Gospel Basics – Part 3

It would seem that as soon as a person becomes a Christian, they are led into a maze of religious obligations and excesses, such as over-analysing things and studying the Bible incessantly. But to a great extent, this indulgence of the ego can have the effect of wearing a person out so that they finally relinquish all of the excesses and rule keeping in favour of simply embracing God’s unconditional love for them. The Message translation of the Bible refers to this as being burned out on religion:

²⁸ "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.

²⁹ Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

³⁰ Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matthew 11:28-30 msg

It is debatable as to how much a person enjoys the benefits of these promises, according to how much he believes he has them through faith in Christ. A religious legalist would say that a person does not have these promises afforded to his account, unless he says a “Sinner’s Prayer” and repents of his sins. But those who are more freely inclined to accept God’s unconditional grace tend to be more open to the idea that these promises are for everyone – believer and non-believer alike.

An ardent follower of The Work might say that as these are beliefs – I should do the Work on them: inquire and see that they are not true. After all, Byron Katie often says that there is no such thing as a good belief. That’s fair enough and if those beliefs were stressful – I would do just that. But you see, these beliefs are not stressful because righteousness, redemption, remission and reconciliation are all precious promises – the Gospel is Good News. There is no obligation or stress associated with God’s unmerited favour and grace whatsoever. It is only when we strive to merit such blessing and favour according to our own efforts, that is when we wear ourselves out and it becomes stressful.

I do wonder to what extent a Christian needs to study Biblical concepts and understand them. I went completely overboard with studying these Biblical concepts and my life was not much bettered for it.

I was left wondering just how much I should study the Bible and what I really needed to know. But I am now inclined to believe that all that is required is to just know and believe the absolute basics of what belongs to us in Christ – “The Four R’s”. I don’t believe that there is a so-called “advanced” level to attain. I really think that spiritual concepts have to pass the “three year old” test – it should be so simple that a three year old can understand it. I don’t believe it really goes much beyond that, as there is nothing we can do for God, as such. God did everything for us through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Christians only believe that they have to go beyond the very basics of the Gospel when through guilt they believe that they should have, be or do something beyond what they experience in this moment. It seems noble to attain to some kind of moral standard, but to a great extent, it is guilt and an unwillingness to accept the fact that you are right with God – just the way that you are.

For some Christians, it is imperative that they eradicate anything in their life which may be deemed sinful; there is a cliché in the church which is based on 1 Thess. 5:22 that says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” But when Christianity become about sin-management, we veer away from the main message of the Gospel. The promise of righteousness is, after all, through faith – faith is believing in something which is not confirmed by your physical senses.