257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105
(262) 763-3021
|
We have purchased land on Highways A & W and are planning to build soon!
Drive by and take a look at our future home!
Getting the Gospel Right
1 Cor. 15:1-11
Video Clip: What is the Gospel? Click Here
The meaning of words often changes with the passing of time. For example, not so long ago...An application was for employment; a program was a TV show; a keyboard was a piano; Memory was something that you lost with age; A CD was a bank account; Log on was adding wood to a fire; Hard drive was a long trip on the road; A mouse pad was where a mouse lived and a backup happened to your commode!
What’s true with normal, everyday words is also true with Biblical and theological words. That’s certainly the case with the word, Gospel. No question is more central for our time than this: What is the gospel? It’s foundational to our faith that we’re committed to Getting the Gospel Right.
Today we’re beginning a 12 week series on the gospel of Jesus Christ. This will benefit all of us because we’ll be taught again what the gospel really is. You’ll not only learn it, in the process you’ll be encouraged to share it with others. This series falls into the category of applied theology, as we together learn how God saves sinners. I encourage you to bring your friends, particularly those who do not know the Lord.
The message this morning introduces the entire topic. Historically, an evangelical is someone who believes the gospel. If that’s true, then it’s critical that we properly define the gospel. No one should be an accidental evangelical…or a cultural one. We live in a time of unprecedented religious dialogue and inter-religious cooperation. Catholics, Orthodox believers, and evangelical Protestants agree on many issues of moral and cultural concern. But do we really agree on the gospel? If you’re taking notes…1. What is the Gospel? The word for Gospel in the New Testament is euangelion. It’s built out of a prefix that means good or joyful, and a root word that means message or news. This word was used widely in the New Testament world to mean the message of victory. It was also used of political and private messages bringing joy. In a period of history without print media, radio, TV or the Internet, the messenger with the good news delivered the news in person. It was spoken as an announcement. It had a celebrative feel to it. The messenger exulted over the news he had to bring. It was good news.
It’s far too easy in our day to lose the wonder, excitement and amazement at the news quality of the Gospel. Want to know the feel of this good news in the New Testament? Then, we need to remember the way that it was announced in Luke 2:10-11 to those simple shepherds on a Judean hillside. “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord’.” When this news landed on planet earth, the effect was extraordinary – because the news was extraordinary! Nothing like this had ever happened before or since. Something absolutely new had entered human history.
Consider another picture of the gospel arriving. This time not the ancient town crier, but a modern day prison camp. Imagine American prisoners of war held behind barbed wire in a camp with little food and filthy conditions near the end of the Second World War. On the outside of the fence their captors are free and go about their business as though they don't have a care. Inside the fence the captured soldiers are thin, hollow-eyed, unshaven, and dirty. Some die each day. Then, somehow a shortwave radio is smuggled into one of the barracks. There is connection with the outside world and the progress of the war. One day the captors on the outside of the fence see something very strange. Inside the fence the weak, dirty, unshaved American soldiers are smiling and laughing, and a few who have the strength give a whoop and throw tin pans into the air.
But what makes this so strange to everyone outside the fence is that nothing has changed. These American soldiers are still in captivity. They still have very little food and water. Many are still sick and dying. But what the captors don't know is that what these soldiers do have is news. The enemy lines have been broken through. The decisive battle of liberation has been fought and the liberating troops are only miles away from the camp. Freedom is imminent.
This is the difference that good news makes. As Christians, we have heard the news that Christ has come into the world, that He has fought the decisive battle to defeat Satan and death and sin and hell. The war will soon be over, and there is no longer any doubt as to who will win. Christ will win and He will liberate all those who have put their hope in him.
The good news is not that there is no pain or death or sin or hell. There is the good news that the King Himself has come, and these enemies have been defeated. If we trust in what He has done and what He promises, we will escape the death sentence and see the glory of our Liberator, and live with Him forever. This news fills us with hope and joy! It frees us from self-pity and empowers us to love those who are suffering. In this hope-sustained love He helps us persevere until the final trumpet of liberation sounds and the prison camp is made into a "new earth" (2 Pet. 3:13).2. Some wrong contemporary concepts of the Gospel. Over the past decade there have been theological wars, even among evangelicals, on what exactly is the Gospel. The result has been a terrible fragmentation.
a) For some the Gospel is simply a fire escape. Some hold that the Gospel is a narrow teaching about Jesus’ death and resurrection which if rightly believed will get one’s ticket punched for Heaven. After that, all the real training, life transformation, discipleship and maturity take place.
