Presenting the Gospel

[Michelle]

As a bible teacher, I am also helping Christians present their Gospel clearly, choose words wisely, and make a good logical argument because:
... we'd spend less time talking about how to talk about what we're talking about and more time talking about what we're talking about (You)

This quote is from a thread about something completely different — a debate (sort of) about evolution. It, the quote that is, kept coming to mind during this past week. I'd like to know how people present their gospel (well, the gospel of Christ) clearly, choose words wisely, and make good logical arguments.

How do YOU succinctly articulate the Gospel?

[jeremiah]

I heard N.T. Wright say something like this in a podcast. I offer it of course knowing there are other ways to proclaim the kingdom of God, but it's stuck with me ever since I heard it:

...but if I only had a few moments I would tell very simply the story of Jesus... There was a man. He was a Jew. He believed God's purposes to rescue the world were coming to fulfillment. He died to take the weight of evil on himself. He rose to launch God's project and to invite the whole world to join in and find it for themselves...

"Go out and compel them to come in..."

[mattrose]

I don't mean to sound like I'm giving a 'overly spiritual' (whatever that means) answer, but I really try to rely on the Spirit to help me present the Gospel contextually in every case. I find myself actually utilizing different atonement theories (since I adhere to an eclectic view of how the atonement works) to illustrate how we are reconciled to God, but I also make my MAJOR emphasis on the nature of the Kingdom of God.

For an example of the former, the other day I shared the Gospel in a surprising new way (surprising in the sense that I didn't prepare to share it that way and have never actually thought of it that way before!). I was using the metaphor of different 'paths' that we may be on in life. I said that ALL paths are dead ends (we all die). The difference is that there is 1 path that continues on the other side of the dead end... and that is because Jesus walked that path, died, and rose again. We can follow him on that path instead of getting stuck on all the other paths. Sort of a strange illustration, but it came to me in the moment and it seemed to have some affect.

As an example of the latter, the other day I shared the Gospel with a group of teens by saying there are tons and tons of 'kingdoms' in this world since a kingdom is, essentially, just a group of people devoted to some sovereign ruler. I said there is a 'kingdom of money' where money is the thing bowed to. There is a 'kingdom of popularity' where everything lives to be liked. But all but 1 of these kingdoms fall apart in the end. There is only 1 kingdom that will go on forever b/c it is not based on a concept, but a real being.

Come to think of it, I shared the Gospel a similar way to some kids this Sunday in Jr. church class. I was given the assignment to teach them that 'God never changes.' I shared about how forms of communication have changed a ton in my relatively short lifespan. I shared about all the different 'best friends' I've had in my 32 years. I shared about our church building and all the modifications its been through in less than 150 years. At the end of each point I said "everything changes." But as a final point I said there is 1 exception. God's love for them does not change. God's desire to relate to them does not change. God's faithfulness does not change. I did sense the Spirit speaking through that lesson to those 4-6 graders.

[Michelle]

I heard N.T. Wright say something like this in a podcast. I offer it of course knowing there are other ways to proclaim the kingdom of God, but it's stuck with me ever since I heard it:

...but if I only had a few moments I would tell very simply the story of Jesus... There was a man. He was a Jew. He believed God's purposes to rescue the world were coming to fulfillment. He died to take the weight of evil on himself. He rose to launch God's project and to invite the whole world to join in and find it for themselves...

"Go out and compel them to come in..."

Thank you, Jeremiah! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Your very concise story doesn't mention that Jesus was God, in fact, it seems to imply that he was not God. Do you believe that Jesus's divinity is unimportant to his story? (I'm just curious, not looking to spark a discussion on it.)

[Michelle]

I don't mean to sound like I'm giving a 'overly spiritual' (whatever that means) answer, but I really try to rely on the Spirit to help me present the Gospel contextually in every case. I find myself actually utilizing different atonement theories (since I adhere to an eclectic view of how the atonement works) to illustrate how we are reconciled to God, but I also make my MAJOR emphasis on the nature of the Kingdom of God.

For an example of the former, the other day I shared the Gospel in a surprising new way (surprising in the sense that I didn't prepare to share it that way and have never actually thought of it that way before!). I was using the metaphor of different 'paths' that we may be on in life. I said that ALL paths are dead ends (we all die). The difference is that there is 1 path that continues on the other side of the dead end... and that is because Jesus walked that path, died, and rose again. We can follow him on that path instead of getting stuck on all the other paths. Sort of a strange illustration, but it came to me in the moment and it seemed to have some affect.

As an example of the latter, the other day I shared the Gospel with a group of teens by saying there are tons and tons of 'kingdoms' in this world since a kingdom is, essentially, just a group of people devoted to some sovereign ruler. I said there is a 'kingdom of money' where money is the thing bowed to. There is a 'kingdom of popularity' where everything lives to be liked. But all but 1 of these kingdoms fall apart in the end. There is only 1 kingdom that will go on forever b/c it is not based on a concept, but a real being.

Come to think of it, I shared the Gospel a similar way to some kids this Sunday in Jr. church class. I was given the assignment to teach them that 'God never changes.' I shared about how forms of communication have changed a ton in my relatively short lifespan. I shared about all the different 'best friends' I've had in my 32 years. I shared about our church building and all the modifications its been through in less than 150 years. At the end of each point I said "everything changes." But as a final point I said there is 1 exception. God's love for them does not change. God's desire to relate to them does not change. God's faithfulness does not change. I did sense the Spirit speaking through that lesson to those 4-6 graders.

Thanks for your examples, Matt. I like them all, but I the dead end paths with the one that comes through on the other side really piqued my imagination. I seems to picture our baptism, as well. (Okay, maybe not perfectly, but somehow coming up from the water seems like coming through on the other side....I dunno....)

