Topic: BEGIN: A Gracious Gospel

Where does the gospel lead? What does the gospel create? What develops as a result of the gospel? Can you imagine an advertisement to be “free from weight loss” where the before and after picture looked the same? In the New Testament, the gospel that frees, the gospel that saves, the gospel that redeems leads to freed, saved, redeemed people living free, saved, redeemed lives. It means recognizing not just what we were saved from, but also what we were saved for.

How do I know if I am explaining the depth of the gospel or adding to the gospel? The answer is found in discovering the content of the earliest preaching, the central themes that appear in gospel presentations.

What we would need is something that touches on all the central items the gospel seeks to proclaim, the things that would have been believed and received when the “word” was preached. We would want it to include the things that appear over and over again in the early speeches of Acts, that ground the teaching of the Apostles in the rest of the New Testament, and that encapsulates what “the word of His grace” was meant to include. And since baptism dramatically displays the gospel, it would need to include all the major truths being proclaimed in that moment as well.

What is your “one thing”? The headline that defines your life. We can probably name some really bad, truly wrong headlines that seem to define life for many people. “Might makes right,” or “All that matters is who wins.” These are counterfeit gospels. But then there are good things. Maybe great things. Even essential things. But if they take top billing in what defines our identity and purpose in life, they are counterfeit gospels.

The gospel is not just a list of beliefs about something that happened 2,000 years ago. It’s the controlling narrative that makes sense of everything that’s ever happened, and everything that will happen. It is the constant flowing river underneath every commandment, every prophetic message, every story of conflict between good and evil, and every hope expressed to God by a people crying out for deliverance.

What is the gospel? Every religion teaches about man chasing after God. The gospel says that God came chasing after us. I am not the primary agent; God is the primary agent. I am the problem. God is the solution. The gospel highlights not my worthiness, but my unworthiness. The gospel highlights Christ’s worthiness, and then it talks about how in Christ, through His Spirit, by His power, the most amazing things begin to happen.

What is so amazing about grace? It changes our value. It changes our perspective. It breaks open a whole new world. Preached at West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) on May 1, 2022 (before I became the preaching minister).