Pursuing the Ecstasy, Charity and

Liberty of the Gospel

Selected Texts
Sunday Morning
October 18, 2009
Church in the Boro
Rob Wilkerson

Introduction
Gospel is the English word for “good news.” I’ve said it over and again here at
Church in the Boro. And I’ve got to continue saying it. Gospel is a proclamation or
a declaration. It is a declaration of something that has already happened. It is not
a declaration of something you or I or anyone else has to DO.

News is just that….it’s news. It’s a report of an incident that has already occurred.
When you watch CNN or Fox News, for example, you’re simply listening to someone
report on history, whether it is breaking news, just happened a few minutes ago,
earlier that day, yesterday, earlier in the week. All the news channels can do is
report on stuff that’s already happened.

And when they do report on stuff that’s already happened, they never tell you to do
something. They’re just letting you know what happened. That’s why I watch the
news from time to time…because I want to be in the know about stuff that has
already happened around our world.

It tends to be frustrating to me that I share this news but more often than not it’s
clouded with all the stuff I’m telling they need to do. So I move from telling them
what’s already happened in the past with Jesus on the cross and the empty tomb
and everything, to telling them what they need to do. So I turn the gospel from a
declaration about what God has already done to instruction on what they must do.

Now, to be sure, repentance and belief are without a doubt responsibilities on the
part of the sinner. BUT! They are not a part of the gospel itself. They are
responses to the gospel. The gospel is good news. That’s it. Nothing more.
Nothing less. It’s the good news that God has provided a way for a sinner to escape
His justifiable wrath through His Son Jesus Christ. It’s the good news that the power
of sin has been broken through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The
gospel is the good news that God has once and for all solved the sin problem by
cancelling it all out, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Do you see it? The gospel is simply reporting, heralding, proclaiming or just plain
telling what God has already done for mankind. That’s it, plain and simple. To add
anything else to it no longer makes it news but instruction and education. So we
must protect the gospel by keeping it what it is: news that is very, very good for us.
Now, very, very good news normally makes us very, very happy. It is an occasion
for rejoicing. It is a report that makes us glad. And that’s just what it’s supposed to
do. I think a lot of time we miss out on seeing that joy, happiness, gladness and
rejoicing that appears in the Bible when a person heard the good news, because
again we add to it and turn it from good news to instruction and education. Take
the example of the Gentiles in Acts 13. Paul is on his first missionary journey with
Barnabas and they are in Antioch preaching and teaching the gospel, the good
news. When we get to verse 46, here’s what we read.

“Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, ‘It was
necessary that this Good News from God be given first to you Jews.
But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of
eternal life – well, we will offer it to the Gentiles. For this is as the Lord
commanded us when he said, “I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.” ‘ When the
Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his
message…” (vv. 46-48).

So there you have it. They were very glad and thanked the Lord for the message of
Paul and Barnabas. Notice Paul simply declared something to them. That’s all he
did. He simply told them that God had all along planned to bring the Gentiles into
His kingdom. And simply telling them about something God had already planned
caused rejoicing and thanksgiving.

Another word for joy is ecstasy. According to the dictionary, the word can mean
several things:

1. rapturous delight.

2. an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.

3. mental transport or rapture from the contemplation of divine things.

(source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ecstasy)

I can only imagine that this must be the kind of joy Jesus spoke of in John 15 when
He described His relationship with the Father. Jesus said “the Father has loved me”
in verse 9. Then Jesus said, “I obey the Father and remain in his love” in the very
next verse (v. 10). This must have been exhilarating for Jesus! To have the
complete and absolute fullness of the Father’s love inside of Him, and all around
Him outside! But it didn’t just stop with Jesus.

Jesus was ultra-clear with the disciples that this same fullness of love that He felt
personally from the Father was intended to be felt personally by each of His
disciples. Jesus prayed in John 17:13, “I have told them many things while I was
with them so they would be filled with MY joy” (emphasis added). Did you get that?
Jesus is saying He TOLD them many things in order that they would be filled with
the same joy that He Himself had. Incredible. The same ecstasy Jesus experienced
from being loved by the Father can be experienced by each disciple of Jesus also!
And that joy comes from simply hearing the things Jesus told you and I. The things
He tells us are facts about the Father and what the Father has done, is doing, and is
about to do for those who follow Jesus.

Take John’s own words in 1 John 1, for example. There he writes,

“The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard
and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our
own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. This one who is life
from God was shown to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify
and announce to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was
with the Father, and then he was shown to us. We are telling you
about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you
may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and
with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy
will be complete.”

