According to My Gospel

There is a phrase that the apostle Paul uses only a few times in his letters in which he refers to “my gospel.”  For instance, take a look in your Bible at Romans 16:25.  I love his use of that possessive pronoun.  In claiming “my gospel,” Paul is making a personal commitment to the good news that he has received in Jesus Christ.

Now surely the gospel that Jesus proclaimed transcends any one person’s individual claim on its message.  The gospel was a good word about a new order of life which Jesus initiated in his preaching, in his wonder-working, in his life, death and resurrection.  So, gospel is a bigger story than how it affects any one person.  And yet, if we do not make a personal claim, or allow the story to claim us, then we have missed the whole point it seems to me.

Jesus invites us in on the establishment of God’s reign “on earth as in heaven,” but if we skip along the edges and never let this godly reign rule in us then we have missed the opportunity for the good news to become our news.  John Wesley was a devout churchman who nevertheless was missing out on the joy that accompanies the good news until one evening during a Bible study on Aldersgate Street - he writes, “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”  The claim of the gospel finally hit Wesley personally.

Of course, the gospel does not belong to the apostle Paul or to John Wesley, but the use of that possessive pronoun is like the language that lovers use when they say to one another, “You are mine.”  Such language is simply an attempt to express the personal claim that comes in a loving relationship – the same kind of relationship in which the gospel invites us to participate.  Because to belong to the kingdom that God is establishing requires just such a relationship with Jesus Christ who says to us, “You are mine.”  And for us to enjoy the full measure of gospel joy requires our personal response to him, as in the words of the old Fanny Crosby hymn, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”

When I say, “My Jesus,” that does not negate the possibility that he is also “your Jesus,” while also not being limited by our personal claims on him.  God in Christ is able to be all things to all persons for the sake of their joy and ultimate salvation.  May Jesus Christ be yours.