The Gospel Every Week
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A question was once asked of me… Shane why do you preach the Gospel every week? Isn’t there other things that we need to hear to grow in Christ? Great question…as we continue with our Church series for a couple more weeks.
Story of John Bunyan and the Anabaptists
The Gospel is the good news. It is the best news. It is the greatest news ever told. But every week? Now I will admit as young pastor I struggled with this idea. It was important to me to make sure I was preaching the Word of God and strictly the Word of God. Now I don’t think that it is just a Hawaii thing, but Pastoring in Hawaii is really hard when it come to compromise and distractions. How do you get Christians to get serious about God when there is all these activities at the beach and parks on Sunday’s. There is a ton to do in Hawaii on Sunday’s. So being consistent on preaching the Gospel felt like I was giving the members of my church a free pass to do what they wanted. I don’t wanna keep preaching like this. I need them to get serious… I need to preach hard on the law so that they will be more obedient and serious about the Lord. I need to emphasize sermons on praying more, reading their Bible more, evangelizing more, not to get lazy, stop sinning so much, give more money to the church and missions, do this and do that or else. Now I don’t think this will help either. It will probably just cause more rebellion, and if it does help to get people more committed, what good is it, if they are sitting in the pew with their hearts hard against a God who is a demanding slave driver.
But what is more, to preach the Word is to preach the gospel. Because all of the word is about the word and work of Christ which is the good news we all need to hear. To motivate people to good works is to preach the gospel because good works without the a gospel centered motivation is not good work and obedience. And there is no way we can have true sanctification and true maturity without the renewed foundations that come from the preaching of the Gospel. It is the power of God for salvation. Let’s take a look.
which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.
The A-Z of Christianity
So that/Because of
The first thing we will look at today is the continuing nature of the Gospel as not simple the moment when we believed but that which sustains us and grow in us as the A-Z of Christianity. The second thing we will see is the ever important so that/because of dynamic when we approach our obedience to the Lord showing that gospel motive is vital to true obedience as we take a look at the essence of the good news.
Thesis: Though sin, the pattern of this world, and our current culture of confusion causes us to lose sight of the importance of the truth of the gospel, it is the power of the Spirit and the truth of scripture that will cause of the see the foundational nature of the gospel in the word and work of our Lord Jesus.
I. The A-Z of Christianity
-The Gospel grows and increases.
A. It is common for many of us to hear the gospel being talked about as simply the beginning of Christianity. One pastor once told me that the gospel is what you hear when you first become a Christian then after that its learning the Bible, evangelism and good hard work. You are already in the club, now get to work making the club better. Go get more members. Many of us today hearing this might believe this is the case. But it is not. The gospel is not the ABC’s of Christianity it is the A-Z of Christianity. The scriptures make this pretty clear. Let’s look at Colossians again.
which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
B. Since the day you heard it. So you see, it continues in our lives since the day we heard it. The gospel here is not pictured as a single moment in the life of the world or even in the lives of the church in Colosse… it is pictured here more as a seed. And like a good seed it grows flourishes and bears fruit. The picture of growing and bearing fruit is not one to illustrate a moment in time but a season or of a lifetime. So the gospel in our lives was not a moment at the beginning of our walk with Christ but that very thing the brings us growth and fruit.
C. So what does this mean? The gospel is living power for sure...
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.
D. And we do not advance past it to something more advanced. I like the way one preacher said it.
“The gospel is not the first step in a stairway of truths; rather, it is more like the hub in a wheel of truth. The gospel is not the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom but the way we make all progress in the kingdom.”
E. We have got to get it out of our heads that there is more to be offered. We are not justified by the gospel and sanctified by hard work, restraint, and self affection… or uncompromising obedience. As Christians we are justified and sanctified by the work of the power of the Spirit in light of union with Christ and the power of the Gospel.
Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
F. We sometimes like to look at it this way… the gospel is for unbelievers. You need the gospel to get saved. But now once we are saved… were good. Now onto working hard to be obedient to the Lord. Once we are saved we grow though hard work and obedience. This is not the case. This is the dangers of this kind of understanding about the gospel. Both our creed or confession and “hard work” and even obedience that is not founded upon coming from and in line with the gospel will not sanctify you—they will strangle you. It will not help you, it will hang you. You will not grow, you will grumble. It will not make you joyful, but make you judgmental. It will not make you mature, it will make you mean. It will not make you better, it will make you bitter. So we must see that all our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel.
Thus when Paul left the Ephesian church he encourages them “to the word of his grace, which can build you up.”
“And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.
G. The Gospel is there to build us up. This is why I preach it every single Sunday. The gospel is living. The gospel increases and grows with us. In every moment of everyday that is the walk, the path, the direction. In line with the truth of the Gospel. It is the essence of all Christianity. It is the directive. It is our hope it is the power of God. We walk in line with the truth of the Gospel.
