Guarding the Landmarks: The Gospel
Philippians 1:15 - 18
Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking that they are causing me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.
Without any doubt, one of the landmarks that some are attempting to move today is the Gospel, that is, the good news of Jesus Christ. And sadly, sometimes that landmark is being moved by pastors and church leaders.
Apparently, the Apostle Paul faced some people in his day that were guilty of distorting the Gospel message. When he wrote to the Philippian church, he warned of those with questionable motives. Some, he said, preach out of envy and strife and some out of goodwill. Motive was a key distortion of the Gospel then, as it is today.
However, today, I would like for us to focus on another kind of distortion: the distortion of the message itself. What is the Gospel? In I Corinthians 15:1 the Apostle Paul writes these words, “I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand.” This Gospel is good news; in fact, that is the meaning of the word “gospel.” So Paul preached good news to his listeners. That, then, leads us to ask another question: What is that good news? Paul gave the answer in I Corinthians 15:3 - 4, “For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
The good news is that man, who is lost in sin and separated from God because of sin, now has a way to God. And that way is not provided by humankind; that way to God is provided by God, Himself. That is what Jesus did. He lived a sinless life, died in our place as the perfect sacrifice for sin, and was buried thereby assuring us that His death was real and not fake. And then, Jesus did what only Jesus could do - He rose from death thereby securing our victory over sin and death, and granting us access to God. Jesus did for us, what we could not do for ourselves.
That is the message of the Gospel, and believing and receiving that good news is the way by which we can be right with God. When we turn from sin and trust Jesus alone to save us, we are saved. Thank you Jesus for this good news!
Sadly though, this message is clearly being distorted today.
Addition
Something is being added to it, and that something is clearly the social gospel. There is a phrase that is commonly being used across churches today and that phrase is “live sent.” Truthfully, I like this phrase. Scripture clearly teaches us as believers in Christ that we have a purpose, a role, and a mission. And that mission is to live in such a way that we reflect the call of God to go into the world and share the Gospel message with others. Jesus, clearly prayed for His disciples, including each of us, to fulfill His mission. John 17:18 says, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” Jesus clearly and unarguably sent His followers into the world. So the question becomes, what did He send us to do? The answer is plain and simple. Jesus came, according to Luke 19:10, “to seek and to save that which was lost.” That was Jesus’ mission. Along the way, He healed, He fed, He met needs and He responded to others in love and kindness. But the motive was never temporal; it was always eternal.
The social gospel will fail a person miserably by focusing on the wrong thing. As we guard the landmark called the Gospel, let’s keep the main thing the main thing. Let’s encourage one another to live sent with the Gospel message and not some cheap substitute.
Subtraction
The Gospel message is also being distorted because something is being taken away - the truth about sin. The purpose of Jesus’ sinless life sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection was not for us to live according to our own desires. He did those things to defeat the enemy of sin and death. Friends, sin is a real thing; it is not something made up. Sin is real and it is the bad news that makes the good news “good.” The good news is that sin has been defeated and we can be rescued from its power.
As the world turns against the Church more and more, our message cannot and should not be compromised. Our message is the Good News so let’s guard it from distortion and joyfully, lovingly, and convictionally share it with the world which will result in multiplication!