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What is the Gospel?

The Greek word translated by the English word "gospel" has at it's core the simple idea of "good news." But we don't say, "Have you heard the gospel about the stock market today?" or "John and Mary just told me the gospel about their new baby" or "Here's the gospel about your favourite sports team." When we talk about the gospel, we have something specific in mind. The word is used in relation to the central facts concerning what Jesus Christ did for us when He died for our sins on the cross, was buried for three days, and then rose from the dead conquering sin and death and hell. This is the gospel - the good news - for people everywhere.

So the gospel is good news about Jesus Christ, but perhaps we should ask ourselves. "What's wrong that we need good news in the first place?" The answer to that is simply, "Sin." Maybe that word sounds strange to your ears. Unpleasant. Ugly. Judgmental. Harsh. I understand that. Sin is all of that. When we are sinned against all of these concepts come into play. It's unpleasant to be the object of gossip. It's not fair. The harsh comments hurt us and the results can be truly ugly. We can find ourselves separated from those who called themselves our friends. The way others judge us wrongly causes us to respond by judging them - and in our passion and pain, perhaps wrongly as well.

Sin really is nasty and it complicates things. Have you noticed that? Remember how simple things were in that relationship before the troubles set in? Conversation was so easy. Your lives were full of grace toward one another. If someone slipped over the line in their good-hearted humour, all was quickly forgiven. There was laughter. There was joy. You were uninhibited and free to express yourselves without restraint or undue caution.

Then sin entered the picture. A real wrong was committed. It hurt. Suddenly the conversation was strained. Instead of grace toward each other, you started to be accusatory, keeping score of the wrongs so they could be neatly tallied up to justify the thousand little acts of retaliation. If someone slipped over the line, the other assumed it was intentional and the offence was carefully hoarded away for a sunny day. There was tension. There were tears. You were locked together in an awkward dance of artificial politeness - delivering shot after shot, barb after barb, with a phoney smile and carefully chosen words. You called it walking on eggshells, but in fact it felt more like walking on broken glass. Bit by bit you closed each other off. Neither of you could risk being open - vulnerable - because the other one was always waiting to take advantage.

Yes, sin complicates things enormously. What was once a pleasure is now repulsive. What was once a joy is a source of pain. What was once a given - taken for granted - is now an effort, arduously planned and executed. What was once so simple is now so complex.

Now let's introduce God and his view of the situation. God is holy and you are now aware that you are not. You so caught up in sin that you find evil you never dreamed of welling up to the surface of your life. Sometimes it overflows and you shower your world, the innocent as well as the guilty with poisons of pride and malice, hate and anger, spite and bitterness. It is killing you inside - the old adage about the wages of sin being death - is becoming real to you. Life as you knew it, as you dreamed it, as you planned it, is being sucked out of you and replaced by the most reprehensible things you could have ever imagined.

But wait! That old adage about the wages of sin being death is not just an old adage. That's God's word to you. It's a warning. It's not just about that feeling of life ebbing away as you are consumed by your negative emotions. It's more than that. Much more serious. When God talks about death. He's talking about "the big death." Not even physical death compares with this death. He's talking about eternal separation from Himself - death in the sense of complete separation and isolation from the Source of Life.

Your sin, which you may be able to justify to yourself, is still recognizable for what it is. You would never call it right or good. You may hate yourself for lowering yourself to this level, but you recognize it as lowering yourself. You've hit the skids here. You know it's wrong. You feel trapped - helpless - but you know sin when you see it, even in yourself. And God says that sin will kill you.

Sin kills us physically. It kills us psychologically - that is robs us of the vitality of living life to the full and enjoying it as God meant it to be enjoyed. But worst of all, it kills us spiritually. God is the source of life. Sin separates us from God. Sin separates us from life. It kills us.

The gospel is good news. Good news about Jesus Christ. Good news about what He did for us. God sees us in the middle of our muddle - surrounded by, immersed in, deeply drinking from all that is unholy. God has every right to feel about you the same way that you feel about the person who caused you the most pain - only more. You have rebelled against all that God had planned for your life - the purity, the love, the innocence, the joy, the hope, the gentleness, the patience and so on. And though you have disappointed Him deeply, He still loves you. Loves you so much that He took all of that blackness in your life onto Himself so that we can not only walk free, but walk into life, abundant life, eternal life.

When you accept this as the truth that it is, God does two glorious things. He charges all of your sin to the account of his Son and He charges all of Jesus Christ's righteousness to your account. So the gospel is good news. Good news about Jesus Christ. Good news about what He did for us. Now what? What are we going to do with this information?

Today you've heard about the gospel - the good news that Jesus Christ died and took your sin on Himself so that you might have His righteousness. You know about the sin in your life better than anyone, because you live in the middle of it day after day. Believe what I tell you about God's remedy for that sin - not because I tell you, but because God tells you. He makes it clear in his Word: "The wages of sin is death - but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Ron Hughes
© January 2007