We each occupy our own frail body, mortal while also limited in time, perspective, and space. We thus naturally tend to see the gospel from our own individual perspective and interest, fundamentally as our individual rescue from death. And once we grasp that, we turn to praying and preaching for the similar rescue of individuals around us including especially those most dear to us. How could we see the gospel any other way? After all, Christ came to save the lost. Those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ’s oh-so-expensive sacrifice receive their eternal reward, which is to escape from the mortal wages of sin and to instead receive eternal life.
The gospel is thus all about you, and all about me, and all about anyone else who hears the gospel, isn’t it? Well, not quite. Individual salvation is good news, certainly. And eternal life in Jesus Christ is a good news message we should share as earnestly and creatively as our energies permit. The devout Christian should have great concern for the lost soul, just as Jesus left the ninety-nine to save the one. Angels doubtless rejoice with every saved soul added to the heavenly chorus. Let’s not diminish by one iota our commitment to the eternal welfare of our lost brothers and sisters.
Yet this individual aspect of the gospel isn’t its only dimension. To each of us, individual salvation may look, seem, and feel like the gospel’s most significant dimension. We are who we are, and we are what we are: human. But the gospel has a bigger, broader, higher, and deeper dimension. And one doesn’t adequately articulate the gospel without including that foundational dimension on which everything else, including the gospel’s individual salvation, rests. Here it is: the good news of Jesus Christ is, fundamentally, a revelation of God’s goodness and grace. The gospel reveals, indeed magnificently displays, exactly how glorious God is.
So you might ask, what’s the difference? What’s it to us that God reveals even as he saves? Well, that difference is everything, you might say. Sure, individual salvation means a lot to any one of us. But individual salvation to what? The gospel’s larger, shall we say “corporate,” purpose gives individual salvation its richest meaning. Without the corporate worship of our gloriously grace-filled and sacrificially loving God, individual salvation might mean nothing. For the gospel to usher us from death to the arms of Christ is so enormously valuable and relieving precisely because God has, through the gospel, revealed who he is. God is so utterly and gloriously merciful that he is indeed like no other, far sweeter than anything we can imagine. When you share the gospel, share both its individual and divine significance.
