After 25 years in ministry, traveling to 32 countries, and preaching to folks in every conceivable setting and denomination, I have concluded that the best, most helpful advice I can give to pastors and leaders is 3 simple words:
PREACH THE GOSPEL
There are other important things I could suggest. Take a vacation. Pray more frequently. Guard your health. Love your family. All good advice, to be sure, and we must do these things. But the gospel is essential and eternal. It stands over and above every other consideration for a leader’s life because our love of, and devotion to the gospel frames and fuels every decision we make and every passion we pursue in life.
What is the gospel? Though there are various ways we live out and proclaim it (patience, gentleness, longsuffering, preaching, teaching, witnessing), the gospel is essentially two things.
1. A story to tell– It is the story of what God did (and is doing) for humanity through Jesus Christ. As the early church declared, “Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.” It’s the testimony that Jesus loved us enough to take our place on the cross and that He rose from the grave defeating death. People cannot resist this story.
2. A Person to know– The gospel is the Person of Jesus Christ. He is loving, forgiving, gentle, and compassionate. He is the best friend we could ever have. He protects us, guides us, grieves with us, and stands by us. Knowing Him is “eternal life.” (John 17:3)
Why must we center our lives around the proclamation of this good news?
1. Jesus told us to– Jesus made His ministry about the gospel. He Himself was and is the good news. He says in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” He also commanded His followers in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
2. People need it– Ministry is about meeting peoples needs (plain and simple). And the greatest need a human being will ever have is to be redeemed from sin reconciled to God. The gospel speaks to all needs and issues; addiction, financial ruin, depression, discouragement, divorce, anxiety, bitterness, disappointment, identity, direction and destiny.
3. It’s our only hope– The gospel is the story of God’s love for humanity fully expressed in Jesus Christ. It tells us that our sins can be forgiven, we can start over, and we can live a new and better life. It promises us a relationship with God, a community of love with our sisters and brothers, and eternity in heaven. There is no political party, social program, or financial system that can even come close to what the gospel can do.
We are people of the good news! We must receive and believe this good news every day for ourselves, then live out and proclaim it to those God has called us to serve.
Comments
January 30 2012
Ty
Where does understanding we are a creation of a loving God and created in the image of God with the capacity to love and be loved by God and the capacity to move toward loving others as God loved fit in? Just curious. Ty
February 9 2012
Delina
People need the gospel:
I can’t seem to forget what happened this morning. I started conversation with two people I didn’t know and one of them asked something like, “Who are you, how do you see yourself. What is your life about.” My answer was that my identity is in God. As the conversation coutinued I reliezed how confused they were concerning their faith.
It is such a tragedy to see first hand how lost people are without God and how desperately they want their soul to be fed.
February 10 2012
Jason
Christ is Risen!
Ty, a Jewish religious teacher once asked Christ what he must do to get eternal life. (see Luke chapter 10) Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law?” The man answered with a passage from the Old Testament: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” Jesus said that all God’s commandments boil down to one single command. Love. Since mankind was created in God’s image, Christ plainly taught that loving our neighbor is the same thing as loving God in Matthew 25. In Luke ch. 10, He again taught us to take care of the needy people around us to get eternal life.
The single, ultimate command in Christianity is to love. Keep in mind Christ’s answer when he was directly asked how to acquire eternal life. He said nothing about faith. Faith is still very important, and there are many passages in Scripture that show faith’s important role in our salvation. For instance John 3:16, “... God gave his only Son that all who believe in Him might have eternal life.” As we spread the gospel, the message of the divitity, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is vitally important. However, love is even more important. The Scriptures say, “of faith, hope, and love the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
Growing up, I was taught that if I would just believe more then God’s love will work in me. I’m starting to think now that the reality of the situation is the opposite. The more we love the more God will fill us with the Spirit and with faith.
May the God of peace guard your heart and mind,
Jason
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