Galatians 2:8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.)
One Gospel to Every Sinner
Recently, on the Ranch we had three different services going on at the same time. We had services for teens, juniors, and Deaf. To the deaf campers we preached in American Sign Language, to the teenagers we preached in English, and to the juniors we preached in Junior. All joking aside, those are three different groups, and within those groups there are people with a wide variety of different backgrounds. It should be encouraging to remember that there is but one gospel to every sinner no matter if they are deaf or hearing, Jew or Gentile, young or old, or from Paul’s day or ours. There is only one gospel to every sinner.
Paul said in Galatians 2:8, “(For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.)” So, Peter was sent primarily to take the good news to the Jewish people and Paul was sent primarily to take the good news to the Gentiles, but it was the same God. The same God that had committed the Gospel to Peter had committed the gospel to Paul. In both cases God gave the gospel, God owns the gospel, God crafted the gospel, and it is our job to give it.
There is a lot of leeway in presentation. When it comes to juniors I am going to preach to them in a way that they can understand the gospel, but I am not going to change the actual content of the gospel. When I preach to deaf people, I would use American Sign Language. If I knew the language, I could preach to Germans, Italians, or any one of a wide variety of peoples. And there is a wide variety of people even among those who speak English. But we need to remember that there is only one gospel for every sinner.
God will give grace and the help we need. Tailor the presentation, but don’t budge on the truth. The same God that empowered the greatest preacher you have ever heard is the same God that will work through you mightily if you will take what He has said, give it as it is, and give it to the people to whom God has given you access today.