The Urgent Gospel

We will never know whether it is God’s time until we offer Him our time. It is easy to say that the world lies in ruins, but hard to put on a builder’s clothes and rebuild it. The gospel is the best clothing, the best tool, the best brick. I see this often on my missionary journeys.

Idolaters surrender to Christ through the power of the Spirit, adulterers put their marriages back together, atheists embrace faith. The gospel is the power of God (Rom 1:16), not our power. Our duty is to preach it. The trouble with preaching is that we do not live consistently with the faith we claim to have. Many say they feel a passion for the lost, but that is not enough. Passion is nothing unless it is put into practice, unless it becomes compassion and, finally, action. It is a matter of practical faith.

The Christian’s first dilemma is faith. The first question of a Christian who makes their heart ready to serve God is: “Lord, what do You want from me? How do You want to use me?” You can be sure that God will delight in answering you and will take care of redeeming the time you need to serve Him, rearrange the schedules you devised, and pour a flood of joy into your heart. God has a field sown all around you, but it needs workers who hold the Bible in one hand and the plow in the other to bring in the harvest. Faith and practice; in that order.

Someone said that we are agents of hope in a postmodern society. Another said that “hope is the oxygen of the soul.” We know what we are, but we do not put it into practice; we have the very best and do not share it. Imagine yourself surrounded by people dying of hunger, while you stand among them knowingly carrying the best food for their empty stomachs; yet you remain motionless, passive, withdrawn, somewhat absorbed in yourself, as if absent. If we do not believe that the gospel has power, we will be complicit in many deaths. This thought may seem frightening and exaggerated, but the gospel is clear, and you need to understand this reality. A heart regenerated by the power of the gospel must be sensitive to helping God regenerate other hearts. Paul said: “… when I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, since I am under an obligation to do so. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16 NIV).

If we truly are “the people of God,” we are committed to Him. Commitment means involvement: saturating the world with the love and values of His Kingdom. As we do so, as we offer God some of our time, we will not only grow more but also see more of God’s glory in our Christian lives. We must believe that “…the one who is in you is more powerful than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

I have a dear friend to whom I have spoken about Jesus many times. Although he says he has faith (intellectual faith) and understands the message, he says Christianity is not relevant in these times because it has been discredited by so many phony “Christians who make a living off the whole thing.” Although I know God is working in his heart, I find it difficult to move him from intellectual faith to saving faith in Christ. I know that is the Holy Spirit’s work, not mine. But his argument troubles me because I know there is much truth in it. Christianity will be relevant in a society to the extent that we get involved with integrity. And the gospel remains urgent, despite our passivity and our fears. We simply have to get involved, beyond mere commitment. Commitment without involvement is just empty talk. This sense of urgency propels our sense of duty, and that feeling leads us to say to Jesus, “I want to go! I want to be where You are!”

I invite you to climb aboard the gospel train; in the locomotive or the last carriage, it does not matter. What matters is your desire to give oxygen to many souls with the hope of Christ. Perhaps right now you are thinking of so many thirsty people who could quench their thirst with just one drop of living water. You have prayed for them, but now take a step of faith. Can you not see the angels already preparing the celebration in heaven?

May God bless His Word!