How would you explain the Gospel?

Today (Wednesday), Chelsea will be setting up a table at CapU, handing out free coffee to students in cups that have a QR code that links to a page on our website. She wanted to have some sort of explanation of the Gospel on that page and asked for my help in putting something together. 

As I wrote out an attempt (which is below), I realized that this would actually be a good exercise for every follower of Jesus to do. If someone asked you to explain to them the Gospel message, or the message of the Bible, what would you say?

We’ve been spending a lot of time in Romans as a church. It seems to me that Paul had a variety of ways of answering that question. He had very “short-form” answers- one sentence versions like Romans 3:23-24 (“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”) He had more medium-form answers, like Romans 5:12-21 (the “Team Adam vs. Team Jesus” passage). And he had longer-form answers, which I think you could say the whole book of Romans is. Each form has its advantages and disadvantages. The longer your answer, the more comprehensive you can be, but you might lose your audience. The shorter the answer, the more memorable you can make it, but you end up missing all kinds of important pieces. 

So not only is it a good exercise to think through how you would answer that question, I think it’s also a good thing to do that on all three levels. If someone asked you about the Gospel, how would you answer in 10 seconds? In 5 minutes? In 20 minutes?

Here’s what I wrote out as a 5 minute, “medium-form” version.

Why are we here? What’s this life about?

Have you ever thought about that? It’s a huge question, isn’t it? I mean, it’s the question that determines everything else in life, and yet many people struggle to answer it.

The Bible tells us that God created the world and blessed it. It says He created humans “in His image”. That means that humans were made to be in relationship with God and to reflect His good and loving character towards others. We were made to be like mini kings and queens, taking care of God’s creation as His representatives.

However, a real relationship requires the possibility of rejection, doesn't it? Because God created us for relationship with Himself, He gave us a choice to live under His direction or to go our own way. From the early pages of the Bible onwards, humans have chosen to go their own way. We call this “sin”. Sin is not just the individual bad choices we make, it is also a disposition. It’s a whole way of life bent away from God and bent towards self as ultimate authority. While that might sound appealing at first, the consequences can be seen all around us: greed, violence, gossip, lust, hatred, and on and on. We’ve taken this good world and this good God-given purpose for our lives and made a bit of a mess of it (“a bit” might be an understatement).

Much of the Bible is the story of how God did not give up on His creation, including humanity, but how He has doggedly pursued reconciliation. Through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (descendants known in the Bible as “Israel”), God made Himself known. He set them apart and gave them instructions on how to live so they could be a blessing to the world. However, it turned out that Israel needed saving as well. In the part of the Bible we call the Old Testament, the people of Israel ended up worshiping other gods, looking like all the nations around them. It turns out, sin is a human condition across the board. Again and again, humans have failed to uphold their end of the deal to be God’s image-bearers in the world. You and I have shared in this. All of us have.

And that’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus lived a life that did not succumb to the power of sin, but fully displays what it means to be in the image of God. He showed us what life was meant to look like. And that’s great, but it doesn’t really change our situation much, does it? That’s where the cross comes in. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was executed on a Roman cross, He did it as our representative. You see, from the very beginning, we found that the consequence for sin was death. After all, if sin is a rejection of God, and if God is the source of all life, then the outcome of cutting ourselves off from God is death, right? On our own, all of us would stand condemned before our Creator because we have failed to live as we were created to live. However, when Jesus (the representative human) died on the cross, He paid the price for our sin and removed the barrier that had existed between us and God. The Bible tells us that three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. Not only had He conquered sin, but He had conquered the consequence of sin, death itself.

This leaves us with a choice. We can choose to reject this news about Jesus and try to figure out life on our own. We can keep doing things our way. However, this also means that we will be wracking up a bigger and bigger “tab” with God that we’ll never be able to repay. OR we can receive this good news. We can put our trust in Jesus as our Savior and allow Him to be Lord of our life. Our sin is paid for and we are made right in our relationship with God once again.

If we make that second choice, Jesus gives us another gift: he gives us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s own presence, living within us, helping us bear God’s image more and more clearly. He gives us a new heart that is increasingly capable of mercy instead of vengeance, generosity instead of greed, love instead of hatred, and so on. The Holy Spirit helps us experience God’s presence in our lives and to know that through Jesus, we are now God's beloved children. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts so that we can serve others and make this good news known to them.

Finally, the Bible tells us that the time is coming when Jesus will return and make all things new. He will make a new creation where sin and death are no more. Those who have trusted in Him will be raised to everlasting life to live with Him there. Maybe that sounds too good to be true, but it is the hope that a follower of Jesus has. God’s restored purpose for humanity has already begun through Jesus and in His followers. That purpose will be fully restored on that day when God makes all things new.

How can you be part of this? How can this story become yours, so that it shapes your view of the world and how to live in it?

First, believe. Believe that this is true. Believe what the Bible says about why we were made, what went wrong, and what God has done to restore and reconcile us through Jesus.

Second, surrender. Give up the desire to call the shots and allow Jesus to be your Lord. Tell Him you want to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and that you want to live life His way rather than yours.

And third, relationship. Grow your relationship with God through prayer and reading Scripture. Grow relationships with other followers of Jesus in a church, who can help you and strengthen you. You are part of a new family now, with God as your Father and many new brothers and sisters around you.