I grew up in the church. I knew the stories and memorized the the verses. I knew how to tell people about Jesus. I even went off to Bible college and studied theology and Greek. I knew my stuff.
And I still misunderstood the Gospel.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t know anything about the Gospel. I’d been through all the evangelism classes, and I could share the “Gospel” in under a minute with time to spare. But I still misunderstood the Gospel in some important ways. And I don’t think that I was alone.
I’ve been exploring What’s Wrong with Our Gospel. And last week I argued that we often fail to help people understand how the Gospel relates to the broader story of the Bible. In essence, we often present a “story-less Gospel,” summaries stripped of the story within which the Gospel makes sense. That’s exactly what I heard growing up. It’s what I was trained to share. And I think it sets people up to misunderstand the Gospel in important ways.
Here’s the first.
I Want to Be the Star
“Um, excuse me.”
Everyone stops and stares at one of the white clad figures by the lights, the one with his hand raised. This wasn’t in the script.
The director glares at him for a few seconds before snapping, “What?” in a tone filled with annoyance, several layers of impatience, and a generous topping of “I’m about to fire you.” But the white figure doesn’t seem to notice.
“Well, you see, I don’t understand why the story has to focus on him all the time,” he says shifting uneasily and pointing at someone standing in the center of the set. “I’ve got a story too. I’m just as important as he is.” Looking down at his feet, he finishes lamely, “I should be the star.”
Stunned silence fills the set. Not the everyday silence that greets you softly when you wake in the morning, or even the embarrassed silence that always occurs right before you burp in a crowded room, but that awful silence that accompanies all truly stupid sentences, sucking all the oxygen from the room and leaving you as breathless as a fish on dry land.
“You think you should be the star?” the director shouts, nearly choking on the last word. “You? You can’t be the star. You’re a storm trooper!” He thrusts his hand toward center stage, “That’s Luke Skywalker! The whole movie is about him.” Flinging his clipboard over his shoulder in disgust, it almost hits Darth Vader in the head. “Get back in line or you’re done here! This story isn’t about you.”
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The Gospel Is Not about Me
Absurd? Probably. What storm trooper could possibly make the mistake of thinking that he should be the main character in Star Wars? That wouldn’t make any sense.
Yet we do it with the Gospel all the time. Just look at how we summarize the Gospel:
- God loves you and wants a relationship with you.
- You sinned and separated yourself from God.
- Jesus died for your sins so that you could have a relationship with God.
- If you believe in Jesus and confess your sins, he will forgive you and you will spend an eternity in heaven with him.
These are some tremendous truths. But notice who this story revolves around. You. You’re the one God loves, you’re the one in trouble, and you’re the one getting saved. The whole story revolves around you and your needs. No wonder we like this story.
But the Gospel isn’t about you.
The Gospel is not about me.
The Gospel is about God.
The Bible says a lot about the Gospel, what it is, and who it is about. And it almost always talks about “the gospel of Jesus Christ” (Mk 1:1), “the gospel of God” (Mk 1:14); “the good news of the kingdom of God” (Lk 4:43), and so on. Only once is it “the Gospel of your salvation (Eph 1:13).” Over and over again, the Bible makes it clear that this story is about God.
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For Us, But Not about Us
And again it’s true that God loves me and that I can have my sins forgiven through Jesus. This is true and I need to hear it. But that’s not what this story is about. And the good news of my salvation is only truly good news when I see how it connects to God and the story of his glory. Otherwise, I’ll twist it. I’m very good at that.
My favorite example of this comes from baptismal testimonies. I love to listen closely to what people say when they get baptized because it reveals a lot about how they view the Gospel. And generally I hear a lot about them. I hear about how broken their lives were before the Gospel and how amazing it has been since they responded. And that’s great. I love to hear about the power of the Gospel to change lives. But I rarely hear much about God. And that worries me.
We need to remind ourselves continually that this story is not about us. It includes good news for us; but it’s not about us. That’s a critical distinction.
You can’t understand the story if you don’t know who it’s about.
About Marc Cortez
Great article Marc.
This idea about the Gospel needs to get out there into our Evangelical Churches.
Another thought about the Gospel-Jesus’ death was ultimately for God, He died for the community of believers, and he died for you and me personally, but primarily Jesus died for God’s glory, man good stuff.
That was very well said Marc.
To put the best construction on things, it seems we don’t mean to make it all about us, but with that as our native bent, we go there almost unconsciously. A great exercise (as you summarized) is to go through, literally every use of “gospel” in the NT. It’s the good news “about” Jesus (1 Cor. 15, one of the fundamental “gospel” texts), as you so helpfully remark, “not ‘about me’ but ‘for me.’” I’m struck by the comparative descriptors, “the word of truth, the gospel” (Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5″) expanded as “the grace of God in truth” (Col. 1:6), and the magnanimous “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”
“Him we proclaim” (Col. 1:28). “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5), “but we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23, 2:2). “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you” (2 Cor. 1:19); “the word of the cross” 1 Cor. 1:18).
Great post Marc.
