Gospel List 2

The gospel should be

• Proclaimed. (Revelation 14:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Colossians 1:23; Ephesians 6:19; Galatians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 9:14)
  
• Obeyed (or believed). (1 Peter 4:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:10-11; Romans 10:16)
• Preached. (2 Timothy 1:10-11, 2:8; Galatians 1:11, 3:8, 4:13; 2 Corinthians 2:12, 8:19, 10:16, 11:11; 1 Corinthians 1:17, 9:16, 15:1; Romans 15:20)
• Taught. (2 Timothy 1:10-11)
• Declared. (1 Thessalonians 2:2; Ephesians 6:20)
• Heard. (Colossians 1:5, 23; Ephesians 1:13)
• Accepted. (2 Corinthians 11:4)
• Labored and served in. (Philippians 2:22, 4:3; Romans 15:16, 19)
• Shared. (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
• Defended and confirmed. (Philippians 1:7, 16)
• Preserved. (Galatians 2:5)
  
• Confessed. (2 Corinthians 9:13)
• Presented. (1 Corinthians 9:18)

Gospel List 1

Poetry of the Cross: Why Have You Forsaken Me?

M

y God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

 
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.

Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.

All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.

 —David, Psalm 22 (ESV)

More Poetry of the Cross

• Dorothy at Field Stone Cottage: Its Throned Upon the Awful Tree
• Ellen of The Happy Wonderer: Poetry of the Cross
• Rosemary of Seasonings of the Heart: Extended on a Cursèd Tree
• Brandon of Siris: Good Friday

You are welcome to join me in my celebration of Poetry of the Cross if you wish. Just post a cross-centered poem today and/or tomorrow, send me the link to your poem and I’ll link back to it.

Gospel List 1

What is the gospel?

• It is “…Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David….”  (2 Timothy 2:8)
• It is “the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light.” (2 Timothy 1:10)
  
• It is the preaching or proclaiming of Christ. (Philippians 1)
• It is the unsearchable riches of Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-13)
• It is the word of truth. (Ephesians 1:13)
• It is the promise of God to Abraham that “In you shall all the nations be blessed,”  which, of course, refers to Christ and his work. (Galatians 3:7-14)
  
• It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-17)
• It is the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
• It is that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)
• It is the word of the cross. (1 Corinthians 1:17-18)
• It is the preaching of Jesus Christ. (Romans 16:25)
• It is the naming of Christ. (Romans 15:20)
• It is the word of Christ; it is the good news that Jesus is Lord and God has raised him from the dead. (Romans 10:5-14)
• It includes the truth that “God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:16)
• Is was “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.” (Romans 1:2)
• It is “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Romans 1:3-4)
• It is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)

What I’ve done here is look at every mention of the gospel in Paul’s epistles, searching for clues to the content of the gospel in the statements made about the gospel. If you feel this list comes out of the blue, read the comments here.

I intended to hold this post until after Easter, since I’ve been more or less taking this week off from blogging. (Most of the poetry posts were queued up beforehand, waiting to publish automatically. All I’ve been doing each day is adding the links to other posted poems and correcting my misspellings and other goofs.) But I’ve changed my mind. After all, Easter is, first and foremost about the gospel, the good news that the Son of God came down and lived among us, died for our sins, was buried and then raised again on the third day.