09/24/2026
Pastoral Letter- The Centrality of the Gospel for the Christian Life
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
(1 Corinthians. 2:2)
Recently, Pastor Clif and I met with an individual who was struggling with the burden of their current life circumstances. This person recognized the weightiness of current hardships, and rightly foresaw how those current hardships would soon create more – their crises were only compounding! Not surprisingly, this particular soul felt crushed under the heavy burdens they were shouldering.
It’s not uncommon for believers to experience this kind of thing. We can find ourselves fraught with frustrations, distracted by life’s difficulties, all while seeking to live rightly before God (dealing with our sin, faithfully managing our regular responsibilities). It’s no wonder we can feel overwhelmed as a result: so many things are vying for our attention, and we feel at our wit’s end!
When we find ourselves there, what do we do?
Paul’s words to the Corinthians are instructive: as he opens his first letter to them, he begins by correcting some of their worldly thinking. They are “taking sides,” some following Paul, others Cephas, another group Apollos, and yet another group Jesus (as if the teaching of these were opposed to one another – far from it!). As Paul shows that their “wisdom” is clouded by worldliness, he reminds the believers in Corinth precisely what he emphasized when he previously came to them: rather than proclaiming God's testimony in eloquent speech or wisdom, he resolved to know nothing among them but a crucified Christ (1 Cor. 2:1-2). That was the constant drumbeat of Paul’s ministry to the Corinthians, as he reiterates here in this letter – he proclaimed a crucified Savior, in response to the various issues which plagued that church (division, lawsuits, failure to acknowledge apostolic authority, sexual sin, etc.). What was Paul’s answer to all of those problems? A crucified Savior for them. If there’s internal division, take it to the Savior. If they’re dealing with sexual atrocities, go back to the Savior. That’s Paul’s primary message: you have a crucified Savior; go to him with your sins & your struggles.
What’s the connection for us? It’s surprisingly simple. The answer to any and all of our problems, fears, burdens, or frustrations, is the reality that my perfect Savior died to save me from my sin – both original sin and the actual, daily sins I commit. The answer to my weariness under life’s difficulties is remembering a crucified Savior, who suffered torturously under God's unadulterated wrath until the light of his life was extinguished on the cross, so that he could finally and definitively say, “It is finished.” Just like the problems facing the Corinthian church, my own issues are resolved when I understand the centrality of the simple gospel message: That I’m a sinner, but Christ died for sinners – for a sinner like me! Do you believe that? Is that your heart’s confident cry?
That simple message, Christ crucified for sinners, must be central for us as it was for Paul – and not merely central, but personally central. We make the gospel message our “home base” as it were – we go back to it throughout our days. In moments of frustration, we remember that “Christ died for me, bearing the penalty of my sins, so how thankful I might be for his sacrificial death!” So that instead of frustration, we can respond in compassion. When we’re overwhelmed, we recall the beautiful reality that “I’m a saved sinner, and the Lord will surely uphold and sustain someone for whom he sent his own Son to die.” We go back to our home base; we go back to the gospel. And we hit that home base throughout our day, and we make the gospel personally central to our circumstances. May God cause us to return, over and over, to the simple central message of Christ crucified for sinners, even a sinner like me. May God help us to that end.
The LORD’s sweetest blessings,
Pastor Trey
