What is the Gospel

The gospel is the Good News that Jesus Christ, the son of God, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and was crucified for our sins.  He was raised from the dead on the third day and will come again.

The Bible tells us that if we believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord and confess with our mouth that God raised him from the dead we will be saved.

The early church believed this gospel.   All of our rich traditions and theology are great but they add nothing to this simple Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The body of Christ is comprised of everyone who believes this essential Gospel and has embraced Jesus Christ at their savior, their messiah. 

It is the gospel the brings us together, it is the essential gospel that brings unity of the faith and revival in the hearts of all in the boy of Christ.

The Apostle Paul was passionate about unity in the church. Listen to his prayer in the book of Romans, chapter 15

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of UNITY among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ 

True Christian Unity

This past Tuesday, January 18th at the beginning of this traditional “International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”  I read an interesting article by Catholic Deacon Steven Greydanus in the National Catholic Register.  

Now before I tell you about that article, you may find it odd, or perhaps refreshing that an Evangelical Pastor with degrees in divinity from a Baptist Seminary would be reading the National Catholic Register.   However, I find it most appropriate as our mission at Faith Dialogue is to grow the unity of the Body of Christ through the proclamation of the one Gospel.

In this well written article, Deacon Steven ask the question “What do we pray for when we pray for Christian unity?”   

It’s a great question and Deacon Steven talks about two very important elements which are faith, and love.    That we have unity of our faith but are also bound by true Christian charity, which is love.

Deacon Steven is correct and I would like to add that it’s good to ask this WHAT question but did you know that the Bible in talking specifically about Christian unity, answers the important questions of HOW we achieve unity and also the motivational question of WHY unity is important in the Body of Christ?

Let’s look again at the scripture verses in the Gospel of John, Chapter 17 beginning in verse 20

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity

In these verses Jesus tells us the HOW,   Jesus says that JUST AS He was in the Father and the Father was IN HIM so should we be in the Godhead.     Now of course this is a mystery but Jesus gives us an illustration of the same when He talks about the vine and the Branches in John 15

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 14:3&4

When we abide with Christ, when we identify with his Life, his Death and Resurrection, when we spend time with him daily and seek him with all of our heart we can be said to be “IN CHRIST”   The Apostle Paul gives us insight into the phrase “in Christ” and what it means.

"In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."Galatians 3:26-28

Isn’t it interesting that the very verses that Paul writes to the Galatians about being in Christ also give us another picture of unity in the Church, “Neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

But there are still Jews and Gentiles, we are still male or female…..those distinctions remain but what the Apostle Paul is saying is that it’s in-this-diversity-we-can-still-have-unity.

Unity through diversity….now that’s a good thought.

You see one of the reasons we have this week of unity is because for most of the church, for fifty-one out of fifty-two weeks at least, we don’t see unity.  Now the problem has been ours as all too often, the way we have tried to create unity is through conformity.   Conformity is actually something we think of when we think of the religious cults.   However for us as well….dressing alike, conforming our doctrines, worship styles, liturgies, celebrations and even yes our sacraments doesn’t bring unity….it actually identifies our differences.

On a personal level, when I have the opportunity to visit a church and I stand up on the platform and look out and see black, white, Asian, Hispanic, young, old….in that diversity I see unity.   Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, free….all are one in Christ.

So the HOW is through being one in Christ.   The closer we get to Christ, the closer we will get to one another.   As pastors and leaders, we teach this often in marriage classes.  If a couple, a man and a woman each seek to get close to God, they get close together.  They pray together, they worship together, they are one in Christ.

I said earlier that these verses in John not only tell us HOW we can achieve unity but also WHY.

Let’s turn to the why and we’ll look at the verses again: Jesus prays that we would be one TWICE and he ends these verses with the words, “ So that the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23)

Did you catch that?   Did you get it?   Jesus says that the reason, the WHY, the hope of Jesus in this prayer is that we would be one SO THAT the world will know that the Father has sent his one and only son because he loved us even as he loves His son

Sounds like, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Before Jesus ascended into heaven he gave us two commands.  One is called that Great Commandment: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as your yourself.

Just as importantly, he gave us the Great Commission

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19)

True Christian unity….not some forced conformity to rites, rituals, styles or even doctrines but unity in Christ and embracing the diversity of our traditions is very attractional.  When we are one, when we appear united, we attract those that want to know what it is that makes us one.

The Apostle Peter said, “and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, (1 Peter 3:15). Some of the fastest growing churches in the country have two things in common.  The first is that they are very orthodox and I use that term in the true sense of its meaning:

They adhere closely to the major tenants of the Christian faith that we find in the Nicene Creed going back 1700 years…..Faith in a triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the belief that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary in fulfillment of the scriptures, that he suffered and died for our sins, that he rose on the third day and that he is coming back again.

The second is that these Churches tend to major on the majors and minor on the minors.  All too often churches are quick to tell you how they are different than all others.  These growing churches however tell you about Jesus.  They don’t see other churches down the street and around the corner as competition but as acceptable outposts of the same church, the Body of Christ.

When we are one in Christ, we are the Body of Christ.   Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Charismatic, Pentecostal and nondenominational…we are one.   When we go out and make disciples, we don’t make them disciples of our local churches or local pastors but we make them disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let the church say Amen

Following Jesus

Jesus said we are to follow Him.   Following Him may mean more than what we may think.

Scripture Matthew 8:19-22
"Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." 


While leadership training in the church has been the rage, we also need to learn what it means to follow. Jesus didn't specifically recruit leaders, He recruited followers.

