"What Is The Gospel?" Individual Bible Study

Introduction

Before getting into the meat of this study, please humor me for a couple of minutes while I explain why I wanted to make sure we cover this all-important topic in our group. This past Summer, as I was listening to the audio version of a very good book by Matt Chandler called The Explicit Gospel, I became re-acquainted with the reality that although I had grown up in a Christian home, spent most Sunday mornings of my life in church and Sunday school, and knew about various theological subjects, for a long time, I had missed the most crucial point of what Christianity is all about. 

In his book introduction, Chandler talks to the reader about what he calls "The Assumed Gospel." The basic idea of this term is that many people go to church, grow up in Christian homes, and/or call themselves Christians, but don't truly understand what the Gospel actually is. Instead, they end up thinking that Christianity is about following all the right rules, practicing all of the right morals, or being judged for not having the ability to do so. This way of living ends up dragging a person down into a trap of feeling constant guilt for not attaining to a church community's standards, telling him or herself that she will keep trying harder and eventually, with the right amount of will-power he or she might actually elevate themselves to being a "good person," someone worthy of being friends with their fellow Christians.

Until my early twenties, this was how I viewed Christianity too. I had "accepted Jesus into my heart" when I was four. I brought all of my friends to youth group. I argued with my atheist friends about why they should believe that God exists. I tried not to do the things I knew were bad, like hate the girl at school who spread rumors about me, get drunk at college parties, or go too far with my boyfriend. But the harder I would try to meet this moral standard, the more I realized that I couldn't do any of this on my own.

Now, here comes my first question for you: What do you think the Gospel is? (Take a couple of minutes to think about it before moving on. Jot down some answers on a piece of paper or type them up in a Word document so you can keep track)


Also, Why do we need the Gospel?

Take a few minutes to read these Bible passages as you think on this.

Romans 3:10-18
Colossians 1:21-23
Romans 5:6-11



What is the Gospel?

The Gospel literally means "Good News". This good news is the historical reality that God became human, He entered our earthly experience as a baby born to a virgin girl who named Him Jesus. Around the age of 30, He began to teach the people of Israel about who God (Yahweh) is and what His Kingdom is about. He was betrayed by one of his own disciples and arrested by the hypocritical religious leaders of the time on false charges of blasphemy against God. Following torture and violent beatings, Jesus was nailed to a Roman cross. He died on that cross after crying out to his Father in Heaven, and declaring His work finished. His body was laid in a tomb that belonged to one of His followers. After three days, Jesus came to life again in physical human form, having forever conquered sin and death. After making various appearances to His followers, He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, still fully man and fully God.

The Gospel is the story of what God did in Jesus for all of Creation. Sin entered into this world after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. And since then, humanity has been enslaved by sin and death, alienated from their Creator, and doomed to spend eternity separated from God. But because of what Jesus did on the cross, taking the penalty of our sin onto Himself, absolving us of all of the terrible things we do, we don't have to be separated any longer. We no longer have to fear the wrath of God or the reality of Hell.

Because of Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead, we can now have an intimate relationship with the God who made us. We can know Him as a person, and be a part of His work in this world. We don't have to get sucked into trying to do everything ourselves. We can now be changed and guided by the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit who makes us able to do any good work that God calls us to. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and helps us repent, giving us the ability to stop committing the sins that have constantly thrown us into oblivion. It is the Holy Spirit who seals us for the day when Jesus will return to Earth, to bring His Kingdom into full fruition, and dwell with His people forever.


Other "gospels"

Ever since Jesus ascended into Heaven, His followers have been telling as many people as they can about who Jesus is and what He did. And as far back as the time period when most of the New Testament letters were written, there have been people who take the Gospel and twist it into something that it is not. The Bible calls this false teaching, and those who spread these teachings are called false teachers.

Take a look at Galatians 1:6-9. How do you think God feels about people teaching false gospels?


Let's focus on some common beliefs that are taught in this country. Here is a video of Michael Horton explaining a belief called "Moral Therapeutic Deism":

http://theresurgence.com/2010/03/01/what-is-moralistic-therapeutic-deism


What are the differences between "Moral Therapeutic Deism" and what the Bible says about the Gospel (written above under What Is The Gospel?) ?



Can you relate to any of the beliefs expressed in "Moral Therapeutic Deism"? Take some time and ask Jesus to show you the truth about the Gospel and who He really is through His Word.



A second popular teaching that is becoming very widespread is what theologians and pastors are calling "The Health & Wealth Gospel" or "The Prosperity Gospel". (On a side note, have you heard of "Preacher of LA"? Yeah those guys are Prosperity Gospel preachers) Normally I wouldn't suggest relying on Wikipedia, but this particular page has a lot of the right information in one place. Try to at least read the introduction and the "Theology" section:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

Again, what are the differences between "The Prosperity Gospel" and what the Bible says the about the Gospel?


How do the following Bible passages go against what this "Prosperity Gospel" is teaching?:

Luke 9:22-24
John 15:18-21
John 16:33




Who does the biblical Gospel tell us to focus on?


And what do these other "gospels" make us focus on? 



After doing all of this reading and listening, write down what you think the Gospel is, and compare it to your original answer. 


If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in a comment below.



Further reading/listening:

The Gospels According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John

The Book of Romans

Matt Chandler - The Explicit Gospel http://www.amazon.com/The-Explicit-Gospel-Re-Lit/dp/1433530031/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383018543&sr=8-1&keywords=matt+chandler+the+explicit+gospel

Josh Peterson - The Gospel Assumed, or Explicit?
http://www.thevillagechurch.net/the-village-blog/the-gospel-assumed-or-explicit/

D. A. Carson - What Is the Gospel and How Does It Work?
http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/entry/what_is_the_gospel_and_how_does_it_work_part_1_of_3

Matt Chandler - Making the Gospel Explicit, Not Assumed
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/03/02/matt-chandler-on-making-the-gospel-explicit-not-assumed/

"The Prosperity Gospel Ruined My Life"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuQIoZV2KRY

"Deists Who Love Jesus and Talk Like Freud"
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/03/20/deists-who-love-jesus-and-talk-like-freud/

North vs. South

As I've been reading various books having to do with the historical and current racial divides in the United States, I've come across a strange fact. Here in the North, we tend to look down on the South for it's involvement in the kidnapping, torture, murder, and enslavement of Africans. It is always right to acknowledge the evil committed by any group of people. However, we tend to get self-righteous and claim that just because slavery was more prevalent in the South, that Northerners' views of black people have always been higher and less racist than those in the South. The truth is, Northerners have been and are just as racist as Southerners, it is just that many times it may be expressed differently, more "sneakily"; behind closed doors or in our jokes among friends (and at other times it's expressed just as blatantly as anywhere else). We like to pretend that we are removed, that we aren't as culpable for our views because we aren't all members of famous hate groups. But in reality, as we have seen throughout history, geography and laws don't change a human's sinful heart. Even if we don't don white masks and haven't played part in violent acts of hatred, doesn't mean that we don't carry the same ugly sin inside of us. And when we stand before the only perfect Man to ever live, to be judged for all of the things we insisted on ignoring in our darkened hearts, He won't be telling us that just because we lived in the North, our sins are lower on the list of reasons that He was nailed to the Cross.

 I know that this topic is much more complicated than I'm getting into right now, but I only wanted to introduce it, not fully analyze it (at least not yet).  I'm sure there are many more examples, but I came across three books where various persons were either more mistreated in places in the North than they were in the South in the present day or just as mistreated in the North as they were in the South while slavery was still legal. These books are Mark Mathabane's Kaffir Boy In America: An Encounter With Apartheid, Grace Halsell's Soul Sister, and the Biography of Peter and Vina Still written by Kate E. R. Pickard.

Here is an excerpt from Soul Sister (If you have never heard of or read this book, I would definitely recommend it. I would also recommend it's predecessor, Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin). In this excerpt, Rudy Shields, a black Civil Rights worker in Mississippi, is explaining some of what I was saying above:

"'I'll say this, being in Mississippi the last few years, I believe that Mississippi will solve this racial problem quicker than most of your Northern states. By '76 black people will be in control of the whole state of Mississippi. And I think we're going to solve the race problem. And this racist down here, in spite of the fact that he'll blow your brains out, in his mind he's a good Christian. And black people and white people live close together and there's more communication between the two races of people in Mississippi than what it'd be in Chicago, or any big city like that, where the blacks and whites are completely separate.

'Here, white and black live together. Well, a block from where I live I have a white neighbor. Of course, you wouldn't never know, I never see her, but that's just how close we live down here together. And as far as the white man goes, as long as you stay "in your place" he'll do you a favor.

'I found this, for instance in Chicago, I was very involved in civil rights and the place where I was employed many of the white people that worked there would ask me, 'Why do the Negroes demonstrate?' And I'd tell them about some of the conditions, not only in Mississippi but right there in Chicago, practically on their doorsteps, and you know, they wouldn't believe me! I remember once I took them into some of the rat-infested buildings and showed them how black people lived, and they all said, 'If I were black, if I had to live under these circumstances, I'd be demonstrating, too.' But in Chicago I saw there was just no communication between black and white.'"

- Grace Halsell

from: http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Sister-Anniversary-Grace-Halsell/dp/0967401305/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383008172&sr=1-3&keywords=s

"Repainting the Faith"

"We are never, ever, ever going to make Christianity so cool that everybody wants it. That is a fool's errand. It is chasing the wind. We can't repaint the faith. It doesn't need our help anyway.

Every effort to remake the Christian faith leads to wickedness. Every effort to adjust the gospel so it appears more appealing, more palatable, is foolishness. This is liberal theology's only play in the play book. 'Let's get rid of the atoning work of Jesus Christ because it's harsh. Let's get rid of hell because it's offensive. Let's save Christianity by changing Christianity.' But in the urban context of Acts 2, with people all over the ancient world gathered in Jerusalem, Peter announces, 'You killed him. This majestic one true God of the universe--you crucified him.' And what happens?

     Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
     'Brothers, what shall we do?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the     
     name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For
     the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our
     God calls to himself.' And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying,
     'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.' So those who received his word were baptized, and there
     were added that day about three thousand souls. (vv.37-41).

All they did was preach the gospel, and men were cut to the core. They wanted to know, 'What do we do in response to this news?' Peter tells them, 'You repent and get baptized.'

What saved them? Their faith. No action brought about their salvation. They hadn't fed any poor people. Apart from what Peter is saying here, they hadn't been sitting under teaching or going to church each week. They hadn't, in the end done anything but heard, 'God is majestic, and you have sinned, but in Christ you can be reconciled to him,' and they were so cut to the heart that they responded with saving faith. 

Acts 2 takes us back to the truth that we simply have to tell. God does the opening of hearts. God opens minds. There is such freedom in this! Do you see how that takes weight off the perfection of our presentation? We don't have to be able to explain it absolutely or completely or be able to apologetically defend creationism or argue the falsity of materialism or whatever. I'm not saying we shouldn't pursue those things. I'm saying that in the end it is God who opens up eyes and ears. Our responsibility is to tell them. It is as simple as that. 

Some people won't like hearing it. What else is new? This has been true as far back as Genesis. It has always been true that some people do not want to hear this message. But some are going to hear it and be saved. So, relational evangelism? Go for it, as long as it turns into actual evangelism. You hanging out having a beer with your buddy so he can see that Christians are cool is not what we're called to do. You're eventually going to have to open up your mouth and share the gospel. When the pure gospel is shared, people respond." 

- Matt Chandler 


from: http://www.amazon.com/Explicit-Gospel-Re-Lit/dp/1433530031/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381122918&sr=1-1&keywords=the+explicit+gospel