The Gospel! - A Message of Good News!
Pastor Bill Nichols - June 6, 2010
Today's Scripture reference is Colossians 1: 3 - 8
Introduction
In August of 1989 our oldest son Carey was involved in a really bad accident just outside of Willard. He was air lifted to St John's hospital and was immediately taken to surgery. He had multiple compound fractures including the pelvis, both femurs, both bones in his lower left leg, and so forth. As an ordained minister I had previously taken a class at St John's to teach me how to minister to those who were in the hospital, and to the families of those who were patients. I also knew most of the hospital chaplain staff.
As the hours wore on, we waited for some word of good news concerning our son's condition. Sister Carol, the chaplain who had taught the class was there and she was getting periodic updates from the surgery area. I kept trying to read her facial expressions to get some kind of sense as to how things were going. Finally she came to us, but the expression on her face was not the one I was looking for. It was then that she told us that if we had any family we wanted to be there, that we should call them to come because things were not looking very good. It was not good news.
Good News! The Greek word translated "good news" or Gospel in the Bible is the word "euangelion".
According to Liddel and Scotts Greek-English Lexicon New Edition (pg 705) the word in its classical sense referred to "a reward for bringing a good message." The term also stood for the message itself. It became a general term for the triumphant message from the battlefield, and it was used for joyous political proclamations or for personal messages of good news. It was a technical term for "news of victory."
John MacArthur says of the word gospel: "We find that in some non-biblical records of the past, there would be occasions when a certain city would fight another city, and in Greece particularly the country was divided into city-states and each city-state would maintain its own army and everything like that. So, they would be in battles. And frequently there would be a great battle and everybody in the city would be waiting to hear news from the battlefield. There were not any telegraphs so there had to be messengers. All of a sudden, on the horizon, the messenger would appear, returning to the city from the battlefield. He would come flying into the city and usually by his appearance it would become very, very obvious what the news was. If his face was shining, if his spear was decked with a laurel wreath, if his head had a wreath on it and he was swinging a palm branch then joy would automatically fill the city and he would cry out - We had won. And the word that is used to describe that is euangelion, the good news, the news of victory. And that is indeed the gospel. It is the news of victory."
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Colosse wrote:
Colossians 1:3-8 (New International Version)3 "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit."
This morning I want to share with you four things concerning the Gospel, or the Good News!
I. The Word of Truth, the Gospel!
The first thing that the Apostle Paul says about this gospel is that it is the "word of truth." In the book of Galatians Paul talks of a different gospel, one that he says is no gospel at all. (Galatians 1: 6 – 7) False teachers were saying that in addition to the true gospel, you had to obey the law in order to be saved. The true gospel, the really good news is that you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. (Ephesians 2: 8 – 9) Faith is defined as believing that Jesus died to pay the penalty of your sins, He was buried, and on the third day, He rose from the dead conquering both sin and death. (1 Corinthians 15: 2 – 4) According to the Apostle Peter, this faith must be accompanied by repentance of sin, (Acts 2:38) and followed by baptism in the name of Jesus.
We live in a world today where truth is considered to be relevant. And yet the Bible speaks clearly that the Gospel message, the good news is "the word of truth." I believe that God's truth is not relevant, that it is constant. And concerning the message concerning salvation or the gospel, that it has been constant since the beginning and will be constant until Jesus returns in the end times. As Paul wrote in Galatians concerning the gospel of Christ, "if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned."<.q> (Galatians 1: 8 - 9)
So the Gospel is the word of truth.
II. A gospel that bears fruit!
The second thing Paul says concerning this gospel is that it is bearing fruit, all over the world. When God created plant life He gave it the ability to reproduce itself.
Genesis 1: 11 – 12a11 "Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds."
When you become a Christian you are given not only the ability, but the responsibility to reproduce your life in Christ in the lives of others. You are commanded to bear fruit by sharing the good news of Jesus with others.
This you can do in many different ways. You can answer the call of God and become a minister of the Gospel. You can become a missionary and travel to some distant land and share the good news with people in a different culture. You can tell your family and friends about Jesus and share with them from God's word the things they need to know in order to gain eternal life. You can invite people you know to come to church or church related activities where they can hear the preaching of the gospel. You can pass out tracts and share Jesus one on one with people you meet. You can become part of an organization like CMA and go to rally's and share the gospel with bikers. There is no shortage of ways that you can participate in bearing fruit wherever you are, the only shortage is finding laborers willing to become fruit bearers for the Gospel. That's why Jesus said, in Matthew 9: 37-38 37 "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."
