THE AFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL

As christians, one of our greatest responsibilities is to_______________________.

So, what would you write in the blank? What are one of the things that you feel is so important for christians to do? I would imagine many of you would say, “To Carry The Gospel”. That was actually some of the final words that Jesus said to His disciples before He ascended back to His Father. Everything Jesus went through at Calvary, was to bring salvation to everyone that was lost. Now it is our responsibility to share that message with as many people as we possibly can. This is truly the mandate of every christian.

I believe that the church is preaching and sharing the gospel. There is more christian marketing going on now than ever. With the explosion of the internet and social media, the name of Jesus is being spread all over the world and I am so thankful. The only concern that I have, is while the gospel is being preached in such an incredible way, it seems like christians are dividing like never before. We’re telling the world the good news, but the bad news is, there is too much fighting within the body of Christ.

Our denominations have become battle lines that determine what sides we’re on. Here we stand with the greatest message, but an unbelievable amount of disunity. Something is wrong when we can tell the world about the love of God, but we don’t show it with one another. When Jesus prayed for us to be one, He wasn’t talking about being one with our group, but rather the entire body of Christ. What are we saving the sinner from if we bring them out of bondage, but into an environment of division and fighting? What kind of change is that?

My point is, yes, our responsibility is to share the Gospel, but along with that, we must show the world the affects of the Gospel. Being united is one of those affects and that’s what we must show. What we preach becomes non-affective if our love for one another is in-active. How can we preach the love of God, if we don’t truly love one another? If we preach love, then we must show love. A divided church will never change a world in chaos. We’re preaching good, we’re just not practicing it like we should.

So, one of our greatest responsibilities is to not only share the Gospel, but also show the world how the Gospel will bring unity. Our message has so much more power when we stand together in love. We don’t have to agree on everything, but surely we can agree on how important it is to preach the Gospel to a world that needs Jesus. If you believe Jesus is God and that He was born of a virgin, He died and rose again for our sins and there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved…then we have a message that will change the world.

Carry the Gospel, and love one another…it’s really that simple.