The Gospel in 6 Minutes

Please watch this excellent, heartfelt discussion of the gospel.



Thanks to my friend Nick, from whose website I swiped this video.

The Gospel in One Verse

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." II Corinthians 5:21

Well, I Performed My First Funeral...

Last week was a first for me in that I performed my first funeral. One reason that it was a challenge is that I haven't even attended that many funerals in my life. I had to rely on the experience of other pastors and what I read in books to help me out.

This all happened because I have been preaching lately at a local Baptist church that is without a pastor. A couple approached me after the evening service last Sunday and asked if I could perform the woman's mother's funeral. I wanted to help them out so I said, "Yes." Then I began to worry a bit.

It turns out that this was a great first funeral for me to perform. Why? First of all, the deceased lady was saved. Second, she was 90-years-old. Third, the funeral was a simple one at the graveside. Last, there did not appear to be any family conflict among those in attendance.

One concern of mine was that I did not know the woman who died. God came to the rescue on that issue, too. Two granddaughters and two great-granddaughters wanted to say something in tribute. This meant that I basically just had to offer a few words of comfort and preach a mini-sermon.

I preached from I Corinthians 15:50-57 and John 14:1-6 and 27. I stressed both the reality of the resurrection of the dead and the peace that Jesus gives. I also took some time to clearly lay out the basics of the gospel message.

The entire service only lasted 15-20 minutes. My main goals were that God be praised, that the family be comforted, and that the gospel be proclaimed. It seems that all three of those things happened. The couple who asked me to perform the funeral was pleased with how things went and were very grateful after the service.

Afterward, I remained there for awhile until almost everyone had departed. Presence is a key in all grief situations. I attempted to give them a chance to talk if they wanted to. I think they were just pleased that I was there.

In some ways this was "on-the-job-training." The great blessing was that God was merciful to me, and honored the proclaiming of his word. It was an experience I doubt I will ever forget.

Unity and Galatians 1

The issue of unity within the body of Christ is a key topic that often gets overlooked in churches. If it is addressed, it is usually discussed it terms of that particular local church being united, or all the churches within that one denomination being united. Rarely do I hear talk about all Christians being united. In fact, I hear a lot more about it in the blog world (on blogs such as this, this, this, this, and this) than I do in the local church.

Is unity even important? Our Lord Jesus certainly thought it was. In John 17:20-23, He prayed, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."

I have been wondering about one thing related to this: At what point does unity end? Is there a point, and if so, where is it? It doesn't seem that God would want us to be confused on this, so where do we draw the line?

After pondering this for some time, I've come to the conclusion that we can learn quite a bit from Galatians 1:6-9. This text reads, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."

When Paul writes this letter, he quickly jumps into the severe problems facing the Galatian churches. They appear to be departing from the gospel of grace that he taught them in preference for a works-based salvation taught by false teachers.

Where does Paul tell the Galatians to draw the line in this situation? He says the dividing line is the gospel. He is clear in this by repeating himself in verses eight and nine. The gospel itself is the place where they are to take a stand.

We can generalize from the Galatian situation to our current situation today. Where do we break unity? Is it over the sacraments/ordinances? Is it over church polity? Is it over philosophy of ministry? Is it over Reformed vs. Arminian theology? I don't think so.

Paul appears to be setting the dividing line, and therefore the point at which we break unity, at the gospel itself.

Putting the Horse Back in Front of the Cart

Why do we do this? We sometimes get the cart before the horse in various areas of our lives. This is particularly true in the way we proclaim the gospel to the world.

Much of the lost world (at least in the USA) looks at the church and sees us teaching that the world needs to live differently. They watch TV and see Christians speaking out against abortion, gay marriage, gambling, etc. The message the lost often take from the church is that if they would just start "living better," then God would be pleased.

This moralistic message offers no hope and no attraction. People trapped by sin do not need to hear that they must live better. Instead, they must hear a message that offers real hope. The true gospel, after all, is a great message of hope.

