God came down to us, lived a perfect life, died for us, rose from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and is coming again. That's the gospel. That's the good news, right?
As followers of Jesus we have been commanded to share the good news with everyone, across the street and around the world. Everybody who takes Jesus' words in Matthew 28:18-20 to heart would agree that this is our mission as the Church. But what is the good news really? In our modern evangelistic methods, I think we've neglected a crucial element to the gospel. We've left out the bad news. Bad news is what makes the good news so good! Let me explain.
A few years ago, at the age of 24, I sat in a doctor's office with my wife and listened as the diagnosis was pronounced. "You have cancer." (I don't remember his exact words, but he got the point across anyway!) He then began to explain to us that it was treatable and explained to us the steps we would be taking toward healing.
But what if it had happened differently...
Let's just imagine my wife and I waiting for the doctor to come into the examination room. He enters holding a manila folder and greets us with a smile and a handshake. He sits down, opens the folder, and proceeds to give us an exhaustive overview of medical history. He then elaborates on the great advances in cancer research that have been made in recent years. He speaks very highly of several cancer specialists in the area and states that he would recommend them to any of his patients. The doctor then stands up, says, "Have a great day" and exits the room. My wife and I have a puzzled look on our face. "What was that all about?" we ask ourselves.
The doctor had left out one important fact. He neglected to inform the patient of the cancerous growth rapidly growing inside their body! Nothing the doctor said really mattered if the patient didn't know how sick he really was. Thank goodness the doctor told me the truth!
That may sound foolish, but isn't that what we've done with the gospel in America? In an effort to be seeker-friendly and sensitive we have neutered the good news to nothing more than a self-improvement program.
The truth is that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). That means that because of our very nature and willful rebellion against God and His law, we are alienated... separated from God without any hope of being reconciled with Him in and of ourselves. Because of our love of sin and hatred of God we deserve hell. There is nothing in us that would seek to change that. Our hearts are hard. We have an irreversible disease that has clouded our judgment and threatens to destroy us. That's very bad news.
The good news is that a Savior, Jesus, sought us out to save us. He loves us. He didn't just tell us how He feels about us. He demonstrated it. He died for us even before we would think to give Him the time of day (Romans 5:8). He took the punishment that we deserved so that we could be found guiltless before the throne of God. He defeated sin - the sin that makes us a slave to it. He defeated death - the death that seeks to swallow us up. He rescued us.
Nobody like to be the bearer of bad news, but it is essential to a right understanding of the gospel. We carry that responsibility.
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