CHRISTIAN NEWS MAGAZINE FOR KERALA MALAYALEE CHRISTIANS FROM INDIA AROUND THE WORLD
NOVEMBER 2008 ARTICLE SERIES
VOL:07 ISSUE:11

LIVING ON GOD'S DESIGN - SERIES 7
I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL

By DR. GEORGE K. ZACHARIAH, WASHINGTON, D. C.


“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” [Rom 1:16,17]

The Gospel is: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Jn 3:16)

Thanks be to God! This is the essence of the gospel we preach. Sure, we memorized this as kids. This is probably the most famous and perhaps most beloved text in all the Bible. John 3:16 presents us with a serious problem. It is so engraved in our memory, so beloved, and so familiar we’re sure we already know what it means even before we hear it. We have heard it all before, and so, we never really hear it. The gospel of God’s love has become so familiar and so user-friendly that we are no longer amazed by its majesty and mercy.

The word salvation is derived from the Greek word soteria, meaning ‘safety’ or ‘soundness’. Comprehended under this term are such elements as ‘justification’, ‘regeneration’, ‘sanctification’, ‘glorification’, ‘redemption’, ‘propitiation’, ‘grace’ and ‘forgiveness’. Scripture states that salvation is (i) of God (ii) by and through Jesus Christ (iii) not of the works of men. It has three aspects: past, present, and future; that is, the believer has already been redeemed from the guilt and penalty of sin; he is now being delivered from its power and will at last be delivered from its presence and be perfectly conformed to Christ’s image. (Harper Study Bible)

Apostle Paul asserted “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph 2:8-9) Lk 2:10 reflects three features of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (i) The gospel is good news. Salvation through Christ is the best news one could ever hope to hear. (ii) The gospel brings great joy. Through a whole-hearted acceptance of Christ as Savior, one experiences the joy of the Lord. (iii) The gospel is for all people. Regardless of education, sex, age, wealth or fame, Jesus died for all people. His saving grace transforms all who respond to Him in faith.

Why is Jesus’ coming good news for you? Through Christ, God provides forgiveness of your sins and the hope of eternal life. Daily, Christ invites you to cast your burdens and cares on Him. Living for Jesus provides for you one of life’s greatest challenges.

He calls us today as He called His followers in the first century. He wants to perform His work in us and through us. We have the gospel of the resurrection. There is new hope for the believer. There is new hope for the church. The Kingdom of Christ, or the church of Christ, May be said to date its beginning from the time when the Head of that church and kingdom rose in triumph from the grave and gave the church its marching orders. The gospel comes to men with the force of a command. Are you faithful in sharing the good news of Jesus? Church members from the earliest times still play important roles in the drama of sharing the gospel with the world.

Do people really want to hear good news? May be not, broadcaster Paul Harvey suggests. The bad news about crime and tragedy may seem more interesting, and actually more compatible with their own tastes. As an example, Harvey called the failure of the Good News Paper in Sacramento, California. It printed nothing but good news and folded after thirty-six months. In a world full of bad news our only hope is the good news of Jesus.

Is the gospel ‘news’, let alone ‘good news’? The good news is not all good news. It is bad news as well. What we often want is a simple gospel which does not disturb me or anyone else for that matter, a gospel that did not impinge directly on the tensions and crises of our common and public life, a gospel that nurtured a secure inner piety at the expense of forcing the grim and ugly realities of war, injustice, oppression, alienation, and poverty.

Earl F. Palmer suggests two vital implications of the gospel. The first, as a result of the intervention of Jesus Christ, the meaning of my life, your life, is now settled at the cross and has been confirmed in our Lord’s victory over death. Karl Barth put it this way: “In the Gospel, I make this discovery, that God is for me.” And faith means that I bring my real self, as I really am, to Jesus Christ. That is what Paul is asking us to do in Romans 12 “to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.”, my whole self as I really am in with my doubts, with my fears. I bring what I am. As C. S. Lewis has the devil say in effect in Screwtape Letters, “I don’t understand the enemy because he wants to have his cake and eat it too. Why doesn’t he cancel out those creatures?” The devil cannot understand the gospel.

