What Is The Gospel?
Scripture: 1
Corinthians 15:1-4 (ESV)
Now
I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you
received, in which you stand, 2 and
by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless
you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Devotion:
The term gospel or good news gets
throw around quite a bit within the church these days. And with good reason
because if we don’t get the gospel right, we cannot live as authentic
Christians. Our lives will be out of alignment with our God, and we will fail
to be present to the world as ambassadors of Christ. The selection from First
Corinthians that I have chosen I believe points to the essence of the Gospel
message.
Paul is writing to remind the church
of the gospel he preached when he visited them in person. He tells them that
this gospel is of first importance and is the only gospel that will save them. We,
therefore, should pay close attention to the words Paul is writing for us here.
The first point of the gospel Paul
notes is that Christ died for our sins. Paul links these predictions of a
suffering and dying messiah to Jesus’ death and suffering on the cross. He was
doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. He was defeating the power
that sin had over us. But Jesus’ suffering and death was not the end of the
story.
The next point in Paul’s gospel
presentation is Jesus was buried. This is an important thing to note because it
confirms the reality of Jesus death. Sometimes it can be tempting to think that
since we know that Jesus was both 100% God and 100% human that somehow his death
and burial were less real than the deaths we experience of our friends and
loved ones. It is crucial to notice that the followers of Jesus really mourned
his loss. The women came to the tomb on that Easter morning expecting to find a
dead body to care for. When they did not find Jesus, they did not assume that
he was risen from the dead but only that his body had somehow been moved. This
brings us to Paul’s final affirmation in his gospel.
The capstone of Paul gospel is the
resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Many modern believers do not give this
event the wonder and awe that it deserves. There is no one else in history who ever
rose from the grave. None of the founders of the world religions ever managed
this feat. Their tombs are with us to this day, and they are in them. Only
Jesus was able to escape the tomb. We have many witnesses to this fact. Jesus
lives today still 100% human and 100% God and is with the Father in heaven to
make intercession for us even today.
Belief in these core truths is the
center on which all of Christianity stands or falls. It is truly good news for
us in the 21st century just as it was for the church at Corinth in
the 1st century. Jesus who was killed on a cross, was buried in a
borrowed tomb, and rose again victorious over death is the most exciting news anyone
could ever receive. Let us not be shy to share what God has done for us.
Prayer:
Holy God, you have given us a
wonderful gift in the gospel. Thank you that it only takes faith to receive this
gift. And that we can give away that gift to others without losing it ourselves.
Help us to be bold to declare this simple yet profound gospel with others. We ask
that you give us courage to spread the gospel near and far, for the glory of
your name. Amen
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