1 Corinthians 2:1-2 “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
What is the gospel?
If you were to look up the definition of the gospel you would see that it is the teaching and revelation of Jesus Christ. The word gospel comes from the Old English word godspel, which means “god-story.” The English translators of the King James Bible used the word godspel as the translation for two Greek words found in the New Testament—euangelion, which means “good news,” and euangelizomai, which means “to proclaim the good news.”
The gospel message of the ‘Good news’ in its essence is meant to be proclaimed. Having understood the necessity of the proclamation, the question then should be asked…to whom is the gospel proclaimed?
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church he came to the Corinthian believers in a demonstration of the power of God, and they could receive it because they had become mature in their faith.
1 Corinthians 2:6-8 “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Do you hear Paul’s exhortation? The word for mature in the greek is the word teleios, this root (tel-) means “reaching the end (aim).” It is well-illustrated with the old pirate’s telescope, unfolding (extending out) one stage at a time to function at full-strength (capacity effectiveness).
If believers want to evangelize the lost, they must remember the position those people are in, they are not mature spiritually and therefore they cannot receive anything that has depth of wisdom. Unbelievers need the first stage of the revelation of Truth and that is where the Gospel comes into view.
1 Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
To discern the things of God requires a teacher and that teacher is the Holy Spirit. For those who wish to be found faithful in proclaiming the gospel, they must know that the power of the gospel is found in the anointing of the Spirit of God.
The Revelation of God
The Spirit of God is given to the one who believes in their heart that Jesus did exactly as He proclaimed. When the lost recognize why Jesus did what He did, they see themselves in light of God’s righteousness and their sin becomes much more apparent. When the Truth of God is revealed to the lost, they can see themselves in light of God’s Holiness and what follows is repentance.
True belief always begins with a heart change and then progresses into a life change. When God sees a changed heart that has responded to His call, He seals their life by the power of His Spirit…from that moment on, that person is forever changed. The one who was once dead in their sin has been made alive in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:16-18 “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”
There are two messages here: The first being the message of the gospel and what the proclamation entails, secondly to those proclaiming the message and how they are to present themselves.
The Message
The message of the gospel is made to be simple and yet precise. There is not much spiritual depth because the ones who are hearing it cannot receive that depth just yet. Unbelievers must know first what the bad news entails before they can understand the good news.
The Bad News
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the result of that sin is eternal death. (Romans 3:23, 6:23)
Why is sin such an egregious offense?
Listen to the cry of one who had fallen…
Psalm 51:3-4 “For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.”
To sin is to offend God’s Moral law. (1 John 3:4). The law of the Lord is a demonstration of God’s character, when you look into the law you see and hear the perfection of God.
Psalm 19:7 “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple”
When the ambassador of God proclaims the gospel to the lost, they proclaim God’s Holy standard of perfection. What happens when the sinner has the light of the law shine upon the heart?
Romans 7:13 “Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.”
The law takes sin and amplifies the egregious nature of its evil.
The law (10 commandments) reduces the pride of mankind into stubble and leads the sinner to Christ. There is no justification for the one who thinks they are good apart from God, the law makes that abundantly clear. Walk through the law as Jesus led the rich young man through the law in Luke 18 and you quickly discover there is no way to earn salvation…it must be given.
Galatians 3:23-24 “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”
If the sinner dies in their sin there is an eternity in Hell that awaits them.
The sinner must be warned…it is God’s people commissioned with this task.
The Good News
There would be no good news if it were not for the work of Jesus Christ. If He had not given His life as a ransom for sin, there would be no reprieve from the consequences of offending God personally.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Sin is to offend the name of God, it is an offense against God’s sovereign rule, and it is a denial of God’s judgement. To break God’s law is to show hatred toward God and toward your fellow man, the people God formed in His own image. Sin is more than doing something evil, it places the sinner into a position as an enemy of God.
Sin must be judged accordingly otherwise God would have to relinquish His position as Judge. To overlook sin would be to be complicit with the offense and God would have to relegate His throne to mankind.
God will not deny Himself and He will defend His name in judgement. When God renders His verdict upon sinners, He defends His name against their blasphemy and glorifies His name once again.
The good news is that the offenders (everyone), have been offered a reprieve from the inevitable judgement that awaits a verdict. The chains of sin leave people in a stage of perpetual bondage…for those who want to be free, the call of the gospel goes out.
Romans 8:1-4 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The call is given by God….come out from your bondage and be set free from the scourge of sin and death. Believers in Christ may proclaim the message of salvation, but it is ultimately God who calls the sinner to repentance.
To repent is to change ones mind, to change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God. To accept God’s will is to accept God’s freewill offering given through Jesus Christ.
Jesus offered His life in place of yours, it is the greatest act of love the world has ever known.
To relinquish His eternal throne of glory and humble Himself as a man took an immeasurable amount of humility and love to perform. The gift of grace was not free, it cost God dearly and to deny this gift is a great offense.
Ambassadors for Christ
For those who have heeded Jesus’ command to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel, these faithful carry with them the greatest message of all time.
1 Corinthians 9:16 “Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”
The presentation of the gospel is given in weakness that the power of God might be demonstrated to the world. Ambassadors for Christ are to go forth in love, and in gentleness, knowing they will suffer for the lost that the message of the Good News might be proclaimed. Paul was all things to all men that he might save some of them. Proclaiming the gospel is not about the messenger, it is the Message.
Faithful proclaimers must get out of the way so that the message isn’t lost before the delivery is heard. If believers shout and get angry, they lose their testimony. For those who want to identify with a political position, they represent a candidate rather than the Creator.
To be found faithful is to be obedient to the leading of the Spirit of God, sin cannot be present and active in the life of a believer if they want to be effective in God’s Kingdom.
Philippians 4:6-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Repent of your sin, be made right with God and then go forth in the anointing of the Lord…the Spirit of God will lead, all you have to do is be bold in your testimony and faithful to the call.
Pray, pray, pray….pray before you go, pray with the lost, pray for the lost, and the Lord will be honored in your offering.
The Gospel gives hope to a dying world and believers have this hope. If you are a man or woman of God, let your light shine…it is the least you can do as an offering of worship for all that God has done for you.
U.T. 