Remember the gospel.
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Intro
Intro
Who remembers?
Captain Sully landing his plane full of passengers on the Hudson River.
How many of us remember 9-11-2001?
Hurricane Katrina?
Montana fires in 2008, 2010? Yellowstone 1988
Mount Saint Helens?
All significant events in American history.
In school as well of the civil war.
American revolution.
Greek and Roman society.
Events none of us were present for, but we believe happened because of evidence in history.
Today we celebrate a day in the past that none of us were present for as well.
Easter Sunday, Resurrection day!
We celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus from the dead.
Today is the day that we remember that the forgiveness Jesus paid for was confirmed by His resurrection.
That He did not stay in the tomb, but was raised to life.
The most significant event in Human history occured this day.
It is more than an event to remember though.
The events of resurrection day are significant because they are the confirmation of Jesus work on the cross.
Jesus work is the good news that all people need.
That freedom from sin can be granted, and relationship with our creator God can be restored.
This good news is what we call the gospel.
My hope and prayer for us this morning is that of Paul in 1 Cor 15 which is where we will turn this morning.
That we would remember the gospel.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
The ESV Study Bible Literary Features
First Corinthians is a pastoral letter to a spiritually troubled church.
The church was plagued with various issues which Paul seeks to address throughout this letter.
One issue that Paul wrote about was the issue of the resurrection.
Here in this chapter, Paul is addressing influences upon the church that claimed specifically that bodily resurrection was not possible.
Paul’s desire in this chapter is to bring the people in the Corinthian church back to what is truly important.
So much of what was going on had caused them to forget, caused them to be distracted from what mattered most.
The Gospel.
Receive the gospel.
Receive the gospel.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Paul has addressed a number of significant issues already in this letter, but now in this second to last chapter (not divinely inspired) he brings it all back to the gospel.
What did they receive, what is it that they now stand upon, and why does this matter?
Why do they, why do we, need to remember the gospel?
Especially from the standpoint, if I am already Christian, why do I need to remember the gospel?
I’ve got it, what more do I need to do with it?!
First off, there are some who come to Jesus as he says in
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 7
An oral confession of Jesus as Lord does not always indicate a repentant heart.
As Paul writes as well in
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
The significance of the gospel comes in that first and foremost, you must receive the gospel.
That means believing in Jesus, trusting in His saving work.
This means repenting of sin, turning from it.
This also means continuing to root out and repent of sin in our lives.
This means living in a community of repentant believers seeking to see one another grow in holiness and relationship with the Lord!
These were things the Corinthians has forgotten.
Much like today, they were in a me centered culture instead of the one another culture that Jesus brought and taught.
That is the first significant reason to remember the gospel, and focus on it daily.
To know that we have recieved it and are children of God.
And if you are here this morning and have not taken that step, you can here and now!
Turn to Jesus, repent of your sin, learn to remember the gospel daily!
True salvation is not something you can lose, but something you grow in.
A story of
One day a pastor had a new believer show up at his home in deep distress.
The new believer asked, “Pastor, no matter how much I pray or how hard I try, I simply can’t seem to stay faithful. I think I might have lost my salvation.”
The pastor called his dog into the room and said, “Here’s my dog. He is house-trained, never makes a mess, and is perfectly obedient. He’s a pure delight to me. I also have a baby son. He makes a mess, throws his food, and fouls his clothes every day.
“Which one of these two will inherit everything I have? My son… not my dog. In the same way, we are heirs of Christ not because of our behavior, but simply because of who we are.”
In Christ, our identity, not our performance, makes us sons and daughters of God.
Our identity is rooted in the gospel.
We must receive and remember it daily.
That identity, as a child of the Most High, is one that once it’s bestowed, can never be revoked.
This means that because of who Christ makes us when we place our faith in Him, we can’t lose our place in heaven!
Christians, remember the gospel which you have recieved as the free gift of God.
Which is why we must also do what Paul describes next in the verse.
Stand in the Gospel.
Stand in the Gospel.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
Paul continues on to say, In which you stand.
Do you notice the change in the verb tense there.
The gospel is not something that we receive once and walk away from.
We receive the gospel and we stand in it.
The word stand here means to
to be in a condition or state, stand or be in someth.
Paul is literally saying - stand in the gospel!
Let the gospel envelope you!
What does that mean?
A little girl named Heather was enjoying the church service one Easter Sunday, when the time came for the boys and girls to come to the front to hear the children’s sermon from the pastor. Heather confidently strolled to the front of the sanctuary, just as she did every Sunday.
Once the children were seated and quiet, the pastor asked them, “Do you notice anything different about our church today?”
Without skipping a beat, Heather spoke up loudly and exclaimed, “Yes… it’s full!”
Heather’s words highlight an interesting phenomenon among many cultural Christians today –
performing “religious duties” during special holidays while neglecting their spiritual lives throughout the rest of the year.
But God never intended for worship to be confined to certain times of year.
While Easter is a wonderful time to specifically remember Christ’s death and resurrection,
let that truth become your life.
Celebrate the resurrection of Christ – and the fullness of new life He’s given you – every day!
Christians, we must not only receive the gospel.
We must stand in the gospel!
The gospel must envelope us.
It must become our lives.
That does not mean becoming a pastor or missionary in the traditional sense of the word.
But you are an ambassador in your workplace.
