Psalm 66: 16-20; 2 Timothy 2: 8-15
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
October 13, 2019
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me. - Psalm 66: 16-20
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2: 8-15
Paul was writing his second letter to young Timothy from a Roman prison cell. Paul’s words revealed his spiritual secret. Paul shared his treasure that allowed him to endure countless threats to his physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Paul’s greatest spiritual treasure was the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel gave Paul the strength to face all things.
Paul summed up the core of God’s good news in ten simple words: “Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendent of David.” It sounds so simple, but for Paul those ten words meant everything not just to him alone, but also to the foundation of the Christian faith.
Paul’s ministry centered upon two claims: Jesus’ saving death and resurrection and God’s faithfulness to establish an eternal kingdom through the line of David in Christ (2 Samuel 7: 12-16).
Jesus’ saving death and resurrection meant everything to Paul and to the Christian faith today. Paul said Jesus Christ died for our trespasses and was raised by God to reveal we are divinely pardoned (justification), thus fulfilling the Scriptures (Romans 4: 24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:4). Because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, sin and death no longer have dominion in our lives (Romans 6:9). Jesus Christ died for all so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Christ alone (2 Corinthians 5:15). The good news is that the cross and empty tomb reveal that Christ intercedes for us (Romans 8:34).
Paul says we respond to God’s saving grace in baptism. By water and Holy Spirit, we share in Christ’s dying, we are raised to new life, and we are forever claimed in God’s love - belonging to God and one another as the body of Christ (Romans 6:4; 7:4). According to Paul, if there is no resurrection then our proclamation and faith have been in vain and we misrepresent God (1 Corinthians 15:12).
The apostle Paul has certainly been one of the most influential authors of God’s Word, encouraging and challenging every generation of faith since the early church.
Karl Barth is one of the most influential pastors and theologians of our time. He once said, “The gospel is not a truth among other trusts. Rather, it sets a question mark against all truths.”
Karl Barth was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1886. He was the son of Fritz Barth, a theology professor and pastor. Like father, like son.
In 1934 Karl Barth was among 139 delegates representing Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches throughout Germany. They met in the town of Barmen-Wurppertal to voice the common faith of the Church Universal in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Together, they wrote The Theological Declaration of Barmen with Barth as the chief author. For these pastors the integrity of the gospel was at stake as Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime came to power in Germany.
The Nazi regime began intervening coercively in church affairs. Therefore, the gospel of Jesus Christ set question marks against false doctrines of the German Evangelical Church. Those false doctrines proclaimed any event, power, figure or truth as God’s revelation; made race a factor of church membership by excluding Jewish Christians; and made the church an organ of the state and subjecting the church to a “special leader” (Adolf Hitler), who lords it over others.
Everything in the Declaration of Barmen hangs on the core belief that the Christian Church must live or die; that core belief is that Jesus Christ is the one source of the church’s proclamation [1].
There was a lot on the line for Karl Barth to author the Barmen Declaration. “To oppose Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime was considered by the Germans to be at the least unpatriotic and at the worst an act of treason” [2]. As a result, Barth was deported from Germany in 1935 when he refused to sign the Oath of Loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Barth pledged his faithfulness and loyalty to the triune God alone – no other is Sovereign.
Barth returned to his home in Switzerland to resume his career as a professor of Reformed Theology, continuing to teach and write.
After all of Barth’s theological contributions to the reformed faith he visited the United States in 1962. He was asked to summarize all he had written. What would you imagine the gospel of this emboldened pastor and theologian to be? Barth said, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
The gospel is the claim of Jesus Christ upon our communal and individual lives. It is God’s truth by which we live or die. The gospel is the air we breathe, the courageous song of hope we sing, and the guiding force for the choices we make. The gospel breaks the chains of sin and the brokenness that we cannot save ourselves from. The gospel frees us to love deeply and live fully as God created us to be.
What words do you use to describe your gospel?
This past week seventeen of our ladies participated in the Women’s Fall Retreat. We carpooled to beautiful Montreat, North Carolina. While the mountain landscape has not yet opened in a majestic starburst of red, orange, and yellow - the colors of God’s grace were undeniably everywhere.
This year the retreat theme focused on the treasures we cherish. As I experienced the retreat with our ladies, I saw the treasure of what it means to be sisters in Christ. The gospel has a mysterious way of binding hearts and minds together like nothing else can. I have seen the gospel give these women strength, dignity, wisdom, and laugher. I have also had the great privilege of holding these ladies’ struggles as we pray for the gospel to bring courage to overcome anything that threatens God’s peace in their lives.
And so, I asked our women, “What is your gospel?” What does the good news mean to your faith? Their testimonies are inspiring.
- My gospel is that Jesus Christ is my salvation! Without him, I would not be here today. God has given me more than I can ever give him.
- The gospel is what I start my day with every morning. Jesus is my best friend. Life is hard enough, and I cannot imagine life without Jesus Christ.
- My gospel is forgiveness.
- My gospel is grace. We can be so ugly and the grace of Jesus Christ cleans us up.
- My gospel is Romans 8:28 - God is going to work everything out.
What is your gospel? I pray that you will consider what the good news of Jesus Christ means in your life and in the church.
Without the gospel, how will we endure hardship or know freedom? How will we experience God’s peace and salvation not just eternally but today? How will we find understanding to live a life of purpose, connection, and abundance? Without the gospel, our life is lived in vain.
Keep on remembering God’s good news to you. For in doing so we will be made strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:1).
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Part I, “The Book of Confessions: Study Edition” (Louisville: Geneva Press, 1996), pp. 303-308.
[2] The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Part I, “The Book of Confessions: Study Edition” (Louisville: Geneva Press, 1996), pp. 303-308.
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