3.His initiative, our responce.

Does Jesus really concern me? Let’s broaden the question: think of a person you know who has no interest in Jesus Christ at all. Does the life, death and resurrection of Jesus have anything to do with that person?

The power of the gospel, the energy within it that compels us to speak; is the fact that it includes all mankind - even those who seemingly want nothing to do with it. This message concerns you, not because you accepted it, but because He took the initiative to include you.

The gospel is firstly, not about the response of man, but about the initiative of God! The gospel portrays so clearly the accomplishment of Jesus on our behalf, that it awakens the response of faith. When one clearly sees what God sees, faith is the spontaneous result.

It’s when our message loses its edge, becomes blunt and vague that we need to employ other tactics to elicit a response. When we disregard the initiative of God, we become overly focussed on how man is supposed to respond; what should the response look like; what words should be said; how can we follow up and make sure it was a genuine response. Read the book of Acts and you will find there are no formulas, no formal invitations, ritualistic prayers and properly organized follow-up programs to make sure that the response to the message was valid. They knew that the message they spoke carried within itself all that was needed to awaken the kind of response that God is pleased with – faith.

Gal 3:1 … Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. (MSG)

The focus of this gospel is clear. The focus is what Christ accomplished for man even while man was at enmity with God!

Let’s see exactly what Jesus did for man.

· God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them 2Cor 5:19

Wow! The woooorrld is forgiven!
When you confess sin, is not when God finds out about it! Neither is your repentance the basis of your forgiveness. The basis is the sacrifice of Christ – that is where God made up His mind about sin: it’s dealt with, the slate wiped clean (Col 2:14).

1John 2:2 When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good--not only ours, but the whole world's.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

When a person hears this and responds in faith, then the benefit of it becomes part of his experience. But whether you enjoy the benefit of this truth or not, it is still true! Later in the article we will look at man’s response of faith, but for now we will stay focused on the essence of this message, namely: what He did, not what you must do.

"He is kind to the ungrateful and evil" (Luke 6:35). "He desires ALL people to be saved" (1 Timothy 2:4). He "gave himself as a ransom for ALL" (1 Timothy 2:6). He "is not wishing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9)

· Righteousness came upon all men. Rom 5:18 Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life.
It will be beneficial to read the whole passage of Rom 5:12 – 21
The following piece was written in the 1800s
“Paul also says, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." The same many that were made sinners, Paul declares "shall be made righteous." This certainly asserts the justification of all sinners. Parkhurst in his Greek Lexicon, says, Oi polloi, the many, i.e. the multitude, or whole bulk of mankind, Rom. 5:15,19, in which texts oi polloi are plainly equivalent to Pantas anthropous, all men, verses 12, 18." The learned Dr. Macknight is to the same purport. "For as oi polloi, the many, in the first part of the verse, does not mean some of mankind only, but all mankind, from first to last, who without exception, are constituted sinners, so the many in the latter part of the verse, who are said to be constituted righteous, through the obedience of Christ, must mean ALL MANKIND, from the beginning to the end of the world, without exception." See his commentary on the place. The evident sense of the passage is this: For as the many, that is, the whole bulk of mankind were made sinners, so shall the many, that is, the whole bulk of mankind, be made righteous. What can be plainer than this fact? We agree with the authors of the Improved Version, who say, "Nothing can be more obvious than this, that it is the apostle's intention to represent all mankind, without exception, as deriving greater benefit from the mission of Christ, than they suffered injury from the fall of Adam. The universality of the apostle's expression is very remarkable. The same "many" who were made sinners by the disobedience of one, are made righteous by the obedience of the other. If all men are condemned by the offence of one, the same all are justified by the righteousness of the other. These universal terms, so frequently repeated, and so variously diversified, cannot be reconciled to the limitation of the blessings of the Gospel, to the elect alone, or to a part only of the human race." (Note of Rom. 5:19)”

Jesus has forever changed the state of man before God the Father. The legitimate wall of sin that stood between God and man was removed in Christ. The only separation that remains is man’s ignorance and unbelief of this truth. This is our message that has a legitimate claim upon every man. What a confidence that God is making His appeal through us! 2Co 5:20 Now then, we serve as ambassadors for Christ, as though God were appealing through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

It is true that not all men enjoy the benefit of what God has done in Christ, but the greater truth is that their unbelief cannot nullify what God did.
Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar…

Whether it is accepted or rejected it remains true and that is what makes our appeal tireless – it is based on unchangeable truth.

Obviously we desire that people respond in faith. The way in which we awaken that response is by showing them what God believes! To teach unbelievers how to respond in faith to the gospel, is like a man teaching a girl how to fall in love with him! If you ever get that right it will be an inferior love, and an inferior faith.

Heb 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

The ‘profit’ or benefit of this message is only enjoyed when we mix faith with what we hear. In following articles we will look at faith, but the emphasis here is God’s initiative being the basis of our faith.

Focus on His initiative.

By Andre Rabe
http://eclesia.blogspot.com
andre.rabe@gmail.com