The Aspiration Of The Gospel

Feature 2 – December 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Aspiration Of The GOSPEL

What is the main aspiration [aim, desired objective] of the gospel message? John affords a vital summary: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (Jn. 20:30-31 NKJV ). Did you notice the two “believes” in this passage?

John wrote his record of Christ for two reasons. First, that we might believe – speaking of a unique action in the past which has a continuing effect. This relates to trusting the gospel message for salvation and being regenerated. After receiving eternal life, the second “believe” becomes most important. This believing should be continuous and progressive in maturity such that the believer displays and enjoys the life of Christ more and more and, no less, learns to love the Lord to a greater extent.

Believing Is Pursuing
Many Christians today, like the second generation of believers at Ephesus, are retaining doctrinal purity, maintaining a blameless life and serving the Church continuously. Yet they lack a deep devotion to Christ. The Church today must heed the same warning that Christ issued to the Ephesians: “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent” (Rev. 2:4-5).

The Lord doesn’t want just followers; He wants disciples that will die to self and live for Him. Correct doctrine and ministry are not enough. Christ demands the believer’s heart as well as his or her hands and head. Believers who deny Him as their first love will ultimately lose their testimony for Christ. Our imperfect love in exchange for experiencing the life He gives – how amazing!

Believing Is Yielding
Our desire to be a disciple of Christ is a direct measure of how much we truly love Him and believe His message. Oswald Chambers expressed, “Jesus Christ always speaks from the source of things; consequently those who deal only with the surface find Him an offense.” 1 The Lord Jesus didn’t teach a middle ground concerning discipleship; consequently, it is all or nothing:

• “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Lk. 14:26).
• “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Lk. 14:27).
• “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Lk. 14:33).

The reason we hold back from being “fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Cor. 4:10), and thus from seeing the mighty hand of God in our lives, is doubt – we don’t trust God. Through disbelief the One who was offended for us becomes an offense to us. Those who respond to the gospel message must not only come to the cross to receive forgiveness, but they must also be willing to follow Christ while bearing their own cross (Lk. 9:23-24). We are not just coming to Christ for deliverance from hell; rather, we desperately need to be saved from the power of sin within.

Believing Is Submitting
Doing the will of God does not come naturally to us. In fact, our nature opposes God’s will (Gal. 5:17). Any selfish motive or action to abide in the will of God will fail miserably. The only way to remain in fellowship with the Lord is to submit to His will and authority – to do that which delights Him. For this reason the Lord posed a probing question to His listeners: “Why call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things which I say” (Lk. 6:46). In other words, “Don’t call Me ‘Lord’ if you are not going to do what I say!” We cannot call Christ, “Lord,” if we are not doing what He commands. He must be Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all. We must submit to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to please Him and to enjoy His peace.

Believing Is Living
Christianity is more than coming to the Lord for salvation. It is also going on with Him in spiritual life. The gospel message pleads for the hell-bound sinner to embrace the cross of Christ, and no less so for the heaven-bound saint to take up his or her cross that he or she might enjoy life now. The Lord does not want us to believe on Him only to evade judgment; He wants us to become like Him through progressive and continuous believing. If we truly believe the gospel message we will yield to Him and experience His life now. “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:9-10).

Believing Is Blessed
Dear reader, do you truly believe the complete gospel message of Jesus Christ? Are you presently experiencing the fullness of Christ’s life – His abiding love, infusing power, immense joy and tranquilizing peace? If not, repent, believe and yield – you will never regret experiencing heaven before getting there. A. W. Tozer once exhorted, “The whole course of the life is upset by failure to put God where He belongs.” 2 Through the gospel Christ offers both eternal and abundant life – this is the aspiration of His message. Therefore, determine to live – live for Christ now and experience the full, abundant life that only He can offer!

Concerning the abundant life in Christ, a young John Wesley wrote: “O Lord, let me not live to be useless.” God answered that humble prayer. Wesley traveled tens of thousands of miles on horseback to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to whoever would listen. He witnessed thousands of souls trust Christ for salvation. Late in life Wesley wrote: “Today I entered on my eighty-second year and found myself just as strong to labor and as fit for any exercise of body or mind as I was forty years ago. I do not impute this to second causes, but to the sovereign Lord of all. It is He who bids the sun of life stand still, so long as it pleases Him. I am as strong at eighty-one as I was at twenty-one; but abundantly more healthy, being a stranger to the headache, toothache, and other bodily disorders that attended me in my youth. We can only say, ‘The Lord reigneth.’ While we live, let us live to Him!” 3

The night before His crucifixion the Lord Jesus earnestly requested, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (Jn. 17:24). Dear believer, if you are not living the abundant life of Christ, lift your eyes afresh to heaven, and behold the glory of the Savior through the light of His Word.

What Is The Aspiration Of The Gospel?
As vile [disgusting] sinners we come to Christ by faith alone to receive forgiveness and experience spiritual birth. Regeneration is not the end of our salvation; rather, it is the initial experience of eternal life. To come to Christ means that we must go on with Him. Paul summarized it this way: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20-21).

To truly believe the gospel message of Jesus Christ prompts the new believer to pursue after the Lord Jesus, to yield his or her life to Him, to submit to His authority and to live out His life within the way He determines. As believers, our life is hidden in Christ. Only by loving Him can we love selflessly, and only by living Him can we live abundantly!

END NOTES
1. Edythe Draper, Draper’s Quotations from the Christian World (Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton, IL)
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.

By Warren Henderson