The Gospel in Twenty Questions (25 page)

Think of it like
this. If your mother was an elephant and your father was an elephant, then you
can’t help but be an elephant. The world may tell you that you are a turtle,
and you may even speak turtle, but at best you will only ever be an elephant
doing impressions. He who has big ears, let him hear!

When
you came to Christ he made you a new creation. He gave you his mighty
overcoming Spirit, and you are now an overcomer by nature. You may not feel
like an overcomer. You may feel like a turtle. But you are an overcomer
nonetheless. If you choose to act like a victim or a loser or anything other
than an overcomer, you are acting contrary to your Christ-given nature. You are
not walking in your true identity.

Just
as an elephant is not an elephant because he acts like an elephant, neither are
you an overcomer because you overcome from time to time. That’s back to front. You
act like an overcomer because in Christ you
are
an overcomer. It’s a
fact.

As it is written: “For your sake we face
death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:36
–
37)

From a worldly
point of view you may not look like an overcomer. You may appear to be a worn
out, beat up, raggedy ol’ saint with problems left and right. The circumstances
of your life may be telling you that you are not an overcomer. Ignore those
faithless voices. Don’t listen to them. They don’t have all the facts. They are
speaking from an earthly reality. But we are from God and he says we are more
than conquerors through Christ, who loved us. Believe what your Father says
about you.

Overcomers
endure. It’s in their nature to outlast the opposition. The One who is in you
is greater than the one who opposes you. Victory is inevitable, for Jesus
always
wins.

From time to time
you will have a great need for endurance. The good news is that God has
promised to supply that need, along with all your other needs, according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

There
will be times in your life when your natural reserves of endurance, patience
and perseverance will run out. You’ll be running on empty. You’ll be at the end
of your rope and past your breaking point.

The
good news is Jesus has bucketloads of endurance to share with you. Since he has
already endured and since his love endures all things, his supply will never
run out. Your part is to receive what he provides.

But
there’s a problem. You won’t receive for as long as you’re trying to make it on
your own. If you think you can manufacture endurance through discipline or
intestinal fortitude, you are setting yourself up for disaster. Life is bigger
than you and me. The trials you face will eventually break you, no matter how
strong your resolve. The sooner you quit trying to survive through grit and
determination, the sooner you will be able to tap into your Father’s abundant
supply of grace.

Can
you imagine what it must’ve been like to be rounded up with other believers and
sent to the Roman circus to face the lions? Can you imagine waiting in the
holding cell for your turn to be torn and devoured? I can tell you that in my
natural strength I would have been climbing the walls trying to get out. Or
perhaps I would have been curled up in the fetal position, overcome with fear.

Yet
when you read about the first-century Christians you learn that some actually
volunteered
for the circus. Like Paul, they considered it an honor to share a martyr’s
death with the Lord. In other words, when the pressure came they found within
themselves the fire-hardened steel of Christ’s endurance, and it gave them
supernatural courage.

It’s
the same today. I have known Chinese pastors who have thought going to prison
to be a small thing. If you know anything about Chinese prisons you’ll know
that’s not a normal reaction. It is not natural to be untroubled by such
things, and yet they are. They endure the unendurable because Christ the
Overcomer empowers them.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and
sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the
testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work
so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2
–
4)

In Christ you lack
nothing, but you won’t know you lack nothing
until you’ve been tested by
the trials of life. It is only when you have gone past breaking point and found
God waiting, strong, and smiling that you begin to realize that when you are
weak, you can be strong indeed.

It
is not a joyful thing to be persecuted. The joy comes in discovering that the
faith God has put in you is worth more than gold.

In all this you greatly
rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all
kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your
faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by
fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1
Peter 1:6
–
7)

The trials of life
are not to see whether we can manufacture the Right Stuff for Jesus, for we
can’t manufacture faith at all. Faith is a gift from God. The purpose of life’s
trials is to prove to you that God’s gifts are awesome.

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom
of God. (Acts 14:22b)

Paul is not saying we have to
jump through hardship hoops to qualify for the kingdom—that’s the pagan
doctrine of asceticism that Paul expressly rejected (see Colossians 2:20–23).
Rather, he’s paraphrasing what Jesus said about having troubles in this world.
He’s saying, “We Christians go through trials and tribulations from time to
time.” And he should know. Just five verses earlier Paul was stoned and left
for dead!

Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we
will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we
disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:11–13)

The first part is referring to
believers. Who has died with Christ but those who identify with his death and
resurrection? Jesus tasted death for everyone. He died for the whole world. But
his representative
death only benefits those who wish
to be represented.
[45]

The
Christian life begins at death. This is what makes the gospel unique. Every
manmade religion preaches self-denial and dying to self, but the gospel simply
declares, “You died.” And we died so that Christ might live through us. This is
the miracle of new life. “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians
2:20).

