A generation that proclaims the gospel but doesn’t live the gospel will raise a generation that hears the gospel but doesn’t see the gospel.
Read: Galatians
I’ve spent the last eleven years contemplating the motto of our ministry, “Many Voices, One Message.” I’ve considered it not only as a slogan, but as a vision and mission statement as well. It clarifies my objective to articulate the gospel every day, and I use it as a rallying call to invite others to join with us in proclaiming the saving work of Christ.
With that said, there are several challenges. As a broadcaster, I’ve had to guard the gate. I am a curator of content. This requires that I listen to a lot of sermons and read a lot of books. Unfortunately, my conclusion is that there are “Many Voices” out there that are not communicating the “One Message.” Worse yet, the realm of Christian media is fraught with false teachers. In fact, some of the worst offenders are also the most popular.
I have a growing concern of how confusing the gospel has become among so many divergent voices. How do we “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3b), when there are so many conflicting points of view? Can we cut through the “Many Voices” and find the “One Message” again?
A Galatian Compromise
This is not a new problem. The Apostle Paul dealt with those who were distorting the gospel throughout his entire ministry.
After Paul left the region of Galatia, Judaizers came into the church there and sought to undermine everything he had taught them. ‘Judaizer’ is a derogatory term used to describe Jews who publicly professed to be followers of Jesus, but refused to accept anyone into the faith who had not yet been circumcised. They required all Gentile Christians to become practicing Jews, and they had plenty of carefully selected passages of Scripture to make their case.
This doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to us as western Christians. Judaizers are no longer around thanks to Paul’s determination to eradicate their teaching. But was it really that big of a deal to begin with? Was it worth all of the controversy surrounding the issue? What about Christian charity? Isn’t this just a matter of opinion?
Paul didn’t seem to think so. He saw it as a threat to the very heart of the gospel. His words in this letter are the strongest and fiercest of any of Paul’s writings, “If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you” (Galatians 5:2).
What the Apostle Paul is contending for here is a subtle theological distinction that is so close to the central message of the gospel that if we get it wrong by just one degree, it will have drastic consequences further down the line. At stake is the fundamental understanding of how we are saved. Do our works contribute anything to our salvation, or are we saved solely by the work of Christ? If we are going to claim anything in ourselves that could bring us safely into God’s presence, we make a mockery of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.
A Gospel Clarification
What is necessary at this point is a clarification of what we mean when we are talking about the gospel. First, it is good news. That is what ‘gospel’ means. But it is not just any good news, it is ‘the’ good news. This is the singular message of hope for humanity.
The good news is that Christ has made a way that we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. This is achieved through the work of Jesus on the cross. All of our sins were paid for by His sacrifice and the shedding of His blood. He bore the punishment for all of our sins, not just ours, but also the sins of the whole world.
The only thing that we bring to our salvation is our sin which needs to be forgiven. To suggest otherwise is to diminish the work of Jesus on the cross.
Our response to this gift is to confess. We confess our sins and we confess the saving work of Christ. Confession of sin is an act of repentance, turning from our sinful state and turning to Jesus for forgiveness. A confession of faith is an act of belief and trust. We believe that Christ died and rose from the grave and we trust in the work of Christ alone, fully relying on His saving grace.
Paul explains this in detail in Romans when he states, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ … For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:9-11, 13).
A Gospel Commission
The question still remains: why was the issue of circumcision such a big deal to the Apostle Paul? How did it undermine the gospel? What appears to us as a minor issue regarding ceremonial practice, was actually an attempt to undermine the sufficiency of Christ.
This is why theology and doctrine are so important. Without careful scrutiny, we are all susceptible to being deceived by seemingly minor details that have devastating consequences. It’s subtle, and by its nature it is difficult to detect when we have wavered off the path. If the Apostle Peter (Cephas) was easily deceived (Galatians 2:11-14), we too are vulnerable.
This has been a problem that has plagued the Church throughout history. It wasn’t always about circumcision. Over 500 years ago, the Catholic Church was selling indulgences, opportunities to buy one’s way out of punishment for their sins in purgatory. This led to the Reformation and a recovery of the gospel, in which the letter to the Galatians was instrumental.
We must contend for the faith. We cannot simply assume that we are all talking about the same thing. We need to articulate the gospel clearly and carefully. We need to rehearse it over and over again. We need to be so familiar with the gospel that we can detect counterfeits when they pop up.
A Gospel Reflection
How could anyone who has experienced the grace of God and the forgiveness of their sins wander so far off course and become proud in boasting about their own achievements? Let’s be honest. We have all been there. We tend to plateau and linger a little bit too long on our own spiritual successes. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. This is a constant warning in Scripture because it is an all too pervasive problem.
Instead of acknowledging that our righteousness is not our own, we use our self-righteousness as the standard for judging others. We may not advocate for circumcision in our churches, but we certainly get caught up in the superficial things that give us a sense of pride and boasting.
How do we prevent this from happening? How do we ensure our foundation so that we don’t fall prey to self-righteousness? Paul instructs the Galatians to consider their own salvation (Galatians 3:1-6). How were we saved? Was it by our works? Was it after we had cleaned ourselves up and made ourselves presentable? If we were saved by grace, then we have nothing to boast about in and of ourselves.
We all need to linger a little bit longer at the foot of the cross. We should never get too far from the memory of our conversion. Our self-righteousness begins to look pretty pitiful when we compare it to the righteousness of Christ. This should continually prompt us to confess our sins and remind us of the one who cleanses us from all unrighteousness. We should exercise a faithful practice of remembering the gospel and remaining humble.
A Gospel Proclamation
If the seminary professors that I admire are to be believed, many of the future leaders of the Church will be unable to give a clear and concise definition of the gospel. If my own anecdotal evidence of curating sermons and books is true, many of our current church leaders can’t define the gospel either. Perhaps we are at the point where we need another Reformation.
We have become far too comfortable with talking ‘about’ the gospel that we have lost the ability to actually ‘articulate’ it. As I like to say, the Church sounds a lot like evangelical turkeys, “Gospel gospel gospel…gospel gospel gospel.” It is important that we sit down and actually consider a carefully thought out understanding of what the gospel actually means.
But even if we can confidently articulate the gospel, it is much harder to live it out. We may feel reassured that we are in the right theological camp, but are we walking in a manner that is worthy of the gospel?
This probably affects our proclamation more than we realize. How do generations of Christians lose sight of the gospel? It happens over time. A generation that proclaims the gospel but doesn’t live the gospel will raise a generation that hears the gospel but doesn’t see the gospel. In turn, they will consider the gospel to be irrelevant.
That is why I am constantly saying that we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. We need to hold ourselves accountable and remind ourselves of what Christ has done on our behalf. We listen to ourselves far more than we listen to anyone else. What we say to ourselves matters.
We also need to surround ourselves with people who will hold the gospel before us in their words and their deeds. That means that we need to be that same person for someone else. Paul tells us, “if anyone is caught in any transgression, (we) who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1). And we should, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
Finally, this work of preaching the gospel to ourselves and living it out in a gospel community should motivate us to boldly proclaim our faith to those who are lost. Imagine the witness we would be if we believed rightly and practiced what we believed.
Adam Miller is the President and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of
South Chatham Community Church.
You can hear his teaching on our daily broadcast on the radio or online, watch his preaching live on Facebook, and read his articles on our website.
