By Stanley Alday
There are five principles that the gospel demands that I find essential in the Christian life. Throughout my growth in the knowledge of Jesus and my love for our Lord, I have applied these very principles. What Jesus said to his disciples, in John’s account, struck my heart. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” This verse will be included in the next five principles.
I pray that this will help you understand what the gospel requests from you, so that you would be aware of how you ought to serve Christ and walk in a manner pleasing to Him.
1. To obey the gospel
The gospel demands obedience from His people. We are not only gifted with faith and knowledge, but God has also given us a wonderful privilege to obey Him. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, writes, “... the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake…” This comes to show that we, as His people, must obey Him with all of our heart, mind and will.
2. Not just obedience but joyful obedience and love for Christ
True knowledge of the gospel results to joyful obedience, and love for Christ. Our obedience is what differs us from demons. Demons know God, accept His lordship and obey Him (Mark 1:24-27). But not us. Piper puts it this way, “Christians don’t just believe the same facts the devil believes. We love and embrace the truth about God.”1 We are not only to proclaim Jesus is Lord, but we do it with great joy and love. We know this by our observation of Paul’s attitude. He writes in his letters to the Romans:
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. Romans 6:17
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:25
In these letters, the way Paul expressed his thanks to God does not seem like he was doing them out of grudge or frustration; he expresses them with love and relief, as it should with us. We are not only to remember the gospel with intellect, but we are to love it and joyfully obey it. If we are the opposite, and we continually go on with an attitude of grudge, then it is imperative for us to re-examine our faith.
3. That we hold on to the gospel unashamedly
We are not to love something and be ashamed of it, especially with the gospel. We are not to reluctantly speak about it with other people. We are to speak of it freely and with great confidence in Christ. According to Paul, in his teachings to the Romans, he states that he is not ashamed of the gospel as it is the power of God and in it, the righteousness of God. Piper emphasizes that, “God is the gospel.1” He does not mean that good news is God, he means that wherever the gospel is, God is there, and to be ashamed of the gospel, is to be ashamed of God. There is solidarity with God and His gospel.
4. That we carry out the mission the Lord assigned us—Evangelism
The result of holding the gospel without shame is our attitude of freely proclaiming it with a view of planting Christ to others. As a church, one of our objectives as laity, not just assigned to preachers, is the proclamation of the gospel in our secular workforce. Jason Allen, a president at Midwestern Seminary writes, “Every Christian is called to minister … [i]t is part and parcel of the Christian life.2” The intended meaning here is not to preach at a pulpit at work, but to share or gossip about the gospel with others. God has placed us in different positions to serve Him in the expansion of His kingdom through ministering to others (Matthew 28:19-20).
5. To guard it at all cost
When the gospel is under attack, we have been taught by the apostle to guard the gospel at all cost. There will come a time where there will be great opposition in the church, and we must stand up to protect it. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, rebuked them saying, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another…3” Paul was shocked at how the Galatians, in his time, were so easily persuaded to turn to a different gospel (which is not really a gospel v.7). From this, we learn the exclusivity of the gospel—that there is only one, true and saving gospel.
Lastly, we must tie it all together. The gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Christ and it demands from us a few things—our love, joy and obedience. It is all about our Lord Jesus Christ and so it is imperative to have our minds, hearts and wills set on Him - that way, we would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. All of us must only be for the Lord our Master alone, and All of Him for us. Thus, let us love Him and seek Him daily in His unfailing Word.
Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel’s God; he made the sky,
And earth, and seas, with all their train;
His truth forever stands secure;
He saves the oppressed, he feeds the poor,
And none shall find His promise vain.
- Isaac Watts
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1. John Piper, God is the gospel. (2011, par. 1)
2. Jason Allen. Discern Your Call to Ministry. Introduction: What does it mean to be called to ministry. (par.9).
3. The apostle Paul (Galatians 1: 6). Paul rebukes the Galatians by pointing out the exclusivity of the gospel.