The Message of the Gospel, pt1

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

When I was a kid, growing up in the late 70s, early 80s, cereal was a huge deal. Can I get an amen? Oh, gosh. Cereal was a huge deal, and it's weird to even think about how big of a deal it was, but it was huge. And what serial makers would do to kind of amp up, you know, the excitement was they would throw in prizes and candy and toys in the cereal box, right? Like in inside, sometimes it was just in the box, but sometimes it was actually in the cereal, okay? Like just all mixed into the actual cereal in the bag sealed and everything.

My favorite, my favorite thing to get on those cereal boxes were the coded messages where you needed the decoder ring to actually read the message. So the message would be on the box and the decoder ring would be inside and you have to like fish for the decoder ring. And I'm sure many, many of cereal boxes would be contaminated with my grubby hands going all the way down to the bottom. Fish, there it is. Fishing around with that decoder ring, pull it out. You know, I'm like, oh, I got it. And I was always very excited. And the messages were always really terrible. It was like eat more Captain Crunch or, you know, I don't know, man. Now, if it was today, it'd be a website, go to this website to find out more or something like that. The worst though, the worst was seeing that there was a coded message on the back, sticking my grubby hands all the way down in the cereal and not finding the decoder ring.

I mean, it just wasn't there. And it happened a couple of times. I remember when you get the coded message without the decoder ring, it's really, really frustrating, especially if you're a seven-year-old kid. week, we began our gospel series and with our aim, our aim is to really grab hold of the gospel, to really get it in our bones, to really understand that the gospel is not just this pithy two sentence thing, but that it's a multifaceted diamond. That there's so much there that really it's hard to grasp without turning it over in your mind again and again and again and again and again, to really behold it is the aim of our message. And so last week, we did that by looking at the who of the gospel or the person of the gospel, which is Jesus himself, right? We talked about it that we said it this way, that the gospel is more than a message. Now, the gospel is a message. It is the message.

But the gospel is more than that because it is God delivering that message in person. So the person of Jesus, everything that he said, everything that he did, every way that he did it was demonstrating the gospel. We don't separate Jesus from the gospel so that the gospel is some idea disconnected from Jesus himself. And in many ways, the way we understand the gospel is from Jesus himself, from his person, from what he said, from what he did. But this week, I would like to turn to the actual gospel message. So the gospel is more than a message. However, the gospel is still a message. It has content. That content is important. In other words, we don't just say, you know, everything is the gospel or, you know, the just loving God and loving people or something really flip it like that. The content of the gospel actually matters. It's a big deal. However, like a coded message without a decoder ring,

sometimes our view of the gospel is not fully formed. It's bits and pieces of things that we have been able to string together over time, listening to sermons, studying on our own, but it really lacks cohesion. It really lacks this holistic thing. And so we have bits and pieces and we think it's the whole thing, but there's a lot more to it that maybe we don't understand. Typically, or not typically, historically, this, what this has done in Christianity and America, or really Christianity all over the world, it's kind of divided Christianity into two major camps. These two major camps are lots of different places. I've seen it many times, both in local church life and in academic theology. This division exists a lot of places. And you pretty much have people that are going to say, the gospel message is pretty much what Paul wrote. So they're going to look at

Romans, they're going to look at 1 Corinthians, and they're really going to prize that, champion that, and say, really, what Paul wrote, that's the gospel message in its entirety. And then you have another camp over here that says, well, the gospel is what Jesus preached. Not what Paul wrote, the gospel is what Jesus preached. I'm a red-letter Christian, you see. So what you have are these two camps that will take bits and pieces of the gospel and champion it over the other. Now, what that does, that kind of honestly kind of perverts Scripture. You're trying to pit Scripture against itself. We know that's not true. However, these aren't people that are looking for a fight. These are people that are trying to understand the gospel. And they're reading Scripture and they're having a tough time

reconciling those things. So today and next week, I want to bring about the whole, the entire message of the gospel. In fact, I'm going to try to do it in such earnestness that it's going to take me more than a week. So mercifully, I have broken this up into two sermons. The first thing that we have to do is we have to discover why. Why do people believe there's a gospel according to Paul and a gospel according to Jesus and those aren't the same? And again, these aren't people that are just trying to cause trouble. These are people that are looking at Scripture, so there's no scoffing allowed. We're not saying, oh, they just want to... These are people that are actually trying to understand and they're confused. And so we need to understand why they don't understand. We need to understand the actual confusion. Then we need to talk about how it's actually one gospel message.

