Classroom: Evangelism 04-18-07
04-18-07 Martha from USA (Texas)
Evangelism
Evangelism – taking the good news to those who have not heard
First we talked about why? Why do we evangelize? Because it’s God’s heart and command.
Second, we talked about how? We evangelize with authority that Jesus purchased and we must take it. God took the authority from Satan and gave it to Jesus who gives it to us.
Complaining. Those teams come in thinking about themselves and not the authority that God has purchased and given to them for the nations. So hang on to that teaching, walk it out, live it out – believe in great things. Don’t settle for a mediocre outreach. Pray over the sick. Preach the gospel. Believe God will change the nation and He will do it.
Today we will talk about what. What is the message of evangelism? You can go in with any message – but it might not have the power of God’s salvation. What is the only story that has this power?
Me: “That Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and was risen from the dead.” (silence)
Yes! What a simple message. And it’s the only one that God gives the power of salvation through.
Postmodernism. Does anyone know what this word means? What are some ideas behind this?
Adam: lack of absolute truth.
Has anyone heard the cliché, “all roads lead to Rome.” I hear this in Jordan sometimes. A taxi driver and I once asked if I was Christian or Muslim. We started talking about the difference between the two, and he said, “it doesn’t matter. We’re all on the road to God.”
Long ago, there was a belief. Jesus is the way, the only way! And in the 1900’s there was an explosion of evangelism because of this belief. They said, “we have to go! People are dying without Jesus!”
We have famous evangelical authors who have promoted the view that Jesus is not the only way. I’ll surprise you with one – maybe – and I love his books. His name is C.S. Lewis. He wrote lots of books! Many of you have read the Chronicles of Narnia. How many of you have read “The Last Battle.”
Now, I love that story – but it’s not Biblical. I have to check everything with the Bible, whether he likes it or not. In the story, there’s a character that serves the dark lord his whole life. When that character dies, he comes before Aslan and basically apologizes and says he’s so sorry; that he had been following the wrong leader his whole life. And Aslan says to him, “everything you did for him, you did for me.” And Aslan allows this character to enter the gates. This is in direct contradiction to what the Bible says will happen.
What if the person has never heard the gospel?
I believe, like the proverb says, that if you seek me with all my heart – you will find me. So because of this, I believe that if somebody is really seeking God, he will find Jesus. There is a man here (the former Muslim from Lebanon) who is an example of this. He never heard what Christianity was about. Nobody led him to be a Christian. He sought God.
Now let’s look at a Biblical story. I’m going to let you look at it and I’ll ask some questions. Now, I’m going to attack postmodernism with all I can, because it is not Biblical and it is dangerous. I am passionate about this; somebody has to be. Read chapter ten in the book of Acts (in the New Testament – the first book after the four gospels). Read the whole chapter. Think about these characters and questions.
1) God – what is He thinking? Doing? Why?
2) Cornelius – who is he? What is he like?
3) Peter – what is his message? Why?
Acts 10
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, "Cornelius." And he stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them." And Peter went down to the men and said, "I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?" And they said, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say." So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am a man." And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me." And Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.' So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
Cornelius: A centurion, Italian Cohort, humble, just, not a Jew, religious (he worshipped Peter. Why? He was a Roman soldier. A lot of times the Emperor of Rome claimed divinity, so it could have been normal for him to bow and worship a man), generous, obedient to God, God fearing, righteous, hospitable/kind, prays and fasts
God: God sees the heart of Cornelius. Even though Cornelius is acceptable to God, there were things Cornelius didn’t know and God wanted him to have the full revelation of God.
Peter: Did Peter think the gospel was for the gentiles? No. When he got the vision, God was trying to tell Peter that everything God made was clean. So if God made man, all men are clean.
Me: This begs the question, why does God give the Israelites limits on what they can eat in the Law, Deuteronomy?
I’m not sure I know the answer, but here is something I’ve heard. By avoiding certain things in their diet, they could avoid health problems. They didn’t have great ways of cleaning animals.
You can check these qualities of Muslims (except for being Roman).
