Why is the Gospel Good?

 

Why is the Gospel Good? 

Collin Leong. Oct 28 2023

Agenda

1) What is the Gospel? 

2) Who brought the Gospel? 

3) When did the Gospel Starts in Me? 

4) Why is the Gospel good? 

5) How should we Participate in the Gospel? 

1) What is the Gospel?

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,  and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

Luke 4: 42At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

It is very clear that the Gospel refers to the Kingdom of God. Gospel was from the Greek word "Euangelion" which means "good news".  If you replace the "good news" with the "gospel", then Jesus was saying is that "The Kingdom of God is near; Believe in the gospel!" and "I proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God". 

He also said "the time is fulfilled."  What does he meant by that? There are two ancient Greek words that can be translated to time. One is chronos, meaning simple chronological time. The other is kairos, meaning “the right, critical, or opportune moment.” Jesus used this second word when He said, “the time is fulfilled.” His idea was, “Now is the right time for the kingdom of God. The gates are open. You have the opportunity to repent and believe now".  

The biblical definition of “repent” is not only feeling sorry or remorse for sin, but also a change of mind and heart that leads to a change of direction towards God. It is an action word. This verse may sound as if we need to repent of all our sins and to be righteous before we can be saved. This is not true. In this context, it means a 180 degree change from unbelief to the belief of the gospel.  For example, if one was worshipping idols, repentance means turn around and follow God instead. 

 

2) Who brought the Gospel? 

We all know this - it is Jesus Christ.  Let's look at one of His role in the Kingdom of God. Please refer to John 1:7-10  that was given in the devotional day 1.  

John 1:7-10: "So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

a) What does "the door of the sheep" means? 

When Jesus talks about the door of the sheep, he was referring to the door of the sheep pens or sheepfolds. There are two types of sheepfolds. The first type are found in the towns where the sheep goes in and were protected by a wooden door. The second type of sheepfold are those in the hillside. These were used during warmer days as they spent the night there. This type of sheepfold do not have a door. 

G. Campbell Morgan tells of a conversation he had with Sir George Adam Smith, a scholar who had spent much time in the Near East. Smith told of meeting a shepherd there who showed him the fold where the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls with a way in. Smith asked, “That is where you go at night?” “Yes,” the shepherd said, “and when the sheep are in there they are perfectly safe.” “But there is no door,” said Smith. “I am the door,” the shepherd replied. He was not a Christian man, but rather an Arab shepherd. But he was using the same language that Jesus used. He explained further, “When the light has gone, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in that open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.”

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Jesus was saying that He is literally the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, for the sheep to come in to the kingdom and to protect the sheep from the wolves and thieves

3) When did the Gospel Starts in Me? 

One of the main things the Kingdom of God brought to us is Eternal Life. In John 1:10, it says "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."  Some people believe that eternal life is something that happens after we die. 

That is not true. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. JOHN 17:3.  We have the eternal life once we believe in Jesus and accept Him as our savior. 

Steven Cole explains abundant life like this:  "It’s not pointing to having an abundance of material goods, but rather to the soul satisfaction that comes when you know that the Lord is your Shepherd. You know that He is caring for you and He prepares a table before you even in the presence of enemies, so that your cup overflows (Ps. 23:5). He goes with you even through the valley of the shadow of death. In other words, Jesus isn’t promising an easy life where there are no trials or where you get instant deliverance from your trials. Rather, He is promising to meet all of our spiritual needs if we will enter through Him as the door." 

Jesus himself said in John 7:38 - "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

Some people receives Jesus as his savior, but failed to follow the scriptures and allow the spirit to change him, and lived as if there is no God. He has eternal life but lack an abundant life. Abundant life is supposed to "overflow" us with the fruit of the spirit, and the more we relate to God and more we obey him, then our abundant life will grow, even in undesired circumstances. 

One thing I want to point out is while the Kingdom of God is here today, but there are more things to come in the future. 

In Philippians 3:20-21 - "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body,..."

The example here is that we already have eternal life in heaven, but we do not yet have the glorious body of our bodily resurrection until he comes again.   This supports the theology of "Already, but not yet", which was developed by Princeton theologian Gerhardus Vos.

1 John 3:2 (NIV) concludes: "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

4) Why is the Gospel good? 

