October 17, 2016 (Monday)
I have a “gospel” channel on my cable tv. It is a music channel. Plays music 24 hours per day, every day. What this music channel labels as “gospel” is a genre of music. The word, “gospel,” is used in many ways, even secular.
Basically, the word, “gospel,” in the original Greek language of the New Testament means, “good news.” Jesus is quoted as having used the word several times and it also appears frequently in the New Testament.
There are four books in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) which present the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. They are known as “The Four Gospels.”
The Apostle Paul gave us a narrow definition of “the gospel” in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NIV): “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..”
The essence of the gospel is God’s redemptive event: the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fuller definition would include His life and teachings.
Preaching the gospel is our calling as ministers. We do well to stick with our calling. Six years ago Billy Graham looked back over his life and said, “I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.”
Ministers today who are tempted to become politically active would do well to read again, “Br’er Rabbit and Tar Baby.” The Tar-Baby is a fictional character in the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1881; it is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br’er Rabbit. The more that Br’er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes. Just sayin’.
We preachers need to remember well the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, his “son” in the ministry: “Preach the Word.”