Thursday, February 11, 2010

"The Gospel Teaches..."

"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6:4) The issue is newness of life. By the power of God we are raised to walk in newness, God's newness and power. When we were confronted with the gospel, it revealed the seriousness of sin in our own lives. It seems today, many are minimizing sin while lifting up our human weakness. It makes sin acceptable and the seriousness that God has with sin is lost.
The gospel, the death burial and resurrection of Christ (I Cor. 15:1-4), teaches us that self must go, be buried so the power of Christ can live in us. Many are making the teachings of God on how to preserve self. The gospel points us away from the world and loving the things in the world. Today much of the preaching/teaching is how God will bless your life with wealth during a crumbling economy. The gospel points us to die to self while much of today's beliefs is about overcoming our worldly frustrations we face. The gospel teaches us to give up our pride because God is opposed to the proud. Much of the books and teaching we hear today raises us up in order to build our self esteem. The gospel teaches that our greatest need is atonement which only God can provide through Jesus. We are hearing seminars and sermons on "guilt complexes" that only professional counselors can relieve! It seems there is more and more "therapeutic" preaching which crowds out the need to have a guilty conscience cleansed by the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14). The gospel teaches us our we must be confronted with our sinfulness while much of today's preaching focuses on self-forgiving.
The center of the gospel: The cross of Christ! Maybe we are becoming a lot like the 1st century when they tried to reach out with the gospel message: "For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (I Cor. 1:22-24) That's what the gospel teaches!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I seek only one blessing in this physical life and that is to worship God, through Christ, in order to be faithful until the end. There is nothing else in this temporary, physical life that matters.