Presentation of the gospel

When do you think that news is good for you? First of all, it should be directly related to you. And it should bring a benefit to you. If the benefit is something that you desperately desire but cannot attain by yourself by any means, the news will be really good. At the beginning of this semester, I desperately needed a large sum of money for the tuition and living expenses. Then I heard the good news that someone, whom I had never seen before, had paid the full amount of the tuition and the apartment rents and no string attached. It was so good news to me that it numbed me for a while.

 

The Bible also says about good news, the greatness of which is incomparable to anything in the world. This news is mainly about what Jesus achieved for you, and the benefits that it brings to you are incalculable and inconceivable whether you believe or not. Like I received the good news when I had no money, that is, when I was poor, the good news given to us by Jesus is also for the poor who is desperately seeking something. What are we seeking desperately? Peace, love, truth, joy … Yes! All these are promised and supplied abundantly in the good news. In addition to these, the good news promises even greater things: reconciliation with God and eternal life in His Kingdom.

 

Then how does the good news work on us? As I said above, we can understand the work of the good news by seeing what Jesus did for us. First of all, Jesus forgives our sins. In Mark 2:5 in the Bible, Jesus says to a paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Hearing this, some people around Jesus wondered and whispered, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They were right in saying that only God can forgive sins, but they were wrong, not knowing that Jesus is God who came to this world to save us from our sins through his forgiveness. Jesus’ forgiveness is not like forgiveness we do for one another. It is because he is the Judge of the heaven and earth. This means that if Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven,” this becomes the final verdict by which you are set free and nothing can bind you again. Now we are legally sinless although we are still prone to sinning. This may sound contradictory but I will explain further later.

 

Along with his forgiveness of our sins, there is another great thing that Jesus did for us. It is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. When we become sinless through Jesus’ forgiveness we become righteous before God. This means that we are not sinners in God’s eyes any longer, and therefore we as His righteous children are reconciled with God as our Father. In the restored relationship, God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” The Holy Spirit does all kinds of good things in us and one of the most important works is that the Spirit makes us stand bold before God. Imagine a little child who met his father for the first time since his birth. The child, though being his son, is afraid of the man because he has lived as an orphan, not knowing the father. Then there is a helper for the child and he says, “Don’t be afraid. He is your father. He is good to you. He loves you even until sacrificing his own son.” The helper is the Holy Spirit, and actually the Spirit is also God dwelling in us.

 

There are many religions on earth, and each of them has its own way of ‘reconnection’ to God. Most of them require long-term disciplines for inner changes so that the followers may become qualified for the reconnection. The good news in the Bible is not like that. Figuratively speaking, salvation brought by Jesus is like a pauper became a prince overnight, taking off his old dirty rags and wearing a new shiny royal uniform. As soon as we are forgiven, we become the princes and princesses of God Heavenly King, and are ushered into his palace. Although we are in the royal costume, however, our inner nature is still that of a pauper. Then we learn court etiquette and gradually become princes and princesses not only in name but also in reality.

 

The forgiveness and baptism in the Holy Spirit are two pillars of the good news, which we should maintain throughout our life until we enter the Heavenly Kingdom. How can we preserve this privilege? It is done by following Jesus. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” This does not sound sweet. It requires radical and painful turning. This suggests that the way of Jesus’ disciples is totally different from that of the world. Please remember, “Totally different!!!” We need to learn and obey Jesus very carefully by studying his words and his deeds. You may think that you know something about God’s will or what is good in God’s eyes. I recommend that you never assume in that way. For your safety, assume that you don’t know anything about the court etiquette. Every bit and piece of what you have known and believed in the past should be tested thoroughly by what is written in the Bible. For this, you should become a diligent Bible reader and meditator. Then you will become a true Christian and Jesus’ disciple.