On the first Easter morning the apostles were cognitively non-Christians. When Mary, Joanna and Mary the mother of James reported that angles had told them that Jesus had risen, they considered the words as nonsense. It’s remarkable to me that the apostles would be so dull. After all, these men had been with Jesus, they heard everything He said, they saw every miracle He performed, and they had even been told in advance about His betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection. In addition to their direct experiences with Jesus, having heard all His words and seen all His works, they also had three reliable, trustworthy eye witnesses testifying to the gospel they heard from the mouths of angels. All this was still not enough. The first time they heard the gospel message they thought it was nonsense.

How is it that their hearts could be so hard and that their eyes could be so blind? Of all the men throughout history, these men should have been ready to receive and believe the gospel–but they didn’t.

Now my own past denials of the gospel I can understand. I had far better excuses not to believe. When I first heard the gospel I was entirely unfamiliar with the words and deeds of Jesus. I had no first hand, personally verifiable eyewitness testimony. I live 2000 years after it all took place. And I heard the gospel with a modern, rationalistic, anti-supernatural worldview in which such an account sounds like a fairy tale. But Peter and the others? They should have been ready to believe.

It just goes to show that no amount of cultural background, knowledge of facts, or super natural experiences is adequate enough to produce faith. Genuine faith, the ability to respond to the gospel, the ability to believe in a resurrected Jesus is the gift of God. Establishing the apostle’s faith required the appearance of Jesus Himself. It even required Jesus’ extra efforts to prove He had actually risen. And it ultimately required the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was nothing less than super natural power that produced the apostle’s faith in the gospel.

Now if the apostles required a super natural work of God to believe, I certainly would not have believed without the same miraculous work in my soul. Therefore, I should be very thankful for the patient working of God in my case, and I should be patient in my personal evangelism. If the apostles thought the gospel was nonsense it is understandable that those like me who hear the message today might think so too. But the same supernatural power that reveals Christ to the eyes of the heart and imparts saving faith is just as available today as it was then. It still has the same eye opening, heart softening effects that turn the foolishness of the message into the awesome, majestic glory of God in the cross of Christ.

Thank you, Jesus, for being patient with my stubborn unbelieving heart. Thank you for not taking ultimate offense at my estimation of the gospel as nonsense, but rather drew near and opened my eyes. Let me testify to your gospel like Mary and Joanna and Mary did, even when it is received as foolishness and nonsense. Amen.

Paul confronted Peter in Antioch for standing aloof from the Gentiles when his fellow Jews arrived from Jerusalem. Paul recalls this story in his letter to the Galatians as a means of defending the gospel. The issues at hand were not small but the truth of the gospel was at stake—and not just the facts of the gospel, but how the gospel is lived out.

Walking in the gospel involves a considerable amount of effort. I want my life to reflect well on my Savior and so I try to please him by avoiding evil as I represent Christ. A good measure of my motivation for holiness is that I would adorn the gospel by my good behavior. But imagine if by my very consistency with such gospel living—by faithfully reflecting Christ—that the result was to make some people think of Christ as a minister of sin. Imagine that!

This is what was happening in Antioch. To a Jew, merely being a Gentile meant being a “sinner.” One might be a very upright, honorable, noble individual, but if a Gentile, he’s a sinner. To the Jews then, what was the net result of the gospel of Christ? It meant that Gentile sinners were being included among the people of God—and that without becoming “Jew-like;” no circumcision, no Law keeping, not kosher. As if this weren’t enough, good Jews (like Peter) were even starting to act less Jewish and more like Gentile sinners. To a Jewish mind this just could not be. If Christ was the messiah and the gospel was true, how could His church be so non-Jewish, so Gentile—so, so sinful!

But Paul would not water down the gospel. Surely, it would have been easier, more politically correct, and more diplomatic to just make some concessions regarding Christian practice so that the reputation of Christ would not be besmirched in the eyes of the Jews. After all we are His representatives and we want to reflect well on Him—if our behavior in the gospel makes some think of Christ as minister of sin—how could that be good?

