The Gospel is the “good news” of Jesus perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection. It is the way of salvation not just at conversion but all the rest of our lives, impacting all that we do.
If you are a wife, mother, homeschooler, and/or homemaker, the internet is CHOCK FULL of something for you… advice.
Oh how we love advice! We crave it. We search high and low for it. Humans are constantly expressing their need of it in a variety of ways. Asking questions, searching Google, perusing our favorite sites and podcasts and YouTube channels. Will somebody please just tell me how to do “x”?!
And then we get over-inundated with it. Or we read a piece of advice that sounds great but we just aren’t ready for yet. It hits a nerve we didn’t want hit. Maybe it hits us on a bad day. Or someone gives decent advice but the way it’s communicated is (however unintentionally) in poor taste. Or, let’s be honest, people often give just downright terrible advice.
So we slam the computer (or book) shut, we drop our phone in a huff, we rant to our husband and commiserate with our friends. Maybe we determine to just give up because what is the point of it all and we know we still fall so woefully short in the end so why even try!
“My marriage is a mess, my kids are running amuck, the house looks the same no matter how hard I work at it, and I don’t even know where to start with homeschooling. I’m sick of people’s opinions and I’m tired of trying!!”
There’s a Name for That Weight
It’s called the Law.
Some of it is God’s law. Some of it is man’s law. Often it is a jumbled mix of the two.
It’s HEAVY. It can be crushingly so. That’s part of what it’s meant to do.
God’s Law is meant to show you how short you fall, how sinful you are, how heart-sick you are, and how very very desperate. God’s Law is like the terrifying diagnosis from the doctor you never thought you’d get.
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
James 2:10 ESV
[…]for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans 3:23 ESV
Most of us associate God’s Law directly with the Old Testament since it’s so full of it. That’s because the Mosaic Covenant was a works-based covenant. You do this, God will curse you. You do that, God will bless you.
“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.”
Deuteronomy 11:26 ESV
This law was heavy as it was.
Then the Pharisees came along and made it worse. They added 613 more laws to the already crushing law that God had given. People just about couldn’t make one right move under the additional law of the Pharisees. And how exactly are you supposed to remember all of God’s specific laws plus all the Pharisees laws?
Then Jesus comes. And he… makes it worse? Wait, is this the right story…?
Well, in one sense he makes it simpler:
And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:35-40 ESV
Whew! The Ten Commandments plus all the ceremonial and civil laws boiled down to just two things to remember. That’s a relief.
But in the Sermon on the Mount, he adds another layer – the most important layer – that most of the Jews have completely missed: It was all about the heart in the first place.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire […] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5: 21-22, 27-28 ESV
He essentially says that even if it were possible to live an outwardly blameless life all of your days on this earth but you had sinful thoughts and emotions internally, you are still guilty. And guilty of all of the law, as we saw in James 2:10 earlier.
Who can truly say they have lived a perfect life – in word, thought, emotion, and deed?
No one.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
Isaiah 53:6 ESV
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Enter the Gospel
Jesus came to earth and did what he showed us was impossible.
He lived a completely blameless life, inside and out, from the heart.
He perfectly loved his Father with all his heart, soul, and mind every single moment.
He obeyed not just in visible actions, but in every thought and every intention.
And then, like an innocent lamb, he willingly took the burden of the sin of his people on himself and sacrificed himself on the cross to pay for it all.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
Isaiah 53:5 ESV
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7-8 ESV
And as if that wasn’t unbelievable enough, he went even further.
He rose again.
He beat death.
He defeated sin once and for all.
Does the Gospel still affect me after I’m saved?
It absolutely does, every single day!
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Galatians 3:2-3 ESV
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
What changes believers to be more like Jesus isn’t an obsession with the Law, or making up new laws, or going around bossing each other around and pointing out where we all fall short.
It’s knowing Jesus. It’s fixing our eyes on Jesus. It’s in worshipping and adoring Jesus. In enjoying him and delighting in him and remembering all he’s accomplished on our behalf, we are changed “from glory to glory”.
Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
Meditating on the gospel also guards us from sin, from despair, from fear, and from pride. We remember how we came to be redeemed and that it wasn’t our doing.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
It also reminds us of the beauty of Jesus work on our behalf and keeps us hungry to pass the good news on to others in a variety of ways. Whether that means evangelizing the lost or extending the gospel to our brothers and sisters in the way we forgive them and love them.
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.
Luke 7:47 ESV
Does the Law still affect me after I’m saved?
Yes it does, but much differently than before.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, he is able to give you new life in him. New life to live for the glory of God that doesn’t have to be perfect due to his perfect record of living being imputed to you!
Because he lived perfectly on your behalf, you don’t have to! But because he lived a perfect life and he now lives in you, you are able to grow over time in living in ways that honor him.
The burden of the law is gone.
Jesus didn’t “defeat” the law. He came to fulfill the law through his perfect life and sacrificial death. Although there are aspects of the law that are done away with due to the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood (such as the ending of the sacrificial system), there are many laws that still hold true to those who profess to believe in Jesus.
Here are a few reasons why:
- The law is defined by and rooted in God’s character and his character hasn’t changed.
- These moral laws are written into the fabric of creation, much as the law of gravity is a given force that we must acknowledge and live under the influence of.
- We are created beings in God’s created order in the world and there are ways of living that mesh with how he designed things and ways that conflict with his design.
- There are principles behind many obscure sounding laws (including ones that no longer specifically apply) that still hold true and that we can learn from to learn how to best live in God’s world.
We also see many commands in the New Testament. It’s not the Mosaic Law, but if you pay attention, you might just notice many of the principles from the Old Testament reaffirmed in the New.
Paul tells us in Ephesians that there are good works prepared for us to do.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV
Each person has his own set of good works that is meant for only him to do, not another. What an amazing privilege that is!! What a reason to get out of bed every morning: to walk in the good works laid out specifically for me to do, that I don’t have to be afraid to fail at since Jesus has covered it all with his blood, but that no one else can do for me. It’s my unique place in the advancing kingdom of God. Talk about a sense of purpose!
Paul also refers to Christians with the strong language of being “slaves of righteousness”.
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Romans 6:16-19 ESV
The apostle Paul was very concerned with preserving the purity of the gospel message. But, as you can see, he acknowledged that the completion of the gospel (the practical outflow of Jesus completed work in our lives) looks like good works. Christian lives should be distinct, set apart, from those of the lost. If they aren’t, there is usually a problem of some kind.
That doesn’t mean we contribute to our salvation, it is simply evidence of Jesus’ saving us, of his perfect work in us.
I love the image that Rachel Jankovic gives in the book You Who of a woman’s identity as a daughter of God (emphasis mine):
We are quick to see the role of princess as one that has a lot of privilege in it, and it is in fact a privileged position. But more than that, it is a position of responsibility. You are a daughter of the King. That means you should be about His business. You are a daughter of the King – therefore bear your responsibilities in a way that becomes the office you hold. While it is a great honor, being a daughter of the King is more like wearing a shirt that says STAFF boldly across the back. When it comes to Kingdom work, we are the Kingdom workers. Who should be more invested in this work than the children of the King himself?
Lastly, true Christians should love God’s law because they love God. The gospel by no means makes it detestable. If God’s law is rooted in his character like we talked about earlier, then to despise God’s law is to despise him in some way!
Apart from Christ, the law is a tremendous burden. But in Christ, we should find our hearts thrilling along with the words of David:
Oh how I love your law!
Psalm 119:97
It is my meditation all the day.
To meditate on Christ is in a sense to meditate on God’s good law because he embodied it. To look at Jesus life is to look into the perfect precepts of our Creator perfectly lived out. And to look on Christ is to become more like him day by day!
To Be Continued…
In more posts coming soon, we will examine some practical applications of the gospel in specific areas of our lives as women, so stay tuned! Make sure to subscribe to my mailing list to make sure never to miss a post.
Additional Resources
To learn more about becoming a Christian or about leading others to Christ, click here.
The Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent – a wonderful book on learning the gospel in depth and learning to preach it to yourself daily
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