#127 Evangelism and the Gospel
PART ONE
The Gospel message can be summed up in John 3:16 NASB, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This verse can be used as a key to the Gospel message with each phrase being a truth claim about the Gospel. “For God” means that there is a God and He has opinions and action in the world. “So loved the world” meaning God cares about the world as a whole and each of us individually. “That He gave” God doesn’t need anything from us, but rather gives us everything. “His only begotten Son” this phrase shows the level of sacrifice God has made for us, while also telling us about His nature that He is at least Father and Son. “that whoever believes in Him” This indicates that God cares about how we interact with Him, belief in Him is important, this also indicates our purpose which is to be in relationship with God. “shall not perish” It is the common fate of all living creatures to die, but through relationship with the eternal we are given eternal life. “but have eternal life” this is the goal or ends, it only happens and only matters if we have accepted Jesus into our hearts, that we are in relationship with God. I believe this summarizes the Gospel message decently well. It contains all of the essentials for someone to be a Christian and some that perhaps are not. But it is important to note that even this verse as a summary of the Gospel is practically meaningless without the broader context of the Bible.
PART TWO
When reading What Evangelism Is Not I was apprehensive about some of the points that were made. I disagree with the first point in part, that evangelism is in fact a choice. I do agree in part with the use of Acts 1:8 where we are witnesses. To be a witness though, is to be a witness in a particular time and place. This is often an ignored area of evangelism. As witnesses we must witness when we are called upon to do so, our faith may even compel us to share our faith often. But there are times when sharing our faith would be contrary to our goals. I also disagree with point three. I would say that the argument against Ephesians four here is weak. But that rather like all spiritual gifts we all may be called at times to do things that lean into one gift or another. Those with the spiritual gift of teaching for example may find themselves doing very little teaching in certain seasons of their life. The other points were compelling though.