It these verses, Jesus tells us what it means to truly follow Jesus.

When the teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, I fill follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied with this unusual response about foxes and birds and dens and nests.    This is a full unconditional commitment that is required by Jesus.   It's interesting to take note and to remember that all of the disciples literally left everything they had behind and followed Jesus along dusty roads, into distant places, through Judea, Samaria and Galilee, up mountain sides and across tumultuous seas.

How many of us are willing to follow Jesus but put conditions on where that may take us?   For those of us that can remember Scott Wesley Brown's song "Please don't send me to Africa" (Out of Africa 1998); we likely relate to the lyrics

Please don't send me to Africa
I don't think I've go what it takes
I'm just a man, I'm not a Tarzan 
Don't like lions, gorillas or snakes
I'll serve you here in suburbia
In my comfortable middle class life
But please don't send me out into the bush
Where the natives are restless at night 

Jesus also tells us that there is an urgency in his call to "Follow".   One of the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Lord let me go and bury my father".  Jesus reply to "leave the dead to bury the dead" has always seemed harsh and uncharacteristic of Jesus but is important.

All too often, likely because these words seems harsh,  Jesus response for immediacy or urgency is explained away.   I've heard it explained that the Jewish custom of burial included a "Shanah" a period of an entire year of morning that was being requested and Jesus replied with His request according to the "Shiva" that is only a maximum of seven days.    However, Jesus is not allowing even for seven days but simply says, "Follow Me."

Jesus wants us to follow but in his recruitment of his followers, He was more interested in quality rather than quantity. A famous British theologian of this last century, John Charles Ryle, said, "Nothing has done more harm to Christianity than the practice of filling the ranks of Christ's army with every volunteer who is willing to make a little profession, and to talk fluently of experience."

In these responses from Jesus we also see that Jesus is being brutally honest with his new recruits.   He wants them as well as us to know what it was going to be like to truly follow Him.   As the three-years with His disciples came to a close and the passion and crucifixion was before Him, it would require a complete and unconditional commitment on the part of His followers to make further disciples.  

One of the first teachings of Jesus is found in Matthew 3:2 as Jesus says, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand".    Interestingly, the very last words of Jesus recorded in the Bible are in the Book of Revelation 12:20 where Jesus reminds us, "Yes, I am coming quickly"

"Amen, Come Lord Jesus"

Revival in the Church

Many of us pray for revival in the Church. 

Every church however does not need revival just as every person does not need medicine.  In the Book of Revelation chapter 3, we read about the fifth of the seven letters to the churches, the letter to the church at Sardis.

This is a troubling and actually very tragic letter to a troubled and tragic church because this church is dead.   We know this church is dead because Jesus Christ himself says at end of verse 1, "You are dead."

What is interested to note is that this church does not even know it is dead. That is what makes it even more tragic.

When we take a closer look at this church in Sardis, while we find it tragic that they are dead there is still hope.  Jesus says in the very next verse, Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 

 

In finding out why it is dead, we may find the key to revival. 

A revival for not only this church in Sardis but all other local churches that may be already dead as well.

Note that for each of these seven churches, Jesus presents the Godhead in a particular way.  The way the Lord presents himself to each of these churches is a clue as to what the church needs.  Here in Sardis Jesus calls himself "him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars."  These symbols were identified for us in the first chapter of Revelation. The "seven spirits" are a symbol of the Holy Spirit in his fullness.

Here is a clear fact. It is the Holy Spirit that gives life. The Apostle Paul said it is the Holy Spirt that gives life in Romans 8:11

“AND if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”

If there is no Holy Spirit, there is no life. 

The church is not a building; it is the Body of Christ.  This Body includes all believers.   When we become a believer, God places the Holy Spirit within us, who leads us whenever we listen and respond to the Holy Spirit’s counsel. The Holy Spirit is our Guide, He is one who walks with us along the way.

It is the Holy Spirit that will convict us of sin and will enable us to repent (And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment John 16:8). When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin,we are led to repent.For the church to experience revival, the people need to repent. That is why our Lord says to Sardis, "Remember how you have received and heard, and obey it and repent." (Rev 3:3)

That is the place of new beginning.  This is the opportunity for revival! 

It is in repentance that people experience and demonstrate conversion from a sinful life in Christ and it is the Spirit of God that imparts the life of Christ.

It’s in repentance that we will experience revival.

We are the Church!

You have likely heard your pastor or people in your church say, “Don’t just go to church; BE the church.”

Often, what well-minded people are trying to convey is that many of the services and activities that people associate with the church can actually be done individually or in small groups - -things like bringing meals to those that can’t get out, helping out a neighbor in need, getting a group of people to help clean up a park or a church etc.

While these are very good and useful activities, that is not at all what the Apostle Paul meant when he told the Corinthians, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Cor 12:27)

When the Apostle Paul refers to the church he calls it, ‘the body of Christ.’   He doesn’t refer to it as the body of Christians.   While the body of Christians may be divide, the body of Christ cannot.  

“ For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.” (1 Cor 12:12-14)

We are the church when we recognize that while all of us have different gifts and different callings, all of us can and should contribute to the body “But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” (1 Cor 12:20-21)

We are the church when each of us individually realizes that the Great Commandment (that we love God with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbor as ourselves) and the Great Commission (go and make disciples) applies to us, not just a ministry within the institutional church.

Institutionally, the church has had many problems over the past 2,000 years.  But as the body of Christ, we have the most profound impact and collectively work together for the fulfillment of the Gospel.