The Good News: The Heart of the Christian Faith

When you read an advertisement, the first thing they want you to see is what you’ll get out of the deal. You could have this car or this house or this service for less money than you think (or at least as much as they think they can get away with). They don’t hide the product or service.

When you visit the website of a well-run organization, you’ll easily find its mission statement. Not just a slogan, but a carefully crafted statement of purpose explaining why they exist. It directs and focuses the energies of every department—again, assuming it is healthy and well-managed.

In the Christian faith, we are not selling something, but there is still a draw. There is still a purpose for which we exist, and while the church isn’t a modern organization and has many purposes, there is one core truth that animates all the rest. The apostles called it the “good news.” But because the English language has Germanic roots, we also have another word for it: the Gospel. It describes the draw and the reason we exist.

In this post, I want to explain what the Gospel is and how it functions in the Christian faith. I hope to do so in a way that makes sense to both insiders and outsider alike, because whether the project is explaining to outsiders what we’re about or explaining to insiders what we should be about, some elements are always necessary. The Gospel is one of these.

Everything Depends on Jesus

The Gospel is the good news of who Jesus is and what he did.

The testimony of the apostles is this: that Jesus was more than a man. He was God. He became one of us in order to address once and for all the sin that separates us from him. Sin is another word for missing the mark, whether through active rebellion or our own brokenness. Every person is guilty of it, and the penalty for sin is death. But Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life and then offered himself as an atoning sacrifice in our place, to take on death for us and pay our moral debts. He was crucified, died, and was buried. And on the third day, he rose to life again, defeating death and offering everlasting life with him. After appearing to many witnesses, he ascended into heaven, and there he intercedes for us, defending his followers from the accusations of our enemy, the devil. One day Jesus will return to put an end to all sin and death and make all things new. There he will rule in perfect justice over a fully healed heaven and earth.

Or to put it more succinctly: the God who made us loved us and became one of us. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death that we deserved. On the third day, he rose again, defeating sin and death. He intercedes for us even now and one day He will return to make all things new.

Response Required

This news is good news because it means our biggest problem has been addressed. We may think our biggest problem is money or health or relationship or status—and those can be incredibly difficult at times. But as challenging as those things can be, there is a bigger problem: your sin separates you from the loving God who made you. He is the source of all love, all life and health, everything good. He is perfect in every way. And so Jesus offers a way to be right with God—the only way back to him. This is the greatest thing in the world, and it’s offered to you as a free gift. But it is a gift that requires a response: it must be accepted or rejected.

It’s as though you were born on the wrong side of a conflict between two great powers. You were born on the wrong team. You never had to sign up, although surely you came to support your side in some way or another; it was your default position. But now the other side has won the war and offered peace to anyone who would defect to his side now, before he comes to take possession of the territory. What will you do? If you do nothing, you stay on the wrong side. You stay an enemy and suffer the consequences. Only if you respond by accepting the terms of peace now can you enjoy a right relationship with the king.

In Romans 10:9, the apostle Paul writes, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Peter, speaking to the crowds after the resurrection invited the people to “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

Together, these flesh out what it means to accept the Gospel: we admit that Jesus is the God who came to rescue us, the rightful lord (king, ruler) of all. We repent (turn away) from our sins and turn to him in faith (trusting him). And as a sign of the work that God has done in us, we undergo water baptism.

A Gift of Grace

As you look over that list, you may think some parts of it sound like a lot of work. Maybe you see “repent” and wonder How do I turn away from sin? How much? How good do I have to be before I can be saved? Maybe you see “believe” and wonder How much faith do I need? How convinced do I have to be? How do I know I have trusted him enough? Maybe you see baptism and think Am I still unsaved until I do that? How do I do it the right way? Who do I go to?

These are great questions. And there are answers to be had. But for now, I want to address the underlying fear: what must I do to be saved? How can I know I have done enough?

What you need to know is this: salvation is a free gift. It is not earned. The apostle Paul observed that if it could be earned, we would have something to boast about, something we could be glad we contributed. But salvation isn’t like that. We call this “grace.” There is nothing you can do to be worthy of it, nothing you need to achieve to prepare for it, nothing you can give to earn it. That means everyone is on the same level: we all come helpless, contributing nothing. We are all saved because of what Jesus did on our behalf.

This is why I can say with confidence that Christians are not selling a product or service. Free is free. What God offers is nothing less than all he is and has as a gift, because of his love for you.

Accepted by Faith

One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Again, this highlights how salvation is a gracious gift. But notice that there is also a role for faith to play. Like the passage from Romans said above, you have to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Faith is how we accept the gift.

Why faith? There’s a popular idea out there that if you believe something hard enough, you can make it happen. But that’s not the way faith works. We can’t will things into existence—only God can do that. If faith works at all, it’s because God works, and God has chosen to pay attention to faith.

There’s a powerful passage early in the Bible, after God has called a man named Abram to follow him. God makes promises to Abram—promises that were impossible, humanly speaking. But Abram believed God anyway. Abram trusted God. Abram was confident that God could bring about what he promised, no matter how difficult it sounded. And it says that God looked at Abram’s faith and counted it as righteousness (Gen. 15:6).

