There is a contagion (a harmful or corrupting influence with
the tendency to spread) in the church today. It has been slowly devouring God’s
people – leaving them depressed, powerless, and without genuine purpose. The
sad thing is that most have not perceived it. Instead, they have simply
received its effects as if that’s just the way it is supposed to be. The
contagion I am speaking of is none other than a distorted Gospel.
This distorted Gospel is preached from our pulpits and
propagated through our small groups. Its effects are more serious and more
far-reaching than we would ever give it credit. Its external effects are
unmistakable because it is first pervasive in our thinking. This has been the aim of the enemy from day one: to
distort the Gospel and rob its power to transform every part of a person’s life
– beginning with their perspective.
Jesus’ first message was aimed at our perspective (“repent for the Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand” [Mt. 4:17]). Repentance, simply put, is a change in perspective. What Jesus is
calling us to do is to change the way we see things until His Kingdom fills our
consciousness. When we see and believe the
Gospel rightly, it will have its intended effect on the whole person!
The distorted Gospel is taught in such a way that sin fills
our consciousness. This causes us
to become more aware of the potential for sin than we are of the already
finished work of Christ (Jn. 19:30). When this happens we lose sight of our value to God
and put on a false identity – something the bible calls “the old self” (Col.
3:9), out of which wickedness flows as a natural consequence.
But God did not fearfully and wonderfully make us so that we would live
perpetually under the effects of a sinful nature (a false identity). He made us
in His image – to be an expression of His glory on the earth (our true
identity)! It was for this purpose that He died – to restore that which was
lost (Lk. 19:10)! He has now separated our sins from us as far as the east is
from the west (Ps. 103:12)! In doing so He made provision to get sin off of us
so that the truth about who He created us to be would manifest itself! You are
now commanded to reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus! Come on,
admit it – that just makes you free!
We are to preach and teach the Gospel of the Kingdom so that
our perspective shifts towards Jesus (Acts 26:18) and not towards sin. Doing so will bring us into a God
consciousness – a great place to be! When this happens, we are “renewed in the
spirit of our minds” and put on “the new self, created after the likeness of
God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24), where sin is not named amongst us and good works become a
natural consequence (Eph. 2:10, Titus 2:14).
This blog is already too long, so I’ll just leave you with a
few questions in light of the things above (I encourage you to not ask yourself
these things. Ask the Holy Spirit!):
- Am I primarily living from a sin consciousness or a God consciousness?
- What do you want to reveal to me about the power of the Gospel that will transform the way I see things today?
Be Blessed!
Andrew
(As Always, your thoughts are appreciated below in the comments section)
Hey Andrew great blog post!
ReplyDeleteI'm just a little confused on what you mean by " beginning with their perspective" at the end of the second paragraph.
Great question Vincent, thanks for asking! Basically I just mean that the enemy wants our perspective off of God and on something else at any given time. He would primarily want it on our sin, because when we are more conscious of our sin than we are of Jesus' work on the cross on our behalf then we fall into shame, condemnation, fear, doubt, etc. When we have our minds filled with Christ and all that His death and resurrection accomplished then we will live in peace, joy, love, etc.
DeleteIf we ever find ourselves feeling condemned, fearful, etc. that is a surefire way of knowing that we are living with a sin consciousness instead of a God consciousness. Setting our eyes back on Jesus will get us right back into the place of confidence that He enjoys us. That's a quick answer, but I hope that helps! God bless man!