The Gospel for Every PersonНамуна

Have you ever wondered what motivated Jesus to do all that he did for us? Why would he be so willing to give up his divine privileges and submit himself to the humiliation of the cross? Why would he even bother in providing us with good news in the first place?

The answer that Scripture gives is profound—unconditional and undeserved love.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus loves everybody as if they are significant. His love for each person moved him to give up his divine privileges and take on human form (Philippians 2:6-8) and motivated him to give up his life as a sacrifice for their sins (1 John 3:16).

His love for every person is the reason there is hope and a gospel for every person.

Jesus loves everybody as if they were somebody!

Next time you are walking on a busy street or sitting around the dinner table at a family gathering, stop and take a look at the faces of those around you. Jesus knows each person by name, he knows their stories, the number of hairs on their head, their deepest hurts, their greatest joys. He knows their potential, the condition of their soul, and he knows their eternal destiny. Jesus' love for each person is so powerful that nothing in all of creation could separate them from it (Romans 8:35-39) and is so great that the human mind cannot conceive it (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Jesus' inconceivable love for each person is the reason the gospel is for every person. Regardless of what was going on around him, Jesus always found a way to draw close to the individual. He loved everybody as if they were somebody.

And he invites us to do the same.

John wrote that all who claim to be a follower of Jesus should live as Jesus did (1 John 2:6). Jesus lived as if everybody was somebody. Jesus loved every person enough to die so all might know his love and experience his grace. If Jesus lived and loved in this way, then surely we too are to live and love in his way.

Every person that you come into contact with is a person loved deeply by Christ, and he invites you to love them as well. He invites you to see them as somebody created in his image, as a person deserving of experiencing a relationship with him, and a person for whom there is good news.

The gospel is for every person because Jesus is for every person.

Application

Take some time (10-15 minutes) to meditate on the Lausanne painting depicting the gospel for every person. Specifically, focus on the image of the fisherman casting out a net. Try and imagine that you were in the place of the fisherman casting out the net. This identity as fishers of men is one that Jesus desires each of us to fulfill (Matthew 4:19).

How have you fulfilled this vision of Christ over your life? How have you not?

What prevents you from seeing everybody as a somebody?

Who has God placed in your path that he is inviting you to reach with the gospel?

After you have read the Scriptures, take some time in prayer asking God to fill you with the same burning passion and love that he has for people.