Why did Jesus call the Kingdom of God "good news?"  What is so good about it? 

There are people who are weary of the word Kingdom. It reminds them of colonization, hierarchy, oppression, violence, wars and so on. Just like Roman Kingdom and British Kingdom. However what is good about God's Kingdom is that it is very different from the earthly kingdom.   

Read Luke 4:16-21* 

This passage was quoted from Isaiah 61:1-2. But he stopped at "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (v2a), and did not mentioned the last part: "and the day of vengeance of our God;" (v2b) He did this purposely to highlight that he is coming to bring the good news of the kingdom of God, and not the judgement of God which will happen during the end days. 

What do you think Jesus was saying about the nature and purpose of the Kingdom of God?  What does this Kingdom focused in doing?

i) To proclaim good news to the poor. Is this poor in money, or poor in spirit? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Mat 5:3)

ii) To proclaim liberty to the captives. We are captives/ slaves to sin and to Satan: "and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." (2 Tim 2:26) (See Rom 6:16, Col 1:13)*  

iii) Recovering of sight to the blind.  We are blinded to the truth. "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Corinthians 4:4) (See Eph 4:18)*

iv) To set at liberty those who are oppressed (from Isa 58:6). Oppressed (thrauo) means literally to shatter or to break in pieces as pottery. These are people who are broken in spirit by oppressive circumstances, those who have been downtrodden or overwhelmed with trouble such as calamity, crushed by the circumstances of life to the point that they see no way of escape. Jesus said in Matthew 5:4 -  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."  (See Mat 11:28-30, John 16:33)*

v)  To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. In KJV, it is translated to "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."   Jesus was saying that the Kingdom of God is here, and now is the acceptable time to be saved and to come in to the Kingdom. It mirrors 2 Cor 6:2, which quoted Isa 49:8 - "For he says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation."

The use of the word "acceptable year" implies that the time of grace will one day end. This sentence also tells of the urgency of accepting the gift of salvation. The reason Isaiah used the word "year" is to refer to the Jubilee year of Israel, which is every 50 years. In that year, God has commanded them to set free the slaves, return the land that they bought, no planting of crops, to provide for the poor, forgiving of debts. It was seen as a holy year.

In the song "Jubilee" by Michael Card, the lyrics said: 

The Lord provided for a time for the slaves to be set free; 

For the debts to all be canceled so His chosen ones could see

His deep desire was for forgiveness, He longed to see their liberty

And His yearning was embodied in the Year of Jubilee

 

5) How should we Participate in the Gospel? 

For part 5, it is for you to decide for yourselves. You can discuss it with your bible study group or with your loved ones. This is the most important portion of all - the the Gospel of the Kingdom ought to change your life and do the will of God.  

Richard Foster said: " I must surrender my life. In entering this with-God life, it is not my life anymore; it is Christ’s life and I am privileged to be a participant in that life."

Each one of us have our little kingdom. We are the king, and what we say, it will be done according to our will. But our kingdom is full of strife, full of pride, full of greed, full of selfishness, full of stubbornness, full of anger, full of hate, full of insecurity, full of evil thoughts.

The question is whether we are willing to surrender our kingdom and leave it behind, and are we able to declare that this is not my life anymore.  "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:39 

Let's fully participate in God's Kingdom and to serve Him to bring all His goodness to earth. 

Questions: 

a) Have your understanding of the Gospel and Kingdom of God changed from your past impression? Why? 

b) 

i) How will you participate in the Gospel/God's Kingdom using the list in Luke 4:16-21 or in other ways?

ii) What must you change in your daily life in order to participate in God's Kingdom from now on?

Appendix

Luke 4:16-21: 16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives (from Isa 58:6) and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

Note: The passage missed out "to heal the brokenhearted" in Isa 61:1.

Romans 6:16 (NIV):

"Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"

Colossians 1:13 (NIV):

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."

Ephesians 4:18 (NIV):

"They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts."

Ephesians 6:12

 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." 

Matthew 11:28-30

  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." In this passage, Jesus invites those who are burdened by life's troubles to come to Him for rest and find solace in His teachings.

John 16:33: 

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus acknowledges the presence of trouble in the world but assures believers that they can find peace in Him because He has conquered the world.