Today, we have a gospel that is largely devoid of power. Our messages and preaching do not contain the wattage to light a room let alone a city. By contrast, the gospel of the 1st-century church could light cities and lit entire continents. The Apostle Paul's message troubled entire continents. Listen to what Paul the Apostle experienced: "You know that everyone in Asia has turned against me". 2 Tim. 1:15, CEV. Then, he goes on to say, "But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And he rescued me from certain death." 2 Tim. 4:17, NLT.
Of the 12 apostles chosen by the Lord while he was on earth, 10 died as a result of persecution, 1 betrayed him and only 1 died of old age. Only John the Apostle escaped death by persecution. And that wasn't for a lack of trying. According to one of the early church fathers, Tertullian, it was said that the Roman emperor, Domitian, attempted to kill John by burning him in oil before having him committed on Patmos where he received "The Revelation of Jesus Christ".
What happened? Why such a change? Surely, there must be something different between us and them. I believe the difference is in our gospel. The Apostle Paul had this to say about his gospel,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Rom. 1:16, ESV.
The Apostle Paul said,
"[M]y speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power... 1 Cor. 2:4, NKJV.
Lest we think the Apostle Paul's demonstration of the gospel through power was the exception rather than the rule, let's consider the Apostles' Peter and John entrance into the temple in Acts 3:1 where a lame man was healed by God's power. Listen to the Apostle Peter's boldness, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Acts 3:6, NIV. Today, we have plenty of silver and gold but we lack the power of the gospel to heal the sick.
Did we exchange security and safety in this world for the security and safety of eternity? The apostles were secure in their salvation, willingly gave their lives for that salvation, and left a lasting legacy of indelible faith in a risen Christ. What are we leaving behind? A burgeoning 401k. Lands and houses, gold and guns. Maybe, we should begin to rethink our priorities. We must measure our gospel against the plumbline of scripture.
In Amos 7:7, the prophet Amos sees a vision: "The LORD showed me a vision of himself standing beside a wall and holding a string with a weight tied to the end of it. The string and weight had been used to measure the straightness of the wall." Then, in Amos 7:8, God asks Amos: “What do you see, Amos?” Pay attention to God's questions. Why did God ask Amos this question? Because God wanted to make sure that His prophet was paying attention to what he was seeing.
Today, I see that same plumbline measuring us. Yes, it is a plumbline of judgment. God was judging Israel against the clear standards in His word. Today, He's judging the church in America. What is He judging us by? By the plumbline that has been set in our midst - the gospel we preach. The question I ask you: Does our gospel measure up? I, myself, have wrestled with this question. That is when I was given a message, The Gospel is Enough. I put that message in a book.
Yes, the gospel is enough. But we do not have enough of the gospel. How do I know? Because we lack the signs of the gospel. The gospel and the signs of the gospel go hand in hand. The signs of the gospel always follow the preaching of the gospel. But that begs the question, where are our signs? Often, it is in self-evaluation, we find the changes we need to move forward in life. The Apostle Paul wrote to his children in the faith at Corinth a very clear instruction:
Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit? 2 Cor. 13:5, Amplified Bible.
The gospel tests our mettle. And it also requires our mettle to be tested to ensure its reality in our lives. Our faith isn't about saying the right words. No, it requires much more. Doctrine is important but our faith is a living reality. Without that life, we lack proof of the gospel message. The signs of the gospel are largely absent from the church. Could it be that God is making His absence in our midst so clear through an absence of corresponding signs that we might have eyes to see it?
I believe the answer is, yes. The absence of God's power is possibly the clearest sign to the church of what we lack - the pure unadulterated gospel. The absence of signs, wonders, and miracles is the check engine light of the church. Church, our check engine light has been on for quite some time. Maybe, it is time to take our way of doing things to the mechanics to fix the gospel engine of the church. Yes, God always has gospel engine mechanics on call.
I wrote my book, The Gospel is Enough, to fix the gospel engine in churches. I believe the church has had a skewed gospel that is devoid of God's power. As such, we must go back to the basics to begin to move in God's power...again. Yes, the power must be on in the church, even if it gets turned off in the world. We must have the power to demonstrate the reality of the risen Christ. The gospel message is a gospel of healing. It is a gospel of provision. It is a gospel of peace. It is a gospel of reconciliation. It is a gospel of grace. We need all these things and more. We need the gospel of the kingdom.
The sevenfold gospel of Christ is the message the church needs in this hour. We must relearn what we think we know about the gospel to tap into the gospel's pure unadulterated power. Jesus's death was not in vain; He died for a reason. Jesus's resurrection is proof of His reason and evidence of His power. The resurrection provides veracity of the gospel's message and links the gospel to God's power. Jesus's ascension shows He has ascended above all things. That is where He sits today.
We, too, are called to be seated with Him. Eph. 2:6. The gospel gives us the power to be seated next to Christ where He is. Yes, we can walk in the powers of the age to come. Heb. 6:5. We were designed to reign with Christ in heavenly places. Why then do we lessen our calling to walk like mere men? God didn't design us to be ordinary. No, we have been redesigned by the gospel message to walk in gospel power. That is our heritage of faith. And it is that heritage that we must cling to and recover - God's gospel of power.
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