We are all products of our backgrounds and are usually filled with pride about our backgrounds. As varied as they are, our pride all stems from our derived values from them. I remember how much I gloated in my ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) heritage when I grew up there. I still have feelings of nostalgia about aspects of our worship. I recently searched for music from my childhood family church and even though I did not fully agree with the theology of the song I found, I couldn’t help but play it repeatedly to relive old days.

It reminded me of our sense of pride that we had the best music, best theology, best church, best religion, best Pastor, best building…I could go on and on but we have similar sentiments about our families, tribes, countries, villages and hometowns, alma maters, professions, race and several other things.

We probably have as many churches and doctrines as we can imagine with everyone proud of their backgrounds and theologies. But, I want to challenge us to re-examine our beliefs and for preachers to review our doctrines and our philosophies of preaching as we approach Easter 2025.

One of my early influences in ministry once said his homiletical teacher said the Bible is ‘’the most powerful story’’. His style of preaching therefore involved weaving personal stories into his messages in his attempt to solve personal problems. Another said ‘’Application is everything’’. The ability to take texts of the Bible and apply them to everyday living is what good preaching is about. Quite popular in Christendom is the concept of God giving everyone a message. Some are called to teach faith, others grace. Some are called to teach the kingdom, others called to teach prosperity. Some are called to teach success while others are to teach family life and the list goes on. Pastoral responsibility makes every shepherd want to help parishioners live out their faith in a rich, balanced and practical way.

However, in spite of all the above we must ask ourselves, what exactly is the gospel of Christ? We must know the gospel of Christ clearly so we can be certain we are true believers. The message of Easter is the gospel of Christ that we all are called to believe, preach and live out in the presence of the world.

“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT

‬‬The death of Christ is the beginning of this message. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Christ partook of this death because all our sins were accounted to Him on the cross of Calvary (1 Peter 2:24). The Sinless one was accounted sinful so the sinful could be accounted sinless. He took our place so that we could take His. He was made an offering for sin so that we could be made right with God with His own righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). Being made this sin offering was the reason He shed His blood for us. The life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). The draining of blood is the draining of life, resulting in death. We preach the death of Christ because it was through His death that the penalty of sin was suffered and paid for.

He was buried. The burial is significant as proof of His death. His death can be doubted if He was not buried but burial puts closure to life. When He was buried, an end came to His life and it was symbolic also of death to the Law of Moses under which He lived as a Jew for thirty three and a half years. He became free from the Law of Moses on behalf of all Jews and indeed all humanity (Romans 7:1-5). With freedom from the Law also came freedom from sin and the consequence of death (1 Corinthians 15:33-34). In His burial, He demonstrated a complete submission to the consequences of sin on our behalf to free us from the demands of the Law and of divine justice. This is the ground for the forgiveness of all our sins (Colossians 2:13-15). Following forgiveness of sins is healing and deliverance.

And He rose again! The gospel of Jesus Christ is not complete without the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection is proof of Christ’s Righteousness. Death could not hold Him down because He only died for our sins, He is not a sinner. The resurrection also proves the acceptance of His sacrifice by God. A prisoner who has served his sentence deserves freedom and He took it on our behalf. His resurrection proves He is alive! We do not have a dead Saviour but One who is alive and responsive to us. He serves today as our High Priest who represents us before the Father and guarantees our new identity in Him. His resurrection is proof of new life in Him. We live our new lives by the power of His resurrection (Romans 6:4). The resurrection proves the victory of Christ over death and over Satan and his forces. Christ rose triumphant over them having overcome them on our behalf.

We must always put this simple gospel in the very depth of our hearts and all of our preaching. Every other thing we preach without this at the heart of it will not transform lives from sin to salvation.This message is to be believed, confessed and acted upon. It is the story of the grace of God upon which we stand. This redemptive work of Christ is the basis for the free gift of salvation that only requires our faith for activation.

Victor Adeyemi