THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The purpose of the Gospel is to bring the good news of God’s salvation offer through His Son Jesus to all people of the world so that they might not perish in their sins but rather have everlasting life. This is what we looked at in yesterday’s message drawn from the first two verses of 1 Corinthians 15.

We learn from the purpose of the Gospel that salvation hinges on Jesus, the Savior of the world, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:19), the only One who can bring a person to God the Father (John 14:6).

In other words, Jesus is the heart of the Gospel.

This is the message we find the Apostle Paul sharing as he continues to write to the Corinthian believers in chapter 15. Here’s what he said:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Note that the Gospel wasn’t something constructed by Paul. He was only passing on what he had received. Paul had heard the good news of salvation himself after his Damascus moment with Jesus (see Acts 9:1-19) and when he chose to believe and follow Jesus, he also responded to the Great Commission with absolute commitment, heading out on four different missionary journeys to try and make disciples of all nations. One of those missionary journeys brought him to Corinth and he shared the good news of salvation through Jesus as a point of first importance. Nothing was more significant than helping the Corinthians to be saved.

Well, just in case the church in Corinth had forgotten Paul’s Gospel message, he gives them a refresher in our verses for today. Here’s a summation of what he wrote:

1. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

The coming of Jesus was foretold well before He actually was sent by God from Heaven to earth. The prophets told of a coming Messiah who would deliver the people of Israel. When Jesus came, He proclaimed Himself as the long awaited Messiah and made it clear as to why He had come. A holy, once and for all, atoning sacrifice was needed in order to pardon the sins of mankind. An animal wouldn’t do.

This sacrifice had to be perfectly sinless and no person on earth lived up to that qualification. Only God could provide the One who could achieve His salvation purpose and that One was Jesus, His Son, the man who represents the heart of the Gospel.

2. He was buried (and) that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

Jesus told of what would happen to Him. Here’s what He said:

When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.” Matthew 17:22-23

Jesus’ words became a part of the scriptures and everything He said would happen, did happen. After His death by crucifixion on Calvary’s cross, Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus where it remained until the third day. At dawn that day, women went to the tomb to anoint it but found the tomb empty. An angel asked them why they were looking for the living among the dead because Jesus was very much alive, resurrected by His Father God.

3. He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Jesus didn’t just rely on the angel’s words convincing people He was still alive. He revealed Himself in person, first to the women who had come to pay Him honor, then to Peter (Cephas) before He appeared to His other chose disciples. He then showed Himself to more than 500 believers, James, to all the apostles, and then to Paul himself.

Many saw that Jesus had come back to life just as He said He would. They were eyewitnesses to the revelation of God’s salvation promise fulfilled through Jesus, His Son.

Today, we are still celebrating Jesus and the salvation we have in Him. In return, He continues to reveal Himself more and more to us through the scriptures. One day, we will be with Him forever and inherit the new kingdom of God because our eternal hope is secure through Christ, the Savior who is the heart of the Gospel. 

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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THE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Gospel.

It’s at the very core of Christianity and it is the only hope for every person. The only hope.

The Gospel was initiated by the One who initiated everything, and we know that is God. The first verse of Genesis begins with these four words:

In the beginning, God.

Nothing else was in existent in the beginning. Not earth or any other planet or star for that matter. Not one single person or animal or bird or creature of the sea.

There was only God, a God of incredible, unrivaled power, a God who was and is the Master and Maker of all creation, a God who hates sin but instead of leaving mankind forsaken and destined for Hell, He chose to show His unbelievable, unfailing love, mercy, and grace by making a way so that every person could be saved. Here’s how Jesus explained this intentional act of redemption:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Jesus is telling the world why He was sent by His Father. God knew that sin had separated all created people from Him. Without divine intervention in the form of a permanent act of sin atonement, everyone was destined for perish.

And so God made the way to send salvation and He did so through Jesus. To be saved, a person only needs to believe in Jesus as Savior. This is the purpose of the Gospel, the Gospel that the Apostle Paul dedicated his life to.

