So, what is the Gospel?
There is this song I love by Maddie and Tae called Die from a Broken Heart. There is a line in the chorus that says,"Momma, can you die from a broken heart?" The song is full of so much emotion; as you listen, it is as if you can feel the heart break yourself. Heartbreak is a sad part of life. We feel deeply and we hurt deeply. Sometimes we feel so much we think we could die.
Not only do we feel hurt and pain ourselves but we also cause it to one another and that is called sin. Whenever we lie to our loved ones in little ways, we bring them hurt. Whenever we lose our temper with our dear friends, we bring them hurt. Whenever we hold in deep jealousy, we cause eachother hurt. In moments that we don't forgive, we cause shame. Hurt and shame grow in more obvious ways as well when a husband cheats on his wife (or vice versa). Families fall apart when someone is murdered. Lives are devastated when people get raped and attacked. We all sin. This world is broken. You are broken. I am broken. So, where is our hope? Who will save us from the hurt and pain we bring ourselves? The gospel: the story of Jesus Christ.
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You can read about the life of Jesus in the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible but if you want to focus on Jesus' story than read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. However, I am going to give you a quick summary here!
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It all started with what Christians call "the fall". The fall happened when God created the first two humans to ever live: Adam and Eve. God loved them and kept them safe in His garden; they just couldn't touch the tree of good and evil (Gen. 2). But, satan (the famous snake you hear about) tempted Eve to eat from the tree of good and evil and told her that God could never love her as much as He said He did. So, Eve sinned against God, and Adam joined her. They were thrown out of God's perfect garden and cast out in the wilderness (Gen. 3). They needed a Savior, they needed God to rescue them from their sin.
So then,thousands of years go by until we finally meet our Savior. Jesus was a carpenter, an everyday, average worker (Mark 6:3). However, there was something different about Jesus. He never lied. Although he felt anger, he never acted out of anger to hurt others. He never talked back to his parents. He never cheated. He never stole. He never argued with his siblings. Jesus was perfect (1 Peter 2:22). He was perfectly kind, perfectly loving, and perfectly just (John 13:34). Jesus was everything we could never be. Jesus was also God. Yes, THE God, the creator of the universe. He was one with God and is actually sitting with God in heaven right now (John 10:30). Jesus proved this by being miraculously born of a virgin named Mary(the reason we celebrate Christmas every year, Isaiah 7:14). So, what is my point? Jesus went on to heal the sick (Mark 5:21-34), help the lame walk (John 5), and even help blind people see (John 9)! He raised people from the dead and brought them back to life (Luke 7:11-17). He was also a friend, a son, and a brother (Matt. 13:55). Jesus was truly awesome.
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However, Jesus was not adored by all people. There were these people called the Pharisees. They thought they were perfect. They thought if they just obeyed God's laws (the stone tablets written before Jesus had come to earth), they were basically the best (Matt. 23). But Jesus had come to the world to preach a different message. Jesus preached that if you obeyed laws without love, it was all pointless! He preached that sin could be forgiven. He preached hope and new life to all who believed in Him (Matt. 22:36-40).
Due to Jesus' powerful messages, the pharisees wanted Him dead. So that is what they did. They took the most perfect man, the Son of God, and they nailed Him to a cross (Matt.27:22). They whipped his back with glass and dry bone (John 19:1) . They spit on him and mocked him (Matt. 27:30). They dug a crown of long, sharp thorns into his head (Matt. 27:29). They thought they were innocent. They thought they were "standing up for the law". But there the crowd was, the most guilty of people, standing before Jesus on that cross. They were standing in front of the man who was going to forgive them of all their sin. Those pharisees were you and me; those pharisees represented our sin just as much as their own.
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Finally, Jesus gave his last breathe on the cross (Matt. 27:50). He died as a perfect sacrifice, having done nothing wrong. He became sin itself and then crucified sin on our behalf(2 Cor. 5:21). However, Jesus did not let death destroy him, but raised back to life 3 days later (he is God after all, Matt. 27:5-7). He told His disciples to carry out the gospel to all who can hear it and believe it to have eternal life: and this we call the great commission (Matt. 28:18-20).
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To be saved by Jesus you simply must believe that this gospel is true for you (Acts 2:21). 1 Timothy 1:15 reads,",that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Yes, Jesus Christ died in front of the pharisees, but He also died for you and for me. He did it because he absolutely loves you and me. My sin no longer holds a weight over my head. I know that Jesus paid for all the pain I have caused with His very own, perfect blood. Your life is paid for my friend and grace has been given to you as a gift from your Abba Father (Eph. 2:4-5).
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Please email me if you would like to talk more about the gospel!
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