What is the Gospel?
Scroll down to the bottom and click play to Listen along
Recap
What is our Roadmap/ Definition of a Disciple?
Following Jesus, being formed by Jesus, being on mission with Jesus.
How do we do discipleship? What is the vehicle?
RELATIONSHIPS! Relationships are the method–NOT the goal
What is our goal as Christ followers?
Maturity in Christ. To be as close to a carbon copy as possible
What is the Gospel?
That last question: "What is our goal as Christ followers?” can cause a lot of confusion sometimes. With such a wide range of answers from people, it can be confusing as to what our actual goal as a Jesus follower is. Going to heaven vs. being baptized vs. spreading the gospel vs. being a good person are all things that some people see as THE end goal of our faith.
Let’s see how we can continue to clear up more of what our goal is by asking the question: What is the Gospel?
What does the word Gospel mean?
“Good News” ευαγγελιον > ευ = “Good” αγγελιον = “message/news”
“Gospel” comes from Anglo-Saxon term “god-spell” meaning “Good story” and is a rendering of the Latin evangelium > English “Evangelism”
What is this “Good News” / Gospel found throughout the Bible/NT?
Why did we give so many different answers? Isn’t there just one gospel?
A reason we may have given so many different answers is that we may have confused the “Gospel” with something else.
The Plan of Salvation
What is the plan of salvation?
Basically, it's:
God Loves you,
You Messed up
Jesus died for you
Accept Jesus into your heart for the forgiveness of sins.
Why may someone say that this and only this is the “Good news” / “Gospel”?
This is all good, but isn’t this good news? Isn’t this THE gospel? We hear about this all the time in church. This is the Gospel...right?
The fact is, is that this plan of salvation has been so entrenched and so widely repeated in churches for so many centuries that any sort of challenge to this as THE gospel is often seen as heresy!
The Plan of Salvation is a GREAT thing! It is extremely important for our walk of faith, our relationship to Jesus, and our standing in the Kingdom of God. In fact, the Plan of Salvation is HOW we get into the Kingdom. It is how we take our very first steps towards being a Christian and a Jesus follower. But is this what Jesus preached during his 3-year ministry? Is this the “Good news” that he talked about all the time?
Did Jesus go around Israel and repeatedly say things over and over again like:
“Accept me into your heart for the salvation and forgiveness of your sins”?
or "I came to die for all of you, this is my main message!"?
Jesus mentioned these things for sure. But was it his MAIN message? Or was there something else that he mentioned over 100 different times in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?
What is the Gospel? (20 minutes)
Let's look at how the Bible and how Jesus described the Gospel
Read:
Matt 13:44-47; Mark 9:1; Matt 4:17; Mark 10:23-25; Matt 5:10; Mark 12:34; Luke 4:43; John 3:3; Luke 6:20; John 18:36; Luke 9:2; Acts 1:3; Luke 10:11; Acts 8:12; Luke 13:20-21; Acts 19:8; Luke 16:16; Luke 18:16-17.
What is the Good News/ Gospel that Jesus preached based on these verses?
The Kingdom of God!
Read Mark 1:14-15 - This summarizes Jesus' message most succinctly
The Kingdom of God is mentioned over 120 times in the NT
What is the Kingdom of God like? Read Jesus’ parables to see how he explains life under the rule of God rather than the flawed rule of humans.
The Plan of salvation is SUPER important, but it's just the doorway used to enter into what? Kingdom of God.
Consider this...
Why have we confused the Plan of Salvation with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God? How did we get here?
Read 1 Cor 15:1-4
People tended to only focus on this passage rather than using BOTH this passage and the over 100 references to the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached. Both the Plan of Salvation: Jesus dying, his resurrection, AND the Kingdom of God together is the Gospel. But we need to first understand the message Jesus preached first in order to understand why his Death, burial, and resurrection are so important. Because his Death, Burial, and Resurrection are HOW we enter into what? The Kingdom of God.
What has this confusion resulted in within churches?
What are some of the positive/ negative side effects for people’s faith walks because of this confusion?
Take away
What does this mean for Cornerstone or your home church?
What does this mean for you personally?
How will this change how we witness to people?
Next week we will talk about what it means to be a Christ follower and specifically what the church abroad has tricked itself into thinking a Jesus follower looks like.