Be Christian: To Advance the Gospel

 
 
 

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Be Christian: To Advance the Gospel 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Guest Speaker: Pastor Peter Ahlin

1. What We Believe in the Gospel

 

John 3:16-17 (ESV) 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only  Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish  but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son  into the world to condemn the world, but in order  that the world might be saved through him. 

How my father explained the gospel in four  dimensions: 

(a) BREADTH: For God so loved the world. The  whole world. No one left out of that scope. (b) LENGTH: That He gave His only Son. No limit to  how far He was willing to go. He was willing to  endure every parent’s worst nightmare. (c) DEPTH: That whoever believes in Him. The vilest  sinner. The worst offender. The foulest rebel. (d) DURATION: Should not perish but have eternal  life. For how long is this salvation going to last?  Forever. The only permanent solution. 

2. Why We Share the Gospel 

II Corinthians 5:14-6:2 (NIV) 

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are  convinced that one died for all, and therefore all  died. And he died for all, that those who live should  no longer live for themselves but for him who died  for them and was raised again. So from now on we  regard no one from a worldly point of view. Even  though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do  so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a  new creation: the old has gone, the new is come! All  this is from God, who reconciled us to himself  through Christ and gave us the ministry of  reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to  himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against  them. And he has committed to us the message of  reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s  ambassadors, as though God were making his  appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s  behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who  had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might  become the righteousness of God.  

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive  God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped  you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now  is the day of salvation. 

a. Reconciled through Christ’s death and resurrection (5:16-18a) 

We don’t look at Christ from a worldly point of  view. A great moral teacher. A philosopher. An  important historical figure. A myth. A rebel  against strict Judaism (as Paul once did). Now  we regard Him as the Word made flesh and  dwelling among us, the one in whom if we  believe, we have eternal life and forgiveness of  sins through His name. 

We don’t look at people from a worldly point  of view. We don’t suppose anyone is beyond  saving. Paul knew that anyone who saw him  rubbing his hands together with glee at the  martyrdom of Stephen never would have  assumed he would one day believe. We don’t  look from a worldly point of view anymore, Paul  says. We know that if anyone is in Christ, that  person is a new creation. 

It’s all from God. He is the initiator of this  great reconciliation through Christ. We were  dead in our sins … He made us alive in Christ.  

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  It’s all from God. 

b. Compelled through Christ’s love (5:14-15)

All were utterly dead in sin, but Christ died for  all. Not one of us was sufficient apart from  Christ; not one of us is beyond the reach of the  atoning work of Christ. He died for all. (1 John  2:2) 

If we were utterly dead, so that we had no  hope, and then He rescued us from the  dominion of darkness, we can’t live for ourselves  any longer! We must live for Him who died for  us and was raised again. We owe Him our lives. 

c. Ambassadors on Christ’s behalf (5:18b-5:20)

God has given the ministry of reconciliation to  us. God has committed the message of  reconciliation to us. Jesus was the only perfect  minister this world has ever seen, the only  perfect messenger this world has ever seen, but  He’s finished His work and sat down at the  Father’s right hand. Angels might be more  articulate and more intimidating, but that’s not  the task He’s given them – He has called them instead to be ministering spirits sent to servants  those who will inherit salvation. It is we who are the ministers of reconciliation, the ambassadors  on His behalf. 

What is an ambassador? An official  representative from one nation who travels to another nation, becoming embedded in that  new nation’s culture, but always representing  and never losing ultimate allegiance to the  sending country. We are Christ’s ambassadors,  representing the heavenly country even while  we embed ourselves in the country of earth,  bringing messages of reconciliation as His  emissaries. 

We have the word (the λόγον) of  reconciliation. Missiologist Ed Stetzer put it this  way: “The gospel is the declaration of something  that actually happened. And since the gospel is  the saving work of Jesus, it isn’t something we  can do, but it is something we must announce.  We do live out its implications, but if we are to  make the gospel known, we will do so through  words.” 

And we aren’t just responsible for the content  of the message; we are responsible for the heart.  Verse 20 says God makes His appeal through us;  we implore people to be reconciled to God. We  carry the appeal of the one who wept over  Jerusalem; the one who says I’m standing at the  

door and knocking, please let Me in; the one  who wants all to be saved and to come to a  knowledge of the truth; the one whose love held  Him to the cross at Calvary. This is our mission. 

3. How We Share the Gospel 

a. Speak boldly (the apostles: Acts 5:41-42)

But wait. Didn’t Francis of Assisi say, "Preach  the gospel at all times; when necessary, use  words"? 

Mark Galli, former editor of Christianity Today  and Christian History before that and biographer  of F of S, wrote this:  

“The problem is that he did not say it. Nor did  he live it. And those two contra-facts tell us  something about the spirit of our age.  “First, no biography written within the first  200 years of his death contains the saying. It's  not likely that a pithy quote like this would have  been missed by his earliest disciples. 