Do you see it there, again? John is simply making a declaration about the God-man
Jesus Christ, who He was and is, what He did and is doing, in order that our joy will
be complete. Joy comes from simply hearing what God has done for us. Good news
produces happiness. Great news produces ecstasy!

Pursuing the Ecstasy of the Gospel

At Church in the Boro we are pursuing the ecstasy of the gospel. It is this joyful,
exulting, exhilarating experience that occurs when we hear about what God has
already done for us in Jesus Christ. That news ought to produce serious celebration
and exultation inside of us. And the only reason it wouldn’t is because you didn’t
know just how bad things really were before you heard the good news.

But IF you know how bad things were for you, how bad YOU really were, how bad off
you really were, and how bad it would have been for you, then you know how good
the good news really is. And there can be no greater joy than the joy that comes
from that kind of news.

It’s news that God has LOVED you! He has loved you in the same way He has loved
His own Son! The all encompassing, never-ending love that God has for Jesus is the
love He also has for those who believe in Him. The very same love!!! The reason
the gospel is good news is because it is about God’s love! God is good because God
is love! And God is love because God is good! The love of God for those who don’t
deserve it is GOOD NEWS!!!

I want you to have ecstatic joy here at Church in the Boro. We ought to have
ecstatic joy because of the Father’s love for us, and because of how He showed that
love for us first and foremost through putting the blame and guilt and punishment
for all my sin on Jesus, so that I wouldn’t have to be blamed and punished. I ought
to be ecstatic in my joy over the fact that God didn’t stop there, but He also raised
Jesus from the dead as a victor over my sin, and as the leader who has promised to
raise me from the dead also when I die. We gave nothing, but we got everything!
Just because He loved us! Amazing! Absolutely incredible. I’m reminded of the
song by Stephen Curtis Chapman entitled “Speechless.”

And I am speechless, I’m astonished and amazed

I am silenced by your wondrous grace
You have saved me
You have raised me from the grave
And I am speechless in your presence now
I’m astounded as I consider how
You have shown us
A love that leaves us speechless

So what kind of love could this be

That would trade heavens throne for a cross
And to think you still celebrate
Over finding just one who was lost
And to know you rejoice over us
The God of this whole universe
It’s a story that’s too great for words

Oh how great is the love

The father has lavished upon us
That we should be called
The sons and the daughters of god

We are speechless so amazed

We stand in awe of your grace
We stand in awe of your mercy
You have saved us
We stand in awe of your love
From the grave
We are speechless

We are speechless in your presence now

We stand in awe of your cross
Were astounded as we consider how
We stand in awe of your power
You have shown us
A love that leaves us speechless
We are speechless

People! If you are a Christian, you are loved by the same God who loved Jesus!
And you are loved in the same way as God loved His own Son, Jesus! What God
gave Jesus, He also gives you…because He loves you!

Pursuing the Charity of the Gospel

It is because of God’s love for us, as heard in the message of the gospel, that we
have such joy. And this brings us to the next thing we pursue here at Church in the
Boro, and that is charity.

Charity is another word for love. It primarily points to our attitude about one
another. Here are some of the definitions given for the word.

1. generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless: to devote one's
life to charity.

2. something given to a person or persons in need; alms: She asked for work, not
charity.

3. a charitable act or work.

4. a charitable fund, foundation, or institution: He left his estate to a charity.

5. benevolent feeling, esp. toward those in need or in disfavor: She looked so

poor that we fed her out of charity.

6. leniency in judging others; forbearance: She was inclined to view our selfish
behavior with charity.

7. Christian love; agape.

Sadly these definitions are in reverse order, aren’t they? Obviously, you can see
that “charity” is a word that’s been primarily used to refer to non-profit,
humanitarian-based businesses. The reason it is sad is because most of the money
that is given to “charity” is not done out of genuine love. Much of it is given out of a
genuine desire to deduct that money from one’s income in order to pay less income
tax. Some of it is given in order to align oneself with something that looks good,
a.k.a. for publicity.
But the last three definitions are the one we pursue here at Church in the Boro. We
pursue a benevolent feeling toward those in need or those in disfavor. Why?
Because WE were once a people in need. We were in need of rescuing and saving
and delivering from God’s just wrath on us for our sin. We were in disfavor with
God. But instead of pouring out that wrath on us or letting us suffer for it in hell
forever, and instead of letting us continue on in disfavor with Him, God was
benevolent toward us. That means His heart broke over our condition and He
decided to do something about it. That’s the first way charity is shown toward
someone. God showed it toward us and we then show it to others.