As we turn to the opening two verses of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, we find Paul doing what he did best, talking about the Gospel with believers, in this case the Christians in Corinth. Here’s what he said:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

It’s obvious that Paul wanted to remind the Corinthian church about the purpose of the Gospel, the Gospel He preached to them when he planted the church, the Gospel on which the believers had taken a stand.

What was the Gospel’s purpose?

It was to save, to save the Corinthian Christians just as much as it saved every other Christian who placed their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus, the Savior of the world.

But note that accepting the salvation offer of God through Jesus doesn’t give a person the latitude to live in sin because they know they have secured eternal life. Rather, they were to live the life that Jesus lives, following the word preached to them by Paul. To do otherwise would have sent the message that the Corinthian Christians believed in vain. Further, it would have shown a lack of appreciation for what Jesus had done to bring salvation, possibly making Him feel that He died in vain and no one should ever do this. Ever.

So the purpose of the Gospel was to provide the opportunity for salvation to all people who would believe in His Son Jesus, the One He sent to die for their sins. Without Jesus, there is no salvation and we’ll look at this closer in tomorrow’s message.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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PROPER WORSHIP (PART 4)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

God's message did not start with you people, and you are not the only ones it has reached.

If you think of yourself as a prophet or a spiritual person, you will know I am writing only what the Lord has commanded. So don't pay attention to anyone who ignores what I am writing.

My friends, be eager to prophesy and don't stop anyone from speaking languages that others don't know.

But do everything properly and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:36-40 CEV

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians ends, so too does this four message series on proper worship as Paul addresses the Christians in Corinth.

As we look at verses 36 through 38, we get a sense that not all of the Corinthians were receptive of the content found within Paul’s letter. In fact, the feel is that some in the church felt they knew better about what God wanted the church to be than Paul who had served extensively as the Lord’s messenger and prophet. We find him issuing a challenge to those believers as he proclaims:

“God's message did not start with you people, and you are not the only ones it has reached.”

In other words, the Corinthian church wasn’t operating in a vacuum. It wasn’t that they had some special privilege with God that other churches didn’t have. No, the church in Corinth was a part of the bigger body of Christ, one Christian church of many at that time and Paul was a messenger to nearly all of them. After all, he was the one who planted them in the first place.

This gave Paul a unique place as a missionary who also was empowered by God to establish churches and then provide instruction to them. In fact, Paul challenged the spiritual status of those who would doubt the validity of his word. He asserted that any spiritual person or prophet would know he spoke truth, only writing what the Lord commanded him to share. Therefore, anyone who rejected what he shared in his letters was essentially rejecting God Himself and therefore should be ignored with no attention given to any accusation of untrustworthiness directed at Paul’s messages.  

With this out of the way, Paul shares the final guidance on proper worship and it was simple. Everything was supposed to be proper and in order.

Attend any church service today and you will typically find they are orderly and proper. In fact, I know the phrase, “Order of Worship”, has been used consistently to describe how the elements of worship are arranged from beginning to end.

This ordering of service will vary depending on the denomination of the Christian church one attends. The more traditional Christian churches like the Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches will have a very regimented and rigid order of service that rarely, if ever, changes. Other more contemporary services may be more flexible and free flowing, especially the non-denominational churches.

Note Paul doesn’t call the church to any particular worship layout. That isn’t the main emphasis. There is great latitude in how the service is laid out but what isn’t negotiable is that the worship needs to be proper and orderly.

In the end translation, the style of worship and the way it is structured isn’t as important as making sure the service is focused on honoring and revering our Lord, the One whom we worship, the only One worthy of all our praise.

Through the last four messages, we have looked at some guidance on worship but it certainly isn’t all inclusive. We should intentionally seek and find all guidance in the scriptures and then commit to carry them out perfectly because our Lord deserves nothing but the best we can offer.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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PROPER WORSHIP (PART 3)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

...as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

1 Corinthians 14:33b-35

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are places in the Bible that quickly cause a debate and today we have come to one such place but before I get into these words from Bible regarding proper worship, there are some things to say in advance.

