By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:2, NIV)
There are plenty of noises I do not welcome on the golf course. Leaf blowers are so loud, I’m not a fan of the trend to play music in one’s cart, and I don’t like it when a group walks up to the green chattering loudly when the next tee is nearby.
But I won’t begrudge a celebratory cry. Amazing shots bring out joyous reactions. And in a way, we all share in another golfer’s elation.
In the New Testament, the Greek word translated gospel is euangélion. Literally and generally, it means “good news.” It’s what we would call the report of a hole-in-one or a tee time secured at a coveted destination. Paul and the other apostles took it up in the same way, but of course their message was the best news of all.
The word picks up verb forms as well. To evangelize (euangelízō) is to spread good news. You might say it combines rejoicing in what’s wonderful with telling others why you are rejoicing.
But what exactly is this gospel and what are we to do with it in our time?
We cannot tell God we have a better plan, but we may, sadly, tell him we don’t want the gift he offers.From church to church and ministry to ministry, you will find various wordings of the gospel, but those that are orthodox (or what we might also call traditional) emphasize this: Our sins individually disqualify us from access to God and the eternal life he offers. But God in his rich love sent his Son Jesus to shed his own sinless blood and make the one way of salvation. Not by our works or our worth are any of us saved. Only by the grace of God through Christ’s sacrifice. In its simplest form, the gospel might be this: I Can’t – God Can.
The first thing we must then do with the gospel is respond to it. Will we receive it and take our stand on it, as Paul said the Corinthians did? Will we stop making an attempt to win our way to God and instead accept the work of his Son as our passport to eternity? We cannot tell God we have a better plan, but we may, sadly, tell him we don’t want the gift he offers.
The next thing we must do, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, is to hold firmly to the gospel message. If we believe in a moment but then leave the gospel behind, we may find ourselves in danger of having “believed in vain.”
Finally, as those who celebrate the good news given to us—that Christ has made a way!—we should share our elation. In a monthly missionary letter I received only the other day, I read of a woman who “will not let a person pass on her daily walk, in the grocery store, at the mall, etc., without a word of witness about her Savior.” That’s faith in action! That’s knowing what we’ve been given and knowing what it’s worth.
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Jeff Hopper
November 4, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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