Our Church has persevered in this LONG series entitled, "From Garden to Glory". It was/is an attempt to tell the whole story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It has been a desire on my part for several years; but I do admit, it's outside of my comfort zone in terms of teaching, and it is almost like remodeling: "It will take longer than you thought, and cost more than you hoped".
We are in the Epistles right now...trying to understand the way in which the early church saw the unfolding revelation of God's redemption - which they had just seen up close in Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension. The book of Acts serves as a historical picture of what they went through. That is one reason I'm including the two videos of Acts at the end of this blog.
What is absolutely clear in reading both Acts and the Epistles is that the GOSPEL of Jesus was, and therefore is, the message the Church proclaimed, and therefore must Proclaim today. In my years as a Pastor, teacher, professor, etc...I have noticed a shift in evangelicalism from the proclamation of the Gospel - which I remind you is summed up extremely well by Paul in Ephesians 2 - to an Arminian and sometimes downright Pelagian teaching which is heretical! Let me say that clearly and as strong as I can - the Church that does not declare the Gospel in its truth... is preaching a different Gospel "which is no Gospel at all" (Galatians 1:6-7).
Paul makes it very clear that the Gospel is a message of God's love at work in our Fallen nature that calls us and leads us to Salvation in Christ. That salvation in Christ Jesus is solely by God's Grace through Faith, both of which are gifts of God.
The Philips New Testament paraphrases the Greek really well:
Ephesians 2:1 - 10
To you, who were spiritually dead all
the time that you drifted along on the stream of this world's ideas of living,
and obeyed its unseen ruler (who is still operating in those who do not respond
to the truth of God), to you Christ has given life! We all lived like that in
the past, and followed the impulses and imaginations of our evil nature, being
in fact under the wrath of God by nature, like everyone else.
But even though we were dead in our sins, God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ - it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved - and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with him in Christ in the Heavens. Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve - it was God's gift to you. No one can pride himself upon earning the love of God. The fact is that what we are we owe to the hand of God upon us. We are born afresh in Christ, and born to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do.
Read that again...do you see the words: "God, rich in mercy, because of the great love he has for us, gave us life in Christ"?
Now realize...If you are one of those Christians who believes that the reason God the Father loves you is because Jesus died for you, you are turning the Gospel upside down. The real truth - Paul reminds us - is that the reason Christ died for you is because the Father loves you, and has loved you from all Eternity.
We walk a fine line...but it is one that we must walk, and we must guard it...all of eternity depends upon us in the Church to make the Gospel perfectly clear.
Watch these videos when/if you have time as they tell the story of the Church's growth as the Gospel is proclaimed in the early church.
We are in the Epistles right now...trying to understand the way in which the early church saw the unfolding revelation of God's redemption - which they had just seen up close in Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension. The book of Acts serves as a historical picture of what they went through. That is one reason I'm including the two videos of Acts at the end of this blog.
What is absolutely clear in reading both Acts and the Epistles is that the GOSPEL of Jesus was, and therefore is, the message the Church proclaimed, and therefore must Proclaim today. In my years as a Pastor, teacher, professor, etc...I have noticed a shift in evangelicalism from the proclamation of the Gospel - which I remind you is summed up extremely well by Paul in Ephesians 2 - to an Arminian and sometimes downright Pelagian teaching which is heretical! Let me say that clearly and as strong as I can - the Church that does not declare the Gospel in its truth... is preaching a different Gospel "which is no Gospel at all" (Galatians 1:6-7).
Paul makes it very clear that the Gospel is a message of God's love at work in our Fallen nature that calls us and leads us to Salvation in Christ. That salvation in Christ Jesus is solely by God's Grace through Faith, both of which are gifts of God.
The Philips New Testament paraphrases the Greek really well:
Ephesians 2:1 - 10
But even though we were dead in our sins, God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ - it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved - and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with him in Christ in the Heavens. Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve - it was God's gift to you. No one can pride himself upon earning the love of God. The fact is that what we are we owe to the hand of God upon us. We are born afresh in Christ, and born to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do.
Read that again...do you see the words: "God, rich in mercy, because of the great love he has for us, gave us life in Christ"?
Now realize...If you are one of those Christians who believes that the reason God the Father loves you is because Jesus died for you, you are turning the Gospel upside down. The real truth - Paul reminds us - is that the reason Christ died for you is because the Father loves you, and has loved you from all Eternity.
We walk a fine line...but it is one that we must walk, and we must guard it...all of eternity depends upon us in the Church to make the Gospel perfectly clear.
Watch these videos when/if you have time as they tell the story of the Church's growth as the Gospel is proclaimed in the early church.
Comments