This is a long way from the Bible’s concept of the Gospel which takes Christians all the way from lostness, alienation from God, condemnation to conversation, transformation and new life in Christ, discipleship to resurrection bodies, eternity with Christ and a new heaven and a new earth.
b) For some the Gospel is simply the 1st & 2nd greatest commandments. Remember Jesus’ words found in Matthew 22:37-40, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Now those are important and foundational, but they’re not the Gospel.
c) For some the Gospel is simply the ethical teaching of Jesus. But it’s abstracted from His life, His passion and resurrection. This approach rests on two disastrous mistakes.
First, during that 1st century of the Church, there was no such thing as the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, etc. It was “The Gospel” according to Matthew, “The Gospel” according to Mark. There was just one gospel according to these various witnesses. The Gospel starts with His birth and goes to the Cross and culminates with His resurrection. But those who hold this view want to separate Jesus’ teaching and ethics from His life, death and resurrection.
Can you imagine trying to study the life of George Washington without also studying the American Revolution? Or, trying to make sense of Hitler’s Mein Kampf without considering the Holocaust or World War II?
Second, studying Jesus’ teaching while making the Cross peripheral reduces the glorious good news of the Gospel to mere religion, the joy of forgiveness to empty ethical conformity, from the love of Christ our Savior constraining us to conformity, obedience and duty. And this is catastrophic. You can’t study the ethical teaching of Jesus without studying an old rugged Cross.
d) For some the Gospel is simply assumed. This is probably the most common in the Church today. There is a focus on healthy marriages, raising children, values issues – abortion, homosexuality, the poor, pressures of secularization, Islam, politics, etc. The list is endless. And it’s assumed that our hearers have embraced the Gospel.
Every parent knows that our children will truly learn what we emphasize; what we are most passionate or are excited about. If we focus on peripheral concerns to the neglect of the Gospel, we teach the next generation to focus on peripheral issues rather than the heart of the New Testament and our message, the Gospel. And when the Gospel is our focus, the peripheral issues will line up with a Biblical worldview.
For example, one can get very passionate about abortion and not even be regenerate. There is a pro-life Hari Krishna movement. One can get very passionate about political and Conservative causes but have absolutely no comprehension of the Gospel. We forget that a Conservative can also be an atheist.3. Some key understandings of the Gospel. The New Testament uses the noun “gospel” seventy-seven times and the verb for “preach the gospel” seventy-seven times. There are then many texts that we could use this morning to unpack a Biblical understanding of the Gospel, turn with me though to one of the more familiar ones, 1 Cor. 15:1-11 (p. 815).
a) The Gospel is Christological. Jesus Christ is the central focus of Paul’s understanding of the Gospel. There is no gospel without the declaration of Christ crucified for sinners and risen from the dead (vss. 1-4).
The message and ministry of Jesus Christ unfolded on earth two thousand years ago. It became clear that the arrival of the kingdom of God and the arrival of Jesus were the same. We see how the gospel was summed up this way in Acts 8:12, “when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” The reason that the coming of the kingdom of God and the coming of Jesus were the same, is that Jesus was the long-awaited "son of David." He was the promised King. The Gospel is the good news that the promised King had come. When the angels announced Jesus' arrival that first Christmas, they put it all together. This was the Gospel. It was the arrival of the sovereign King, the Lord. It was the arrival of the promised Messiah (which is what "Christ" means), the Son of David. And with this divine power, and with this royal lineage, the Lord Jesus Christ would become a Savior.
But it’s not just about His Messiahship, it’s about His death. Jesus Himself tells us clearly, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus would die in order to pay a ransom so that many others would not have to perish. When He sheds His blood, it will be for others. His death was a ransom for us that we could not pay for ourselves.
But there would be no gospel if Jesus had stayed dead. Paul made this crystal-clear in 1 Corinthians 15:17, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." This is why Paul's definition of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4 includes both the death and resurrection of Jesus: “I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” The King would not rule over a ransomed people if He were not raised from the dead. And if the King of kings is not ruling, there is no Gospel.
We are made for Christ and Christ died so that every obstacle would be removed that keeps us from seeing and savoring the most satisfying treasure in the universe-namely, Christ, who is the image of God. In other words, it’s foolish to make a big deal of Christmas and ignore Good Friday and Easter. Rodney Clapp suggests that we let the pagans have Christmas because Easter is the true Christian holiday. There is no Gospel without the death and resurrection of Christ. The Gospel is first Christological.
b) The Gospel is Theological. As 1 Corinthians 15 continually affirms, God raised Christ from the dead. It was God who sent the Son into the world. It was the Father’s purpose for Christ to die and rise, and not just a mere death, but that He died for our sins and rose for our justification.
