This year I’m studying the Apostle Paul with the female freshmen I teach. Recently, I was teaching a lesson from 1 Corinthians and had a student ask me a question that somewhat related to the material. I knew it was important to stop and engage with her question because she is a sincere thinker, wise (her name even means wisdom in Greek), and engaged when she comes to the text of God’s Word, always asking really good questions. I want you, the reader, to overhear the conversation from my Bible class that began with one of Sophie’s questions, so I wrote it down with her and two of her friends, who are also from the same class, during a school lunch. (Thank you, ladies!) Here is how the conversation went:
Sophie asked, “But I don’t understand how it’s free will if God already knows what’s going to happen?” Before I could respond, another student chimed in with “Yeah, what is the point of God even creating us? How are we not his puppets if he already knows what’s going to happen?” Everyone was adding to the conversation at this point. I had to raise my voice so the room could hear me and said, “He loves us, and he created us out of love.” This comment really got the ball rolling, and now everyone was contributing either their own question or response. Sophie spoke again. This time her voice was louder, the words she spoke elevated over the rest. “If he loves us, then why does he set us up for failure by bringing us into this horrible, sinful world? It’s like he’s playing a game with us. I mean why even create us? Isn’t that selfish?
[Pause with me for a second and enter my mind at that moment. As a teacher, I’m constantly assessing the room of students. Are they engaged? Yes. If administration was in the room, would they think it was out of control? Probably, but they would also know learning was taking place. How do I specifically meet this one student’s needs while also holding the other students’ attention? I started praying. ‘Lord, guide me. Lord, help me meet her right where she is.’ All of this swirled through my mind as she continued cascading questions.]
It’s like a game. Why bring us into this game?” As I was praying under my breath, this question came to mind, and I asked her, “Do you want to have children?” Her face read – what does this have to do with anything we’re discussing – but she responded out loud and with a definite “Yes.” “Why?” I asked. “Because I can. It’s kind of what I’m meant to do as a female. And, I really like the thought of having someone I can raise, in my own way, who’s a part of me.” At this point the entire room was actively listening to our conversation, and God did something amazing. He answered my prayer and reached down to a child, to a class, and even to the teacher. I replied, “Why have children? Why ‘set them up for failure by bringing them into this horrible, sinful world’? Isn’t that selfish? Are you ‘playing a game’ with your future children? Why even have them?” She placed her hand over her mouth and exclaimed, “Oh, my gosh! I get it! That makes so much sense!” “Yeah, he loves you, and he wants to be in a relationship with you and his other children.”
Do you get that? A relationship with you is worth the heartache for him? It’s so worth it that he sent his one and only son to die for you. That’s the gospel. The idea to rescue and create hope is from him (he designed the plan for redemption), and the plan is accomplished by him. (He didn’t come up with a plan that involved someone else to fix the problem. He fixed it. He redeemed it.)
Read Romans 1:1-7 and write down what these verses tell us the gospel involves. (I got eleven pieces of content from these seven verses about the gospel.)
My notes: The gospel is being set apart as a believer (v.1), it’s of God/from him (v.1), it’s the fulfillment of the Old Testament (v.2), it’s Jesus in the flesh (v.3), it’s Jesus’s resurrection (v.4), it’s grace (v.5), it’s obedience of faith – not for my sake, but for the sake of his name (v.5), it’s being called to belong to Christ (v.6), it’s being loved by God (v.7), it’s being called to be saints (v.7), it’s grace and peace from God the Father and Son (v.7).
The gospel is that God so desired a relationship with his people that he initiated his plan of redemption right at the moment his first son and first daughter sinned. This is not a game. This is grace. This is peace in the midst of despair. This is a resolution in the midst of the chaos sin causes. This is love.