The Gospel is a simple message, but all too many professing Christians add to or re-interpret the Gospel according to their own ideas, traditions, or agendas. A good start to defining the essential Gospel message might be to determine what it is NOT.
Many Christians' idea of of evangelism is inviting people to church and getting them involved. But you can go to church all your life and not be saved, or just be practicing works-righteousness. It is common for churchgoers to preach church attendance more than the Gospel itself. To miss a service without a good enough reason is, in the minds of many Christians, a sin. But Paul writes, "One man esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Rom 14:5). BEING Christian is more important than attending a particular service.
Some Christians are sticklers for "believing right," whether it be a pet doctrine, denominationalism, King James only, or some other particularism. Thus they set up barriers around the Gospel, prerequisites to salvation. Moreover, it is possible to replace true faith with a kind of Bible veneration, reverencing the book but not necessarily following its intent or serving its Lord.
Many people today approach church and Christianity as a kind of self-improvement campaign designed to enhance their quality of life. Such Christians tend to become self-centered, focusing on fellowship activities, Christian entertainment, self-help seminars, and emotions, and away from evangelism and ministering to the unlovely. The true Gospel denies self, recognizes the inefficacy of self-help, and points toward replacing self-life with the Life of Christ.
The Gospel cannot be equated with patriotism, nationalism, Americanism, individualism, or libertarianism. Paul reminds us that even a slave can serve the Lord freely in his heart, and that personal freedom, happiness, or self-actualization are not the Christian's priorities. (Some have justified divorce on the grounds that God wants them to be happy.) The Gospel transcends the lowliest state of life, and is in fact best demonstrated through humble servanthood.
Conservative religion today often goes hand-in-hand with conservative politics, economics, and lifestyle. While it might be said that conservative values such as repentance for sin, church attendance, tithing, and Bible study are natural fruit of the Gospel, these things are not in themselves the Gospel. These activities should not be preached in place of the Gospel, made a prerequisite for salvation, nor allowed to overshadow the pure Gospel. (As one great pastor used to say, "Bring the sinners into God's house, and let the Lord clean them up"; and as Mike Warnke asked rhetorically, "Do you have to get cleaned up to take a bath?")
Many values espoused by liberal Christianity are those taught in the New Testament, especially helping the needy, loving sinners, and free grace. As above, these works might be said to be fruit of the Gospel, but are not the Gospel itself. Therefore, good works must not be allowed to overshadow the Gospel, nor be seen as the means of salvation in place of true faith, repentance, and obedience.
In a world that is out of control, Christian parents seek a haven in which to raise their families in safety, a "family church." Unfortunately, the family values message can cloud the true purpose of a church, especially in regard to evangelistic outreach. In working to exclude the influence of the outside world, the church might also exclude sinners, who need the Gospel -- and disenfranchise others, such as single adults and the divorced, who do not fit the traditional family paradigm. Rather than preaching and representing the Gospel, the church may become insular, exclusive, and even elitist. Sometimes churches give the impression that having a traditional family structure is a requirement for, and somehow equivalent to, being a Christian.
Scripture makes it clear that while good works are to be the natural fruit of real salvation, salvation itself is by grace through acceptance of the Gospel. As Paul writes, "By grace are you saved . . . . Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph 2:8-9).
God does have his rules. Many of these are for our benefit, others matters of principle. But the Gospel is a message of grace, not the letter of the law. "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor 3:6). The Lord will judge us by whether we are his sheep, not by how many times we have gone astray. Expecting salvation from obeying rules is a form of works-righteousness. Preaching a "gospel" of rules and regulations is legalism, often based upon one's own interpretation of them. Legalists are modern-day Pharisees who "bind heavy burdens on men's shoulders, but will not move them with one of their own fingers" (Mt. 23:4, paraphrased). Legalists tend to make salvation incumbent on obeying rules, and imagine that one's salvation is immediately lost when one rule is broken.
We must never forget that the Gospel is at its heart a message of free grace. Jesus died to pay the price for it. Dare we add our own requirements to it?
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