I feel like I came to a deeper and more real understanding of the God I had been worshipping my whole life. 100% of all Muslims that have come to Christianity have said this. I bet if you could ask Cornelius, he would say the same thing.
This is the difference between the people who know God and the people who have information about God.
How can God send “good” people to hell? Most of these people live by Biblical principles – they won’t kill and they won’t steal.
What the Gospel is NOT…
There’s a popular gospel out there that is NOT the full gospel and it’s what I call the “quick fix” gospel.
“Do you have problems in your life? Addictions? Come to Jesus and he’ll fix it. Come to Jesus. Jesus is the answer.” Okay, now this is all true. But it’s missing a something big. Where’s the focus? ME. But the gospel is about Jesus – NOT about me. Now, what he did effects me, but a big part of what he did for us is missing from this gospel. There’s no mention of repentance or the Lordship of Christ. The fruit o this message, from people who have tried, is this, “I tried Christianity and it didn’t work for me.” Have you met these people? I call this a man-centered gospel instead of a Christ-centered Gospel.
The gospel is NOT a quick fix to our problems.
It is NOT a philosophy that we reason people into.
The New Age movement says that God is in each one of us. It’s like, “we are gods, there are powers within us and we just have to realize that.” This is NOT the Gospel. Once you meet Jesus, that’s where you find the life. Not in reasoning.
It is NOT just the message that God exists. That’s only part of the Gospel message (the beginning). There are too many important things missing: the cross, sin, repentance, forgiveness, Jesus.
What is the Gospel?
Let’s start with Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone believing, both to Jew first, and to Greek;
So if you want people to get to know the gospel on outreach, you have to share this with them.
So you give them a solution – this is great, but what is the problem? So it’s important to talk about sin.
1) There is a God. (Genesis 1:1, Surah 1) – most cultures understand this from general revelation (Romans 1:20).
2) 95% of the world believes in God, but the majority believe he is impersonal and unreachable. Islam is an example of this. God is unreachable and impersonal.
3) The profound message of the Gospel is that he is personal. He desires to be known. (“Adam, where are you?”) God is looking for us.
This became so real for me when I was in Africa. We were going from Cape Town to northern Zambia. And God began to speak to us about Lake Takanika. We would be spending time there and sharing the gospel. So we began researching – who lives there? What are they like? And we learned there was a tribe called the Mambuay. And we started looking for a gospel in their language – but there was none! And this was a big tribe, hundreds of thousands of people. But we did find tracks. Thank God for the translators who translated tracks into this language. So we went. All you have to do to draw a crowd in Africa is stick a white person on top of a truck and just stand there. Then hundreds of people begin to look at you very confused. So we do this, we have a loud speaker and I start singing a song about Jesus. After, we start sharing our message. At the end, there is a silence over the crowd. So I said, “if you want to know this God, raise your hand.” Well, they all raised their hands. So I decided to double check. So I said, “okay, if you want to know this Jesus, follow me.” And all of us walked 200 yards away. The whole crowd followed us. Suddenly, we turned around, and this older lady fell on her knees and started yelling in a loud voice with her hands raised in the air. The translator turned to me and said, “she is confessing all the sins of her life – right here and right now.” And we were shocked. There had been outreaches here before and this had never happened. The translator was shocked too. Many people started falling on their knees and calling out their sins. There were tears. We watched so many people come to know God that day.
[Note here: A “Surah” is a what a verse from the Quran is called.]
So there is a God. The bad news is that we know from the Bible that we are separated from Him. (Romans 3:23, Surah 2:30-38)
Even our righteous acts, even our attempts to be righteous are like filthy rags!
Isaiah 59:2; Isaiah 64
Here’s the problem. If I am God, I am 100% holy. I am perfect. There is nothing wrong with me at all. And because of that, sin cannot dwell with me – because if sin dwells with me it infringes on my holiness.
God’s holiness destroys sin – it cannot be in his presence.
So we are separated from God.
Genesis 1-3, if there wasn’t a problem in the first the chapters of the Bible, there wouldn’t be a story after that.
