We proclaim God’s Kingdom
We cry out for our broken earth to reflect Heaven
We speak life into this earth--the Life that God gave us
We stand with restored authority, given to us at the Cross
We are seated in Heavenly places alongside our Beloved Christ.
We win.
It never
used to make sense to me.
The booming
words of Paul rang in my head: the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). Did anyone else ever
wonder about that? Whenever I’d see the great Gospel preached, it resulted in
much the same thing every time. A few hands were raised throughout the
otherwise bored congregation, people repeated some convoluted prayer the
preacher told them to, and then they filled out a “decision card.” Then, they
went home. Or out to lunch. Whatever. One soul for Jesus. Rejoice.
Right?
See, I’d
always just assumed that we were supposed to preach the gospel to sinners. That
way, they’d feel rather bad that poor Jesus had to die for them. Then they’d
get their act together and “repent.” Repentance to me was equivalent to filling
out the cards tucked neatly into the back pockets of seats all over churches.
So imagine my shock when it dawned on me one day that the mission Jesus left us
was to preach the gospel.
But, Jesus…
Isn’t that kind of… boring?
Seriously…
what do we do once we’re saved?!
Paul says
in 1 Corinthians 2:2: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
To be
honest, this blew my mind a little. Paul is the guy who could wipe his nose on
a handkerchief, leave it on the ground, and if touched someone, they got healed. Surely, he was operating in some
kind of deeper theology. Some sort of secret knowledge. It couldn’t possibly be the Cross, could it? What
gave Paul his fearless authority, his audacious tenacity, and serious
supernatural muscle?
Jesus
Christ and him crucified.
That little
verse sent me on a whirlwind trip around the entire New Testament. It has
literally changed everything in my life. I can now say that “decision cards”
make me laugh out loud. My Jesus, and him crucified, is literally the very
source of everything in my life. The
Gospel is the point where I collide with the Cross.
Buckle up,
Church. It’s time to stop watering down the Gospel in order to get more “converts.”
If we could understand even one tiny glimpse of what happened at the Cross, our
entire life would turn upside-down. And if we would simply accept what happened
at the Resurrection, our entire world
would turn upside-down. I believe God wants to use me as one tiny voice among
many others to set the record straight about the Gospel. It’s more than Good
Friday and Easter Sunday. It’s everything.
* * *
Before
Jesus, I was just plain wrong.
Not just in
the fact that I sinned. Oh, sure, I did that. But I was wrong, in my very being. I was a citizen of darkness, born into
the Kingdom of the Enemy (which happens to be earth, not Hell, if you were
wondering). Satan is the “god of this
world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Before Christ, we were in the kingdom of darkness
(Colossians 1:13), living under the law
of sin (Romans 7:21). That’s where we were born.
In complete and utter hostility to everything about God. He is love; we were
born into un-love. He is righteous; we
were born in sin. He is light; we were born in darkness.
In short,
we needed more than a mere attitude adjustment.
Think about
it this way: imagine a Mexican walking up to those crazy “Minute Men” in
Arizona. He carefully walks his exhausted body up to the border and waves to
get their attention. Immediately their rifles are aimed at him. Wiping the
sweat off his brow, he begins to give a rather odd speech: “Hello, fellow
Americans! I want you to know that I’m definitely one of you. I eat hamburgers
every night, I watch American television, and I speak English! I even use
slang! So I’m just going to cross the border now.”
The men,
without moving from their lawn chairs, simply and calmly make the following
warning: “You were never an American. You were born a Mexican. And if you take
one step on our soil, we’ll shoot.”
We were
born in darkness. For us, to attempt to even enter the kingdom of light is
illegal. And believe me, it is impossible to cross God’s borders. Heaven has no
illegal immigrants. Forget about getting shot—to step on righteousness means
death to sin. It is impossible for
the sinner to do anything about it. We had absolutely no way in.
Now, enter
Jesus. Stage left.
Do you
realize what he did? You were handed official documents from the Kingdom of
Light. You are now a citizen of Heaven (Philippians 3:20). See, if you thought
it was a big deal that he forgave you actions,
how much more is it that he changed your nature?!
We know that Jesus’s sacrifice cancelled any and all debts against us. We sing
songs week after week about how lovely it is to be forgiven. But it means so
much more than that! See, as long as you lived in your sins (that is, before
accepting God’s forgiveness), Satan
had every legal right to you. You
were quite literally a slave—you owed a debt you couldn’t pay, so he possessed
you. You belonged to the Kingdom of Darkness. And the asking price for all of
humanity? The thing that no one in all of history could pay?
One
righteous life.
