by Pastor Patrick Cho

Dear friends and family of LBC,

I have had the opportunity to meet with some of our college students recently as we talked about having a biblical, God-centered understanding of the gospel. This stemmed from our conversation a few weeks ago about building a biblical philosophy of ministry (or really, “philosophy of life”). The progression went as follows: 1) We believe that the Bible is God’s inspired, and therefore inerrant, revelation to man; 2) Because the Bible has a divine author, we believe that it is authoritative and sufficient to deal with any issue pertaining to life and godliness; 3) Because the Bible is the only authoritative revelation given to men by God, all that we do and understand must be governed by and filtered through biblical principles; 4) This is because the Bible is completely trustworthy and God’s truth is unchanging, so that even if times change and culture changes, God’s Word abides forever.

Built upon these premises came our discussion of the gospel. This is a critical topic for study because the church today grossly redefines and changes the gospel message. The concern is that since the biblical message contains elements that are too offensive to people, those elements should be either dumbed down or eliminated. So you see many believers sharing the gospel with others without ever bringing up God’s righteousness, man’s sin, or God’s judgment. Some do not even mention the cross, simply saying that Jesus “came for you,” but not indicating what He did or why it was even necessary.

I hope you discern the problem with this. This is the primary reason why so many in the church hold on to a shallow profession of faith that does not save. On top of that, it neglects the fact that the gospel has been handed down to us through divine revelation. It is not something that God has left to us to redefine. Had He wanted the gospel to be man-centered, God would have revealed it to us that way. Preaching the gospel in a way that Scripture does not teach does not just indicate a faulty view towards evangelism. It also reveals a faulty view of Scripture itself. As believers, like the Apostle Paul, we must not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Rom. 1:16). It is our responsibility as God’s ambassadors and representatives to proclaim His message His way, and to trust that through that, and that alone, will He work to save souls.

In His grace,
Pastor Patrick