What is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ? It is a very simple and familiar message to many people: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
John 3:16 might be so familiar to you, whether you would identify yourself as a follower of Christ or not, that it is easy to hear it and not really listen to the news bulletin that God is broadcasting to you. Elsewhere in the Bible, God urges you through the letter to the Hebrews: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.” -Hebrews 3:15
Today. God’s voice goes out to you today. In this moment. The old message of Good News is still being communicated from a loving God to you today. What is God’s message of Good News? The Message Bible puts John 3:16 like this: “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”
Jesus once explained to His followers that the most love a person can demonstrate is to die on behalf of a friend. My friend, Jesus went above and beyond the love that any person could demonstrate. He showed His love for you in that while you were His enemy, He chose to take your sufferings on Himself to the point of death. Jesus traded your unworthiness, your stains of wrongdoing, and your pain for His limitless value, His clean conscience, and His whole and lasting life.
The Christian gospel says that God the Father showed incomprehensible love to you. Can you imagine willingly handing your child over to harm in order to save your best friend? Impossible. Now realize that Jesus was handed over not to save God’s friends, but to save the life of convicted lawbreakers on death row. Incomprehensible!
God’s great love in Jesus Christ is the message of the gospel. This message is for the unbeliever. This message is for the new believer and the experienced believer. You will never grow past the need to experience the love of God in Christ Jesus! The love of Christ is ready to fill you and keep filling you more and more throughout all your life and beyond. In Jesus is life abundant.
The good news of Jesus Christ says that although your natural life has left you in spiritual death and separated from God, you do not have to stay that way. You do not have to climb the mountain to reach God. A life well lived is not what gains you access. God Himself came down to meet you in your weakness, to resuscitate and rescue you.
What must you do in order to respond to this message? Stop working. Stop striving. Stop strategizing. Simply believe that Jesus died to pay your way, and that He rose from the dead. Ask the rescuer to rescue you. God is willing to save.
