The gospel is meant to be a means to become more like Jesus

What is the intended outcome of Christianity? How are adherents to the faith meant to be different as a result of their faith? If the fruit of Christianity is to sometimes do something marginally better than you otherwise would, then it provides no benefit over what many nonChristians already enjoy. Christianity is meant to be so much more than this. Christianity, properly lived, provides the means for a person to continuously become more like Jesus Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a mechanism to learn what he does, why he does it, and how he does it. The word “gospel” comes from two Old English words meaning “good” and “story.” These two words brilliantly encapsulate what the gospel is: what is good, how to do good, and why to do good. The “good story” is how Jesus is, how and why he became how he is, and how and why we are to become like him.

Common Christianity has lost the fact that the gospel is a mechanism to effect change in us. The gospel enables us to become and remain reconciled to how God would act in our place as we continue increasing in our understanding of how he is. To be a real Christian is to be a disciple of Christ—to learn and live according to how Jesus would in your place.

For far too many, the gospel is a list of things you do or don’t do. Most Christians place their focus on the presence or absence of specific outward actions. While such a low-information representation of the gospel may yield outcomes that are preferable to nothing at all, it is nonetheless woefully inadequate to yield anything near what God intends. The vast difference between the fruits of common Christianity and the historical gospel, as recorded in scripture, continually demonstrate this.

Christianity is not just about going to church. There will always be more Pharisees to fill the seats in church than there are disciples to fulfill the purpose of church. Church is meant to be a means to demonstrate how God is and persuade others to be like him.

Religious rites are not the gospel. They are invitations to become more like Christ, not magical spells that provide you with the blessings of being like him without requiring you to actually become that way. They are symbols demonstrating the requirements and the path to becoming as Christ is.

The gospel is not merely about studying the scriptures. God has enough scribes ready to recite his word, but very few disciples willing to live it. Christianity is not just about what you think about God, but principally how much you know about and act like him.

Disciples of Christ strive to become as much like Jesus as they can be, not as little like Jesus as they can get away with. While many professed Christians use their religion as an excuse for why they don’t have to actually be like Jesus, real Christians find in their religion all the power needed to live as he would in their place and every necessary reason to desire to do so.

Becoming like God is the point and intent of the gospel. The gospel is about who you are and who you become, not just what you do. Jesus Christ is not just a static set of words, actions, or even ideas, and —neither is his gospel. Rather, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a process a process that increases your understanding of who, what, and why Jesus Christ is. We are meant to be like Jesus. The Lord plainly taught that it is his desire and intent that we be like him:¹ to feel how he feels, to think how he thinks, and to do what he does.

The gospel is the solution to the otherwise impossible puzzle of conveying the character of God: What is God like, why should we be the same way, and how do we accomplish it? The breadth and depth of differences between us and God¹¹ present myriad obstacles that inhibit him from more fully revealing himself to us. In our default state, we are not like God, we do not know what God is like, we would not like him very much if we did, we do not know how to get to know him, and we would not want to even if we did. It is only through the mercy and merits of Christ¹² that this can be accomplished.

The gospel consists of the instruction and persuasive reasons necessary to learn and live the character of God.¹³ The gospel of Jesus Christ conveys the content of his character and adequate reasons to adopt it. The gospel is a means of improving our beliefs, feelings, and actions through the incremental revelation of the character of Christ,¹⁴ which provides us a model of how he is and sufficient reasons to make the necessary changes to become that way ourselves.¹⁵ The gospel of Jesus Christ is the process by which God shows you more of how he is while providing you the opportunity, reasons, and capability to become the same way yourself. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a mechanism which yields greater access to, perception of, and acquisition of the character of God by his children. Every facet of the gospel yields greater understanding of how God is, facilitates our becoming more like him in some way, and enables us to help others do the same. By learning and living the gospel, we learn more about how he is and become that way ourselves.