The Wednesday Word ~ 14 January, 2026 A.D.

 

The Gospel and Authentic 

New Testament Ministry: Part VII

The Gospel is not a proposal. It is the good news of a person, the Lord Christ. In the Gospel, we proclaim Christ the God/Man who lived perfectly, revealed the Father perfectly and died perfectly. We preach Christ the mediator and substitute, the eternal Word made flesh who, having successfully accomplished His purposes, rose from the dead and ascended to the throne of heaven (John 1:14; Ephesians 4:8-10). He is enough to bring the dead to life and to give strength to the weary.

 

Christ crucified is the centre of authentic New Testament ministry. Him we preach (Colossians 1:28)! Being that the cross was a place of death we see that Christ’s entire life was, in one sense, characterised by the cross. To save us, He, as a man, died to all divine entitlements that were His by sovereign right.

 Consider this: ● He created all things, but in grace, He stooped to become one of His own creation--- any way you look at it, that’s a cross.

 ● He was the Champion of Heaven but was made lower than the angels--- that’s a cross.

● He was the eternal King, higher than all the monarchs of the earth, but at birth He was lain in a feeding trough for animals --- that’s a cross.

● Before He was able to walk, King Herod ordered His assassination --- that’s a cross.

● To save His life, He the all-powerful one, who in His sovereign majesty could have stopped His enemies with one piercing glance submitted Himself to the protection of his earthly parents. That’s a cross.

● As they fled, this One who was the brightness of the Father’s glory, effectively became a refugee, --- that’s a cross.

● Later, as He grew to manhood, His neighbours would have supposed Him to be a bastard, one born out of wedlock--- that’s a cross.

● Although He was God, He lived in obscurity for 30 years, unrecognised and unappreciated---now that’s a cross.

● He was altogether lovely, yet He was hated without a cause --- that’s a cross.

● He was slandered and maligned by the very people He had come to save--- that’s a cross.

● His brothers and sisters considered Him to be mentally unstable. To them He was an embarrassment. One time they even tried to forcibly take Him home, away from public ministry ---that’s a cross.

 ● He came to His own and His own received Him not--- that’s a cross.

● He was always the outsider, always the reject--- that’s a cross.

● He was the Almighty yet, at times, He was weak, tired and hungry --- that’s a cross.

● He was rich yet for our sakes He became poor --- that’s a cross.

● He was the righteous one, the Judge of all the earth yet He willingly became the guilty one --- that’s a cross.

● He hated sin, yet He was reckoned as sin --- that’s another awful cross.

In the gospel we preach Christ Crucified, the revelation of the Father (1 Corinthians 2:2; John 14:9). But what is God like? Look at Jesus and you’ll see Him (2 Corinthians 4:6). He is the God of the cross. 

He the God who was entirely willing to lay down all rights, riches and reputation to save His people. This is why we preach Christ crucified for in Him we bring God to the people and the people to God. As Adolph Saphir says, “God has only one purpose; to manifest Himself, to show forth His glory, to reveal His perfections and to show them forth in Jesus Christ crucified.” (A. Saphir: Christ Crucified) 

Thus authentic New Covenant ministry makes known the God of the cross in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that’s the Gospel Truth!

 

-preacher Miles McKee