OUR VALUES: The Gospel
This is the first in a series of posts on the core values of OneLife. Values are like a rudder on a ship - they help us stay on course and pursue the vision God has given us.
The first value is the Gospel - The good news that God reigns, in Jesus, through his incarnation, life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let's break that down and unpack it a bit.
The good news...
When we look around our world, we see a lot of evil - poverty, murder, corruption, lying, hate, injustice, brokenness, sickness, death. That's the bad news. But we believe there is good news, too. News that is so good, and so true, that we have to share it.
that God reigns...
We have good to news to share because even in the face of all the evil in the world, God is actively resisting and ruling over the evil in our world.
in Jesus...
God fully demonstrated his ability to successfully resist and rule over evil in his Son, Jesus the Messiah.
through is incarnation
God sent his Son to become a human being so that he could make contact with evil at its source - our human nature - and struggle against it.
life...
Throughout the whole course of his life, Jesus brought his human nature to fully participate in the Divine Nature, resisting and ruling over evil in all its forms. This life-long communion with God formed an unbroken chain of obedience, one that advanced Jesus along God’s developmental path, maturing him into everything God created us to be.
death...
At his trial and crucifixion, Jesus encountered the full scope and strength of evil’s power, creating an opportunity for him to resist and rule over those powers in total. When Jesus died on the cross, for the first time in history, a human being had entered death having fully and successfully partnered with God in the development of their own human nature.
burial...
In his burial, between his death and resurrection, he continued to trust God's power and purpose for his life, and proclaimed the good news of his coming resurrection to the dead.
resurrection...
God raised Jesus from the dead, demonstrating his power to rule over evil, and complete the development of our human nature. His resurrection gives us hope that God can break every chain, overcome every obstacle, and bring us into the fullness of who he created us to be.
and ascension...
Jesus ascended back to the Father, was exalted and crowned as Lord and Messiah, and is now victoriously reigning at God’s right hand, resourcing his people to participate in his victory over the forces of evil.
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit unites us with the new humanity of Christ, adopts us into the family of God, and empowers us to participate with Christ in the same developmental process that he himself has already completed.
The Gospel shows us that our brokenness is no match for the love and power of God. We don't have to stay where we are, or who we are. God will meet us at our lowest of lows and raise us up into a new life, healing and transforming every part of our lives so we can become who he created us to be.
