You've Just Made An Outrageous Claim

That's what he told me. We were sitting there in the Applebee's in Wake Forest... 2 for 20 was the deal, I think I had the chicken. Anyway, Eddie told me ... oh, Eddie McCabe, he's a guy who works at BBandT; I met him there and asked him if he'd like to have lunch and talk about religion ... so, Eddie told me I had made an outrageous claim. And I had. I just didn't realize how outrageous it was until I saw Eddie's reaction as we discussed the Gospel. Here's how it started: I had asked Eddie whether it was accurate to assert that all religion really dealt with these two questions: what is the problem with the world? ... and how can it be fixed? This led inevitably to a discussion about the problem of sin and God's answer for this problem.

I told him that God had come to earth to redeem humanity and provide a way back into a relationship with Him. (I Peter 3:18 says "For Christ died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God." It was at this point, as I referenced the pre-Fall world and the intimacy that Adam and Eve had with God, that the outrageous claim was made. I told Eddie that God had made a way through Christ for us to experience intimacy with Him once again. That's when he asked me if I meant the same kind of relationship Adam and Eve had before sin. And I said, "yes, spiritually that is." "That's a pretty outrageous claim" was his response. And I realized ... it was.

Then he asked me what my source was. Oh how I wanted to give a simple answer, "the Bible." For a minute I was on my heels ... had I gotten so used to the "outrageous claims" of the Gospel that I wasn't able to point to the specific places in God's Word that articulated its truths? So I went to Colossians 1:19-22, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Christ), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation."

I paid for our lunch, we parted, and planned to do it again sometime. Later I sent him an email with more Scripture. But I'll never forget how I felt when I realized just how outrageous the claim of the Gospel is ... that we can be reconciled to God and enjoy pre-Fall fellowship with Him because of what Christ has done on our behalf.