Gospel – Luke 7-8

During one of the Bible Study sessions at the ongoing Junior Youth Seminar, we were studying 1 Timothy and for me, this verse resonated very strongly with me.

“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief”

1 Timothy 1:15

The passage we will be reading from Luke today also resounds with this simple and yet, immensely moving message – Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  And that includes me despite the fact that I am a great sinner.

Bible Passage:  Luke 7-8

For a non Christian who is searching for answers in life, reading the Gospel of Jesus for the first time can be life changing.  During the JY Seminar, we watched a video of how a prisoner began to call out to Jesus in his solitary confinement when he was given a few pages of the Gospel according to Luke.

What is the Gospel to You?

This question kept coming to my mind as I read today’s passage.  A lot of us have been believers for a long time.  We have read and heard the Gospels many times.  Just by hearing the first sentence by the speaker, or just by the title, we already know roughly what the message is all about… and we think we can learn no more.

But when someone asks you about what you believe in, are you able to say with full confidence and conviction that “This is a faithful saying and worthy of full acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

When the disciples of John the Baptist came to ask Jesus if He is the One, Jesus answered in Luke 7:22,

“Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

“Go and tell… the things you have seen and heard…”

Just look at the examples in today’s passage.

The sick servant of the Centurion was healed.  Jesus had compassion on a poor widow and raised her son from the dead.  The demon possessed had the demons driven away.  The poor woman who suffered for years had her flow of blood stopped with just a touch.  The grieving parents rejoiced when the daughter they thought was dead became alive again.

Do you have any personal testimonies?   Have you seen for yourselves the workings of Jesus in your life?  What do you do with them?

The Gospel

Most of us know that Gospel means “good news”.  And the ultimate Good News is that Jesus Christ came as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.  He has come to save man from sin and restore them to God.

This is a very Good News indeed because it also speaks to the very Bad News that apart from God’s intervention, all the world will be lost and without hope.  Just like what Paul said in Rom 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

But because of the Gospel – the Good News – we all have now the hope of the Heavenly Kingdom.  We have the grace of God. We have the joy of the Lord.

Do you really feel that way?

Our Response to the Gospel

Sadly for a lot of us, while we are very happy to receive this Good News from Jesus, we do not respond in a way that is benefitting of the good news that we have received.

Look at passage and see how the the people respond when they received the grace of God and what did Jesus tell us to do.

When the dead son was raised, the people all praised God and the report of Jesus went throughout all Judea and the surrounding region (Luke 7:16-17).

The ex-demon possessed man wanted to follow Jesus but Jesus told him to go and tell of the great things that God has done for him and so he did, he went throughout the whole city and told them what great things Jesus had done for him (Luke 8:38-39).

In the parable of the sower, Jesus spoke of the good ground that received the word of God with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience (Luke 8: 15).  And He immediately followed by saying that if we light a lamp, we should not cover it, but put it on a lampstand so that everyone can see the light (Luke 8: 16-18).

The message is clear.

After we receive the grace of God – the Gospel – we must respond by telling others about the Good News.

We have heard this many times.  Jesus has given us a Commission to preach the Gospel.  This involves both a verbal proclamation of the Gospel and also the demonstration of Chirst living in us in our daily lives so that others can see Jesus in you.

When we think about it, how can we not tell others of the great grace that we have received?

Evangelism

The Mid Year Evangelistic Service is less than a couple of weeks away.

Remember these dates:  19-21 June 09 (Fri to Sun) @ 7.30 pm each day at Telok Kurau Church.

The invitation flyers have already been printed.  We should start praying and inviting our friends.  Tell them of the good news of the Gospel in your life.

We have a Mass Tracting activity this weekend.

On 6 Jun 09 (Sat), we will be going around distributing these invitation flyers.  We leave at 4.30 pm.

Why not join in this work as a response to God’s love for us?

If we have flyers left over, we will have another session on 7 Jun 09 (Sun) at 1 pm.

Come and join us in this activity.  Encourage one another.  We really need to respond in a right way for…

“…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

Broken and Spilled Out

One incident in today’s passage speaks volumes of how we ought to respond when we truly feel the love of God toward us.

In Luke 7:36-50, we read of the woman who was a sinner that anointed the feet of Jesus with fragrant oil.  Her response to the love of Jesus was giving her all and best to the Lord – regardless of how others view her.  Nothing mattered except showing her love to the Lord.

This reminds me of a song that is very moving each time I sing it.  This song called “Broken and Spilled Out” descibes exactly this incident.

The lyrics are extremely moving because while it talks at first, the woman broke and spilled out the contents of the ointment flash to anoint the feet of Jesus.

But then it changes to tell us that it is Jesus who was actually broken and spilled out… for me.