Reflecting on Our Great God and His Gospel

PS. 48:1- “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.”

            When I was a junior in college I started attending a church called First Hattiesburg. I remember walking in my first night. I was overwhelmed (in a really good way). There were college students everywhere. I was excited to be somewhere with people my age worshiping God together. Not long after I started coming a short, curly haired guy came up and introduced himself to me. I didn’t think much about our first encounter. However, the next week he came up and introduced himself to me again. I remember thinking, “well that’s sort of strange.” To my surprise he introduced himself to me every Wednesday night for a solid month. Sure enough the next week here he came smiling goofily and stretched out his hand and said, “Hey I’m Casey, who are you?” I half-jokingly replied, “I am still Joseph Bird and Casey if you introduce yourself to me again I may have to slap you.” Obviously bewildered he just smiled and said, “well I guess I won’t forget you ever again.” It was from that strange beginning that I found one of the best friends I have ever known. From that point on we were best friends. I had convinced myself that Casey Clingan was a forgetful, nut. What I ended up finding is out is that Casey Clingan is one of the most dependable and godly men I have ever met. I had misjudged Casey at first. I gave Casey a bad rap, at least in own mind, because I didn’t really know him. In many ways people perceptions of God are no different.

            To many people God has a bad reputation. Some think He is simply out of touch, some people think He is just an angry Deity, others think He is mean… On and on the list goes. What is really crazy is that often amongst even Christians God has a bad reputation. Some think that God is not dependable, that He does not hear their prayers, or simply that He doesn’t care about their life. There was a time when God’s reputation had fallen on hard times in my own life. I had spent so much of my life “working for God” and always feeling like I didn’t measure up that I began to think God could never be pleased. You see, the problem was not God, but the problem was me! I had misunderstood who God really is. I would like to spend just a few moments today reflecting on how the gospel clearly shows us the greatness of God. Let’s look at the gospel sets the record straight about who God is.

            The gospel shows us that God loves people! Jesus said that He had come to “seek and to save.” Think about that! God loves us so much that He came to find us! Many people think that God is hard to find. In reality, He loves people so much that He came to us! That is mind-blowing!  God is perpetually saying through the gospel, “I love human beings.” God values every person on earth. He did the unimaginable to make a way to rescue us.  God loves is clearly and powerfully seen in the gospel!

           

God desires a genuine relationship with us. The holy God of the universe desires to know and be known by us! It is breathtaking to consider the truth of God’s desire for us. He saw us in our hopeless state and He came to rescue us. Before the curse of death in the garden, we had walked with God. He made a way for us to know Him once again! He has spoken clearly through His gospel. He knows that we are broken, that we have nothing to offer Him. However, in His love for us He sent His Son to make the way back to Him. This is the same God who said, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Every other religious system in the world says, “Clean up and then you can come to God.” However, God tells us to bring all of our brokenness, all our wickedness, and all our mistakes. He tells us to bring it all. He doesn’t need flawless people, because He made a way to make broken people whole once again! God desires us and He made the way for us.

The gospel shows us God’s justice. He didn’t just sweep our sins under the rug. He didn’t just turn aside and look the other way. If He let wickedness go unpunished then how could He be good? Even in our broken condition we understand the need for justice. If someone murders another person we rightly punish him. What is so miraculous about the gospel is that God did not just forget about sin. Instead, He sent His Son to earth. He lived  the perfect life we could never live. Then Jesus took all of our sin on Himself. (2 Cor. 5:21). He made the great exchange. He gave us His perfection and He took our brokenness and sin. Then God’s wrath was poured out on His Son. Jesus took what the punishment that we deserved. In light of this we know that God does not overlook justice. Rather, in His mercy God sent His Son to take our punishment. God’s is just and that is great news for us!

God is merciful! God would have been completely just to let us all receive the punishment of the curse- death. However, God made the way for us to have life through the death of His Son. He is “slow to anger and abounding in love and mercy.” If it where not for God’s grace where would we be? I hate to even imagine a place or a time where God’s grace did not exist. The great news for us is that God is merciful and that He proved it through the gospel. The gospel shows us God’s compassion! It is glorious news!

There is so, so, so much more that could be said about God’s greatness displayed through the gospel! Let’s remember God’s goodness. He has been so good to us and He has made it evident through the gospel. Let’s cling to the gospel today. In doing so, we will cling to the great God of the gospel! God has a bad reputation with some people. Christ came to set the record straight. Let’s meditate on the truth of God’s goodness today and forever!