Audio Messages:
Pastor Wade Burleson

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The Gospel That Unites Us

Diversity.mp3 (12.0 MB )

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"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God . . ." (Romans 1:16). The gospel is the story about Christ, God's and David's Son, who died and was raised and is established as Lord. It is the good news that God's Kingdom has come in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord and Messiah. The gospel evokes faith, repentance, and discipleship. Its effects include the forgiveness of sins, justification, reconciliation, adoption, and the gift of the Spirit. The gospel is central to Christianity.

1. Our fellowship as people should be around the gospel.
   "I thank my God for . . . your fellowship (with me) in the gospel" (Philippians 1:3-5). Too often we establish our basis of fellowship around things other than the gospel.
   1. Some desire to fellowship around worship styles
      Bill Harrell of Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez, GA, who chairs the Executive Committee of the SBC said, "I believe our Convention leaders need to make a more definitive statement about how we identify ourselves in worship and who we are as Southern Baptists." The Georgia Index.
   2. Some desire to fellowship around the world's standards.
      How we look, dress, or what we possess sometimes drives our fellowship. This ought not be. The gospel takes a poor man and makes him rich in God's sight.
2. Our focus as a people must be on the gospel.
   
   • Theology proper seeks to understand the 'God of the gospel' (Romans 1:1; II Corinthians 11:7; I Thessalonians 2:8-9).
   • Christology is outlining the 'Gospel of Jesus Christ' i.e. the life and ministry of Christ (Mark 1:1; I Corinthians 9:12; II Corinthians 2:12; 9:13; 10:14; Galatians 1:7).
   • Christian ethics means living a 'life worship of the gospel' (Philippians 1:27).
   • Pneumatology focuses on new birth as the promise of the gospel (Acts 2:38; Romans 5:5), while soteriology seeks to unpack the richness of the gospel of salvation (Romans 1:16; Ephesians 1:13).
   • Apologetics is the 'defense of the gospel' (Philippians 1:16).
   • Ecclesiology is the doctrine of the gospelized and baptized while Missiology is the science of gospelizing.
   The Bible is undoubtedly central to Christianity, but it is not the center. The gospel is the center.

   We cannot have a relationship with our Christology -- we can have a relationship wtih Jesus Christ. Our soteriology cannot save us from sins our Saviour can. Our ecclesiology does not make us one -- the Lord of the Church does. Our eschatology will not transform this flawed universe -- Jesus the King of kings and the Prince of Peace will do that. And no matter how much we love theology -- it will never love us back.' We do not mean to denigrate the importance of theology and truth, but we advocate the subordination of Sola Scriptura beneath Sola Christo. Mark Powell.

3. Our future as a people depends on the gospel.
   We are a gospel people. God will build His church and He will succeed but the future of this local church that we call Emmanuel, and the future of the Convention, is dependent on "the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God . . ." (Romans 1:16).