Jesus' Alive Testimony, in Us

Paul's Gospel

12/18/2010

The Gospel includes Jesus’ current reign in our lives, now, and that’s Good News : )

Shortly before his imprisonment, Paul met with the elders from the church in Ephesus one last time (see Acts 20). He had lived among them for three years, serving God “with great humility and tears,” showing his devotion to them “night and day” and teaching them “publicly and from house to house.” Knowing that he would never see them again, he opened his heart to them one last time, proclaiming, “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” What did Paul mean by “testifying to the gospel of God’s grace”? How did he envision it?

He answers that question twice in this same passage. First, “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (vs 21, confirmed by Peter and the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:34-39). And second, “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see me again” (vs 25). These aspects, then, were the core of Paul’s proclamation of the gospel: repentance, faith, and the kingdom. (And you can find a similar summary—“proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ”—in Acts 28.)

Who considers themselves wiser and more spiritual than Paul and thinks they “know better” than the Apostle? IS this what you would say to a high government official willing to hear about Jesus? Are you and I more spiritual than the man who was “caught up into the Third Heaven” and heard things humans are not allowed to express? IS this, below, what we would say? If not, are we not judging God?

“Governor Felix sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ: Paul reasoned with him—about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, and Felix was afraid.” (Acts 24:24-25)

It seems to me, then, that we should be very clear in our heads and hearts about those core issues. What is repentance? What is faith? What is the kingdom? We should find out what God said on those issues, so that we can live them out ourselves and proclaim them to the world. That is our job, after all.

Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Oh, how I want His Coming to be sooner rather than later, now IN us and soon FOR us! Don’t you? Then let’s get clear together in our minds and lives and testimony now, so we can each play our role! : )

—dz