And lastly for today, we need to understand that when you grasp both, kind of what the camps are going for, when you have this entire gospel, it leads to a humility and a boldness that we would not have known. We need to grab hold of the whole gospel. When we get it in our bones, it is life changing. It is powerful. It is hopeful. Again, it spans centuries and it applies to your mental health. It talks about how cultures deal with things, but it also deals with your marriage. The gospel is broad. It spans a lot. And so, let's begin with what seems to be two different messages, two different gospel messages. And I want to show you how both of them are in scripture. The first is what we're going to call the gospel for us message. The gospel for us message. Now again, I'm going to name each one, and I don't mean to say that there are two gospels. Do not misunderstand.

That we are talking about it from a particular perspective. So the gospel for us message, and in short, the gospel for us message is Jesus died in our place to make things right between us and God and was raised to life so we can have life to the full. Okay, I'll say that again. Jesus died in our place to make things right between us and God and was raised to life so we can have life to the full, like more abundantly. You see this all over the New Testament. Romans 5a, God demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. That's the gospel for us. All these scriptures, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, 1 John 4, 10, 1 Peter 3, 18. 1 Peter 3, 18, for Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. The gospel for us. The most quintessential passage on the gospel for us is 1 Corinthians 15. really the whole chapter, we'll just look at the first four verses together so

that you can understand the magnitude and importance of the gospel for us. It says, I would remind you brothers, the gospel I preached to you, which you receive, in which you stand, by which you are being saved, if you hope to ask the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Let's take a second. Paul here in 1 Corinthians is trying to describe, distill the gospel message, the content of the gospel for the Corinthian church. And here's where he's doing it. He says, this is what I'm going to remind you. This is the gospel, verse three. It says, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. Stop there. I'm Paul. Paul is saying, I'm giving you what I've received. Here's the content of the gospel message as I received it from the Lord Jesus. Okay. And here's the content of that message. That Christ died for our sins in accordance

with the scripture. that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. It goes on to give a few more details. But here, we can point to this and say, this is the gospel for us. Now, the gospel for us is a very familiar message, especially to the South, especially to Burleson, right? In our area of the world, we are extremely familiar with this. This is often how the gospel is presented as an offer, right? Jesus died in your place to make things right between you and Him, right? We are talking about the gospel in personal terms. And so when we share the gospel with someone, we are then sharing it in personal terms. Now, let me just repeat just in case there's any confusion. The gospel for us is good and legitimate.

The gospel for us, I'm not saying it's some lesser thing. I'm not saying it's somehow subject to some other thing over here. It's not bad. It's good and legitimate. I just proved it was scripture. It's there. It's in the Bible. However, when you listen to Jesus preach, When you hear the gospel message presented in a way that Jesus presents it, it does sound very different. And I want to prove that for you this morning. I want you to see it. I want you to see those differences. We are calling this gospel message the kingdom gospel message. And it's because Jesus is talking about the kingdom. I want you to turn with me to Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15. Mark 1, 14 and 15. And if you need a Bible, there should be a Bible in a seabag pocket that's at at least near you. We're going to be looking at the two verses and we're also going to have them up on the screen. And so if you want to follow along,

you can do that either way. In these verses, there's a little bit of translation. There's a discussion about the translation, and so just know that sometimes your Bible is going to say it just a little different than this Bible over here. They're not saying different things. They're saying the same thing just a different way. All right, so without further ado, Mark Chapter 1, verses 14 and 15. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, so here's the content of the gospel that Jesus is preaching. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. Let me point out a few things first. Number one, Jesus has not died yet. So the whole gospel for us message where it kind of begins with Jesus died in our place.

Okay, well that's not here and Jesus is still preaching the gospel. So how is he still proclaiming the gospel of God if he has not died in our place yet? There are also no disciples yet. There's no ministry yet. There's nothing that people have to go on. What is he saying? The second thing I'd like to point out is that, lest you think this is just isolated in two verses in Mark 1, this is all over, all four gospels. Matthew 4, 17, from that time Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's it. Luke 4, 43, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose. You see preaching the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Luke 8:1, Luke 9:2, it's all over. When you look for the gospel for us message in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you struggle to find it.

The reason I'm saying it this way is so that you understand when people have a problem, when people think there's a gospel of Paul and a gospel of Jesus, you need to understand many times people reach that conclusion honestly. They aren't trying to cause division. They aren't trying to be weird. They aren't trying to say they don't believe in God or trying to find fault with the Bible. They're trying to understand. At least that's a good thing for us to assume. However, when we read this stuff, when we read the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, it doesn't fit with the gospel bits that we have. If we are in the South, in Burleson in particular, if we are extremely familiar with the gospel for us message, When we hear this as the gospel, we go, wait, that doesn't fit.

That doesn't fit. Because if the gospel is that Jesus died in our place to reconcile us to God that raised, and he was raised to give us life abundantly, well, he hasn't died yet. So what's he doing for us? Is this a different gospel then? The answer is no, it's not a different gospel. And to find out how it's not, to begin to kind of reconcile them, help you understand how they're together, we need to examine Jesus's words in Mark 1:15. Understanding that this phrase is repeated several times throughout the Gospels, throughout Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John. And what he does, Jesus says four things that kind of help us understand the kingdom gospel. He says four different things, and I want to point them all out. The first thing he says is the time is fulfilled. The time is fulfilled. Now, we aren't first century Jews. When somebody says the time is fulfilled to us,

we have no reference for that. We don't understand that. It's not going to call anything to mind. If we think the time is fulfilled, we're wondering what time is it? What is being fulfilled? However, the time that Jesus is talking about starts in the Old Testament. It starts way back in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15. We're just going to look at Genesis 12, two and three. And this is God speaking to Abraham. Okay. This is a long, long time ago. It says, and I will make of you, Abraham, a great nation, and I will bless you and I'll make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed." God, in Genesis 12, verses 2 and 3, begins his redemption program, right? Reconciling all the world to himself. He begins that program through Abraham and his descendants.

What we will later know as Israelites, then Jews, from which Jesus comes. Jesus says, hey Jew, God makes a promise to bless the world through Abraham. He's going to bless everybody. How's he going to do that? He's going to eradicate sin and death. He's going to, he's going to put that away. And what Jesus comes to earth to say, what he is saying here in Mark 1 to 15 is to say, it has begun. It is time for the promise, capital P, Genesis 12, promise to Abraham promise, it's time for that promise to be kept. It's happening. It's starting. It's time for the promise to be kept. And so where the gospel for us, remember we have gospel for us and the kingdom gospel. The gospel for us begins with our situation. Okay, again, this is not wrong, this is good and legitimate, but it begins with our situation. We were at odds with God. What the kingdom gospel begins with is God's

promise. Now it still has our sin in view, obviously. It's a promise to to bless all the families of the earth through his people. But it begins with not not our situation, but God's promise. So God has ancient, incomprehensible power. God's power isn't something that we can kind of fathom or wrap our minds around. This is the sustainer and the creator of the entire universe. And what he is doing is promising, promising to bless every family with power. again, that is incomprehensible. When God promises to do something, it's going to happen. He's just giving you lead time. Okay. It's not if, it's not sorta, it's not maybe going to happen. God's saying, I will bless all of the families of the earth through my people, through Abraham's seed.

And this is how the gospel, the kingdom gospel begins. The time is fulfilled. This ancient promise that is made is going to be kept. God's power is about to be on display in a brand new way. This is what it means to say the time is fulfilled. Let's move on. Let's keep reading what Jesus is preaching. He says, the kingdom of God is at hand. I wanna break that up into the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? Well, that's not easily answered. I'll attempt it. The kingdom of God is simply where God's rule and God's authority are evident. Where God's rule and his authority are evident. Okay, this is the kingdom of God. The Old Testament begins with the kingdom of God covering the earth. This is Eden, right? The Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden before sin enters the picture, They have this open relationship with God. God walks to and fro in the garden, right?

You get the sense that God's presence is there, uninhibited. Okay. That His kingdom is literally where He is walking. Sin, however, puts us at enmity with God and God's kingdom then is torn from us. We are kicked out of Eden. Okay. And this is so climactic in Genesis 3 that the rest of the Old Testament, from Genesis 4 all the way through the time that Jesus comes proclaiming that the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand. From that point on, the rest of the Old Testament points forward to when the Kingdom of God will be fully realized. It points forward to a day when sin is eradicated. It points forward to a day when God's gonna come and keep his promise. And the kingdom of God is going to be manifest again. And this is what Jesus is doing. He is saying the kingdom of God is coming. The time has come. God's about to do something in a brand new way.

The Kingdom of God will be ushered in in a way that you do not expect. It is at hand. Now, we need to really take a second to understand what it means for the Kingdom of God to be at hand. Some of your translations, well, most translations are either going to have the Kingdom of God is at hand or the Kingdom of God has come near. Okay? Now, that is a nuanced thing. But it can be confusing because that phrase could either indicate time or space. Allow me to illustrate using English. In English, if somebody would say to you, the wedding is close. The wedding is close. Well, you won't know what they mean, you need more context. So typically, we don't talk that way in English. we would either say the wedding is almost here, which would mean time. The time of the wedding is close. So the wedding is almost here. Or we would say the wedding is close by. Which would be space or locality. Do you understand the difference?

So if I would say the wedding is next door, that's more specific. But if I just leave it at the wedding is close, Well, it's a little confusing because I'm not delineating between time and space or, you know, if something is, is it near as in it's about to happen? Or is it near as it's within close proximity to me? So when Jesus says that the kingdom of God is at hand, I would submit to you that it includes the idea of space or locality. And here's why, because you can see it whenever Jesus teaches the disciples to pray. What does he teach them to pray? One of the parts is, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as it is in heaven. Earth and heaven are spaces, it's locality. The prayer is so that the kingdom of God, your kingdom would come. And the equivalent to that is your will would be done. We can understand God's kingdom is where his will is done. on earth location as it is in heaven location.

Now, I'm not gonna argue geography or metaphysical location. That's fine, we can talk about that all day. We are talking about that. We're not talking about time in that aspect. We are talking about location. And so you see it whenever Jesus says the kingdom of God is at hand, this is space. This is locality. When Jesus says, so begin to put it all together. When Jesus says, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. What is he saying? He's saying that God is now time, God is now keeping his promise, and his kingdom rule and authority, the kingdom of God, is right next to you, space. They don't both deal with time. One deals with time, the other deals with space. And if it's right next to us, it means two things. The first, if it's right next to us, it means that change is coming. If somebody would say that the kingdom of God is right next to you, that the kingdom of God, the idea is that the kingdom of God is expanding,

it's growing as God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of God will grow. If that is true, then that means that change is coming. And the reason it's changed is because God's kingdom works differently than the world's kingdom, or in many ways it works opposite than the world's kingdom does. And so in God's kingdom suffering is growing. In God's kingdom last is first. In God's kingdom death is life. In God's kingdom the meek shall inherit the earth. In the world's kingdom the meek gets stepped on, killed, and forgotten about. In God's kingdom the meek rule, they inherit the the earth. If God's kingdom is coming, that means change is coming. That means things are going to look different in God's kingdom, and it's going to look different right next to the world. So you're going to have this pocket of space where things are just working differently in the midst of this bigger

space where things work in the opposite way. And this is where we see another difference in the gospel for us message and the kingdom gospel message. In the gospel for us message, it focuses rightly on Jesus's action on our behalf. But the kingdom gospel focuses on God's kingdom breaking in, dawning on the world. Those are two different things. And then they're not irreconcilable, but it's different, it's a different focus. One's focusing on a kingdom coming in that's going to turn the world upside down and the other focuses on something that was done on our behalf personally. Again, both are true, but if we're really going to grasp that kingdom gospel, we really need to understand it. This kingdom gospel, in other words, when we begin to look at it, what Jesus is preaching, what Jesus is demonstrating, we begin to understand it in a broader view because the

gospel is for us, but the gospel is not just for us. Let me say that again. The gospel is for us, but the gospel is not just for us. It's about God ushering in a new kingdom. The gospel, in other words, is not just for fixing our problems. The gospel is about God making the world right. Now you could say, hey, that includes fixing our problems? Well, yes and amen. That's yes. But I want you to see how they come together in one message, but how they're still sometimes, like the perspective is just totally different. When you have the perspective of somebody receiving that news, when the gospel comes to you, then it is personal, right? When you hear the gospel, probably for the first time, you understand it in a personal capacity. However, whenever Jesus is preaching the gospel, he begins with the kingdom. There is something, there's a worldwide movement. Tectonic plates are shifting,

and God's kingdom is being made real on this earth. That is a different message. And this leads us to our last part, that if the gospel is right next to us, if the kingdom of God is right there, then that means you're invited. Because that's the next part that Jesus says, repent and believe in the gospel. That if the kingdom of God is right here, Right next to you, join it. How? Repent and believe. Entry into this kingdom requires vulnerability. No pride is allowed. No self-sufficiency is allowed. If you want to enter the kingdom, it will cost you your ability to save face. It will cost you looking like you have it all together. It will cost you seeming like you know, or are in control of the direction of your life. Entry into this kingdom is to repent of your sin and to believe the gospel, to take Jesus at his word. As a church, as a church, we have the opportunity

to be the embodiment of God's kingdom. Let me explain that. God's upside down kingdom, God's kingdom that works in a totally different way, in a contrary way, to the world's kingdom, within our body, we should see God's kingdom come, God's will be done. Now, the pressure then becomes, in our minds, to be perfect. Like, if this is where God's kingdom is gonna be, then we can't show any problems, we can't, nothing, no, no, no, because what God's kingdom is, is it takes people that know they're weak and it infuses strength in them. It takes people that know that they're broken and it makes them whole. That's what God's kingdom does. And slowly now, I mean, I'm not made whole yet. You can ask my wife and kids to testify, you know, anonymously, but they will. And all of us, all of us could have just a line of witnesses to talk about how we're not perfect. The idea is not that if God's kingdom is ruling and raying,

that we never mess up. The idea is that if God's kingdom is manifest here, that if it is evident, if God's rule and authority, if He reigns in our hearts, in our church, then we are going to overflow with sacrificial love. We're gonna overflow with forgiveness and understanding. We're gonna overflow with the desire to see people reconciled to God. We're gonna overflow with the Holy Spirit working in everyone. Not just one person, not just church staff, not just everybody, everybody. When God's kingdom is evident, everybody is on mission. Everybody's going the same direction that we want to see God's kingdom come, God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And so that when you combine, and this is my encouragement today, I want you to begin to combine God's kingdom gospel message with the gospel for us message. All too often, especially in the South, especially in Burleson, USA, we are extremely familiar with the gospel for us message. But when Jesus starts talking about the kingdom, we get lost. We don't understand it, and we should. It's in scripture. It's here. It's just as viable as every other part. The gospel, I'm pretty sure, is bigger than we thought. I'm pretty sure the gospel's bigger than I think, even now. But when the gospel is bigger, when the gospel is bigger than we think, It really puts our personal problems in perspective. It puts our personal obstacles. It helps us understand that they are small.

