Posts: Characteristics of the Good News

Characteristics of the Good News

To a non-Christian, what is good about the Good News? #1 Overcoming myself (Romans 8:13 – 14, 26, 2 Corinthians 3:18). All people become disappointed in themselves. God has promised to supply the power to overcome our character flaws if we will trust that God knows what He is doing and if we will care about people. Forgiveness doesn’t mean much if we can’t escape our cyclic prison of failures. The Good News is that we can be free while still breathing.

To a non-Christian, what is good about the Good News? #2 Coping with life (Philippians 4:6 – 7). Life on earth is stressful. Aside from the misfortune we bring on ourselves, we are beaten down by everything from natural disasters to accidents to the pervasive evils around us. God promises those who trust Him and care about people that life on earth, with all its pitfalls, can be managed successfully. The Good News is that we can dispose of anxiety.

To a non-Christian, what is good about the Good News? #3 Family (1 John 3:1 – 3) People with dysfunctional families know it and want better. People with healthy families value them. The church was designed to be a gigantic extended family in which we find comfort, encouragement, stimulation, love, joy, loyalty, connection, and refuge. The appeal of family touches everyone.

To a non-Christian, what is good about the Good News? #4 Value (Matthew 6:26, 10:31, Luke 12:24). Certainly, one can assert truly that God cares for humankind. Jesus went a step further and emphasized that every individual is valuable to God, not just the group. In a world enamored of labeling people, God wants us to know that each person is individually important and worthy of personal notice.

To a non-Christian, what is good about the Good News? #5 Purpose. Solomon wrote, “All is pointlessness and chasing after the wind.” Earthly life has been well characterized as the “rat race.” The gospel offers purpose to life. God wants a big family that will last and has determined that mutual trust and selfless concern for others are the traits that will allow that to happen. This world is the necessary incubator for faith (trust). Life has purpose; we participate in building an eternal family.

To a non-Christian, what is good about the Good News? #6 Reality (John 8:32, 1 Corinthians 15:1 – 8) In a time when truth is hard to find, Christianity remains the only system of thought that is based on physical evidence. Unfortunately, airheads have deceived many with unfounded promises based on “just believe,” which leads only to bankruptcy. Everyone knows that those who stand on facts will win in the end.

To a non-Christian, what is good about the Good News? #7 Liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). The faithful are truly free: free from the oppression of our own pasts, free from fear of the future, free from earthly authority figures who want to control our minds and hearts. We have but one authority figure, Jesus, who lives to guarantee that freedom. Men have risked position, property, and life for political liberty. Of how much more value is liberty of spirit?

Characteristics of the Good News

Jesus and Paul announced the good news of the kingdom of God (Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 24:14, Mark 1:14, Luke 8:1, Acts 20:24 – 25). Jesus currently reigns over all governments of the earth. “There is no authority except from God, and those [governments] which exist are established by God” (Romans 13:1). God manipulates earthly governments to maintain this incubator for faith at the optimum conditions for producing a big family that will last. Unfortunately, many church-goers are like the Jews of Jesus’ time who expected military conquest.

An essential characteristic of the good news, according to Jesus and as predicted by Isaiah, is that the target audience is the poor (Matthew 11:5, Luke 4:18, 7:22). Historically, the poor have been the prey of religion (and government). In God’s system, the wealthy are not favored but are instead at greater risk. The hierarchy of privilege has been cast down. Instead, the poor can understand the message easily and have the liberty to succeed through the Spirit.

An essential characteristic of the good news is that God has a gracious nature and desires for the faithful to develop the same nature (Acts 14:3 – 7, 14:15 – 22, 20:24 – 32, Galatians 1:6 – 11, Philippians 1:3 – 11). In most religions, the point is to manipulate the god, either to purchase favor or avoid wrath. The gracious nature of God is good news in that God has our best interests in mind, is not spiteful or capricious but patient and gentle, and truly cares about us as individuals.

An essential characteristic of the good news is its foundation of evidence (Romans 1:1 – 6, 1 Corinthians 15:1 – 8, Galatians 2:14, Ephesians 1:13, Colossians 1:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Timothy 2:8). Most religions are based on legend, philosophy, or fanaticism. Christianity is the only one founded on reality, logic, and proof. Faith is making decisions based on promises from God backed by a spotless track record and mountains of evidence. Science and faith are always on the same page, unless one or the other gets hijacked by dubious agendas.

An essential characteristic of the good news is that the standard for acceptance is making decisions based on the promises of God (Romans 1:15 – 17, 2:16). Of course, we all needed to be bailed out of the right-wrong system, so the sacrifice of Jesus was necessary. But that historical event just makes us eligible for the race. Trusting God for character development through the Spirit and doing the little things that open that door puts us on track with the terminal objective: a big family that will last.

An essential characteristic of the good news is that the plan was designed to succeed despite opposition and low response rates (Romans 11:28, 2 Corinthians 4:3). God is not reacting or adapting, He is developing trust, upon which true family is built. Imagine if, after Judgment, those in heaven didn’t trust each other. Eternity would be just like earth, only longer.

An essential characteristic of the good news is the quality of Jesus’ nature and our acquisition of the same (2 Corinthians 4:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, 1 Timothy 1:11). The faithful must not consider themselves defective, worthless, or perpetual failures. Instead, we are those being transformed into His image by the power of the Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We have a realistic, confident expectation that, even when we choose badly, tomorrow holds the promise of success.

An essential characteristic of the good news is peace (Ephesians 6:15). Life is not intended to be a struggle. We can be at peace with God, with others, and with ourselves. Others may not want peace with us, which is unfortunate and beyond our control. But the lives of the faithful on earth should be characterized as peaceful, not filled with conflict. Perhaps more importantly, we are at peace with who we are. Nearly every letter in the New Testament starts and ends with a prayer that the faithful develop a gracious and peaceful nature.

An essential characteristic of the good news is hope (Colossians 1:23, 2 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 4:2 – 6). How can we have a realistic hope when we know we don’t measure up? Many turn to self-deception and arbitrary benchmarks for acceptance. God’s good news is that His purpose for creation and for us individually is to develop the fundamental character trait that holds the eternal family together: trust. Jesus bailed us out of the bankrupt right-and-wrong system so we could become the passionately loyal and gracious spirits He envisioned.