First, since the great fall in Eden’s garden, mankind has sinned against God. Adam and Eve got it all started when they decided to eat from the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Everything else was permitted and God had provided the couple everything they could ask for except that fruit but they didn’t comply with His order. They instead chose the path of disobedience and rebellion, a path that became well worn through the rest of biblical times and indeed is still be beaten down today.

Disobedience and rebellion. Both are byproducts of sinful behavior toward God by people deciding that they should control what they can do and not do. God calls us to surrender and submit to Him, period, and over and over again, His people refuse to answer that call.

With this being said, I now present these verses from 1 Corinthians 14 in regard to women and worship. These verses are intended to be sexist or discriminatory. These are worldly concepts applied to biblical direction and biblical direction is not grounded in the world but rather the very will of our God. Here’s what we read between the second half of verse 33 and verse 35:

...as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

Here we find God providing instruction through His word regarding worship. Men are to have the speaking roles within the church during worship while women remain silent. They are to be in submission, not to men but rather to the God who calls them to be silent. To do otherwise is disgraceful because it disrespects and dishonors God.

Now, people who have bought into the world and its ways will get up in arms over these verses. They will demand equal rights to what men have in the Bible but here’s the thing.

No one has equal rights when it comes to entering into a relationship with God. No one.

Every man and every woman are subordinate to Him. Period.

He is the Master of everyone and that makes every single person a slave to Him and slaves have no rights of their own. They carry out the will of their Master. So if God tells His people to do something in His word, then He expects His people to do it. There’s no room for questioning Him, arguing with Him, and definitely never room to blatantly defy Him.

The scriptures are clear here when it comes to proper worship. Women are to remain silent. If they have questions based on what they have heard spoken during service, they are to ask their husbands afterwards for clarification. Lord knows, we could use more spiritual conversations in our homes anyways.

The bottom line here is that if God tells us to do something, we had better do it. If He tells us to be silent, then we had better be silent. He dictates what we should and shouldn’t do in life, and this means we might have to surrender some freedoms that the world may offer. This is the going in point for God believers and so there shouldn’t be any surprise when we read passages like this one and find that our Lord is restricting our behavior, whether in worship or otherwise.

Tomorrow, we’ll finish up this series with the final message.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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PROPER WORSHIP (PART 2)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14:29-33a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Proper worship is accomplished when all elements are carried out in a way that builds up, strengthens, helps, and works for the common good of all congregants.

That was the takeaway from yesterday’s first message in this four part series titled “Proper Worship”, a series drawn from the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. As we look at today’s passage, we find the word of God providing us more insight into this matter. Look again at these words here:

Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. 1 Corinthians 14:29-33a

Here, we find the focus on people who are sharing God’s message with the church, those who were known as prophets. These chosen spokespersons played a very important role in the Bible when it came to the Lord communicating with His people.

As with those speaking in tongues, note the scriptures impose a limit to the number of prophets who should speak. Only “two or three” were to do so but note that someone sitting could quickly take precedence if they had a revelation to share. In situations like this, the person who was speaking was supposed to be quiet and defer to the person with the revelation to share. We read where these prophets had control over their spirits and therefore could start and stop prophesying as needed.  

Ultimately, the prophets were to deliver their messaging so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. In other words, so that everyone attending church would be edified.

The other truth about proper worship shared in our verses today is centered on peace. When believers come together to honor and praise their God, they are to do so in a spirit of unity and reverence, one body worshiping one Lord with the same attitude of respect and admiration. When congregants do this, their focus is on their God and not themselves or any self generated displeasure with someone else in the body. Disorder is absent because it is not of God. Peace on the other hand is and therefore a peace-filled church is one who places their main emphasis and focus on the Prince of Peace.

Does this define your church?

Is it a body of worshippers who come together in the spirit of peace, focused on the God who provides it in abundance? Is an atmosphere created where anyone who receives a revelation from God can share it with His people?

My prayer is that you can answer “yes” to these questions. If not, then there’s work to be done and the good news is that the Lord is ready, willing, and able to help you become the body of believers that He wants you to be. Just surrender and submit to His will.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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