With Special Thanks

Serving Up Grace

Serving Up Grace

This summer, we will be launching an eight-week campaign entitled "Serving Grace."  This church-wide focus hopes to push many of us out of our comfort zones by seeking a zeal and boldness in our daily living to live and proclaim the gospel message.  For many, asking strangers or even friends to come to church is filled with fear and trepidation.  This fear can be allayed by remembering that it is not our job to convert sinners; that is the role of the Holy Spirit.  We, respond to Great Commandment (love for God) in obedience to the Great Commission by preaching the gospel, baptizing, and making disciples.  On the day of Pentecost, the church was empowered with boldness.  (Acts 2:31)  We often pray for those to whom we want to share the gospel, but often fail to pray for ourselves. Let us then, over the next few weeks, entreat the Lord for our own boldness.  Some of you may feel inept at sharing the gospel for one reason or another or may feel you are not "called" to that, however, everyone can strive to work past our fears to simply invite people to church.  I agree that Scripture (through Paul) infers that some (not all) are called to be evangelists.  But, I believe this passage is speaking about evangelism as a vocation. I would argue that Scripture is replete with the concept that sharing the gospel should be everyone's avocation within the context of their "coming and going."  To that end, I felt it appropriate to revisit the basics of the gospel every Christian that should understand and be able to articulate below.  I challenge you to make this part of your devotional life over the next couple of months, committing as much of it to memory as possible.  Internalize it; breath it; live it!  And may the Lord our God grant you the zeal and boldness of Pentecost.

The Gospel Plain and Simple

A.   Grace - God's favor on us though we don't deserve it.  He offers Heaven to us free.  We could never earn or deserve Heaven in and of ourselves, therefore the only way we can get to Heaven is if it is given to us.  (Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8-9)

B.  Man - The reason we cannot attain Man is a sinner and cannot save Himself; God does not see levels of sin.  To Him, sin is sin.  Scripture tells us that we would have to be perfect (without flaw) to attain the riches of Heaven ourselves, thus by ourselves, we are lost.(Rom 3:23, Matt 5:48, Prov 14:12)

C.  God - the laws of existence are wrapped up in who God is.  God cannot just ignore our sin and let us "slide by" because one of His traits is perfect justice;  He must punish sin.  Fortunately for us though, God is also perfect love and merciful and does not want to see us punished.  Therefore He provided a way of escape for us.  (1 John 4:8, Ex. 34:7)

D.  Jesus Christ - God became a man, and being perfect he "earned" the right to Heaven.  Because He loved us, He gave His prize to us.  Because Jesus was God, he was more valuable than just one man for one man.  As the God/man He was infinitely more valuable than all of creation and thus provided salvation for all mankind. (John 1:1,14, 20:28)

E.  Faith - Faith is an obscure word often misunderstood.  It involves a much deeper degree of our lives than thought.  It is more than mere intellectual assent or just believing in the existence of God.  It is more than mere temporal assent that is placing our trust in God to take care of our "temporal" wants and needs.  It is trusting God with our lives by our obedience to Him.  Basically, what He asks of us is love:  love for Himself, and love for our fellow mankind. (Acts 16:31)