HEALTHY CHURCH: Motivated By the Gospel

Romans 1:15 says Paul was “eager” to preach the gospel to those who were in Rome. Paul was excited to be able to take the gospel to Rome and saw it as an opportunity to represent Christ well there. He looked forward to sharing the gospel with them, and it should cause us to examine our hearts. Do we have that same eagerness? Why would we not be eager if we have truly comprehended and experienced the power and truth of the gospel in our own life? The gospel motivates us beyond obedient behavior to a life transformed by the power of the gospel. Your behavior changes because Jesus has changed you.

When Jesus becomes real to you, you will be excited to talk about Him. Paul was eager because He believed Jesus was able to change anyone’s life the same way He changed his. Paul had not forgotten what Jesus had done in his life, and he never got over it. In Gospel, J.D. Greear said it well, “When we get swept up into that story of grace, we will be ‘zealous for good works’ (see Titus 2:11-14).” Paul was eager to go to Rome, believing that the power of the gospel was able to even save Caesar, if he repented and believed. Our lives are not changed by a command but by an experience with Jesus.

Paul’s eagerness came at a cost. When you read about his trip to Rome, it speaks of hardship that included shipwreck and imprisonment. My wife, Shelby and I visited the Mamertine Prison in Rome where they said Paul was kept until his execution. There was no building, beds or plumbing. There was just a hole in the rock where they would lower the prisoners down by ropes into filthy, rat-infested conditions. Yet, he was eager to go believing, whatever the cost was, it was worth it. Paul said in Phil. 3:8 (CSB), “…Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ.”

Are you that motivated and eager to share the gospel regardless of what it may cost you? Missionaries go around the world because they believe it is worth it. Their faith is in the power of the gospel to change anyone and everyone’s life that believes. Our association of churches has agreed to assist one another in the carrying out of the Great Commission. Mark 16:15 says, “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We are committed to carrying the gospel to every creature, every country, every people group and every language. The gospel should cause us to not focus on our personal comforts.

Did you know that BMA Global is now planting churches in seven languages in North America? (English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Erdu, French and Garifuna) God has not called us to reach one particular person, one particular culture or one particular country. He has called us to reach everyone. To share the gospel with people who are far from God, you must be motivated and willing to do some things you are not used to doing. You must be willing to ask what it will require to reach everyone and anyone with God’s truth. What will I have to do to reach the people over there, who are far from God, with the gospel?

Paul was not afraid to lose everything because, in Christ, Paul understood that he had all he needed. Even if it cost him his life, and it did, it was worth it. The gospel demonstrates how Jesus did not hold on to what He had but instead He gave it to us. Philippians 2:8 (CSB) says, “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross.” The privilege of hearing the gospel and being transformed by the gospel carries with it the responsibility of sharing the gospel. Because of the gospel, our motivation now comes from His acceptance of us as His children, not toward it, in order to gain His acceptance.

In Gospel, J.D. Greear pointed out, “Each day Jesus says to us, ‘You are My beloved child. I am pleased in you. Now live that way.’” Are you living up to who you are in Christ? Are you motivated not to earn or gain His approval but to live out of His approval because He declared you righteous? This gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, motivates us to share it with others because of the truth of Rom. 8:1 — “Therefore, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” You have total access to everything God has to offer you as His child. His grace strengthens and enables you to follow, serve and obey Him.

Romans 12:1 puts the icing on the cake for being motivated and eager to share the gospel regardless of what it costs. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Once you truly understand and comprehend what God has given you when you believe, you should give yourself to Him without hesitation or restriction. Maybe we are not as motivated as we should be because we have lost the wonder and awe of the almighty God we serve? Allow the gospel to go deeper into you in order to go wider through you.

We could have talked about techniques and methods of sharing the gospel but if we have not been gripped and grasped by its power, we will not share it with others. Dig deeper into its truths and read the book of Romans again and again asking God for its truth to go deep into your soul in order for it to expand wider into the souls of others. Jesus said in Acts 1:8 (CSB), “…You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”