Worthy Of The Gospel?

Before we get started on this blog topic, "Worthy Of The Gospel?", what does "gospel" mean? It means, "good news!" It is the rendering of the Greek, "Evangelion" , I.e., "good message." It denotes, "the welcome intelligence of salvation to man as preached by our Lord and his followers. The term is often used to express collectively the gospel doctrine (teaching); and 'preaching the gospel' is often used to include not only the proclaiming of the good tidings (news), but the teaching men how to avail themselves of the offer of salvation, the declaring of all the truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of Christianity." It is termed "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), "the gospel of the kingdom" (Matthew 4:23), "the gospel of Christ" (Romans 1:16), "the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15), "the glorious gospel," "the everlasting gospel," "the gospel of salvation" (Ephesians 1:13).

"Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.." (Acts 8:4).

I like what Charles Colson wrote, “... when we Christians take the biblical message to heart and have the courage to live in obedience to Christ’s radical commands, we are compelled not only to preach the Gospel, but to take it into the world and live it out...”

It is possible that the today's church has forgotten a most important ingredient in evangelism: a proclamation of the gospel from the base of a life that reflects the gospel. It is not a new problem for even the early church struggled with living in harmony with God’s will.

“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,” Paul said to the Ephesian church.

“Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ,” he wrote to the Philippians.

“Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,” he encouraged the Colossians.

Twice to the Thessalonians, he made similar statements.

But we tend to leave it out of the practical living of life! So what do we do? How do we convince the "believers" to do Jesus' Great Commission? So, what's the REAL PROBLEM?

I’m sure it relates to weakness of faith and commitment. I have no doubt it’s because temptation is strong, and the weakness of the flesh leads us to act in ways we know are wrong. It is the Christian’s constant struggle. So, whatever I say here, understand that it is said knowing and acknowledging our imperfections, weaknesses and struggles.

An author, Mr. Denton, wrote about Evangelism which makes perfect sense:

"I believe there are two major roadblocks to evangelizing the world. The first is that we simply do not preach and teach the gospel enough. We’re too quiet. We don’t want to offend, insult or impose ourselves on friends, family, and neighbors. That’s good... to a point, but silence never converted anyone. (OUCH!) Second, when we do speak about the gospel, the first thing people think about is that the Christians they know don’t seem to be living like this gospel. (Very true!) There is often a decided conflict between our message and our conduct."

Brother Paul Dymoke shared with us, last Sunday during Bible class, that many Christians (or so-called Christians) "Talk the talk but do not Walk the talk!" We have many who is just only talking faith, not talking and walking faith.

God is calling us all into the world to share the good news. But first, are we worthy of the gospel? Are we walking the talk? Are we the "Walking and Living Bible"? We know God is a Holy God. Since we're sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)! Sanctification of our conduct is a "consistent" moving away from sin and corruption while moving toward righteousness, goodness, and godliness. The message we share with people is about forgiveness of sins; it is not how to be comfortable with sin.

The person who enjoys spiritual health and who is best equipped to share the gospel with others is not the person who has never sinned or never struggles with sin, but the person whose life shows that the gospel is effective both in forgiving sin and in changing the life of the sinner. Did you see that? A strong Christian is still a sinner. If we want to give hope to a world deep in the pit of sin, we must be able to show that Jesus not only saves and redeems for eternity, but he also saves and redeems right now!

Come, let us be worthy of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, today!