Jesus came, and he defined his mission by Luke 19:10
Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
If people were not lost, then Jesus would not have needed to come.
This mission cost Jesus his life. So I want to suggest that coming to Christ is not just a good idea. It’s a matter of life and death. If you have accepted Christ and your sins have been washed away by the blood of the cross, and God’s righteousness is covering you – then you can enter eternal life. And if not? You can’t.
We were created for relationship, but sin created an uncrossable chasm.
If you believe the biggest problem in the world is ignorance, what’s the solution to ignorance? Education – to know. So people who think that ignorance is the problem – they will spend their lives in education; in schools. Other people think the basic issue is poverty. If we could just fix poverty… one of the solutions for that is community development. Let’s go help. And these are all good things to do – but these are symptoms of the problem. Ignorance and poverty are the “runny nose” – but they aren’t the infection.
As a Christian, I believe the biggest problem is sin – separation from God. And what’s the answer to that problem? Jesus. So I’m a missionary. Now, let’s take care of the symptoms – YES! Let’s educate and build the community… but let’s not ignore the problem.
Without Jesus, people are on their way to an eternal separation with God. Not necessarily because they are horrible, horrible murderers or because they have done terrible things – but because they don’t have Jesus.
Jesus talked about hell more than heaven. We cannot ignore this.
Pretend you come to class and outside the door is a man-eating lion. But I don’t want to scare you… so I say, “okay, outside that door there’s a cat. So be careful, because there’s a cat.” Now, have I loved you by no sharing the full truth? No. I’m sure you want to know
Romans 5:8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You know – Christianity is the only religion in the world where God takes the initiative towards man. In Islam – it’s all about good works. In Buddhism, it’s about man seeking Nirvana. In Hinduism, you try to be good so you can come back to life as some better form of life.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Surah 3:42-55)
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus didn’t wait for us to be perfect. He came into our mess. And this is great for evangelism. GO to the sinners. When you’re a Christian, go to the people that need to hear the gospel – don’t wait for them to walk through the doors of a church. Don’t wait for them, go GET them. Because Jesus came to get us.
He not only came, but he sought.
Luke 15:8-10
"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
This is beautiful – not because it’s about a woman with a lost coin… but because it’s about God and how He feels about all of us. All the other coins? God has those. He has them. He wants to find the one that’s lost; and He still seeks people today.
And in the end of Jesus’ life – he made a way – because there was no way. We were trying, and trying. How do we get there? In the Old Testament there was a sacrifice – but that sacrifice wasn’t good enough. It was only good for a year – and they had to do it again and again and again. But when Jesus went to the cross – he took all of our sins. He had one hand on earth with us and one hand in heaven, and he brought heaven to earth and gave it to us. He took our shame, took our sin, and in his resurrection, he defeated death to give us life. This I what he did. He didn’t have to – but he did because he didn’t want any of us to perish.
Jesus made a way. Now it’s our job to make him known.
There is a saying: to know Christ and make him known.
Now there’s something else. A response is required.
What is that response? Is it just to know?
Romans 10:9-10
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Acts 2:38
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'
Acts 17:30
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
What is repentance? It’s confession of your sin and making restitution. It’s if you’re walking one direction – you change and start walking the other direction. Repentance is turning your back on your sin – and not looking behind you.
I want to tell all of you that I’ve made the mistake before of sharing the gospel with somebody and then never giving them a chance to respond. Give them a chance to respond. Ask. “Would you like to ask forgiveness?” And many people say, “yeah!” So don’t forget to leave your friend with the question.
Martha’s challenge:
NOW – take this message and put it into some form that you are good at and that you like – so you can share it with whoever you want to share it with. If you think you’d like to share it with your family, friends, youth, adults, strangers… write it for them. Who are you talking to? Keep that in mind – because that will change how you present this.
Presentations can be from 5-10 minutes. If you choose children, you might want to use stories, storybooks, games, a craft, and the rest of the class will be your audience. We will pretend to be whoever you have written it to.
Evangelism
Evangelism – taking the good news to those who have not heard
First we talked about why? Why do we evangelize? Because it’s God’s heart and command.
