It occurs to me, when I read the Bible, that in life many people have the wrong perspective of who Jesus is and what he actually did by dieing on the cross and the wrong perspective of who God is for that matter.
When we are preaching or teaching or sharing the gospel if we don't present it in the right perspective, the perspective of the original artist..... God of course.... we leave people with the wrong understanding. We leave them unimpressed. They may even be offended by us wasting their time with what they perceive to be useless. It is not until we frame the Gospel in the Old testament law that people are able to gain the perspective to understand how big sin is in their lives. Just how grave a consequence is awaiting them for being sinners..... that it will result in death and eternal damnation. That we all have sinned and that their is no escaping it except through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus. When we give that perspective first.... we begin to understand the magnitude of what God did for us through his son Jesus. It is in that light that we understand the hopelessness of trying to accomplish this ourselves..... it is impossible we can't be good enough.
If you always share the Gospel as just the Gospel of Love you are not giving a true perspective. If you are always preaching the feel good..... God has a plan for your life and it is good. God is a God of Love and Jesus loves you no matter what..... you are not giving a true perspective. You are most likely preaching or reaching out to someones felt needs and telling them that Jesus will make it better. Well that is not a complete and true perspective of the Bible, of God or of Jesus. It is just a partial picture and while it is in the BIG picture it is still lacking accurate perspective. You cannot eliminate the other attributes of God. As loving as God is and there is no doubt about the magnitude of his love when it comes to sacrificing His Son on the cross for our sins.
You cannot glaze over the fact that he is a just God..... God loves justice as much as he loves us and that he will ensure that justice is carried out to perfection. God is a jealous God he does want us to serve him and love him and when we don't, because he is a just God, he is willing to punish those that do not love him. God does not approach that desire for us to love him and serve him like a love sick lover..... you know the one that will do anything...... compromise their own beliefs..... values... even rules to not lose the one they love...... No God will not approach us in that manner he will not lower his standards to create a relationship with him. He will not compromise to cause us to think he is a great guy. He will not lavish us with the greatest of material gifts and then ask us to make a choice and to choose him please..... please..... Please......
God will restore us to a relationship with him but only through his son Jesus. It takes repentance on our part, humility and a willingness to submit to him. It will never be a relationship on our terms..... It will always be on his terms. How many times have we presented the Gospel to people on their terms and left them holding a bag of lies and misrepresentations.
Lets look at the story of the rich young ruler.
Matthew 19:16-24 (ESV)
16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
As we see here it is again on God's terms. Jesus didn't negotiate with him..... He didn't pander to the rich young ruler. Jesus didn't chase after him and say hey maybe we can work out a deal... If you finance my ministry and help me out, I will give you a key place in my kingdom. Nope he said sell your stuff and give it to the poor..... not to him or his ministry or the church or the synagogue. NO he said sell it and give to the poor. Jesus did not secretly send one of the disciples after him and tell him to only sell what he wants to, make a visible donation to the charity of his choice, and say 10 hail Mary's and take your mother to a nice dinner and you can have eternal life.... get this if you don't get anything else...... THERE WAS NO NEGOTIATION.
The great Bible commentator Matthew Henry had this to say about this passage.
Here is Christ's discourse with his disciples. We are tempted to wish that Christ had mollified that saying which frightened this young gentleman from following him, and by an explanation taken off the harshness of it: but he knew all men's hearts; he would not court him to be his follower, because he was a rich man and a ruler; but, if he will go, let him go. Christ will keep no man against his will; and therefore we do not find that Christ called him back, (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible.)
We are all called as Christians to go out and share the Gospel. It doesn't matter if you are called to be a teacher or a preacher. We all are to share the gospel..... we should give people a helping hand by telling them what the perspective was of the original artist..... God. Point them in the right direction..... help them understand. If you lack understanding spend time with the word. He will provide understanding and wisdom to all those that ask. I encourage you to think about perspective..... The right perspective makes all the difference in the world.
What ways do you see perspective impacting things in your life or the lives of others?
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