Christian Living

Living the Gospel

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
07/16/21
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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

The Apostle John identifies Jesus, the second member of the Godhead, the Son of God for who He is the Word of God. He was with God from the beginning, and He was God. As the Word of God, He created all that there was, and without Him, nothing came into being. “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:3) As we read Genesis, we see all was spoken into existence by the Word of God except the man who was formed by God’s hand from the dust. (Genesis 1) Not only this small speck that humanity lives upon, but Jesus also created the foundations of the earth and created all that is in the heavens above the earth. “And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands.” (Hebrews 1:10)

Jesus as the Word of God is God’s messenger to humanity, and He is God’s Good News that through Him man can through God’s grace receive the gift of God’s salvation by the work that Jesus did on the cross nearly two thousand years ago. That Jesus came and told of the Kingdom that is to come, lived a perfectly righteous life, sacrificed Himself as the Lamb of God, and paid the wage of our sin on the Roman cross. Died as was buried and on the third day was raised from the grave that we can receive eternal life by trusting His work on the cross as an atonement for our sins and following Him in faith. “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10)

Jesus is God’s Word before the beginning and therefore is the absolute truth and came to testify to that truth. His testimony of truth before Pilate on the day of His crucifixion, and those who know the truth, will hear Jesus’ voice this day and the great day to come. “Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:37)

Jesus, the Word of God, God’s good news for man came from his throne in the Kingdom of God to the neighborhood of man here on earth. He once ruled the heavenly host as a supreme deity; he now became His creation as a man. Yet He was fully God and fully man, and He came to learn empathy with man and life as a creature and not as the Creator. He came here into our world and lived as a man facing and resisting the same temptations as His creation. “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

He knows the trials and tribulations that we have, and He was able to overcome them that we too, through His strength, can overcome this world. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) It’s the example of a loving Savior that He did not wait for humanity to become righteous but came that through Him humanity could become righteous. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Man cannot earn his salvation through good works or obedience to the Law of God, and man receives salvation through the grace of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

The Word of God, the good news of Jesus became like a man and lived amongst us that through Him we might know the way, the truth, and the life to be restored to a right relationship with God our Creator. The Word of God became a man as we. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) He was God, and He was a man. He emptied Himself of His deity and became a servant of man that men may find and have abundant life now and forever. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:5-7)

The call that we have as followers of Jesus Christ follows the example He has shown us. We are to love God and our neighbor by His Word and our obedience to His Word. We are to be lights of His truth that others will be drawn to His truth and find salvation from the sinners we all are. He is God’s Word, God’s message to humanity, and we grow in His image to be His message to a darkened world. As followers of Christ, we’re transformed from our old self into a new self, the image of Jesus by the power of His Spirit. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Jesus promised all who believe in Him a Holy Spirit to counsel us into all truth, the truth of His Word. His Spirit dwells within us and guides our every step, His Spirit of power that enables us to do the work of His Kingdom. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit that testifies with our spirit that we are His and a child of the Father, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:16) That He and the Father are One, and He is in us, as we are one with Him. “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:20) Jesus is God’s Word, God’s message to us. God’s witness to us, and we are to be His witness to the world. We are to live His gospel message in our household, in our neighborhood, and in the uttermost parts of the world. “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)

In no way do I say that living the message of Jesus is easy. It is a life filled with trials and persecutions, as the world hated Him and will also hate us. But it is our purpose to live and speak His message to every ear that will hear as their very life depends upon it. If people ever hope to see God, the God of love and justice, then the message of Jesus is the only way. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

Jesus had invested His Kingdom in twelve Apostles, and if they had failed, we would not be having this conversation. They did not fail, they were faithful, and the Church has prevailed as Jesus said it would and shall until it is called out of the world to meet Him in the clouds. Till then, we must live the gospel message that others may come to know the Word of God and receive their salvation. The gospel is a simple message and is the hope that men are searching for. “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:13-14)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, January 18, 2018