Second, we talked about how? We evangelize with authority that Jesus purchased and we must take it. God took the authority from Satan and gave it to Jesus who gives it to us.
Complaining. Those teams come in thinking about themselves and not the authority that God has purchased and given to them for the nations. So hang on to that teaching, walk it out, live it out – believe in great things. Don’t settle for a mediocre outreach. Pray over the sick. Preach the gospel. Believe God will change the nation and He will do it.
Today we will talk about what. What is the message of evangelism? You can go in with any message – but it might not have the power of God’s salvation. What is the only story that has this power?
Me: “That Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and was risen from the dead.” (silence)
Yes! What a simple message. And it’s the only one that God gives the power of salvation through.
Postmodernism. Does anyone know what this word means? What are some ideas behind this?
Adam: lack of absolute truth.
Has anyone heard the cliché, “all roads lead to Rome.” I hear this in Jordan sometimes. A taxi driver and I once asked if I was Christian or Muslim. We started talking about the difference between the two, and he said, “it doesn’t matter. We’re all on the road to God.”
Long ago, there was a belief. Jesus is the way, the only way! And in the 1900’s there was an explosion of evangelism because of this belief. They said, “we have to go! People are dying without Jesus!”
We have famous evangelical authors who have promoted the view that Jesus is not the only way. I’ll surprise you with one – maybe – and I love his books. His name is C.S. Lewis. He wrote lots of books! Many of you have read the Chronicles of Narnia. How many of you have read “The Last Battle.”
Now, I love that story – but it’s not Biblical. I have to check everything with the Bible, whether he likes it or not. In the story, there’s a character that serves the dark lord his whole life. When that character dies, he comes before Aslan and basically apologizes and says he’s so sorry; that he had been following the wrong leader his whole life. And Aslan says to him, “everything you did for him, you did for me.” And Aslan allows this character to enter the gates. This is in direct contradiction to what the Bible says will happen.
What if the person has never heard the gospel?
I believe, like the proverb says, that if you seek me with all my heart – you will find me. So because of this, I believe that if somebody is really seeking God, he will find Jesus. There is a man here (the former Muslim from Lebanon) who is an example of this. He never heard what Christianity was about. Nobody led him to be a Christian. He sought God.
Now let’s look at a Biblical story. I’m going to let you look at it and I’ll ask some questions. Now, I’m going to attack postmodernism with all I can, because it is not Biblical and it is dangerous. I am passionate about this; somebody has to be. Read chapter ten in the book of Acts (in the New Testament – the first book after the four gospels). Read the whole chapter. Think about these characters and questions.
1) God – what is He thinking? Doing? Why?
2) Cornelius – who is he? What is he like?
3) Peter – what is his message? Why?
Acts 10
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, "Cornelius." And he stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them." And Peter went down to the men and said, "I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?" And they said, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say." So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am a man." And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me." And Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.' So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
Cornelius: A centurion, Italian Cohort, humble, just, not a Jew, religious (he worshipped Peter. Why? He was a Roman soldier. A lot of times the Emperor of Rome claimed divinity, so it could have been normal for him to bow and worship a man), generous, obedient to God, God fearing, righteous, hospitable/kind, prays and fasts
God: God sees the heart of Cornelius. Even though Cornelius is acceptable to God, there were things Cornelius didn’t know and God wanted him to have the full revelation of God.
Peter: Did Peter think the gospel was for the gentiles? No. When he got the vision, God was trying to tell Peter that everything God made was clean. So if God made man, all men are clean.
Me: This begs the question, why does God give the Israelites limits on what they can eat in the Law, Deuteronomy?
I’m not sure I know the answer, but here is something I’ve heard. By avoiding certain things in their diet, they could avoid health problems. They didn’t have great ways of cleaning animals.
You can check these qualities of Muslims (except for being Roman).
I feel like I came to a deeper and more real understanding of the God I had been worshipping my whole life. 100% of all Muslims that have come to Christianity have said this. I bet if you could ask Cornelius, he would say the same thing.
This is the difference between the people who know God and the people who have information about God.
