There was a strong current in the Early Church by some that wanted to make every new believer in Jesus just like Jewish believers and require them to follow the law of Moses for salvation. Peter was confronted by “the grace of God [and] was glad” through Cornelius and his house (Acts 11:23). When the church in Jerusalem heard what God did by giving the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles also (15:8) and that they “will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus” as well (15:11), there was nothing more to say except confirm the mighty work of God.
About the same time as this council in Jerusalem, Paul heard that some false teachers were spreading a false gospel based on fulfilling the Law rather than being saved by grace. Paul had been directly involved with Barnabas in planting these churches in Galatia. With spiritual jealousy for this work of God, he writes his first letter to the Galatians confronting these false teachers and their undermining the grace of God in these precious souls. What they were teaching caused believers in these churches to “quickly desert Him who called them in the grace of Christ and turn to a different gospel…wanting to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). As those who have come to value the grace of God, it is imperative that we allow the Spirit in us to discern subtle deviations from grace that eventually brings the soul into legalism, law; bondage. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). So many fear this freedom because they think it leads to license for sin. If we “walk by the Spirit, [we] will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (5;16). The challenge we have is submitting to Spirit’s control.
0 Comments
While this subject could fill volumes, I want to summarize two aspects about this immense subject. What is this gospel and how important was it to the Apostle Paul?
There are two verses that summarize this wonderful theme that we have from God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Those two phrases (underlined) are what most people trip over because they think there is something they must do to merit (earn) such a gift, especially when we consider our hideous sins against a holy God. Why must this gospel be a gift? “So that no one may boast” (2:9). God must receive all the glory for saving us from eternal judgment and adopting us. How important is this gospel to Paul? “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). We have all received the command of Jesus to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Though Paul was not there when Jesus said this, the authority of it was communicated to him by the Holy Spirit and his life meant nothing apart from proclaiming “gospel of the grace of God.” I am left with no option but to proclaim this message in and through my life. The motivation first comes from the Spirit’s work in me and then a realistic understanding of God’s grace and what it has done for me. Do you have the same motivation? In this blog I want to back up to one of the first references to the “gospel.” There are only three direct allusions to the “gospel of the kingdom” in the New Testament and they are all in Matthew’s Gospel. The first two are recorded in Matthew 4:23 and 9:35. In these Jesus goes into “the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction” (9:35). The proclamation or preaching was accompanied with a physical evidence of the “rule and authority” of the King of the kingdom. Those who heard and those who received healing did not all realize who Jesus was; their Messiah and King.
The Jews of Jesus’ day were expecting a Messiah who would come and deliver them from the oppressive rule of Rome, much like the Israelites experienced under Moses when they were delivered from Egypt. What they did not understand was that this gospel was proclaiming a deliverance from the moral oppression of sin within the heart. There was only one way for anyone to come under this rule; through REPENTANCE. “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”” (Mark 1:14–15). Yes, the time had come for the deliverance of all mankind, but they could only come under this rule one way; through repentance. The rule and authority of God’s kingdom is not based on our fulfilling the Old Covenant Law given through Moses or working our way into favor with God, but through “the law of the Spirit of life [that] has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). The old law could not do this. Most of our problems today are that we resist coming under this divine authority and moral rule because we still want to control our lives instead of releasing complete control to God the Spirit. The path to this deliverance is very simple! REPENT! Down through the centuries mankind has looked for peace. Treaties have been made between nations and broken, wars have been fought for peace, and families have been destroyed by continual conflict and lack of peace. Individuals have come to a sad end because they could not find peace. Paul quotes from Isaiah 59:8, “the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:17-18).
Any peace without having the foundation of “the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15) is at best very temporary. Zechariah prophesied that John the Baptist would be a prophet who pointed to “the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light…to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:78-79). Without God intervening, we have no way of finding lasting peace. We were “dead in trespasses and sins…separated from Christ, alienated… strangers…having no hope and without God in the world…who were far off” (Ephesians 2:1, 12). It had to come through His Son. “For He Himself is our peace” (2:14). How is it that God can offer us peace; we who were His enemies? “We shall be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:9-10). How do we understand this peace that God has given us in his Son, Jesus Christ? Perhaps we see the most hypocrisy to this peace within the Church. Because many Christians fail to live in the power of the Spirit, their lives are peppered with conflict; within families, the Church, and with the world. Paul reminds us that “to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (8:6). The full scope of the gospel cannot be grasped unless we are letting the Spirit continually instruct and feed our understanding (John 14:26; 16:13). When we fully depend on the Spirit, we will see the “the gospel of peace” work in us, and then have an influence on those around us. The other day I was alerted by a prayer request from someone who has his heart set on reaching a people group that has never been reached. Here is his prayer request:
“Pray that my team and I will be fitted with the “readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” and that we will clearly know the right time to go.” He is quoting from Ephesians 6:15 which is in the context of “taking up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (6:13). The larger context is the great “mystery” of the gospel of pure grace reaching all people groups so we “are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (2:22; 3:4). This man and his team are wanting to be “ready, prepared as with the proper equipment” and go at the right time. In our day, there are different types of shoes for almost any activity. Going back to the Scripture in Ephesians 6, we are looking at the requirements of a soldier of Jesus Christ. His shoes must be made to “stand firm” under any conditions. Sharing the gospel is not a half-hearted endeavor. At times the soil is ready to receive the messenger and the message, while at other times the ground is hard and resistant. For the soldier of Christ, he cannot have the helmet, shield, sword and breastplate and poor shoes. “All Scripture…is profitable…that the man of God may be complete, equipped, for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Walking in the gospel is a must! Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7 in Romans 10:15; “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.” From all these references we must conclude that there is a beauty to demonstrating the gospel as part of our being, anywhere, everywhere, anytime, all the time. A true soldier never has a part-time commitment to their Master. He is in the service of Christ fully equipped and ready! ARE YOU? While we wonder at the marvels of God’s physical creation, far greater is the wisdom He has displayed in what is spiritual – new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We see this wisdom in the simplicity of the gospel. “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). The plan of salvation that began before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20) demonstrates the wisdom of God at the cross. It was not the way Jews wanted deliverance, and certainly defied the wisdom on man.
