A Well Balanced Recipe For Gospel Proclamation
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· 5 viewsThis text details the simple gospel message Peter preached to the non-jewish gentile audience. It then shows how the Holy Spirit sealed the deal upon their faith in Christ.
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A Well Balanced Recipe For Gospel Proclamation - Acts 10:34-48
A Well Balanced Recipe For Gospel Proclamation - Acts 10:34-48
This is an exciting text of scripture.
This text details the simple gospel message Peter preached to the first non-jewish gentile audience. It then shows how the Holy Spirit sealed the deal upon their faith in Christ.
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Not only is this text an excellent historical narrative about how God saved the first gentiles:
It also gives us an excellent model for our own gospel proclamations.
Throughout Bible Narratives, like acts, you have sections that are either descriptive or prescriptive.
This section is a hybrid of both. It gives us a description of how Peter preached the gospel to Gentiles for the first time.
And it also gives us a concise and simple explanation of the gospel message that all people must believed to be saved.
In this gospel message, we see what we must also communicate when we proclaim the gospel.
I know many Christians struggle with sharing the gospel. Some don’t know how to give an accurate and simple description.
I’m sure all of us have at one point followed a recipe card to cook a delicious meal. Claire and I use HelloFresh every now and then. They send our ingredients along with a recipe card to go by.
Well, here, as it pertains to sharing the gospel, Peter has boxed up all the ingredients for us, included a recipe card, and packaged it up for us so that we can accurately and faithfully share the gospel with those who need to hear it.
The title of my sermon is “A Well Balanced Recipe for Gospel Proclamation”
Not only are we going to see a way to properly share the gospel in this recipe, but we will also see how powerful the gospel meal is.
We will see how, when all the ingredients of the gospel message are properly communicated, and hearers are humbly ready to believe, the tasting and savoring of the gospel will produce Holy Spirit powered life change!
This should give us hope.
Six ingredients for a well balanced gospel proclamation...
Six ingredients for a well balanced gospel proclamation...
These six ingredients are what we proclaim when we share the gospel.
The first proclamation ingredient - and also the ingredient all the others are built on - 10:36-37:
1. Proclaim Jesus
1. Proclaim Jesus
As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed:
Peter began talking about how “the word that [God] sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ” was being preached by and through Jesus.
Jesus was the center.
Apparently, the news about Jesus’ life, ministry, and death were spread throughout Palestine. But the info that Cornelius, his family, and friends had was incomplete.
They probably heard that Jesus preached peace. But they had not heard peace with God through Jesus preached.
Jesus preached peace - and we preach Jesus.
Peter is fixing to detail the gospel of Jesus Christ with this group of gentiles.
Jesus is at the center of Peter’s proclamation.
Likewise, Jesus must be the center of our gospel proclamation.
If people are to find peace with God, and even one another, Jesus must be the center of our proclamation.
Even, the Apostle Paul understood this:
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
Paul even demonstrated that Jesus is the means of peace, not only with God, but with one another. Jesus is the remedy for all racism, classism, every wall of hostility. Whether it be betwen man and God. Or between man and man.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
So Jesus, is the center, the beginning, the middle, the end, of all of our gospel proclamation.
A faithful proclamation of the gospel must have Jesus in it.
Some think they are faithfully communicating the gospel when they say simple catch phrases like this:
God loves you.
God has a wonderful plan for your life.
While aspects of these things are true, they miss the mark because Jesus is not proclaimed.
We must make Jesus the center of our proclamation. This tees us up for the rest of the ingredients. Jesus is the main ingredient.
The first proclamation ingredient - and also the ingredient all the others are built on - 10:36-37:
1. Proclaim Jesus
The second proclamation ingredient - 10:38:
2. Proclaim Jesus’ Anointing
2. Proclaim Jesus’ Anointing
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Aspects of Jesus’ anointing:
Davidic Kingly Office - Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David for a king to rule over God’s people.
Power of God - Jesus’ anointing from the Spirit, coupled with his divine nature enabled him to perform the miracles he performed, showing off the incredible power of God.
Works of God - All of Jesus’ deeds of kindness, goodness, his healings, his exorcisms, showed that God’s approval and pleasure are fully present with Jesus.
From what I can tell, Peter is speaking about all three of these aspects of Jesus’ anointing.
Let me speak to the first one though… Jesus’ anointing as king - I think it’s more important right now in our time and culture.
People need to see that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King.
Along with David’s anointing by Samuel in the Old Testament, the book of Samuel details how God’s Spirit was also with David as King. This is the case with Jesus too. Jesus’ Holy Spirit anointing was also kingly. It’s essentally what makes him Jesus Christ - Christ meaning anointed messiah of God.
Many times, Jesus preached the gospel message like this:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The kingdom of God has a king: It’s Jesus!
Part of our faithful proclamation of the gospel includes the fact that Jesus is the Christ. The anointed one of God. The Messiah. The ruler God the Father has ordained to be our King.
