If you were going to share the gospel with someone, what would you say?
After being in the faith for 30+ years, I am embarrassed to admit, I didn’t know how I would answer that question. If I had to briefly and justly summarize the gospel what would I say? It was time to turn to the scriptures and start searching for verses pertaining to the good news.
The first things that came to mind when I thought about the gospel were Yeshua’s (Christ’s) life, death and resurrection, forgiveness of sins, the cross, salvation and eternal life. Then I came across (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the mystery of reconciliation. When I read verse 20, it starts with “therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ…” I thought about what that meant.
Being an ambassador for Yeshua (Christ), would be someone chosen by Yeshua to actively represent him by sharing his message with others. Verse 20 and 21 continue…“we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” After reading this, a light bulb went off!
A Whole New Light on the Gospel Message!
Out of awe, and wonder of how I had not understood the gospel like this before, I decided to ask other believers how they would share the gospel with someone. Was I the only one who hadn’t understood the gospel in this way before? When asking others, they too answered with things like (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” and (Romans 6:23) “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
So what is the difference? In short, one gospel message is Yeshua died for our sins so that we may have eternal life. The other is, Yeshua died for our sins so that we may be reconciled with God the Father, YHWH, and have an eternal life in a loving relationship with him.
One puts the focus on what we can receive from God, while the other focuses on a relationship. We now are able to enter into a loving relationship with the Most High through Yeshua, his son!
A loving relationship is not one sided, it’s mutual! It’s not just want we receive, but we can also give. God’s desire to have a loving relationship with his people is not a new or unknown concept by any means. Many believers would probably say it is all about having a personal relationship with God. But now the question,
If I were going to share the gospel with someone, what would I say?
I would say, “Out of love, YHWH sent his only son, Yesuha who willingly died for our sins, to destroy the works of the devil, so that through him, we may be reconciled into a loving relationship with YHWH, and have eternal life as part of God’s family.”
Hallelujah!