Christianity: Glorious News, Not Burdensome Advice

For many, Christianity is not good news. It is perceived as a burden, a weight, a guilt trip. Many think it is an endless ladder of self-improvement that must be climbed, never knowing when one has grasped the favor of God.

But this is not what the Bible teaches. The core message of the Bible is the gospel, which means “good news.” So when you boil down all of the sermons, the hymns, the baptisms, and the celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, what is it about the message of the Christian faith that actually makes it good news?

The Apostle Paul sums up the things of ‘first importance’: “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, ESV).

Notice who does the acting. It is Christ who died, who was buried, who was raised. It was not us. The good news is not a cooperative effort. We are not partners with Christ in the work of redemption. He does all the work for us. That is why Jesus’ last words before he died were “It is finished,” not “It has begun” (John 19:30).

But here is the problem: we have a very hard time believing that everything has truly been accomplished. Rather than realizing that Christ’s blood will cover our sin, we talk about how we must get our lives “cleaned up” before we come to Christ. Rather than testifying to Christ’s perfect substitution, we twist Christianity to be only about our personal transformation. Rather than understanding that our righteousness is from Christ and in him, we talk about being a “good Christian.” In short, Christianity becomes a burdensome religion about what we must do, rather than a declaration of what has been done.

Consider how glorious news it is if everything has indeed been done by Christ.

Because Christ bore the wrath of God on the cross, we have the approval of God and can stop living for the acceptance of others. Because Christ’s resume of perfection is ours by faith, we can finally admit our weaknesses and sins. Because of what Christ has done, my improvement will come from God’s approval; God’s approval will not come from my improvement.

What good news the gospel is!