What I've Learned about the Gospel
I used to think the gospel was Jesus dying on the cross to forgive my sins so I could have eternal life in heaven. I felt the pressure to save others from hell by “sharing the gospel,” and I felt guilty for never actually telling people about Jesus. I was too afraid. And I was ashamed of not being a “good Christian” because I never shared the gospel.
Over the last year and a half I’ve learned a few things that have changed my perspective and given me more freedom in this area of my life. I hope this can impact your life as it has mine!
1. The word gospel literally means “good news.” This helped me understand that “gospel” is not some spiritual term, but quite literally translated as good news.
2. Jesus proclaimed the good news that the Kingdom of God is here. This was interesting to me because he spoke of good news before he died. This means the gospel is more than just Jesus dying on the cross. In fact, the first place “good news” is mentioned is in the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament.
3. I’ve realized that the gospel needs to impact my own life before I can share it with others. I used to rarely talk to others about Jesus; I didn’t fully understand why I believed in Christianity, not enough to be comfortable talking about it, and I was afraid because I didn't know what to say. But the more I understand about God’s character and who Jesus is, the more my own life is impacted - and this is what makes me truly excited to share the good news! When it becomes good news in my own life first, then I have freedom and excitement to share it with others. I've found that reminding myself of the gospel has allowed it to overflow to others!
4. The gospel is so much more than just “Jesus died for my sins.” Yes, that’s definitely part of it, but when we say this it makes the gospel self-centered because the focus is Jesus forgiving our own sins. It is more accurate to look at the entire story of the Bible. Starting in Genesis, God created the world, but humanity fell from relationship with God. From the beginning God had a plan to restore relationship with his people. He did this by choosing Abraham and the nation of Israel, to bless the entire world through them. He worked in history to redeem all nations of the world, ultimately through Jesus becoming a man and dying on a cross.
Today, we find our purpose and place within this story. Through Jesus, we become part of God’s family, the church. This family includes people from all around the world, and we can represent Christ to the world through our loving relationships with each other. Seeing and understanding this bigger picture has really changed my perspective and helped me understand the gospel in a much deeper way. It’s not just about me and God - Christianity is a movement that was started centuries before I was even born, and God has been working and moving in so many ways throughout history and around the world. I get to find my purpose in what God is already doing, rather than wondering what his plan for my life is.
5. The gospel can be explained in different ways based on what culture you are in. This is called contextualization, making the good news appropriate for the setting you are in. This was super interesting and eye opening to me! There are three types of cultures in the world: guilt/innocence, fear/power, and honor/shame (if you want more info on this, you can read the book 3D Gospel by Jayson Georges). In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve experienced guilt, fear, and shame - and on the cross Jesus brought freedom from all three of these things. Depending on which culture you are ministering to, the gospel can be explained in one of these ways.
In America and Western cultures, we are guilt/innocence. So the focus of the gospel is Jesus forgiving our sin and making us innocent before the Father. Fear/power cultures include tribal people groups who believe in the power of the spirits, worshiping and appeasing them out of fear. To them the gospel is most powerful when they understand that Jesus’ death gave him authority over all the spirits. And in honor/shame cultures, including Muslim countries and most of northern Asia, they need to understand that Christ’s death restored honor and relationship between them and the Father. God restores the lowly and shameful to a place of full honor as heirs with Christ. All three of these aspects of the gospel are important for everyone to understand. But they can be used as a starting point in explaining the good news to other cultures.
The gospel is something that should be shared in freedom, joy, and love, not out of pressure or fear. I hope this encourages you to continue learning and seeking God, he is so much bigger than we know!
