“But wait, there’s more!”

This is the tag line to every late night infomercial. There is a formula that can be followed by anyone wanting to sell a completely senseless product to those insomniacs who troll the television networks. Pitch the product; give a series of outstanding testimonies; prepare the viewer to hear the price; pitch more of the product with testimonies following; then ask the viewer what they think it would cost to receive this outstanding product. Reduce the expected price three times and then show them the final cost broken down into four equal payments. Once you got their interest, hit them with the tag line, “But wait, there’s more!” Now you can unload all the add-on products that they might never have thought they needed to make their purchase truly a thing of beauty.

Do advertisers really think we’re that naive? Do they truly believe we can’t see beyond all the hyperbole, all the extravagance of video hype which goes into these infomercials so that the “more” is really that important to us? Apparently, someone is calling right now to one of those operators who are standing by even as we speak, ordering this next great wonder, so I guess that their job is considered a success.

How, you might be asking yourself, does this entire monologue have anything to do with the gospel of grace. Really it is quite simple if you understand Greek. Well, not really the language as much as the customs. You see back in the day when Greek conquest was all the rage in the known world, the term we know as “gospel” had the equivalent meaning as our infomercial do of today. Yes, the term does mean good news, however, in the social discourse of the time, everyone knew it to be the news that was too good to be true. Because of this understanding, it was a term which wasn’t employed a lot. Everyone knew it was hyperbole and exaggeration when the term “gospel” came into use.

So consider this as the backdrop to Paul’s message to the Gentiles. Here is this scholarly Jewish rabbi, one of God’s chosen people, telling the “heathen” that God not only wants a relationship with them too, but He has gone out of His way to see to it that they receive all the benefits of blessing, healing, cleansing, power and authority which come from this relationship. No this isn’t just some quaint little Sunday – excuse me – Saturday sermon with two quick points followed by a couple of songs. This is crazy good, I mean extravagantly acceptable; you know, over the top, blow-your-mind-kinda good! In a word: Gospel.

Paul would deliver his message and people, not religious people, but real desperate people would hang on every word he spoke. “How can this be so good?” would float through their mind. Then Paul would pause for a moment and hit them right between the eyes with, “…but wait, there’s more!” This would cause them to reel with anticipation at the next amazing benefit that grace has supplied to them. On and on he would regale them with this eternal love story until they were so full of the love themselves that they willingly offered the only acceptable response Paul wanted.

“What does it cost me to have this…this…whatever you have?” Paul would look at them with a deep penetrating gaze, nostrils flaring and bellow, “Price! The price has already been paid! It’s a gift. This is God’s gift to you! You don’t have enough money or influence to purchase this valuable gift. All you have to do is believe and receive what Christ did for you, for all of us.”

Outrageous! Outlandish! Wild foolishness! Those are some of the statements of faith from those who never “bought in” to Paul’s infomercial of grace. Did that deter him? Not one bit, because he knew that the next day would bring a whole new group of people who didn’t know what God had done for them. He just wasn’t some pocket fisherman. He was determined, like a good fisherman, to cast his net as broad and far as he possibly could. And the story he told may have seemed, like all good fish stories, to be a bit of an exaggeration. Yet is was his “gospel” that reeled them in.

So how is your Gospel of God’s grace? Does it invoke statements as piercing as Paul’s detractors? Can you deliver it with “…but wait, there’s more!” authority? Does your congregation, whether it be one or thousands, often respond, “…That’s just too good to be true!” Wouldn’t it be grand to have such infectious people surrounding our communities and barraging us with such…such…good news? It might even cause a person to give up late-night television! Nay, that is just too extreme!