Day 335/365- 2 Corinthians 8:9

"The Gospel is for Christians"

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9 NLT)

I have come to realize something recently that I didn't fully see before. I know it's been there the whole time, but I just haven't seen it. I've come to see the importance of the gospel for believers in their sanctification just as much as for non-believers in their justification. In other words, the gospel is the center of the Christian's life as well as the deepest need of the lost. We don't ever get over the gospel, it just permeates more & more of our lives over time. Or at least is should.

I've seen this most clearly from Jesus & the Apostle Paul. For instance, when Paul wants to talk about the motives for a godly marriage, he talks about the gospel as the ultimate picture of marriage (Ephesians 5). He does this with everything because he sees the world through gospel lenses or glasses, if you will. Everything he looks at has a gospel tint or hue. He cannot separate the gospel from anything in life. They are linked.

And this is what I mean when I say my understanding of this has changed.

Our motivation for godly living should not primarily be because it is right or because it is moral or for our good or anything else for that matter. Our primary motivation for everything we do is the gospel.

We see Paul apply this here in 2 Corinthians 8. He is encouraging the Corinthian church to give & give generously. But he doesn't just give them the what, he gives them the why. And that's crucial. We don't just need to know what to do but also what our motivation is for doing it.

Paul shows us. It's the gospel. He says the church should give sacrificially for others because, "You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich."

See what I mean!? Gospel. Paul points to the gospel as their motivation for giving.

So even money is a gospel issue.

To put it plainly, if we aren't sacrificially giving for the kingdom of God, then we don't rightly understand the gospel. See, how can we receive the truth that Jesus was rich & became poor for our sake by living & dying here for us & yet refuse to give to help others?

The answer, we don't really know or understand the gospel. It just hasn't affected us deeply. Maybe it has in a shallow way but not like we need it to.

This is why the gospel is for Christians. Without it, we will not be who Christ purchased us on the cross to be!