The second implication – my task in the world is authentically simplified and settled. One of the ways to communicate with someone is to disappoint them. In the final earthly encounter of the disciples with the Master they asked him, “Lord will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) And he said to them “It is not for you to know”. It is good news for the church, to get all of the idealizations of the disciples and ourselves out of our minds. We are not the managers of the future. That burden is taken off from your shoulders. I will give you the Spirit and the power. Then you will preach the good news. I have a whole new way of looking at my neighbor because of the redemption and victory of Christ over death. As Daniel L. Migliore has stated, “The gospel today will be timely, will be good news indeed only if it enables men to sing, laugh and dance in the midst of real conflict and struggle to help liberate men from all that enslaves and demeans him.”

Preaching the gospel is a risky business. John Bunyan in the 17th century England was put in jail because of his insistence on preaching the good news of the gospel when he was not recognized as a minister by the government of the time. All his family suffered during his twelve years in prison, but today we are inspired by his faithfulness and his books including the Pilgrim’s Progress.

The Apostle Paul appeals to Timothy to stir up, to keep that gift of grace, that endowment of the Spirit, which God bestowed upon him when the apostle consecrated him for the service. That gift included no fearfulness, no cowardice, no reluctance to suffer or endure, but strength to serve, power to care for others and a spirit to discipline and train himself for his ministry. Let him never be ashamed of his faith that he is a Christian nor of his friend who is in prison for the faith, but let him, like his friend, be ready to suffer shame and share any hardship that must be incurred in preaching the gospel. God will supply strength for this and an earnest of this we have already had in the power with which he saved us and called us to holiness of life and service. For we were neither saved nor called by reason of our merits or our strength but by virtue of that saving purpose and generous grace of God which, though true of him from all eternity, has been but lately fully manifested in the coming of Jesus, who had power to release us from our fear of death and make us sure of life and immortality. The writer of that is a prisoner facing death!

Paul was called to spread this gospel throughout the world and it is because he has done so is he now in prison. For all that he is not ashamed, neither has he any doubt about his gospel. He knows Him whom the gospel has taught him to trust and is peacefully confident that he has power to honor and fulfill the gospel’s every promise even unto death. Paul says: “For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entitled to me.” (2 Tim 1:12)

The apostle is convinced that he knows Jesus Christ; that is the dynamic secret of his ministry; his whole Christian life has been built on the conviction that he has not been alone; that Jesus has been with him; his passion has been not so much devotion to a cause as to a great person. Jesus was an abiding reality. Paul therefore neither in the presence of high culture nor before great learning was he ashamed of the gospel. For to all alike it was a Divine Force producing Salvation.

Logic alone will not convince a person to be a Christian, a realistic outcome of witnessing to the gospel – some will believe and others will disbelieve. However, part of the problem may be in the heavy use of logic to convince the hearer to become a Christian. Logic is necessary, or the presentation becomes unreasonable. But logic alone will not convince a person to become a Christian. Time is needed in any presentation of the gospel so that the message can take root. Someone remarked that Christ does not want an advocate (lawyer). What he needs is a witness.

How should we respond to rejection of the gospel message? We should be prepared to present the gospel and to share it clearly; but there comes a moment when all is done that can be done. Then the Holy Spirit takes what has been said and works with the person. At that point, rejection or acceptance is made to God. No one likes rejection, but it happens even to the best. Jesus and Paul, both experienced it. Paul framed the rejection of the gospel with two verses from Isaiah. (Read Acts 28:26-27)

The elements of our witnessing should be hospitality, sharing our personal stories with one another, expressing a genuine concern for the neighbor and not just viewing that person as an object to be manipulated, and telling in a natural way what Jesus Christ means to you. Confidences shared in these sessions should be kept. Nothing hurts more than spreading gossiping news all over the neighborhood. As soon as that happens, such a ministry is compromised. Another grand rule is to respect the religious convictions of others. Your goal is not to convince, but to witness – to tell what Jesus means to you. The outcome is in God’s hands. You are there as God’s spokesperson. Your witness, love, and friendship are the elements of the Holy Spirit will use to comfort and to convict those you have invited in. It is God’s affirmation after that.