H. Peter came to Antioch where Paul was and he would ordinarily eat with the gentiles, but when some friends of James cam around he would not eat with the gentiles because he did not want to face criticism from them. And as a result, other Christians and even Barnabas followed in Peters hypocrisy. And Paul made the conclusion that they were not walking in step with the truth of the Gospel.
I. He did not make the conclusion that they were being hypocrites and they should not be doing that as Christians. He did not make the conclusion that they were being racists and that is unbecoming of Christians. He did not think oh my that is so rude to do to people we are trying to help, they should not do that ever. Oh he gonna get it now, I’m telling on him. They are not doing what Jesus would do. They are not gonna be pleasing to God acting like that. Paul went immediately to the failure to uphold what is true about the Gospel.
J. And the big point to take away from this… Peter was no new Christian. Peter has been a Christian for a while. If the gospel was only the beginning moments of the life of a Christian, why would Paul be concluding a failure to uphold the Gospel? Even the most mature Christians have the responsibility to maintain the truth of the Gospel. It is to never end… it is to always be growing in the life of a Christian.
K. We need to be constantly reminded of the gospel principles. We need to be constantly reminded of the words and work of Christ for us. We need to be reminded of our salvation. We need to search the depths and the riches of this thing called the gospel…so amazing and so wonderful that even the angels who are back and fourth from the presence of God long to look.
They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
L. And if it is so amazing that even angles long to look with outstretched necks, why would we not want to illuminate its wonders every single week? We don’t seem to have a problem talking about how God wants to give us wealth wealth and prosperity every week. We don’t have an issue hearing about how God is gonna make all of our dreams come true every week. We don’t have a problem hearing about how God is gonna fix our lives, make all our problems go away, give us power, popularity, profit, and pleasure every single week.
M. Martin Luther made it pretty clear that the gospel should be preached always… Luther says, “[The truth of the Gospel] is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine. . . . Most necessary is it therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.
II. So that/Because of
- The reason why we do things matters.
A. Now if Jeanine got into an argument and I was being mean and said, Im not talking to you anymore and so I sit in the living room watching the TV. I started to get hungry and thought you know what I need her to make me dinner like her lasagna… you know what I’ll say I’m sorry so she makes me dinner. So I apologize and say sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me. Now should I have apologized, yes was that the right thing to do, yes, but you all are thinking that what I’m doing is despicable. Why because of the reason why I am doing it.
B. It is the same with God. It does not matter how good the work or obedience is, if it is done with the wrong motive God will reject it. Even prayer. Even sacrifice
God detests the prayers
of a person who ignores the law.
C. Hosea 6:6
I want you to show love,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.
D. So here it is. If you obey God… so that… you will be in sin. If we obey God … because of… we will be in line with the truth of the gospel. If we obey God so that we will be accepted by Him, we are calling Him a liar and obeying apart from faith and therefore we sin instead. If we are obeying and doing good works so that we will not be condemned, we are calling him a liar. If we are obeying God so that we can get something, we are using Him instead of worshipping Him. And if we obey God for something we will serve the devil for more. We have got to be careful anytime we want something or doing something for God the question we always gotta ask ourselves… Are we doing it so that. When we do this we are offending the Lord, not pleasing Him.
E. It is the gospel that motivates us to obey and to do good works… because of. I am obeying God, because of my acceptance of God already in Christ. I am obeying and doing good works for God because of my adoption with Him and I am a child of God who wants to be obedient to God just because. I am obeying and doing good works for God because of knowing its what the Lord wants and no matter if He brings power, profit, pleasure, or popularity I desire Him and Him only for I have denied myself taken up my cross and following Him. I love because He first loved me.
F. But Shane why all the talk about sin? Because we gotta know the bad news so that we can get the full force of the good news. And the bad news is that sin has infected us all and we are all destined for a great punishment when we face the wrath of God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. We are all by nature children of wrath we were sinful from the time we were in our mothers womb. Even Paul the apostle called himself the chief of sinners.
G. And so today I have good news for you… We can have life and forgiveness today because of the promises of God and the work of Christ. The obedience of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ. The penalty of our sins was paid for and the righteousness needed was merited by the work of Christ living the life we should have lived and dying the death we should have died.
H. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Jesus came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. This is the good news of Jesus that we need to hear every chance we get.
I. And the promises are amazing. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Salvation is here and there is truly life and life more abundant in Christ and in Christ alone.
J. But Shane God said He wants us to love Him. Yes and how does this happen? The gospel.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
K. The bigger I preach our sin, the bigger the Gospel becomes. This is the gospel of Jesus. And what child who receives the comfort and forgiveness of their father decides the first thing they are gonna do is the things that father does not desire. Tell them the gospel and God’s people will want to do what God wants them to do.