One perfect
sacrifice.
Do you
realize that when Jesus purchased you
with his own righteous life, he took away any rights that Satan had to you?
Literally. See, when I buy groceries from the store, no one shows up at my door
screaming when I eat them. I have never had a manager call me and say, “How
dare you eat my apples!” As soon as I buy them, they’re mine. That grocery store cannot touch anything that I buy. So it is
with Christ.
Personally,
I believe that it never really
entered Satan’s mind that Christ was going to pay him in full. Think about it:
why would God ever buy sinners at such a high price? He could make more for
free. Surely, his love had to exist
within certain boundaries. His love could only go so far. No way would he
bother to take himself up on the Law of Substitution. The law that said he
could die in exchange for us. That would be… ridiculous.
I believe
Satan was as shocked as we were when Jesus yelled, “It is finished!”
That
bewildering moment was the unraveling of an entire kingdom. Darkness sat proudly in the room until someone turned on
the light. Sin has absolutely no power to withstand righteousness. And believe
me, all the hatred and fear in hell cannot even look upon the love that God has
for his children without trembling. Paul says in Colossians 1:26-27 that our
“hope of glory,” which is the indwelling of Christ, is a “mystery that has been
kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. It
was the Divine Secret, the Eternal Espionage, the Great Undercover Mission of
God. Only God knew. At that moment, Satan himself saw just how serious God was
about his kids.
As if that
weren’t enough, God raised Christ
from the dead. See, death came with sin. Kind of like a nasty bi-product.
That’s why God told Adam and Eve they would die if they disobeyed him. We were
never meant to die. So what is Death going to do with the righteous, perfect
Son?
To put it
mildly, run away shrieking like a girl.
The grave
couldn’t hold my Jesus. And now it can’t hold me, either.
Once the
price was paid for us, sin lost all power. That’s how Paul can say that we died
to sin. Romans 6:5-7 says, “If we have been united with him like this in his
death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we
know that our old self was crucified so that the body of sin might be done away
with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has
been freed from sin.” Did you catch that? We are united with him in his resurrection. That is, the exact same
resurrection that Jesus experienced was given to us (see Romans 8:11). God made
us “alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians
2:4). We were given the Holy Spirit.
He’s given us “every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3).
I used to
read about how Jesus was raised from the dead and then how he ascended. It used
to kind of make me sad. Sometimes I wondered if I could keep the little felt
Jesus my Sunday School teachers used to illustrate the story. It never made
sense to me because I always wanted Jesus to be here! I wanted him to teach me, to go everywhere with me, and hang
out with me just like he did with disciples.
I almost
envied the disciples.
Then it
dawned on me: God did not enter history as Jesus in order to leave it and have
a lot of people wandering around later who believed in him.
Get this: God entered this world as the great and
glorious virus, that he could literally enter the very cells of his saints and
cause them to become Jesus in this world. He wanted to transform them to the
point that there wouldn’t be one little Jesus wandering around in Jerusalem,
but to the point that there would be billions of Christs infecting the sin and
darkness of this world, in order that many might be saved.
We are one with Christ. That
means that anything that goes for Christ also goes for us. (No, it doesn’t mean
we get magic powers to make things happen that we want. But if you really got
what Jesus did, you wouldn’t want that.) Here’s the authority that Jesus—the
one who lives in us—has: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all
things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1: 15-17). In short,
he’s so awesome that he invented authority. Just because he’s that cool.
Now flash
forward to right now.
At this
very moment, the Inventor of Authority has sovereignly chosen to put himself inside of you. He’s reading this blog right along
with you. Anywhere you step, by definition, is where Jesus steps. You’re no
longer a me; you’re an us. Christ in you, the hope of glory, is
the secret God kept from all of history—and YOU are living in it. The greatest
present of all time, the one envied by all of the saints before Christ (see
Hebrews 11), is the present you unwrapped when you accepted Christ as your Lord
and Savior. One of the biggest jobs the Holy Spirit has sometimes is just to
help us understand what we received.
Sitting there as you are, you possess everything you need for life and
godliness (2 Peter 1:3). You are the temple of the Living God.
So when I
hear people telling me that they need to get relief from evil spirits that are
bothering them, I scratch my head in wonder. Are you suggesting that a little
demon has attached himself to the physical body of the Lord of Lords (that’s
you) and can actually thwart the ability of the saint to commune with God (live
in holiness)? Really? I’m sorry, but if I’m seated in heavenly places with
Christ, are you telling me that a demon is going to interrupt the throne room
party of the Almighty to harass his favorite child? Are you joking? See, demons
(and curses, for that matter) fall under the sovereignty of sin. That is, the
kingdom of darkness. And while they still have time to work here on earth,
they’ve got quite a job ahead of them if they really think they can thwart the
saints. Persecution is promised—don’t
get me wrong. More Christians were murdered
for their faith in the last 100 years than in all of history. Our physical
bodies can be subject to physical brutality. But when you start talking about who I am as a person—that’s another matter entirely.
