The Good News (Gospel) about Jesus!
The Good News (Evangelion) about Jesus is also called “the Gospel”.
The Gospel is the Bible’s message about God’s kindness to us, exhibited by the life, death, resurrection, and offer of Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to do what we could not. He lived, died, and rose again to save us from ourselves.
Like the Apostle Paul did, anyone who experiences Jesus can help others find Him!
“My work is to tell the good news about God’s great kindness” — Acts 20:24.
Creation was good.
God, being relational and creative, designed people to have fulfillment in meaningful relationships and by using talents productively (to help, inspire, or bring joy).
Enjoying a relationship with Him
Receiving His love
Sharing that love in mutually enriching and uplifting human relationships
Creating, building, and growing good and uplifting things.
“God created human beings in His image; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it…God looked over all He had made and saw that it was very good! – Genesis 1:27-31
(full story in Genesis 1-2!)
“God’s law can be summed up in this one command: “Love others as much as you love yourself”. — Galatians 5:14
“You are God’s poem, born on purpose and for good purposes…” — Ephesians 2:10
Then, things got twisted.
Antagonism and thorns were introduced by God’s creation.
Have you noticed that left to ourselves, we find ourselves stuck in a life of being led around by our worst impulses? Have you also noticed that we are surrounded by others under the same bondage?
As a result, much of life involves a dog-eat-dog pattern of consuming others and being consumed, even though it’s not what we want. Relationships become curses rather than blessings, work becomes toil with little satisfaction, and the trinkets we buy don’t make it meaningfully better.
You aren’t alone in noticing. Nearly every historical “great thinker”, from Plato and Aristotle to even Kark Marx, noticed this phenomenon. They didn’t know why it happened, and they could not successfully fix it, but they saw it.
The Bible offers an answer.
This happens because our ancestors rejected God’s original design by introducing greed into the world. Now, it is always with us, infecting us all.
“What have you done?” – Genesis 3:13-19 (full story in Genesis chapter 3!)
Human relations fell under antagonism.
“And you (women) will desire to control your husband (men), and he (men) will exert power over you. — Genesis 3:16
At the same time, conditions on earth became harder than they should be.
“The ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.” — Genesis 3:17
An honest, discerning look around us shows that we live precisely in this condition of antagonism and thorns.
The way that Paul described the situation 2,000 years ago fits perfectly today.
“If you keep biting and attacking each other like wild animals, watch out or you will be consumed by one another.” — Galatians 5:15
We aren’t necessarily trying to do this, but we can’t stop ourselves.
The Apostle Paul, writer of many Bible books, came to this realization about himself!
“I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t always do it.
“I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…there is another power within me that is at war with my mind….Oh, what a miserable person I am!
Who will free me from this life that is dominated by impulses toward sin and death?” — Romans 7:19-24
Some try to ignore reality.
They push it aside with distractions or harden their hearts by convincing themselves that it doesn’t matter who else gets hurt so long as they get whatever they want or (they feel) is owed to them.
They end up trapped in an endless circle of battling people, hurting people, and being hurt while chasing empty experiences and accumulations along a road of emptiness and despair instead of fulfillment.
“There is a way that seems right to a person, but it leads to death.” — Prov. 14:12
Other people see it and can’t ignore it.
If you are here, chances are you are like this. I (Robin Redick) was one of these. So was the Apostle Paul. We’re in good company! God can work with people like this.
Maybe we tried not thinking about it at first… just keep doing things our way. I tried that. When it didn’t work, we tried resolutions, self-help, or religion. They didn’t help.
In the end, we found that we could not save ourselves from ourselves.
We knew we needed external intervention.
This is known as “coming to the end of ourselves”. When we reach that place, painful as it is, it is good in that it means we have found wisdom (we see life as it is). Christ is ready to step in and save us.
Here is what Paul wrote about his own moment of truth.
“I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees…. so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. As for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” – Phil. 3: 5-8
Atheist turned Christian philosopher, C.S. Lewis, also had a moment of truth. “We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road.” (Mere Christianity)
Paul found Himself by finding Christ! The Good News is, we can too!
“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” — Romans 7:25
God loved us so much that He offered His own son to do for us what we could not do without outside help. We needed intervention, and God gave it in Jesus.
“God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16
Jesus lived a fully righteous life as an example and to meet the standards of God’s law (love others as yourself).
Then, Jesus allowed himself to be crucified on a cross to pay for the pain we cause by not loving this way.
God raised Jesus from the grave to prove eternity and to raise others to a new kind of life.
Now, Jesus offers new life to anyone who calls upon Him in faith at any time in his or her life.
When we do this, God adopts us as His own children.
To help us live in new life, God offers to live in us by His Holy Spirit.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17
“When you received God’s Holy Spirit, He adopted you as His own children.” — Romans 8:15
“If you are guided by the Holy Spirit, you won't obey your selfish impulses any longer.” — Galatians 5:16
Jesus is our Lord and Savior. He brings out our potential!
“You are God’s poem, born on purpose and for good purposes in Christ Jesus.” — Ephesians 2:10
“Even youths become weak and tired, but those who trust the Lord find new strength. They will soar like eagles.” – Isaiah 40:30-31
Jesus rescues us, redeems our lives, restores us to a close relationship with our creator, renews our minds and hearts, and gives us His presence and power to do good, meaningful things with our lives.
(more on How Jesus rescues and redeems)
Tinsel wants like power, fame, riches, or unlimited sensual experiences fall away, along with our propensity to hurt people to get them!
“You (like me) once were alienated from God, entangled by foul thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. But His Son became a human and died for your sake. God has made peace with you. Now, He sees you as without blemish so no one can accuse you.” — Colossians 1:21-22
“Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” — Philippians 3:13
We become blessings instead of curses!
In our homes
Among our friends
In our workplaces
In our communities.
“You are God’s poem, born on purpose for good purposes in Christ Jesus.” — Eph. 2:10
God did all this to have a real relationship with us, reach others through us, and push back darkness through our good deeds!