But no. The gospel of Christ crucified is a gospel of grace. It is of grace and not by works of the Law. The gospel which brings justification by faith may not be entered into, or lived out as if it were by works of the Law. There can be no compromise, even if it means that some, many, or even most look on and think that such a gospel cannot be right. And such is the case even today. For the Western mind is just as opposed to gospel truth as is the Jewish mind. We just substitute a different kind of law. Salvation in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone—without any basis in my worthiness or effort is inconceivable to the natural human mind. Yet entirely free and solely by grace it is—so that no man may never boast before God.

What does this mean for me today? It means that I should not underestimate how counterintuitive and God-centered is the truth of the gospel. If the effect of the gospel was so perplexing to the Jews and is so foolish to the modern mind I should not assume that my mind has been fully oriented to the radical truth of the gospel of grace. Paul rebuked the Galatians because they started off with the true gospel which was, and only could be, received in and through the power of the Spirit—and quickly departed to another gospel that tried to combine grace with works of the Law. If those Christians could so easily tip toward a version of the gospel that was no gospel at all, I am also susceptible to this kind of error.

The gospel causes me to die with Christ to the Law in such a thorough and complete way that the mere attempt to rebuild even part of the Law becomes itself the height of transgression. For I died to the Law with Christ and if I try to now live by the Law Paul says to me, “you fool, you are cursed if you go back under the law. Having been justified by faith do you now seek to be justified by your own efforts?”

And so I must dwell on the radical, Christ-centered gospel of grace and seek to root out all works oriented motives and efforts from my life. Only grace oriented efforts, gospel worthy motives, and Spirit empowered works are pleasing to God. And if the gospel life is a stench to some—the solution is not to change the gospel, but to pray that the noses that smell it that way would be changed.

Lord Jesus, open my eyes to the ways, both overt and subtle that my life and my heart move not by grace but as though I related to you by works. I have died to such “dead-living.” Reveal the areas of my life that have not been saturated by the gospel of grace and cause me to love only the true gospel of grace of Christ. Amen.

How good it is to come out the other side of a trial. Trials are painful, but they accomplish a good purpose. But going through them is no fun. All trials are designed to produce a fruitful harvest of righteousness and they always ultimately improve our lives and increase our joy. How good it is to enjoy the fruit of righteousness which has been born of an accomplished and completed trial.

We live through seasons – seasons of trial and seasons of refreshments and rest. Yet if we still have life we can be assured that there are still trials laid out before us. Sometimes we see trials coming. We may foresee a financial trial – or maybe we experience early symptoms of a progressive illness. In such times we endure stress and dread of what is coming.

God’s grace is sufficient in every trial. He walks with us through them all. Yet we still dread our trials. I’m thankful that I do not know the details of the trials that I have yet to endure. I am protected from dread because I do not know the details of tomorrow’s evil. I trust God that when they come, His grace will flow, and He will meet all my needs. I also have a sense of peace and rest today, in part because I am protected from the knowledge of what I may face tomorrow. For example, I do not know how I will die – whether as an old man in my sleep or with my days cut short in some accident or by some painful disease. I’m glad I don’t know – my God ordained ignorance affords me a measure of peace for today.

But Jesus was not ignorant of His trial. He knew exactly what was coming. His distress was full of the perfect knowledge of exactly what was coming His way. Yet He did not shrink back. He faced, with full knowledge, all the dreadful pains in front of Him. He knew He would be betrayed by one friend and denied by another. He knew that conspiracy and injustice that would put Him in chains. He knew of the beatings, mocking, spitting and beard plucking. He knew about the flogging and the thorns. He knew about the cross, the piercing and stabbing. He also knew about the cup. The cup of wrath had to be drunk, and He knew He had to drink it down.

