Utumishi Blog

What’s your favourite gospel verse?

We all love John 3:16 but the gospel is even clearer a couple of verses earlier:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Jesus is taking us back hundreds of years to the time when the people of God have just been rescued out of Egypt and they’re wandering around in the Sinai desert and grumbling against the LORD – throwing his grace back in his face.  God sends venomous snakes into their camp; they start biting people and people are dropping dead all over the place.  And the people come to Moses and say, “Please pray that God will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prays for the people and something very weird happens – God doesn’t take away the snakes, he said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

Now that is a weird story.  But Jesus is saying that is exactly why I’ve come – I’m going to be the snake on a pole who’s going to save you from the plague.  The sinless one will become sin for us so that we can be called righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). He will rescue us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). As he hangs on a tree he will become the problem – become us, sinful flesh, corrupt humanity, evil and curse. The bowl of God’s wrath will be poured out upon that sin and curse and corruption until the bowl is completely finished.

And how do we receive that rescue, that salvation? Just as the Israelites in the desert did – simply by looking. Believing in the Son means recognising the obvious fact that I’m cursed, infected, perishing, in a desperate helpless state like the snake-bitten Israelite, and looking at the Son hanging on the Cross, being my sin, being me, perishing instead of me – and as I look I live, now and eternally.

So if that is the gospel, what is gospel ministry? Surely it is simply to lift up Christ crucified so he can be looked upon; to paint word pictures of Christ crucified before people’s eyes so that they can see him and live (Gal. 3:1). John the Baptist is a brilliant model of this. He doesn’t point to himself, he points to the Light (Jn. 1:7-8). He doesn’t try to ‘be Jesus to people’ – again and again he says “I’m not the Christ, I’m not the Lamb of God, I can’t do anything for you, I can only get you wet, go to Jesus over there, he’s the one who will be the sacrifice for your sins.” John is like a new Moses, lifting up Jesus, pointing to him as the one way of escape from the plague. 

And he absolutely loves it:

Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn. 3:29-30).

John’s joy is ‘complete’, goes off the scale, overflows when Jesus is the centre of attention, when everyone is running to Him, looking at Him, finding their joy and salvation in Him. That’s being a servant of the gospel. That is why the ‘i’ in iServe is small. And that’s what ‘Raising the Bar’ is all about…