CrossWiseMag
4th January 2005, 12:18 PM
Dear friends, you know that the Gospel is nothing else than a sermon about one person who is called Christ. And although there are many other books written here and there, and many sermons preached by many different persons, both about the heathen and the Christians, yea, also about the mother of God, St. Peter, angels and many of the saints; yet they are not Gospels, for this alone is the true Gospel which sets before us Christ, and teaches the good things we may hope from him.
-- Martin Luther (The Sermons of Martin Luther, V:328-343)
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We, like Martin Luther, know the Gospel is nothing more than a message about Christ. Yet as we turn on Christian television or radio, or browse our Christian bookstores, we see relatively little about what Christ has done for us. Instead, it is replaced by what Christ will do for us: make us prosperous, make us happy, make us successful. All this, of course, is contingent upon our doing something first:
committing completely to Him, or surrendering fully to Him, or giving a certain portion of our income to Him as a sign of our trust.
The Christian church throughout history, though, has always recognized a very different picture of Jesus. It is a picture that focuses on what Christ has already done: saved us from our sins. It is a picture that turns our eyes to Christ in the sufferings of this life--not merely to beg for immediate relief, but to seek comfort in the knowledge that He has suffered along with us, and that ultimately, we will find victory over our troubles in Him.
God keep us in mind of that ultimate victory over sin and death. Even when the world suggests that God is not worth our time. Even when some Christians suggest that because we suffer in this life, we are not worth His.
-- Martin Luther (The Sermons of Martin Luther, V:328-343)
---------------------------------------------------------
We, like Martin Luther, know the Gospel is nothing more than a message about Christ. Yet as we turn on Christian television or radio, or browse our Christian bookstores, we see relatively little about what Christ has done for us. Instead, it is replaced by what Christ will do for us: make us prosperous, make us happy, make us successful. All this, of course, is contingent upon our doing something first:
committing completely to Him, or surrendering fully to Him, or giving a certain portion of our income to Him as a sign of our trust.
The Christian church throughout history, though, has always recognized a very different picture of Jesus. It is a picture that focuses on what Christ has already done: saved us from our sins. It is a picture that turns our eyes to Christ in the sufferings of this life--not merely to beg for immediate relief, but to seek comfort in the knowledge that He has suffered along with us, and that ultimately, we will find victory over our troubles in Him.
God keep us in mind of that ultimate victory over sin and death. Even when the world suggests that God is not worth our time. Even when some Christians suggest that because we suffer in this life, we are not worth His.