Sin and death are related to God. They are God’s judgment against sin. Sin is an offense against a holy God. God Himself pronounces the sentence of death against sin in Genesis 3. His image-bearers, Adam and Eve, have spit in His face and insisted on going their own way.
God is the source of life and when we sin, we cut ourselves off from God. What other way then is there than death? He then is the One whom we’ve offended and who must be appeased. What makes sin so evil is that it is the defiance of God Himself! Twenty-nine times our New Testament speaks of God’s wrath against sin. Unbelievers in that first century were terrified upon hearing the Gospel preached because they feared God’s judgment.
Isn’t it sad that is a very rare thing today when someone hears the Gospel and truly fears God’s wrath and judgment? The Gospel message is incomplete if it’s just about the love of God. The reason that Jesus had to die was to satisfy the wrath of God, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” (Rom. 5:9). And those who reject Him as Savior will face that wrath!
The Gospel is about God. So let me ask a critical question: If you could have heaven with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauty you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you’ve ever enjoyed, and no human conflict or any natural disasters – could you be satisfied with heaven…if God was not there?
God’s forgiveness and His justification are not ends in themselves. Nor is the forgiveness of sins or the imputation of righteousness. Neither is escape from hell, entrance into heaven, freedom from disease, liberation from bondage, eternal life or justice or mercy, or even the beauties of a pain-free world. The Gospel is theological, it’s about God. It’s about seeing and enjoying God Himself, being changed into the image of His Son so that more and more we delight in and display God's infinite beauty and worth.
Let me illustrate this. Suppose I get up tomorrow morning and as I’m walking to the bathroom, I trip over some of my wife's laundry that she left lying on the hall floor. Instead of simply moving the laundry myself and assuming the best of her, I react in a way that’s completely out of proportion to the situation and say something very harsh to Jane, just as she is waking up. She gets up, puts the laundry away, and walks downstairs ahead of me. I can tell by the silence and from my own conscience that our relationship is in serious trouble.
So as I go downstairs my conscience is condemning me. Yes, the laundry should not have been there. Yes, I might have broken my neck. But those thoughts are mainly my self-defending flesh talking. The truth is that my words were way out of line. Not only was the emotional harshness out of proportion to the seriousness of the fault, but God’s Word tells me to overlook the fault. “Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Cor. 6:7). So as I enter the kitchen there is ice in the air and her back is blatantly toward me as she works at the kitchen counter.
So what needs to happen here? The answer is obvious: I need to apologize and ask for forgiveness. That would be the right thing to do. But here's the analogy: Why do I want her forgiveness? So that she will make my favorite breakfast? So that my guilt feelings will go away and I’ll be able to concentrate at work today? So we can have a romantic evening? So the kids won't see us at odds? So that she will finally admit the laundry shouldn't have been there?
It may be that every one of those desires would come true. But they are all defective motives for wanting her forgiveness. What's missing is this: I want to be forgiven so that I will have the sweet fellowship of my wife back. She’s the reason I want to be forgiven. I want the relationship restored. Forgiveness is simply a way of getting obstacles out of the way so that we can look at each other again with joy.
My point is that all the saving events and all the saving blessings of the Gospel are means of getting obstacles out of the way so that we might know and enjoy God fully and forever. The Gospel is centrally theological.
c) The Gospel is Universal. The year was 1968. The place was Viet Nam. There was a little hamlet along the Mekong River and some Viet Cong were holding some American’s captive. The jails were pits that were dug into the muddy ground with stone and mortar on the sides and a bamboo grating over the tops act as doors, and they were high enough off the floors to keep anyone from unlocking them. Sometimes, the Viet Cong would stand there and ridicule them or throw food on top of them, or worse. Early one morning, the enemy received communication that the Americans were getting ready to overrun the hamlet, and in fear of their lives, they unlocked the bamboo cages and then fled into the jungle. The American prisoners didn’t know the gates were unlocked, though, so they just stayed there, not knowing what was happening above. Later that day, when the Americans came, all they had to do was to open the cages and let the prisoners climb free.
Just like the United States military sent its army to liberate those prisoners on the Mekong River, God sent His Son Jesus to liberate us. Now, nobody has to be a prisoner of this world any longer. That’s what Paul says in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”
We know that God loves the world. “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). The universal love of God is self evident for any honest reader of the Bible.
God doesn’t just love religious people, or republicans, or married people. God loves every human person who’s ever lived and who ever will live, and He loves them with an unquenchable love, a love that didn’t just give God a warm fuzzy, but—according to this verse—a love that motivated God to give His one and only Son.
