Part Five

I took Greek one semester in my undergraduate work, and was awful at it.  Rote memory does not stay with me for some reason and this class had a lot of memorization in it.  Vocabulary words have never been my strong point anyhow, and there were tons of them in my class. But there was one Greek word; well there was more than one, but one in particular that “stuck” with me: Euaggelion.

Euaggelion in the New Testament is translated as “Gospel”.  And the word Gospel simply means “good news”. So good news is the gospel, and if something is not “good news” then it’s not the gospel. Now, we want to define “Good news” by our own standards, don’t we. We think anything that makes us happy is good. But not everything which brings you joy is “good”. For instance, it is “good” for us to have a physical yearly, but it’s not fun. It is good for us to discipline our children correctly, but it’s not fun. So good is not determined by the events themselves, but by the outcome of the event. Some of the most painful things I have ever been through sure didn’t feel good when I was going through them, but looking back on them now they were very good. So they were good news. They were the Gospel.

So I think it is time that I “tip my hand”. So far my posts have mostly been about how sinful we are as a group of people, and how even our best efforts are not enough to gain favor with God. However, I don’t want you to think the point of this blog is to tell you how bad you are, it is not. Recognizing your sinfulness, though, is the beginning of the eighteen inch journey. Because we cannot see our goodness, until we see our badness. Our badness magnifies Jesus’ goodness. And it is his goodness we draw from in order to become good. And that is the “Good News”. That is the euaggelion.  That is the Gospel.

In my last post I quoted Paul in Romans 7:18. Let me quote that again, because there is something in there important to our understanding of the euaggelion. Paul says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” “In my flesh” are the words I want us to focus on. Because the goodness we have is not from our flesh, the goodness we have is the opposite of our flesh, the goodness comes from the New Spirit which Jesus gives to us.  And this new Spirit Jesus gives to us manifests itself through our flesh.

Let’s go old school, Ezekiel 36:26-27 to be exact. Many times we look over the Old Testament because, I think, of the wording. Old. We think it to be “out of date” or “the old way of doing things”. I want to combat that thought, and I want you to think with me that the “good news” started in Genesis when God did not kill Adam and Eve. When God provided protection for them with the death of an animal, grace began. (Genesis 3:21. I will provide more information on this later, but for now this will suffice.)

Back to Ezekiel. Prophets in the Old Testament were spokespeople for God. Not only did they tell of things to come, but they also told the truth, even when it hurt. Many times these prophets would speak and it would sound weird to the people, but sometimes it would sound profound. This passage in Ezekiel 36:26-27 would have been one of those profound passages. Check it out, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules.” Read that again, “I will put my spirit within you” and “cause you to walk”.  There is the good news. God is giving us His Spirit; He is causing us to walk; His goodness is coming through in our flesh. These are profound words. But wait. . . there is more.

Jesus is teaching his disciples one day right before he was to be crucified and he says something that would have pointed those good Jewish boys back to Ezekiel in more ways than one. He said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. . . “ A spirit. We are going to get a spirit. From Jesus’ Father, whom Jesus says is God.  But wait . . . there is more.

Look at what happens on the Day of Pentecost, “When the day of Pentecost arrives, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and tested on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and because to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4). God speaking through Ezekiel, “I will put my spirit within you.” Jesus says, “[The Father] will give you another Helper . . . the Spirit of Truth”. Then in Acts, “They were filled with the Holy Spirit.” And in the very next verses we see a once cowardice Peter stand and preach with such conviction that thousands are saved. Why? The new Spirit manifesting itself in Peter’s life.

The word “helper” in John is the Greek word Paracleat (see I did listen). It means simply helper. Para, means come along side of, as in parallel. And cleat means to grab a hold of. Think about cleats on the bottom of your shoes. So Jesus is sending His Spirit to come alone side us to help us grab a hold of things. What are we grabbing a hold of? The Law.  (More on this to come, so don’t get hung on the Law)

Whew there is a lot in here. I hope you tracking. And I will keep coming back to this, but we need to get this. This is important. If we don’t get this then information will stop at our head and never make it eighteen inches to our heart. Follow me.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and have us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The love of Christ controls us. . .

No longer live for themselves. . .

Regard no one according to the flesh. . .

In Christ, he is [we are] a new creation . . .

Do you see? Can you see what Paul is trying to tell us? IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU BUT IT IS ABOUT CHRIST! This is GOOD NEWS! We don’t have to strive to be awesome, we are awesome! We don’t have to strive to be righteous, we are righteous! This is huge. Get this.

The objection will be, “But I don’t act righteous, I don’t feel awesome.” But that doesn’t make it untrue. You may look at my kids and say, “Goodness you have some ugly kids” but to me they are the two most beautiful children that have ever been born. What you think doesn’t change my truth. They are MY kids, they come from MY life, they belong to ME.   And that is “good news” to them.

See, what God says about you is what is true. If you will believe what God says about you goodness will come. But not the kind of goodness where you expect to get something in return, or the kind of goodness where you want to be recognized, but the kind of goodness where you can say, “My Daddy is already pleased with me, therefore I am good.”

This is a lot. Let it sink and we will come back to it next post.