When I began to talk to students about Christianity it became apparent very quickly that they held a very negative view of Christians and the gospel. I still recall very clearly the answer two students, one an atheist and the other an agnostic, gave to my question, "What do you think of Christians?" Their reply, "They don't have sex and tell you what not to do". To them Christians and by inference, the gospel, was boring and restrictive. It was not 'good news' but bad news.
Another response from students that I often heard was, "I don't need this". What they meant was that Christianity was for people whose lives are messed up, out of control or worse. But for sensible and contented people like themselves, why would they consider a belief system that made little sense.
There are many reasons for these type of responses, one of which is just the rebellious, sinful nature of people. But I also asked myself, "What exactly do people hear when we explain the gospel?"
Put yourself in the place of a person who has grown up unchurched, has never read the Bible, and views the church as irrelevant. Then you have a conversation with a Christian who says something like this,
- God loves you
- You are a sinner
- Jesus died for you
- Repent and ask Jesus into your life so you can be saved and go to heaven.
When most Christians share this message, they usually emphasis the sin aspect. They seem to believe that you have to drive home that a person is lost, going to hell, a sinner, needing to be saved. Now everything here is true but how would you feel about a message that emphasises your badness?
Here are a few thoughts to consider. First consider the Gospels of the Bible. As they were called "Gospels" and were written for a non-believing audience it would seem that would be a good reference point for understanding what the gospel is. It is a lot more than the above. What we normally call the gospel is actually the plan of salvation, a small part of the gospel. What then is the gospel, the 'Good News'?
It is the life of Jesus and his message. Two thirds of the gospels are about his life and ministry, yet when we typically share 'the gospel', we focus on his death and resurrection. To fully grasp what the gospel is, we need to look at the entirety of the gospel story, the life of Jesus.
Jesus came to make God known to the world, to bring life to people. How did he do this? A couple of things really struck me as I looked more closely at the life of Jesus. One is that he spoke more about the "kingdom" then anything else. Jesus said "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God . . ." (Luke 4:43) Later when He sent the disciples out, He said to them to "proclaim that the kingdom is at hand". For Jesus, the good news, the gospel, was that God's kingdom was coming down to earth.
What then is the kingdom? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us an overview of the kingdom. Then through his ministry he reveals the kingdom. His acts of healing, of raising the dead, of casting out demons, of eating with tax collectors, showing mercy to prostitutes, breaking cultural norms such as traveling through Samaria and talking to a Samaritan women, calming the stormy sea, of forgiving sins and even turning water into wine, were all acts of bringing the kingdom. This is the gospel and what a gospel it is, that Jesus has come to redeem us not just from sin, both from sickness and death, from rejection and injustice, from oppression and poverty, and even redeeming this earth as well. The gospel is about transforming our life here and now in every aspect; emotionally, physically and spiritually as well as giving us eternal life.
Another fact that struck me when looking at Jesus' interaction with people was that except for the Pharisees he never pointed out their sins. Yes, he did tell the Samaritan women that she had five husbands, but this was to show that he was aware of her sin, not to convict her of sin. As for the Pharisees, he nailed them. Why? Because they claimed to be proclaimers of God's truth but in actual fact were preventing people from knowing the truth. When it came to others it seems that through Jesus' acts of love, (think of Peter when Jesus directs him to fish on the other side of the boat and he nets a large catch of fish), and his explanation of the kingdom, people recognised their sinfulness.
This has made me rethink what the gospel is and how I tell it. Dallas Willard, a professor at Dallas seminary, says that when we restrict the gospel to the 'plan of salvation', it comes across as "sin management". Perhaps if I proclaim it as Jesus did, they would see the gospel for what it really is, 'redemption' and 'transformation', not only of their own lives, but as they live out the kingdom, they transform others as well. That is good news.
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