Mission 2023: Publicly Share the Gospel

Introduction

Over the last few decades a motto has been sold to our world and we, as humans, have bought it hook line and sinker… Don’t talk about politics and religion. How many of you have ever heard that around the holidays whenever you’re going to gather with family, especially family that might not think the same way as you? This was never told to me directly, but I heard this statement multiple times from others. Let’s think about this for just a minute, though. Positively, we understand that people might say this in order to “keep the peace” but what does failing to talk about our faith in Jesus actually do? Many times we miss opportunities to share the Gospel and second, people might mistake our silence with our support. As we look around at the problems that our world is facing - we realize that our world needs the Gospel desperately. We need to be reminded of the truth that we have all sinned and that we all need Jesus Christ to save us and reconcile us to God. There is no one too far gone for the Gospel and there is no one too good who does not need the Gospel. What our world needs today are Christians who love others enough to speak the truth in love as Ephesians 4:15 instructs us to do! Could you imagine Peter, Paul, or James being told to not talk about what Jesus has done in their life? If so, how do you think they would respond? Peter would say this, because this is what he said whenever he was put on trial and told to stop preaching about Jesus

Acts 5:29 CSB

29 Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.

That wouldn’t fly because they knew that they were called to proclaim the Gospel to those around them because they knew that the Gospel was the only message that would truly save. In our world today, we see so many problems due to sin and what our world needs to hear is the Gospel that Jesus Christ alone saves sinners. As we continue looking at our mission in the coming year, we must look at God’s Word to tell us what we must do with our time, talent, and treasure. We must be a congregation at FBC Salem that grow in our walk with Christ. We must be a congregation of people that desire to give and support the ministry that Jesus is doing here and around the world through our church. And we also must be a church that is willing to go and proclaim the Gospel to our neighbors and the nations.

Why must we do this? Because you and I have been called by our God to share the best news in the universe and this news alone offers eternal hope and life in the middle of a dark and confused world. We must be a people who commit to publicly share the Gospel. Let’s look to God’s Word in Romans 5 to see what exactly the Gospel message is and why it must be proclaimed faithfully by God’s people.

Romans 5:1–11 CSB

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Is this your story today? Have you been reconciled to God through the life and death of Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sins and are you following Christ as Lord? Let’s pray and ask God to guide us to respond and make much of the Gospel today.

What is the Gospel? (3:21-26)

Have you ever done something so many times that it becomes routine? Whether it be shooting a free-throw, getting up at 6am, riding a bike, or a password that you have on your computer or phone, we all have things that we use and do that become part of our daily routine that we simply “do.” It can be so easy to take those things for granted! Whenever I go to Midwestern for seminars and I talk with other pastors from all around the country and even some from other countries, it always amazes me how they always talk about how beautiful Missouri is with the hills, trees, and lakes that we so often take for granted. Why do we take these things for granted? Because we’re around them all the time. Whether it be family members, friends, co-workers, or places, it’s so easy for us to take things for granted in this life and the Gospel is no different in the life of a Christian. Why is there a temptation to take the Gospel for granted? For one, because, I pray, everything we do as a church should be Gospel-centered. We should always be about the Gospel as a church! If you’ve been coming to church long enough there is no doubt that you’ve been tempted to take the Gospel for granted because perhaps you believe that you’ve graduated from it and that only lost people or younger Christians really need the Gospel. What do we all need to remember today? That we all need the Gospel each day. That you never graduate beyond the Gospel but that the Gospel changes everything about you. We use this term so often in church-life and we see it in Scripture that, again, it can be easy to simply assume that we all know what it means or that we know how it works… but we can’t make that assumption. What is the Gospel? Let’s backtrack 2 chapters in Romans 3 to see what Paul shares about the Gospel because the book of Romans is genuinely all about the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Romans 3:21–26 CSB

21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

So, what exactly is the Gospel?

Romans 3 tells us that each and every one of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard. In our world we like to lower the bar a little bit and dress sin up and call it something that it is not. Think about this for a minute - I’ve had this conversation with our youth before. What do we usually say whenever we sin? “I made a mistake” or “I’m really a good person” or “I don’t know why I did that.” We’re great at generating excuses and using a different word than sin - mistake, error, mess up… If someone tells a lie, what are they called? A liar. What if someone steals something? A thief. What if someone kills someone? A murderer. What if someone sins? A good person who made a mistake! No!! The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and therefore, we’re called sinners. Each and every one of us are guilty here and this is bad news… but look at what Paul continues to say in this text? We are justified by God’s grace through Jesus Christ redeeming us through His death, burial, and resurrection! You and I have hopelessly lost our way. We’re in darkness as children under God’s wrath. We’re lost. We’re dead in our sins and trespasses. We’re not good people who just make occasional mistakes like our world says… the reality of the situation friends is far darker than that. We’re on a one way road leading to eternal separation from God. What does the Gospel message tell us? Tim Keller put it like this years ago, “Here's the gospel: you're more sinful than you ever dared believe; you're more loved than you ever dared hope.”