[dwilkins]

I think that this can be difficult if we are trying to stick too closely to the New Testament examples because most of them are based on conversations with a target audiences who were highly skilled in Old Testament scripture and who were expecting an eschatological climax in their generation. No audience in 2013 would see sermons like Peter's on Pentecost the same way that his generation did. In addition, I think McKnight did a good job of trying to differentiate between the gospel and the plan of salvation, so in following him I don't know if my answer is going to address the question you have in mind. I'd say that a modern pitch of the gospel is that throughout history God has been developing a plan for how to reconcile man back to him. He chose to use Abraham and the nation of Israel as a vehicle for executing this plan in history. The Son of God was born into the nation of Israel to deliver the faithful members of that nation and at the same time offer deliverance to all men. The good news is that God has succeeded in providing a way to reconcile man back to him.

The plan of salvation is a somewhat different issue. I think that the eclectic view of atonement provides us with a lot of flexibility in dealing with people who are in different places in life. I don't think that the same plan of salvation should be used on a 10 year old who hasn't really done much wrong and a 30 year old crack whore. For the 10 year old I think I'd emphasize that God loves him and has provided a way for him to grow up in the likeness of God, though this will require that the child commit to emulating Christ and trusting in God. Of course, repenting of whatever sin comes to mind would be in the picture, but it might not be a very penetrating issue. For the crack whore, I think emphasizing God's ability to deliver that person from a totally broken life of humiliation and degradation would be more compelling. I think the crack whore would be more drawn to an opportunity to have a fresh start. In either case, God is looking for the person to publicly declare that he is trusting in Christ's work to provide him with eternal life.

Doug

[Michelle]

Thanks for your response, Doug. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, so your response is entirely appropriate. I'm not sure I understand what "plan of salvation" means in your response. When you reference McKnight, are you talking about The King Jesus Gospel? If so, I haven't read the book, though I'd like to.

[dwilkins]

Thanks for your response, Doug. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, so your response is entirely appropriate. I'm not sure I understand what "plan of salvation" means in your response. When you reference McKnight, are you talking about The King Jesus Gospel? If so, I haven't read the book, though I'd like to.

That is indeed the book I was referring to. His point there is that the gospel, or good news, isn't how to get saved. The good news is that God followed through on his plan to provide salvation at all. There turns out to be quite a bit about the gospel in scripture, but not much about the plan of salvation, which he would define as how to take advantage of it. The plan of salvation in scripture is basically "repent and be baptized". I don't have a problem with that, but in many cases "repent" is tied into a detailed argument about national judgment against the Jews that's on the horizon and in modern times there may not be a similar generally accepted crisis on as a point of reference, so we might have to be more detailed about what unbelievers should be trying to avoid. My only problem with the book is that he doesn't go into as much detail as I'd have liked in describing what he considers good plans of salvation. However, there is also a good chance that I'm over thinking that particular point so that he'd say that it's a pretty intuitive thing that a sincere person would probably not be able to screw up. I think he would agree with me, though, that in our scriptural examples there is very little theological material being stipulated to (i.e., you must believe that Jesus was God, you must believe that he died for everyone's sins, etc.), which brings into question how the lordship piece is supposed to work if it has to be done at the moment of salvation.

Doug

[jeremiah]

Good morning Michelle,

Thank you, Jeremiah! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Your very concise story doesn't mention that Jesus was God, in fact, it seems to imply that he was not God. Do you believe that Jesus's divinity is unimportant to his story? (I'm just curious, not looking to spark a discussion on it.)

You're very welcome. Just to be clear though, I was quoting N.T. Wright, but since I didn't remember his exact words I left out the marks. Wright definitely upholds the trinity as the correct understanding, so I'm sure he is not intending to imply Jesus to be only a man and not divine.

Yes I believe Jesus' divinity is important in a protracted discussion about the gospel or God, but not in a situation where time is limited. On the whole though, I try to keep an indifferent attitude towards presenting Jesus as God to an unbeliever; hoping to avoid transplanting one large mature plant into a shallow bed intended for twenty or so seeds. I rejoice that Jesus' divinity is unavoidable in scripture, but I see as equally clear (and maybe more explicit) that when "the word became flesh" he became a human and stayed a human, like we in Adam, until God raised him from the dead. I think if we over-evaluate and then equate (1 to 1) Jesus with God particularly between his birth and the cross, then we may more easily miss quite a lot that would otherwise help us understand and indeed emulate Jesus' example as the faithful one, par excellence.

I think if Jesus truly had to figure out that he was God's son and in his own mind wrestle with and conclude himself to be the sent one about whom he read and heard of in the scriptures, then our resulting encouragement for trusting in the same God as he is exponential and astonishing. That is, against that of him simply retaining the capacity he possessed when the world was first spoken into existence, but choosing still to refrain from exercising such capability. I think Jesus' humiliation from his former glory did not include a capacity to 'access' if he so wished, the attributes of God such as omniscience.

Grace and peace to you Michelle

[Paidion]

1. First whet your lister's appetite by proclaiming the Kingdom of God, the hidden treasure for which one will give all he has to possess.

2. If your listener seems to want to enter the kingdom, then make known him the requirements in order to become and remain a disciple of Christ:

a) Repent (have a change of heart and mind).

b) Offer your whole life to Christ. Submit yourself to the authority of Christ in your life.

c) Clinch the deal by being immersed into Christ. It's like signing a contract in a deal with a fellow human being. It is also a declaration to the world that you have become a disciple of Christ. through faith, you can become an overcomer in all areas of life. And lastly, the immersed person receives the spirit of God and or Christ.

d) Fellowship with other disciples that you may grow in Christ and, through Christ's enabling grace, eschew evil acts (which brings death) and embrace righteousness (love for God and neighbour, including compassion and practical service).