What Is The Gospel? (Part 2) Series

Introduction

This is Passion Week in which we particularly remember the final week of Christ.

The text we are considering for our 2023 Passion Week meditations is 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.

Last night was Maundy Thursday, and we focused on Christ.

Tonight is Good Friday, and we will focus on Christ’s sacrifice for sin.

Scripture

Let us read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Review

Our foundational question for this 2023 Passion Week series is this: What exactly is the essence of Christianity?

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2a, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.” According to Paul, the essence of Christianity is the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 teaches us what is the gospel.

There are four parts to the gospel.

Last night, we considered the first point of the gospel.

I. The Gospel Is about Christ (15:3a)

First, the gospel is about Christ.

Paul wrote in verse 3a, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ....”

For Paul, the gospel was all summed up in Christ. Everything in the paragraph explains Christ. It points to Christ. It is found in Christ.

The Greek word for “gospel” (euangelion) means “good news.” In ancient times, a messenger would go into a town square and herald the “gospel,” the “good news.”

If the Greeks were fighting against an invading army, which it seems that they often did, the people back home waited anxiously for news of the outcome. They wondered if their army would be victorious or defeated.

When the battle was over and the Greek army was victorious, a messenger would be dispatched to deliver the good news to the people back home. When he arrived, he would go to the town square and herald the good news, “We triumph!”

Paul used the word “gospel,” as did the other Biblical writers, to announce the foundational Christian message. In essence, the good news is that a battle has been fought and won, and now we are free from slavery. And that battle has been fought and won by Jesus Christ.

The core of Christianity is good news about something that has happened.

On that first Good Friday, Christ died to pay the penalty for sin. Three days later, on Easter Sunday morning, he was raised back to life by the Father.

It is in this sense that Christianity is different from every other religion in the world. Every religion teaches that you must do something to earn salvation. Every religion is about works-righteousness that must be done to be saved.

Only Christianity teaches that Christ has won salvation for his people. That is the good news of the gospel.

So, first, the gospel is about Christ.

Lesson

Tonight, we want to consider the second point of the gospel.

II. The Gospel Is about Sin (15:3b)

Second, the gospel is about sin.

Paul wrote in verse 3b, “… that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Any thinking person knows that there is a great deal that is wrong in the world. We have pain. We have suffering. We have inequality. We have misunderstanding. We have injustice. We have crime.

Isn’t it interesting that Paul said that “Christ died for our sins”? Why was that Jesus’ top priority?

It is because God created humankind. And when God created Adam and Eve, they were without sin. They lived in a beautiful garden and there were no problems there at all. It is hard for us to fathom how that can be because problems and difficulties and trials and suffering are so pervasive in our world today.