Pursuing the charity of the gospel here at Church in the Boro means we look for
people who feel God’s disfavor toward them, and we tell them that God has already
done something in the past, 2,000 years ago, that removed that disfavor. He did
something about our most desperate need. This is called evangelism.

But pursuing the charity of the gospel also means that we look for ways to show
benevolence toward other people who are need or who seem disfavored. This
means that when we see each other in need, our heart breaks, and we empathize
with them to the point where we get up and do something about it. We give to
them, we give our time to them, we give ourselves to them to repair or fix the
situation. This is called encouragement.

Finally, pursuing the charity of the gospel also means that we look for ways to show
benevolence toward other people who are in need by giving them what they need
the most, which is always truth. Words may seem cheap, but when those words are
the truth, there is nothing greater which we can give someone. Sometimes it will
hurt. But it will always help and it will always heal. This is called exhortation or
edification.

So we pursue the charity of the gospel at Church in the Boro by always looking for
opportunities to be benevolent toward those in need, whether it is evangelism,
encouragement, or edification. In all of these things we are giving of ourselves to
those who are in need, to those who feel disfavored. And this is the foundation of
Jesus meant when He told His disciples back in John 15…

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my
love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey the
Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be
filled with joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! I command you to love
each other in the same way that I love you. And here is how to
measure it – the greatest love is shown when people lay down their
lives for their friends” (vv. 9-13).

At Church in the Boro we believe that the greatest way to show charity to others is
to bring them the message of the gospel…by our lifestyle and lipservice. Ours is a
“show and tell” gospel. We believe that we SHOW people how much God loves
them by the way WE love them…and we also believe that we TELL people how
much God loves them by the way HE told them. The gospel of charity is about a
man and a message, a lifestyle and a lipservice. Love as demonstrated in the
gospel is the way we will reconcile sinners to God, people to each other, and the
world to King Jesus.

Steven Curtis Chapman – No Greater Love

Pursuing the Liberty of the Gospel

At Church in the Boro we believe that this message of the gospel is one of freedom.
The love of God has freed us from the love of sin. And that’s why we’re a joyful
people. We experience ecstasy because we’re loved by God and because we’re
free! Ecstasy, charity, and liberty are all bound up together, you see. When I
discover how much God loves me, I am ecstatic. And I’ll BE ecstatic about loving
one another. And when I discover how much God loves me, I discover my freedom!
And that makes me ecstatic again. And it makes me want to go out and enjoy my
freedom and tell other people about their freedom!

Jesus was clear with the stubborn Pharisees about this freedom. Having been
slaves all their lives to some country or another, they were so blinded by their
arrogance that they were in denial about their history of slavery and bondage. John
recounts the story this way.

“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly my
disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.’ ‘But we are descendants of
Abraham,’ they said. ‘We have never been slaves to anyone one
earth. What do you mean, “set free”?’ Jesus replied, ‘I assure you that
everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent
member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the
Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.’” (John 8:31-36).

Here Jesus make the clearest connection of sin with slavery and the need for
freedom only through Him. Since He is the Son, He is the permanent member of
God’s family…forever. And if the Son sets us free, then we are free indeed, a part
of His family forever…never again a slave of sin. This is where Paul got his teaching
from when he taught in Romans 6:7, 9-10,

“For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of
sin….He died once to defeat sin, and no he lives for the glory of God.
So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the
glory of God through Christ Jesus.”

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are FREE. Paul also taught us in Romans 6,

“Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law,
which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God’s grace” (v.
14).

God’s law was the thing enslaving you to sin because it revealed that many of the
things you loved to do were actually wrong in God’s eyes. And when God’s law is
told a sinner, it just makes him want to sin all the more! The law of God then points
out your sinful desires, and then it judges you for those sinful desires. But when
Jesus Christ died, I died with Him, which means I also died to the Law of God. It
can’t arouse sinful desires any longer because those sinful desires are dead. And
neither can it judge me for those sinful desires because Jesus was already judged
for me! Listen to Paul’s description of this freedom in Romans 7.

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at

work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced
sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from
the law, for we died with Christ, and we are no longer captive to its
power. Now we can really serve God, not in the old way by obeying
the letter of the Law, but in the new way, by the Spirit” (vv. 5-6).

