The Real Gospel
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What is the Gospel?
The word "gospel" means
"good news," but that's just a definition. You want to know: What is the good
news, and who, when, and where does it come from?
Some say the gospel is
the story about Jesus, as written by the New Testament writers, Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. These stories are often called the four gospels, for example,
"The Gospel according to Luke." Others say the good news, the gospel, is that
God sent His son to earth as a sacrifice, to die and rise again, to atone for
the sins of mankind. Still others say the good news is that Jesus' death on the
cross was a ransom paid by God to redeem mankind from the Devil. And so
on.
The New Testament tells us that Jesus and the apostles went from city
to city, preaching "the gospel of the kingdom" and "the glad tidings of the
kingdom of God" to the multitude.
"And Jesus went about all the cities
and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."
(Matthew 9:35)
"And it came to pass...that Jesus went throughout every
city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God:
and the twelve were with him..." (Luke 8:1) (Also see Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:14,
and Luke 4:43.)
From these verses we can see that the gospel was
something that Jesus actually preached and taught during his appearances before
large crowds in many cities, and long before his death. Thus, the questions of
who, when, and where the gospel comes from are answered. The gospel comes from
Jesus, the Son of God.
But what exactly was Jesus telling the people?
What was the message? And has the essence of his message, the "good news" and
"glad tidings" from and of Jesus, been partly lost to us today, been "made of no
effect through tradition" (Mark 7:13) and replaced by another message, the
gospel about Jesus?
On these teaching and preaching tours, Jesus gave the
people very important new information (the good news!), positive and powerful
information focused on a few specific ideas. The gospel that Jesus taught was
that information which would satisfy our deepest spiritual hopes, needs, and
desires: to better know our Father in heaven and our relationship with mankind,
to be of the Spirit and to show the fruits of the Spirit, and to have eternal
life with God.
Have you heard the expression; "I got it straight from the
horse's mouth?" When people say this they mean they got some information right
from the source, and therefore it is true. It is like a gold miner who finds the
mother lode. The actual teachings of Jesus are from the true source, the mother
lode, from God Himself, as personified by His son.
Here then are the high
spiritual teachings of Jesus, the Son of God; the information he was giving to
the people, - the real gospel.
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Jesus teaches us about doing the Father's
will and entering the kingdom of heaven.
"Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)
Doing the Father's will is key to
entering the kingdom of heaven, according to Jesus. And what is the Father's
will? It is simply loving God, and loving and serving our brothers and sisters
on earth, our brothers and sisters in God's family, as Jesus clearly validates
at Luke 10:25-28.
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Jesus tells us how we can have eternal
life.
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and
tested him, saying, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus
said to him, "What is written in the law? how do you read it?" And he answered
saying, "Thou shall love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." And Jesus
said to him, "Thou has answered right: this do, and thou shall live." (Luke
10:25-28)
Do this and you will have eternal life, the Son of God says!
Love God, and love your neighbor. Could it be any clearer or simpler than that?
Jesus knows that loving all of our fellow humans is not be easy for many of us,
but he expects trend and effort.
To justify other views not from the Son
of God concerning what one must do to be saved (have eternal life with God), it
has been said that Jesus' answer to the lawyer, "Thou has answered right: this
do, and thou shall live," was "lacking." But how can that be? How could anything
said by the Son of God be lacking? Such ideas are
blasphemous.
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Jesus tells us why he came to
earth.
And he said unto them, "I must preach the
kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore was I sent." (Luke
4:43)
Many have differing views as to the purpose of Jesus' incarnation
on earth. Here, Jesus himself tells us that he came to earth to preach the
gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God, the information that will insure
your eternal life with God if you follow it, and that information is to: "love
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself."
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Jesus teaches a new and very personal idea
about the kingdom of God.
When he was asked by the Pharisees, when the
kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered, "The kingdom of God will come not
with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold,
the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
Imagine! The kingdom of
God is within you. This is a stunning teaching of Jesus. There are several
aspects of the kingdom of God. One is spiritual; the kingdom is not a material
realm. Another is the outward kingdom; the Father and His angels far off in
heaven somewhere. And there is the kingdom within. Jesus is talking about this
inner kingdom when he says that the kingdom of God is within you, actually a
part of the Father himself, sharing your life, going through your ups and downs
with you, and if you desire it, guiding you like a compass back to Him. This is
not a nebulous spirituality wafting through you, as might be imagined for a
spirit being, and as might be the case in some situations, but rather a definite
focalization of the Father, in you. Many have misunderstood this teaching,
arguing that the verse really means, "among you" or "around you," but the truth
of the matter is that it means just what it says in the King James and other
versions of the Bible. It means, The kingdom of God is within
you.
