Good News!

End-of-the-world scenarios, e.g., the zombie apocalypse, are very popular these days.  A typical plot might look something like this: A strange virus begins to spread around the world very rapidly, turning people into “the walking dead.” All the best scientists are working as fast as they kind to find a cure, but with little success. And then, a small group of people in an obscure corner of the world find it – a cure that will not only reverse the zombiefying effects of the virus but will bring about a whole new level of abundant life. As a result, this special group began to inoculate each other and share the cure with their closest friends and relatives. They then built a great city surrounded by impregnable walls, and they lived happily ever after from generation to generation, while the rest of the world suffered and died in the worst circumstances imaginable. “That could never happen,” you might say. But unfortunately, it does happen, every day in local churches around the world. You see, we know the cure! We have the Good News that will bring healing and abundant life. We just have to announce it – we have to live it!

It’s all about the Gospel. This beautiful word (Greek euangello) simply means a good announcement, the announcement of good news. It is “good tidings, the glad tidings of the kingdom, a reward for good tidings, the proclamation of the grace of God that has come through Christ.” Believers in Jesus are Gospel-centered, Gospel-celebrating, Gospel-based, Gospel-driven people. That’s why it’s essential that we understand both the Gospel as well as the mandate to announce the Good News every day and in every way. Jesus gave this promise: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matthew 24:14). The Good News of the Reign of God on the earth inaugurated by Jesus will prevail in every nation, among every people group. While some are waiting for the end of the world and the return of Christ, Jesus stated, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations” (Mark 13:10). The Gospel will prevail! The Gospel is the “pearl of great price.” The Gospel is the cause we are willing to live and die for. That’s why Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). Jesus also promised blessing to those who would live a Gospel-centered life: “’Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). The final words of Jesus to his followers were, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).

The first church in the book of Acts lived to announce the Good News. “After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages” (Acts 8:25; see also 8:40; 14:7, 21; 15:7; 16:10). Paul understood his apostolic mission in terms of his call to preach the Gospel (Romans 1:1-2, 9, 15; 2:16; 11:28; 15:16, 19-20; 16:25). “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul declared the power of the Gospel in these famous words: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17). Paul summarized the content of the Gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:1-8) this way: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (verses 3-4). In other words, the Gospel is the Jesus story, it is the Good News about Jesus.

I grew up in a wonderful, Gospel-centered church culture. However, the word “evangelism” grew to become a feared word. It seemed like we were being judged by whether or not we were finding opportunities to “share our faith,” and were encouraged to do so in the most unnatural kinds of ways. However, the work of “evangelism” is simply the need to announce the Good News. And why would we not want to do so? In fact, we are to be living announcements of the Good News as we seek to effectively communicate the Jesus story in our time and place (see 2 Timothy 4:5). “Evangelism” is nothing more than providing an encounter with the Good News and ultimately with Jesus himself, giving an opportunity for a faith response. It might be helpful to clarify that evangelism is not:

1.   A turn-or-burn scare tactic.

2.   A door-to-door sales strategy.

3.   An event designed to get bodies onto the church property.

In fact, most of the time evangelism is a faith-based conversation between friends, offering the help and life only Jesus can give. It is the offer of a cure and of abundant life.