Devotion 3: What is the Gospel?
If you have been to church any length of time you will hear the word “Gospel” used at some point. What exactly is the Gospel? Often the description attached to the Gospel is the phrase “Good News.”
This passage is as good a place as any to understand the Gospel or the Good News that the Bible is so eager to reveal to you.
Ephesians 2:1–10 says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
It is important to understand that Paul is speaking to a body of believers in this book. They, by all means, should have known and understood what the Gospel is. Paul lays it out clearly so that there is no misunderstanding. They should not be thinking that maybe it is this or maybe it is that. He takes all the ambiguity out of it so the meaning and understanding of the Gospel is very clear.
Paul tells us the bad news before the good news when he says, “We were dead!” We were not just dead in a spiritual sense, but dead in every literal meaning of the word. Our goose was cooked. It was the end of the road. This position we find ourselves in (being dead) is linked to the actions we find ourselves following. It is the actions of the world, actions of the “prince of the power of the air” (aka the devil), and the actions or works of “the sons of disobedience.” This action looks like (as Paul describes) passions of the flesh, the body, and the mind, and acting like angry children. It is pretty much just the way everybody humanly responds. In one phrase, we are prideful, arrogant, and selfish.
No one wants to admit this because of the obvious: who would actually admit to being arrogant, selfish, and full of pride? I know this is really hard news to hear. It is honestly some of the worst kind of news a person can listen to. This is not how I want to be known and not how I want to be characterized. If this is where the story of humanity ends, if this is where my own story ends, then we have no hope. What is the point if this is where we all find ourselves? There are two wonderful words that follow after the bad news, “But God.”
Because of who God is (not who I am), His character (not my character), and His great love for me (not my love for Him), even when I was dead, full of pride, arrogant, and selfish, there is hope. While I was following the things of the world and the devil; God was still there. While I was acting in my flesh, pursuing the desires of my body, consumed with self in my mind, and being in disobedience to God; He made a way for me not to be dead. It was through His Son.
You see, the Good News (aka the Gospel) is all about the opposite of me. It is all about God’s mercy, His love, His kindness, His immeasurable riches towards us, and Him making us alive together with Christ. It is something we receive as a gift. I do not have to pay Him back; it is not a loan. It is not a temporary idea. It is not something I did or can brag about. It is all God. It is generally at this moment that I cannot withhold the tears in my eyes because I truly understand this. If you do not understand this, I pray you will reach out to someone who can walk you through the Good News. If you do understand this, I pray you will be bold in sharing it with others. Without the Good News of Jesus, the work that is before us as a church is meaningless. Without the Gospel, the things that were prepared beforehand, the things we are to walk in (the good works) are just ashes.