If I were to learn today that I had cancer and would have to undergo chemotherapy which would cause awful nausea and vomiting, I would have much dread to endure in sickly anticipation of the actual events themselves. In contrast, if I suddenly came down with a stomach virus I might have the same ultimate experience, but without the dead of anticipating the pain. How much more potent the dread Jesus faced as he drew near the time of His death. As He faced the ultimate dread, He did not waver, He did not run away, He proceeded in perfect obedience and willingly endured the cross. The cross did not come upon Him suddenly and by surprise, but rather step-by-step according to His full knowledge and perfect anticipation.

How strong He is. How brave He is. How fearless. How resolute. How admirable and worthy of praise.

He did it and it is accomplished! He underwent that baptism and it is complete. No trial lays before Him – all has been established. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. And now that He has accomplished it, He lives in perfect joy. He had the worst of trials and now He enjoys the greatest of its fruits – forever.

How sweet it is too, that He invites us to enjoy His joy with Him. He is preparing our place. He will deliver us into the fullness of His kingdom where all our trials will be past and only joy will remain.

Thank you, Jesus for your endurance and strength. Thank you for securing our blessings and establishing a waterfall of grace and mercy which abounds for us forever. Grant me grace in times of trial and a view of the eternal weight of glory to sustain me and anchor my hope and my delight in you. Amen.

I wonder how the gospel was preached prior to the crucifixion? Throughout Jesus’ ministry He and His disciples preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. Whatever allusions to the cross contained in these messages were lost to its hearers. Yet the gospel was preached. Certainly, there are many things that can be said about the gospel without direct reference to the cross. For example: righteous requirements for human conduct, promises for future rewards, hope for peace, and standards for justice. Such facets of the nascent gospel were understood best by Jews – because they had the law and prophets as context. Even so the Jews struggled to comprehend the basic aspects of the non-cross centered gospel – how much more perplexing would a cross exalting gospel be to them.

Yet the gospel, in its fullness, was ordained from eternity to be manifest through the cross of Christ. The gospel about the greatness of the glory of God was never designed to be understood primarily through any historical context, but rather through the revelation of a hidden mystery. The pinnacle of the gospel was plunked down, as it were, in the midst of history. For who would have imagined the cross? Who could comprehend the innocent and pure Lamb of God would be slaughtered for corrupt God-haters? The cross had no historical antecedent. It did have some vague foreshadowing and symbolic representation in the Old Testament, but such hints of a God slaying gospel were never established in human expectations.

The cross-centered gospel of Christ transcends all earthly historical context or rational ground for understanding and grasping the glory of God. It is the ultimate spiritual enigma.

True, there are many aspects of the gospel which can be spoken of, explained, and preached which have common ground in human understanding. For instance we can speak in depth about the gospel’s effects on family relationships in a way just about anyone can grasp and appreciate. But ultimately it is the gospel of grace, seen in a cross, which establishes and explains every aspect of existence. The gospel’s cross exalting core rests not on human wisdom, but on hidden wisdom. The wisdom of the cross is a mystery which no human ruler has ever understood. It is foolishness to the so-called enlightened and distained by the human-centered mind.

But the mystery of the gospel is wonderful to those who are called, to those whom God has been pleased to reveal it. The cross perfectly connects earth and eternity. It brings the greatness of the glory of the gospel of Christ into view thereby halting all arrogant speculations and humbling all before the inexplicable mercy of God. The knowledge of such a wonderful redeeming God does not come through an understanding of historical precedent. On the contrary the self-authenticating, supernatural, spiritual revelation of the gospel in the soul comes through the power of the Spirit of God. It is the spiritual impartation of the gospel that enables right understanding of history. History, in this sense, begins at the cross and works backward and forward from it. For no one could have guessed from the beginning, what God would do. And no one coming after the cross can grasp the wisdom of the cross unless he is given new eyes and a new heart.

