Reminding ourselves of the gospel

Reminder of the Gospel

"Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,... For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,...But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. 1 Corinthians 15: 1,3-4, 10 (NRSV)

The scripture above describes our moment by moment walk with Christ, and an important part of that walk is reminding ourselves that Christ died for us and was raised into eternal life. We are able to walk with God because of His wonderful love that extends grace to us.  After Paul's conversion to Christ, he spent all of his time reminding himself and others that God's grace is miraculous.

The Apostle Paul says that he handed to the Corinthians what he had received.  Since we cannot give something that we do not have, we must constantly receive (or remind) ourselves of this great gospel, this wonderful good news of God's grace.

 

When we are asked to explain the gospel of God’s grace, many Christians are stumped for a way to express it.  Since Paul reminded himself so often of the gospel, he could respond immediately. We need to follow the Apostle Paul’s example and do this too.  The gospel is not only for salvation, but for our daily, moment by moment walk with Christ.

The gospel of God's grace, simply put, is this:  God loves everyone so much and wants to fellowship with us, but our sin puts a barrier between God and us.  In order to to fellowship with us, God sent his son to take the punishment for our sins by dying on a cross so we have to opportunity to live with God forever in eternity, in spite of our sin.  God raised his son from the dead, proving that God's love triumphs over sin and the grave.

 

In order for us to share the gospel, we must have the gospel.  We need to remind ourselves every day, even every minute of our lives, about the good news of God's gospel of grace, which is written in the scriptures.

A Worthy Walk in Grace

But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 (NASB)

The letters to the Thessalonians were written by Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy, and the pronoun we is always used in the letters. The gospel of God’s grace is a “we” gospel, and one of the components of this wonderful grace that God extends to us is the way God uses us to exhort each other. None of us stand alone in God’s grace.

This is why our walk with God is so important. As Paul, Silas and Timothy write in the scripture passage above, an important part of their ministry was to work alongside the Thessalonians so they (the Thessalonians) could witness God’s grace through Paul, Silas and Timothy’s actions and their love for the members of this Thessalonian church.

This is why our walk is so important to the plan of God’s grace. God uses our walks to exhort each other, stand by each other, work with each other, and love each other. It is not our walk that is worthy of God, but our walk with a worthy God that witnesses to others. I like the word walk because it implies a journey, and we can infer that journeys are not without hardships, errors, misdirection, detours, and stumbling. In spite of this, God still continues to call us to Himself, and by His miraculous grace, He allows us to reach Him, even if our journey is not perfect. Walking worthy of God does not mean that we must walk in perfection. It means that we allow God to use our walk to minister to others who are on the same journey

Freedom in grace

"For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1 (NRSV).

The book of Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul to early Christian churches in the region of Galatia who were being persuaded that it was necessary to observe Jewish laws in order to belong to Christ. The entire book of Galatians expresses Paul's unwavering position that accepting Christ as our savior allows us to be free from religious rules and regulations.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the serpent tempted Eve by telling her that if she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that she would be like a god, knowing the difference between good and evil. In a sense, the serpent spoke the truth. That is exactly what happened. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, and their eyes were opened. They knew the difference between good and evil, and they immediately made a judgement that being naked was evil, so they tried to cover themselves to look righteous in the eyes of God.

Up to this present day, human beings have been encumbered with the knowledge of the difference between good and evil. This is the moral basis for laws and our religious rules and regulations. This knowledge of the difference between good and evil causes us to seek to do good things for ourselves and judge the evil in others. Christ came to free us from the bondage of judgement. Christ asks us to do just the opposite of what our knowledge compels us to do. Christ asks us to seek to do good things for others instead of ourselves, and recognize the evil inside of ourselves instead of the evil that is others and come to Him with a repentant heart. We can then be free of the bondage to laws that never make us righteous in God's eyes and glaringly point out the evil in others.