At Church in the Boro we pursue the scandalous liberty of the gospel. Gospel liberty
seems so scandalous because it actually tells us that we are freed from the Law of
God! Everything within our nature tell us that is so backwards! Isn’t the Law of God
a good thing? Of course it is! But it was only given to point out my sin. So if my sin
and my old self were crucified with Jesus, then sin is dead, and the thing that was
given to point it out is null and void in my life.

It’s like being out of debt. When you’re in debt, you get a reminder of your
indebtedness every month in the form of a credit card statement. That’s like the
Law of God, reminding you all the time of your shortcomings and indebtedness to
God. But when you’ve paid off the credit card companies, you’re free from them.
That’s like Jesus paying God’s requirement of perfect obedience to the law. If I’m
out of debt, I’m free from the credit card companies. They have no influence over
my life anymore, no bearing, no say-so. They have nothing on me. As far as I’m
concerned, the credit card companies are dead to me if I owe them nothing. And in
the same way I’m dead to the Law of God because it has nothing on me. It doesn’t
apply to me anymore. It doesn’t have any say-so over me. Only Jesus does.

That sounds so scandalous, doesn’t it? It just makes me giddy! It creates ecstasy
in my heart! I am free from anything and everything that has any power to arouse
my sin and judge me for it. That’s why Paul exclaims with ecstasy in Romans 8,

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ

Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through
Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. The Law of
Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put
into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human
body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin’s control
over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that
the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who
longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit” (vv. 1-4).

At Church in the Boro we believe we are dead to the Law, and as a result we stay as
far away as we possibly can from anything that resembles it. And we do so for one
reason: it cannot save us and it cannot sanctify us. Those kinds of things have no
power to make us holy. Far from delivering us they burden us. Acts of law stand
over us and call us to do something God has already done for us in Jesus Christ.
Then when we cannot fulfill them they stand over us in judgment and heap guilt
upon us because we haven’t fulfilled them.

This happens to us in two ways. First, it happens when we find ourselves

unwittingly listening to and embracing those things other Christians tell us that we
need to be doing. This was the problem Paul had with the Galatians. There were
people coming in behind him telling people, “hey guys, we heard ya’ll were
Christians, and that’s awesome…so are we. And since Jesus was also a Jew, there
are some Jewish things ya’ll will want to do in order to live like Jesus and please
Him. If you’d let us, we’d like to share some of these things with you like
circumcision, the Sabbath, and dietary principles.” And this is the same problem we
have today in churches, with well-meaning, but misled Christians telling other new
Christians, “hey we heard ya’ll became Christians! That’s great, we are too! Since
you’re a Christian now you’ll want to do some important things like reading through
your Bible every year, coming to our prayer times, attending our Bible study groups
for starters.” Immediately then, most new Christians are thrown right back into
law…into doing...which leads them right back to frustration and guilt and
condemnation.

Second, it also happens to us when we allow our consciences to tell us to do holy-

looking things we see other Christians doing. It usually happens like this. We hear
someone we respect talk about their prayer and fasting life, so we think to
ourselves, “Wow, this person is really godly, and they fast three times a week. I
suppose I’d better start fasting three times a week also, and maybe that would work
for me and I’d be as godly as they are.” And then you go on for a while, trying it,
failing at it, feeling condemned and judged because you can’t measure up. As if
that wasn’t bad enough you then hear of so-and-so who reads their Bible through
every year and you think to yourself, “Wow! That’s incredible. And the Bible is
supremely important and all…the most important book in my life. I suppose that if I
really loved it as much as they did that I’d read it through every year also.” And
then you launch out on a commitment to read it through every year, only to get
caught up around February, miss a day, or two, or a week. Then you come back to
it a realize you’re behind. You feel a rush to try to catch up. But you just can’t.
And so you then feel condemned because you don’t measure up…you can’t read
your Bible through in a year, consistently. You feel you’re not as godly as the other
person…not as godly as you should be. Your conscience is damned.

Here at Church in the Boro we pursue the liberty of the gospel by NEVER placing
demands on anyone that Jesus does not place on them. And we are always
CAREFUL to communicate about our walk with Jesus that something WE are doing is
something that is working for us and is NOT something that is required of all
Christians. We are extremely careful here not to create an atmosphere for other
Christians to think that if they do what we do then they’ll really be pleasing to God.
NO!!! Jesus Christ has already been completely pleasing to God for us, and nothing I
can do…and I mean NOTHING, can please God anymore than Jesus Christ already
has. He has fulfilled EVERY SINGLE LITTLE THING that God every expected of us. I’ll
say that again. Jesus Christ has FULFILLED EVERY SINGLE THING – BIG AND LITTLE
– THAT GOD EVER EXPECTED OF US!!!. You’re off the hook then! If Jesus has
fulfilled it all, then the law of God and anything else that acts like that kind of a law
to you, is dead to you, and you to it.