“But
wait,” says Paul. “There’s more. There’s a whole other part to this trustworthy
saying. We don’t merely live, we also endure and reign.” This new life we have
in Christ is a new kind of life characterized by supernatural endurance and
reigning in all things.

If
Paul had said, “Work hard and endure and maybe you will get to reign,” that
would be nothing special or trustworthy. That’s how the world works. But verse
12 follows right after verse 11. Paul is describing the life we have in union
with the One who already overcame, already endured, and now reigns. “This life
we have in Christ is an enduring and reigning life,” says Paul. “It’s like
nothing on earth.”

Do
you see? Paul is giving us a three-part punchline. He’s saying, “You know you
died with Christ, right?”
Yes, Paul, I know.
“Well do you also know that
you will live with Christ?”
Sure, Paul, in eternity.
“No, not just in
eternity but here and now. You will endure
here
. You will reign in life
here
.
This is a trustworthy saying that deserves your full acceptance.”
Oh, I
didn’t know that Paul. That’s really good news!

Many
Christians are looking forward to a future life with Christ but they are not
ruling and reigning with him here and now. They don’t know they can. They’ve
been told life is one big test and maybe, if they are careful, they’ll get a
crown at the end. This brings us to the second part of the passag
e: “If we disown him, he will also disown us.”

An insecure
believer worries,
What if I disown Jesus in a moment of weakness?
Paul
is not talking about this. He is describing those who reject Christ and will
one day reap the consequences of their choice. There’s no grace for the
faithless because the faithless will not receive it.

Paul’s
words are a warning for the ungodly but they should not unsettle you. We who
have acknowledged Christ before others cannot unacknowledge him. We who have
been born again cannot be unborn. If you were to deny him, as Peter did three
times, Jesus won’t disown you, for he cannot disown himself.

We have come to share in Christ, if indeed
we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. (Hebrews 3:14)

This verse has been
used to sow fear into the minds of the insecure. “God got you started, but now
it’s up to you to finish, so don’t screw this up.” That’s not good news. In
fact, it’s idolatrous slander. It promotes the carnal idea that heaven will be
populated by spiritual Sinatras singing, “I did it my way.” That’s not going to
happen. It’s
his
way or the high way. There is no other way.

If
Hebrews 3 were saying it’s up to us to finish what God started, it would be
contradicting Hebrews 12, which says Jesus is the author and finisher of our
faith.

The
author of Hebrews is not preaching a salvation that is conditional on our
perseverance. He’s saying, “We have been made partakers of Christ
—
it’s
done
—
but we won’t experience the benefits of our union unless we hold
firmly to the confidence we had when we started out.” He’s not threatening us;
he’s encouraging us to continue as we started
—
by faith.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation;
for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord
has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12, NKJV)

Here’s the insecure view: “If
you succumb to temptation and sin, you’ll be rejected and won’t receive a crown
of life.” This is not good news.

How are we to
read James through the lens of the cross? A good place to start is to ask, “
Who is the man that endured and has been approved?” It is
Jesus. It is also the one who is
with him
and
in him
. No one
outside of Christ is going to pass muster on that day, and no one in Christ is
going to be rejected. We are tested and approved
in Christ.

The trials of
life are not to test our suitability for the kingdom but to reveal the
genuineness of the faith God has given us. This is why we’re blessed and
approved and crown-worthy—not because we are resilient but because God is
gracious and his gifts are
good.

Be faithful until death, and I will give
you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10b, NKJV)

Here is another
verse that seems to link the believer’s crown to the believer’s faithfulness.
The insecure implication is that if you prove unfaithful, you won’t get a
crown. It’s actually worse if you know the back-story. Jesus is speaking to the
church in Smyrna. He’s just told them that some of their number will be
imprisoned, tortured, and executed. If you are insecure that really ought to
mess with your head. You may think,
Getting into heaven’s tougher than getting
into the Navy Seals. Only the strongest make it. I haven’t got a chance.

I
hope by now you realize that Jesus is saying nothing of the kind. Here is my
paraphrase of his words to the saints in Smyrna:

Some of you are going to be persecuted on
my account and some of you will even die. Don’t be afraid but fix your eyes on
me. I’ve been through it all and I have overcome the world. Trust me. We’re
going to go through this trial together, and you’re going to be amazed at how
well your God-given faith bears up under pressure. This test will only be for a
short time and then we will meet
face to
face. I can’t wait to see you and hug you and give you your crown.

Jesus is such a wonderful
encourager. He knows that the only way we can get through life’s trials is if
we keep our eyes firmly on him.

What
is it that helps us overcome the world? It is not our grit, our resolve, or
anything to do with our flesh. It is trusting in Jesus. It is facing our trials
with our eyes fixed on the One who speaks to storms. It is looking beyond the
giants and seeing the King who towers above all. It is betting on Jesus, who is
greater than the world.