Things of First Importance - Why I make such a big deal about the gospel.

For my last post of the year I am going to be answering a couple reoccurring questions about why I make such a big deal about the gospel, and if this post raises more questions for you then please write me and I would love to discuss these things further.

First Question: Why do I have such a single minded emphasis on the gospel?

1 Corinthians 15:1-3 says, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures."

This passage is incredible for it's placement and it's directness. Paul is nearing the end of his letter to a church with many problems. They have arrogantly been dividing into splits arguing that the teacher they follow is the best. There is a man who is sleeping with his mother-in-law, people are living in ways that are causing other brothers and sisters in Christ to stumble, and some are even showing up drunk to take communion. Much more could be said about this church, but the important thing to see is that this is a letter to a sick church.

So when we come to the final two chapters we might expect Paul to really go for the throat. Maybe we would expect that he would write about what they need to do better and maybe even a few examples of things they should start trying to do to improve. But that is not what Paul does at all, instead he reminds them, yet again, of the gospel.

Paul says that it is by the gospel that they are "being saved" - meaning the gospel is MUCH MORE than just that which gets us in, it is also that which keeps us and grows us. He cautions them to hold fast to the gospel that he preached to them, a gospel message that is explicitly all about God and what God did for believers in Christ Jesus. Paul even recaps the gospel for them - that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. This "in accordance with the Scriptures" must mean the Old Testament here so Paul is saying that the Old Testament pointed us forward to man's desperate need for the Savior.

Finally notice how Paul frames this information when he says, "For I delivered to you as of first importance ... that Christ died for our sins...." There should be absolutely no question in our minds as to what Paul feels is the most important doctrine of Scripture. Paul clearly spells out that the gospel message is the message of first importance, it is the message that the Old Testament longingly expected, and it is the message by which we are "being saved."

If I sound like a broken record regarding the gospel it is because I am captivated by it. If Paul started to wrap up his letter to a very sick church by reminding them of the gospel, and then calling it the matter of first importance then it should be of first importance to us. Is it?

Second Question: Aren't I overstating the importance of Christ and the gospel being the pinnacle of every Sunday morning sermon?

Based on what we have just seen it would seem that if we make anything else the focal or high point of our church services then we are overlooking what Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit) truly believed to be the "main thing." This means that if we teach through the Bible without clearly showing how each passage shows us our desperate need for the Savior, and his glorious provision in Christ, then we have ignored the "things of first importance." Apart from the deliberate move to preaching Christ from all of Scripture (as Jesus Himself attested to in John 5 & Luke 24) the hearers may be getting a great Bible history or theology lesson, but the gospel has not been preached.

According to Romans 1:16 it is the Gospel that is the power of God unto Salvation, and according to Romans 10:17 it is ONLY by the preaching of the gospel that anyone can be saved because "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (the gospel)."  We can listen to all the Bible history and theology lessons in the world and still be left hopeless apart from the clear declaration of the gospel because the Holy Spirit uses the gospel to create faith in us. Add to this the fact that salvation is past (justification), present (sanctification) and future (glorification), and I would argue that the gospel is the power for ALL of salvation. We already saw how Paul argued this way from the 1 Corinthians 15 passage.

Sure most Bible teaching pastors and teachers today use lots of gospel words and ideas like talking about God's mercy and grace and forgiveness. They may even talk about some of the theology behind the gospel, but by talking about the concepts without reminding us of what they mean, over time, we are left with empty concepts that can begin to change in meaning. It is absolutely correct to say that God is gracious, but the reason why He is gracious is because His Son died in our place paying our debt, and then He rose again clothing us in His righteousness. God's grace is especially seen in light of His giving us something that we never deserved - being clothed in Christ's righteousness.

A far more concerning issue in ignoring or assuming the gospel by not preaching it explicitly every week is found when we answer the question, "What makes a message a Christian message? The answer is Christ and the gospel.

Think about the last few messages that you have heard, could they have been taught at a pious Mormon or Jehovah's Witness church? Both, have no problem talking about sin (at least in a general sense) and moral improvements, but both clearly deny the substitutionary atonement of Christ in the gospel (that Christ died in our place as a substitute for us, satisfying the wrath of God). Or perhaps the message would have fit very well in a conservative Jewish Synagogue where they truly hold to the authority of the Old Testament but they don't believe in Jesus and His fulfillment of the law? The most robust exposition of the Old Testament along with crystal clear application for our lives (but void of Christ and the gospel) would be readily accepted in most conservative Synagogues.

The question is, "If our messages are hardly distinguishable from those that are accepted in other religions, shouldn't we be willing to ask some hard questions?"

I want to be clear that it is not my intention to cause a rift, but I am genuinely concerned that the gospel has been assumed for so long that it is missing from most churches today. So let me ask, "When was the last time you heard the gospel preached, clearly and in its entirety?"

If you are not regularly hearing Christ and the gospel made much of, what are you really hearing? I believe that without the gospel, preaching and teaching degrades into nothing more than a self-help program. We are told how to try harder, and we are even given ways to apply the Bible to our lives, but we are seldom reminded that even our best attempts at applying the Bible to our lives can NEVER change our standing before God. Christ has settled that issue once and for all by His death in our place.

Shouldn't this be the message proclaimed every time the Bible is opened, showing how all of Scripture anticipates or responds to the coming of the King? Or to summarize this whole post - If we are not hearing the Bible taught with Christ and His gospel as the centerpiece, then we are missing the things "of first importance."