As Christians most of us feel confident about two things – one, we know the gospel; and two, we know we need to simply proclaim the gospel – as best we can – in word and in deed. But I’m not sure about either of those things any more.

What is the ‘gospel’? Well, the word ‘gospel’ comes from the old English ‘godspel’ meaning ‘good news’. So I guess we can say the gospel is the ‘good news’ of Jesus.

But what is the ‘good news’ of Jesus? Recently I asked a national conference of full-time Christian evangelists, who had been preaching the ‘gospel’ faithfully day and night for years, to tell me their understanding of the ‘good news’ of Jesus.

As you can imagine everyone told me lots of great ideas about the ‘good news’. But not a single one of them told me what the ‘gospel’ was according to Jesus!

In the Bible there are four books with four versions of the gospel story. And the one thing that they all agree on is: that the ‘gospel’ according to Jesus is all about the ‘kingdom of God’ – or as it is sometimes called ‘the kingdom of heaven’.

Matthew says that Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching ‘the good news of the kingdom’(Matt.4.23). Luke says that Jesus said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4.43) And Mark says “The time has come,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1.15)

The core message of Jesus is the ‘gospel of the kingdom’. That’s why Jesus began his famous Sermon on the Mount with the words ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. (Matt. 5.3) In the sermon Jesus calls on his disciples to ‘seek first the kingdom’, to make it a priority, and to continually pray that the ‘kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven’.(Matt.6.33,10)

All throughout his ministry Jesus constantly preaches and teaches about the ‘kingdom’. All his parables are basically earthy stories about ‘the kingdom of heaven’.

At the end of his ministry, after his spectacular death and miraculous resurrection all Jesus wants to talk about is ‘the kingdom’. Luke says that ‘After his suffering, Jesus showed himself to the disciples and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.’ (Acts 1.3)

Only John records Jesus saying anything about ‘born again’ – twice on one occasion. Matthew, Mark, and Luke never record Jesus saying anything about being ‘born again’ at all. But all the gospel writers record Jesus speaking about the ‘kingdom of God’ again and again – some 114 times![1]

Interestingly enough, Jesus never defines ‘the kingdom’; but describes it so we can experience it, whether we fully understand the theology behind ‘the kingdom’ – or not.

The first way Jesus unpacks the ‘kingdom’ is through his parables.

Jesus says ‘the kingdom of God’ is like a seed that grows inside us. It starts small but grows big. It brings life, new life, with fresh thoughts and beautiful feelings, like flowers. And it makes our lives really fruitful. Many of us feel lost, but Jesus says ‘the kingdom’ is wherever a good shepherd finds the sheep that are lost, and whenever lost children find themselves again in the arms of a loving parent who gladly welcomes them and happily restores their broken and battered souls. (Luke 15)

The second way Jesus unpacks the ‘kingdom’ is through his relationships

Jesus advocates a ‘kingdom of friends for all those who feel friendless.’ The Pharisees noted, with disgust, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ (Luke 15.2) But Jesus ignores their disdain, saying to those weary with bearing the weight of public disapproval, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ (Matt. 12.28)

The third way Jesus unpacks the ‘kingdom’ is through his responses.

Jesus advocates a ‘kingdom of dreams come true – where there is real healing for the sick, the disturbed and distressed’. One evening ‘after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons.’ (Mark 1.32-34)

The fourth way Jesus unpacks the ‘kingdom’ is through his example.

Jesus embodies ‘the kingdom of a king who does not want to be a king’. Knowing that they intended to come and make him king, Jesus withdrew again to a mountain by himself’. (John 6.15) Jesus insisted ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Matt.20.28) Jesus refused to call his disciples ‘servants’. Instead, he called them ‘friends’ (John 15.15) And he said ‘greater love has no one than this – than to lay down his life for his friends’. (John 15.13) Which he did. That’s why I think its probably more helpful to refer to the ‘kingdom’ as the ‘kin(g)dom or ‘kindom’. It less about royalty and more about relationship and the way we ought to love one another.

Dave Andrews

From Hey, Be And See (Authentic)

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[1] Paul’s gospel is also a gospel of the ‘kingdom of God’. In Acts (19.8;28.23;28.30) we hear Paul preaching the ‘kingdom’ and in his letters we see Paul writing about ‘the kingdom’ over 15 times.