God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9). It is no wonder Paul reminds us that “God made foolish the wisdom of the world” (1 Corinthians 1:20). Man, with the natural mind “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (2:14). This is why understanding salvation requires the Holy Spirit working in us (John 3:5). Man without God thinks that preaching the gospel is foolish, but “God through wisdom [is] pleased…through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). After twenty-five years of preaching on the streets of Oakland and San Francisco, suffering the mocking of men and women, I am still grateful for being able to present the gospel. I am reminded over and over that it is the work of the Spirit that transforms darkness to light, and the power of Satan to the power of God in the gospel (Acts 26:18). Is the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit awakening a new movement in missions today? Joshua Project gives us some staggering statistics that should make us stop and reexamine our methods of reaching people groups and establishing new believers. Today there are over 5 billion non-believers in the world. Mission efforts are not keeping up with population growth. While general population growth rates have slightly decreased from 1960 at 2% per year to 1.2% in 2018, the growth rate of Bible believing Christians in the same year span has dropped from around 6% down to 3.1%. Should this cause us to ask the Lord, where we have missed the effectiveness of the Early Church?
At the same time “the Lord is birthing something amazing that may completely change the equation. Rapid reproducing Church Planting Movements (also called Disciple Making Movements) have begun to develop with an annual growth rate far higher than general population growth. That is something to get excited about.” (Joshua Project) This information comes to us at a very important time for New Foundations International. In the last few months we have received questions from the field that caused us to begin working on new training material called God’s Plan for His Disciples. The purpose of this book is to help evangelists and church planters immediately disciple new converts so they quickly become established in their faith in the Lord Jesus and rely on the Holy Spirit to give them understanding. Please stand with us in prayer as we go through the development phase of this material. If you are interested in this new training and equipping tool, or if you are willing to pray for God’s help in completing the new training manual, please let us know at newfoundationsinternational@gmail.com. While this blog often points to the deficiencies in missions and planting indigenous churches, we must not overlook movements that are taking place. These should encourage us and stimulate more urgency on our part to promote existing movements and initiate new ones.
“In the last few years, several thousand church planting movements have begun to emerge. At least 650 of these have reached a stage of consistent 5th generation churches in multiple streams. Some movements have reported up to 20 generations of churches. These movements involve over 50 million new disciples in 2.8 million small, new house churches. At least 90% of these movements are among unreached people groups. Average annual growth rate in these movements is often 20% or higher, vastly exceeding the general population annual growth rate.” (Source: Joshua Project, Business as Usual? March 2018). Characteristics of a Church Planting Movement • New disciples are gathered into small, rapidly multiplying churches. • Discipleship focus is on obedience and patterns each disciple can facilitate and replicate. • Emphasize discipling families and social units, not just individuals. • Develop indigenous leadership. • Have at least four generations of churches in multiple streams. • Sustained multiplication after the fourth generation. • Fruitful movements multiply new movements. This gives us encouragement, but also challenges us as to whether we are participating in these movements of God; making sure we contribute through personal involvement, fervent prayer, and financial contributions where it will really make a difference. There is a principle we find in Scripture that is often violated in our missionary methods today. Before I explain what is meant by this statement, let’s look at an example from the ministry of Jesus and cite some from Paul.
“The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with Him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him” (Luke 8:38–39). It would have been wonderful for this man to leave his town and be with Jesus, but it was more important that he become an instant evangelist in his own city. God has always worked through the “oikos” (household) or villages to spread the gospel. Consider Cornelius; he “had called together his relatives and close friends…While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word” (Acts 10:24, 44). After hearing Paul, “The Lord opened [Lydia’s] heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” Then she and her household (“oikos”) was baptized (16:14-15). The same was true of the jailor in 16:29-34. Why is this so important for us to grasp? So many missionary efforts attempt to extract new believers from their families and places and relocate them in a “Christian environment” with a “Western” culture. This steals the opportunity for the new convert to influence and expand the gospel in their indigenous setting. Rick Wood (Mission Frontier, 2018 MAR/APR, page 4) points to “the danger of extracting new believers from their native culture, family, community and people to join a new artificial family of faith, thereby destroying the natural “bridge of God” for the gospel that this person could provide.” Be careful not to hinder indigenous movements of God. “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54b–55). There is no answer from death! It has been robbed of its power and its purpose has been emptied! For those who believe, this is absolute victory!
Peter declares in his first preaching, “God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). The Holy Spirit gave Peter very clear understanding of what Jesus had said in John 10:17-18. Not only did Jesus have the authority to rise from the grave, God the Father was there at the tomb; the Godhead working together in this one event that confirmed the purpose of God from before the foundations of the world and changing for all eternity the hope of all who believe! The world that has rejected Jesus will never understand the power and implication of resurrection. But “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Romans 6:9). The question we must answer is whether we understand its power and implications for us personally. After Paul says that he is crucified with Christ, he affirms that “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). “Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). “So, you also must consider yourselves…alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). If the truth we have presented in the last few days is not confirmed in your heart and not evoking a flood of praise for what God has done for you, something is seriously wrong. We ask that you get alone with God and humbly ask the Holy Spirit to open your understanding. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). |
Archives
December 2023
Link To Our Old Blog:
|