Introduction

The Gospel is the truth of Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world who lived, died and rose from the dead.  Paul says it like this, “Now I want to remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you,…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:1a, 3b-4     The Gospel is the good news of Jesus.  The Gospel is the good news of salvation.  The Gospel is the good news of forgiveness.  The Gospel is the good news of eternal life.  The Gospel, in reality, has nothing to do with me and what I do.  It is all about the Lord and His goodness to us.

It is so easy for us to begin to attach our opinions or our beliefs to the Gospel.  We do that because we own our opinions and beliefs so they must surely be RIGHT.  Some people might refer to their opinions as their “soap box”.  This expression originated a long time ago when soap was delivered to stores in wooden crates.  These crates, once emptied, could be used for an instant platform on which to stand.  Once on the platform, then you could begin to speak so that others would know your opinions on a certain subject.  Those who stood on the empty soap box were very passionate concerning their subject matter.  We, too, become very passionate about our beliefs and opinions.  So passionate, in fact, that we will begin to see the Gospel through the lens of our passion or maybe even attached to our passion.  This is very dangerous.

The danger comes from confusing Gospel issues with everyday life issues.  Each day we make many decisions.  These decisions need to be made for the glory of God.  However all believers do not need to make the same decisions concerning every life issue.  Let’s make it clear right now that there is no compromise on the Gospel.  As Followers of Christ we need to agree on the Gospel as stated at the beginning of this blog remembering that it is not a comprehensive study of the Gospel in one paragraph.  So what is a life issue?  How do we make intelligent decisions?  Can’t I just have a life manual to guide me each day?  These are all good questions.  Let’s try to tackle these questions.

1. So what is a life issue?  Very simply put this refers to living.  In order to live we make decisions on what we will eat, drink, wear, where we will go, what type of work we will do, who we will marry, how many children we will have and how to take care of our elderly parents.  This is a short list out of a long life.  The one thing we know for certain is that God does care how we live.  “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31  This verse tells us that no matter what the life issue is we are to remember to give God the glory.  Can we do that with differing opinions?  I think we can.
2. How do we make intelligent decisions? As Followers of Christ, God has provided for us His Word and His Spirit to help us in our everyday life.  “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”  James 1:5  We are reminded to pray and ask God for wisdom.  We need to rely on Him.  “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”  Proverbs 15:22  We should seek counsel from those who are wiser than we are.  Once again this is not an exhaustive list of how to make intelligent decisions.  I think one more scripture is very important to us in the decision making process.  “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not all to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Philippians 2:3-4  In making decisions we must remember to look out for the best interest of others whether that be family or friends.  God calls us to put others first.
3. Can’t I just have a life manual to guide me each day? There are those who will make the statement, “the Bible is the manual for life”.  This is not totally true.  The Bible is the story of Christ.  It is the Gospel story.  There are parts of the Bible which give us instruction on living as Followers of Christ.  We need to remember that Christ lives in us and we need to be reflecting Him in all we do.  In that sense it could be our life manual, however when we need to decide whether to use cloth diapers or disposable diapers, we will not find a chapter and verse for that decision.  We have to make that decision to the best of our ability.

This is the introduction to looking at Gospel issues versus life issues.  We need to explore this because we so confuse the two that we turn people off to the Gospel.  Another thing we do is judge others, shame others and seek to manipulate others to hold our opinions on life issues.  This causes great division in the body of Christ.  It is time to stop this nonsense!

In the coming blogs we will look at specific issues that have entered into the church and caused division among its members.  Here are few examples:  food issues, infant issues, dress issues, schooling issues, and work issues (in the home, outside the home).   Women…these are not Gospel issues!!  It is time to stop spending time on these issues that could be better spent on Gospel-living!