That’s good news! As a congregation at FBC Salem, we need to remember what the Gospel is because our heart is tempted to forget it. We are tempted to forget our previous condition as Christians and, if you are not a Christian and you are with us this morning, you might be tempted to think that you are not as bad as the Gospel message states. Because of this, we need to spend some careful time examining what the Word says about our condition and God’s expectation. So many want God to simply forgive but they don’t understand God’s forgiveness in the first place. Let’s paint ourselves a picture this morning. Paul Washer has used this illustration before, suppose there is a person who has killed an entire family in cold blood and this hits the news and the man is about to hear his sentence from the judge while the entire town waits for a guilty verdict. Yet, the judge says that he is slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and is going to let the murderer walk away absolutely free. In our eyes we would say that the judge suddenly became public enemy #1 - even worse than the murderer because he knew what the man had done and he let him walk away with no consequence! God’s Word tell us that we are all sinners and we deserve separation from God because God is just and He must punish sin and sinners. What does that mean? For God to wipe the slate clean it would require Him to no longer be just - just like the judge who lets the murderer walk away with no penalty. So what has God done? God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ to pay that debt in our place. Verse 26 tells us that our just God presented Jesus to be this once and for all sacrifice and to justify those who have faith in Him. What does the Gospel mean?

It means this: Jesus got what you and I deserved and you and I, through faith, receive what Jesus deserved. This is the Gospel, church. This is the message that I pray has saved you and I pray this message has changed you. And as we enter 2023 together, let’s consider 2 questions regarding the Gospel and our community.

Why Should We Share the Gospel? (1-5)

As we move from Romans 3 to Romans 5, Paul continues to explain the Gospel and as he does so, he dives into what faith in Christ does in the life of a Christian. Look with me at Romans 5:1, what does God’s Word tell us? Because Jesus has justified us by grace through faith - because He took our sin upon Himself and paid our debt - we now have peace with God. If we now have peace with God, what does that mean we had before Jesus justified us? It means that we were at war with God. See, what sin does to us is it makes us feel often like we are in charge. We get to make the rules. We get to determine what is right and what is wrong… the Bible shares with us that there is only 1 person with the authority to do those types of things and that is God. Before you and I repent and place our faith in Christ as our Lord, the Bible tells us that we are living as His enemies and whenever you are against God, you will always lose.

So why should we share the Gospel? Let’s look at 2 reasons, one practical, and one relational.

The Gospel Saves. You and I know that there are people in our community who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior. We live in a community where 70-80% of people do not attend church. We might be in the Bible belt and people might know about Jesus and they might know some Bible verses, but those things do not mean that those people are in fact saved. You can know John 3:16 and come to VBS and still be at war with God if you haven’t repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus as Lord. So why should we share the Gospel? Because the Gospel message alone saves. It demands a response. It says that you are not good enough as you are to save yourself… you need a Savior and this is what Jesus alone can do. What will you do with King Jesus? That message saves sinners!

Have you ever heard someone talk about how exactly we share the Gospel message? Think about this statement, “Preach the Gospel… and if necessary, use words.” This is what many people think about whenever it comes to sharing the Gospel. I’ll live a nice life and be a good person and say positive things and post Bible verses on my Facebook page and if I do those things enough times, then people will get it and I’ll have done my duty. First of all, that sounds like the law as we’re measuring our faithfulness by what we do and that’s not helpful for us… but second, how many times has that saved someone? That might open a door, sure. But what does the Bible tell us about salvation and faith? Does Jesus say that if we live a nice life then people will repent? Does He say that faith will come if we say some encouraging and motivating words? No… Look at Romans 10:17

Romans 10:17 NASB95

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

What does our world need? They need to hear the Word about Christ. They need to hear the Gospel message. Now we have to start somewhere - we have to build relationships because if you just walk up to someone and tell them that they’re a sinner who needs Jesus then that probably won’t register and it might even make people a little confused or upset… But as you get to know your classmates, co-workers, and people that God has placed around you, then you begin to have opportunities to give them the Gospel message and that message alone saves. If we don’t share the Gospel message but we are nice people who say helpful truths then our neighbors will die and go to hell thinking that we are FBC Salem are nice people who encourage people with what we say. That’s not good enough! We absolutely live a Christlike life and we should demonstrate our faith in Jesus with the things that we do, but people need to hear the Gospel.

