"What Is Your Gospel"- 2Timothy 2:8-15
by Rev. A. L. Torrence, Cross of Life Church
During my first year at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, I took introduction to preaching with Dr. Cleo LaRue. It was my hope that this great preacher extraordinaire would help improve my preaching.
Maybe he could tell me how to move from using three points and a poem to experiencing celebration and joy. Maybe if I sat in his class something would rub off. Well, Dr. LaRue began the first day of class by posing to me what seemed to be a very simple question. How many gospels were there? Many of us in the class who were well-studied preachers, Sunday teachers, and even deacons proudly blurted out “four.” There are four gospels, we proudly said. Yet, to our surprise Dr. LaRue shook his head and said, “No, there are five.” Now, I knew that while in seminary, I had to have an open mind and use inclusive language. However, being a Sunday school graduate and scholar, no one could tell me that there were five gospels. Even the youngest child in Sunday school knew that there were only four gospels. Whether you were reading the KJV, RSV, NIV, CEV or any other version. There were only four gospels. But Dr. LaRue went on to explain to me that there are four gospels in bible but there is a fifth gospel in you. He said that world knows of the gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John but people need to know the gospel according to you. If you are to preach and preach well, you need to tell the world about the good news according to Antonio Torrence.
What is you gospel? What are the glad tidings you have to tell about Christ? What are your tidbits about this thing we call Christianity? What is your 411 on the big man up stairs? What do you have to say about the ecclesiastical affairs of the kingdom of God? What is your report on the happenings of heaven? What is your gospel?
And, all Christians should have a gospel. Everyone who professes Christ as their lord and savior should have a testimony about how Christ affected their lives. All who claim inherited rights to the Father should have a story to tell about their experience with his son, Jesus. Oh, you can’t walk this walk without being able to talk the talk. You can’t follow in his footsteps without being able to tell of his goodness. You should have your own gospel. You have your own story. We know that your Mama was a missionary and your daddy was a deacon, but what is your story? We know that you come from a long line of preachers and everyone in your family had religion but what is your story? Who do you say Jesus is? Some call him Elias, other say Jermias, or one of the prophets, but who do you say he is? Mark called him the suffering servant. Matthew called him the King of the Jews. Luke portrayed him as the great physician. And John said he was the Lamb of God, but who do you say he is? The Jews say he was a great teacher and the Muslims call him a great prophet, but who do you say he is? The Jehovah Witness say that he is the Son of God who never rose again, the new age movement says that he was just a moral example of good behavior, but who do you say he is? The world wants to know your story. Society needs to hear your by-line. What’s your gospel?
This is the message of our text. We hear Paul telling Timothy to tell the world about his gospel. Paul, an old experience preacher, is trying to tell Timothy, a ’young-wet-behind-the-ears pastor’, how to address the issues of ministry. Paul tells him to preach his gospel. And that is what we must do here at Cross of Life, preach the gospel.
Paul is telling us to remind the world of this -- avoid godless chatter and disputes about words, and just to preach the gospel. Don’t get concern about godless traditions and rituals just preach your gospel. Don’t get caught up in godless constitutions and by-laws, dogma and doctrine, just preach the gospel. Don’t get distracted with godless concerns over church growth and membership roles, just preach the gospel. Avoid godless commotion over whose name is program and who’s in charge of what service, and just preach your gospel. Avoid disputes about words, which does no good. Avoid arguments over whether its commemoration or consubstantiation, just preach the gospel. Avoid disputes over whether it is ordinance or a sacrament, and just preach the gospel. Don’t get concern over who is serving what to whom, and dipping whomever in whatever, just preach the gospel. Don’t get bent out of shape if they referred to you as being appointed but not called, just preach the gospel. Even if you can’t stand in the pulpit, stand flat-footed on the stoop and preach the gospel. Oh you may be bound and fettered but the word is full and free. You may be limited but the word is infinite. Paul says, "Just preach the gospel."
And, Cross of Life we must preach the gospel. We must tell the world about the good news of Christ. We need to remind them how he came through 42 generations to be born of a virgin. We need to remind them how he healed the sick, raised the dead, made the blind to see, and the lame to walk. We need to remind them how he hung on the cross, was dead and buried and on the third day rose up with all power in his hands. We need to remind them how he sits at the right hand of the Father, and is soon to come again on clouds of thunder and glory. We need to tell them our gospel.
And if the truth were told that is what our society needs to hear. It needs to hear our gospel. Oh we could tell them about Martin Luther’s works on righteousness and justification, but only Jesus will save them and give them a new name. We could explain to them about John Calvin’s institutes on the church and state, but only Christ will make sense in lives and keep them in their right mind. We could tell them about John Smyth’s works on baptism and tolerance but only God can give them understanding and set their captive souls free.
The world needs hear our gospel. They need to know that Jesus loves them and that Jesus cares. The drug addict seeking his next ‘fix’ needs to hear that Jesus is a deliver and sustainer. The abused wife afraid to leave her violent husband needs to know that Christ is a refuge and a shelter in the time of storm. The teenaged pregnant daughter left to raise her child on her own, needs to hear that God will keep you and not forsake you. The son infected with Aids or father trapped behind prison walls needs to know that Jesus is a doctor in the sick room and a lawyer in the courtroom. The world needs to hear the gospel. The world needs to know the good news. They need to how to survive the trials and tribulation within this life.
