What is the gospel?

    It's good to be able to find time to write again. My 2 month hiatus from blogging was due to a variety of reasons, mainly personal and work circumstances that needed my full attention. But I missed writing! It was the means by which I could fully internalize the wonderfuls truths in the Bible.

    For several weeks now, I've been meeting regularly with friends to answer a basic question about the Christian faith. What is the gospel? As it turned out, we still had a lot to learn! I've blogged about the gospel in the past  and made these sweeping statements :

1. All our problems in life stem from our failure to apply the gospel.

2. Spiritual poverty in so much of our Christian experience is the result of inadequate understanding of the gospel’s depths.

   I believe in these statements even more so now! If we do not understand what God has done for us then we will live the Christian life always working to get God's approval when, in fact, we already have God's favor through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  If we do not understand the significance of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension, then we miss the message of the gospel and our confession of faith becomes questionable. For how can we live like Christians if we do not know the object of our faith and the substance of what we believe?

   First of all, the gospel means "good news". At the core of the Christian faith is this "good news" about what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. The gospel is not about getting enlightenment, wisdom, knowledge, purpose, and meaning in life. It is not about learning the secret to healthy, successful, prosperous, and stress-free living. The gospel is first of all, the announcing of an event that happened 2,000 years ago. God became flesh and dwelled among human beings. His name is Jesus and He lived, preached, healed, and taught about the coming of the kingdom of God. He ate with sinners and rebuked the religious elite who were moralists and insisted on having a legalistic approach to religion.These religious elite arrested Jesus and brought him to trial, eventually leading to his death on the cross. On the third day, Jesus rose again and over 500 witnessess testified to seeing and fellowshipping with Him. His ascension into heaven was witnessed by many and He promised that He would return and reign over the new heaven and the new earth. The historical events surrounding Jesus were all determined by God since the beginning of time. He left pointers for us in the Old Testament,through the Law of Moses and through the foretelling of many prophets. He brought it to pass just like He said He would.

   This good news addresses our biggest problem:sin. Our sin separates us from God who is Holy and Righteous.The gospel is God's grace to sinners by granting them righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. God loved us so much that He gave His Son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. As Jesus hung on the cross, He took upon the sins of men and paid the price that we could never pay on our own. He took upon Himself the punishment that we deserved. The righteousness of Christ becomes the righteousness of those who believe so that the guilty are now declared just. And there's more. When we receive the gospel, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit, so that now we are no longer enslaved to sin but now enslaved to righteousness.We are able to live a life that is holy and pleasing to God.

   This is the essence of the gospel. It is big! It is radical change that only God is able to do!