Understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Inspired by The Gospel Centered Life by World Harvest Mission [now Serge])

Even though I had been a Christian for three decades, when I went through this study material a few years ago something really clicked for me. I received a better understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how I (and each of us as human beings) relate to God in the context of the Gospel.

This blog is a bit of a summary of the first three lessons in this study by World Harvest Mission ( now Serge) intermingled with some of my own and others thoughts – for further study I would suggest purchasing this work and going through it yourself by yourself or with a group.  As always Scripture is the only foundation and key to understanding the Gospel.

First and foremost it is necessary to understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. In fact, that is literally what gospel means in the Greek language – good news.

You have probably seen "John 3:16" on a sign at sporting events or on TV. So why is that particular Bible verse so popular? Basically because it sums the Gospel up in a very concise and meaningful way. Many call it "the Gospel in a nutshell".

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Vine defines the Gospel this way:  “In the New Testament it denotes the "good tidings" of the Kingdom of God and of salvation through Christ, to be received by faith, on the basis of His expiatory (reconciling) death, His burial, resurrection, and ascension, e.g., Act 15:7; Acts 20:24; 1 Peter 4:17.”

But for something to be good, it must be contrasted with what is bad. And so the Gospel is purely good news but is set against the backdrop of a broken world and individual human sin and rebellion against God. Let’s look at a few  verses in the Bible to understand this:

The backdrop of bad news

“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron;
With the point of a diamond it is engraved
On the tablet of their heart…” Jeremiah 17:1

The good news

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

The backdrop of bad news

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 or as the New Living Translation puts it “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

The good news

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:23

As C.S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, said, “It is the change from being confident about our own efforts to the state in which we despair of doing anything for ourselves and leave it to God.” 

It was a deeper understanding of this principle – that is my utter inability to earn God’s love and forgiveness - that led to an even deeper feeling of freedom for me and appreciation of God. Of course I continue to lose sight of this and must seek this understanding every day.

The Gospel Grid from the Gospel Centered Life,  World Harvest Mission (Serge) 

And that is where the Gospel Grid chart comes in. It takes this principles and helps us visualize it. Beginning at the moment of our very first understanding and belief in the Gospel we begin a journey into knowing more and more of God and the Cross.

As the writers of the Gospel Centered Life study put it:  “Many Christians live with a truncated view of the gospel. We see the gospel as the “door,” the way in, the entrance point into God’s kingdom. But the gospel is so much more! It is not just the door, but the path we are to walk every day of the Christian life. It is not just the means of our salvation, but the means of our transformation. It is not simply deliverance from sin’s penalty, but release from sin’s power. The gospel is what makes us right with God (justification) and it is also what frees us to delight in God (sanctification). The gospel changes everything!”

As the chart indicates, the cross becomes more and more prominent (and understood) in our life as we do two things:

1)     Grow in the awareness of God’s holiness and purity

2)     Grow in the awareness of our flesh and sinfulness

At first this chart stirred up some old negative feelings of legalism in me. I thought to myself “Oh great, I need to take out the flagellum and whip my back in order to please God and subdue my flesh.” However, the Gospel teaches exactly the opposite – we can do nothing in our own efforts. God gives salvation freely and He gives freely the grace for us to grow more holy.

In understanding the difference between a negative legalistic view of God and of our selves (see Galatians) and a positive graceful view of God and of ourselves, I think it is important to look at Romans chapter 7.

Verses 14-19, 23-25

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice…

…For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

But I see another law in my members(*of the human body or flesh) , warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

We see the here the inherent struggle of the Christian and, in general, that of the entire human race. The Human Condition as the philosophers call it.

But Paul, the author of Romans, sees the difference between the hopeless sinful flesh part of us and the beautiful image of God part of us.Its not a stretch to say that this basic principle is also indicative of all humanity.  

As one saintly old preacher put it, “ We are unworthy but we are not worthless.”

The only answer that Paul finds to this constant bitter struggle? The only thing that will deliver him? God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!

And so just as it is when we first become Christians ( “Saved” “Born Again” etc.) , so it is as we live each day of the Christian life victorious  – by 1) understanding and acknowledging our utter inability to satisfy God’s holiness or to earn our personal salvation and then by 2) placing all our faith, and hope in Jesus Christ and His Gospel. It’s not that we don’t seek or try – its that we understand that all our seeking and trying is useless if we do not have the grace of God and the Holy Spirit empowering them.