What is Gospel?
2008 February 8
Someone comes to you, and asks, “I hear alot of talk about the kingdom of God, faith, belief, gospel, atonement, sin, wrath, discipleship and Jesus. But i don’t know what i have to do to be saved! What do I do? I can’t make since of it all. Can you help me out?” what do you tell them/do for them?
Boy, I wish people would come to me with this question. The sad truth is this is a question people often keep to themselves out of their fear of social stigmas or that they “might” become believers in Christ. Anywho, if that were to happen, I tell them the simple version: “That Jesus Christ is the real son of God and that he came to Earth to do many great things before dying on the cross for our sins – yes, he did this for you and me. Through Him, you can receive salvation – that’s eternal life in Heaven. All you have to do is ask Him to forgive your sins and ask Him into your heart through prayer.” At that point, I would probably ask “Would you like me to lead you in that prayer now?”
Chad, if you don’t mind, i want to interact with a couple of points you said.
Is salvation really eternal life in heaven? What happens to my life now? And what does it mean to have Jesus in my heart? I just ask him in? I have to just accept that the stuff you said is true, and then i’m “saved”?
I just want to get to the root of what we talk about when we offer salvation.
Aaron. You pose a couple great points to ponder and I will be the first to tell you, I am just an ordinary man. I have no formal religious training other than what I have read and studied in the Bible and through my church. In fact, I asked the very same questions before I became a Christian.
That said, eternal life in Heaven is salvation. The other reality is eternal life in Hell. The Gospel is the good news of Jesus and his buying of my pardon from Hell. To have Jesus in your heart is not as easy to explain. I always talk about my pre-Christian life to do so. I spent a year in utter depression and literally spent that time with an ominous feeling that my life was futile and that I would probably die shortly. I tried to fill that gaping wound in my soul with anything and everything. I never went to the extremes of illegal drugs and the like as many folks do, but I had a hole in my heart. Little did I know, it was a Jesus shaped hole and once I asked Him to fill it, my heart was complete. Today, He works in it to make me a better person.
Not sure if I addressed it all and not sure if I can. I guess the root of the matter is when you ask “I have to just accept that the stuff you said is true and then I’m ’saved’.”
That’s one way to look at it. The world has hardened us to be skeptical of anything that isn’t tangible. But I prefer to look at it a different way.
Simply praying won’t make anyone saved. Praying with belief and faith will. For that to happen, one must believe the Gospel of Christ and that His actions and deeds are a matter of fact (much in the same way that any other historical fact occurred even though no one is alive to personally recite the events to you).
Chad, thanks for the dialog here. I really appreciate you sharing your story.
Like you, I am just a regular guy too, studying my Bible and talking about it at Church. I think that the more we as fellow believers talk about what we believe and how we talk about it to the world around us is going to help shape us into the light of the world.
That said, let me pull some of what you said apart, and maybe we can look at it a different way.
“eternal life in Heaven is salvation.” Is this really true? Salvation seems to be much more than a get into the pearly gates free card (so to speak). The Bible talks about it in terms of new birth and restoration: our new birth and the restoration of all of reality to how God meant it to be (ie, unbroken, un-cursed, fully restored in all relationships including the relationship with God). Salvation, in my head at least, is all about hope. Hope that things are going to change, that things aren’t going to stay the same, hope that Jesus really did do something that matters now as well as into eternity.
So, what we are offering to people is hope, real living hope … not eternal life in heaven.
In that light, asking someone to believe isn’t about understanding and accepting some facts about what Jesus did and who he is, but rather it is asking people to put there hope in what Jesus has done and trust that he will do what he said he would.
Is this making sense? Any thoughts about this?
PS, if I don’t comment back right away, it’s because I don’t have internet all the time. So please be patient. Thanks.
Aaron-Life is one big mystery. I don’t think anyone – regardless of their dogma – can dispute that. I like the way you present the Gospel as “hope” but I’d suggest that hope is for those who don’t already live in grace. There is a big difference. Grace is the undeniable knowing that God provides and will restore you in Heaven. Hope, rather, allows room for doubt. I don’t think there is room for doubt if you are a Christian.
My daughter – all 10 weeks of her – is in the hospital with pneumonia, RSV, an ear infection, fever and diaper rash. While it is natural to fear for her life, not once have I gone to hope. Instead, I take comfort in knowing that it is part of God’s plan. I don’t know that plan, but my biggest fear of all was for HER salvation. That’s an area that I have no idea about. But regardless, it is more comforting to live in grace than to have idle hope much the same way as one would hope for when scratching off a lottery ticket and “hoping” for a big payday.
Salvation, then, is the GRACE of knowing there IS a big payday in God’s kingdom.
Chad,
Sorry for the lag on response time. Been “unplugged” for a bit.
Salvation needs to be more that a certainty of a “big payday”, simply because Jesus talked about way more than just getting to that big ol’ cloud city in the sky.
The way I would explain the gospel if someone came to me and asked is this:
Come and be reconciled to The God of everything because of what Jesus has done (if you want to know a more expanded explanation of my thoughts, check out this post, and the three that follow). In my understanding, this is the same thing Peter talks about:(1Peter 1.3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…
This is talking about the Christian life (which I equate with the first fruits of Salvation) as a living hope, a hope that does not disappoint. Hebrews 12:1 tells us that the faith we have -the faith by which we are saved through grace (Eph 2.9)- is being sure of what we hope for.
Sure, if someone is just hoping that by some chance they will get the resurrection and restoration, that by some chance God will be merciful with them, it is misplaced (or dead) hope.
But we hope with assurance, because of the faith we have in what Jesus said, did, and promised to complete when he comes again. He sent us the Spirit to seal us, to give us the assurance that our hope will be fulfilled.
So, salvation (being reconciled to God through the person and work and promises of Jesus) is having the assured hope (the living hope) that Jesus is who the Bible records him to be, that he did what the Bible says he did, and that every word he promised to us he will complete.