2 weeks ago I talked about the way the gospel message was wrongly built built upon the breaking of a commandment instead of the Father’s love for mankind.  And because of that it caused us to misunderstood some things pertaining to the gospel.  

If we just look at justification as an example.  Because we built the gospel on the breaking of a commandment instead of the Father’s love for all people justification was taught as if mankind needed to be justified to God instead of justification being taught as mankind being justified by God.  

We wrongly laid our foundation on the disobedience of Adam instead of the Father’s love and because of that justification was taught as if God was the one accusing mankind and uncovering their nakedness and we need to be justified to Him.  Instead of justification being taught as God being the advocate of mankind and Him coming to defend us against the accusation of the evil one by clothing upon us with His life when we were naked in our sin.

Today I want to look at what is Gospel to God so we can have some clarity concerning what the gospel message actually is.

We have the gospel according to John and Matthew and Luke and Mark.  What would the Gospel according to God sound like?

The gospel means good news.  When we think of the gospel & what the message of the gospel is.  We should ask ourselves what would be good news to God.  We cannot define the gospel correctly outside of seeing what would be good news to God.  

I think sometimes we think the gospel is only good news for us.  We struggle to see the gospel is also good news to God.  We may not have thought of it this way but the gospel isnt only good news to mankind it is also good news to God.  The gospel is God sharing news that is good news to Him with the world.  

What would be good news to God?  

If we want to understand what is good news to God we need to first see what was in Gods heart from the beginning.  Our gospel should begin with the foundation of why God was creating to begin with.  What was in Gods heart when He said Let there be Light and when He made mankind.  

The traditions of men have taught us what was in Gods heart from the beginning was to see if Adam would be obedient to Him or not.  But that’s not what Gods mind was filled with in the beginning.  Gods mind wasn’t filled with seeing if Adam would obey Him or not. 

The scripture doesn’t say in the beginning God gave Adam an order to perform to see if Adam would be a good little boy or not.  The scripture says God blessed Adam and called Him Son before Adam could do anything right or wrong.  

So what was in God hearts from the beginning when He began to create.  What was God after when He created the heavens and the earth and He made mankind.  

The thing that was in Gods heart in the beginning of creation was that He wanted a friend.  Someone He could identify with; someone He could see Himself in when He looked upon their faces.  

His heart was for this friend to be equal sharers with Him in His eternal life.  He wanted to dwell together with this friend in a glorified earth and creation where there was no sin and death or darkness and corruption.  And the reason He wanted this was so He could spend all His days serving His friend with life and  loving them with all His heart, all His soul, and all His strength.  

In Revelation 21 Jesus says I am alpha and omega it is done.  What is done?  What God began in the beginning when he started to create and when He made man.  

Revelation 21 describes it is done by saying behold the tabernacle of God is with man.  Behold the dwelling place of God is with man.  The place where God finds His rest; the place God calls home; the place where Gods heart is, is with man.  

It is done I am alpha and omega.  The sea that was separating heaven and earth has been removed.  The physical heaven and the physical earth have become one one. The thing that was always in Gods heart to dwell with man in a glorified earth where there is no sin and death and the darkness has been separated from the light.  And God can spend all His days loving mankind with every ounce of His being.  It is done.  I am alpha and omega.  I am him who began the desire of God’s heart when God said let there be light and I am him who has brought God’s desire to completion by once and for all separating the darkness from the light.  

Now in light of what was in Gods heart from the beginning.  What would be bad news to God?  As we think of what is the good news to God it can help us if we can see what would be bad news to God.  

Bad news to God would be if the one He wanted to serve with His life and spend all His days loving was joined with sin and death and was perishing and all of creation was perishing with them.  

You see whats happened is the traditions of men have made it out as if the news that was bad to God was that we didnt obey His orders instead of the fact that we were dying.  The traditions of men have made it out as if the thing that was most upsetting to God about the situation was that Adam didn’t obey instead of the fact that Adam was dying and his heart was filled with fear.

I mean if I look at my own life.  I overdosed on drugs when I was 12 and died.  Now what do you think was the bad news to my parents?  Was the bad news that I disobeyed them or that I was dying?  What do you think their minds were filled with?  Do you think their minds were filled with my disobedience and punishing me for my disobedience or was their minds filled with our son is dying and needs to be saved from death?  

The thing that was in my parents mind was ..... The son of our dreams ... the one whom we love ... the one who gave us so much joy when we thought of sharing life together ... the one whose life is precious to us that we had so many dreams for is dying ......  thats what was in their mind ....... that’s the bad news ....  

now did I disobey?  Absolutely but my disobedience is not what my parents mind was filled with.  When they thought of making straight what had gotten crooked their mind wasn’t filled with anger towards me.  Their mind wasn’t filled with how I must be punished in order for this to be right.  My goodness I was already being punished at the hands of the drugs in the worst possible way.  There is no greater punishment than being dead.  

You know my parents didnt tell me not to do drugs to see if I would be a good little boy and obey.  Their mind was never filled with my obedience it was filled with preserving my life from death.  Even as they were telling me not to do drugs the reasoning behind them telling me that was to keep my life from harm.  Not to see if I would be obedient to them or not.  

In the very same way the reasoning behind God telling Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was because He didnt want any harm to come to Adams life and He knew the tree was corrupted and it could kill Adam.  Gods mind wasnt filled with Adam being obedient to His orders it was filled with preserving Adams life from death.  Clothing us with His life and preserving our lives from death has always been the focus of everything God has ever said and done. 

We judged the heart of God through our sin stained conscience instead of the love He has for us.  We thought what was in Gods heart was a demand we be obedient instead of seeing His heart in saying not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a Father desiring for the children He loves to live and not die.  

Because of that we’ve built our gospel around the idea that Gods mind was filled with punishing man for their disobedience instead of seeing that man was already being bruised and beaten by the death that came upon them from their disobedience and everything God has done in Christ is to deliver man from the punishment that was already come upon them.  

So now what would be gospel to God?  What would be the good news to God?  

Good news to God would be for the dream He had for His life with man to be restored and for Him to have a certainty it would come to pass. 

If God can now see that His friend who was dying has been delivered from the pangs of death and can now live eternally with Him never to be able to die again that would be good news to God. 

I can tell you the good news for my parents was that there Son who was dead was brought back from the dead and was now alive.  

2Ti 1:9 God Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
2Ti 1:10  But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

Good news to God would be that He can spend all His days loving you and upholding you and serving you with His life.  Jesus washed the disciples feet.  The thing that made him happy was to minister to people’s needs.  Good news for God is that He can spend all His days  loving your life.  

The good news is not that God isnt angry with you.  The good news is not God punished Jesus instead of you.  The good news is not God took out His anger over your sin on Jesus instead of you.   Yes if you thought you were dying on account of God being angry with you then it can be nice to hear God isnt angry with you anymore.  But, thats not the good news because God was never filled with retributive anger towards you.  Man was never dying on account of God being angry.  God was always filled with lovingkindness towards man to save them from what harms them and to give them a hope and a future.