The Thrust of the Gospel.

It is somewhat an accepted belief among believers in Christendom that the main thrust of the gospel is to rescue people from hell, but is that what the Bible teaches? From my observation, the belief that saving sinners is the primary thrust of the gospel has focused not only on condemning sin in people but also condemning people in their sin. The main thrust of the gospel is not to get people off the "hell-bound-train" and onto the "glory-bound-train! As long as we believe that deceptive deception it prevents people from experiencing the fulness of gospel concerning God's plan for humanity. 

Many people believe that once off the hell-bound-train and safely on the glory-bound-train you then receive a bless-me-card that entitles you to the Santa-Clause-God in the sky to be at your beckon call to satisfy your every want by dining in the instant gratification dining car! Is that really the gospel?

The gospel is not about the meism of blessing satisfaction, it is not about standing for "Christian causes", it is not about pointing the sins of people nor condemning people in their sin, nor most of the other things that religions has made the gospel to be. The gospel is not a thing, it is not a program, it is not a doctrine, it is not a sacrament, it is not orthodoxy, it is not a denomination, it is not speaking in tongues, it is not healing, it is not goose-bumps, Neither is it methodology, ideology, theology, or philosophy! THE GOSPEL IS JESUS CHRIST! He is the GOOD NEWS.

The gospel is not so much catering to the things we want in life. It is finding us in our hopelessness and brokenness and giving us Christ as our all sufficient one. If Christ is not the center of the circumference of the gospel and the means of our living, all of the benefits of the gospel moves out of sequence and we make the gospel about what we can get from God rather than our living in God.

The main reason for the gospel is to restore man's fellowship with God through the relationship provided by Jesus' sacrifice, so God can do the work of His Kingdom through Kingdom people...His church. To enter that restored relationship with God is through salvation and one of the benefits of that restoration is release from the bondage that keeps us on the "hell bound-train," whatever hell is. The gospel focus is not so much about getting people to heaven as it is getting heaven's atmosphere in people on this earth. "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The gospel focus is to fill the earth with His glory in that we become the avenue through which His glory permeates the earth because He is doing His work threw us, by allowing Him to do His work through us we will be as He is in the world. We will love people into His Kingdom instead of scaring the hell out of people hoping to frighten them into His Kingdom.

The Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

The emphasis here is that the Lord commanded us to make disciples, not converts. Religion has the emphasis on getting converts rather than on making disciples, Being a convert to religion does not a make one a disciple of Christ.

Did you know that Jesus never preached on being “born again”? In John chapter 3, He talked to Nicodemus about the spiritual birth compared to the natural birth, but He never taught or preached to the people about being “born again.” You may be telling yourself, We are taught that is the thrust of the gospel effort.” Yes...But has religion placed the emphasis in the wrong place. By making being born-again the focus of the gospel it has the tendency to leave people with the misconception that all they need to do is say the"sinner's prayer" and discipleship is optional. That is not the gospel!

Jesus’ attitude toward gospel is much different than that of most Christians. Jesus is more concerned with the quality of relationship than the quantity of converts.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I would have been a Christian if I hadn’t met one.” Before leading the revolution in India, he was exiled to Africa. There, he was seeking the Lord, reading the New Testament. He had become convinced that Christianity was the true religion and that Jesus was the Christ. He decided to attend a Presbyterian church service for the purpose of confessing Jesus as his Lord. But, because of the color of his skin, they wouldn’t let him in. Those people who were so determined to evangelize did not have enough of the nature of God on the inside to look past his color. He then led 750 million people into a pagan religion. How sad, that Christians turned him off to the gospel, when in fact they were commissioned to turn him on to the gospel.

Is it possible that the religion has missed what the gospel truly is, resulting in making converts of religion rather than making disciples of Christ.