Jesus calls His message for this world, good news.
As Christians we know what good news is. How do we express that? Most of us would use words like “being saved”. Now that is good news. Some would say that being justified, redeemed, added to God’s family, His church is good news. And they would be right. These words mean a lot to us and speak of the amazing gift God has given to us as we responded to His good news message.
However we didn’t always express the good news of Jesus that way. We didn’t even now how to spell “justification”, let alone spell out what it means.
When we first heard the good news we saw it as it related to us at that point in our lives. If you are a baby boomer, then you probably saw the good news in some familiar terms in relation to faith in God and faith in the Bible.
Those days are gone. We live in societies that know little of God or of the Bible. So when we speak of good news to them it looks very different to the images and ideas we have had.
If you are speaking to a person who hasn’t had a decent meal all week and you tell him you have good news, what does that look like to him? He can’t help but think of a good meal. His basic need frames his whole world for that day. Do you think that might have had something to with Jesus feeding great crowds? See Mark 6:34-44 etc.
If you are taking the good news to a person who has been discriminated against all their life, have a guess what good news looks like to them? They imagine a life where they are accepted and loved. Do you think that might have a lot to do with Jesus spending so much time with the disenfranchised of His society? See Matthew 9:10-13
Jesus often presented good news to people in terms of what the people He was speaking thought was good news.
Lost Things. To those who feel like they have lost something, or feel like they are missing something He would frame the good news with a story of someone finding something value in the ordinary run of life. See Luke 15:4-9.
Failed Relationships. For those who had lost a relationship to someone close, even family, He would tell a story of a wasteful and selfish son who returned to his father. See Like 15:11 ff.
You can seeing Jesus thinking, “What would these people think good news is?”. We spend so much time telling people of doctrinal positions and elegant frameworks of truths and what does Jesus do? He tells people stories, but not just entertaining stories. They are stories the have at the core of their message, the good news of Jesus. But why does He speak in stories? Because He doesn’t just want to state the truth, He wants to communicate it. And who determines what communicates? The speaker or the hearer? It is the hearer.
To those used the language and structure of a kingdom He presented the good news as a coming king
To those who were being ruled by an army of occupation he spoke of the kingdom being restored to Israel.
To those who were used to farming He would proclaim good news in terms of planting and harvesting.
To those who were being ruled by an army of occupation he spoke of the kingdom being restored to Israel.
To those who were used to farming He would proclaim good news in terms of planting and harvesting.
What He was actually doing was fulfilling God’s plan to bring everything together under Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). However when He spoke of this good news He would speak in the language and aspirations of the hearers.
You and I need to look at those people that God is bringing into our lives and ask, “What does good news look like to them?”. Initially it may have nothing to do with Bible study, church or even Jesus. What will it look like?
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