09 27 07 Let’s be Serious

“Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.”
(1 Corinthians 15:1-2 NET Bible)

Just for once, let’s be serious. Paul is addressing the carnal Corinthians and has finished answering a series of questions posed to him. Now he goes on to challenge them. Is the Gospel really clear to them……is it clear to us? This is a challenging, yet very serious question even today. With all the means we have to hear the Gospel and see it lived out, are we hearing and seeing the real Gospel, or a phony representation of the Truth?

I must admit, I am very suspicious of many people who simply declare I am a Christian yet so no evidence of ever hearing or believing in God’s Word. Let’s be serious, the Gospel is not a promise of good health, a providing husband, a lovely wife, a dependable job, or a new home for our family. It doesn’t promise us happiness or great health. It doesn’t guarantee a college education for our kids or a life free of trouble. The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of man’s sin! We must believe it all, not part of it. No death; no resurrection; no resurrection; no forgiveness of sin. It’s God’s promise from back in Genesis 3:15 and reiterated throughout the Old and New Testament. It’s what the Old Testament saints looked toward and what we look back upon.

Paul pleads with the Corinthian brothers and sisters (believers) to hold firm to their belief; unless they believed in vain (without cause or without effect). Maybe it’s just the way God wired me, but I want to know for sure if you are a believer. I want to know I’ll see you in eternity. I don’t want you to be thinking you know Jesus and that’s it, you just know of Him! Please, we must be serious about the message of Paul here!

Is our belief in the Gospel simply a statement we made to please others, to wipe away emotional guilt, to satisfy a need for relationship, or was it a heartfelt desire to be free from the penalty and guilt of my sin and to seek a relationship with our Creator God through Jesus Christ, our only hope?

We can’t lead others to Christ and leave them dangling at the foot of the cross asking what now? We have to take seriously the role we play in the Gospel. We have to teach the Truth, challenge one another to love and good deeds, to a deeper relationship with the Lord and with one another, and a serious belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus had not gotten out of the grave, we’d all be hopeless. But HE GOT UP! What are we doing to convince a world of the real Truth? There is no room for compromise. Let’s be serious!