THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
PART 1: WHAT IS THE GOSPEL'S CHARACTER?
Galatians 1:3-12
Theme: The Gospel is the news that grace has come through the Savior's reversal of weak and strong.

Last week we looked at the question, "What is the Gospel's content?" In other words, what is the essential message of the Gospel? We saw that the content of the Gospel is qualitatively different than the basic message of every other religion. As a review, we summarized the Gospel this way: God's redemptive, kingdom purposes are fulfilled through the life, death, resurrection, and rule of Jesus Christ, meaning God's promise of salvation is certain to those who trust in him.

This week we want to look at the Gospel's character. In other words, "What is the Gospel like?" I want you to see that it's not just the content of the Gospel that sets the Christian faith apart from every religion. The character of the Gospel is also something that is unique to the Christian faith.

1. The gospel is news, rather than instruction (Luke 4:17-21).

Every religion has rules, precepts, and principles to live by. Just this past week, I saw on Wikipedia that virtually every world religion in existence holds to the "Golden Rule" in some form or another. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is not the Gospel. In fact, no rule, law, or tidbit of advice is the Gospel, because the Gospel is not instruction on what you and I ought to do, it is good news concerning what Jesus Christ has already done!

Luke 4:17-21 – And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

The essence of Jesus' message was not, "Do this" or "Stop that." His message was the proclamation of the good news that, in him, the poor would become rich, the captives would be set free, and the blind would see. Everything else that Jesus taught was rooted in the unsearchable riches of this good news of what he came to do for us that we could never do for ourselves.

There are two kinds of good news: there is good news that you want to hear and then there is good news that you desperately need to hear. An example of the first would be like me hearing that one of you wanted to give me free tickets to go see an Avalanche playoff game. That's great news! I'd be thrilled! But I don't need Avs tickets. An example of the second would be more like a terminally ill person finding out that the hospital has found an organ donor for her – today! Which kind of good news is this Gospel?

The Gospel, without a doubt, is good news that we desperately need to hear! When we realize that our condition before the Lord is that of fallen sinners, deserving of condemnation, there can be no doubt that salvation is good news that we need to hear.

2. The gospel is grace, rather than merit (2 Timothy 1:8-10).

Dictionary.com defines "merit" as "demonstrated ability or achievement; spiritual credit granted for good works; to earn; deserve." Based on these definitions, most world religions operate on a system of merits. You must avoid certain things and do other certain things to prove your own spiritual achievement. This achievement, then, is the basis of your worthiness to "go to the next level" or to see God.

Let there be no mistake: the Christian Gospel knows no such system of merits. If we had to demonstrate our ability or achievement in order to make ourselves worthy of God, nobody – not one person – would prove to be worthy. It's not just that we fall quantitatively short of doing enough good or refraining from enough evil. It's that we are qualitatively incapable of doing what it takes to deserve God's favor! The only merits we have that are worthy of the Lord are the ones Christ purchased for us long before we were ever born!

2 Timothy 1:8-10 – Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Ephesians 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:4-5 – But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

To put it another way, the Gospel says that salvation comes by what we accept, not through what we achieve. Can we be accepted by God? The answer is yes! But the Gospel helps us realize we are accepted because Christ has fulfilled the law for us and has paid the debt for our sin. Therefore we can only be accepted by God's favor that is available to us by faith in Christ.

Religion: "I obey, therefore I am accepted."
Gospel: "I am accepted by grace alone, therefore I obey."

3. The gospel is the reversal of the weak and the strong (1 Cor. 1:17-25).

The Gospel is, by nature, counterintuitive. The Son of God was not at all like either Jews or Greeks imagined he would be like. They imagined a Savior and King who would come in strength, set up an epic battle with the ruling powers, and defeat all comers. The Jews could not conceive of a Messiah who would die accursed on a cross (even though the OT predicted his death in this way). And the Greeks could only think of gods in terms of power. Their concept of a God-King could almost be summarized by the expression, "Might makes right." So the concept of a God who came in humility and served others and laid down his life seemed absurd to them.

Yet this is the message of the Gospel. God's Son really did come, not to demand the servitude of others, but to be a servant and to "give his life as a ransom for all" (Mark 10:45). Christ won our salvation, not by overthrowing (or even rebelling against) the Roman government, but by great personal sacrifice. Jesus humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, and God exalted him to the place of preeminence. The "message of the cross" is a simple one, rooted in God's wisdom and power, not the world's.

1 Corinthians 1:17-25 – For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

What Jesus did through his own humility and sacrifice was create a new upside-down kingdom in which the values of the world are reversed and unselfishly restored to glorify God. The main reason Christians have for accepting others who are different from themselves and having a holy unconcern for things like power, status, wealth, and recognition, is that Christ came in foolishness and weakness and demonstrated the vast superiority of God's true wisdom and power.

Conclusion:

Tim Keller makes an important observation about the nature of the Gospel, showing how there must be a Christ-like balance between the doctrinal, the personal, and the social implications of the good news.

|> News stresses the doctrinal dimension of the gospel. News is different from advice or instruction. So the Gospel is something to believe, rather than something to do.

|> Grace stresses the personal dimension of the gospel. God's favor is ultimately the only thing that can bring lasting transformation into our lives. We must continue in grace if we are to grow.

|> Reversal stresses the social dimension of the gospel. We have life because of Jesus' death (and resurrection). We have power because Jesus took on limitations and weakness. We have God's wisdom through the foolishness of the Gospel. We are forgiven because Jesus was forsaken. In Christ's kingdom, that frees us to love and serve others, even those whom we perceive to be "beneath us."

~Matt Hand, Pastor of Northfield Church in Denver, Colorado.