Every now and then, we need to be reminded of what’s really important. What’s really important is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
As the church of Jesus Christ, we know our purpose – to glorify God, our mission – to make disciples of all the nations, and our objectives – evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry/service. But what is our message? Our message is the gospel.
God created us to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. We were meant to have intimate fellowship with Him and each other.
It’s painfully obvious, though, that something has changed in that relationship. It’s called sin. Adam and Eve, our first parents, disobeyed God and sought to be their own gods, in effect. As a result, they were removed from the garden of Eden, alienated and separated from God. Adam and Eve also passed their sin on to you and me, too. We’re sinful by nature and, in addition to that, we choose to sin. God is absolutely holy and righteous, which means that our sin cannot go unpunished. The penalty of sin is death, which we all deserve.
All of that is bad news – very bad. The good news is even better! In His grace, mercy, and love, God has provided a way that we can be right with Him – through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, lived a life of perfect obedience in our place, which satisfies God the Father’s demand for perfection. He died a sacrificial death for our sins as our substitute, which satisfied God’s demand for justice. He victoriously rose from the dead, which proved that He is who He claimed to be and that He accomplished what He came to do – save His people from their sins.
Our response is to repent and believe. We turn from our sins (repent) and put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, in who He is and what He’s done for us. We rest all of our ourselves body and soul on what He has done for us and not anything we can do for ourselves.
The bad news is that we are sinful and separated from God. The good news is that Jesus has reconciled us to the Father! But that reconciliation is not automatic, it comes through faith and faith alone (not by any works or merit on our part). Every one of us has to answer the question of what we will do with Jesus Christ? We can trust ourselves or Christ, which will it be?
The gospel is by far the most important message we have to offer the world. Where else are they going to hear it? Nowhere, that’s where. Like Paul, may we not be ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile (Rom. 1:16).
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