As stewards of the gospel, we can support its proclamation through prayer, giving, and witnessing. Stephen and Philip were carriers of the message in Acts 8. Dr. Herschel H. Hobbs said, “Philip became a gospel ‘hitchhiker’, not simply to thumb a ride but to witness for the Lord” before the eunuch. Do we believe that if we live in daily communion with the Lord he will guide us in the same way he guided Philip and the eunuch? Surely no one believes that they simply ‘happened’ to meet. The psalmist declared “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” (37:23) They were in his day. They are in our day as well

Are we bold in our witness? Or do we let hurt feelings or a discouraging word make us decide that we’ve had it? And then we quit! Ask God to help you respond positively to his call to make missions your concern and to act on that concern. “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:: 47) Paul and Barnabas are examples. See Acts 15:26. There we read them as “men that have hazarded their lives for the name of Lord Jesus Christ.”

Some may remember the moving story with which President Ronald Reagan closed his inaugural address in 1985. He spoke of the simple white markers in Arlington National Cemetery, each a monument to a hero who died fighting for his country. He closed: “Under such a marker lies a young man –Martin Treplow – who left his job in a small town barbershop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the Western Front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire. We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading ‘My Pledge’, he had written these words: “America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will serve, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of this whole struggle depended on me alone.” I justify the use of my time and talent because it provides a means for me to witness for my Lord.

Mark 6:7-13 tells of the commissioning of the twelve disciples to go out into the towns of Galilee for a witnessing ministry. One of their mission would be to testify for Jesus. We need to wait for the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4) Too often we become impatient and try to move ahead of the leading of the Spirit instead of waiting for guidance. That is the greatest source of power. When Jesus said “Ye shall receive power”, he did not mean power for self-glory. Power would be given for the express purpose of making the Christian witness more effective. Self-consciousness may well be the single worst deterrent to Christian witness today. Christians worry about the possible negative effects of trying to witness to others. They ask: What will people think? How can a tongue-tied Christian like me bear an effective testimony? How will I find an appropriate witnessing opportunity when I have so many other concerns? These are the questions that arise when self gets in the way of following Christ’s command.

The thing we have to remember is Christ does not commission us to any job, including witnessing, without equipping us for it. The Holy Spirit can empower us to do what we could never do alone. Nevertheless, Christian witnessing both requires and reflects faith. Consciousness of the Spirit’s presence must replace consciousness of self in order for effective witnessing to take place. Another awareness must also be present, that of the need of persons to receive Christ. The use we make of our opportunities is more important than the form the opportunities take. We must remember that Easter gave the church her message and Pentecost gave the church her power.

God has always intended for his people to be a missionary people. The foundations of missions are laid deeply in the Old Testament. God intended Israel to be a missionary people. The old Israel had failed. They had seen themselves as the favored recipients of God’s choice and blessings; and the other nations were seen not as fellow recipients of grace, but with disdain if not hatred. The study of Acts of the Apostles reveals what difficulty the church had in understanding the universal nature of the missionary task. So many barriers had to be broken. There can be no question, however, about the purpose of Christ for his followers. They were to ‘disciple’ all nations. And they were to do it through all the ages. The word aionos, which is translated ‘world’ in the King James version, could more accurately translated ‘age’.

Jesus did not give the commission without first stating the power or authority that was his by virtue of his divine sonship and his victory over death. He says simply, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Barclay Newman defines the word as “authority, right, liberty; ability, capability; supernatural power; ruling power, government, official jurisdiction; disposal.” Whatever shade of meaning is given to the word power, it makes clear that Jesus has ability vested in himself because of who he is and what he has done. Further, it is his power to dispense. The only power that the early church had was the power given it by Christ. The early church lived on that faith. The constant temptation of the church throughout its history has been that of relying on its own power or its own programs. We need constantly to remind ourselves that our only effective power is the delayed power of Christ. If there is new hope for the church, that the Lord will provide the power to meet victoriously any evil, there is also new hope for the world. Our call, as a church is to go forward into this very world because it is the only world we have and to subdue it for the sake of the risen Lord. The good news of Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter need to be shared. “All God’s biddings are his enablings”, says an old writer.

