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G’day Everyone!
Last week we were challenged to take a gospel sharing step that you are afraid of. I hope you can see that once you step out, it is not as scary as initially thought. If you didn’t follow through this week, then I encourage you to try again this week!
Last weeks tragic events reminded me that the gospel is worth living and dying for! I recall my long time friend and mentor Major Stephen Court saying,
“Always be ready to preach, pray or die at a moments notice!”
Charlie Kirk died for what he believed in. Whilst I admired his conviction and courage, I can’t say I agreed with all of his politics. In fact, I think some of his politics were completely contrary to the ethics of the kingdom of God.1
I realise that may shock some of you reading this, but the reality is Jesus’ Kingdom is radically different to the culture of the world.
Therefore todays Equip and Activate sections are about ensuring we are carrying the gospel worth living and dying for. The Gospel of the Kingdom!
But what on Earth is that?
Equip
The Gospel of the Kingdom
The greek words in the New Testament used for “Gospel” and “Announcing the Gospel” were not originally religious terms.
The noun euangelion is translated as “gospel” and means “good news.”
The verb euangelizō is translated as “announcing or proclaiming the good news.”
Jesus used this language all the time. He used it:
Whenever He preached the “gospel” it was the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:14–15, Luke 4:43, John 3:3–5)
When He healed the sick He said the Kingdom has come to you (Matthew 9:35)
When He cast out demons He said the kingdom has come to you (Luke 11:20)
When He taught parables He taught on the Kingdom of God
When teaching His disciples to pray He said to pray, “Your Kingdom come…” (Matthew 6:9-10)
When Jesus taught for 40 days after His ascension His subject was the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3)
The Gospel is the Good News of The Kingdom! So what does this actually mean?
In the Greco-Roman world, these words were political and imperial words used to announce the birth, accession, or victory of an emperor. For example, an inscription from 9 BC about Caesar Augustus calls his birth the “beginning of the good news (euangelia) for the world.”
When early Christians proclaimed euangelion, they were deliberately subverting the empires propaganda. The real good news was not Caesar’s reign, but Jesus’ reign!
Jesus is King and He is making the world right.
Three Descriptions
Jesus described this good news in a number of different ways. Here are three key ways.
Jubilee
In Luke 4 Jesus commences His ministry by reading from Isaiah,
He opened the book and found the place where these words are written—‘
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord’.
Luke 4:17-19 (JBPT)
The acceptable year of the Lord is a reference to Jubilee. (Leviticus 25:8–55) Isaiah then picked up this thread and spoke about Jubilee in terms of freedom, restoration and healing.
This is how Jesus describes His Kingdom!
Life and Teaching
In the life and teachings of Jesus, He uses a number of word pictures to describe the move from one Kingdom to His Kingdom. For example, His Kingdom looks like:
the lost being found,
the sick being healed,
the dead being raised
the hungry being fed,
the tired finding rest,
the wrong doers being forgiven,
the poor and rejected being included, and
the blind being able to see.
Here we can see that His Kingdom is one where everything is made right.
Passover
Finally, Jesus gives us a super clear picture of the “Gospel of the Kingdom” on the day He chose to lay down His life.
Jesus chose to die during Passover, the holiday that remembered how God rescued the people of God from Pharaoh and a life of slavery in Egypt.
Jesus was framing what He was doing in these terms. Jesus was rescuing us from the slave masters of sin, death and the devil. Or as Paul says in Colossians 1:13, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
Again, we see that the good news of the Kingdom is referring to being rescued from those dark enemies that seek to hold us in captive to sin, fear, guilt, shame, and death.
Moving Forward
As you can see, the Gospel Jesus preached was about the restoration of all things. Jesus claims this in Revelation 21:5,
“Behold, I make all things new.“
This is why the poor, the oppressed and those the world looks down upon are Jesus’ primary target. Jesus overturns the powers that rule our world so that the first will be last and the last will be first. This is why we must tread carefully lest we become those wielding power and discriminating against those who Jesus is liberating!
This is the gospel: Jesus is King and His Kingdom has arrived!
Therefore we must submit and align ourselves to His values and priorities, or as Jesus said, “Repent and Believe!”
Activate
This weeks challenge is to read the sermon on the Mount. It is Jesus’ manifesto. It outlines the revolutionary and counter-cultural ways of Jesus and His followers. John Stott said,
“The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, lifestyle and network of relationships—totally at variance with those in the non-Christian world.”
You can find the Sermon on The Mount in Matthew 5-7. I encourage you to prayerfully read it several times in different translations then answer the following questions,
What does it say about who God is and what He is like?
What does it say about humanity?
What do you need to change to align yourself with King Jesus?
I truly believe that if we want to see multitudes come to know Christ, then we need to live out the ways of Jesus as described in the Sermon on the Mount. But be warned, this is not an easy lifestyle. Many have been persecuted and martyred for living this radical lifestyle. May God help us.
Let me know how you get on!
Have a great week,
Let’s Go!
Whilst there are plenty of videos of Charlie compassionately and lovingly talking, encouraging and challenge young people. However, there are also videos that shows his devotion to some political opinions that contradicts Jesus’ sermon on the Mount and other teachings.
Here is just one example… Jesus is clear in the sermon on the Mount and in His example of a life, on how we should treat our enemies and those who wish us harm. Love, bless, pray, do good to them. (Luke 6:27-36) This is obviously incompatible with many of the points Charlie made in regards to guns, war and capital punishment.