Getting the Gospel Right from the Start! (I)

The amazing story of Ernest Shacketon’s 1914 expedition across the continent of Antarctica reaches its climax after he and his crew were shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. Shackleton made a critical decision to rescue his crew by sailing a small boat 850 miles over rough, icy waters. There was just one little problem. Shackleton could not be sure of their current location. He had some idea where they were, but he couldn't be 100% sure. He had to do something. So, he plotted his sailing coordinates based on his best guess. Of course, I can tell you the story of Shackleton because he guessed right. Had his coordinates been off by even one half of one degree, he would have missed his destination by hundreds of miles and died at sea.

Anyone who decides to follow Jesus without getting the gospel right from the start will miss their destination. They won’t really be following Jesus at all. They’ll be hundreds of miles off course, and they may not realize it until it’s too late. The gospel is foundational. It is literally the starting point of true discipleship. In fact, we would know nothing of Jesus without those books called Gospels!

So, what is the gospel?

The Apostle Paul summarized the gospel in his letter to the Corinthians:

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. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures … (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

Referencing Romans 1:1-4, Martin Luther said …

At its briefest, the gospel is a discourse about Christ, that he is the Son of God and became man for us, that he died and was raised, and that he has been established as Lord over all things (Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings).

Luther also said of the gospel,

It is God's action of declaring righteous the unrighteous sinner who has faith in Jesus Christ.

And, famously Luther said,

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.

Malcolm Muggeridge defined the gospel this way …

Jesus’ good news, then, was that the Kingdom of God had come, and that he, Jesus, was its herald and expounder to men. More than that, in some special, mysterious way, he was the Kingdom (Jesus: The Man Who Lives).

Dallas Willard explains the gospel preaching of Jesus, that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7). He says,

This is a call for us to reconsider how we have been approaching our life, in light of the fact that we now, in the presence of Jesus, have the option of living within the surrounding movements of God’s eternal purposes, of taking our life into his life. (The Divine Conspiracy).

Many modern believers misunderstand the gospel as what Willard describes as the gospel of “sin-management.” On the right, born-again Christians are concerned about their personal sin and escaping eternal judgment for sin. So, this version of the gospel of sin-management emphasizes having personal sin forgiven. On the left, liberal Christians are more concerned about social evils and ridding the world of them—or should I say liberating the world from sin as a social ill. So, one bumper sticker says, “Christians aren’t perfect, they’re just forgiven.” And, on another bumper sticker it reads, “Christians aren’t perfect, they’re just liberated.” Truth is that forgiveness of sins and bringing about social justice in the world are important parts of the gospel. But, neither are the full message, and both disregard any sense of life transformation.

As Max Lucado put it,

God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. (Just Like Jesus)

Lucado nails it. This is the gospel. Forgiveness is needed. Social ethics ought to result. But, the gospel is aimed at transformation into the likeness of Jesus. This process of transformation is not possible by self-help efforts, or perfect law-keeping, or legalistic checklists that only give the external appearance of righteousness, or suggest a loop-hole salvation clause to seduce believers into an easy (cheap) grace. No. the good news—the Gospel—is that God will bring your life into His, through Jesus living inside you by faith (Eph. 3:17).

We might think we can be saved by trying really hard to be a better person. But that’s not the gospel—and it won’t work. We might think we can be saved by doing lots of good works and helping others. But that’s not the gospel—and it fails to deal with sin and our guilt. We might think we can be saved by nominal church attendance. But that’s not the gospel—and it’s a false hope. We might think we can be saved by believing the right doctrines. But that’s not the gospel—and it only makes us prideful.

The gospel is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus. It cannot be earned and it cannot be purchased. It must be accepted by faith. But as Luther put it, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” Saving faith receives the gospel by trusting Jesus completely, not only as Savior but as Lord and Teacher. This is why Paul could speak of “obeying the gospel.” If you really believe the good news that Jesus preached, then you will trust it and live by it. And so, the bumper sticker should read: “Christians aren't perfect, but Jesus is, and following Jesus will make you more and more like Him.”

The Cross of Christ is the point at which the sin problem was destroyed. And, the good news is that we can finally be free from sin and abound in the grace of life! As Jesus rose from the dead to life, we who die to sin and are baptized into Christ rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).