2/13 - The Body and the Blood?

Last class we had half of the group present but, as you’ve hopefully noticed, it is legitimately more fun when we have more people present. That said, this past Thursday was not a waste of time. We had a very good discussion which clarified some key ideas which, if understood correctly, have eternal significance.

Gospel means “good news.” It is also the name we have given to books in the Bible that tell the story of Jesus. The question posed on Thursday: “why is the story good news to us?” Many stories are positive stories, but not truly NEWS. In its truest form, news is unfolding information that affects us. How does the story of Jesus affect us?

Our conversation centered on the Cross. We had a sense that Jesus lived sacrificially, but it wasn’t clear how Jesus being nailed to an upright log affects us. Even the fact that He rose doesn’t necessarily have day to day impact for us. Not unless we understand what the Cross accomplished for us.

A clear way to explain it is this: 

The Blood:

Every human owes God a blood debt. Our bad choices put us in a place where the only way to fully pay God back is by dying. Jesus was sinless. When He died, He was able to pay the debt off for anyone who accepts the offer. This is why the cross is sacrificial, Jesus owed God nothing but paid the debt for all of us, bringing our accounts all back to zero.

The Body:

Becoming debt free is always good news, but it doesn’t stop there. Jesus rose from the dead! Does this ruin His sacrifice? It does NOT! Instead, this is how He is able to bring our account back up from zero into true wealth. Because Jesus rose, He now works to give us spiritual gifts or what we called “Son of God Perks.” The things that Jesus had being God’s Son, He now shares with us. We are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can pray directly to God the Father, we can hope to dwell with God forever, and we have unity with people who share in these perks. 

This is the good news: The spilled Blood of Christ gives us mercy as we are saved from the destructiveness of sin, the risen Body of Christ gives us grace as He unlocks for us privileges of Children of God. All that is required is Allegiance (Faith, Action-belief). If we declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9).

There are other ways to explain this same good news: “Jesus stack-loaded humanity's sins and then died to delete them from the server. When He respawned He unlocked God-status for those who join his team.” That’s another explanation that was suggested on Thursday. However you want to look at it, the central truth remains hard to fathom Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3), and yet eternally important. Believing this will save your soul and transform you forever.