Real Good News
6 min read
37 “Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
John 10:37-38
Jesus gives the Pharisees an open invitation to examine the works that He was performing. And in fact, they did examine His works, but the rubric of their examination was not the word of God. They based their examination of Jesus’s works on the traditions and the organizational structures that they had established.
If Jesus had followed and advocated for those traditions and structures as He performed His signs and wonders, they might have accepted Jesus as the Messiah. But Jesus had to tear down those traditions and structures because they were getting in the way of VIPs coming to God.
Of course, Jesus had a very different definition of VIP than the Jewish establishment. The Pharisees and teachers of the law included as VIPs the high priest and his family, members of the Sanhedrin and their families, the Sadducees and their families, the Pharisees and their families, the scribes and teachers of the law and their families.
Jesus included as VIPs those very same people, plus the homeless, the poor, the disabled, the sick, the brokenhearted, the disenfranchised, the distraught, the outcast, the outsider, and the prisoner.
What about my works? I am certainly not going to perform supernatural works at will, as Jesus did (but I pray for miracles daily!). Even so, do my works measure up to the rubric of God’s word, or am I just pushing an agenda established by human traditions and structures? Does the practice of my faith invite all VIPs to enter into the presence of God, or does it merely invite VIPs of my liking into the presence of my crew, my homies, my peeps?
Jesus was a major disruptor in His day, and Jesus would be a major disruptor in our day, too, if He were here. But is Jesus not here? If Jesus is not here, then are we not following Him?
As the church, we are the stewards of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do people outside of our walls think of the gospel that we steward as being good news?
Obviously, we live in a crazy, broken world. And we all need to do our due diligence in keeping our families and community safe. But we must never allow our “due diligence” be an excuse for exclusivism, as the Jewish establishment did.
People are hungering for good news today. Bible sales are going through the roof! Am I going to invite those seeking good news to share in the good news in the body of Christ, or will my attitudes and actions and words (my works) inhibit them?
God has blessed me and blessed Canvas so much. I am convinced that we have God’s blessing because we simply and BASICly strive to pursue the 3 gcc’s of GCC (to be a gospel-centered church, a greatest commandment church, and a great commission church). And so I must not rejoice merely in the growth that we have been experiencing. I need to continually examine the works that I do and the works that we do corporately against the rubric of God’s word.
Father, My heart rejoices for the works that You have been doing through us. Only, let us continue to do Your works and not stray into human works. We have only Your word to guide us in our works, Lord. So open our eyes to see our Lord before us as we follow Him. Open our ears as we hear is voice clearly in Your word. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