I praise you Lord for the glorious gospel of grace in the message of the cross. For by it your righteousness is exalted and by it I have life. Lord set the eyes of my heart on the glory of the cross and let your Spirit flow with power to proclaim and adorn the gospel – to the glory of Christ above. Amen.

Which, among all the great things that Jesus has done for me, should I describe? For if my eyes are open and my heart is responsive to the tender mercies of God, I will see a thousand great things every day that God does for me. Even trials, which sometimes cloud my view of God’s blessings, can be counted among the great things God does, since they flow from His throne of grace. Times of testing are brief in the balance of eternity and Jesus will turn each test and every pain into servants for my good.

The demoniac suffered greatly under the oppression of a legion of demons. But when Jesus freed him, he testified not about the details of his past torment, but rather of the grace, mercy, and power of God which came to him through Christ. He described his new freedom and proclaimed the blessings restored to him.

What great things should I proclaimed today? I could speak of the many lovely things God has granted to me in His mercy. With little effort I could quickly list a dozen prominent blessings of home and health. And with a bit of focused thought I could list a hundred more common graces that bless me throughout my days, all of which are among the great things God does for me.

Yet I desire to speak of just one great thing God has done, the one thing that matters most, the one thing through which every other blessing has been secured. Jesus went to the cross for me. The demoniac testified to some great things he received, but the greatest thing had not yet been done for him. Greater than freedom from demons is freedom from sin. Greater than the blessing of restored sanity is freedom from the just wrath of God.

What great things will I proclaim? I will proclaim the cross of Christ which brings into view the glorious gospel of God’s grace: God’s righteousness and upheld, God’s justice satisfied, God’s wrath emptied, my adoption into his family, my transfer into His kingdom, and my eternal blessing secured through Christ.

O Lord what great things you have done for me. Every one of them has been purchased by your blood. Therefore your blood, your death, and your victory by resurrection are my greatest good. Let me be satisfied to proclaim the greatest thing – the gospel, which reveals the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Amen.

O Poor Pharisee, stuck in your old ways of performing righteousness – making much of your displays of prayer and fasting. You think such efforts will make you acceptable to God. You have drunk your old religion of law for so long that Jesus’ words are impossible for you to understand. Your legalistic ways offer no categories for this new wine of gospel grace. You question why Jesus’ followers don’t act like other religious people? The Lord’s answer comes back in riddles, stories, and parables you cannot understand by your categories of duty and performance.

Understanding this new wine – the gospel of grace – requires a new heart, one that delights in mercy, not one that boasts in self-righteousness. The gospel of grace cannot be ascertained from a mindset of works. It is perplexing, unworkable and paradoxical to such an approach to religion. Even the fundamental practices of religion such as prayer are altogether different, and fasting is turned inside out and upside down. All things are made new. Prayer changes, they are not coins of merit tossed, as it were, onto scales of self-righteousness – rather they become responses of joy in the presence of the Bridegroom – or equally poignant cries of longing for His return. The paradox of the new gospel heart is that it is full only when it is emptied and it trusts solely in the faithfulness of God to fill it. Old wineskins try to preserve meager quantities of religious effort, which quickly run dry.

O my soul, do you not see the sin of the Pharisee in your own heart? Do you not see how often you make the fruit of God’s grace into your own meager attempts to gain God’s approval? Spit out that old wine! Throw away that useless garment! Yes pray, and fast – but not as a pitiful performance to be seen by man, or to make yourself feel like your duty has been done – but only to see and rejoice in more of the Bridegroom’s glory.

O God you have taught me that prayer and fasting are not self completing actions – they have another end beyond themselves, a goal they strain toward. They seek out the presence of Christ. Jesus, make me pray – make me fast such that I might have more of you. More joy in your Word, more anticipation of your return, more desire for heaven and the eternal rewards that will come from your own hand.

Sustain the means of grace in my soul, in Jesus’s name I pray, amen.