I remember inspecting the foundation of a church we built in Japan. The supervisor showed me how precise the angles were. “Get the foundation right,” he said, “and the building will be stable. Make a small mistake here, and you’ll always have problems.” Thankfully, they got it right—and the result was solid.
Getting the foundation of Christianity right is just as important. The Bible is vast, and we can’t know it all equally, so we must know what’s foundational and start there.
The foundation of Christianity is the gospel—good news about something God has done. Christianity begins not with rules or rituals but with an announcement. And that announcement is good.
The shortest summary of the gospel I know is “God made it. We broke it. Jesus fixed it. By faith, I receive it.” Each of these statements tries to summarize an important part of the good news announcement of the gospel. Even more basic are the four words: “God. We. Jesus. Me.”
To get the gospel straight, you have to grasp at least four essential truths.
1. God (God made it.)
The good news starts with God: a good, holy and all-powerful God who created us, loves us and desires to know us. He created paradise and put us in the centre of it.
2. We (We broke it.)
The good news is good because it addresses something that is bad. The gospel says that the problem with the world is that we’ve made a mess of paradise by turning from God and His will for our lives. Our sin cursed paradise and put us under the death penalty, separated from God and destined for an eternity of consequence and punishment.
3. Jesus (Jesus fixed it.)
The announcement of the gospel hits its climax with Jesus coming to fix what we broke. He lived the perfect life we should have lived and then died the death that we deserved, and in so doing opened up a way for sinful people to make peace with a holy God. After dying as a criminal, He rose from the dead to show that the death penalty would indeed be reversed for all who turn to Him.
4. Me (By faith I receive it.)
The gospel ends with an invitation. What Jesus did to fix what we broke isn’t automatic. You and I must personally turn from our sins and put our full trust in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. We broke paradise by turning our backs on God and going our own way. Without Jesus’ death on our behalf, nothing could have fixed this. But because of what He did at the cross, we can know peace with God, forgiveness for all our sins and the hope of a renewed paradise in eternity with all true believers.
Are you certain that you’ve understood and responded to this good news? Could you repeat this good news message from memory? Do your children know this good news? And do they know that this is the very centre of our faith and the only hope for forgiveness before a holy God? If not, take the time to learn it.
Let’s take the time to get the foundation straight and pass it along faithfully and carefully.
In awe of Him,
Paul