The theological categories of Law and Gospel often comes in the picture. The law expresses the unconditional will of God which convicts man of his sin and opens him to receive the Gospel of God’s mercy, forgiveness and freedom. Whereas the language of the law speaks of demand, necessity, proof and achievement, the language of the Gospel speaks of gift, freedom, acceptance, reconciliation and hope. Martin Luther once said, if you can rightly distinguish and properly relate law and gospel, you are a good theologian. From a theological perspective, there are basically two dangers we face in upholding both the distinction and the relation of law and gospel in a time when moral consensus seems to be increasingly precarious. One danger is to proclaim what Bonhoeffer called cheap grace, a gospel without any demands, forgiveness without real repentance. When this happens grace and responsibility are severed. The other danger is to fall into a rigid and even vindictive legalism that destroys the message of grace, forgiveness, and promise of new life in Jesus Christ. We need to hear God’s call to a disciplined and responsible life.

Morris J. Niedenthal in an article entitled ‘The Irony and Grammar of the Gospel’ makes a distinction between the grammar of the law and the grammar of the Gospel. The grammar of the Law is most apparent in the conditional sentence. If…(this) … then…(that)… Here the future is made to depend entirely upon the past. The law always rivets people to their past, either to their sins or to their merits. And since a person’s past is always a mixed bag of successes and failures, his future is filled with anxiety and fear. The grammar of the Gospel on the other hand, stresses the declarative case and sentence: Because…therefore… The grammar of the Gospel opens the future to a new possibility by overcoming the limitations of the past. The grammar of the Gospel opens the future to a new possibility by overcoming the limitations of the past. The grammar of the Gospel does not predispose strength but seeks to create it by ministering to needs and weakness. It would have been foolish and cruel, for instance, to have said to the paralytic, “If you have faith, then you will be able to get up and walk.”

It is very hard to proclaim the gospel in a cultural situation which turns that gospel toward a justification of its own ways. It seems to be that if the gospel is to be proclaimed and heard, it will depend not only on what is proclaimed, and on how it is proclaimed, but also upon the context in which it is proclaimed. And that context, I would argue, cannot be the context of the predominant culture. I will have to be at the margins of that culture.

The work of the teaching ministry of the church is to deliver the gospel message, help people prepare for response to it, show them how to respond, and help them to see and work out the fullness of its implications. The gospel is at the center of Christian experience. It is central to all levels of knowledge of the Bible, to all levels of theological reflection.

Life style evangelism is the requirement of the day. How can the experience of the presence of Christ in evangelism and missions be cultivated in our lives? First can be the basic recognition of the truth of the promise of the great commission. Second, we can spend time in fellowship with the living Lord. It may be trite, but we do not talk often to others about Christ unless we talk often with Christ. Third, we can stand on the Godward side of people. The priesthood of believers means we fulfill the role of the priest. The priest stood between the people and God. Is that not where Christ is calling us to stand in evangelism and missions? Are we not to stand between man and God and point them to Christ?

There was a movement to preach the gospel to the entire world by the year 2000. John R. Mott and the Volunteer Mission Movement had such a dream and that dream had been taken seriously by a great body of Christians. That has not materialized. It is the dream of preaching the word to the world in our generation. It is not a new dream. The disciples dreamed such a dream. Against what odds they dreamed it! But how profoundly they believed the dream as they turned their world upside down. Is God calling us to such a dream?

The central truth is that Christ continues doing his work through his commissioned followers. Christ is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to life. The Christian should be ready to go anywhere at any time the Word directs. The importance of God’s word in our lives should be recognized. If we are to be effective witnesses for Jesus, we must be serious students of God’s word. Are you taking full advantage of the opportunities you have to grow in the knowledge of God’s word? When a seeking heart and a prepared guide meets over the Scriptures, wonderful things can happen. (Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch for instance) You will want to become increasingly familiar with the Scriptures that you might be used to help others meet Jesus.

The final promise of the risen Lord was his perpetual and abiding presence. He is to be with us even to the end of the age. One of the significant factors about the resurrection is that it is the guarantee that Jesus lives with and in his people. He promised them that he would be with them. The vital union of this behavior with Christ is made possible because of the resurrection. The believer is risen with Christ, and the Christian life is a continual out living of the indwelling Christ. Christ is with us. We do not ‘go it alone’. Was it so in the early church? It seems that first-century Christians were so permeated with the gospel of Christ that making disciples was the natural thing. The church made its great early advance on the feet of lay people. In the persecutions that arose after the death of Stephen, Christians were scattered abroad – except the apostles who remained in Jerusalem. Laymen were scattered. It is said of them that they went everywhere preaching the word. The idea isn’t that of formal proclamation, but of everyday conversation. Witnessing was a natural way of life in the early church.

