Remember the Gospel is GOOD News

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them…I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. [Eze 34:11, 16 NIV]

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn…. [Isa 61:1-2 NIV]

Back in 1983, I was a junior in high school, and my eclectic musical tastes ranged from hard rock to the likes of Anne Murray’s “A Little Good News.” This song really spoke to my heart in so many ways because even at the ripe old age of seventeen, listening to the news of foreign wars, the woes of a bad economy, the uptick of robberies, gun crime, and senseless violence–just the constant barrage of bad reports–left me feeling tense and quite dismal. I longed for good news, like Anne mentions, about things like county fairs, children playing, and people truly caring. I guess most good news is not as sensational, nor as appealing to our fallen nature as a little dirt on other people mixed in with otherwise helpful truth. Fast-forward almost forty years and we now even have the unenviable challenge of trying to figure out what is even true in the news. Now that I am a Christian, I have an eternal hope that comforts me. But what about the lost? Aren’t they aching just as bad for a little good news today?

I think this song struck a chord with many, however, it failed to point to the One who gives hope amid every uncertainty, crisis, or chaos. More than ever it is evident in our society here in the United States that we lack truth. Proverbs says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” [29:18 KJV] In the New Living Translation, it puts it this way: “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.” The word “vision” here in the KVJ can mean “divine communication in a vision, oracle, or prophecy.”

The bible is the greatest revelation of God ever given to mankind, and when it is mispreached or misapplied, we perish. It is ironic that in this “Christian” nation, where we have a cornucopia of bibles, books, and Christian teachers, that we find ourselves in “such a time as this,” a time of strife, self-seeking, lies, and its fruit: distrust. It does one no good to simply read or listen to God’s Word. We have to understand and obey, “keepeth,” to be blessed. For example, spiritually, our society can be likened to a well-marked route, complete with street signs and the assistance of GPS. But if we ignore the stop signs or the Siri voice from our smartphones, we will get in a wreck or be lost. If we are distracted by the carnival-like pull of the world, no matter how well the road is lit, we will miss our destination. My prayers have been for the Lord to reveal to His Church just how worldly we have become. And if the Church looks like the world, how can we shine God’s holy light? His word says, “Do not be conformed to this world” but “be conformed to the image of his Son.” [Rom 12:2; 8:29 ESV] I challenge you: whom do you most resemble?

Another way to understand the word “vision” in the above verse is in a prophetic sense. It is interesting that Revelation says that “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” and that our brothers have conquered Satan “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” [Rev 19:10; 12:11 ESV] Did you hear that? Do you see it? We CONQUER the enemy by Jesus’ shed blood at Calvary AND by our testimony of what He did for the world. Jesus prophesied, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” [Mat 24:14 NIV] If the world ever needed good news, it’s today. If the world ever needed truth, its today. Let’s point to the One who is true:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. [Rev 3:14]

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. [Rev 19:11 NIV]

Jesus said, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world–to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” [Jhn 18:37 ESV]

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [Jhn 14:6 NIV]

Let’s also point to the One who brings GOOD news. I often see well-meaning Christians try to preach the gospel in a harsh manner, perhaps imitating past fire and brimstone teachers from many centuries ago. But we need to imitate Christ. We need to be balanced. He seemed to pronounce His woes on the religious leaders of the day, not on the common people who struggled with sin or life in general. Rather, he ate with them. In my own hometown, I recently saw a group with signs saying homosexuals are going to hell. My thought was why pick on one group of people, one sin, when all sinners are lost? Why not share a meal with them so that we can introduce them to the Savior? The bible says that the lost are spiritually dead. Can we argue with or condemn a dead person? Little effect there. First, they need to hear about Jesus and believe in Him to be free! Jesus didn’t look at people as spiritual tinder. He looked at them as spiritually sick and needing a physician. He is the Great Physician. His desire is to heal, not destroy. He has a good “bedside manner,” truthful, yes, but full of compassion. Jesus said he came to “bind up the brokenhearted.” It reminds me of setting a bone. Even in antiquity, they knew about reduction, splinting, and binding up a broken bone. When I hear a harsh approach to the gospel being undertaken, it makes me sad because it motivates people using unhealthy fear, when the bible says that the Lord leads with love:

I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them. [Hos 11:4 NIV]

In our main verses at the beginning of this blog, the Lord says He himself will search for His sheep and care for them. He wants to “proclaim good news to the poor,” to those who lack physical or spiritual riches. He wants to proclaim freedom and a release from spiritual darkness. He wants to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, to comfort all who mourn. Charles Spurgeon points out that the Lord’s favor is for a year, but His vengeance only a day. That day may be coming soon, and there may be a time for a more dire warning, but right now I sense a weary world, a weary nation, that may just want a little truth-filled good news.

Can I challenge you to share your faith? It does not need to be big and bold. It can be any little thing you ask the Lord to bless. I know of someone with an online retail business that sends out with every order little bible cards that point to Jesus. When they started years ago, they asked the Lord to bless it. Ten years later, they are on their 15,000th sale. It’s like the little boy that brings his two SMALL fish and five SMALL barley loaves to Jesus. He just blesses it, and it feeds thousands:

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” … Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. [Jhn 6:5-9, 11-13 NIV]

Let’s be little, and bring our little things to Jesus trusting that He will multiply to provide more than enough. Let’s take our eyes off the crowd’s needs and fix them on Jehovah Jireh, our Provider. Amen.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” [Mat 9:37-38 NIV]

Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash