Aletheia Church Boston

When the Gospel is Useless…

// July 13th, 2010 // Boston, Vision

Before you condemn me as a heretic, just keep reading.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.

So here’s the situation: Abraham was not the guy that God should’ve blessed. He came from a pagan family, in a pagan city. He committed adultery with his wife’s maid. His cousin decided that living in Sodom was a good move. He pimped his wife out… twice. Not a good resume for God’s blessing.

But he had one thing: he had a promise from God, the good news that God would save the world through him. Him! Abraham. This is the dude with the broken family, the moral failures, the weird cousin, and the broken marriage. Add to that the fact that he and his wife were OOOOOOLLLLLD. All that baggage, but he held on to the promise God had made. He believed the Gospel.

God’s made another promise, a greater promise. Namely, if we trust in God’s grace in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we’ll have abundant life now, eternal life forever, and be a part of a significance greater than we can imagine, in that we get to participate in the mission of God.

But this Gospel, this good news is, unfortunately, useless. That is, it’s useless unless we actually believe it. Abraham was justified by faith. That is, Abraham put his full trust not in his goodness or character, not in his pedigree, or is family greatness. He accounted those “as good as dead.” Rather, he believed God. He put his full trust in God’s ability to save.

As a church we’ve not got a lot to trust in. We don’t have millions in the bank. We don’t have a kickin’ location. We don’t have thousands of people, or even hundreds. What we do have is this: the Gospel. Now the question is, shall it be useless for us, or shall we. like Abraham, actually believe it?

God took this sinner named Abraham and brought about the coming of Christ. What might God do in Boston if Aletheia Church believed?