Frances R. Havergal’s assertion is worthy of remembrance. “I have lost that weary bondage of doubt, and almost despair, which chained me for so many years. I have the same sins and temptations as before, and I do not strive against them more than before, and is often just as hard work. But whereas I could not before see why I should be saved, I cannot now see why I should not be saved if Christ died for sinners. On that word, I take my stand and I rest there.” “A child that hath any precious thing given him cannot better secure it than by putting it into his father’s hands to keep. So neither can we better provide for our soul’s safety than by committing them to God.” (John Trapp)

Kerygma – The Christian gospel has its roots deeply embedded in the Old Testament. For instance the case of Abraham and Isaac at Mt. Moriah. The whole history of the gospel begins right there when God took the total responsibility for our lives upon his shoulders. What Abraham and Isaac had experienced on Mt. Moriah is redemption and resurrection. And less than a mile from Mt. Moriah is another hill, Golgotha, where God’s lamb, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed.

Proverbs 11:30 The Authorized version reads “He that winneth souls is wise.” The Revised Version inverts the order and reads, “He that is wise winneth souls.” Both are true. The Authorized Version which says, “He that winneth souls is wise” tells us the soul-winning reveals wisdom. The Revised Version, which reads “He that is wise winneth souls” tells us that soul winning requires wisdom. We so well to reflect on both aspects.

Soul winning is the highest wisdom for the following three reasons. First, it fulfills the highest of all functions to our fellow creatures, for we cannot possibly do any greater service to them than to bring about their eternal salvation in Christ. Second, it obeys the last and tenderest of our Lord’s ‘commands’: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16:15) “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” (Acts 1:8) Third, it receives the highest of all rewards.

Soul winning for Christ requires other qualities as well as wisdom. It requires courage, earnestness, patience, humility, prayerfulness, perseverance, and some knowledge of the Scriptures, but all these will go for little, if unaccompanied by wisdom.

The gospel is a message from God through the church to the culture and the individual. “The church on the one hand may be seen as a people called of God, and on the other hand as a fellowship of individuals, engaged in perceiving, accepting, and fulfilling the implications of the gospel as a God-person-church –world transaction.” (Campbell Wyckoff) But one should remember that Jesus was never too busy to deal with one person at a time: Nicodemus, woman at the well, Zachaeus. Never therefore underestimate the value of a single individual.

Witnessing is not necessarily preaching. Witnessing has to do with what we ourselves subjectively have proved and experienced. The indispensable qualification and prime importance of a witness is first-hand experience. So then, if you and I are to be true witnesses to Christ, we must have a first-hand experience of His saving power in our lives. If we are to be effective witnesses for Christ, we must have not only a first-hand experience of His saving power in our own lives, but a sense of certainty about our salvation. There used to be a saying. “The Blood makes me safe; the Word makes me sure.”

We are to witness Christ by our lives. Our words must be backed up by our ways. One morning, centuries ago, the famous St. Francis of Assisi said to a brother monk, ‘Let us go down into the town and preach’. The two of them walked slowly along the road, and eventually reached the town. Francis, however, did not stop anywhere for a preaching opportunity, but gradually guided the way back from the town towards the monastery again. Presently the companion asked if he had forgotten the preaching. Francis replied: “My brother, it is no use walking to preach unless we preach as we walk.”

Mahatma Gandhi had once said that if Christians lived their Christian life to the full there would be no more Hindus left in India. Christians should be Christ-like. There must also be the witness of the lips. Without vocal witness, the life, however beautiful, remains dumb stationary. Let us pray with the psalmist: “O Lord, open thou my lips.” And let us say with the apostles, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)

What specifically, were the disciples commissioned to do? First, they were to make disciples. The phrase ‘teach all nations’ in the King James Version does not convey very well the meaning of matheteusate. The ‘make disciples’ of the Revised Standard Version is closer to the meaning of the word. To ‘disciplize’ is to gain followers. Those who were won as followers were to be baptized into the name, establishing these people as belonging to God. Baptism had been practiced by many groups and in various ways long before Christianity. However, it became a distinction of the Christian church as a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection. The task of the witness is not completed when persons are discipled won to Christ) and baptized. These persons must be taught. The necessity of teaching is constant in the New Testament. Paul listed teachers among those who have special gifts. He indicated the inclusive nature of the task of teaching when he declared in Col 1:28: “When we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

