The gospel (good news) is for every person and it is really simple. Intellectual religious types stumble over its simplicity and twist it to try to control behavior by bringing guilt and shame. Take the following verses in Hebrews…

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

SIMPLE EXPLANATION: The book of Hebrews presents Jesus as the Savior of the world and the Great High Priest of Israel. He is the AUTHOR of our faith that God will save mankind and that God will FINISH what He promised. We have a great cloud of witnesses that died without having experienced what they had been promised. All those promises will be fulfilled when Jesus returns to resurrect the dead.

RELIGIOUS EXPLANATION: We have a great cloud of witnesses who are looking over the balcony of heaven and watching our every move and cheering us on when we do good and shaking their head in horror when we sin. So we better go to church, quit drinking, smoking, chewing, cursing and having too much fun in the world because Grandma is watching our every move. We are in a race for our eternal destiny and how we live and the choices we make will determine whether we are saved to sit with Jesus at the right hand of God in heaven or burn in hell for all eternity.

One explanation gives peace and hope and is the promise of God - the other is an attempt to scare the hell out of us. Paul, however, opted for peace and hope…

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us” (Romans 5:6-11; Romans 8:30-21)

Think about why you have done charitable things for someone in the past. For me it has always been due to one of the four following reasons, two good and not so much:

1. An overwhelming sense of love and responsibility for the recipient, OR

2. An overwhelming compassion for the recipient.

These two mirror God…He loves and accepts responsibility for His creation and has an overwhelming compassion for his creation.

“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD'S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 21-23)

Two other reasons are these:

3. An overwhelming fear of guilt if you do not do so, OR

4. An overwhelming fear of the consequences if you do not do so.

These are what various religious institutions promote to get one to contribute to their religion. They are NOT of God in my view…and it applies to Christian churches who preach a guilt and fear based doctrine. But when we become aware that we are the object of God’s love, grace, mercy and compassion, then fear in gone…

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us…There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…”  and then we come to realize that “the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:16-18)

Jesus said this about how the Pharisees ministered to their flock:

"For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders" (Matthew 23:4).

Sound familiar? If the ministers who you are associated with do these things…exit the door and never go back if you enjoy liberty. These rules and regulations leave you frustrated, guilt ridden and depressed. Jesus came to set you free from rules and regulations of religious institutions, whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu or any other religious system.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18).

Paul talks about our "reconciliation" and this "liberty"...

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation...it is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Galatians 5:1)

Those of us who know about it should "minister" this message to those who do not. They have had enough ministering from the modern day Pharisees.

"In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Psalm 56:11).

"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6)

Faith does not save anyone from the wages of sin. The Grace of God took care of that at the cross of Christ Jesus. However, Faith that God loves and saves sinners does deliver us from the fear of death and enables us to have peace and joy in the midst of difficult circumstances. And of course, that kind of faith pleases God. 

Faith in what men say about God generally leads to doubt, guilt, and depression. If you get that from those you hang out with on Sunday, find some new friends.

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)