I, for one,
am convinced that if Jesus as a man caused literally every demon that he came in contact with to fall over and shriek in
fear… Well, then I’m going to say that Jesus in the fullness of glory as the
resurrected King living in his righteous heirs is probably going to have
similar, if not more extreme, results. See, I don’t loose a lot of sleep about
evil spirits trying to do things to me. Let alone this whole business of
“ancient curses,” by which people mean that Great Grandpa’s porn
problems can affect my walk with my Savior. Either Jesus is a big enough God to
destroy the works of the devil or he’s not. Either the Cross destroyed Satan’s
power or it didn’t. Either I was resurrected into the fullness of Christ or I
wasn’t. Jesus dealt with sin once and for all. Our job isn't to fight sin; our job
is to announce victory.
1 John 3:8b
says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
So I ask
this question: Did Jesus fail?
Weigh your
answer carefully. If you lose sleep over demonic activity, then may I say
rather bluntly that you are calling Jesus a failure. If you think any curse, generational or otherwise,
can touch you, then your Jesus is a wimpy little liar. If you are still a slave
to your sins, then the Cross was a hoax. If Satan has any legal right to touch
you, mess with you, or interfere with who
you are, then God lied to us all and he
didn’t redeem us. If you need to be “delivered,” then you should fire your
“Deliverer.”
Sorry for
the bluntness. I mean it with all the love I have.
I am sick
of anemic believers running from the very Enemy whom God promised would “flee”
from us (James 4:7). I am sick of a Gospel that doesn’t really have power to
free us. I am sick of a Jesus that can’t actually save. I am sick of a doctrine that
gives demonic spirits more power and authority than the Sons of God.
Let me put
it another way: having authority over darkness really won’t mean anything to
you when you are in Heaven. Seriously. You won’t need it. It is for here and
now. You, sitting there reading these words. You need that authority right now. Why? Because you joined Jesus
in the Great Rescue Mission. That is, the Great Commission.
When Jesus
told his disciples to go on their first mission behind enemy lines, he told
them to announce that the Kingdom of God was near. When they returned, they
were shocked at the fact that demons
submitted to them. Here is Jesus’ reply: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from
heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to
overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:19). God
has called us to go behind enemy lines, not to fend off evil spirits.We are more than conquerers.We must rescue the lost sons and
daughters of our King. We have all the authority we will ever need. It came
with our salvation. And it cannot be overcome by darkness.
Will you be
persecuted? Absolutely. But if you hear reports from the front lines of the
eternal battles all over the world, the last thing the Persecuted Church
worries about is demons. Ask the believers who lived behind the Iron Curtain.
They so walked in the power of God that they ended up proclaiming the gospel to
the very men who tortured them. Or what about the Underground Church in China?
Somehow, I don’t think they’re worried about ancient curses bothering them.
They’re too busy sharing God with everyone they can and watching him perform unspeakable miracles before their very eyes. I don’t think the
Christians in India are biting their nails wondering if the devil will make
them sin. They’re too busy watching witch doctors bow before the King.
Everything
we will ever need in all of our “Christian walk” is found in the death and
resurrection of Jesus. We will never move beyond that moment. Woe to the man
who thinks he needs something “more”. Jesus is the only name by which we are saved. Not “Jesus + trying harder.” Not
“Jesus + a deliverance service.” Not “Jesus + spiritual warfare.” Not even
“Jesus + me understanding what he did.” Simply Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Complete,
total, and final salvation comes from him. Our only job is to believe him! That’s all I have to do! If I the
church would take God at his word, imagine what could happen when we
“just” preached the Gospel! Imagine a church that really believed we had divine
power to demolish strongholds! Imagine a church that believed we could simply
lay hands on the sick and ask God for healing! Imagine a church that operated
from the point of view of the Kingdom of Heaven.
My prayer
is that we would understand what it means to ask for God’s Kingdom to come.
That we would understand what it means to be
his ambassador. To walk as his sons daughters. To know that the love he has for
us is so immeasurably strong that we have no need for fear. To know that
everything we will ever need or want comes from the one message were told to
give.
I am not ashamed of the Gospel,
for it is the power of God
for the salvation of
everyone who believes.
"Another fine bit of writing brought to you by yours truly"