My favorite song on Kanye West’s latest album “Jesus is King” is the last song. It’s essentially Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Kanye:
“every knee will bow. every tongue confess. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord.”
If Kanye can include this aspect of the gospel. Then so can you!
Include the second proclamation ingredient - 10:38:
2. Proclaim Jesus’ Anointing
The third proclamation ingredient - 10:39:
3. Proclaim Jesus’ Death
3. Proclaim Jesus’ Death
And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,
The death of Christ is essential to Gospel proclamation, because in the death of Christ we see God’s provision for a sacrifice and atonement for sin.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 10
hanging him on a tree The Greek text here seems to allude to Deut 21:22–23, which says that anyone who is executed by hanging on a tree is cursed by God. The implication is that, by taking on Himself God’s curse on the cross, Jesus satisfied the penalty of the law on behalf of all who will put their faith in Him
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Jesus’ command here, is a guaranteente that he will return one day!to humans, all so that we could escape the most brutal torture and death that we could never fathom to imagine completely.
but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
Write this down!
What we deserve, Jesus endured.
People don’t like to hear that the execution Jesus endured was meant to spare us from the execution we deserve.
But if they are to be saved, they must hear it, must understand it, and must humbly embrace it!
The third proclamation ingredient - 10:39:
3. Proclaim Jesus’ Death
The fourth proclamation ingredient - 10:40-41:
4. Proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection
4. Proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection
but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
Without the resurrection, there is no hope.
In fact, without it, death and sin still win.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Some people have been trying to escape the miraculous reality of Christ’s resurrection.
Well, without the miraculous, the gospel wouldn’t be scandalous.
It’s the miraculous wonder and power of God in the resurrection of Christ that breathes life to the Christian faith.
It is the hinge the door opens on.
It is the frame of the building God is constructing.
Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is our guarantee for resurrection from the dead!
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
If Jesus’ death took our penalty and guarantees us escaping the wrath of God, then Jesus’ resurrection guarantees that death will not hold us because it couldn’t hold Jesus. Jesus accomplished this for us. And it is an aspect of the gospel that makes it “good news!”
The fourth proclamation ingredient - 10:40-41:
4. Proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection
The Fifth proclamation ingredient - 10:42:
5. Proclaim Jesus’ Coming Judgement
5. Proclaim Jesus’ Coming Judgement
And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
This is probably the most neglected aspect of gospel proclamation. Some “Christians” think that the wrath of God for sinners executed by Jesus’ judgement is too offensive and should, therefore, be left out or even denied.
They say:
My Jesus loved everyone.
My Jesus embraced all people.
My Jesus would never judge someone because of their lifestyle choices.
My Jesus loves everyone!
Notice what the text says Jesus communicated to his disciples about the fact of his role as judge:
“And he (Jesus) commanded us to preach.. and to testify...”
Jesus actually commanded his disciples to explicitly include His role as judge of the living and the dead with their gospel proclamation.
Have you ever noticed that in this text?
Jesus’ command here, is a guarantee that he will return one day!
Do you included that aspect of the gospel message when you witness to people?
He’s coming again, not as a baby king. But as a warrior king. On a white horse. With a robe dipped in blood. With a tattoo on his thigh. King of kings and Lord of Lords. Ready to judge the world.
Many people want to escape the penalty of sin by removing the future coming judgement for sin from the gospel. In so doing, they actually emasculate the means by which God has provided us a way to escape the penalty of sin. Isn’t that ironic!
Listen to what Paul says about judgement for sin...
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
No human being will escape the Judgement of God through Jesus Christ. That is why we proclaim the gospel! It is a huge motivation.
If we leave this out when we explain the gospel message to people, we remove our reason Jesus needed to come.
What I mean by “our reason” is that, If Jesus was still anointed as king, lived, died, and resurrected from the dead, and that were the end of the message, it would still be amazing and wonderful because of how glorious Jesus is.
But the fact that the judgement is coming, for us. For you and me. makes it important to us! We need to know this. We need to know that we will be judged for our sin so that we can know we need to escape it!
If you neglect to tell people this, you do them a disservice.
You’re not loving people better by excluding the wrath and judgement that is coming due to sin…
Some “Christians” might tell you that the message of judgement and wrath due to sin is an unloving thing to communicate.
Listen to me closely:
The people who say this are deceived… They are wrong…
They think that judgement for “lifestyle choices” (probably homosexuality, drunkenness, adultery, etc) is hate speech. That’s because they love their sin… The reality is, when we proclaim the judgement for sin that is coming, we aren’t just speaking to those, so-called, big sins…
We are speaking to all sin! Our sin is included. The most moralistic person’s sin is included. Even good deeds done outside of faith in Christ are included.
In fact, the bible says in Galatians, that our righteous acts outside of faith are considered to be dirty menstrual cloths to God.
So all sin is included in the coming judgement of Jesus.
Not only that.
The people who tell you it’s unloving to mention judgement for sin don’t truly understand what love is.