In the interest of discussing ways to improve how we share the gospel, I would like to suggest a different way to say what I think you are saying when you say,”It is all about God.” How about,”It is all about God’s amazing plan!” or “It is about an all-glorious God and His story of winning a people with whom He will share eternity.”?
I think your point would be much better served if you did not use such artless and budget-rate phrases like, “But the Gospel isn’t about you; The Gospel is not about me; The Gospel is about God., or The Gospel is for us but not about us.” I believe you have a valid point to make, but I’m not so sure I really get it and I don’t think it’s good to over simplify things that are really quite amazing and important.
Lastly, I find your use of the picture of a storm trooper’s relationship to Luke Skywalker as an analogy of our relationship to God as unclear and irrelevant. The word’s ultimate analogy of us is a bride and groom. Yes, for a while we were His enemies, but that is not what is most true about us. Look at His plans when He made us and look at what His plans are for us throughout eternity!
Bob, I completely agree that we don’t do this on purpose. And, when we stop and think about it, we know that this isn’t the case. But you’re right that we’re “bent” in that direction and tend to slip that way when we’re not looking.
Emily, I think you’re hearing my use of “about” somewhat differently than I intended. To say that the story is “about” God doesn’t mean that it excludes us. It’s simply to remind us of who stands at the center of the story. It’s still good news for us even if the story isn’t about us.
I used intentionally “artless” language with those phrases to make my point clear. And I stand by it. This story is not fundamentally about us. It’s amazingly good news that we get to be a part of it, but we’re not the the focal point.
And the storm trooper analogy had nothing to do with the storm trooper’s relationship to Luke Skywalker or the fact that they’re enemies. The only point with that analogy is that a peripheral character wanted the story to revolve around him instead of the main character (like I think we do with the Gospel). So you could use peripheral/main characters from any story to make the same point.
Thanx for your reply. Your point about “intentionally using ‘artless’ language to make your point clear” is what I am pointing out that it was not very clear. I understand much better when you say God stands at the center of the story or that the gospel is fundamentally about God.
The word ‘about’ is used in many ways, not all of which convey that something is central. It is so often used by the world when something is ‘referring to’ or ‘concerned with’ or ‘almost’. Don’t forget, ‘about to go…’ or the South’s version, “I’m fixin’ to…”!
I am new to this website and your first article caught my attention; I was so excited and thought we were looking at how our ‘language’ gets understood or misunderstood by the world and how we can learn to tell the gospel better…watching what we say and what we don’t say. I never heard of ‘me based gospel’ so I think this blog might be over my head. Thanks for sharing with me! God bless!
I appreciate your comments in this post. I agree with you that the Gospel is about God and Jesus Christ. It is also about the renewal (reconciliation) of the relationship that existed before the first sin. The Gospel does not end with the last verses of John’s account, but rather in the New Heaven and New Earth (which is future). The Gospel (Good News) is that God wants us back in right relationship with us. We are not the subject of the Gospel, but we and our relationship with God are the object. The Gospel is about God with us (Emannuel).
I believe it is a point well made and a point that must be repeated often in our faith communities.
I agree with Bob that this tendencies is our “native bent” … but so much uncritical theology has sprung up around the “Me Focused Gospel” that to proclaim from the pulpit that our salvation is of/by/for God and His Glory sometimes brings accusations of preaching “another gospel”.
If the Biblical Gospel is seen as “another gospel”, then what does that say about the gospel so many churches, and many in our own churches, embrace?
While true, I think there is a point that you’re missing. The summary of the Gospel is not the addressing the question, “Who’s the most important figure?”; it is addressing, “Why should I care?”
Let’s be honest about this: Christ died for us and because of us. Without that key component, the Gospel makes no sense.
I definitely think we need to help people see why they should care. But my concern is that when we focus narrowly on the individual’s self-interests and then call that a “summary of the Gospel,” we leave people exposed to misunderstanding. A good explanation of the Gospel will (hopefully) convince me that I should care, but it will do so by pointing me far beyond myself.
Perhaps I’m missing the point altogether here, but I am wondering what it means practically for us to present the gospel in a non self-centered manner. What does a conversation surrounding the gospel in terms of it centering around God (and not us) look like? Could you give an example?
Good question. I’ll be saying more in a later post about what this practically looks like (right now I’m just identifying problems). But I think the key is to consistently point out that this story is about God and his glory, the amazing plan that he has always had to dwell with his people and manifest his glory through them, how far short his people fell, and the incredible news that through Jesus we can all (including the person you’re talking to) be a part of God’s people again. That doesn’t exclude the individual and his/her best interests, but it keeps God at the center of the story and helps the individual see that their self-interests are part of something much bigger.
Thanks for the clarification, Marc. I will say this, having grown up in a communal-based culture (Kenya) and moved to the U.S. in my late teens, I picked up on the strong individualistic slant in the manner we speak of the gospel, and even how we view and understand Scripture. Not to say that communal cultures are safe from making errors in their understanding of the gospel, but understanding God in light of what I want rather than what He says about Himself is something that does concern me. We are part of a much bigger story than ourselves, and that is a beautiful thing!