Gospel-Salad, Gospel-Soup, Gospel-Breadsticsk
What a deal!
“Gospel” is a word that gets tossed around or attached as an adjective in Christian circles.
Gospel-saturated, Gospel-fellowship, Gospel-driven, Gospel-informed, Gospel-compassion… at times it can feel like a large Gospel-salad with lots of Gospel-dressing and very little Gospel-meat.
Gospel means Good News. Lots of Christians know this, but good news about what? Understanding what’s good about the good news is crucial to enjoying and protecting the Gospel.
Here are three important ways the Bible talks about Good News.1
The Good News of God’s Big Story.
God is making the wrong things right, the sad things no more, and the glad things forever. The salvation that God brings is good news declared on the mountains.
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
Isaiah 52:7
Often, the specific aspects of God’s goodness are presented to the Lost world by celebrating His plan to end evil and make flourishing permanent. God will end human trafficking one day. There will be no more slavery. There will be no more cancer. There will be no more injustice.
These beautiful and important themes in the Good News. But we must deepen our understanding if we want to enjoy these truths.
Which brings us to our second meaning for Good News…
The Good News of Jesus’ Life Story.
The good news of God’s big story centers around and culminates in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus declaring this,
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!
Mark 1:14–15
The good news flows through Jesus! The Scriptures include four different accounts of who Jesus is, what He did, and what it means to follow Him: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The Gospels are the foundational discipleship curriculum of every Christian. Think of how much you would know about the life and teaching of Jesus without the Gospels? It would be very hard to be a disciple (follower) of Jesus without this good news!
Christians need to drink deeply from the Gospels if they want to enjoy the Good News.
There is one more crucial step the Bible calls us to take if we would truly, deeply enjoy the good news.
Which is why we need this final emphasis on the Good News…
The Good News of First Importance
The good news of what God is doing in the world through Jesus Christ is only enjoyed by individuals if they hold, in faith, to the Gospel’s core: the death for sins, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures.
Christ replacing us on the cross and in the grave, then raising for us, is the only way the Gospel becomes Good News for any one of us.
Think of it…
If God is going to end evil in the world, what will happen to you without Jesus?
If Jesus lived as an example and teacher, and what He said about sin and judgement is true, what is going to happen to you because of your sin?
The Good News of God’s Big Story ends in judgement for unrepentant sinners. The Good News of Jesus’ life ends in exhaustion and condemnation for self-righteous disciples.
Any Good News that will be enjoyed as Good News for individuals must be enjoyed through the work of Christ in our place– His death for sins, burial, and resurrection on our behalf!
This is exactly how Paul describes the importance of 1 Corinthians 15:1–2. You only have hope if you hold to the Gospel of first importance.
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
So that you’re not taking my word for it, look at Paul’s description of the Gospel of first importance?
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
1 Corinthians 15:1–8
In the next couple posts I’m going to tease out how these themes work together and how the church must carefully keep them from being separated–lest we lose our Gospel joy!
I distinctly remember a friend, Joe Swords, talking about these categories and relating them in the way this post does in an Acts 29 meeting years ago. The basic ideas burned in my mind, but I honestly can’t recall how much of this mirrors that day.