Sunday 21st November: "What is the Gospel?"

What is the "Gospel"?     1 Corinthians 15. 1-5

We've been thinking about mission, being the kind of Church that has mission in its DNA, how to share Jesus love by ordinary acts of kindness; and how to be witnesses (telling what we have experienced.)  Today I want to find out what the Gospel actually is.  If someone wants to become a follower of Jesus in their own living room what do they need to know and believe?   Let's find out from the Bible.

500 years before Jesus was born, the song that became "Our God reigns" was first written.  "How wonderful it is to see a messenger coming across the mountains, bringing good news, the news of peace! He announces victory and says to Zion, 'Your God is king!'"   (Isa 52:7)  The good news was to be preached to the poor, and woudl come alogn with healing, release, and jsutice.  (Isa 61. 1,2,8) When Jesus started his work, he was "preaching the Good News (Gospel) about the Kingdom, and healing people who had all kinds of disease and sickness" (Matt 4. 23) so the first hints we have about the Gospel are that it was about God's rule... "Your God reigns!"  "Despite the mess in the world, your God is King.

About twenty years after Jesus, Paul wrote a letter to the Church in Corinth.  Our reading is part of it.  Corinth was a wild city where people often got their ideas wrong, and Paul has to sort out lots of mistakes. Paul sums up his good news message in this passage: "I want to remind you what the Good News is...  and this is it...Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures; that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures. (1 Cor 15. 3-4)  Christ died as the Bible says and rose again as the Bible says.

Right at the center of Paul's message is "Jesus died for our sins and rose again."  It would be easy to say that's it.  Let's make sure we get it right...

Who does Paul say died? Christ.   And what does Christ mean?  Messiah; anointed one. The One who would bring the kingdom. Paul says it was Christ, Messiah, the promised One, the anointed King, who died for our sins and rose again.  And it all happened according to Scripture: in other words it all fulfilled the Old Testament promises about Messiah, the anointed King. It was a key event in the arrival of the new age that Messiah came to bring.   You can't separate the Kingdom from the cross.  You can't separate the identity of Jesus as the King, from the fact that he died and rose again.

Once, shortly after Jesus rose from death, two men were discussing what had happened when Jesus appeared to them and eventually said  "Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?" And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets. (Luke 24:26f )

The Old Testament ties the Good news that "our God reigns" (Isaiah 52) with the mysterious report of a suffering servant (Isaiah 53) who was wounded for our transgressions... The Kingdom that sorts out a messed up world, needs someone to take away people's sins.  And the One who takes away sin does so in order to bring God's Kingdom.

Think of a cheeseburger. It's not a burger without the meat and the cheese, it's just a salad roll. (Like a boomerang that won't come back is just a stick!) The meat and the cheese in the middle of the burger are the death and resurrection of Jesus.  But it's not a burger without the bun. And the "bun" that wraps up the meat and cheese, is the Kingdom.  Without the bun, the meat is difficult to handle; without the Kingdom, the Cross and resurrection are difficult to handle properly.  Without the Kingdom, you are left with a gospel that is simply about getting individuals into heaven instead of being about God's purpose for the whole universe he made.

So the words "Christ" and "according to the Scriptures" in this passage tell us that the Good news is about he Kingdom of God.

Paul says Christ died for our sins.  The reason why there needs to be a Kingdom of God, is because of sin. God made a good world; the reason it is in a mess is because of sin.  Not just any old sin. Our sins.  We are part of the problem I our world. Our sin screws up the world; it separates us from God, it makes us dead even though we're biologically alive.

And Jesus took our death, all the consequences of all the wrong things that all the people in all the world for all time have ever done.  No wonder he dreaded going to the Cross. No wonder he felt abandoned by his father. ... He took all our punishment. He died and was buried.  That's good news.

Then he was raised from death.  Paul says, "Sin is what gives death its sting".  (1Co 15:56)  When Jesus rose, it showed that death was a completely spent force, because sin was completely dealt with. Once all the sin is gone, death has no sting, like a scorpion with its tail cup off. When he rose from death, Jesus proved that he has dealt with sin. That's good news

The tense of the verb raised is not just past but "Perfect."  What that means is this: Jesus died but he's not dead any more. Jesus was buried but he's not in the grave any more.  Jesus was raised - and he's still alive. He has won the victory and he is alive today.  His victory over sin, and death, his victory over all the evil in the world, are secured, because he was raised from the dead. And because he is alive, he is able to help his people by giving his spirit to them.  Peter explained what happened on the day the Holy Spirit came by saying, "[Jesus} has been raised to the right side of God, his Father, and has received from him the Holy Spirit, as he had promised. What you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us." (Acts 2:33)  And Paul says "This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world. Christ rules there above ....  God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things. (Eph 1:19-22)   That's good news.

That's the good news.  That, says Paul is what his friends in Corinth have received, held fast and believed. Jesus put is the most elegantly: "The right time has come," he said, "and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!"  (Mk 1:15). Throughout the New Testament, from Jesus himself, to Peter on the day the spirit came (Act s 2:38), to Paul, the Good News demands the same response: repentance (TURNING from sin) and faith (TRUSTING in Jesus).  It is our responsibility to respond to that good news, to connect with Jesus, his sacrifice, his victory and his kingdom.

So how would I sum up the Gospel? What is the good news people need to know and understand?

 1. The Kingdom of God has come near: we live in a world that is fallen and broken because of sin (our rebellion against God), but God's Kingdom brings healing and peace.  The King has come and his name is Jesus.
2. Jesus dealt with all the sin that opposes God's right to rule (including ours), by his death on the Cross. The King is also the suffering servant.
3. Jesus rose again, securing the victory of the Kingdom over sin and all its consequences (including death). Because he's alive he is able to help us today and will come again to establish his rule eternally. The King is triumphant!
4. We can connect with the all the Kingdom is, know forgiveness for the past, power to live as a subject of the kingdom now and hope for the future. We connect with the Kingdom by TURNING from sin and TRUSTING in Jesus.  The King commands us to TURN to Him and TRUST in Him.

Living God, I know you are King but I have not let you rule in my life. I turn from my sin so you can be in charge from now on.  Lord Jesus I trust the Good News that your sacrifice dealt with all my sin. Thank you for dying for me and for the gift of being clean and forgiven. Holy Spirit please come into me so that I can live my life for God and be like Jesus. Amen.

© Gilmour Lilly November 2010