Imagine for a moment, If you were a doctor, and you examined a patient and discovered they had a terminal illness, and that there survival required telling the patient that their lifestyle choices were to blame for their condition and that they needed to turn from their current way of living and change every aspect of how they lived. Would it be loving them to just tell them they are fine and that they don’t have to worry about their health? Just to save face. And not hurt their feelings?
NO!!!
We call that malpractice.
Leaving out the coming judgement is gospel malpractice.
I tremble at the thought of the people who have committed this gospel malpractice when they stand before Jesus at the judgement. Most likely, they haven’t been truly converted. They need to heed the judgement warning themselves...
The Fifth proclamation ingredient - 10:42:
5. Proclaim Jesus’ Coming Judgement
The Sixth proclamation ingredient - 10:43:
6. Proclaim Jesus’ Pardon for Sin
6. Proclaim Jesus’ Pardon for Sin
To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Yes Judgement is a terrible thing. But it didn’t stop there. If it did, it would just be bad news. But the bad news created reason for us to need good news!
This is good news!
There is a way to escape judgement. There is a cure for sin. There is a cure for the terminal diagnosis of God’s judgement for sin.
The cure is forgiveness of sin through the name of Jesus.
We wrap up all that we have proclaimed by saying:
You can be forgiven of your cosmic treason against God!
You can be given the righteousness of Jesus!
You can have all of your sin completely removed!
How?
Through Jesus!
You can be forgiven through Jesus!
What a reason to rejoice! What a reason to share!
Logos Digital Hymnal To God Be the Glory
To God Be the Glory
Author: Fanny J. Crosby
Composer: William H. Doane
Tune: To God Be the Glory (Doane)
Scripture: Gal 1:3–5
1 To God be the glory, great things He hath done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the lifegate that all may go in.
2 O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To ev’ry believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
3 Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing thro’ Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our vict’ry when Jesus we see.
Chorus Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His Voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father thro’ Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.
To God be the glory! We are forgiven. And so can others!
The Sixth proclamation ingredient - 10:43:
6. Proclaim Jesus’ Pardon for Sin
Summation
The six ingredients for faithful, transformational gospel proclamation...
Proclaim Jesus
Proclaim Jesus’ Annointing
Proclaim Jesus’ Death
Proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection
Proclaim Jesus’ Coming Judgement
Proclaim Jesus’ Pardon For Sin
So,
When this message is faithfully proclaimed, God’s salvation and power will transform those who believe on it in faith.
When this message is faithfully proclaimed, God’s salvation and power will transform those who believe on it in faith.
When people truly taste of this eternally delicious meal it becomes their purest and most craved delight. It changes everything completely.
Look here...
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
For Cornelius, his family, and his friends, this meant the first ever conversion and rebirth for gentiles. Now, those originally thought to be outside of God’s saving grace and family are powerfully being grafted in.
The point of this section is that, by God grafting in the gentiles through Faith in Christ, God is showing that even the most excluded and unlikely people can be saved by Jesus. God paved the way for gentiles. In paving the way for Gentiles, any person, of any background, of any nationality, even if they are the most unlikely person you can think of, it is possible for them to believe the gospel and receive the Holy Spirit.
This means...
your wayward children,
your bitter aunt,
your abusive parent,
your hostile co-worker,
all are potential brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Gospel makes this possible. This message that Peter preached. That I am preaching.
It is powerful. It can break the chains of demonic influence. It can shatter the bondage of addiction.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Even though this event took place around 2000 years ago, it can still be replicated!
Sinners can hear the gospel preached faithfully and have their lives transformed. People can now, still, experience peace with God through Jesus Christ.
We are calling people to turn from sin and embrace Jesus. To do this, we must include every ingredient of this recipe.
Remember Matthew 28:18-19
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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,
Proclaiming this message is how we make disciples.
We’re talking about people being saved from hell by this message.
Does your heart burn, and do you weep at the idea of people perishing without being made into disciples of Jesus Christ?
This is needed now.
But it doesn’t stop there…
I really don’t believe this is the purest and most exhilarating motive that will bring you to share this message.
I’ve thought about this a lot. And as I wrote what I’m about to ask you, I wept.
Does your heart burn within, and do you weep because, as of yet, every knee is not bowing, and every tongue is not confessing, that Jesus is Lord?
Oh, boy. Do you not see how worthy He is!?
Jesus’ anointing. King. Messiah.
Jesus’ death. That you and I deserve.
Jesus’ resurrection. His victory of sin and death, and invitation to us for the same.
Jesus’ power as judge. Cosmic warrior king. Coming on the clouds with fire.
Jesus’ kindness in pardoning us. Grace: Undeserved, unmerited favor. Available to all who believe.
Don’t you see how worthy he is to tell everyone!
Don’t you see how worthy he is to have every knee bow to Him. Every tongue confess that he is Lord?!
Oh, I hope you see. I hope you get it.
But, what about you?
Have you turned from your sin? Truly?
Have you placed your complete faith in this Jesus? Truly?