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If we have become separated from God, Jesus
tells us what the Father requires in order for us to come home to Him, to rejoin
His family, our spiritual family.
See "The Parable of the Prodigal Son," (Luke
15:11-32)
Many people do not give much thought to the parables that Jesus
taught. They are often quoted but seldom explained or understood. Parables are
simple stories with a single, clear message. You don't have to be a theologian
or have a college degree to understand them. In this parable, Jesus says that
our spiritual Father will welcome us home just as soon as we sincerely want to
return to Him. Even though the repentant son in the story was still a long way
off, the moment his father saw him coming down the road he ran to him to greet
him in love and welcome him back into the family. This is how our Father in
heaven responds to us, His children, always with an attitude of love and
forgiveness. No matter how far down the road away from the Father you think you
are, if you want to return home, the door is open and the welcome mat is out.
Our Father always leaves the light on.
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Jesus tells how we can have our sins
forgiven.
"For if you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you."
(Matthew 6:14)
Forgiving
others is a difficult thing for us to do. In reality, the Father's forgiveness
is ever available to us. By forgiving others, we tap into that forgiveness, we
open the door to it.
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In a conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus
teaches us about being "born again".
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a
man be born of water [physical birth], and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)
God is spirit. When we love God and
desire to do His will, we are born again, born of the Spirit. It's that
simple.
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Jesus tells us to be
perfect.
"Be you therefore perfect, even as your
Father who is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
Nobody is perfect, as
the saying goes. Perfection is not our condition, but it is our goal. Our Father
knows that we have been created with a human nature, He created us. It will take
effort on our part to become more perfect, more spiritual, more like God. God
knows that too. Spiritual progress, like all progress, takes time. And there is
no time like the present to start the adventure of perfection attainment. In the
words of Lao-tzu, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single
step."
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Jesus tells us about God's
family.
Jesus says, "Our Father..." (Matthew 6:9,
Luke 11:2)
When Jesus uses the term Father, he is talking about his
Father and our Father. Above all else God is a loving Father and we are his
children. If we know we are a son or a daughter of God, we will naturally want
to act like one.
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Jesus tells us that God knows what we
need.
"...for your Father knows what things you
have need of, before you ask him." (Matthew 6:8)
God knows our real
needs. His kingdom is a spiritual one and our real needs are mostly spiritual in
nature. When we pray, we should not pray overmuch for material things, but
should pray for spiritual insight, pray for others, and pray for help to know
and do the Father's will. When Jesus says, "Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you..." (Matthew
7:7, Luke 11:9), he is talking about spiritual gifts, spiritual truths, and
spiritual doors.
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Jesus teaches us about tolerance, one of
the fruits of the Spirit, and beyond mere tolerance, even love for other people
and groups which may be different from our own.
"For if you only love those who love you,
what reward have you? do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute
your brethren only, what do you do more than others? do not even the publicans
do so?" (Matthew 5:46-47, Luke 6:32-33)
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Jesus talks about sharing the good news -
his teachings about how we can attain eternal life with God.
"...freely you have received, freely give."
(Matthew 10:8)
The good news is not something to be hidden under a rock.
It should be shared with everyone in God's family.
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Many religions are complex, but the real
gospel of Jesus, even what we may call the "religion of Jesus," is simple: Love
God your Father, and love your fellow man. If you do this you will be doing the
Father's will, and you will have an eternal life of love and service with God.
This real gospel of Jesus will also be acceptable to all of God's children on
earth who love Him, whether they be Christian, Moslem, Jew, Buddhist, or
Hindu.
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And finally, as would be expected from the
Son of a loving God, comforting words from Jesus to all of
us.
"Fear not, little flock; for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke
12:32)
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All Bible quotations excerpted
or adapted from the King James Version.
Prepared by:
Norm Du Val
e-mail
Copyright (c) 1994
Please copy as
needed.
Rev. 7-02
