The Gospel in Seven Words

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Today we are beginning the season of Lent. And Lent is a time of reflection upon our lives; it is time where we contemplate. It is also a time of preparation for the Easter celebration - where we remember Jesus conquering the grave for us.

Not everyone knows these things. The percentages grow more and more of people in our world who have no knowledge, and simply are unaware of what Jesus has done for us. Now if the amount of people who don’t who Jesus is - the amount of people who don’t understand Lent is even greater. Imagine that one friend in our class, that one person at work - that one neighbor who sees you coming home from school or church with a cross on your head. Let’s say they ask you about Lent and what it is all about. What would you say? Are you prepared to answer? Or even better, if that neighbor comes up to you and asks you what being a Christian is all about, what would you say?

There was is an author that tells a story of how one of his friends had been hounding him for a short definition of Christianity. His friend didn’t want a long answer, didn’t want the exact textbook answer. His friend said, “keep it simple - In ten words or less, tell me the Christian message.” If someone you know asked you that question what would have said? If you were asked to describe the Christian message and hope you have using ten words or less, which words would you choose? And that is how most of our conversations go. We pass someone in the hallway at school or at work on the way to the water cooler -we have a very brief interaction. On Twitter, there is a limit to the words that you can use - 140 characters or less to let the rest of your followers know exactly what you are thinking. Or how many of us are guilty of getting a long email or text - and scanning it instead of taking time to read the whole long thing. Some would maybe reply - too long, didn’t read.

We call it a confession. Not just a confession of sins, but a confession of faith. The Bible is clear - to be a Christian is to be a confessor. Paul in Romans 10 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” And in our epistle reading today, from 1 Peter, Peter encourages us and says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

So to be a Christian is to believe and confess the good news of Jesus. But what is that good news? Who is this Jesus? What impact does this news of Jesus have on your life here and now? At this time in our world filled with confession, we have a great opportunity this ( and urgent mission to confess clearly and confidently the gospel of Jesus Christ to this lost and dying world.

Back in 2010 there was this article published in a Christian magazine called, “The Gospel in Seven Words” The author invited fifteen theologians around the country to give it a shot - proclaim the gospel as clearly as they could. But instead of letting them recite the Apostles Creed - the author gave them guidelines you have to tell the good news of the gospel in seven words. I want to share a couple of the good ones with you:

“In Christ, God’s yes defeats our no.”

“God, through Jesus Christ, welcomes you anyhow.”

“God was in Christ, reconciling the world.”

Notice, these confessions are all true. They are each based off of Scripture. Each of them talk about an important aspect of the good news of Jesus. But also notice that they use different words and different images. They summarize the good news of Jesus in different ways.

Think about it for a moment. Peter says - Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope you have. If someone asks you what you believe or why you go to church, or a Christian school, or what it means to be a Christian, could you answer? Be honest. Would you stumble around and say, “Well it is complicated….” or “You know, I’m not really good at explaining things….” or “Why don’t you come to my church and my pastor will tell you what I believe…” That’s hardly being prepared.

Our goal this Lent is to prepare ourselves. Not only to celebrate the most important event in history during Holy Week - the death and resurrection of Jesus. But also to confess the hope we have because of Holy Week and Easter! In order to do that, I’d like to work together with you this Lent. I’d like to reflect with you about who Jesus is and who we are as His people. I want to consider with you the different ways which we might share Jesus with others. We aren’t just doing this in theory, but this Lent we are getting very practical. By the time we get to Holy Week - I’m hoping each one of you has a personal confession of Jesus - that we can give as reason for our hope!

In order to do this, I am going to ask you to do some work during these weeks of Lent. On Wednesdays, we will be talking about what it means to confess the gospel, and I’ll walk you through different confessions of the Christian faith. But between Wednesdays, I’d like you to reflect on what Jesus has done in your life, and to put those things into words. Write your ideas down. As we get closer to Holy Week - I’m going to ask you to share with me how you’ve summarized the Gospel. And then we will share a few of those versions with the whole group. But don’t stress - we have six weeks to do this together.

But tonight on Ash Wednesday, we reflect on our mortality; we hear the awful words - “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The shame and guilt we experience spills over for all to see on our foreheads. That is harsh reality. The wages of sin is death. But God gets the last word. Even as we stand here today - with ashes on our heads - God gets the last word!

That’s the point of Lent. That is the good news of Jesus. While death is a consequence of sin - Jesus through His resurrection gets the last word. That last word is grace, it’s forgiveness, its a word of life, and peace with God. It’s a word of hope.

May this Lenten season, may our faith be strengthened. May we prepare to celebrate the Easter joy in Jesus and also prepare to share our hope for all who need to hear it.