The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 1:16 that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation, for it reveals God’s righteousness. The amazing news is this: the righteousness of God, miraculously by God’s doing, becomes ours when we believe in Christ. How can this be?
Zechariah’s song in Luke 1:68-69 reminds us that God has come to visit and redeem His people by raising a Son from the line of King David to save them. Jesus is the fulfilment of all God’s promises to His people in the Old Testament. He is the King who has come to redeem us.
So when our Lord Jesus first came on the scene in Mark 1:14-15, He proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” The kingdom of God is here because Jesus has come.
The Gospel is the good news of God’s Kingdom—God’s reign through the death and resurrection of His Son, His appointed King, the Lord Jesus. Without the coming of Jesus to us and for us, God’s reign will be terribly bad news because our sins will only invoke God’s wrath.
But thanks be to God! 1 Peter 3:18 says, “Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”
What then does this Gospel require of us?
As the Lord Jesus commands us in Mark 1:14, repent and believe in this Gospel. This is a call for us to dethrone ourselves and enthrone Christ as the true King in our lives and in our midst.
To enthrone Him certainly also entails proclaiming Him. We proclaim Him with our lives and words, wherever He places us.
In our little discussion during our recent God’s Big Picture training, we drew up three simple lessons for how we can share Christ with someone. First, tell our story. Tell others how the Lord met us in the darkest valleys of our sins and miseries. Second, share from the posture of a fellow sinner in need of God’s rescue. Third, share from the right motive. For in our fallenness, we can share the Gospel for wrong reasons, such as to seek personal gains or glory. Rather, let us share from our desire for others to know Christ and be saved for His glory.
May our discipleship be marked by faith and repentance, and may we rejoice in and proclaim the good news of God’s King, who has come for us and will come again.