Last Sunday, each Mars Hill church watched Pastor Mark’s sermon, “”http://marshill.com/media/gods-work-our-witness/of-first-importance">Of First Importance," on 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 and gospel-centered theology, one of the core values of Mars Hill Church. In today’s post, Pastor Dave Bruskas writes on the multifaceted relationship between Jesus and the gospel and why it really is good news.

by Pastor Dave Bruskas

“… and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” —Romans 1:4–6

In the very first sentence of his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul presents a three-dimensional relationship between Jesus and the gospel: Jesus is the Who, the What, and the Why of the good news.

Jesus the Who

The gospel is about Jesus.

Paul informs us that Jesus was fully human—"descended from David according to the flesh"—and is fully God—"Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Romans 1:3–4). His death and resurrection reveal his true identity and form the basis for the forgiveness of and freedom from sin (1:4–5).

This is great news for us, but it isn’t first great news about us. It is about Jesus. If we make it first about us, then we reduce the gospel to another method for boosting self-esteem. Jesus doesn’t make me feel good about being a sinner. He does something much better: he makes me righteous as a sinner and that makes me feel good about him.

Jesus the What

The gospel is Jesus.

A fair question to ask of any proposition is “what?” As in, “What’s in it for me?”

Pose this straightforward question to the gospel of Jesus, and the answer is revealed in Romans 1:6. Those who believe are those “who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

In others words, the result of the gospel is that we get to belong to Jesus! But this also means he can’t belong to us. If he belongs to us then we reduce the gospel to another method of self-improvement, and Jesus becomes nothing more than our ultimate power tool in getting the job done.

The gospel isn’t about becoming a better person. It’s about belonging to the best person ever: Jesus.

Jesus the Why

The gospel is for Jesus.

So what is the cosmic motive in all of this? Paul answers with a mission statement in verse 5: “To bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.”

The purpose of the gospel is the spread of the name of Jesus among all the peoples of the earth. It’s all about Jesus .

It’s all about Jesus’ glory—which means the gospel of Jesus can’t be about our glory. If we make it about our glory, we reduce the gospel to another method of self-actualization rather than the manifestation of his glory.

The Good News of Jesus

The Bible makes it crystal clear: the gospel is all about Jesus. It’s about his work in his people in spreading his glory—which means the gospel is not about self-esteem, self-improvement, or self-actualization. And for people who have come to the end of themselves, that is very good news indeed!

Dave Bruskas is the network pastor for all of Mars Hill Church.