Maybe we should be asking what it is that we believe about the gospel.
For example do we simply believe the gospel as a series of propositions about our faith. A series of statements that best fit our understanding of where we stand before God. A sort multiple choice questionnaire like the ones the market research people do... "On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly agree and 5 is strongly disagree. Please rate the following statements about your faith…"
Before we look at what we believe about the gospel, let me ask a question: What first drew you to Jesus? What was the one big question you had that demanded an answer?
I had a big question: Who gives meaning to my life?
Maybe Nicodemus had a big question. "Are you really from God?" From the answer Jesus gives to Nicodemus’ first statement and his then question would imply that the gospel is a radical rethinking of the relationship between God and man, not only for a religious man like a Pharisee.
But the gospel, the good news, is not about having all the answers to all the questions. Foe many years we’ve taught ourselves that in order to prepare properly to share the gospel with another person, we must first learn a series of answers. But times have changed. The questions we may have had 30, 20 or just 10 years ago are not necessarily the questions being asked today.
In the message of Jesus Christ we have the one answer to the one question. The question of reconciliation with the God who made us and who loves us. The only problem is that is not the question with which many of our friends begin.
Douglas Coupland, a Canadian author who first used the term ‘Generation X’ to describe the children of the 1980s articulates the question being asked like this:
Now–here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God–that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I am no longer capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me to love, as I seem beyond being able to love.
The point is this: We believe in the gospel as a message of forgiveness and reconciliation, as the answer to the most fundamental questions of life. We believe in the gospel as the message of eternal security. But what if our friends and neighbours aren’t looking for forgiveness? What if they aren’t interested in eternal security? What if their starting point is a search for a life that makes sense of terrorist threats and crashing markets? What if they simply want to learn how to love, to give, to be kind, to live a deeper life? What does our gospel have to say to the those questions?
What do we believe?
When we say: We believe in the gospel, what do we mean?
The gospel as truth
The gospel as power
The power to save
The power to change lives:
The great evangelist H.A. Ironside was interrupted one time by the shouts of an atheist. The atheist yelled, "There is no God! Jesus is a myth!" and finally, "I challenge you to a debate!"
Ironside responded, "I accept your challenge, sir! But on one condition. When you come, bring with you ten men and women whose lives have been changed for the better by the message of atheism. Bring former prostitutes and criminals whose lives have been changed, who are now moral and responsible individuals. Bring outcasts who had no hope and have them tell us how becoming atheists has lifted them out of the pit!
"And sir," he concluded, "if you can find ten such men and woman, I will be happy to debate you. And when I come, I will gladly bring with me two hundred men and women from this very city whose lives have been transformed in just those ways by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Ironside knew that atheism doesn't change lives. Jesus changes lives.
The gospel is “good news”. And the good news is that the kingdom of God has broken into history in the powerful person, ministry and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And lives are changed forever as a result of an encounter with him.
What answers does it provide?
Perhaps one of the most crucial things we need to demonstrate is that faith actually works. That a lifestyle based upon the good news of Jesus Christ actually works in practice. That it makes us better people, kinder people, caring people.
The crucial factor in persuading someone to believe [is to] …awaken a desire for God in them.
The Provocative Church
...our lives need to become increasingly aligned with the example of Jesus... It means, though, increasingly becoming people of justice, kindness, mercy, strength, hope, grace, generosity, and hospitality. (64) Michael Frost Exiles
What would a gospel church look like, what does a gospel lifestyle look like?
Missional, incarnational, grace-filled
The gospel impacts our eternal destiny, but how does it affect our daily lives?
- Live a life worthy of the calling you have received
- You attitude should be like that of Jesus... who humbled himself
- The gospel as counter-culture
- The gospel as subversive
- The gospel is Christ first method second
How does what we believe impact the questions people may be asking?
Conclusion
What believe about the gospel must affect how we live among the community in which we find ourselves. It cannot remain a series of bland statements to which we simply give intellectual assent.
The gospel must become a way of life, we must once again become a people of the way and not just a people of the book.