Most of the large religions of the world (such as Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and, at least to some degree, Catholicism) teach the same message: start behaving well, and god (or gods in Hinduism) may be pleased. By this, you could earn a place in some type of heaven. When we lived in India, we would see people every day going to temple to try to appease the gods. The Hindus would perform some sort of puja (worship) by ringing a bell, offering flowers or food, prostrating themselves, and/or chanting. It is all designed to earn favor.

Biblical Christianity, on the other hand, makes it clear that no one can earn salvation. All are lost in sin. Jesus Christ, however, came as the perfect sacrifice for sin. All are invited to be saved from the wrath of God by accepting Him as Lord and Savior. Titus 2:13 refers to Jesus as our "blessed hope."

We need to concentrate on getting the horse back in front of the cart. It seems to me that we must, in trying to reach the lost for Christ, speak louder about the grace of God, about the hope Christ offers, and about what he has done for us in rescuing us from the wrath we deserve. It also appears that we need to spend less time telling the lost world how to live differently.

II Cor. 4:3-4 tells us, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (ESV)

Eph. 2:1-3 says, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." (ESV)

These are familiar verses to most of us. What do we see? Paul is clear that unbelievers are "blinded" and "(spiritually) dead." The one who does not know Christ is utterly lost and cannot even understand spiritual things.

Does this have any significance for evangelism? Yes, it does. If we begin by telling the lost that they need to, in essence, "shape up," this will get us no where. However, if we begin by offering the only real message of hope to those who have none, then they will most likely be much more willing to listen.

After the lost person understands the gospel message, then we can begin the discipleship process of teaching them about Jesus' expectations for how they should live. Once this person accepts Christ as Lord and Savior, then he will fully understand why he should live differently.

I am in no way suggesting that we should ignore sin in the gospel presentation. Without sin, there would be no need for the gospel.

However, I am saying that our message of hope must come before our demand that people behave in a biblical manner. Let's put the horse (the gospel of hope) back in front of the cart (behavioral expectations).

Let Them See the Gospel

When people look at me, what do they see? When people look at you, what do they see? I hope they see the Gospel.

John 13:34-35 has been weighing on me lately. In this passage, Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (ESV)

During His last night with His disciples, Jesus gave this three-fold command. He tells them "to love one another" three times. Our Lord was clearly trying to make a point.

First, Jesus gives the command to love one another. Then, He refines this by telling them to love one another as He has loved them. This is staggering considering that He was about to head to the cross. Finally, Jesus says that if they love one another as He has loved them, then all people will know that they are His disciples.

This is extremely important for evangelism. Jesus makes it clear that our love for one another will cause others to know that we follow Him. This, then, will open up a door to share the Gospel message. If people see that we are different (because we are followers of Christ), then they may be interested in why we believe and live differently than the world does.

Before Jesus ever gave this command to His disciples, he lived it out. For example, in Matthew 4:23, we read, "And he (Jesus) went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people."

Matthew 9:35 tells us, "And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction."

The pattern that Jesus gave was of loving service (healing) that accompanied His proclamation of and teaching of the Gospel. People saw His love, and thus were willing to listen to His message.

So when people see me, do they see Christ? Do they see the Gospel? I'm afraid that most of the time they do not. What do they see? Well, they probably see someone that they would label a "good person" by the world's standards because I treat my family decently, go to church, and don't drink alcohol or smoke. However, that is not going to cause the world to sit up and take notice.

In the USA, many of our current church evangelism strategies teach us how to proclaim the gospel by telling our stories and quoting some scripture. I see nothing wrong with this, but if it is not accompanied by loving service then it will likely not lead to a person being willing to listen to a Gospel presentation. This may be why door-to-door evangelism is so ineffective.

So, how can the world see the Gospel in me? It is simple really - by loving others. When I use the word "love" here, I am not employing the modern American meaning of some sort of warm feeling. Rather, in the bible, love is clearly an action that shows itself in service toward others. That said, I can cause others to see the Gospel in me by showing love through serving them.

This is not complicated. We all have people in our neighborhoods that need help. We should help because it is the right thing to do. But we should also hope and pray that the service we render will cause non-Christians to ask why we have done so.

Then they will do more than see the Gospel; they will also get a chance to hear it.