When he addressed problems in the church over issues related to Christian liberty and love, the apostle reminded of the stronger brethren of the gospel approach with which they ought to approach the weaker brethren. “If,” he wrote, “your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died” (Rom. 14:15).
When he confronted the church in Corinth over their failure to exercise church discipline when an unrepentant member of the church was wreaking havoc on the fellowship, he appealed to the gospel as the grounds of church discipline. He wrote, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:6-7).
We could go page by page through the New Testament and show that there is one message that permeates the life of the church. It is this message that brings spiritually dead sinners to spiritual life. It is this message that builds up the saints so that they are not moved away from the hope of the gospel. It is this message that impacts our marriages, families, friendships and fellowship.
It is this message that preserves and protects the church from error. It is the only message that God has given the church to inform and animate it’s ministry and mission. It is the message that will ultimately bring us safe to glory. How could we ever bore of hearing the glorious good news of what God has done for sinners through Jesus Christ! May our God restore in us the joy of our salvation so that we will rejoice in, proclaim, abide in and be impacted by the gospel of the grace of God in Christ.
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