The Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Summary.

The term “Gospel” is used a great deal within the context of the bible and Christianity. The“Gospel” may mean different things in differing contexts. But it’s common to hear the term “The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The truths he shared which serve as his Gospel Message, exist to awaken us and serve as a guide for women and men to live our lives as unique, enlightened, self regulating, spiritual beings.

In Summary:

There’s a spiritual awakening which occurs that propels us to these ideals that he called “Being Born Again.”

There’s an aspect to living he described as True Worship of our creator, yet he said it would be acted out “In Spirit and In Truth.”

There’s a unity with the presence of God for each of us he described as “Being one with the Father.”

There's a flow we experience when we live out the precepts he shared which he called "Walking in the Light."

There’s a resulting aesthetic to living that Jesus described as “Having Abundant Life.”

There’s a culmination of all the above which he called, “Seeing the Kingdom of God.”

Notice all the emphasis above is on the present, while we’re alive: Themes founded in Spiritual Birth, Being in the Spirit, Worshipping through Truth, Unity with the Father, and Seeing the Kingdom. I also suggest these themes are not religious, nor require belief in things that aren't rational or don't have immediate application to our present day.

Here’s a portion of what’s written of Jesus's teaching that serves as the basis for his Gospel. Many of the scriptures attributed to Jesus’s teaching that speak most to these important aspect of our spiritual life and deeper understanding of our spiritual reality are listed here:

(Excerpts from the writings found in the Book of John)

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whomever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.. while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Here are some very vital excerpts from of what’s written of the prayer dialog of Jesus:

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that “they may be one as we are one.” “I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

(End of scripture excerpt)

There are so many valuable takeaways from these passages. If there’s a gospel message, much of it can be taken from these concepts!

To summarize this teaching, here’s what I read Jesus as sharing.

A foundation that I suggest, transcends the religious interpretation and priority that bind many well meaning, sincere seekers in a belief system they somehow find incapable of fully understanding, deeply embracing or openly sharing with others.

We are all one with the Father and have complete unity with the creative love intelligence we call God:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity."

Inclusivity surrounds the teachings that were shared for us:

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Peace is a take away from the Gospel of Light and Truth.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

The process of knowing truth and the spiritual rebirth results in love:

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

There is a leading each one of us inherently possesses which exists as Spirit:

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

The Father exists to guide, to serve and to interact in a deeply personal way within each of us:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.. while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful..

These concepts apply to many, many people and the message exists as the same reality where Jesus resides in:

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus serves as our example.

These concepts come from a place of Love - not sin and Judgement.

In this model there is the greatest opportunity for fulfillment and a version of Joy that can be considered as “complete.”

The priority is on knowing truth, spiritual birth and living in light of such truth, without the idea of ceremonial cleansing:

"You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you."

Adversity in life is also part of the process. Understanding these concepts will allow us to see beyond those painful experiences that we will eventually encounter as a normal part of living and loving:

Here's a paraphrase of the Gospel as it's been revealed to me:

Jesus teaches us:

“I’ve received revelation and inspiration from God. I’m sharing that inspiration and that revelation with you. The connection I have with the source of my inspiration is so close and represents so much unity that I call the presence “Father.”

I’m your example, your teacher, your guide and represent significant, necessary change. I also love you and though I am so deeply rooted in these concepts of unity with God, consider me as you would a friend. Because we have a great deal in common, you can share in a life experience and response to life that are similar to my own.

The greater support system that I draw upon and discuss exists for you as well. I’m part of the same system. When you’re walking in light of this truth and remain grounded in these principles, the joy you’ll experience will expand beyond yourself, and manifest as a blessing to others.

Because I have shared this with you, consider yourselves as enlightened. Having this new understanding ultimately results in the most profound response you can have to life and living and culminates in simple joy. But understand, this process combined with the effects of life and love will render life as imperfect. You will encounter difficulties of many types. But remain joyful, hopeful and accept the adversity. Because, this model for understanding life that I’m sharing, will provide you the knowledge, inspiration and power to either accept the difficulty or overcome the challenges. But while in this place of being, the results you’ll encounter will be Unity with God which will result in Love, and Joy. And ultimately manifest by your love for others.”

In summary...

God, is the creative, love intelligence that exists behind all of creation. It exists as Spirit. It resides within us as a guiding presence known as Our Father. The connections between the essence we call God, ourselves and the presence of the Father, is activated by the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit is to animate, give birth to, demonstrate, cause to be felt, or cause to be observed, all the extraordinary aspects of our existence by serving as the conduit for those things we may consider “spiritual,” as such things are revealed within our physical, or sensory existence. The seeker who has the eyes to see and ears to hear, awakens to, and ultimately embraces the concepts of essential truth taught by Jesus will experience an effect likened to being Born Again. A spiritual rebirth, awakened essentially, to a higher idea for what our everyday reality is. This reality is shared by Jesus and is ours as well. As we journey on our spiritual path, steeped in these ideas, it is likened to “Walking in the Light.”

Jesus uses the most ordinary words to explain the most extraordinary concepts by equating the resulting acute awareness or state of consciousness resulting from our “Born Again Spiritual Awakening,” and the process of “Walking in the Light” as “The Kingdom of God.” This term I contend, has been most often misunderstood and equated as the Kingdom of Heaven - and likened to a place that we encounter or inhabit “after” we transition from this life. I see this term in similar fashion to the differing concepts I shared for the term “Our Father.” Clarity I suggest that helps to place the Gospel message into our present incarnation and one that we can also “live into” with a natural cadence and rhythm to match our “actual life.” Not the life we live out for a couple hours on Sunday mornings. I understand this as a Gospel that’s rational yet transcendent and possessing real application while providing an actual, tangible basis for us to follow as we live out our lives and travel along our own unique spiritual journey.

In closing, I understand this term “Kingdom” to mean:

The all encompassing knowledge of God, the place of knowing Truth, and living in the light, where “the spiritual riches we posses” are found. As a kind of protected, prosperous abode and dwelling place where we can be found communing with the Holy Spirit and our Father.

Our own uniquely personal, Kingdom of God is the culmination of all the interwoven aspects of our growth spiritually and the pathways for living we've experienced or are yet to encounter - here and now - in our present incarnation.