For
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings
salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. --
Romans 1: 16 (NIV)
What is this great experiment known as Christianity all about?
What is it that turned the world upside down, led by simple people against
great opposition? Why would people willing lay down their own lives for the
sake of this fledgling religion, so many centuries ago? Willingly beheaded or
crucified upside down on behalf of this obscure carpenter from
"Do
not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many
rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to
prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where
I am.-- John 14: 1-3 (NIV)
If the eternal hope of life everlasting is what this pursuit has always been about then what is the key to that hope? In Hinduism you have to navigate through a caste system of five levels of reincarnation, achieving some level of good works in each to advance but also being able to slip backwards if you are deemed "bad" enough. In Mormonism, if you kept all of the ordinances of the church you get to go to the top tier of heaven and rule over your own planet. In fact, in all other religions, they key to what this is all about lies within the individual. If they attain some malleable level of behavior and works -- heaven awaits. Christianity is the only religion that says the key is not within us but within a God who forgives us. The key verse today reminds us of what this is really all about. Why we get up and go to church on Sunday. Why we serve in ministries. Why we strive to help others, turn the other cheek, and show the love of Christ in a world gone mad. When we boil it right down beloved, what this is really all about is the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. The key verse often is exposited to deal with not being ashamed of the Gospel, but for today, let's look at what immediately follows the word "Gospel." The Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to all who believe! We complicate so much with our religiosity but the core remains all that is needed. In order to achieve the eternal promise all mankind has chased throughout the millennia we need to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what it is all about.
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I
preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel
you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you
have believed in vain. For what I
received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, - 1Corinthians 15: 1-4 (NIV)
This is the Gospel in all of its glory and simplicity. Man
makes things harder than they need be. Religion adds things to it that God
never intended. Eternal life is all about the Gospel and the Gospel message is
simply that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third
day. We can get into all sorts of deep theology off of this simplicity but this
Gospel is what saves. This is where the true power of God lies. Note here in
these verses from Paul's first letter to the Church at
You
believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.
-- James 2: 19 (NIV)
If you only have a partial belief
are you comfortable with a partial salvation? I know I wouldn't be. A partial
salvation is no salvation at all. Sitting in a church building every week is
not assurance either. There is ample evidence that a great many churches are
simply not preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only way to
the Father. Modern secularism has infected the church and deceived a great many
leaders into thinking that they control what only God controls. That they can
compromise the key to salvation, the Gospel, in the alleged pursuit of "saving
as many for Christ as possible." It does not work that way. Reaching people
with a compromised Gospel delivers unto them a compromised salvation, which is
no salvation at all. Remember, the people on the last day who say "Lord Lord"
only to be turned away by Christ are people who fancied themselves as
Christians. The devil has convinced us that our sincerity, our intentions, or
our heart is enough. Let me assure you it is not. You can be sincere and
sincerely wrong. God does not care about our intentions but rather our
obedience. King Saul was ordered by God to destroy the Amalekites and instead
he saved the best of the plunder and spared their king. According to his
defense, his intentions were to glorify God:
