Mark 1:14-15
After John had been put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee and preached the Good News from God.
“The right time has come,” he said, “and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!”
“The right time has come,” he said, “and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!”
Listen to this statement that I’ve edited for length and clarity..
[The day of his birth] is a day which we may justly count as equivalent to the beginning of everything—inasmuch as it has restored the shape of everything that was failing and turning into misfortune, and has given a new look to the Universe at a time when it would gladly have welcomed destruction…. [We honor him because he was filled with virtue] for doing the work of a benefactor among men and [so was], as it were, a savior for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease and to create order everywhere, [his birthday] was the beginning for the world of the glad tidings that have come to men through him….”
In that passage, the word translated “glad tidings” was euangelion, the Greek word that we translate as “gospel.” The words I read are from a proclamation made by Paulus Fabius Maximus, the proconsul of the province of Asia in about the year 9 B.C. The proconsul was celebrating the birthday of Caesar Augustus.
Before I mention another proclamation of good news made only a couple years later, let me talk a bit more about this word euangelion.
While this is a religious use of the term “gospel,” the word is not exclusively religious. It is a term that refers to any kind of good news, really good news. The Greeks might have described the introduction of the iPad2 as good news, but it wouldn’t have been euangelion unless they were two for $49.99.
Seriously, euangelion (gospel) was life-changing news. Things wouldn’t be the same after this news broke. It might be news of a great victory or news of some personal event in an individual’s life.
While that’s the Greek use of the term, a similar idea was present in the Old Testament as the psalmist celebrated God’s victories over his enemies and the prophets celebrated the new era brought by God .
Listen to Isaiah describe the news of Yahweh’s reign.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
No wonder Jesus becomes the embodiment of the gospel, the good news. Because Jesus is the focus of this good news it has no boundaries, national, ethnic, social, or otherwise.
A couple months ago we marked the tenth anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001. The attacks of 9/11 were history making news. But were they good news?
Before you answer, remember the videos coming out within just a couple days of the attacks? They showed images of people dancing in the streets at the news of the destruction of the World Trade Center and the damage to the Pentagon. These same people were praising God at the reports of nearly 3,000 deaths in the attacks. Obviously, for those people the news of the attacks was good news.
Now what about the rest of us, those of us who watched in horror as the towers collapsed? Some say most Americans know someone who knows someone who knew someone who worked at the towers. You might doubt that, but consider this Mary Boyle’s son Tim works for a company that had offices in the center, occasionally he worked there himself. A few months after the attacks, Tim told me how draining it was attending all the memorial services for friends and co-workers. For people like tim and most of us, the attacks were hardly good news.
What may be good news for some may be bad news for others. The gospel is good news for everyone.
Next week we enter the Advent season. We’ll hear about the angels’ visit to the shepherds. We’ll hear about their proclamation to those frightened men. Remember their words of comfort to the shepherds.
They were terrified,
but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.
but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.
The angel used a verb form of euangelion. The good news the angels brought was world-changing news. The good news they brought wasn’t good news for just one nation or people, it wasn’t good news only for the west, it was good news for the entire world.
Tim Keller points out that the center of Christianity long ago moved from the Middle East where the religion was born. This makes it unlike almost any other world religion. Most world religions have their greatest strength in the region where they originated. Not Christianity. In fact, Christianity’s center of activity is always moving. It’s center has been in the west for a few centuries but it seems to be moving to the global south. The good news of Christ is good news for everyone.
Of course, when you first hear the gospel you might think it’s bad news. After all, it declares us all to be sinners, all worthy of God’s wrath, all with nothing to commend us to God.
And that’s hard to do. We so much want to be able to say God sees good in us, that we’re really pretty decent and only need a little help to be worthy of heaven. We picture ourselves standing in line for a ticket to some beautiful place like Hawaii and we find we’re a little short, maybe just a dollar or two. You fear you’ll never board that plane but then a wealthy stranger hands you a couple dollars and tells you to enjoy the trip.
That’s not way the gospel works. The gospel tells us our pockets are empty. Worse than that, if we somehow managed to slip into that paradise we’d ruin it.
But think of this. When we really hear the gospel, we realize that are really liberating. The gospel sets us free from the frustration of fruitlessly trying to earn our place in heaven, sets us free from the fear of knowing we’ve never done enough, sets us free from self-centered good works, that turn our good deeds into self-serving efforts to win God’s favor.
The good news is that when we accept the gospel’s terms, God provides everything we need.
The good news is that when we admit we are sinners, God provides forgiveness.
The good news is that when we admit we are broken, God provides healing.
The good news is that when we admit we are vile, God provides cleansing.
The good news is that when we admit we are weak, God provides strength.
The good news is that when we admit we are lost, God provides direction.
The good news is that when we admit we are aimless, God provides purpose.
This is why the gospel is such good news. But what are we supposed to do with this good news?
First, we need to make it our own.
Mark tells us that Jesus’ ministry began with a call for people to embrace the gospel. He puts it this way, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “’he time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.’”
We make the gospel our own, we order our lives in light of the gospel by repenting and believing its message.
It might seem that Jesus is talking about two steps we need to take in response to the gospel. Late, preachers like Paul, will simply call those who wish to become Christians to “Believe.” Has he pared away some of what Jesus said? No.
The truth is, if we truly repent, we will inevitably come to believe. If we truly believe, we will inevitably come to repent. To repent means we have a profound change of mind, we think in a new way about God and about ourselves—this new way of thinking is so profound that our very behavior is changed. At the same time, when we embrace this new way of thinking, we will come to see the beauty of the gospel and believe it.
If we believe what the gospel tells us about God and our need, we will repent, we will turn our lives around because of what the gospel tells us.
In any case, it’s clear that making the gospel our own becomes a daily task for we must always struggle against the tendency to think we must somehow supplement what Christ has done for us. Making the gospel our own calls for daily believing and daily repenting.
Second, we need to help others make the gospel their own.
From the beginning of the church’s history Christians have believed the gospel was such good news that it couldn’t be kept to themselves. Following Christ’s great commission, the church went forward to carry the gospel beyond the homeland of Jesus.
Consider these highlights from the first three-hundred years of the church’s history. You’ll note I’m omitting missionary activity listed in the Bible.
· 30 - Pentecost and birth of the Christian church
· 42 - Mark reportedly goes to Egypt to preach.
· 52 - Apostle Thomas reportedly arrives in India and founds church that subsequently becomes Indian Orthodox Church (and its various descendants). This tradition is at least 1400 years old.
· 66 -Thaddeus establishes the Christian church of Armenia
· 100 - First Christians are reported in Monaco, Algeria, and Sri Lanka
· 174 - First Christians reported in Austria
· 197 - Tertullian writes that Christianity had penetrated all ranks of society in North Africa
· 200 - First Christians are reported in Switzerland and Belgium
· 206 - Abgar, King of Edessa, embraces the Christian faith
· 208 - Tertullian writes that Christ has followers on the far side of the Roman wall in Britain where Roman legions have not yet penetrated
· 250 - Denis (or Denys or Dionysius) is sent from Rome along with six other missionaries to establish the church in Paris
· 300 - First Christians reported in Greater Khorasan (a region including Afghanistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan); an estimated 10% of the world's population is now Christian; the Bible is available in 10 different languages
What sent these Christians forward was not arrogance but love, love for God and love for the those who did not know Christ. It’s a love we need, a love we remind ourselves to act on each year at this time.
I often heard my parents tell a story when I grew up, especially when we had just learned that a relative or friend had been diagnosed with cancer. The story looked back to the 1920s when they lived in central Missouri. They told of how men and women would come from all over the Ozarks to see a doctor in their little. It seems this doctor had a reputation for knowing how to cure cancer. At that time and for years to come, a cancer diagnosis was a death sentence.
My parents talked of how the doctor never left their town and never told anyone his secret. When I asked why, my parents told me that other doctors laughed at the healer there in the Ozarks and so he refused to share his secret. So, pride kept him from sharing life-saving news. Fear of ridicule made him keep the good news to himself.
It happens with the good news of the gospel as well. We allow pride, fear, and a desire to be liked to keep us from sharing the life-changing news.
As we think about missions, it’s an ideal time to ask if we really believe the gospel is good news. If we do, shouldn’t we share it with a world that needs to hear it?
Wouldn’t we do that if we were really thankful for the good news?
