What is the Gospel? Part 1
Shortly after Christ's resurrection, and just before His ascension to heaven, Christ appeared to his disciples and commanded them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)
What is the gospel?
I can’t remember the first time I asked myself this question, but I still remember how I felt when I realized that I didn't know the answer. How could I have grown up in the church, as a pastor’s kid, and not know the answer to this question? All my life, I had been taught that I was privileged to be a part of the special remnant church that had the truth. And yet, 28 years later, when I first began to genuinely ask questions about basic Christian truths, I found that I was at a loss to come up with real and meaningful answers.
What is the gospel? Initially, the only answers I could come up with were: the first 4 books of the New Testament and "the good news." But what was the good news? The best answer I could think of was: "I am a sinner deserving of death. But Jesus died in my place on the cross and if I accept His sacrifice, I can enter into the kingdom of heaven and have eternal life." But this answer brought more questions than answers. Why am I deserving of death? What is the cause of my death? Is God the Father demanding my death because of my sins? Why does Jesus’ death on the cross allow me to get into heaven?
What is the gospel? Jesus gave the command to go into all the world and preach the gospel. If you look at the way the Adventist church has responded to that command, something just doesn’t seem completely right. I’m sure this isn’t the case all of the time, but it seems that a good majority of the emphasis and focus is placed upon baptizing members and starting new churches. Qualification for baptism is purely academic as it is simply learning and espousing belief in our doctrines.
The gospel is supposed to be at the heart of Christianity, and yet, can you find it in our church? Even more importantly, do you even know what it is? So it begs the question, what is the significant contribution that Adventism makes to the world? Is it the Sabbath? Is it the health message? Is it interpretation of prophecy?
The single most significant contribution that Adventism makes to the world is the unique picture of the gospel (“good news”) that we have to offer. So what exactly is this unique picture?
Rather than answering that question, I am simply going to leave you with a question that I would ask you to prayerfully ponder: What is the gospel?
I also challenge you to go and ask 10 other Adventists the same question. It should both fascinate and disturb you to find that you will be hard pressed to find 10 people that can give you a consistent answer.
What is the gospel?
(part 2 continued here)
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Pastor Jimmy Kim has been the youth pastor at Atlanta Korean SDA Church since May 2001, is a licensed Chiropractor, and the general manager/owner of a Real Estate Investment Company that has been in business since 2006.