As we think about the changes the pandemic has brought to our world, I want us to think carefully and clearly about what matters most. Followers of Jesus have a confession that stands above any challenge. We have a bold assurance that looks in the face of strong diversity and says, “there will be a brighter tomorrow because he lives.”
No matter the length of the night or its darkness, Christian confession says a brighter day is coming tomorrow.
As we recover from our present pandemic, and it will take us a moment to recover, the opportunity is fresh for us to think through what matters most. Christian confession has a word we use to describe what matters most, we call it The Gospel, and as we will learn through this series, nothing matters more than the gospel.
What is the gospel? The gospel is not a catch-all phrase but is the shorthand we use to refer to the message of God’s redeeming work through Christ. Here is how I summarize what I understand the gospel to be:
The gospel is the good news of God’s loving plan to bring us into fellowship with himself forever.
Tim Keller, in his book, Shaped by the Gospel, reminds us, “The gospel is not everything, the gospel is not a simple thing, the gospel affects everything.” Keller goes on to remind us as we think clearly about the gospel that “the gospel is not the result of the gospel.” There is a difference between what the gospel is and what the gospel does. Keller says,
We must not, then, give the impression that the gospel is simply a divine rehabilitation program for the world, but rather that it is an accomplished substitutionary work. We must not depict the gospel as primarily joining something (Christ’s kingdom program) but rather as receiving something (Christ’s finished work).
Galatians give us a glimpse of the source and substance of the gospel.
We are focusing on the book of Galatians because Paul sets out a strong argument that a fellowship of believers who loses the gospel has no basis for referring to themselves as a Christian fellowship. A community is Christian only as it faithfully confesses the gospel. We turn to Galatians to understand the importance of the gospel.
Martin Luther captures the message of Galatians,
Therefore, God accepts only the forsaken, curses only the sick, gives sight only to the blind, restores life to only the dead, sanctifies only the sinners, gives wisdom only to the unwise fools. In short, he has mercy only to those who are wretched and gives grace only to those who are not in grace. Therefore no proud saint, no wise or just person, can become God’s material, and God’s purpose cannot be fulfilled in him. He remains in his own work and makes a fictitious, pretended, false, and painted saint of himself, that is, a hypocrite.
Over the next few posts, we will learn several truths about the one message of God’s salvation in Christ.
This message was originally delivered to the saints called First Baptist Starkville in Fall of 2021.