A Deeper Gospel 1. Saved From Sin?

On September 11 2001 groups of Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked 4 planes in the USA. Three planes were crashed into significant buildings but the fourth was different. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C. All the people involved were living out “life stories” that guided their actions.

The terrorists were living out a story that involved a violent God urging his followers to terrorise the immoral unbelieving nations into leaving the Muslim nations alone. According to their story, God would reward their violence with paradise.

The resisters on the fourth plane were operating out of the Christian story (even those who were not Christian) and it goes like this; God’s son laid down his life willingly so that we wouldn’t have to perish, and his followers are to continue this spirit of self-sacrifice for others. This is the greatest gift that anyone could do for someone else. So they wrestled with the terrorists knowing that it may cost their lives, but knowing they would save others. And they did.

In both cases people acted on the stories that they lived by, but the results were directly opposite. Stories determine lives of individuals, nations and whole cultures. People live out of stories, many of them false or even wishful thinking. The good news about Jesus Christ is a True story that changes our lives when we enter into it. We call this story about Jesus “the Gospel”. And I don’t mean the 4 Gospels. When we say “the Gospel” it normally means our version of the story of Jesus including whatever we extract from the Bible plus whatever other trusted people have told us about Him. We then take all of these important bits of the story and recombine it into a story that makes sense for our time and place.

As you can imagine, there are many versions of the Gospel!

Some versions of the Gospel inspire people to leave all and work for the poor like Mother Therese. Some weaker versions of the Gospel inspire people to do nothing because they are going to heaven anyway. Some versions of the Gospel make churches, clubby and insular. Some versions of the Gospel energise people to share about Jesus and see lives transformed!

So what version of the Gospel is running in the background at Living Faith Church? Does it inspire us or weary us? Does it make us deep or shallow? Does it fill us with love for others or just for each other? When we get our Gospel story right great things follow! Over the next 6 weeks Adrian and I are doing a series that will help us go deeper into the Gospel. This week we are looking at that part of the Gospel that says “we are saved from sin”. This is not a shallow phrase- it‟s time to go deeper.

Graeme H