Philippians 1:27 reads: "Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together for the faith of the gospel..." This verse, as well as several others, teaches us that one of the most important objectives for the church is the advancement of the gospel, so that lives may be saved. However, many in the modern church have abandoned the gospel, leaving us to wonder what their purpose is. Any so-called "Christian" who preaches any so-called "gospel" other than the one that Jesus Himself preached, needs to take an honest look at the Bible and decide whether he will repent, or go his own way.
It has become popular within the church to forsake the gospel in favor of a more palatable and less offensive message that will allow us to absolve ourselves of our responsibility to proclaim the gospel. In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2, saying: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." But we have to ask ourselves, who are the poor to whom the gospel must be preached, the captives to whom release must be proclaimed, the blind to whom the recovery of sight must be proclaimed, the downtrodden to be set free, and those to whom the Lord's favor must be proclaimed? It is all of humanity who has no knowledge of the gospel. They are poor, captive, blind, downtrodden, and separate from the Lord, because of sin. They, as we once were, are bound to corruption, death, and decay, and they need to know that there is a Savior.
We have no business calling ourselves Christians or the church if we reject the gospel. Man, by nature, is sinful, without exception (Romans 3:23), and sinful man stands condemned to die (Romans 6:23). But the one God loved us while we were still sinners, and gave His Son, Jesus, the one and only Savior of the world to live among us without sin, die in our place (John 3:16, Romans 5:8), offering His own blood for the forgiveness of our sin (Hebrews 9:11-12), and rise again, conquering death (Colossians 1:18), so we, who entrust ourselves to Him, acknowledge and confess our sin to Him, and call on Him to save us, could also live eternally with Him (Romans 10:8-10).
I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes!