Gospel of God

If the Gospel is completely of God, then we can draw several conclusions.

You cannot fence the Gospel.

The Gospel is God’s and we must give it to who he tells us. It goes to all mankind because he says it does. We are not free to pick and choose. We may not create a list of who can enter. Like our heavenly father, we must go out into the highways and byways and invite the world to this great good news. For the Gospel is his to command, and God has directed us to share it with the world.

You cannot doubt the Gospel.

The gospel may be mocked. It may be sidelined. It may be marginalized in the public square. Academia may question it. Commentators may tease it. Many will reject it. But we need never to doubt its power. The Gospel is from God, by God, and to God. Nothing will thwart his plans. Nothing will shake his resolve. If the gospel is good news for all people, then so it will be. It will reverberate through the nations. It will impact and transform lives at its hearing. It will have great and lasting effect. How do I know? Because this is God’s gospel, his word to the world. And his word never returns void. It always accomplishes its task.

You cannot tweak the Gospel.

God himself has written this gospel. He has planned it, cast it, and now executed it. You are not allowed to rewrite the story. It is wholly unique. It is not up to us to add details and requirements, to make it look like us. We are not free to supplement and ad lib. We cannot require rituals and coerce traditions. We do not have the right to subtract details. We must be careful to proclaim the Gospel in all its foolishness. And we must be careful to protect the Gospel in all its simplicity.

You cannot add to the Gospel.

Because the Gospel is God’s, we cannot contribute to it. It is his gospel in the sense that he has done it. The gospel is a completed and perfected work. Let that sink in: The Gospel is a complete and perfected work. In your everyday life, you may need to prove yourself time and again. Your status may rise and fall with your performance. Your sales manager may ask what you’ve done lately. But the work of the Gospel is unique in its total completion. For the Gospel, you do not need to put a cherry on top. You do not need to provide some good works here and there. You do not need to curry favor or applause. No, this is God’s gospel. It is his work. Just as Adam and Eve awoke to creation, so now we awake to new creation. It has all been done for you. Jesus says he goes to prepare a place for us. What can a visitor do to add to hospitality? Hospitality belongs to the host. The visitor cannot contribute to it. Likewise, the Gospel belongs to God. We cannot make an addition.

You cannot exhaust the Gospel.

So often we feel like the hopeless case, the one exception to the Gospel. We think God’s grace is not sufficient for us. But God himself has won this salvation. Do you think you, puny you, can somehow out-sin the grace of God? Do you really think you can stoop so low that God cannot reach you. Can you really drift so wide that God cannot find you? Of course not! The perfect and all powerful God has won your freedom, has won your forgiveness. The Salvation He offers is perfect and strong just as He is. So if you come broken and needy to church, you are in the right place because you will find the Good news from God himself, the indefatigable answer to every human ache, the balm of peace for every wound, the promise of hope in every dark hour. God has made this gospel, and he doesn’t make junk.

May you then embrace this great Gospel of God.