What Is The Gospel

What is the Gospel...
Christ was sent here to teach us of the kingdom of God. That is the "good news." The good news is the kingdom of God is at hand!

Matthew 3:1-2	1In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
Matthew 4:17	From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Matthew 4:23	And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
The gospel that Jesus taught was the gospel of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven... Both Mark and Luke confirm, but in their confirmations, they include something further from Jesus...
Mark 1:14-15	14Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand... This is the gospel taught by Christ, and He instructs us to ...Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Luke 4:42-43	42Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”
In Luke 4:43, early in His ministry, Jesus says that He has been sent for a purpose - that purpose He says is to preach the kingdom of God. The gospel He was sent to preach was not of Himself, not of His life, not of His crucifixion and resurrection, not of personal salvation... The gospel He was sent to preach included all of these things in order that we might understand how awesome the gospel really is, but they are none of them the gospel... They are a part of the unfolding, of the means... they are details, incidentals (important incidentals, yes, but nonetheless...), but they are not the gospel He was sent to preach. The gospel, the teaching of which Jesus said was the very purpose for which he was sent, is that of the kingdom of God! ...and in John 18, much later, speaking here to Pontius Pilate, Jesus again says that He came into the world to testify to the truth of the kingdom of heaven... that this was the very reason He was born, not to offer salvation, but to testify to the truth, that His kingdom is from another place, that it is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of god.
John 18:36-37	36Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 37“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, *for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.* Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
For so many Christians, the purpose for which Jesus was sent was to offer us personal salvation... to become the sacrificial lamb and die for our sins. He did do these things, but were they the main purpose of His coming? Some Christians seem to believe that's so. But what good are these things if we don't repent and seek the kingdom? They are of no use to us individually without our repentance and faith in His good news - faith in the kingdom - and our own personal salvation is of no use to God if we limit its value to the benefit it offers our own soul. How did God benefit from Christ's death? He died for sin, right...?, but God had no sin for which Christ should die. You had sin, and Christ died for your sin... so by His death your were freed from the guilt of your sin and were given the righteousness of Jesus Himself. You were offered salvation by His death on the cross. What does God benefit by your salvation? If your salvation is the ultimate goal, how does God benefit? Your benefit is obvious, but of what benefit to God? Some Christians' participation in god's plan stops at their own salvation. Even those Christians who see the need to share and to teach others often seem to think that teaching about Christ and His sacrifice is the ultimate goal of their work. This would be them working for God, but it is not them doing God's work. It is not continuing Christ's work, for Christ didn't come to teach about His death... He came to preach the kingdom of God. To a Christian, faith means faith in Jesus Christ, but not just in His death and resurrection, but also in His words. Faith in Christ in ALL things - including that the purpose for which He was sent was to teach the gospel of the kingdom. We tend to think that faith is for our own salvation and it is NOT!. If we love God, then we will work - not for our salvation, because we have already been saved by the cross - we will work to prepare the world for the kingdom, as Jesus did. Christ is the firstborn of the new man, the son of man in whom dwells the very spirit of God. As Christ is the head and we are the body, we should all work together to prepare the world for the kingdom. We are not called upon to sacrifice ourselves upon the cross (but as the body of Christ, we share in His crucifixion), but we are each called to share the work of preparing for the kingdom.
Ephesians 4:	4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 5 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 11...some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
Most of us are very aware that Jesus said that the gospel would be preached to every nation before the end times, but are you sure what He meant? Are you assuming that He meant that the story of His life, death and resurrection would be preached? It would be difficult to picture how you could preach the gospel without including these things, but they are not the gospel of which Jesus spoke...
Matthew 24:14	And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.