You see, it was the gospel that got the early church through its persecution and suffering. The early saints had a gospel. They had a message of hope. The Jews threw them out of the synagogues. The Romans threw them in prison. Tiberas crucified them on crosses. Nero fed them to the lions. But the church still had hope because they had a gospel.
It was a gospel that said ‘We are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” They had a gospel. It was the gospel that got our ancestors through 400 years of slavery. They heard the gospel. They heard the good news of a saving Jesus. Oh, their Masters only wanted them to hear ‘slaves be obedient to those who are your earthy masters with fear and trembling.’ But they heard of a Christ who came to preach deliverance to the captives to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Society told them that they were only two-thirds of a man but the gospel told them “there was neither slave nor free, male nor female, for all are one in Christ.”
They had a gospel. They had a message that cried ‘oh freedom’. They had a gospel. It is because of the gospel that this church is still standing. Someone keeps hearing the gospel. Oh, I know that the synod holds the mortgage on the building, but God holds the people in the pews. I know that you were once called Gethsemane; but it was God who decided to take you from the garden and give you a cross. Oh the world can threaten to shut your doors, but the gospel says that upon this rock, I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. God is not going to let his church perish.
We have a gospel and the world needs to hear it. They need to hear the gospel according to Cross of Life Church. We must write our story. Everyone here has a story to tell. Everyone here was called (appointed) for a purpose. You just didn’t wander through those doors on your own. God brought you here for a purpose. You must tell your story. Christ wants you to share your gospel.
But how can we proclaim our message of salvation in a society of so many beliefs? How can we get people to trust in God rather than dialing up physic hotlines? How can we get people to sow seeds of faith without expecting to get rich in return? How can we tell how gospel to a hungry society?
Well, Paul gives us the example of one who knows about the gospel. First, he calls it ‘my gospel’. He uses the possessive pronoun ‘my’ to demonstrate his ownership of ‘good news’. He says, this is my gospel. I’m suffering for it and currently imprisoned because of it. He takes ownership of it because he willing to suffer for it. It is of importance to him because he is willing to die for it. Just like, we take ownership of those things that are important to us. We are willing to sacrifice and suffer for them. We say this is my child because we are willing to die for our children. We say that this is my house or my car, because many of us toil and sweat over our houses and worship our cars. We even take ownership of the church by saying this is my church because we want others to think we are willing to suffer, sacrifice, and endure for the ‘Cross of Life Church.’
Yet, in reality we won’t give our tithes, time or talents. But Paul says we must be willing to call it ours. It has to be called ‘mine.’ We must be willing to do everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus. Paul is talking about God’s church. We must be willing to do all we can for God’s church. After all, the purpose of having a gospel is to build up God’s church. We cannot have a gospel without the willingness to deal with God’s people. You can’t love Christ without caring for Christians. You can’t experience the gospel without associating with the saints. No, to have a gospel we must deal with God’s church.
Paul says he is willing to suffer for the sake of the church. He is willing to die for those who seek to take his life. He is willing to give all for hell raising Christians and backstabbing hypocrites. Paul was willing to suffer for what he believed in. In order to have an experience with Christ, we must be willing to suffer for what we believe. Oh you can’t have a testimony until you have been tested. You can’t have triumph until you have experience tragedy. You can’t have victory until you have first been a victim.
It was Augustine who said that ‘everywhere a greater joy is preceded by a great suffering.’ In other words, no cross, no crown; No death, No resurrection. In order to have a gospel of good news, we must first be willing to endure the bad news. You see our willingness to suffer, is linked to our willingness to be like Christ.
Paul says that, if we have died with him, we shall also live with him. To gain our lives in Christ we must be willing to lose our selves in Christ. We must be willing to lose our identity in order to gain our spirituality. We must let be willing to let self die. In order words, we must become humbled and abased. We must die. And the problem with many churches today is that many Christians have not yet died. Paul says in so many words, that if we still get upset because of trifling church mess, we still must die. If we get mad because our name is not on program, Paul says, die. If we lose our joy because no one speaks to us, die. If our noses get bent out of joint because the Pastor said no to our proposal, die. If our emotions are troubled because of power plays in the church, die. Paul says, in order to have a gospel, you must die. Our pride must die. Our ego must die. Our arrogance must die. Our ambition must die. And when self is dead then our spirit can live. For we can only preach this gospel in spirit and in truth.
But in addition to our willingness to perish with Christ, we must be willing to endure. Endure heartaches and headaches. Endure pain and pressure. Endure sacrifice and suffering. Endure death and defeat. Endure trials and tribulation.
And if you can endure the race, then you will reign. To tell your gospel, you must be willing to own it, suffer and endure. Some of you know what I’m talking about. You have a testimony. You’ve been through the fire and you’ve been through the flood. And yet, you have not lost your mind. That’s because you have a gospel of good news. People are wondering how you are holding it together. How you can still remain calm, cool and collected? It’s because you have a gospel. You have had an experience with Christ which keeps you rock solid.
Now God wants you to tell your story. Tell your gospel. Tell somebody how Jesus brought you through. And I don’t know about you but I got to tell my gospel. I got to tell the world about my experience with a man named Jesus. I got to tell them how he healed my body when doctors gave up on me. I got to tell them out death can knocking at my door, but Jesus said not yet, he still has to tell his gospel. I got to tell the world how he kept food on my table and a roof overhead. I got to tell my story.