Ask yourself this: Can I tell someone the Gospel message? Not can I tell it perfectly, but can you hit the main points? This is an important thing for us as a church family and as born-again Christians that Christ calls us to do because again, God uses the Gospel saves sinners and He uses cracked pots to carry this life-giving message.

The Gospel Provides Hope. Because people don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord, they do not know the peace and hope that Jesus alone provides. This sequence might not seem like it leads to hope because we would like for the pathway to hope to be straight and positive and upward, but the Bible shares with us over and over that it is actually suffering and trials and weakness that eventually leads to rejoicing and hope. How can that be? How can we boast in our afflictions and trust that they will lead to something good?

James 1:2 tells us basically the same thing

James 1:2 CSB

2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,

What are we supposed to make of this? In times of trial and adversity, as a Christian, you can still rejoice in knowing that it does not get the last word. We know that God uses all things to mold us to look more like Jesus Christ. It is in our darkest and hardest times where God often shapes us the most because we trust in Him the most. Why do we need to share the hope of the Gospel with people? Because without the hope of Jesus Christ, the suffering in this life is purposeless. There is no joy in adversity. There is no hope. There is only present sorrow and that isn’t the only option available to us as human beings! How can we know that? Because of what follows in this chapter as we read that our God did something remarkable for sinners.

What Does the Gospel Do? (6-11)

The Gospel alone has the power to change lives for all eternity.

Because of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice in our place on the cross, there is pardon for sinners. The same grace that pardons you has the power to resurrect you! You can walk in newness of life today because of the truth of the Gospel - even in difficult times! Here’s the beauty of Romans 5:1-5 and Romans 8:31-32 as shared by Tony Merida.

Think about taking your family to Disney World for a week. That’s like $5,000-10,000 with a large family! Say that you’re driving from the hotel to the park and you see a sign that says “parking” and you see that it costs $40 to park there and you keep driving because you don’t want to pay for parking and your solution is to drive all the way back to the hotel and to walk 5 miles from the hotel to the park and waste half a day simply because you’re not going to pay the $40 fee. What is your wife going to do to you, men? She’s going to slap you, that’s what she’s going to do because you’re insane to spend thousands of dollars to go to a destination only to turn around and not pay the $40 fee to park your car.

This is what we presume with God at times. We read in Scripture that He sent His Son to pay the price for our sins on the cross - He didn’t spare His own Son - He paid the price, yet, we somehow think that He won’t provide for us in the day-to-day things… He’s going to pay for the parking - He’s already paid for your ticket. He’s got you! Why do we share the Gospel message with other people? Because it’s a reminder that God comes through on His Word every single time. The Gospel tells us that Jesus truly does change, redeem, and hold sinners fast. He really does save us because He really did die for sinners.

What does the Gospel do? The Gospel puts you at peace with God as you respond with repentance and faith. The Gospel gives people a fact, not a feeling: Peace with God cannot be changed The Gospel gives you joy in times of celebration and in times of suffering. The Gospel provides you with something to boast in at all times. The Gospel shares with you and me that we are infinitely worse than we could imagine but that God loves us even more than we could comprehend… so much so, in fact, that He sent His Son to die for us not whenever we had on our Sunday best. Not whenever we did the best thing imaginable. Not when all was well… but whenever we were dead in our sins and trespasses. That’s the love of the Father for His children. What should that lead to in our lives? Two things: If you’re not a Christian, this message of good news should be a realization in your eyes that you need the good news because you’re not as good as you might think, but you’re also not as helpless as you might’ve thought. Through faith in Jesus Christ, you can find this peace and hope and salvation. You can be reconciled to God and experience His grace today! As Augustine once said it, “Restless is our heart until it finds its rest in Thee.” You can find rest today because of the good news of what Jesus has done and we all need to remind ourselves of the sacrifice of Jesus each day.

