
The Gospel for Everyone
How would you explain the Gospel? A great starting point would be the Roman Road, or letting people know about sin, or beginning with the “in the beginning” and talk about God and his perfect attributes and character. Either way, the gospel is the “good news” that is for “all people”. This is where our conversation starts.
First… what is the Gospel? I just recently read a devotion by Tim Keller, and he asked this question, “How would you outline the Gospel to a child”. So I began to write down the Gospel (we all have sin, God is perfect and without sin, He can not be with us because of sin, therefore (John 3:16) , we are saved by the sacrifice / blood / resurrection of Jesus, we must accept Him as our Lord and Savior, and surrender to Him daily, then we can be with God because of what Jesus did for us). After I had written everything down, I showed my wife and she immediately pointed out that a little kid may not be able to comprehend/understand all of the points listed.
That’s where we turn to Galatians 1:1–5. Paul is writing to the church at Galatia, and we are assuming that they are believers. He is writing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Believers, not non-believers. Let’s look and see how He breaks down the Gospel for the Galatians. Verses 1–5:
Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.”
Paul was an apostle. An apostle is someone who is sent by God to be a messenger. So what is the message? The message is the Gospel. What is the Gospel? The Gospel, according to Paul, is this:
God gives grace and peace to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins, so that we could be rescued from the evil we are in. All of this was by the will and purpose of God.
That’s the good news. The Gospel. That is to be told to “all people”. Not just non-believers, but to believers too. Paul wrote a lot of the New Testament. He was an apostle appointed by God…. And his message to believers was “Jesus gives peace and grace. He died for your sins. And it was God’s will that this was done”.
The whole point of me sharing this information (information that has been around for over 2,000 years) is that we are never going to get to a point where we need to move on to “advanced doctrines” and get past the Gospel. The Gospel is literally what gives us joy and peace. The Gospel applies to every single person on this Earth. Jesus gave Himself so that we could have that peace. I don’t know about you, but I look at a world we live in today (believers and non-believers / in the church and outside the church) where there is not a a lot of peace. How are we supposed to spread “the good news” if we are not experiencing the peace we are trying to spread! Think about that.
Where To Go From Here
- Ask the Father to show you where you need the joy of the Gospel in your life (relationships? Attitude? Perspective? Feelings? Etc)
- Ask the Father to change your heart and mind so that you can experience the Joy of Jesus and the Gospel of Truth.
- Everyday, focus on looking at Jesus and the Gospel. He is the answer for every single situation that we could ever go through.
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