Spiritual Disciplines: Proclaim Christ Always

We finishing our series on Spiritual Disciples and I have the distinct privilege to finish out this series with this topic: Proclaiming Christ Always

If you want to know where we are going today there will be 2 main points:

Why We Preach Christ

How we Preach Christ

1. Why We Proclaim Christ

Now I am going to warn you ahead of time this will be a lot of scripture that we are about to cover

The reason for that is I need to show you and leave you convinced of why we are to proclaim Christ Always!

A) Because it is our commission (; )

Matthew 28:16–20 CSB

The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Notice Jesus begins with His authority in all things as a reminder of who they follow

That they follow the one who has ALL authority in ALL places

From this He commissions them saying GO THEREFORE MAKE DISCIPLES

You cannot make disciples of Christ if you are not proclaiming Christ

And you may think, well maybe that wasn’t for everyone

Maybe I’m not called to make disciples

The thing is, you are ALWAYS making disciples, its only a matter of what kind of disciples and who is their Lord

Acts 1:4–8 CSB

While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:4–8 CSB

While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Here again we see Jesus speaking with the disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit and what the coming of the Spirit is to accomplish

And notice the people ask if Jesus is going to build the “kingdom of Israel”

The point of the coming of the Holy Spirit is not to build up man’s kingdom!!

The coming of the Holy Spirit upon a believer is to empower and embolden (and we will see this in the next passage) them to preach the Gospel to all peoples and build the kingdom of God

B) Because He is the cornerstone

Acts 4:5–12 CSB

The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family. After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?” Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

The cornerstone is to say that He is the only one, the only way!

We now see an emboldened Peter just 3 chapters later preaching before the very people who crucified Christ saying:

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to the people by which we must be saved

Galatians 1:6–9 CSB

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

Again we see this from Paul saying that the Galatians were hearing another gospel but Paul says any other gospel is damnable and not only that there isn’t even another ACTUAL gospel!

“not that there is another gospel”

C) Because we are convinced

2 Corinthians 5:6–15 CSB

So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart. For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

Notice that Paul here says that because we know the LORD, because we have a fear of the LORD we persuade people!

And then he says:

For the love of Christ compels us

1 Corinthians 15:12–17 CSB

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

D) Because we are captivated & changed

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 CSB

For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 CSB

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.”

Galatians 1:6–9 CSB

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

Notice that first we are made a new creation in Christ thereby becoming ambassadors FOR Him

Not only are we ambassadors for Him but we PLEAD on Christ’s behalf for people to be reconciled (i.e. brought back to God)

I hope what this has done is shown you a BRIEF look into the New Testament as to WHY we proclaim Christ as His disciples always

And you may be thinking that you already knew and understood that

If that is the case then let me ask a rather convicting question

And let me say before this, this question includes myself

If we are convinced of everything above, then when is the last time you shared the Gospel with someone who doesn’t know Christ

For many of us, that question may seem like a guilt trip but let me say, conviction and guilt trips are two VERY different things

So let me argue a reason why I think we don’t proclaim Christ always:

Its a matter of not really feeling comfortable as to the HOW

Many of us in the room would be probably really uncomfortable if you were called up here to take my place and tell everyone the Gospel

And you may say “that’s because I don’t like public speaking”

In which case then I would assume you would be comfortable sharing the Gospel with myself or James or Pastor Colby 1 on 1 right?

But if we are honest....if I am honest sometimes our hesitancy is because of competency

So let’s talk about a really practical way to go about this

2. How We Proclaim Christ

How many of you have heard the phrase:

Preach the Gospel and if necessary use words

This saying on the surface is really catchy and conveys the important point about our actions having to reflect the Gospel

However what this statement also imply is that our actions alone are sufficient ....but they are not

No one

I repeat NO ONE will ever be saved, will move from death to life SIMPLY because you’re actions

If done right they will ask WHY you live the way you do

But your actions alone will not save someone else

You have to actually tell them the Gospel

You have to actually point them to the one who can save them

This doesn’t mean that salvation depends you on (we know salvation is God’s and His alone) but you CAN be 100% sure that if they never hear the Gospel they cannot come to faith in Him

Romans 10:14–15 CSB

How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

So, if someone were to ask:

“What is the Gospel?” - What do you say?

Here is the shortest answer I could possibly give (and this makes it INITIALLY easy to remember

Here is the shortest answer I could possibly give (and this makes it INITIALLY easy to remember)

Person & Work of Jesus Christ

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

Like I said, initially this is really easy to remember BUT you better be ready for the follow up question of “What do you mean?”

So let’s walk through this statement piece by piece to show how it is simple and yet encompasses the “bare bones” Gospel

The Person of Jesus Christ

Fully (Truly) God

Fully (Truly) Man

Fully (Truly) God

Jesus being fully (truly) God means that He is able to keep the law because He is perfect

Because He is perfect & righteous (being in right standing with the law) He is able to impute (able to ascribe to us) His righteousness (right standing)

Because for us being sinners, in order to be saved me must be made right according to the law and therefore are in need of someone to give us their own righteousness

Fully (Truly) Man

Not only are we in need of someone else’s righteousness, we are also in need of someone to bear our punishment

Because if we are given right standing but not able to pay our previous debt....what good is that

And Jesus being fully (truly) God and giving us His righteousness is amazing but that doesn’t make Him able to relate to us; or make Him any bit approachable

Jesus hear becomes also our perfect mediator (that is able to stand between us and God relating and relaying to both)

So this statement the person of Jesus Christ breaks down into 2 parts:

Fully (truly) God

Which if you’re wondering where this idea is biblically think about the times Jesus is referred to as the Son of God

Meaning that He is God descended and able to relay the message of the Father to Us

Fully (truly) Man

Think: Son of Man

This means that Jesus is able to intercede FOR us and on BEHALF of us BACK to the Father

The Work of Jesus Christ

Now that we’ve explained the PERSON of Jesus Christ, now we need to talk about His work

We understand Jesus is fully God and Man and therefore the perfect mediator between both

BUT without the work, we are still dead in our sins

The Work of the Gospel (Death, Burial, Resurrection)

Death

Jesus being both fully God and man in His Death is imperative because He can:

Pay for our sins in that He can take our punishment as a man

But He can pay for them with His perfection as God

Dying our death on our behalf with His perfection intact as God but bearing our sin as a man

Burial

This is saying that Christ is able to take our sins to the grave

Fulfilling the Old Testament image of the day of atonement

One lamb is slaughtered, the other is sprinkled with its blood and SENT AWAY to CARRY THE SINS AWAY

Resurrection

Jesus accomplishing these things is amazing but without this, we are doomed

Our sins are paid for in full up to this point, but without this point there is no new nature and no new life and therefore the next moment of sin puts us back were we were

I.e. The repetition of Old Testament sacrifices!

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

It is not just the work of Jesus Christ, because if He is just the work of His death but He is a man and good teacher alone, we are still in sin

It is not just His person, because He is God but if He does not intercede, we are still in our sin

He IS God and Man and He DID intercede