The apostle Paul, in recounting his ministry to the Christians of his day, said, “I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19). The Living Bible (1971) states, “I have preached the full gospel of Christ.” Just what is this “full” or “complete” gospel of Christ. What is its foundation? I need to remind you that Jesus said he had not come to talk about himself, but that he came to reveal the Father. The crux of the good news of Christ was actually good news about God. I, too, want to talk about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe the basic good news about God that I have shared over the years is that God is a good God. “God is a good God and the devil is a bad devil. There is no badness in God and there is no goodness in the devil. God is totally good and the devil is totally bad, for God is a good God and the devil is a bad devil,” as Oral Roberts often proclaimed.
Psalm 34:8 instructs us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” This is an invitation to get into a relationship with God, to test Him out to see if He is really good. In Psalm 100:5 we are also taught that “The Lord is good, and His mercy is everlasting; His truth endures to all generations.”
The one thing that Jesus came to prove to humanity was that good is a good God. I still find folk whose concept of God is that of a great policeman in the sky, ready to hit us over the head whenever we step out of line. They see God as a dictator. They blame God for everything that happens.
However, the Bible teaches that God is a good God: “You are good and do only good” (Psalm 119:68). Not only is goodness a basic attribute of our God, but it is also the motivation for His acts. We need to share this good news about our wonderful God, for the foundation of Christian teaching is that God is good and does good, and has planned only good for you.
From chapter 18 of the book “Exploring God’s Amazing Word” by Peter Wade, coming in October 2010.
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