Colossians 1:15-17

He[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things are held together.

God Centered Gospel

In all actuality there are only two gospels in the world. There is the God-centered Gospel and the man centered gospel. One is good news. The other is bad news. The scary part is that both gospels may look and sound the same. One saves while the other condemns. Not understanding the difference between the two is a condition of the heart which is, “more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9

The man-centered gospel may look and sound exactly the same as the God-centered gospel. The difference is the motive. The man-centered gospel says, “I will repent and put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because I want happiness, peace, joy, blessings and not to go to hell. I will serve the body of Christ because that makes me happy. I will go to church every Sunday and give my time and money to the church because that will make me happy. I will attend Bible studies, gather with the brethren and share the Gospel with non-believers because I will feel guilty if I do not and I might not be saved. All they are doing is using Christ for His gifts and this is NOT the true gospel.

The world wants peace, joy, happiness, love and not to go to hell. There is nothing wrong with wanting these things or going to Church and attending Bible studies. These are all good but this is not the God-centered Gospel. People use the same motives to find happiness when, eating, drinking, playing sports, attending sporting events and relationships.

The God-centered gospel is when people become aware that they have severely offended God by loving His gifts rather than Him and deserve the consequences of His wrath. These people seek forgiveness from Him by pursuing a relationship with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ who is the center of all things like todays verse explains. The greatest gift of the Gospel is not forgiveness, justification, propitiation and all the other awesome undeserved gifts we receive. The greatest gift of the Gospel is that we get God!

A question that one might ask is, “Would I be satisfied to go to heaven without Christ?” If our answer is yes then we are practicing a man-centered gospel. We must repent, ask that God would forgive us and enable us by His Spirit to love Him and Him alone. A God-centered Gospel loves Jesus.

Christ is the center of all things. May He be the center of all our things! For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen – Romans 11:36