The word "world" in the New Testament usually refers to people in this world system in its condition of hostility to God. It refers to people at their worst, people in rebellion against God, before they respond to God’s grace, yet God loves them. God loves Marilyn Manson as much as he loves Billy Graham, He loves Osama Bin Laden as much as He loves James Dobson. The heart of God is as wide as the way to life is narrow. And God didn’t just give something He could replace, He gave His one and only Son, or as older Bible translations put it, "His only begotten Son." God gave His only Son—Jesus Christ—so people God loves wouldn’t perish. The Gospel is a comprehensive vision of a new humanity drawn from every tribe and nation. It’s not universal in that it includes everyone without exception; but it is universal in the sense that it is for all ethnic and other groups. The Gospel is Universal.
d) The Gospel is Eschatological. Many of the blessings Christians receive are blessings of the last day brought back into our present time. God is eternal. With our finite, time limited minds we just can’t comprehend this, but God is in the past, present and future. That means that at the moment one trusts Christ as Savior, we are justified, we are glorified. In God’s mind it’s a done deal. To put it another way, that means that we are justified and we will be justified. We look forward to an eschatological fulfillment of the transformation that has already begun in us. We miss so much if we only focus on the blessings that those who are in Christ enjoy in this age, because there are greater fulfillments yet to come.
Romans 8:29-30 says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” Did you notice that Paul puts all of these acts in the past tense? Though they are future, because of the Gospel, they are already accomplished in the mind of God. And He’s just waiting for us to get Home so we can enjoy all of the blessings that are ours in Christ because of the Gospel.
e) The Gospel is Personal. If someone were to ask you, “How many gospels are there?” what would you say? Most of us would blurt out, “Four.” The Apostle Paul said that there were five. In 2 Timothy 2:8, Paul writes, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.” The fifth gospel is you and it’s me. Our world knows of the gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John but people need to know the Gospel according to you and me. Friend, you need to tell the world about the good news according to YOU!
What’s your Gospel? What are the glad tidings you have to tell about Christ? What are your tidbits about this thing we call Christianity? What is your 411 on the Cross, the Christ and a holy God? What is your Gospel?
All believers should have a Gospel. Everyone who professes Christ as their Lord and Savior should have a testimony about how Christ transformed their lives. All who claim inherited rights to the Father should have a story to tell about their experience with His son, Jesus. You can’t walk this walk without being able to talk the talk. You can’t follow in His footsteps without being able to tell of His goodness. You should have your own Gospel. You have your own story. Maybe your Mama was a Sunday School teacher and your Daddy was a deacon, but what is your story? Maybe you come from a long line of preachers and everyone in your family had religion but what’s your story? Who do you say Jesus is? What’s your Gospel? Paul says this is the Gospel which you received and on which you take your stand. This is not an abstract. It’s personal. It must be your Gospel.
You see, in the end doctrine doesn’t save, Jesus saves. We need correct doctrine to tell us who Jesus is, who we are, and how we can be saved. But it is Christ alone who saves. It’s not enough to know the truth, you must believe the truth. It is not enough to possess the truth, the truth must possess you. Paul called it “my Gospel.” My friend, can you say that?Conclusion: The message today has been a bit theologically heavy, yet as deep as it is, it has some very important applications.
First, do you believe it? The benefits of the gospel do not accrue automatically; we must all exercise our own faith in Christ. You will either meet Jesus as Judge or as Savior. Unless you personally claim the salvation that Christ offers the divine contention remains fully in force against you. That means hell, eternal separation from God. So if you don’t know Christ as Lord and Savior, I plead with you to make Him so. As Bill and Ted say, “You can be a king or a street sweeper, but sooner or later you dance with the reaper.”
You see, since the Gospel is true, then someone like me can go to heaven. In myself I see much that displeases me, and much more that must displease the Lord. The good news of the Gospel is that sinners can be saved while they are still sinners simply by trusting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Because of the Gospel you can know with certainty that should you die tonight, you are going to heaven.
The Gospel is everything. It’s our only message. The Gospel teaches us that in Christ our sins can be forgiven and that the righteousness of Christ is credited to us the moment we trust in him. We lose our sin and we gain His righteousness. And it happens by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. What a glorious Gospel this is! This is the only way to be right with God.
There’s a wonderful phrase from that great old hymn written by Fanny Crosby in 1875, To God be the Glory. It’s from the second verse and it goes like this: “O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, to every believer the promise of God.” And now the key phrase: “The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”
Can that be true? Can even the vilest offender be pardoned from his sins? Thank God, the answer is “Yes!” And does it really happen in a moment of time? Yes! This is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Friend, hold fast to the Gospel, the Good News that comes from God. For in the Gospel we find Jesus Christ, in the Gospel we find salvation and forgiveness from our sins. What else do we need?
