Essence of gospel

 Romans 1:4-7; 8/18/2024; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

 Introduction

The Bible emphasizes that Jesus is a descendant of David, “descended from David,” which shows that Christ became flesh and became a human being.  However, from the perspective of the completeness of the truth, this is an unfinished sentence.  Because the complete Christology is His “two natures of God and man”, and He is fully human and fully God!  Let’s look at the first point:

  Power of resurrection

The resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead is the highest form of expression of the divinity of Christ.  If Christ has not been resurrected, our faith is in vain.  First, from conception by the Holy Spirit.  We are all descendants of Adam, except Jesus Christ.  Why?  This is because the child that Mary conceived was not from Joseph, but was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  The Bible declares this:   “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)”    God made Christ come into the world as a human being, and from the beginning he was sanctified by the Holy Spirit and showed the holy nature of the Son of God.  The divinity of Christ is very important.  First, it shows that He is sinless so that He can save sinful people.  Let the sinless take the place of the guilty, and the righteous take the place of the unjust (1 Peter 3:18).  In addition to being sinless, He must also be able to save sinners.  This is what is necessary as the Son of God, to bear and take away people’s sins before God (1 Peter 2:24).

Secondly, it lies in the resurrection from the dead.  Resurrection from the dead is the most amazing thing in the world, do you agree?  This is the most important truth that the gospel of Christ Jesus brings us, right?  Just imagine, if Christ did not come, there was no incarnation of Jesus in the world, and He was not resurrected from the dead, then what kind of world would this be?  Humanity is still in a cradle-to-grave situation.  What is this situation?  This is a desperate situation!  Because no matter how you live, you are still living with the word despair, right?   You made all the wealth in the world, won over all the people in the world, defeated all the countries in the world, and finally, you died!  Does it make sense?  Death has devoured all human values ​​and meanings, and swallowed up all ideals and futures in the world.  The meaning of resurrection is to defeat death.  This is the core value of the gospel!

Finally, the Son of God is revealed.  As the Son of man, Jesus Christ can bear the punishment we deserve and understand all our pain.  As the Son of God, because of His sinlessness, death was powerless against Him!  At the same time, because He is the Son of God,   He has the power to turn things around, pass from death to life, and rise from the dead.  This is the evidence that Jesus Christ shows his power as the Son of God!  How to say this?  Because since the beginning of human history, no one has ever conquered the power of death.  But, Christ did it!  Jesus Christ is the only one in human history who passed through death and came out of death.  Because of this, those of us who follow Him have a hope of eternal life.  Let’s look at the second point:

 Spread to all people

The essence of the gospel is life, eternal life, and the power of resurrection from the dead!  The essence of the gospel is also the transformation from life to mission, which is to spread this great news to all people.  First, salvation is by grace.  From God’s perspective, the relationship between man and the gospel is a free grace.  And, we all receive kindness through Jesus Christ.  The original text of the word kindness is grace, but it has two meanings: one is obedience and faith, and the other is that grace and joy come from the same root.  The subtleties here actually speak to the core values ​​of the mission.  After a person believes in the Lord and goes to preach the gospel, how should he preach?  Of course, it is inevitable to pass it on orally,   but in fact it is passed on with life.  After we believe in the Lord, do we have a spiritual character of obedience in our lives?  Is there joy on our faces?  Is there peace in our family relationships?   Otherwise, where would the testimony come from that would bring glory to God?

Secondly, the ministry of the gospel.  When Paul wrote Romans, apostleship in the church was still the main expression.  With the evolution of church history, apostleship has gradually transformed into the gift of the apostle.  However, the essence of the apostleship has never changed, which is the ministry of the gospel.  This is also Paul’s own testimony of living out his apostleship.  In fact, Paul did not care about the special spiritual identity of his apostleship.  Instead, he emphasized that he was an apostle who preached the gospel to the Gentiles, and his emphasis was on the gospel.  It is also a bit like the various weird things circulating in the public today.  Some ministers care about the title of pastor, or put their own name in front of the name of the evangelistic meeting.

Finally, the obedience of faith.  When we go out to preach the gospel today, who do we preach to?  Where to share it? How to pass it on?  When we encounter problems like this, we are more likely to be influenced by our own traditional cultural concepts, and even narrow nationalism.  As a Chinese, I should of course first, or even only preach the gospel to the Chinese people.  Is this right?  Is there any biblical basis for this?  Paul says in the second half of verse 5:  “to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, (Romans 1:5b)”  “All the nations” refers to all countries, regardless of which country they belong to!  The Great Commission says the same thing.  The scope of our evangelism is all nations and the target is all peoples.  Let’s look at the third point:

 God’s great love

The book of Romans was written by Paul in Corinth three years ago.  When Paul arrived in Rome, the brothers and sisters in Rome ran dozens of miles to greet Paul as soon as they heard that Paul was coming.  First, we are all called together.  The gospel must create new relationships that the world does not recognize.  Paul sends greetings to his brothers and sisters in Rome who have come from afar through faith in Jesus Christ.  He said our relationship is based on our spiritual identity as fellow-called people!  Once you become a called person, you have a new belonging identity.  From now on, we belong to Christ Jesus!  From the day we believe in the Lord, Christ is our Lord.  Let all things be done in the name of Jesus Christ.  From now on, Jesus Christ is the only, exclusive, and first in our lives!  All relationships must be viewed through Jesus Christ.

Second, receive God’s great love together.  Paul said, “To all those in Rome who are loved by God.”  It means that God’s love transcends time and space, not only in Corinth but also in Rome.  We are the same receiving God’s great love.  This is the result of the nature of the gospel.  What does it mean?  The love revealed in the Bible is not the love of man, but the great love of Christ.  It is not we who love, but God who loves us first!  God’s new command to us is to love one another!  Why?  Because when we love one another, people will know that we are children of God.  Of course, God also received the glory He deserved.

Finally, enjoy the grace and peace together.  Paul’s last greeting is definitely not simple.   He is painting a portrait of God’s children.  We may not be able to control our youthful appearance when we are eighteen years old, because that is mostly due to our parents.  However, a person’s appearance after the age of forty is the mark of his life.  God has given us grace and peace through the gospel, but, has the appearance of the gospel left any trace in your life?  The Bible says that we should not judge a person by his appearance.  It refers to the appearance, wealth and poverty of clothing.   Grace and peace are spiritual qualities lived from within and cannot be concealed.

Conclusion

Hudson Taylor has a famous saying: “If I have a thousand pounds of gold, China can withdraw it all; if I have a thousand lives, I will never leave any of them to China.” As soon as we Chinese heard this, we said yes!  It turns out that we still have thousands of pounds of gold because of our faith in Christ!  Very nice!  We may be secretly happy, aren’t we?  Who would have known that he still had the second half of the sentence?  He continued: “No, it is not China, but Christ.”  This is the essence of the gospel!

 Let us pray……

 

Romans 1:4-7

4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 

5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 

6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.