What that means is this: if you could keep the law perfectly your whole life, you could have a right relationship with God. You could be righteous. But Abram wasn’t perfect. Just like you and me, he had sinned, missed the mark, rebelled against God in some way or another. And instead of rejecting Abram or asking him to do a certain number of good deeds to outweigh his sins, God does something surprising. He counts Abram righteous not because he was good enough, but because he believed God. God decided that was enough.

This is how we receive the gift of salvation: we believe what God has said. We trust him. We have confidence that God can do what he promised—and has done what he said he would. By believing in Jesus, we are counted as righteous. We don’t do good works; instead we trust the work of Jesus and God in turn accepts us.

The Gift that Transforms Us

So the good news is about what Jesus did for us, in love, as a gift. It is accepted by faith and not by works—by believing and not by doing.

At this point you may be thinking one of two things. Some of you may be thinking, “This is great! Now that I’m saved I can do whatever I want!” Others of you may be thinking, “how is it good news that God allows sinful people to stay sinful? How can he be good if this is the way he runs things?!”

Well, there’s more to the good news. You see this isn’t just a message of forgiveness and acceptance. It’s a gift of new life. It’s a gift of growth. It’s a gift that transforms you.

You see, when the heart of the gift is a relationship, that relationship changes you. You can now enjoy access to God, and as you spend more time with him, you learn to love what he loves and do what he does. But it’s more than just inspiring. God takes your sinful heart and makes it new. What was unresponsive is now vibrant. What was a shriveled vine flowers once again.

And this is no bonus feature. This is salvation. Someone has said that when you are first saved, you are saved from the penalty of sin. Then begins the journey of God saving you from the power of sin. And when all is said and done, you will be saved from the presence of sin. It’s one salvation, all one package, but with stages of unfolding. And at every stage the point is this: we are separated from sin and united with God.

And so the person who thinks, “Aha! I’m saved, now I can do what I want,” that person doesn’t realize that part of the healing is changing what you want. You may think you want money or sensual pleasure or status or possessions, but if you chase those things, you will find them hollow. They can’t give you life. Living for them will only destroy you. Only a life where God is your ultimate pursuit and joy is a life that is fulfilling and life-giving. Not everything changes at once, and sometimes it happens with great struggle, but the gift is that it will change.

The person who is willing to give up those things for Jesus will find out in the end that they weren’t worth much to begin with, and that Jesus is infinitely better. And in him is everything good.

Now, hopefully the person who was worried about supporting moral anarchy is a bit relieved. But the challenge remains: God does not usually transform us overnight. God is willing to be patient and merciful with sinners. Remember: he paid the whole debt himself. So we must be patient with one another, too—and with ourselves. God does not endorse injustice, but works justice through patience and mercy. All will be made right. We are again reminded to trust him.

Saved Together

And this is in the end one of the amazing things about following Jesus. We aren’t just saved to a one-on-one relationship but united to a community of people. We belong with one another and to one another, because we’re all on the same path together. We’re all equally unqualified to be here. We’re all saved by the love of Jesus. We’re all headed toward the same destination.

This means you have a place to belong—although sometimes you may not feel like it. These fellow travelers are no replacement for Jesus. God is being patient with each of them and asking you to do the same. God has forgiven much of you and asks you to do the same. And in the process of bearing with one another, being patient with one another, and forgiving one another, you not only help each other but you become more like Jesus.

God is creative enough that the challenges work to your good just as well as the blessings. I noticed just today what Romans 5:2-5 is really saying. There Paul writes that we rejoice in hope because God has poured out his love on us, and we rejoice in affliction, too. Why? Because when affliction goes into one end of the Christian life, it produces hope at the other—and endurance and character along the way. One way or another it ends in hope, and when you hope in God, you will not be disappointed.

To Change the World?

You might think that this means that Jesus is going to change his disciples so they can change the world. After all, if Jesus is going to make everything new in the end and if the gift of salvation begins transforming us right now, then why wouldn’t the two go together?

Christians don’t agree on how these two things relate, but we know two things for sure. One, that if Jesus is transforming me now, then that transforms how I live and relate to others in this life. By saving individuals, the world becomes a better place. And yet the other thing we know is that our only hope is Christ’s return. Only then will our adversary, the devil, be bound. Only then will those who persist in doing evil be punished. Only then will the curse be lifted from creation.

So it seems to me that we should be very careful about not thinking we are the ones who will transform the world. We should work for change. But if the Gospel means that my purpose is now to transform the world, then the cares of this world suddenly become mine in a new way. I’m now committed to making sure certain outcomes happen, tempted to fight for control of different spheres of life. Yet this is not what I see in the Bible. What I see is that sharing the Gospel is more important, improving our character is more important. We help others, but we don’t commit ourselves to the task of winning. The victory belongs to Jesus. Our job is just to be faithful with all he has given us until he returns.

Conclusion

I’ve tried here to speak not only to the heart of the Gospel, but to some of the things that people want to add to it. This no doubt raises further questions; I hope I will have opportunity to address them in the future. For now, I hope that the main thing is clear: that salvation belongs to the Lord, and it is a free gift of Jesus Christ. We all know there’s something wrong with the world. The good news is that there is relief. The God who made you loves you. He became like you to save you, that you might become more like him. And one day he will come back and right every wrong, wipe every tear, and make all things new. And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.