The Fullness of the Gospel

How do you approach food? We all view food differently, sometimes based on what we have at home or from convenient restaurants. Maybe you like gourmet food that appeals to your taste, health foods like keto, or diet foods that take calories and nutrients into consideration. Do you eat for taste, to satisfy cravings, or for energy to participate in athletic activities? The challenge of combining approaches, such as finding healthy food with a gourmet taste or satisfying our cravings while being on a diet is a real struggle for many of us. Some successfully manage to get these approaches to work together, while the rest of us settle for one without the other, which ruins our enjoyment. Spiritually, God provides us with heavenly food that is meant to satisfy all our needs—our cravings for soul fulfillment and need for healthy spiritual growth, without any imbalance and enough energy to keep us going in service to him. When we are in Christ, we are where heaven and earth meet, so the food of God’s Word and the Spirit’s influence results in our appropriation of a counter-cultural, heavenly perspective on life. Jesus Christ descended from heaven to bring us the gospel, the essence of God’s food, to feed our souls until we join him in heaven.

The Gospel is the Best Food

“[Jesus] said to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.” (John 8:24-30) “The Jews belonged to this present evil world, but Jesus was of a heavenly and Divine nature, so that his doctrine, kingdom, and blessings, would not suit their taste…Nothing but the doctrine of Christ’s grace will be an argument powerful enough, and none but the Spirit of Christ’s grace will be an agent powerful enough, to turn us from sin to God; and that Spirit is given, and that doctrine is given, to work upon those only who believe in Christ. Some say, ‘Who is this Jesus?’ They allow him to have been a Prophet, an excellent Teacher…but cannot acknowledge him as over all, God blessed for evermore.” (1) “Being God omniscient, he knew their persons and actions, their lives and conversations, and all their sins and transgressions, which he could justly have complained of, and charged them with, and proved against them, and judged and condemned them for; but this was not his present business, he came not to judge and condemn, but to save… wherefore he waved these things, and took no notice of them, leaving them to his Father, who would call them to an account…[Jesus] was to be lifted up upon the cross, as the serpent was upon the pole, in the wilderness; and which signified the manner of death he should die, the death of the cross; and suggested, that what the Jews designed for his reproach, shame, and abasement, would be the way and means of his rise and exaltation…and after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the pouring forth of his Spirit.” (2) Christ descended from heaven to bring us the gospel, which feeds our souls here until we join him in heaven. We have been given the gospel to feed on, to live with a heavenly perspective on life here.

The Fullness of the Gospel

What do we ask children when they stop eating with food remaining on their plates? “Are you full?” God’s food fills us because it is full of grace. “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16) “These words tell us that there is a fullness in Christ. There is a fullness of essential Deity, for ‘in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.’ There is a fullness of perfect manhood, for in Him, bodily, that Godhead was revealed. There is a fullness of atoning efficacy in His blood, for ‘the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.’ There is a fullness of justifying righteousness in His life, for ‘there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.’ There is a fullness of divine prevalence in His plea, for ‘He is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him; seeing ‘He ever lives to make intercession for them.’ There is a fullness of victory in His death, for through death He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil. There is a fullness of efficacy in His resurrection from the dead, for by it ‘we are born again into a lively hope.’ There is a fullness of triumph in His ascension, for ‘when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received gifts for men.’ There is a fullness of blessings of every sort and shape; a fullness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve, and of grace to perfect. There is a fullness at all times; a fullness of comfort in affliction; a fullness of guidance in prosperity. A fullness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love; a fullness which it were impossible to survey, much less to explore. ‘It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.’ Oh, what a fullness must this be of which all receive! Fullness, indeed, must there be when the stream is always flowing, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich, as full as ever. Come, believer, and get all thy need supplied; ask largely, and thou shalt receive largely, for this ‘fullness’ is inexhaustible, and is treasured up where all the needy may reach it, even in Jesus, Immanuel- God with us.” (3)

Getting the Gospel Right

Most dieticians would agree that we need a good balance of protein, fiber, fat, good carbs, and other nutrients in order to function well. And, we need to know how much of these nutrients are contained in the foods we eat. Just so, we need saving faith in Christ and correct doctrine in order to have the right approach to living here with a heavenly spirit. In his little book, “What is the Gospel?” R. C. Sproul writes, “It is important for us as Christians to get the gospel right, because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, it is revealed to us in sacred Scripture, and it includes within it the person and work of Christ—His sinless life, His atoning death, and His resurrection…Some people say: ‘I don’t need to know any doctrine. All I need to know is Jesus.’ The question is, Who is Jesus? The moment anyone begins to reply to that question, he has engaged in doctrine. Answering that question involves explaining one’s doctrine of Christ…If we have no doctrine, we have no idea what we are to believe. We remember the Philippian jailer crying out in fear and panic to the Apostle Paul after the earthquake broke down his jail. He said, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16:30). He was asking for information. He needed to know what the requirements were for salvation, and the Apostle told him what he needed to do in order to be saved…[But] Our study of doctrine may be motivated by an attempt to build ourselves up in the eyes of other people, and in that sense it can puff us up with pride. That is why it’s important that we understand that doctrine in and of itself has never saved anyone, but Christ and Christ alone is the Savior. We should be zealously and diligently pursuing an understanding of doctrine because that means we are diligently pursuing an understanding of the things that God has revealed to us in His Word.” (4) Jesus descended from heaven to bring us the gospel, which feeds our souls here until we join him in heaven. When Christians are heavenly-minded, feeding on and sharing God’s gospel, we are the most satisfied people on earth.

Have you eaten enough of God’s spiritual food lately to experience its fullness? We only have ourselves to blame if we go about being dissatisfied and hungry for more (of anything) since the gospel is everything we need here to have the satisfaction we crave. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:3-4)

Related Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:11-14; Job 28:12-23; John 1:3; 3:16-17; 6:38; 14:27-28; Acts 2:33; 5:31; Romans 8:34; 1 Corinthains 15:28; Ephesians 4:8-10; Hebrews 1:3, 13; 1 Peter 3:21-22.

Notes

1. Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, John 8:21-29, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mhn/john-8.html

2. Gill, John, John Gill’s Exposition on the Whole Bible, John 8:25-30, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/geb/john-8.html

3. Spurgeon, Charles, Morning and Evening Devotions, January 27, Barbour Books, 2018.

4. Sproul, R.C., “What is the Gospel?” Chapter 1, Reformation Trust Publishing, 2020.

February 1, 2024