The Goal of the Gospel

What is the point of the gospel? The essence of the gospel is not about ethical living or earthly success or even getting saved—in the sense it is so often used: that you subscribe to our club’s set of sub-beliefs or adiaphora, matters that should be seen as Christian freedom.

Practicing the gospel produces better morals but not perfectly ethical beings. Practice does not produce perfect Christians; God does that.

Despite the insistence of many TV preachers and their kin, the gospel is not about having more stuff or better health or cooler friends. Those are things you might imagine will make you feel better. But the truth is, they do not. One thing beings you joy and peace—the kind you can know objectively, as well as feel subjectively. Hope. And only a very specific hope. That is what I want to share with you this morning.

Let us pray...

In this season of Advent, help us prepare for your continued coming into our lives, Lord, and your eventual and promised coming again. Give us perseverance and the empowerment of your Spirit that we might bear fruit that befits repentance. And when we fail to do so, as we are wont to do, give us hope in the One who did lead a perfect life. Whether we fail or succeed in our various moments of living life, give us spirits receptive to good news; for Christ’s sake. Amen

The upshot of my message today is this: the goal of the gospel is that you have hope, a hope that brings joy and peace to believers, to those who persevere in their belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But we first need to understand what the gospel is, and secondly, we must know how to have the this hope giving gospel and have it increasingly.

We get the English word “gospel” from the Old English “god” and “spel.” “God” comes to us through the shortening of the vowel in the word “good,” and “spel” an archaic English word for news or story. We easily enough understand the “god” or good part but “spel”? Where does that come from; how do we get news from “spel”? It comes over into Beowulf’s Anglo-Saxon from the German or Proto-Germanic “spiel,” meaning “talk.” We don’t say it much anymore you sometimes still hear of someone making a spiel, a speech typically intended as a means of persuasion or as a sales pitch.

I’m reminded of the lad selling Bibles door-to-door. His spiel was actually fairly short. It went something like this… The Bible is one Book containing 66 books. Would you like to but a one copy from me today or would you rather I stood here and read you all 66?

God spiel or “godspel” or "gospel” is a direct translation of the Latin Bible’s bona annuntiatio, or “good message.” The Latin is itself a translation of the biblical Greek word euangelion. But how does euangelion mean “good news” or “gospel”?

Euangelion is one Greek word made from two Greek words.” The first word is the Greek word eu, spelled E-U, which means “good.” And I must interject here, this must be the ascending oooOOO that denotes something good or even wonderful, not the descending OOOooo that means something is bad or maybe even gross. They don’t teach this in Koine Greek classes, so consider this extra tidbit a freebie. But I digress.

As I was saying, euangelion is one Greek word made from two: eu meaning “good” or “well,” and angelion meaning message or messenger. You have heard me teach about this second word on multiple occasions. An angelion or angel is simply a messenger of God. Thus, a euangelion is a good message or a good messenger (or angel).

Now we have the parts of the word as one euangelion. In English, the E-U transliterates to E-V. The G softens through the Italian Church Latin to a J. Now we would say euangelion as e-van-jel-i-on… Ah, now you can hear it, can’t you? This is how we get the words evangelism and evangelist and evangelical, words that mean good news, one who brings the good news, and those who believe the gospel. This is why our churches used to be called Evangelical Lutheran Churches.

Many of our churches, though still incorporated as, for example, St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, have dropped the word Evangelical because of modern American politics and cultural baggage—such as being too tightly branded with the religious right. But we are still evangelical in that strictest sense of the word: we have joy and peace through the hope of the gospel or the good news of Jesus Christ.

But Christian people, lose their hope all the time. Membership rolls of Lutheran churches, as well as every other orthodox or protestant church, are strewn with people who had hope and then lost it. Feelings of joy and peace, if they were ever there at all, were replaced with anger, despair, and conflict. This is such a problem in the church that our own LCMC, Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ, have been sponsoring conflict resolution courses for the past few years. Conflict resolution is so necessary that it is a focus of LCMC districts. I have received some training in this, training that addresses how to talk to people about their grievances but, at least in the class I attended six months ago, did not address the root cause or how to truly address it. I mean to do so in today’s message.

How do we keep our faith, and thus joy and peace—two things we seem particularly interested in during the last month of the year? Let me jump to the answer and then tell you how and why this answer works. We keep our faith through the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives through his Word.

Our second Lesson highlights that the Scriptures were written so that we could learn to hope.

Romans 15:4–6 ESV

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The very foundation of true Christian hope is anchored in God’s Word. The Scriptures lead us, not only through our personal struggles with sin, but through conflict with each other. God uses his Word to help is endure with real hope, and ultimately leads us to a harmony and unity with each other.

So, let us confess it right now: we get upset with one another from time to time. For example, we get excited about a new pastor and then, in many cases, want to see him gone. This is so manifestly true that Alice and I joke about it to this day. Just last week we revisited yet again something that happened in February of 2021. If you haven’t heard the joke before, here it is. When I had only been with y’all five weeks, Alice stopped by my office. She stood in the hallway and declared very matter-of-factly that she thought I was “the hardest working and most creative pastor we’ve had around here in 20 years, maybe longer.” What a statement! I had only been here five weeks. So, I responded, frankly humbled and embarrassed by her accolade, “Well, that’s nice to hear, Alice, but I’ve only been here a month. Let me know what you think about me in a year.” She replied, “A year from now I won’t even like you. That’s why I’m telling you now!”

We do this with each other too. Somebody says something in a committee meeting or down the hallway or in that favorite place for church meetings, the parking lot. We don’t agree with what they say or how they said it—or that they said it about us. And our joy and peace is gone.

But my joy and peace must not be based on what Alice says about me. or what any of you say about me, good or bad. My joy and peace must be based on what God says about me: that he loves me so much that he sent Jesus to atone for my sin and give me his righteousness, thus gifting me with a just and right relationship with my Creator.

I do not know this joy and peace because this is a warm and welcoming congregation—though it typically is just that. I know real joy and peace all year ‘round, during Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, because the Holy Spirit fosters hope in me through the Word.

My hope will not be based on what Alice thinks of me next year. However, I do love the greeting cards she sends me every January that reaffirm that she still likes me and is still glad I’m her pastor. Her cards and your comments are, of course, encouraging and make me happy enough but real joy and peace manifests itself most strongly when a congregation kicks me to the curb.

It happens. And when it does, I discover anew that my joy and peace come through the hope given me in the gospel, the good news. the euangelion of Jesus Christ.

When Alice doesn’t like me anymore—or you don’t—or the Church Council doesn’t—my joy and peace is intact. It comes from believing in him—not in you and not in myself.

Your joy and peace also come through believing the gospel. And this belief is delivered through the Word: hearing it, reading it, and sharing it.

Such belief has to be fostered and encouraged so it can endure and even grow. That happens when you come to worship services and hear the Scriptures read and proclaimed. It happens when you come to Sunday School and Bible Study and delve into the Word together. It happens when you open the Book and soak up the mystery which is the gospel, the good news that God loves the world. In fact, he even loves you, and sent his Son to die for you so that by believing on him you may have the very real hope of eternal life.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.