Skip to main content

Good News!

Once in a while you come across something that makes you doubt. It may be a glimpse of a powerful demonstration of supernatural abilities by a person who is not a Christian. And it makes you think, have I got it right? Even science and technology can bring doubts. Every day it seems that we are headed towards a utopia where God may become irrelevant. We will be able to live forever according to transhumanism, travel beyond Alpha Centuri and join the Q Continuum wherever they may be found. 

You don't have to look for doubts about the Christian message to have doubts. They follow us everywhere. And we are not alone. The believers at Colossae would certainly have had doubts. Rogue teachers appear to have brought in a different message of human salvation.  And of course these young Christians would always have had some questions about their identity being a small church in an obscure part of the world, religiously speaking, that  not planted by any apostle! 

Paul was keen to reassure them that what they had indeed received the real deal! And early on he tells them, don't worry you are true Christians because we have seen evidence of your love and faith. And more than that you have a hope rooted in the gospel ( "the good new") of Jesus Christ. What sets this good news of Jesus apart from everything else we hear everyday? Paul answers the question in the verses below : 
Of this [hope] you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth (Colossians 1:5b, 6)
First, the good news of Jesus is the word of truth! We have no other truth about God and life apart from the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the truth that makes sense of all truths! If you know Jesus you have all the truth you need to live for God and have a meaningful existence. Because it is the truth we dare not live lives that contradict it or exchange it for a lie! 

Secondly, the good news of Jesus Christ is the word of life. The good news is alive and growing every dimension. When a person receives the good news of Jesus they come alive and start growing in God, even in the most hostile of places. It can't be stopped because Jesus is alive and at work in our lives and the world. The good news of Jesus breathes new life us through the Holy Spirit in us who begins to change us and people around us. 

Finally, the good news of Jesus Christ is the wonderful grace of God at work. It is a free work of God not a earned work of man. It is all about God giving himself freely to wretched sinners such as us. God becoming man and dying on the cross for our sins. And this incredible truth stands tall against all lies peddled by man that he can save himself. The good news of Jesus is God's project where he is the CEO, the employee and ultimate shareholder.

What all of this means is that anyone who has not embraced the good news has no hope, no faith in God, no life at work and missing out on this sensational unmerited favour of God. Rejecting or not hearing this good news which is available to the world is a serious thing. As Christians we must get out and share it for it is the only means of rescue from sins and its consequences. 

The good news of Jesus is on offer to the whole world without exclusions. Therefore in every way we live our lives, we should be pointing people to this good news of Jesus. Not fluffing around. Every follower of Jesus is to be "gospocentric". The good news of Jesus is and must be centre of the life of a follower of Jesus. Many of us are failing here and we immediately need to repent and ask for God's forgiveness. 

This repentance must be accompanied by a new purpose for living. A life holds onto this good news as the foundation of everything. We must never try to build on anything else. We don't need any other truth. This is the grace of life. There moments when we feel unfulfilled but God sees something different. He sees His Holy Spirit at work. He sees his work bearing fruit. Our responsibility is yield to Him and begin rejoicing in that! 

Related Posts
Lessons from Colossae : Identity (1:1)

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2014

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I Am Mother

I think it is true to say that the Netflix film I Am Mother is one the most disturbing movies I have watched for a long time. The film is set in a near future. Human life has been wiped out. An artificial intelligence (AI) called Mother is living inside a bunker where thousands of embroyos are stored. It selects an embryo and initiates a program to grow a baby within 24 hours. The AI then goes on to raise the child as its mother over the next few years.  After 16 years, the girl, who now goes by the name of Daughter (Clara Rugaard) is a teenager. She has never been outside because Mother has told her that the air is toxic. Her time is spend being home schooled in science and ethics so that she can become a perfect human being. The bond between Daughter and Mother is unusually strong. To our surprise there does not appear to be any mental or pyschological trauma of having a machine as her mother.  The strength of the bond between man and machine is tested when a nameless Woman (Hilary

White Fragility, A Review

Robin DiAngelo has a sermon to preach. It is in form of a short popular book called White Fragilit y. Straight off the bat she tells us not to expect balanced analysis but a forceful argument “unapologetically rooted in identity politics”.  She understands identity politics as “the [political] focus on the barriers specific groups face in their struggle for equality”. The group she wants to save is black people, whom she blankets under “people of colour”.  So what is White Fragility about?  DiAngelo is sick and tired of white racism in the western world, and specifically the USA. She believes every white person, including babies, are guilty of racism by virtue of being white. So she wants to use her “insider status” as a white American woman to challenge this white racism by getting her fellow “white progressives” to force forward her thesis. In her words, “I am white...and I am mainly writing to a white audience”. I was immediately tempted to put down the book because being black Afri

What is the best preparation for preaching?

The best preparation is not to be too anxious about it. Anxious care hinders liveliness and efficacy. It leads to too little dependence on the Spirit. Be not didactic. Aim at the conscience as soldiers aim at the faces. Consider I may be preaching my last sermon. This leads to setting forth Christ as The Way, the Truth and the Life . .. Make Christ the prominent figure…Pay less attention to dear self. JOHN NEWTON