The gospel claims discipleship under the Lord Jesus. This means obedience both to his teaching and to his example. Paul states: “They have not all obeyed the gospel.” (Rom 10:16) Man is the same disobedient creature under all dispensations. We bemoan his rejection of the gospel, and so did Isaiah, who spoke for all prophets. When anyone receives the gospel, it is a work of grace. “The arm of the Lord is revealed.” But when they refuse it, it is their own sin: “They have not obeyed the gospel.” The design of the gospel is to bring us into a union with the Son of God and to believe in him whom the Father hath sent. As Spurgeon said, “To disobey the gospel is far worse than to break the law. For disobedience to the law, there is remedy in the gospel, but for disobedience to the gospel, no remedy can be found.”

2 Tim 1:12. The gospel deposited with Paul, the Lord Jesus was able to keep until the judgment. This is well worthy of being explained. The gospel is safe in the care of Jesus. Paul speaks not of believing in him, but of believing him: a personal faith in a personal savior. He was sure “that he is able to keep.” So he was very cheerful, confident and thankful.

There was a movement known as Social Gospel which was potent for a period. The kingdom-building theme was most unabashedly present in the social gospel. An attempt to apply Christian principles to the problems of society and to reform the inequities of the current order, social Christianity assumed in the words of economist and lay theologian Richard Ely, that “Christianity is primarily concerned with this world, and it is the mission of Christianity to bring to pass here a kingdom of righteousness…and redeem all our social relations.”

In the same temper, Washington Gladden stated: “Christianity is not merely for Sundays and prayer-meetings, for closet and death-bed; it is for shop and office, for country-room and factory, for kitchen and drawing-room, for forum and council-chamber.” This was the essence, he said, of the ‘Gospel of the kingdom’ – the message “that God is organizing on earth a divine society; that the New Jerusalem, whose walls are salvation and whose gates are praise, is rising here upon some foundations.”

Much of the emphasis of social gospel movement that it was to establish the Kingdom of God in this earth and not look for church triumphant in another world probably led to the opposition to its theology.

The gospel as guiding principle extends its empowerment as we take Paul’s words to heart (Rom 1:16) and see that the gospel is not a witness to God’s power, nor a descriptive reminder of the exercise of that power in the redemptive event, Jesus Christ, but is the power of God.

What does it all mean? Paul put it in these words: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” (Col 3:1) When a man is risen with Christ, he has a new goal – he seeks the things above. He lives, but he no longer lives for self because Christ lives in him. He is dead, and his life is hid with Christ in God. He knows that he will share the glory when Christ, who is our life, reappears.

There is only one gospel: Jesus preached it, transmitted it to His disciples, and has committed it to His church. Paul warned against even receiving any other gospel. ‘Any other’ may be either a message or outright error or an argument for a diluted message, devoid of power though nominally Christian. Jude 3 urges us always to contend for the original, “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Hold to the full “gospel of the kingdom” and expect the Lord to confirm that “word” with the signs He promised. (Mt 16:15-18)

Sharing the good news of Jesus is not to be the hobby of a few eccentric enthusiasts. Mission is the concern of every follower of Jesus,. It should be noted that to proclaim the uniqueness of Jesus is one thing, to proclaim the superiority of any civilization or ecclesiastical culture is something quite, quite different.

One of the ancient homilies: “If you are my witnesses, then I am God, but if you are not my witnesses, then I am, as it were, not God.”

Back Home Top
EmailEmail this Link to a Friend FeedbackSend Your Feedback
INDIAN CHRISTIAN WEB DIRECTORY [LINKS]
[ ECUMENICAL ] [ ORTHODOX ] [ MARTHOMA ] [ JACOBITE ] [ CATHOLIC ] [ CSI ] [ ORGANIZATIONS ] [ NEWS ] [ MALAYALAM ]
THE CHRISTIAN
LIGHT OF LIFE
PUBLISHED ON FIRST DAY OF EVERY MONTH