Friday, October 19, 2012

What does "Jesus is the good news" mean?

I've spent a lot of time in my blogs pointing out what the gospel (good news) is not, and then I point to Jesus.  So, that's got me wondering....hmm...when I write "Jesus is the good news"- does that create confusion??  What the heck does that mean?  I think if I were to hear that statement years ago, I might not understand what the heck I was talking about.

Well, let me try explain.

How we see the good news comes down to our view of God.  Is God (Jesus) good enough to stand on His own, or is the good news all about what He does for my personal benefit?  Is "who He is" good enough to be THE good news?   Is His character good news for me - and the rest of humanity? (regardless of my eternal destiny?)

For many people, He's not.  The gospel is turned into a set of bullet points that lay out "the plan" of God's redemption.  And often, people inside (and outside) of the faith community begin to see the good news as only "fire insurance" (or some such lessening of the Gospel), which virtually makes the Christian life an ineffective way of living everyday life.

I believe - in truth - that He is THE good news!  God alone IS THE GOSPEL.  Outside of how I see Him - how I might perceive Him - He is good!  I wonder how many of us really believe that??  Or see that?  I think that if we spend all our time on the ethics of the Bible - or the rewards of the Bible - or the warnings within the Bible - it's very easy to miss the character of Jesus.  He is truly wonderful.  He is better than anything I could ever hope to describe!  No words can even come close to how great He truly is.  As so often happens in these blogs - and even in my mind - these words PALE in comparison to how wonderful He really is...

Yet somehow we've turned the gospel (good news) into a formula of personal reward.

The plan of salvation is PART of the gospel.  But it's only a sliver of the Gospel - which is the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the Gospel.  How well do you know Him?

He is Savior.

He is also King.

He is a friend of sinners.

He has ALL authority in heaven and earth.

He is the suffering servant and the wounded healer.

He is the cursed one (on our behalf).

He is the redeemer.

He is the reconciler.

He is the conqueror of death - the resurrection.

He is love.

Christ is life!

All good things come from Him.

And He holds ALL things together.

Gosh - and so much more - and more - and more!!!  I guess that's my point though.  If God (Jesus) is just a plan of salvation - then that's limiting His goodness to our personal reward.  He is SOOOOOO much more!!  And I'm not so sure I emphasized SOOOOO enough.

Take the time to get to know Him.  It will be worth it, even if you don't get a clear picture of His goodness immediately.

And why wouldn't you want to?  Why wouldn't you want to know someone that amazing?  THAT good?

It can't hurt.  Getting to know Jesus isn't gonna make you any worse for wear.  Test and see if what I'm saying is true!  Who knows - maybe I'm trying to manipulate you into believing a fairy tale.  Go dig deep and see if it's all true!  Don't believe my words - go read the gospels!

I'm confident that when you come to know the gospel (Jesus Christ), you'll not only see how wonderful He truly is - but you'll also come to find that He has a TON to say about us - who we are - what we're worth, etc. - and that secondary good news is ALMOST as good as the Gospel itself.

I wonder if that cleared anything up?  haha.

Have an awesome day!

Jer






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