Perspectives

No need to remodel the Good News

By Seth Carter
Posted 1/6/22

Recently our oldest son was given an electric train set. It was a Bachmann beginner train; everything you needed was in the box. Connect the tracks, plug it in and enjoy watching the train go around …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
Perspectives

No need to remodel the Good News

Posted

Recently our oldest son was given an electric train set. It was a Bachmann beginner train; everything you needed was in the box. Connect the tracks, plug it in and enjoy watching the train go around the oval, adding toy trucks or Lego mini figures to increase the interest. He set it up once.

And suddenly, we were shopping for bigger, better, faster locomotives on eBay! He was reading model railroading magazines and watching people create train layouts on YouTube. He ordered more track, turnouts, cork railroad bed, and wanted to spend over $100 on a locomotive. My power tools were commissioned as he found every scrap of lumber he could and began building layout tables.

One day — after he had the track mostly laid and had begun a paper mache mountain range to go around the pond and waterfall that he had painted by the bridge he had built — I came out to the garage and he was undoing everything, disassembling weeks of work.

Then the tools went back to work and he was building tables that were taller and sturdier. Also, it turns out that $100 is pretty cheap for a locomotive. To have one with programmable sound, a “current keeper” and other high-tech features, it will cost at least $200. 

I was observing our natural desire to upgrade. Often not content to play with the same toy or stay at the same skill level, we want the new technology as soon as it’s available. No matter how we may try to convince ourselves that we don’t like change, upgrades are pretty exciting.

The conditioning of our cultural moment, with technology changing faster than we can keep up, may bring a tendency to try to upgrade the gospel as well. The message of God’s love is absolutely life-altering. Simply put in Romans 5:8, Paul wrote “God demonstrates his own love for us in that, while we were still in our sin, Christ died for us.” (NASB)

This is good news, which is what the word “gospel” means. It is truly simple and does not need anything added to it.

To his friend Titus, Paul wrote, “When the kindness of God our savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us — not by works of righteousness which we had done, but according to his mercy — through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out his spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life. This saying is trustworthy.” (Titus 3:4-8 CSB)

The subtle warning here is that no action on our part, no good deeds, no “works of righteousness” will upgrade the love we have already received from God. We can’t level up by a flurry of activity, however well-intentioned. The gospel is a demonstration of God’s love and kindness.

If you have received Jesus Christ as your lord (or boss), you have the right to be called a child of God. The natural next step will be to know him more as he has revealed himself to us in the Bible and to obey him. This doesn’t give us more salvation or more credits or “Christian points.” It’s tempting to try to level up our faith and feel like we don’t need the gospel anymore, but as a Christian we need it as much as ever! Don’t mistake maturity for not needing the gospel! Nothing added to it increases its value and it is not possible to mature past a need for it. As a baby needs to eat and grow, we need to continue to grow in the gospel, not beyond it.

God loves you and his love is available to each of us. Receive his love in its simplicity and begin life in Jesus today!

 

(Seth Carter is the director of Campus Ventures in Powell.)

Perspectives

Comments