You are a missionary wherever you go.
Proclaim the gospel through your life and speech.
Why do we do this you ask?
Paul has the answer for us in the next verse
The gospel saves.
The gospel saves.
and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
The gospel saves.
It is the gospel, Paul says, by which you are being saved.
As I first read this, the thought comes to my mind
Now you wait just a minute here Paul, what do you mean by which you are being saved.
Am I not saved already? Yes...
Saved here is the Greek word sozo - to rescue, deliver, save.
The gospel is the instrument by which salvation occurs.
In the sense that Jesus is the one who saves, the instrument he uses is the gospel.
At age 95, Rabbi Hershel Schachter died in the Bronx, New York.
A name that doesn't mean much to most of you, but a few of you know of an event that happened years ago that made Rabbi Hershel Schachter famous.
Patton's third army had just liberated Buchenwald and one hour later Rabbi Schachter was the first Jewish chaplain to enter the concentration camp.
There he found what we now know from history to be reality—hundreds of starving men piled in bunks from floor to ceiling.
Though they had been freed, they remained in their barracks.
After all, those who now came and claimed to be liberators were in uniform, just as their captors had been for years, and they suspected that new uniforms just meant new oppression and new abuse, and they would not leave the barracks.
Until Rabbi Schachter spoke to them in their own language: "Shalom Aleichem, Yidden, Ihr zint frei!"—"Peace be upon you, Jews, you are free!"
The words of freedom from one that they knew to be their own created first a trickle and then a stream of men out of that one barracks,
then the stream became a flood as they went from barrack, to barrack, to barrack with the words, "You are free, you are free, you are free."
It was Patton’s third army that freed the camp.
They were saved.
But it was not until the message of freedom came to them that they realized they were being saved.
We trust in Jesus and we set free.
Free from the power of sin and death, free from condemnation, shame, eternal punishment in hell.
But are we still living in the barracks?
It is the continual reminder of the Gospel that tells us you are saved.
Get out into the light!
You are as Paul writes in Ephesians
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
These are the truths that we must hold on to when the trials of life press in upon us.
The rich mercy of God for His children.
That He has made us alive together with Christ.
That it is by grace alone that we have been saved.
Paul goes on in Eph to say that it is the gift of God, not as a result of works.
That we are his workmanship.
Christians, it is the Christ sets us free and the gospel is that good news!
Remember the gospel in which you are being saved!
Which is why Paul reminds his readers and issues a warning in the second part of verse 2.
Hold fast to the gospel.
Hold fast to the gospel.
and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
The point Paul is trying to get across in this verse is for Christians to adhere firmly to gospel.
To keep it fresh in your mind.
How do we do this?
One is what you are doing right now.
Attending church, being a part of the body, hearing God’s word preached.
When we gather with fellow believers to hear God’s word, we are not simply learning things about the Bible.
We are holding fast to, being reminded of the gospel message that has been proclaimed throughout the ages past to Jesus resurrection.
Another is studying God’s word for yourself, and especially with fellow believers.
This here is not study, preaching serves another purpose in God’s plan, one being to edify, to build up the believers.
We need to know God’s word for ourselves and we also need to study it with other believers to challenge our thinking.
So we do not fall into misconceptions and false truths believing what we want to believe about scripture with little to no basis.
Following the example of the Bereans in Acts
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Another way is through prayer.
Thank God for what he has done and is continuing to do in your life.
Pray for God’s kingdom work to be done.
Christians, remember the gospel!
Take time to read God’s word, the account of all he’s already done and all he has yet to do.
Take time to pray and share our concerns, thinking about them in light of God’s faithfulness.
Take time to read good books that point us to the gospel as others recount the goodness of God through Christ.
Take time to meet with other believers where we can sing God’s praises and encourage each other to hold fast to the truth.
Unless, like Paul says, you have believed in vain.
Without purpose, without consideration, without careful thought.
Having believed in a haphazard manner.
We know the gospel is important, but the cares of life can cause us to be in a fog.
If you wear glasses you know exactly what I am talking about, stepping from the cold outdoors into a warm humid room.
Or when you are driving your car and the windows begin to fog up.
The once clean gospel lens that we are supposed to be using to see ourselves, our relationships, our experiences, the whole world around us.
The lens that helps us to see all of these things in the context of Jesus saving work on the cross becomes covered, fogged up.
The draw social media distractions, conflicts with family members,
diapers that need changing, work deadlines that are looming,
health issues, and the demand to get dinner on the table.
Pretty soon, we’re walking around looking at the world through the lens of our troubles and our experiences,
we’re stumbling off of the narrow path, we’re tripping and falling over,
we forget where we’re even supposed to be going.
Just like the day to day grind of married life can cause us to forget the spark of love we share in covenant with our spouses,
the hardships of life can drown out the beauty of the gospel.
This is why we must stop and intentionally, “Remember the gospel.”
We must take the time to slow down and clean the dirt off so we can see clearly once again.
It’s only after this type of stopping, resting, and remembering that we can stand back up with a renewed awareness of God’s love for us,
our love for him, and the unbreakable covenant he’s made through the sacrifice of Christ.
We can smile as we go forward, seeing life clearly again—
all the good and perfect gifts that are from above, the way God causes the lines to fall in good places for us
(even if it’s hard to understand presently).
I would remind you, brothers and sisters -
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
HE IS RISEN