The Gospel Comes First

We have all heard stories of people who have been knocked on the head and forgotten who they were. They had amnesia. That would be very frightening because it doesn’t matter what you do if you don’t know who you are. Who you are determines what you do and how you do it. One of the most common stories in the world is what you might call institutional amnesia where over time institutions that were begun for a specific purpose forget who they are and therefore what they do and how they should do it. I can think of all kinds of organizations that were started for a gospel purpose but seem to have forgotten why they were started.

For example, and I’m not picking on them because I don’t know much about them, but the Young Men’s Christians Association, the YMCA. Are they young, or men’s, or Christian anymore? I don’t know, but I do know they are an association. Oftentimes, what happens is an organization loses the purpose for which it was begun. It grows the organization, the money, the commissions, and the details that go into making something work, but forgets what it is and why it exists in the first place.

If you belong to the Lord Jesus, the gospel comes first. We must not forget who we are and why we exist. At the Bill Rice Ranch, our purpose is to give the gospel and to help and encourage good churches to do the same. We do the work of an evangelist. We are not a church, but we are here to help churches and to complement what God has called them to do.

Galatians speaks very specifically about the primacy of the gospel. The gospel comes first. When a church forgets that is their first and main task, then they forget what they should do. There are two things to remember. First, the gospel is first in authority. In Galatians 2:2 Paul says, “And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles.” It was God who told him to go to Jerusalem, and he communicated there what sort of gospel he was preaching. The gospel comes first in authority. The gospel is not revealed to us by a person. It is not being given to please a person. It has been given to us by God.

More specifically, in Galatians 1:12 Paul says, “For I neither received it [the gospel] of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” He says, “I don’t please men. I am the servant of Christ.” Someone who is a people-pleaser cannot serve Christ. So, the gospel comes first. It is first in authority. It is not by man nor to please man.

Many times religious organizations, denominations, and groups of churches look to history as their primary authority. History is very important, but it is not one’s primary authority. In Galatians 3:6 Paul says, “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” The people Paul was addressing looked to Moses as their grand authority. Moses was their father and their authority for how they were to have peace with God. Paul goes back even before Moses and says, “Look, the gospel was in God’s mind before the law. It was before Moses and goes back to Abraham and even before that.”

I don’t need to know my historical connection to some other authority a century or more in the past to know what God has revealed real time right now. The Bible is more ancient, more original, more authoritative than any person who has transmitted that authority, and at the same time it is immediate as in real time. “I went up by revelation,” Paul said. He was taught the gospel by the revelation of Jesus Christ. So, the gospel is first in authority.

Second, it is first in unity. Galatians 2:11 says, “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face.” Peter was a good man, but he was being a little careless with the way the gospel was presented or at least what he was implying by his actions. The Bible says, “He separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.” So, there was a separation and Peter separated himself. “Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation,” Paul says.

So, the gospel is first in authority and the gospel is first in unity. There are a lot of things in which I can agree with people, but none is more important than the fact that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. Galatians 3:26 says, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” These distinctions are valid and important, but none of them is more important than the truth that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.

Anything I add or take away from the gospel is a reason to look at the kind of unity I have. The gospel is first in unity. We are all one in Christ Jesus in the gospel. It is not personality. Our unity is not based on whether we like someone, they are from the same college, or they like the same team. It is based primarily on the gospel, not other issues. There are other issues that are mighty important, and the more specific your unity, the more important it is that you agree on more. But whatever other things you find unity in, you have to base it, first of all, on the gospel.

Consider marriage. If you are going to live together in holy matrimony with someone for the rest of your life in close proximity and unity, there needs to be a lot more than the basics of she is a girl and he is a boy. Although, that is the basis on which you begin according to the Genesis mandate. Marriage is not just unity; it is among the closest unities there could possibly be.

Consider church. There are a lot of good churches that preach the gospel where I would not become a member because being a member of a church, being under that authority, is different than merely appreciating that church or working with that church in some other capacity.

There is only one woman to whom I am married and there is only one church of which I am a member. The point is that there are a number of things that can enhance or detract from my unity with other people. While those things can be important, they are nothing if I don’t first have gospel unity. Someone may have a great position on politics or culture or things they do or don’t do that may attract you to them, but if they are not straight on the gospel, then the most important thing is lacking.

So, the authority is both real time and eternal. It is revelation that God has given us. He has revealed it to us in His Word and that is the basis upon which we find our greatest unity. Most Christian institutions at some time seem to lose their way when they get careless with the gospel. They may even be straight on some cultural issue, but if they are not straight on the gospel, it doesn’t matter because the gospel is the first thing. It is foundational. It is first in authority and first in unity. If we are going to live a life that is productive and honoring to Christ, that is where we must begin.