Tag: gospel

1 Corinthians 1:3-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            The Apostle Paul clarified his foremost mission to the Corinthian church:  Christ sent him to preach the gospel.  Everything else Paul did, from healing people to gathering offerings for others, from making tents to journeying around the Mediterranean world, he did with the central focus and aim of proclaiming the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
 
            The Corinthian believers had lost sight of this urgent and needed imperative of preaching the good news of Jesus.  They had hardened into opinionated groups and had broken down into disunity over things that were secondary, not primary.  Paul wrote to correct this situation, which had gotten out of hand.
 
            The proclamation of the gospel needs to be at the core of every church and every believer’s life.  When it isn’t, there will be factions, special-interest groups, and condescending attitudes which are more than ready to fill the vacuum left in the center.
 
            Everyone in the church has a role to fulfill, a gift to exercise, in proclaiming the gospel of grace.  For me, I enjoy teaching Scripture to unbelievers and answering their questions, as well as mentoring believers in the cardinal doctrines of faith and practice.  Others proclaim the gospel through hospitality, or partnering with others, or even inviting people to events and bible studies.  In all the myriad ways God has gifted us, whether it is in serving or speaking, we are to use that gift not to advance a personal agenda, but to preach the gospel.
 

 

            Blessed Father, Son, and Spirit, you are One God, perfectly united and in continual harmony.  You have loved humanity to such a degree that you orchestrated a great deliverance from sin, death, and hell.  Help your entire church to get our eyes off our petty differences and fix our gaze firmly and graciously on proclaiming the good news of salvation in Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

Romans 12:9-21

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            A bit of historical context will give us a better appreciation for today’s New Testament lesson.  Within the ancient church at Rome were converts out of Judaism and paganism.  In other words, both Jew and Gentile worshiped together within one church.  These two groups of people had very different backgrounds.  So, even though they were both believers in Jesus, they had a tendency to look down on one another.  Because of this attitude, each group thought that the locus of authority with was with themselves, and not the other.  That is, who should call the shots in the church? 
 
            This ecclesiastical milieu is why Paul wrote his letter to the Romans; he wanted the entire church to rally and unify around the gospel, not in being Jew or Gentile.  Since they were both justified or made right by Jesus, they both needed to live up to true Christian living.  So, Paul gave some very pointed encouragement and exhortation of how both groups ought to be treating each other.  They are brothers and sisters in Christ.  Therefore each should love one another with genuine affection.  Jew should rejoice with Gentile, and Gentile should weep with Jew.  If things get out of hand, blessing ought to be the default response, not cursing.  Both Jew and Gentile must be willing to associate with each other, honor one another above themselves, and live peaceably with all.  There is to be no favoritism in contributing to the needs of all the saints, whether Jew or Gentile, and in showing hospitality.
 
            As we think about all of these various commands of Scripture together, one of the things we need to hear with great clarity is that the exhortations are to be carried-out without discrimination.  Various special interest groups within the church are not to simply lobby for their own needs, wants, and preferences.  There is to be a concern for the entirety of God’s people, whether we understand them well, or not.  This has profound implications for us, not only within our own local churches, but within the church universal.  Thinking deeply about such matters, and translating them into action, is a worthy cause for every believer and church.
 

 

            Loving God, you came not to only to save me and people like me, but to deliver all kinds of people from the power of sin.  Enable me to be genuine in my love for all people, no matter from what background.  May love be the glue that holds all believers in Jesus together.  Amen.

Philippians 1:12-18

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            It was President Ronald Reagan who said, “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”  The ability to have a disinterest in attention and freedom from selfishness comes from a place of humility and strength – the strength to know oneself well and be secure in that knowledge, as well as the humility to care more about the cause than self.
 
            The Apostle Paul had so learned humility from his Lord, and was so thoroughly convinced of the gospel’s centrality that he did not care who got the credit when it came to proclaiming Jesus.  “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will….  The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.  What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”
 
            The burning, driving, constant, and passionate pursuit of Paul was the advance of the gospel.  He wanted the entire world to know Jesus Christ crucified, risen from death, ascended and coming again.  And Paul would do anything and drain himself of every drop of self-centeredness in order to champion that great cause of seeing people repent and believe the gospel.
 
            Is your heart enamored with Jesus?  Is it hot with the desire to see the gospel of grace transform the world?  Do you lay awake at night wondering how to introduce Jesus to others?  Is the great cause of your life to find ways of meeting the world’s deep need with the deep love of Christ?  Attention and recognition are overrated.  Instead, give up your life and you will find it.
 

 

            Gracious God, thank you for the example of your servant Paul.  I rejoice in what you did in and through his life.  I am available for your purposes.  Use me in the advance of your gospel of grace so that I might more fully participate in your grand forgiveness mission.  Amen.

Galatians 3:23-29

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            If you are new to this blog, or to the Revised Common Lectionary, or just need a reminder, here is a very small explanation of how it works.  The Lectionary is one way of reading through the Bible in a three year cycle (known as Years A, B, and C).  The daily readings of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all anticipate the Scripture texts for Sunday; and, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday readings all reflect back on the previous Sunday.  And each year is attentive to the major events of the life of Christ and of the church.
 
            So, today’s New Testament text looks forward to World Communion Sunday, a day in which we intentionally celebrate the truth that we as individuals and local congregations belong to a much bigger Body of Christ – Christians from different cultures and nations all share Jesus together, symbolized and remembered through our common eating from the Lord’s Table. 
 
            The Apostle Paul needed to give the Galatian churches some remedial teaching on the basic nature of God’s gospel of grace in Christ.  The Gentile believers had begun to buy-in to the notion that they needed to become Jews in order to really be Christians.  Paul would have nothing to do with it because it betrayed the nature of the gospel that in Christ all are one new society, and not old Israel.  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
 
            The gospel of grace is the great equalizer.  In Christ, God has created a new society in which all come together by faith.  That means people do not need to become Jewish to become a Christian; it also means that no one needs to become an American or any other type of person in order to truly belong to Christ.  The gospel of grace means we are not to only be around people who are just like us, looking for others to conform to us.  It means we appreciate and embrace the wonderful variety of people of all races, classes, ethnicities, gender, and cultures without demanding they be just like us.  In Christ, we are all one new society, one gospel culture celebrating and enjoying Jesus.  It would be poignant for us all to remember this wonderful reality when we approach the Table this Sunday.
 

 

            Gracious God, you established the church as a new egalitarian society through your Son, the Lord Jesus.  Help me to connect meaningfully with others very different from myself so that grace will be my only rule for life.  Amen.