In other words, there is plenty of fruit waiting to be harvested, but there aren't enough workers willing to pick the fruit.
Paul commended the believers in Colosse because they were bearing fruit. I wonder what kind of commendation he would give to the church at Gateway in Springfield Missouri?
III. A gospel that is growing!
Not only was the gospel bearing fruit, but it was growing all over the world. Simply put, as a result of the fruit bearing that was taking place, the church was growing.
One of the things we have been struggling with at Gateway is finding a vision for the church. Without a vision, any organization, including the church will eventually dry up and die.
One of our hang ups has been tied to what we perceive that we cannot do. We cannot have a great youth or children program because we do not have space to house it. We cannot grow much beyond where we are today because we don't have enough parking. We cannot build classrooms or a fellowship hall or a recreation area because we do not have room and we do not have the money.
We have to change the way we think. Instead of focusing on what we cannot do, we need to focus on what we can do. And the one thing that needs to be at the forefront of anything we attempt to do is the one thing that we are commanded to do, and that is to bear fruit for Christ.
Each one of us needs to capture the vision that God has already provided for us and work at becoming a fruit bearer. It is not programs, it is people. I know I have said it before but I cannot impress on you enough that the number one tool for church growth is relationships. Ninety percent of the people who join a church do so because of someone they know who goes to that church. Our growth has been slow, but take a look around. How many of you come to Gateway because someone you know invited you?
IV. A gospel that is shared with others!
Finally this morning, the gospel Paul mentions is good news that is shared with others. The rider that MacArthur mentioned that would come announcing the good news of battle victory did not keep it to himself. He proclaimed it to the whole city, to anyone and everyone who was willing to listen.
Paul indicates that the reason that there was a church in Colosse was because Epaphras, whom Paul called a dear fellow servant and faithful minister, had shared the gospel or good news with them. (Colossians 1: 7)
In Romans 10: 14 Paul asks three rhetorical questions that lead to a conclusion concerning the need to share the gospel with others. He asks:
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"
I know what some of you are thinking. "That is why we hired you preacher. It is your job to share the good news of eternal life with people, not ours."
My response to those of you who think this is the case is this: As a believer, it is my job to share Christ with those who do not know Him. But I would also say that it is each and everyone of your jobs to do the same. In the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 19 – 20 we are all commanded to make disciples of all nations. In II Corinthians 5: 17 – 18 Paul tells us that everyone who has been reconciled to God has been given the ministry of reconciliation.
And finally in Ephesians 4 where Paul is speaking of specific ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors, he states that the job of the pastor is to
"prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
In other words, it is a shared ministry, with my primary role being that of equipping you for ministry, while also fulfilling every disciples ministry of reconciling others to Christ.
The Gospel, the good news is good news that we are to share with others.
Conclusion
During the first 24 hours after our son was injured, we did not receive much good news. After two major surgeries, Carey was sent to intensive care where we finally got to see him. He was swollen because they were pumping blood products and other liquids into his body. He had actually gained fifty pounds of fluid weight. He was on respirator, IV's, heart monitor, and had multiple bandages. The nurse told us that his biggest issue was that all his clotting factors had been washed out and that he was continuing to bleed out everything they were putting into him. Unless his bleeding stopped, he was not going to make it.
I think I have shared with you before, but some of you were not here at the time, so I will share with you again. About 1:30AM on the second night, after everyone else had gone home, a pastor and science teacher from Walnut Grove, prayed with Becky and I and specifically prayed, as only a science teacher could pray, about the biological processes that God needed to take care of to stop our son's bleeding.
On our very next visit to the intensive care unit we finally heard some good news. The bleeding had begun to slow down. Oh how excited we were to hear the good news, and oh how happy we were for the prayers we believe God heard and answered.
People need good news. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. Granted, not everyone wants to hear it, and not everyone you share it with will receive it, but for those who do, you will have made an eternal difference in their lives.