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Written by Sparky Pritchard Saturday, 24 October 2009 04:41

Change is part of the world in which we live.  For instance, in my lifetime I have seen the recording industry change from vinyl Hi-Fi … to stereo … to 8 track … to cassette tape … to compact disk … to MP3s and iPod.  Communications have changed just as rapidly from letters … to telephones … to emails … to smartphones … to Facebook … to Skype … and Twitter.  Changes surround us in clothing styles … architectural tastes … entertainment options … and food services.

Changes can be good.  We no longer wash clothes by hand and wring them out with our own muscle power or put them through the wringer!  (Yes, I remember the wringers!)  Not that long ago, your choice for TV viewing was “confined” to two or three local channels.  Now we have hundreds of useless options!  (But we do have remotes to surf them all!)

Changes can be bad.  You know those remotes for the TV?  It takes three to get all the technology right!  That’s NOT GOOD.  (Yes, I know I can get a $500 remote that replaces all three … NOT GOOD!)  Another change that I would like to change … my aging body!  NOT GOOD!

Yet, there is one thing that must never change … the message of the Gospel.  Paul knew some people who tried that.  In responding he said, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).  He viewed what they did as an attempt to “distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7).  But there is only one true gospel … and our job is simply this:

Proclaiming an Unchanging Message

to a Changing World

At the start of His ministry, we read of Jesus, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23).  At the end of His ministry, Jesus said, “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matthew 24:14).  Paul took up that challenge saying, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).  Later he would add, “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named” and “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (Romans 15:20; 1 Corinthians 9:16).  In fact, in everything Paul did he testified, “I do it all for the sake of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:23).

Together, may we reaffirm our commitment to this unchanging message of the gospel and take it the ends of the earth.