can cleanse us, he offers us a free ticket for the party and full entitlement to the family fortune. We can accept this offer, or we can turn it off and stay in the dirt.
Part 3: You are invited to the banquet!
Jesus looked like an insignificant carpenter in an insignificant village in an insignificant part of the Roman Empire. But now he is widely regarded as the most significant person who has ever lived. Even unbelievers acknowledge that he gave up his life to serve others, and this ideal of self-sacrificing love reaches into the depths of the human soul, touching the image of God within us.
He taught that people can find a real and full life if they are prepared to give up their own staggering attachment to existence and follow it into the life of the Kingdom of God.
"Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10,39).
We have nothing to lose except a pointless life, a frustrating life, and Jesus offers us fulfilling, joyful, exciting and overflowing lives - for all eternity. He invites us to give up pride and concern, and we gain inner peace and joy in the heart.
The way of Jesus
Jesus invites us to join Him in His glory - but the journey to glory requires humility by giving preference to other people. We need to loosen our grip on the things of this life and consolidate our hold on Jesus. If we want to have new life, we have to be ready to let go of the old one.
We were made to be like Jesus. But we do not just copy a respected hero. Christianity is not about religious rituals or even religious ideals. It is about God's love for humanity, his faithfulness to humanity, and his love and faithfulness, which became visible in Jesus Christ in human form.
In Jesus, God demonstrates his grace; He knows that we will never be good enough on our own, no matter how hard we try. In Jesus, God gives us help; He sends the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name to live in us, to change us from the inside to the outside. God shapes us, that we are like Him; we do not try to become like God on our own.
Jesus offers us an eternity of joy. Every person, as a child in God's family, has a purpose and meaning - a life forever. We were made for eternal glory, and the way to glory is Jesus, who himself is the way, the truth and the life (John 14,6).
For Jesus it meant a cross. He is also calling us to join us in this part of the journey. "Then he said to them all, 'Whoever wants to follow me must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me'" (Luke 9,23). But on the cross there was a resurrection to glory.
A festive banquet
In some stories, Jesus compared salvation to a banquet. In the parable of the prodigal son, the father threw a party for his apostate son, who eventually came home. “Bring the fatted calf and slaughter it; let's eat and be merry! For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found" (Luke 1 Cor5,23-24). Jesus told the story to illustrate the point that all heaven rejoices when one turns to God (v. 7).
Jesus told another parable about a man (representing God) who prepared a "great supper and invited many guests" (Luke 1 Cor4,16). But surprisingly, many people ignored this invitation. "And they all began to apologize one by one" (verse 18). Some were worried about their money or their jobs; others were distracted by family matters (vv. 18-20). So the Master invited poor people instead (v. 21).
So it is with salvation. Jesus invites everyone, but some people are too busy with the things of this world to respond. But those who are "poor," who realize that there are more important things than money, sex, power and fame, are eager to come and celebrate real life at Jesus' supper.
Jesus told another story in which he compared salvation to a man (representing Jesus) going on a journey. “For it is like a man who went abroad: he called his servants and entrusted his property to them; To one he gave five talents of silver, to another two, and to the third one, each according to his ability, and he went away” (Matthew 25,14-15). The money could symbolize several things that Christ gives us; let us consider it here as a representation of the message of salvation.
After a long time Master came back and demanded reckoning. Two of the servants showed that they had achieved something with the master's money, and they were rewarded: "Then his master said to him: Well done, you good and faithful servant, you have been faithful about a little, I want you about much set; go in to the joy of your Lord” (Luke 15,22).
You are invited!
Jesus invites us to share in his happiness, to share with him the eternal pleasures that God has for us. He calls us to be like him, to be immortal, everlasting, glorious and sinless. We will have supernatural power. We will have a vitality, intelligence, creativity, power and love that goes far beyond what we now know.
We can not do this on our own - we have to allow God to do it in us. We have to accept his invitation to get out of the mud and to his solemn banquet.
Have you thought about accepting his invitation? If so, you may not see amazing results, but your life will certainly have a new meaning and purpose. You will find meaning, you will understand where you are going and why, and you will receive new strength, new courage and great peace.
Jesus invites us to a party that lasts forever. Will you accept the invitation?
Michael Morrison
