Truly Good News

Truly Good News

Read: John 3:16-18

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned.”

John 3:18

“Cry the Gospel with your whole life.”

—Charles de Foucauld

IN WORD Christians have earned a reputation for condemning others. Some of this is simply that we stand up for what is right and proclaim what the Bible says about sin. We enter political and social discourse on the volatile issues of abortion, euthanasia, morality of public figures, bioethics, and the secularization of public education, among others. We stand against what we know to be evil in this world. And we should.

But some of our reputation is warranted. We often wrap up within our proclamation of truth an indictment of those who don’t live up to it. We condemn those who do evil, even though we know that with hearts full of human nature and not of Christ, they can do nothing else. Jesus never asked us to condemn. His gospel is profoundly simple. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned” (John 3:17-18). If He did not come to condemn, and we are called to be like Him, why do we condemn?

IN DEED Again we must ask ourselves: Does our mission match the message of Jesus? In proclaiming the gospel to the world, are we like Him at all? Are we hard on self-righteousness but merciful toward sinners? If not, we are not like Him. And if we are not like Him, we must question how much we have let His words and His life saturate our minds. In trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit by convicting the world of sin, we may be demonstrating mistrust that God will do as He said. It is His responsibility to convict of sin. The only gospel Jesus sends us into the world to preach is truly good news: forgiveness of sins by the abundant grace of God to all who believe.