An Irresistible Gospel

 [1]

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Devotion VIDEO here

For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense.  He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ.  And no one tried to stop him.  Acts 28:30-31 ^(NLT)

The last three sentences of the book of Acts are so full of hope and instruction it virtually leaps off the page with God’s “game plan” for evangelizing the world.  There are at least five words that can help point us in the right pathway for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ:

Struggle

Paul’s life following Christ was a battle.  At first the early church wanted nothing to do with Gentiles.  Paul was convinced that God was opening the doors to the entire world, not just the Jews.  Success of the Gospel always means there will be a battle for truth to triumph over wrong ideas born of selfishness and stubbornness.

Independence

Paul lived at this stage with no financial support from others.  It is axiomatic that worldly success depends on fundraising, networking and power-brokering.  The Gospel must be independent of personal agenda and indenture to “fund” outreach and evangelization.

Hospitality

Paul welcomed everyone; now that is a loaded phrase in our age of dividing the camps.  The apostle probably did not have anything more than a desire to proclaim Christ without pedigree consideration.  His open acceptance and defense of the Gentiles witnesses to Paul’s stand on offering Christ to all people. 

At Rome, the ancient capitol of the empire’s influence, He probably encountered many people who were pariahs, those who would be unwelcome in a lot of churches today.

Proclamation

Paul didn’t waste his breath arguing about small things like we do today in the church.  His concern was spreading the Good News that Advent had indeed come, and God was willing for all to come into his presence through Jesus.

And he did this proclaiming of the Gospel boldly!  There was little political correctness about Paul; neither was there room for a watered-down, hat-in-hand, timid, Mary Poppins’ spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.  Paul didn’t pull punches; he preached the truth.

Doctrine

Whenever someone showed interest in the Gospel, Paul’s life immediately became invested in helping the seeker understand God’s ways. 

Doctrine is part and parcel of Proclamation!  Without doctrine, you can energetically declare something in which you believe, but it may be flawed and dangerous.  In the same way, in every doctrinal presentation there must be the “preaching” that appeals to more than the mind; Christ’s message is for the heart too!

For You Today

Out of struggle and an independent hospitality the church proclaimed a truth (doctrine) of Jesus Christ – and it is irresistibly true.

You chew on that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a joy-filled and blessed day!

---

[1] Title image:  By Linschoten pinx, via Wikimedia Commons

One Voice

Friday, July 25, 2014

Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us.  And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.  May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.  Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.     Romans 15:4 - 6 (NLT)

The idea of “harmony” is that many voices together sound like one pleasing voice.  Some of the synonyms the dictionary gives for the word are “accord” “agreement” and “synchronization”.

Paul’s charge to the Roman church folk was to remember Jesus did that for us, opening the door of fellowship for Gentiles, so we could come to know God and his gracious salvation.

The idea of many voices lifting “one voice” (truly synchronized, in agreement) literally means to be many minds, agreed; to be of one passion.  It means being committed to the same set of values, ideas, goals.

With all due respect to my musical friends – this is harder in life than music!

We live in a world where it’s much easier to talk about being homogenous – a one-human-race world – than to achieve it.  These days there are enough “voices” to go around…but not much harmony when the voices are raised.

Especially if you add the Bible to the mix.

Paul wrote that God’s intention for the written Scriptures was to help encourage the human race to patiently achieve harmony.  In this we give “harmonious praise” back to God; we can be truly the crown in His creation.

But, largely, we (the human race) have taken the Scriptures, personalized the message to meet our “felt needs” and dared anyone to contradict us with their version.  It’s usually called “my way or the highway”.  And it’s not harmony; it’s a racket!  This kind of unholy noise is generally well-saturated with cultural prejudice and skewed interpretations which ignore the totality of the counsel of God.

In other words – don’t confuse me with facts; I know what I know.

That “thud” you just heard was the door of an un-synchronized, non-agreeing, accord-refusing mind slamming shut. 

Don’t misread me here; I am not one to “give the farm away”, agreeing with something I don’t believe, just to be in agreement.  I used to be like that – a people-pleaser, going-along, agreeing just for the sake of making “nice-nice”. That’s as bad as slugging-it-out over minute non-essentials just to be ornery.

What I am saying is we need to stop pre-judging everyone until we hear what they’re saying.  Listen with an open mind; answer with a gentle heart; guard the door against thieves.

Do this in regards to doctrine, custom, culture, money and family – and you will be a reasonable person.

Hate people because of their thoughts, place of birth, skin pigment, social status or limitations of all sorts – and you will be a person who adds to the division the Lord came to end.

And who wants to fight THAT battle?

For You, Today…

Tune up that voice of harmony today; it’s in there – bring it out!

Title Picture:  By Randy Stern [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons