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What we're after is a deep understanding of the gospel.
What it is, what it does, and why it's important. After all, when you're giving someone the gospel, what are you giving them? The truth! Here's the truth you're communicating:
First, the gospel is rooted in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The word gospel literally means "good news". When you share the gospel, you're sharing the good news with them.
What's the good news? The good news is found in Scripture. There are two important places you need to go to really get the grip on the gospel. They're both in the gospel of John.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:1-14)
You could read that passage all day and make endless lists of all the important ideas in it. But these verses clearly explain what the gospel is.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word here (and you've got to go to the original language on this one - the Greek!) originally was logos. In this passage, the Word is referring to Jesus. So the passage can read "In the beginning was Jesus ... Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God." Cool, huh? Wait, it gets better.
The idea of word here carries an Old Testament meaning, too. The word of God in the Old Testament was a really special one. When Moses went up on a mountain and heard from God, he brought back important, life-giving words from God. Those words gathered people together. The Israelites would get together to hear from God. God's word was what brought people together.
John might be making a point here by calling Jesus the Word. He might be saying that Jesus was the great uniter. As He lived and walked the earth, Jesus brought more people into fellowship with God than could have been imagined.
The Word lived among us. Jesus (the Word) made His dwelling among us. Dwelling literally means "tented". In other words, God lived in heaven, saw how lost we were, and decided to leave His home in heaven and live - tent - among us. Amazing! So if the first chapter of John tells us what happened, the third chapter tells us why.
God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son so whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Setting: Jesus is in a semi heated discussion during a well-known, well-respected conversation with a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, so it was pretty amazing that he'd be talking with Jesus in the first place.
God loved. Imagine for a moment the most unconditional, pure, honest, nondysfunctional love there could possibly be. Got it? Good, that's God's love. How does the Bible describe it? When it speaks of God's love for you, it mostly uses the word agape. Agape love is unconditional. It's the kind of love that's not sexual, but it's more than friendship. So God loves you enough to do amazing, tough things for you. Read on through this verse; see what God did.
The world. The world came from somewhere. Scientists, philosophers, and theologians all agree that the world formed somehow. The problem is getting them all to agree how. The English word for world here is ineffective at conveying what John was saying. The actual word means "the entire cosmos", not just planet Earth - the entire universe.
He sent His Son. You've got to ask, "What does it mean that God sent His Son?" First, it means that the Son was willing to go. The Trinity is a weird thing to try and pick apart because the three people in it (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) are definitely one person. They are three different personalities of the Godhead. But the Bible describes these beings in very different ways. Second, it's important to note that the concept of God's love is clearly tied to His sending His Son to make a way for these mixed-up people to spend eternity with Him.
To die. to do, since we can look back in history) is that Jesus was sent to die.
Jesus wasn't put in an electric chair, and He wasn't drugged to death. He was killed in an extremely violent way. How? Here's a quick run down:
(John 1:1-14)
You could read that passage all day and make endless lists of all the important ideas in it. But these verses clearly explain what the gospel is.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word here (and you've got to go to the original language on this one - the Greek!) originally was logos. In this passage, the Word is referring to Jesus. So the passage can read "In the beginning was Jesus ... Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God." Cool, huh? Wait, it gets better.
The idea of word here carries an Old Testament meaning, too. The word of God in the Old Testament was a really special one. When Moses went up on a mountain and heard from God, he brought back important, life-giving words from God. Those words gathered people together. The Israelites would get together to hear from God. God's word was what brought people together.
John might be making a point here by calling Jesus the Word. He might be saying that Jesus was the great uniter. As He lived and walked the earth, Jesus brought more people into fellowship with God than could have been imagined.
The Word lived among us. Jesus (the Word) made His dwelling among us. Dwelling literally means "tented". In other words, God lived in heaven, saw how lost we were, and decided to leave His home in heaven and live - tent - among us. Amazing! So if the first chapter of John tells us what happened, the third chapter tells us why.
God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son so whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Setting: Jesus is in a semi heated discussion during a well-known, well-respected conversation with a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, so it was pretty amazing that he'd be talking with Jesus in the first place.
God loved. Imagine for a moment the most unconditional, pure, honest, nondysfunctional love there could possibly be. Got it? Good, that's God's love. How does the Bible describe it? When it speaks of God's love for you, it mostly uses the word agape. Agape love is unconditional. It's the kind of love that's not sexual, but it's more than friendship. So God loves you enough to do amazing, tough things for you. Read on through this verse; see what God did.
The world. The world came from somewhere. Scientists, philosophers, and theologians all agree that the world formed somehow. The problem is getting them all to agree how. The English word for world here is ineffective at conveying what John was saying. The actual word means "the entire cosmos", not just planet Earth - the entire universe.
He sent His Son. You've got to ask, "What does it mean that God sent His Son?" First, it means that the Son was willing to go. The Trinity is a weird thing to try and pick apart because the three people in it (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) are definitely one person. They are three different personalities of the Godhead. But the Bible describes these beings in very different ways. Second, it's important to note that the concept of God's love is clearly tied to His sending His Son to make a way for these mixed-up people to spend eternity with Him.
To die. to do, since we can look back in history) is that Jesus was sent to die.
Jesus wasn't put in an electric chair, and He wasn't drugged to death. He was killed in an extremely violent way. How? Here's a quick run down:
-He was beaten. Several times Jesus was kicked, spit on, and hit.
-He was scourged. Jesus received thirty-nine hits with a leather whip embedded with animal teeth and bones. Each time Jesus was whipped, the whip ripped hunks of flesh, fat, and muscle off His body.
-He was robed and unrobed. This doesn't sound bad, right? Well, the process of putting a robe on Him and the ripping it off would reopen the wounds He had received from His scourging, causing more pain and more blood loss.
-He had nails driven through His wrists and feet. Okay, this is obvious. It had to hurt.
-He was nailed to a cross, hung upright. The pain of being nailed on the ground was bad, but when He was placed upright, the weight of His body pulling against the nails in His hands and feet would have been awful. More pain. More blood loss. His body rubbed against the cross, reopening the wounds on His back. His arms pulled His ribcage making breaking difficult.
-He had a spear driven through His side. Halfway through the crucifixion, a soldier drove a spear through Jesus' side, attempting to speed up Jesus' death.
When we say "Jesus died for me", it's almost like we forget the pain, agony, and sacrifice Jesus endured for us. But when you really break it apart, it's easy to see how much devotion went into it. Jesus didn't just meander up to a gas chamber, sit down, and drift off to heaven. Nope. His death was violent, humiliating, and extremely painful.
The truth of the gospel.
What does all of this boil down to? Simple: Jesus came to die for all humanity so the way to God could be open for anyone who believed in Jesus. Simple and complex. On one level, the gospel is easy to grasp. Jesus' death, opening the way to God is the ultimate awesome moment. And on another level, it's totally impossible to understand.
Want to discover how to grasp and live this truth? There's no better group to study than the first disciples. Looking at them will help us understand how we're supposed to live out the truth of the gospel. These men lived God's love in amazing ways. And understanding how they lived will push us to live out this awesome gospel.
-He was scourged. Jesus received thirty-nine hits with a leather whip embedded with animal teeth and bones. Each time Jesus was whipped, the whip ripped hunks of flesh, fat, and muscle off His body.
-He was robed and unrobed. This doesn't sound bad, right? Well, the process of putting a robe on Him and the ripping it off would reopen the wounds He had received from His scourging, causing more pain and more blood loss.
-He had nails driven through His wrists and feet. Okay, this is obvious. It had to hurt.
-He was nailed to a cross, hung upright. The pain of being nailed on the ground was bad, but when He was placed upright, the weight of His body pulling against the nails in His hands and feet would have been awful. More pain. More blood loss. His body rubbed against the cross, reopening the wounds on His back. His arms pulled His ribcage making breaking difficult.
-He had a spear driven through His side. Halfway through the crucifixion, a soldier drove a spear through Jesus' side, attempting to speed up Jesus' death.
When we say "Jesus died for me", it's almost like we forget the pain, agony, and sacrifice Jesus endured for us. But when you really break it apart, it's easy to see how much devotion went into it. Jesus didn't just meander up to a gas chamber, sit down, and drift off to heaven. Nope. His death was violent, humiliating, and extremely painful.
The truth of the gospel.
What does all of this boil down to? Simple: Jesus came to die for all humanity so the way to God could be open for anyone who believed in Jesus. Simple and complex. On one level, the gospel is easy to grasp. Jesus' death, opening the way to God is the ultimate awesome moment. And on another level, it's totally impossible to understand.
Want to discover how to grasp and live this truth? There's no better group to study than the first disciples. Looking at them will help us understand how we're supposed to live out the truth of the gospel. These men lived God's love in amazing ways. And understanding how they lived will push us to live out this awesome gospel.
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