The Power Of The Gospel

That the pen is mightier than the sword is an inarguable and historically demonstrable proposition. Unlike military power, the power of the pen relates more to quality than quantity. Powerful ideas placed upon paper in short pithy phrases are the stuff of great historical events. Catchy cliches' contained in incisive insights, are the crucial instruments of information used by visionaries in the crucible of crisis to achieve historical, earth-shattering, revolutionary and radical changes.

It was not the ninety-five theses nailed to the Wittenburg Castle gate, but Luther's short and simple quotation from the Word or God, "The just shall live by faith," that gave the necessary slogan and impetus for the Reformation. It was not a lengthy philosophical dissertation of Paine nor the founding fathers of the American Republic that made the real difference. But a simple cry, "Give me liberty or give me death," by a man of the earth. The speech of this man, Patrick Henry, uttered in the Virginia House of Burgesses, became the spark lighting the fire of the American Revolution. These simple words were the battle cry that fanned its all-consuming flames until victory was won and independence was achieved.

The lengthy and laborious phrases of the main speaker at the dedication of the battlefield of Gettysburg, have been long forgotten. But the sincere, simple sayings of an Illinois back-woodsman, scribbled on the back of an envelope in a train carriage, galvanized a people. His short and moving speech lives on as one of the classics of literary history.

The most significant and revolutionary words of all are the simple words of the simple gospel of Christ. The real power of these words has its source in the powerful God of this universe. In contrast with many words that have changed people and the course of history, these simple words are powerful because they contain and capture ultimate Truth.

The power entailed in these few simple words is an ultimate mystery to historian and philosopher alike. They are foolish to the pseudo-intellectual. They are illogical to the studied logician. They are unreasonable to the worldly prudent and wise. They are weak to the mighty and self-sufficient. After all, who were those simple folk who with a few simple words turned the Roman world upside down? How could a simple Galilean speak words that would change the calendars, coins and conditions of civilisations?

But much more than this, how could such life-changing simple words, also change the eternal souls and destiny of men? But to the foolish these simple words are words of wisdom. To the dying, they are words of life. To the weak and insecure, they are words of safety and security. To the lost, they are the power of God unto salvation!

The Mystery Of Immortality

In Paul’s resurrection chapter he brings us face to face with the shocking common denominator of all men, death. He speaks to those who have seen all earthly hope collapse and lie in shattered fragments at their feet. He encourages those who in one moment of time have had their world turned upside down to come crashing down around them.

He speaks to those who have realised that eyes that once smiled have closed, lips that once spoke have fallen into cold silence and the warm loving grasp of a vibrant hand has forever relaxed. He addresses all men who, no matter how lightly they may treat the matter or how desperately they may try to circumvent or delay the issue, must someday stand on common ground as their hearts ponder the same age-old question of the mystery of immortality.

The stark reality of man’s mortality is made evident in the life of even the most sceptical. He cannot avert his eyes from the spectre of death that overshadows his every step. He cannot silence the voice that shatters his self-imposed naivete.

The timeless question of Job of old breaks loudly into the false sanctity of his consciousness with all the force of a wailing siren:

"If a man dies,

shall he live again?"

Job 14:14

Paul and Job urge man to break out of the shell of self-deception and face the issue squarely. He implores man to come to grips with the implications of man’s mortal existence, no matter how painful the encounter with reality might be. He insists man admit the hopelessness of his dilemma, unless an answer comes from a higher source and authority.

Theirs is not a question flung as a scornful cry into the face of an unyielding fate. But rather, it is framed as an intelligent appeal, from the heart of a man of spiritual wisdom. A man who recognizes that the answer to life’s central question can only come from the one from whom life issued.

Are we, as Paul, justified in holding that in spite of death, we have a valid hope of immortality? Some scoff at such a proposition as a ridiculous paradox. Some shudder at it as a dreadful possibility. Some, not as wise as Paul, turn to history outside God’s Word and are led only to the grave and left there. Because secular history is merely mute about the matter. It neither confirms nor denies the prospect of an afterlife.

Some turn to science, but find no laboratory, apparatus or technique for analysing life or death or discovering the fate of a soul. Some rely upon philosophy and find themselves free to speculate, postulate, formulate and posit theories, but in the end find their hypotheses unreliable, for philosophy has no reliable means of testing its conclusions.

Some of us turn to the only true and reliable source, the Word of God, to find there the only authoritative and satisfying answer to man’s perpetual quest for immortality. We cherish this hope as the established answer. Our hearts vibrate within us as we contemplate Paul’s climatic cry, "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" 

- John White

Our Blessed Hope

There rests within the breast,

Of those who wait for Him,

A fervent, burning hope for rest,

From sin in every limb.


Longing ever to be free,

From the prison of the flesh,

Through faith’s eye the empty tomb we see,

And our hearts are filled with bliss.

And echoing as we pause and listen,

The angel’s cry - "He is risen!" - John White

Over-comers In Christ

God has never guaranteed Christians immunity from trouble. Although Jesus said we could come to Him to have life more abundantly, He wasn’t inferring that life would be a rose garden or that we would be borne to heaven on flowery beds of ease. The person was right who said life wasn’t meant to be easy.

But just why is this so? Jesus says that in this world we shall have trouble didn’t He? We are, as the writers of the New Testament said, in the world, but are not of the world. This world is not our home. We are just sojourners, pilgrims, seeking a city whose build and maker is God. Paul envisioned us a colonisers in the Phillipian letter. And as ambassadors and living love letters from heaven in his Corinthian letters.

As the old saying goes, we are cannot hold on to God with one hand and the world with the other. We cannot be neutral. Jesus said. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24)

God is asking us to take a stand for Him in this world. You see Jesus called it like it was. The tug of the world and the pull of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in\ opposite directions guarantees inevitable trouble for a Christian.

Experimentally we can all confirm the veracity of Job’s statement that man is born for trouble. He’s often caught up in the geography of circumstance and finds himself surrounded by the meteorology of trouble. He frequently feels the heat in the crucible of crisis.

He’s dropped into the test tube of trial. He’s called upon to navigate the shoals of loss and sorrow. Often he finds there is no easy way to build a detour around\sorrow or tragedy. He must go through it in order to come out safely on the other side. The three Hebrew children were not saved out of the fiery furnace, but in and through it. The lives of Daniel, David and all the patriarchs of the Old and New Testaments confirm the universality of this dilemma and the purifying experiences that often result form it.

In his Roman letter Paul gives a liturgy of the sort of tragic occurrences the Christian may expect in life. (See Ro. 8:35-39) In this list, He gives no indication any will escape trouble. Rather, he says we will suffer through them. He warned that Christian martyrdom was already becoming an everyday occurrence. He even mentioned two kinds of demonic angels. He indicated there are special kinds of demons whose primary mission is to bring us trouble. But he reassures us that by suffering we become more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.