Jesus Jumped For Us.

A gospel message excluding the death of Christ and its purpose is no gospel at all.

A gospel message excluding the resurrection of Christ and its purpose is no gospel at all.

A gospel message mixed with anything with the exception to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus, is no gospel at all.

As Paul once said,

“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

Some times we put the cravings of the flesh, wrongly educated and wrongly trained mentality, above the desire of our renewed spirit, our new birth in Christ by the Spirit of God.

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ” (Galatians 17:21)

The Spirit is all about long term gain. God is not anxious and could not be anxious under any circumstances whatsoever. We desire to be free, and yet we need to be taught true freedom. We desire to be loving, and yet we need to be taught what true love is. We desire to be patient, kind, good, forgiving, gentle, self-controlled, peaceful, and yet all things need to be taught to us by the Spirit of God. When we know these things and mature in them by the training that comes from grace, then the desires of the flesh prove themselves to be a waste of time and energy, a proposed regret.

The flesh may desire that we abstain from getting ourselves dirty by affiliation, yet the Spirit guides us to the right time and occasion to get dirty for the glory of God.

“When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:7-10)

Jesus got seemingly dirty, acted seemingly stupid, became seemingly dumb and bloody for all of us. What mattered in the end was the long term purpose of all of that.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrew 12:2)

Eternal life is the long term purpose of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, not money or fame or anything derived from all creation.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:7-18)

A mother once jumped in a rushing muddy flood after her child. They both perishEd. She jumped, believing
that something needed to be done quick. And she was the only one with a heart overwhelmed with love and care to jump after her child without much knowledge whether she or her child would make it back.

Jesus jumped for us knowing that he would be back.

In our ocean of pain and death, Jesus jumped for us.