Many Gospels (Telling the Story of God III)

Not only is the Gospel—as it is understood by our culture—easily dismissed, but even within the Church, the true Gospel—the good news of the Kingdom and of Jesus the King—is in competition with other gospels. When we ask, “What is the Gospel?”, we are up against all the competing models of the Gospel by which human hearts have caged and tamed Jesus’ revolutionary Gospel.

Jesus’ message is transformation: the kingdom of God is the place where all is made new. But, as we know from the Velveteen Rabbit, transformation is always painful. “Becoming real” hurts.[1] Transformation demands sacrifice, and sacrifice always costs. As Jesus himself said, you must “lose your life.” [2] Sounds like fun, right?

This costly Gospel is competing with other “gospels,” many of which humans find to be far more comfortable and, therefore, more compelling. The concept of “other gospels” may sound strange, but within twenty years of Jesus’ resurrection, Paul alluded to the possibility of “a different gospel” being preached.[3] And indeed, today we have a plethora of “different gospels.” Turn on any number of satellite TV channels and you’ll see that the Gospel is often portrayed as if you have enough faith, you’ll be saved from all suffering. This prosperity gospel is clearly not the message of Scripture, and it really misses the point of “the fellowship of [Christ’s] suffering.”[4] However, we humans really like the idea of a life of total ease, and the prosperity gospel merges easily with the cultural narrative of the American dream, so it often carries the day.[5]

My friend Bill Hull created a chart to display six of the most prominent contemporary gospels preached today.[6]

Notice that each gospel creates a different kind of disciple. If, for example, you preach a “forgiveness only” gospel, in which God gives us the forgiveness of sins but demands no further transformation (clearly not the New Testament narrative), you tend to create a passive disciple who thinks that actually following Jesus is optional. The “free grace movement” has taught millions of people that all you need to do is believe the right things—that Jesus died for your sins, that you can’t do anything to earn his grace—and you’ll go to heaven when you die. This message, while carrying seeds of truth, bastardizes Jesus’ invitation to a life of transformation through the grace of God.[7] You end up with disciples who are dogmatic about how right they are but who aren’t necessarily committed to following Jesus!

So it goes with each competing gospel—the gospel of the left, the prosperity gospel, the consumer gospel, the gospel of the right. Each creates a disciple made in its own image, according to its own values.[8] This is why it’s so important that we understand what Jesus taught, the Gospel of the Kingdom.[9] All this competition can dull us, keeping us from seeing the revolutionary call of Jesus’ Gospel, the good news of transformation in and through Jesus, both in this world and in the world to come.

Not surprisingly, to discover (or rediscover) this Gospel, we must turn to Jesus himself.

For all of these readings in one place, order my book 'Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus.'

[1] The honest admission of the Skin Horse in Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit. (HarperPerennial Classics, New York, NY. 2013.)

[2] Matthew 10:39.

[3] Galatians 1:8.

[4] Philippians 3:10.

[5] The prosperity gospel is also catalyzed by The Human Paradigm and the belief that if I do well enough (e.g., “if I have enough faith”), God will bless me.

[6] Modified from Conversion and Discipleship: You Can’t Have One Without the Other by Bill Hull. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2016. Page 33. Note that each gospel contains a measure of truth. The true Gospel does include forgiveness, we are called to social justice, God does care about our prosperity, and so on. But in each instance, half a truth ends up becoming a great lie.

[7] See Bates, 24-25.

[8] Notice that each gospel is based on a truth. Caring for the poor (Gospel of the Left), for example, is clearly a part of the Gospel (e.g., James 1:27, Matthew 25:31-46), God does care about our well-being (the Prosperity Gospel), and so on. The issue is a lack of balance among all the essentials, which only happens when we understand the Gospel that Jesus taught: a Gospel about Jesus as the atoning King, his coming kingdom, and the need to follow him as Lord. When we understand that, all the truths find their place and their balance with one another.

[9] For an excellent resource, see The Discipleship Gospel: What Jesus Preached, We Must Follow by Ben Sobels and Bill Hull. HIM Publishing. Nashville, TN. 2018.