When I fill out wedding licenses I come to the part where I list the official title under which I solemnized the marriage. There I enter “Minister of the Gospel.”
What is the significance of that title, really? It means that your pastor is to serve the gospel, the “good news of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus.” He is to serve it by being faithful to it, proclaiming it faithfully and truly. That implies certain important truths.
First, it is all about Christ. The good news is never about what we do, but about what Christ has done. He saved you by becoming human like you, living under the law like you, living righteously as you should have done, and by dying for your sins in your place.
Second, it is the good news that is the focus of our preaching. The preaching that we are sinners and doomed to hell is a part of it, for if there is no danger, there is nothing from which we are saved. But the preaching about sin is not the main thing; it would lead only to despair if it were all we heard. The good news isn’t that God no longer hates sin, but that His justice was carried out upon Christ in our place.
Third, it is the most important thing for any of us. A pastor should so recognize the importance of the gospel to save that he treats it with absolute respect. Those who hear should say, along with Jesus’ disciples when they heard the gospel, “You have the words of eternal life.”
May we ever treasure the Ministry of the Gospel, by which God gives life, eternal life, to mankind.