Our first member meeting finally happened! Months [years?] of planning and a snow storm later…we enjoyed a great night together, celebrating what God has done by establishing his church in Vernon, NJ.
To set us off on the right foot, here are some thoughts from Paul in Galatians 1:9.
“As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:9 ESV)
Some might think this is a strange text to encourage us at such an epic event. But Paul uses such strong words for good reason. Here are three things we can pull out from this text to keep us focused.
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- The gospel must be preached. It’s hopefully what we do here each and every time we get together. The gospel must be the foundation and center of everything we do here at HBC. Everything must come back to and support the gospel. We preach the gospel because it is the center – the bulls eye – the climax of the Bible. All the OT leads up to the gospel, the NT presents it and shows the church how to live in light of it. I commit to you, church, to preach the gospel as of first importance. In every sermon, even every little devotional. So should we, in every Kingdom Kids class, in every Youth Group talk, every Care Group, every Bible Study – the gospel must be preached. We must also of course, back up that preaching with our lives. We must commit to living a life worthy of the gospel, or all the preaching we do will be for naught. That leads us to our 2nd thing.
- The gospel must be received. Paul tells them that people preach the gospel, but you received. This isn’t just an intellectual agreement. This isn’t asking Jesus into your heart. This is, as one Greek lexicon says here, ‘to take into close association, to take into oneself, to take along with you.’ I like that. The gospel is something we take along with us.
We receive it, but we also carry it with us. Highlands – let’s commit to preaching the gospel in all our ministries, and let’s commit to taking it along with us in our own lives. We don’t receive the gospel and then file it away like a book we got for Christmas that we will never read. We take it with us. It becomes a part of us. Why? It’s important. Really important, that’s the third thing. - The gospel is non-negotiable. Paul has some pretty strong words, eh? Let him be accursed. This is Greek word anathema. Something that is despised, completely rejected. IOW, anything other than the gospel is to be rejected. Why – the gospel is non-negotiable. Church, let’s commit to not tolerate any false teaching that distorts the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why even business meetings like these, all are done under the banner of the gospel. Our elders, deacons, undershepherds, members, budget are all expressions of stewardship in the gospel. Everything rolls up into supporting our mission of bringing glory to God thru the making and maturing of disciples of Jesus Christ. There will be times where we have to flex a bit. In humility and grace we need to give on some things, but those are the open handed issues, the secondary issues. The gospel is not a secondary issue – the gospel is non-negotiable.
As we start this now official, epic journey, let’s be encouraged and challenged – let’s preach the gospel, receive the gospel as non-negotiable. Jesus shed his perfect, divine blood to reconcile us to God the Father. It’s the center of our mission, and let’s start off right by making it the center of our church.