But maybe you’re a Christian and you’re wondering what to do with this Gospel message. What should this lead to in your life at school, work, with family, at church? The expression goes that hurt people in turn hurt people. The opposite is also true: forgiven people forgive people. Think about this in a spiritual lens: Saved people long to save people. We know that we cannot save a single person - that’s impossible because only the Holy Spirit has the power to open the eyes of another person to see the truth of the Gospel. But God uses means to accomplish His purposes. Look at what Isaiah 52 tells us about this truth

Isaiah 52:7 NASB95

7 How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

On New Years Eve I had the opportunity to officiate the wedding of a good college friend of mine and one of the groomsmen learned that I was a pastor and was talking with me late at night about why God didn’t just reveal Himself for everyone to see. He said that if God would just show Himself, then he would believe in Him. I said, Scott, God has already done that through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1 told us that Jesus is the radiance of God’s majesty. He is the God-man. If you want to see the love and justness of God, look at Jesus Christ. What does our community need, church? People who love Jesus and who desire to see lives changed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our community, country, and world needs Christians to publicly share the Gospel and that will require us to go outside the doors of this church and proclaim that age old message. You know that above our doors is a message that shares that each time we leave, we are entering the mission field. Do you believe that?

William Carey, who founded the first Baptist missionary agency and missionary to India, once told a dear friend and pastor Andrew Fuller this, “I will go down into the pit… if you will hold the rope.” Carey was willing to go - but he knew he needed support and help! Maybe you can’t go overseas… But you can go across the street, hallway, or building. Maybe you genuinely can’t go across the street, you can still hold the rope for someone who can. You can pray for divine opportunities and strength for those who will go. You can give your time, talent, and treasure to enable someone to physically go. We need pit climbers and we need rope holders because both are vital in taking the Gospel to our neighbors in Dent County and the nations.

So what can you do this year to accomplish this mission? Think of 1 person that you know who needs to hear the Gospel. Pray for that person. Pray that God would give you an opportunity this week, this month, this year to share the Gospel with them. Pray that He would open their eyes and that they would walk in newness of life.

As a church in 2023, everything that we do must be viewed through the lens of the Gospel because the Gospel alone changes lives for eternity. Think with me through that. Whenever we have Kidz Choir on Monday afternoon, we don’t just teach children songs… we teach them the truth of the Gospel as there is a Savior who alone can save them from their sins. Whenever we get ready for a mission trip like Love Thy Neighbor or Guatemala or even Camp Joy, we’re not only doing fun or helpful things for others… we’re ultimately teaching people the Gospel truth as there is a God who gave His Son for us in our place and He calls on us to give ourselves completely to Him because He has completely changed us and saved us. The Gospel changes lives and the Gospel changes minds and the Gospel changes hearts. How can you partner with your brothers and sisters in these efforts with your time, talent, and treasure? We have the best message to share and thousands to share it with - who will go and who will support those who go? That’s our duty today and each day!

What is the Big Deal about the Gospel?

The Gospel is Our Greatest Need

We all have different needs right now. Some are financial, some are physical, some are relational, and some might even be mental. But we all have a common spiritual need and that is because of our sinful condition. The solution to that problem isn’t to work harder or be nicer or say good things, works cannot save us. The solution to our sinful problem is a sinless Savior. The Gospel alone provides for that need and we must remind ourselves of our need for the Gospel daily as we proclaim it’s truth to others along the way. The solution of the Gospel is a big deal!

The Gospel is Our Only Hope

Suffering is a universal condition. Every human being has experienced some level of suffering. Romans 5, James 1, Romans 8, 1 Peter 1, and other Bible passages help us see that God uses suffering to accomplish His purposes. Suffering leads to endurance. Endurance leads to character. Character leads to hope. How can we have that hope in suffering? How can we rejoice in the middle of times of suffering? The only hope we have toward that end is the Gospel. The Gospel provides us with a big picture perspective of our suffering. Suffering doesn’t win. It doesn’t get the last word. The battle has already been won by our Lord and Savior and this provides us with hope each step that we take in this life. That’s a big deal!

The Gospel Changes Everything

How can something 2,000 years ago still impact us today? This is the question that some of you might be asking. How can the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ still change people today? The reason is that Jesus is still alive. His Spirit still is at work in the lives of His people, and His Spirit still opens blinded eyes to see the light. God is still in the business of performing resurrections and justifying sinners by grace through faith in Christ is step one of that process. See, Jesus doesn’t just want to save sinners… He saves sinners to walk in newness of life today. He saves sinners to receive glory as we live a changed life for Him. He saves us to change us. Regardless of your past, He can change you. He can save you. That is the message we have to share. That message changes everything!

In 2023, let’s be a church that grows spiritually, gives persistently, and proclaims the Gospel publicly for the glory of Jesus and the good of our community because our world needs Jesus Christ!