What is the Gospel?

"I shared the Gospel with a friend today."

Have you ever heard someone say that? If so, I am guessing what you thought was this - what was shared was that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins and that if we accept Him into our hearts, we can be saved from Hell, and that God will bless us and bring us into Heaven when we die. Does that sounds familiar? For a long time, that was my definition of what "The Gospel" was. But then things suddenly changed.

One summer, an IV staff member from Boston shared what the word "gospel" meant. He told us that since gospel means "good news", it was actually a reference to a new child being born to the royal family. When this new child was born, the "good news" of his birth would be shared throughout the kingdom so that people would know that one day, this young baby would become the next ruler of the land. This was considered good news because it meant the royal family would carry on in its leadership and that there was another heir to the throne.

We see the word "Gospel" used over 100 times in the New Testament. In Mark 1:15 we read, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel." When I took a minute to think about it, I began to realize that the Gospel is so much more than just "how to get saved." The Gospel is Jesus making a spiritual and political statement. He is telling His listeners, "Though there is a king who rules the land now, I have come to establish a Kingdom which will have no end. I will be the ruler of this Kingdom, and I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. All kings and rulers will one day acknowledge that I am the Great King, and they will bow in humility to Me."

The Gospel is not just a call to repent, but it is a call to live under the rule of a new King. What does this mean for us? It means we are called into the service of a King who loves us and wants to have us involved in His amazing work of transforming the world. The Gospel is about a community of people (those in the Kingdom) giving ourselves over to the Awesome King. Repentance brings us into the Kingdom, but obedience to our Lord is how we continue to live out the Gospel. And to be honest, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that being a servant of a king would be a whole lot of fun. But the reality is that when we see who the Ruler is, when we see that His love for us and His intention to bless us is more than we can ever fathom, service of the King is the greatest gift we can ever be given.

As I reflect on how I share Jesus with people, I realize that Jesus comes not just to be Savior but also to be the Lord of all people. He wants us to love Him and to follow His call on our lives. May we be faithful in trusting and following our Mighty King.

- Tim Carpenter, Campus Ministry, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at UNH