Set Ablaze
“The gospel is more than fire insurance!”
“Some people only want the gospel for fire insurance!”
“The gospel isn’t fire insurance!”
How many times have you heard these sayings, or variations thereof? And how many times have you stopped to ask yourself, whether any of these are actually true, or to what extent and in what way? If the gospel is more than fire insurance, then, what else is it? If it isn’t fire insurance, then why do we tell people it will save them from hell?
Overall, why especially in our dark times where the light of the gospel should shine at its brightest, does it seem to have such a demonstrably low uptake.
Maybe because we’ve not actually been preaching the gospel (that is, actually good, good news) – the whole gospel, and nothing but the gospel – all along.
Sure, we’ve been telling people that Jesus can save them from hell, or from sin, but in many cases, that has been the whole of it. The after thought of “What now?” has been for many of us a distant, faded memory, and we’ve forgotten that like many new converts, we too felt that missing piece, or missing peace, that we expected to find would continue with us long after the initial experience of salvation.
So, what caused the fire to go out? What is it that we’ve been missing?
I propose that what we’ve been missing all along, no, who, is Jesus. Not the Bible movie Jesus, nor the Condemnations’ R ‘Us Jesus either. I’m talking about the real, bonafide, miracle-performing Jesus. The life transforming Jesus, but also the long-suffering Jesus. What has been missing from our gospel is Grace.
We’ve often forgotten that the fire that burns in Jesus’ eyes is a fire of Pure Love that burns with great passion for us – who are His children and His siblings AND His body AND His bride.
Of course when I say Grace, I don’t mean a buzzword to be yapped at random and forgotten the next moment. Nor am I speaking of reckless living.
After all Titus 2:11-12 tells us:
Titus 2:11-12
[11] For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
[12] instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;
But let us also never forget:
1 John 4:10
[10] In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
And:
Romans 8:1
[1] There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Finally, let us bear this in mind:
2 Corinthians 3
[1] Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
[2] You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
[3] being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
[4] Such confidence we have through Christ toward God;
[5] not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God;
[6] who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
[7] But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away:
[8] won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
[9] For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
[10] For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.
[11] For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.[12] Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
[13] and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face, that the children of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.
[14] But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.
[15] But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
[16] But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
[17] Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
[18] But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters – this is the good news – we have not only been saved from sin, and spared from punishment for our sinning, but we have been grafted into a well-spring of glory, a glory that is greater than that which was upon Moses after he had a one-on-one meeting with God. We get to experience the fire that burns with greater power than that which was on Mt. Sinai.
We do have fire insurance. We have insurance of FIRE! The Fire of God’s Love, which saves us from the fires of hell, and gives us the power to succeed in every area of life! Not only do we have power over sin, we have the power to WIN!
So go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and set the earth on Fire!