This is why Paul told the Galatians in chapter 5…

“So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you STAY free,
and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law” (v. 1).

Liberty is grounded in charity. You are free to love God. This means that the things
you do now that you are a Christian are done because you love God, and not
because you owe Him anything, and not because you are trying to make Him
happy. Listen to Paul again in Galatians 5.

“Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: if you are counting on circumcision to

make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you. I’ll say it again.
If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must
obey all the regulations in the whole law of Moses. For if you are
trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have
 been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. But
we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive everything promised
to us who are right with God through faith. For when we place our
faith in Christ Jesus, it makes no difference to God whether we are
circumcised or not circumcised. What is important is faith
expressing itself in love” (vv. 2-6).

You are saved by faith in what Jesus did for you, and not by you keeping God’s law.
So if you are saved by faith, then that faith will show itself in love for God and not
self-condemning efforts to keep His law. You will love Him so much that you will not
want to do ANYTHING that would not show your love to Him. That’s why your liberty
is not a license to sin. Again, here’s Paul in Galatians 5.

“For you have been called to live in freedom – not freedom to satisfy
your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. For the
whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your
neighbor as yourself’” (vv. 13-14).

The reason that our liberty is not a license to go off and sin all we want is because
we LOVE God! Sin is hatred against God. Why would we want to do something like
that now that we are lovers of God? That’s stupid. Sinning is stupid. It is a
violation of our liberty in Christ! It is a contradiction to that liberty because we’ve
been freed from it, and we’re dead to the sinful nature. We are liberated by God to
love God!

Pursuing the liberty of the gospel at Church in the Boro, then, means that we
passionately pursue any and everyway our creative minds and hearts can come up
with to serve the living God and love one another. Because we’re dead to the law,
the Holy Spirit within us, combined with the renewed image of God within us, will
come up with some of the most creative, lively, interesting, and amazing ways in
which we can serve God and love one another. THOSE are the things we give
ourselves to, and not all those other goofy kinds of things that we put so much
stock in as reflections of “real dedicated Christians.”

This reminds me of that awesome song by the Newboys entitled, “I Am Free.”

Through You the blind will see

Through You the mute will sing
Through You the dead will rise
Through You our hearts will praise
Through You the darkness flees
Through You my heart screams I am free
I am free

Chorus:
I am free to run
(I am free to run)
I am free to dance
(I am free to dance)
I am free to live for You
 (I am free to live for You)
I am free
(I am free)
Yes, I am free
(I am free)

Through You the kingdom's come

Through You the battle's won
Through You I'm not afraid
Through You the price is paid
Through You there's victory
Because of You my heart screams I am free
I am free

Chorus:

Who the Son sets free is free indeed.

Who the Son sets free is free indeed.

Conclusion

At Church in the Boro we pursue the ecstasy of the gospel that comes from the
charity and liberty of the gospel. We pursue the kind of joy that is rooted in the love
of God and the liberty that comes from God. We pursue a liberty that loves. We
pursue a love that is liberated. We pursue ecstatic love for another and for God.
We pursue ecstatic liberty from the law. It all seems so scandalous that it makes
my heart giddy with joy, like a little child…just like the kind of person Jesus says it
takes to come to Him and enter the kingdom of heaven!

If you desire to be a part of Church in the Boro understand up front that these are
the things we passionately pursue here. We are done with dead works of
conscience that lead us to do things we see other Christians doing just because we
think it will make us more holy. We are done with pursuing “distinctives” and
directions of Christianity that will only end up condemning us when Christ was
already condemned for us.

We are done with pursuing our own lives and our own safety, comfort, and security.
We are dead to our old selves, and we are alive to Christ Jesus who loves the world
and everybody in it. We are lovers of the world that Jesus loves. We are lovers of
the people whom Jesus loves. We will passionately pursue a lifestyle that gets down
and dirty with humanity like Jesus did, in order to love them and rescue them.

And we are done pursuing a life of fake joy, the kind that only lasts for a little while.
We are done pursuing things that provide temporary happiness. We have been
liberated to love God and enjoy an ecstasy with Him that is eternal. So we
passionately ditch all the stuff this world throws at us as providing “real” happiness.
It doesn’t last and we hate it.
We invite you to pursue this kind of gospel with us!

Amen.