“Second, in his day, Francis was known as  much for his preaching as for his lifestyle. “He began preaching early in his ministry, first  in the Assisi church of Saint George, in which he had gone to school as a child, and later in the  cathedral of Saint Rufinus. He usually preached  on Sundays, spending Saturday evenings  devoted to prayer and meditation reflecting on  what he would say to the people the next day. 

“He soon took up itinerant ministry,  sometimes preaching in up to five villages a day,  often outdoors. In the country, Francis often  spoke from a bale of straw or a granary doorway.  In town, he would climb on a box or up steps in  a public building. He preached to serfs and their  families as well as to the landholders, to  merchants, women, clerks, and priests—any  who gathered to hear the strange but fiery little  preacher from Assisi.” 

b. Summon others (woman at well: John 4:28- 29) 

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went  back to the town and said to the people, 29  “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever  did. Could this be the Messiah?” 

c. Share your testimony (once demon possessed  man: Mark 5:18-20; 7:31-37) 

And when He got into the boat, he who had been  demon-possessed begged Him that he might be  with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him,  but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and  tell them what great things the Lord has done for  you, and how He has had compassion on you.”  20 And he departed and began to proclaim in  [a]Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and  all marveled. 

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went  through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and  into the region of the Decapolis.[a] 32 There  some people brought to him a man who was  deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged  Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, 

d. Serve others in love (Dorcas: Acts 9:36-40)

36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha  (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always  doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that  time she became sick and died, and her body was  washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda  was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that  Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him  and urged him, “Please come at once!” 39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived  he was taken upstairs to the room. All the  widows stood around him, crying and showing 

him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had  made while she was still with them. 

40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he  got down on his knees and prayed. Turning  toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get  up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she  sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped  her to her feet. Then he called for the believers,  especially the widows, and presented her to  them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa,  and many people believed in the Lord. 

e. Show forth God’s power (Paul: 1 Corinthians  2:4-5; 4:20) 

My message and my preaching were not with  wise and persuasive words, but with a  demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that  your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but  on God’s power. 

f. Submit evidence for the truth (Apollos: Acts  18:28) 

When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the  brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote  to the disciples there to welcome him. When he  arrived, he was a great help to those who by  grace had believed. 28 For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving  from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. 

Christ did all of these things. He spoke boldly  that no one could come to the Father except  through Him. He stood up at a feast and loudly  summoned anyone who was thirsty to come to  Him and drink. He testified to John’s friends that  the blind were seeing, the lame were walking,  the lepers were cleansed, and the dead were  being raised. He served His disciples in love by  picking up a towel and washing their feet. He  showed forth God’s power by feeding five  thousand people with a boy’s lunch, calming a  storm, and driving out a legion of demons. And He submitted evidence for the truth in His  consistent fulfillment of Old Testament  prophecy from many hundreds of years before.  When we share the gospel as He modeled it, we  represent Him as ambassadors and appeal on  His behalf with greatest efficacy. 

Lesslie Newbigin said this in The Gospel in a  Pluralist Society:

“To be willing to publish them  is the test of our real belief. In this sense  missions are a test of our faith. We believe that  the truth about the human story has been  disclosed in the events which form the substance of the gospel. We believe, therefore,  that these events are the real clue to the story of  every person, for every human life is part of the  whole human story and cannot be understood  apart from that story. It follows that the test of  our real belief is our readiness to share it with all  peoples.” 

4. How We Live For the Gospel 

Acts 20:22-24 (NIV) 

And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to  Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me  there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit  warns me that prison and hardships are facing  me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to  me, if only I may finish the race and complete the  task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of  testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. 

Paul was, and we should be:

- Led by the Spirit 

- Aware of the risks, dangers, and temptations - Yet unyielding in single-minded commitment 

Conclusion: Respond to the Gospel 

Paul says in chapter 6:1-2 → Now is the time  of God’s favor; now is the day of salvation. NOW  is the only time of which we are certain. James  said we don’t even know what’s going to happen  tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised to us;  now is the time of God’s favor; now is the day of  salvation. If you have never trusted Christ to  save you, to wash away your sins and make you  a new creation, the time is now. Ministering in  His name, we implore you on His behalf – be  reconciled to God. Receive His forgiveness.  Accept His love by faith. 

If you have already trusted Christ, you are now  a new creation in Christ, and you are His  ambassador. You are the one through whom His  appeal goes out to men and women and children  – be reconciled to God. Take this moment to say  to God: Here am I. Send me. Show me how to  share the gospel with those to whom You are  sending me. 

 What’s happening in our nation right now – medically. Socially. Politically. God is looking to  use it to advance His gospel. How will he use  you?

Second City Church - Be Christian, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020