Day 3 – How Can I Best Represent the Gospel?
Read: I Thessalonians 1: 1 – 10
After the good report of Timothy, Paul is eager to send a message of encouragement to a young church that is getting it right. He offers praise for their faith, love and endurance. In this passage, Paul describes four distinct effects brought on by the gospel:
- Conversion – people turn from following sin to following Jesus.
- Anticipation – only believers are excited about the return of Jesus.
- Submission to God’s representatives. Sure, we follow Jesus but we also follow our Christian leaders whom God has placed over us in the faith.
- Affliction and Joy – the gospel always arouses hostility because it opposes human pride but it can just as well produce joy when it counters that same human pride.
Paul would have us examine our lives and determine if we are representatives of the gospel. After receiving the gospel, some people isolate. They close themselves off from the people who need their message. Some people insulate. They don’t get involved in social issues and things that are affecting the people that need the message. Some Christians imitate. In order to be accepted, they make sure they aren’t very different. Other Christians vegetate. They are apathetic and have no motivation to carry the message forward. But thankfully, some people penetrate. They run into the battle and go after the folks who desperately need the gospel.
The world will be quick to characterize a witness that is not supported by actions as hypocrisy. It is just as true that a witness that is not reinforced with words is cruel. Knowing the truth and not sharing the truth with those around us is cruel. Our culture today places a high importance on inclusion. No opinion should be excluded and there really is no absolute truth. What a lie! The world desperately needs the gospel.
Prayer time: Lord, thank you for sending the gospel to me and for the work of the Holy Spirit that dropped the scales from my eyes and made Jesus make sense to me. Give me courage and enthusiasm to share that gospel message with the people in my life. Help me to remember that my task is not to convince sinners that I am right and they are wrong. Help me to love them and live a life that honors God and makes Jesus attractive so the Holy Spirit can work.
Final thought: The normal pattern that God has designed for the gospel is that it will flow to you, it will work in you, and then it comes out from you. For too many Christ followers, it only reaches the second stage. It doesn’t flow on through to other people. The highest honor we can receive from God is to participate in passing this life saving message on to the people He loves.