The Power of the Gospel

Rom 1:14-20

 

1. Already a half month has been passed in this New Year. What have you drawn in your white paper that God granted to you? You are not allowed to erase anything, but still you have enough space to draw for the beautiful work in this year 2007. Last Sunday I preached for you to courageously “arise and shine!” in this year. As I said, our church motto for this year is “Kalamazoo Korean Church brightly shining western Michigan,” shining especially three kinds of light: (1) the light of the Gospel, (2) the light of love, and (3) the light of truth. As church is nothing other than the body of members, the success or failure of our church objectives will significantly depend upon those of you individual members and your lives. During this first month of the year, I will consecutively preach on those three kinds of light to shine.

2. Today, I am going to preach to shine the light of the Gospel for saving souls in evangelism and mission. Paul is regarded as the best and greatest evangelist and missionary in the Christian history. Even though he was one of the greatest travelers of his day, he had never mentioned about scenery of the spectacular Mediterranean world and civilizations. Simply it was not his concern. His only interest was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not only Paul, the apostle of the gentiles, but also every early Christian who made a total dedication for spreading the Gospel even to death. As the result, in spite of sever persecutions and innumerable martyrs, it took three centuries to evangelize the Roman Empire and make the Roman emperor kneel down before Jesus Christ. It was an impossible mission, but it is finally achieved.

3. We also have shined the light of the Gospel to the Korean community in Kalamazoo area for the last 25 years and many souls are saved through our church. Still, we have many who are untouched by our church in this western Michigan area. In this year, may our congregation and every member lift the torch of the Gospel highly and shine its light more brightly, widely and powerfully than before on the whole western Michigan area and lead many souls to Christ from all four directions! In order to achieve our goal, we need to learn from Paul and early Christians.

4. Why did Paul and those early Christians dedicate themselves so fully for spreading the Gospel? Paul gives us three keys for the powerful success of evangelism in Rom 1. First, he regarded evangelism as mandatory obligation, not a matter of free choice, as he confessed that “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel.”(14-15) Paul even thought that no evangelism would result in the punishment of God: “When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”(1Cor 9:16) It is not the case only for Paul but for every genuine follower and servant of the Lord, for it is the greatest command of Christ. Jesus came to the world for this purpose to preach the Gospel and save humanity from slavery of sin to eternal life of truth and happiness. Christ committed this work of evangelism and salvation for us, His servants, to succeed and continue until its total fulfillment. Therefore, we have sinned to Him if we regarded it as free choice, not obligation. Personally I made a mistake. Last year, I have led the congregation from backside to avoid the mistake of pastoral leadership to go forward too far for congregation to follow. So, I controlled myself not to be engaged in direct evangelism, satisfying with preaching the Word of God every week. Still, it is my conviction that the right position of pastor is not too forward or too much behind. But, evangelism is obligation also for me. Every one of you who serve Jesus as your Lord has the obligation of evangelism. So, keep it this year in obedience to the Lord.

5. Second, he was not ashamed of the Gospel (16a) but so strongly proud of it. We humans are proud of our success, but we are ashamed of our failure. We are proud of our valuables, but we are ashamed of inferior things. Whenever we meet people and talk, we are strongly tempted to talk about our proud things and cannot resist control ourselves. Then, why don’t we introduce and talk about the Gospel? It is surely because the Gospel is not so proud thing to introduce in our deepest truth. Even if we consider some other factors, still we cannot deny our secular value system. What is the Gospel to you? Isn’t it true that the Gospel is the most precious treasure in your whole life? Isn’t it true that Jesus Christ is the most proud person to you? If so, why do we hesitate and avoid talk about the Gospel even when we have enough time and short of topic to talk? Why don’t we repeat the Gospel talk and invitation to believe our Lord, while we repeat our proud things even to make others boring? Isn’t it our shame to hide Jesus while calling Him our Lord? Meditate on your relationship with Christ, and if he is really your precious Lord, start to boast Him whenever you have opportunity to introduce. Paul boasted only the Gospel: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”(Gal 6:14) Of course, many people will not like it. But do you recognize that many people continue to listen even while they do not like your proud things to hear. Paul was chased out, smuggled out, laughed at, considered a fool, declared a blasphemer and lawbreaker, stoned and left for dead, and even imprisoned, but he was never intimidated or ashamed of the Gospel. He continued to spread the Gospel in every possible way until death stopped him. Our difficulty or shame would be too small to those of Paul and early Christians.

6. Third, he was confident that “the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”(16b) The Gospel changes man far more powerful than anything else in the world. Now, 2 billion people in the world accepted the Gospel and changed their lives. There is no more powerful thing in this world. Even a short presentation of the Gospel totally changes the course of life. In London, an avowed infidel Charles Bradlaugh once challenged Rev. H. P. Hughes to a debate on the Gospel, who accepted it with the condition that each party bring 100 witnesses. It changed to a testimony and evangelism meeting because Christian side easily found 100 witnesses while atheist side found none. The changes that the Gospel makes are fundamental and profound. They call Jesus as the personal Lord and dedicate their remaining life wholly to Him. God becomes their beloved Father, and they call Him Abba and have peace with God forever after. The Holy Spirit comes into their soul as their Paraclete. Their goal and way of life is totally reoriented. We humans are born without any agreement or intension, and nobody is sure what the right and un-repenting way of life is. No humans really knows the Way, Truth, and Life in the absolute sense. They only guess and wander. Immediately when anybody believes the Gospel, he or she is freed from the wrong way of life and start new life of genuine freedom and eternal happiness. The loving relationship with the triune God begins, and it results in new relationship of love with family and neighbors. Even though there are some man-made religions, the Gospel is the most powerful to change humanity to the best life. George Green, a missionary to Africa, reported a wonderful story. When he first approached a jungle tribe he and his crew were terrified by the sound of war drums on the river shores, but when he left Africa thousands of the same people presented beautiful farewell singing hymns from the river shores. It is not only his story alone. Such miracles are happening everyday. Everyday 166 thousands people accept the Gospel and experience its power to change life without any fear or hate.

7. Therefore, evangelism easily bears fruit when the time is right and the Holy Spirit works. Do not be afraid of evangelism. The result is according to the will of God, but it is our duty to simply to sow the seed of the Gospel: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season.”(2 Tim 4:2) In my experience, I was confronted with several people who confessed my sowing. It will bear fruit when time comes, if we continue to care and invite to the Lord. Fritz Kreisler, a world-famous violinist strongly wanted to buy an exquisite violin but could not because the collector wanted to keep it. After listening to his play of the violin, the owner was deeply moved and exclaimed: “It’s yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it.” You have the power to save people for eternal salvation, freedom and happiness. Why do you hide it deep inside? Arise and shine the light of the Gospel. Save many people as you can. Keep to spread the Gospel and you will change many people eternally.