Wednesday, September 12

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Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

I  Corinthians 15:1-8

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Revolution.

“Revolution” is a powerful, striking word. 

“Revolution” means change; radical, sudden and dramatic change.

We think of the American Revolution and Mel Gibson running around as “The Patriot” whacking British soldiers. We think of the “Industrial Revolution” without being able to fully comprehend what life would have been like before factories and smokestacks.

And, if you came of age in the 1970’s as I did, we might even think of the “Disco Revolution” – with silk shirts and leisure suits - but then we would quickly change the subject!

A revolution is something that changes everything.

So what is so revolutionary about the gospel?

It might help us to talk a little about what the gospel is not.

The gospel is not about the American Dream. It may be a simplification, but one might summarize the American Dream as “2 cars in every garage, and endless opportunities for economic self improvement.” Almost every politician who has ever run for office in our land has promised some version of the American Dream. I would go so far as to say it would be extremely difficult to get elected if you didn’t promise the American Dream. But the American Dream, while good in many ways, is not the gospel. In many ways, in fact, it can keep us from experiencing the power of the gospel in our lives.

Second: The gospel is not primarily about moralism. It’s not about learning to be better people. An increased concern for morality, ethics, kindness and love for fellow human beings is certainly a result of the gospel, but it is not the gospel itself. If 10,000 years of human history have taught us anything they have taught us that human nature hasn’t changed much in all those centuries. People are still fundamentally selfish and capable of all manner of cruelty and evil despite the efforts of moralists and ethicists.

Third: The gospel is not even about religion. It’s sad to say but religion has not always been the source of good news in our world. While religion certainly has brought good things to human civilization, it has also been the cause of plenty of hatred and violence as well.

So what is the gospel?

Simply put, the gospel is Christ and Christ crucified!

I  Corinthians 15:1-5

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 

The gospel is revolutionary in three ways.

First, the gospel is revolutionary because it claims that “Christ died for our sins.” 

Those of us who grew up going to church and Sunday school can barely hear the revolutionary nature of those words. To say “Christ died for our sins” is to say that the God of the Universe, who spoke all things into existence and who holds all things together by the authority of his word, took on human flesh and subjected himself voluntarily to torture and death for a crime he did not commit, so that you and I would be found “not guilty” of sins we DID commit.

Think about that. It makes no logical sense whatsoever! What kind of god is willing to die for creatures that, even though he created them, even though he loved them and provided good things for them, have nonetheless rejected him? Any god worth his salt would simply destroy such creatures and start over again. But not this God. The God we see in Jesus Christ is a revolutionary God; a God who changes everything!

Second, the gospel is revolutionary because it claims that “Christ was raised on the third day.” This is kind of obvious; I mean, we are talking about suspending the oldest stone-cold law of human experience: and that, of course, is that death is final. We’re talking about resurrection! A real dead man became a real live man again – and that, in my book, makes Jesus revolutionary.

Third, the gospel is revolutionary because it claims that “by this gospel you are saved.” This is revolutionary simply because of what is said between the lines. As human beings we have always, always, always believed we could and would save ourselves. We would someday build a world of perfect peace and love where everyone would be content with what they had, where there would be no more poverty or hunger, and all the children would be both obedient and above average. So far, not so good.

But if it is true that we are saved by the gospel – that means, by definition, we cannot save ourselves. And that, my friends,  revolutionary. 

Pastor Brian Coffey