The Power of God

The Church suffers from a lack of belief in the Gospel. I know that sounds absurd, especially considering that it's the Gospel that saves and those who believe the Gospel are those who make up the church. But nevertheless, many Christians seem to be okay believing the Gospel when it comes to their salvation, but not when it comes to anyone else's. It seems that many within the church expect individuals in the world to behave like Christians, or at least for them to behave morally despite them living apart from the gospel. This very idea is what I am referring to, when I say, the Church suffers from a lack of belief in the Gospel. Let me now make my case. 

  We must start at the beginning, God creates everything, and everything is good, but within a very short time this all changes. The fall, that moment where man decides it is not enough to be in the image of God and under His law, and instead decides, no we must be God and be a law unto ourselves. From that first bite, man has been at war with God and the human heart has been doing everything possible to convince us we can be in charge. But God being rich in mercy did not leave us to our own destruction. Instead He promised a redeemer, one who would right all our wrongs and take upon Himself the very punishment we deserve. Through this Savior, salvation would come to all those who turn away from their sin and trust in Him. From Adam up until Jesus, salvation looks forward, to the Savior who will come to rescue man from our sinful condition. It was this hope and faith in a future Savior that was the source of salvation for all, the Good News of what God will do! Since Jesus was born to a virgin, lived, died and rose again, he is now the source of salvation, the Good News of what God has done! Apart from this faith in Christ, salvation is not possible, and man remains a slave to our sinful and wicked nature. 

  But do we really believe that apart from Jesus we are sinful, wicked, evil, idolatrous, God hating, incapable of doing good, with our minds always set on death? The answer is no, most of us do not. I make this charge based on much of what I have seen over the last few days as Christians search for answers to wickedness apart from the Gospel itself. I think we can all agree that the death of George Floyd, and the rioting and the looting that followed were all evil events. But the calls for solutions to this evil in the world from professing Christians shocked me! Seriously, because as Christians we should not be looking to the world for answers, it's the world that is the cause of the problem. No, we are the ones that have the answer; the solution and the answer is the Gospel itself. 

  This is where our lack of belief comes in. We've believed the Gospel for ourselves but, when it comes to others for some reason it isn't even an option that's on the table. The idea that the Gospel itself is the very power of God unto salvation doesn't seem to get much attention. Instead we join the world in crying out helplessly, asking for answers, and mourning as if we have the same exact vantage point. But we don't. If you are a Christian then you are living proof that there is an answer. You are a living testimony of the power of God in taking something that was once dead and making it alive. Why in the world would the living seek the dead for help in giving life? If you can believe in the Gospel for yourself, then you have to believe it is the only hope for everyone else. You and I know, that apart from God reaching down and turning our hearts from stone to flesh, we would still be in our sin, and just as lost as the rest of the world. 

  I remember reading through Romans 1 and getting to verse 15 when the question jumped in my head, "Paul, why are you so desperate to go and preach the Gospel to Christians?" Then in reading verses 16 and 17, it all came together. The Gospel itself is the power of God to bring us to salvation, this is the first part, only the Gospel has the power to transform hearts, only the Gospel has the power to bring the dead to life, and Christian, we must stop being ashamed of it if we really want to see change! To look elsewhere for answers is to forget the beginning of the story. It is to think that somehow there's another way to be made right with God. The goal cannot be for us to just get along, because apart from Him we can't! The human heart remains sinful, wicked, evil, idolatrous, God hating, incapable of doing good; with our minds always being set on death. We need a new heart which will only come through the Gospel itself. 

  That was verse 16, but in verse 17 I was reminded why we as Christians need the Gospel preached to us regularly, because in it, the Gospel, the righteousness of God, is revealed. You and I are prone to forget, that's why we continue to look for answers elsewhere, we have been saved and now we have the tendency to have amnesia when it comes to our own natural state. But when we hear the Gospel it reminds us of who God is, why Jesus had to die, how wicked we are and how hopeless our circumstances are apart from Him. This same Gospel that saves, directs us to cling to Him and depend on Him for everything.

As Paul argues in Galatians, are we so foolish to think that which we started by the Spirit we can finish in the flesh? The answer is, yes, we are that foolish, and so we need to have the Gospel preached to us as much as we need to preach it to others. I know, for many, it's not the answer they want, it's not the way they would choose to fix society. But look around, does it look like their ways have been working? Of course not, but where the Gospel has gone forward, life has followed, and where it is quenched, death is lurking. So Christian, believe the Gospel, proclaim that which you believe if you truly desire to see change, because only the power of God is able to do that which is necessary to bring to life that which is dead.