What this does is when you have this broad view of the gospel, when you understand that there is a whole kingdom that is being ushered in, that's bigger than your lifetime, you understand a humility that would not be possible otherwise. You understand that your life, although it is precious in the sight of God, is maybe not quite as important as you think it is. If we only, let me say it a different way, if we only believe the gospel for us, it will turn into a gospel for me. If we only believe the gospel for us, and we don't have an eye on this kingdom gospel, we don't understand what Jesus is talking about whenever he's preaching, then it turns into a gospel for me. Your needs, your deficiencies tend to dominate your view when you are thinking about spiritual realities. You measure yourself by what you overcome or what you have not overcome. You value your own worth by what you can accomplish or what you have failed to

accomplish and what the kingdom gospel message helps you do when you combine that with the of the gospel for us, it turns you outward. It helps you understand there's something bigger than you going on, and it helps you have perspective on your own life. God's kingdom is bigger than we think. In fact, it is a worldwide movement. It is, to say it a different way, it is deeper than your experiences alone. It's deeper than our experience as a church. And it, in fact, it includes us as a church. When we understand that the gospel is about a kingdom that is coming, we understand that our church then is a major actor in that program. Right? We are not an actor like we're faking it, but we have a part. We have something that we can grab hold of that we together are a part of God's kingdom being made manifest on this earth. This is why churches serve the poor, right?

It's because they're seeing God's kingdom come as will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we understand this kingdom gospel and we understand it, it's not just the gospel. It ushers in a confidence that we often miss if we just believe the gospel for us. Again, if we just believe the gospel for us, it turns into the gospel for me, and we tend to think really, we tend to think in short timelines. We think about our legacy. We think about our abilities. We think about our relationships. We think about our personal circles. However, not that any of that is bad. However, it is often too small for what the Lord is calling us to do. That the kingdom of God breaking into this world is a history spanning generational view. It is something that God wants to do, not just in you, not just in a group of people, but that the Lord wants to reconcile all people to himself.

This includes people in Burleson. I remember being a kid, I was raised hard on the gospel for us. And when I heard people begin talking about for God to change their city, my first thought was, why? Why? I mean, if they reject them, they're going to hell anyway. Why? And so when we understand that God is ushering in a new kingdom and that we are going to be a part of that and that we don't even have the whole plan in The generations are in view. We might not even see the end. Look, I know our vision for our church is to start four churches in 20 years, but man, I hope that spurs on a bigger vision than that. I hope that's the first step toward something way bigger, something that God can control, that we then are a part of God's worldwide kingdom movement. But unless we understand it, we aren't going to get there. Unless we really take that in, we won't be humbled rightly.

Unless we take that in, we will lack confidence. Whenever the Lord asks us to do something that's scary, we will think about our own legacy, our own ability, how people see us. All of that stuff is too small. All that stuff is too small. There's a kingdom coming and we get to be a part of it. Today, during our time of invitation, I'm gonna call Dan Sadie up. And during our time of invitation,

and we're just gonna, Dan's just gonna sing over, so we're gonna sing a reprise. As we do, as Dan sings a couple of verses, I'm gonna be standing right down here, right in front. And if you want to, I'm gonna have my mask on, if you wanna come and receive prayer, if you wanna come help, you need help taking whatever that next step is, that's what this time is for. It's a time for you to respond to what the Lord is doing in you. And so as we do, let me pray for us. Jesus, we thank you so much for today. We thank you for the way that you are bringing in something that is much bigger than us. Help us to just wrap our arms around that. Help us to understand what you're calling us to do in the midst of it. It's your name that we pray. Come as your light. The Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss! The Father turns His face away, As wounds which mar the chosen one. Bring many stones to glory, Behold the man upon a cross, My sins upon his shoulders, ashamed to hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers, it was my sin that held in there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me alive I know that it is finished