The Essentials of the Gospel

With today being the day where we place emphasis on the resurrection, I’ve been thinking the last several weeks about the gospel. Is the gospel important? Timothy Keller said this: If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that He said; if He didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what He said?” Such a question helps us to understand that the gospel is important. The resurrection of Jesus is vital to the gospel. This morning I want to not only look at the importance of the Gospel but the essentials of the gospel as well.

We begin with the fact that

The Gospel Moves

The gospel is not just a static fact. It moves from person to person. Throughout the New Testament we observe the movement of the gospel. Paul describes the movement of the gospel here with two words: delivery and reception. Over and over again the gospel is preached, shared from individual to individual, or simply exemplified through life.

Every person here who is a disciple of Jesus has received the gospel. Receiving here is to accept or to take possession of. This means that when we receive the gospel, we will take hold of it. Make it a part of our lives. However, it also implies that we will deliver it to others. Matthew 28, among other passages, gives us the imperative that we should go and make other disciples.

Within just this point there is action for every person, if you haven’t received the gospel, you should receive it. Confess and believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins. This is receiving the gospel.

For those who have received it, we each have a responsibility to deliver the gospel to those who have not yet believed. This is the sort of responsibility that ought to be taken seriously. We should go out of our way to share the gospel. We should support others as they go abroad to share the gospel. We ought to be engaged in equipping each other to share the gospel. This is how the gospel moves.

But what is next is why the motivation to share the gospel is so important.

The Gospel is of Utmost Importance

The gospel was delivered as a matter of highest importance. In other words, the gospel took a priority over everything else in life for Paul. We ought to prioritize the gospel over everything in our lives. Not just the movement of the gospel. Our practice of the gospel means that we will love the church. Our understanding of the gospel means that we go out of our way to read God’s word, to take in as much information about who God is.

We should prioritize the gospel in our conversations. We should prioritize the gospel in our homes, in our marriages.

In everything we should prioritize the gospel because it is the most important thing in life.

But why is it the most important? Because

The Gospel Has Purpose

A vital aspect of the gospel is that Jesus died but there was purpose in His death. Jesus didn’t die because He was guilty. Jesus didn’t die from old age. Jesus died because of a disease but it wasn’t one that He had. He died because of the sin that exists in each and everyone of us. It wasn’t just that He died but that He died in order to atone for our sins.

Which is the reason why we are told in John 19 Jesus proclaims “it is finished”. The battle against sin is now over. The hold that it has over us is finished. The prophecy was fulfilled and the mission that Jesus was assigned by the Father was completed. The purpose of Jesus dying was beyond just dying. There was purpose behind it.

Jesus died for a reason. He died for your sins so what are you going to do for Him? We point back to the importance of the gospel here. But His death was not all. The purpose allowed something else for every person.

The Gospel is Freeing

Jesus was raised on the third day. This is freeing for everyone who has believed because when he conquered the grave, He provided a way for new life.

Paul makes this quite clear in Romans 6:6-8.

Romans 6:6–8 ESV

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

For those who have received the gospel, the old self has been crucified with Christ which has atoned for our sins, and a new man will now spend eternity with Christ.

And why even believe all of this?

The Gospel Can be Trusted

One small phrase in verse four points us to the reason why we can believe the gospel from a factual standpoint. Because Jesus was buried confirms that He indeed died on the cross. Because Jesus was buried also confirms that He was able to be raised from the dead.

Beyond historical information, “in accordance with scriptures”

With all of these things, we are reminded today that the gospel is moves, that it is of utmost importance, that it has purpose, that it is freeing, and that it can be trusted