SECOND IN A SERIES ON THE GOSPEL JESUS PROCLAIMED
“I am the resurrection and the life…” (John 11:25, ESV)
If Ben Hogan was still alive, I’d like to ask him: “Is there one fundamental more important than all others?”
He wrote the book that many consider the Bible of Golf Instruction, Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. In it he speaks of the grip, stance and posture, first part of the swing, and second part of the swing as the fundamentals.
There was one part of the gospel Jesus proclaimed that was so simple I often overlooked it.You may be an amateur or a pro, but which of these five do you think is the most important?
Is it possible that Hogan overlooked “the key fundamental?” Did he assume that, since it was so obvious to him, we already knew it?
I can assure you it wasn’t, “Keep your head down” or “Keep your eye on the ball.”
The fundamental I speak of is target.
You can make a perfect swing and strike the ball perfectly, but if you aren’t aimed at your target the ball isn’t going where you want it to go.
Let’s switch gears. What is the most important fundamental of our faith?
Is there anything more important than the gospel, the message, Jesus proclaimed?
When I was sharing Jesus with Tour professionals for 30 years on the PGA Tour, I was convinced I knew the gospel. I was taught a four-point gospel. I had met Jesus through this gospel. But there was one part of the gospel Jesus proclaimed that was so simple I often overlooked it. I see others like me doing the same.
It was not overlooked by renowned bible scholar J. Sidlow Baxter. In his classic, Explore the Book, he wrote:
Fundamentally, our Lord’s message was Himself. He did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He himself is the Gospel. He did not come merely to give bread; He said: “I am the bread.” He did not come merely to shed light; He said: “I am the light.” He did not come merely to show the door; He said: “I am the door.” He did not come merely to name a shepherd; He said: “I am the shepherd.” He did not come merely to point the way; He said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.”
Oswald Chambers says, “Today, He (Jesus) is portrayed as a figurehead of a religion—a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself. He is the gospel of God.”
Jesus proclaimed himself. He said, “Follow me…” (Matthew 4:19)
John, the apostle, said that Jesus claimed, “I am the alpha and omega…the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13).
Please think with me about this. He said he was “the end.”
He is the target of our faith.
The gospel he proclaimed was and is a person…Jesus.
If he is not most important fundamental of our faith…if he is not who he claimed to be, then, “he would be,” wrote C.S. Lewis, “either a lunatic on the level of a man who says he is a poached egg—or else… the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of Man, or else a madman or something worse…”
As his followers, we believe he was no madman or something worse.
He is “the end.” In him we find completion.
He is the Good News.
And he is our friend.
—
Jim Hiskey
May 16, 2017
Copyright 2017 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
Other devotions in this series:
1 A Large Mistake
3 After the Humiliation: Good News
4 The Garland
5 Much Ado About Much
6 The Living King and His Enduring Kingdom
7 The Kingdom Message
8 Responding to the Good News
9 Resting in Jesus