How can God send “good” people to hell? Most of these people live by Biblical principles – they won’t kill and they won’t steal.
What the Gospel is NOT…
There’s a popular gospel out there that is NOT the full gospel and it’s what I call the “quick fix” gospel.
“Do you have problems in your life? Addictions? Come to Jesus and he’ll fix it. Come to Jesus. Jesus is the answer.” Okay, now this is all true. But it’s missing a something big. Where’s the focus? ME. But the gospel is about Jesus – NOT about me. Now, what he did effects me, but a big part of what he did for us is missing from this gospel. There’s no mention of repentance or the Lordship of Christ. The fruit o this message, from people who have tried, is this, “I tried Christianity and it didn’t work for me.” Have you met these people? I call this a man-centered gospel instead of a Christ-centered Gospel.
The gospel is NOT a quick fix to our problems.
It is NOT a philosophy that we reason people into.
The New Age movement says that God is in each one of us. It’s like, “we are gods, there are powers within us and we just have to realize that.” This is NOT the Gospel. Once you meet Jesus, that’s where you find the life. Not in reasoning.
It is NOT just the message that God exists. That’s only part of the Gospel message (the beginning). There are too many important things missing: the cross, sin, repentance, forgiveness, Jesus.
What is the Gospel?
Let’s start with Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone believing, both to Jew first, and to Greek;
So if you want people to get to know the gospel on outreach, you have to share this with them.
So you give them a solution – this is great, but what is the problem? So it’s important to talk about sin.
1) There is a God. (Genesis 1:1, Surah 1) – most cultures understand this from general revelation (Romans 1:20).
2) 95% of the world believes in God, but the majority believe he is impersonal and unreachable. Islam is an example of this. God is unreachable and impersonal.
3) The profound message of the Gospel is that he is personal. He desires to be known. (“Adam, where are you?”) God is looking for us.
This became so real for me when I was in Africa. We were going from Cape Town to northern Zambia. And God began to speak to us about Lake Takanika. We would be spending time there and sharing the gospel. So we began researching – who lives there? What are they like? And we learned there was a tribe called the Mambuay. And we started looking for a gospel in their language – but there was none! And this was a big tribe, hundreds of thousands of people. But we did find tracks. Thank God for the translators who translated tracks into this language. So we went. All you have to do to draw a crowd in Africa is stick a white person on top of a truck and just stand there. Then hundreds of people begin to look at you very confused. So we do this, we have a loud speaker and I start singing a song about Jesus. After, we start sharing our message. At the end, there is a silence over the crowd. So I said, “if you want to know this God, raise your hand.” Well, they all raised their hands. So I decided to double check. So I said, “okay, if you want to know this Jesus, follow me.” And all of us walked 200 yards away. The whole crowd followed us. Suddenly, we turned around, and this older lady fell on her knees and started yelling in a loud voice with her hands raised in the air. The translator turned to me and said, “she is confessing all the sins of her life – right here and right now.” And we were shocked. There had been outreaches here before and this had never happened. The translator was shocked too. Many people started falling on their knees and calling out their sins. There were tears. We watched so many people come to know God that day.
[Note here: A “Surah” is a what a verse from the Quran is called.]
So there is a God. The bad news is that we know from the Bible that we are separated from Him. (Romans 3:23, Surah 2:30-38)
Even our righteous acts, even our attempts to be righteous are like filthy rags!
Isaiah 59:2; Isaiah 64
Here’s the problem. If I am God, I am 100% holy. I am perfect. There is nothing wrong with me at all. And because of that, sin cannot dwell with me – because if sin dwells with me it infringes on my holiness.
God’s holiness destroys sin – it cannot be in his presence.
So we are separated from God.
Genesis 1-3, if there wasn’t a problem in the first the chapters of the Bible, there wouldn’t be a story after that.
Jesus came, and he defined his mission by Luke 19:10
Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
If people were not lost, then Jesus would not have needed to come.
This mission cost Jesus his life. So I want to suggest that coming to Christ is not just a good idea. It’s a matter of life and death. If you have accepted Christ and your sins have been washed away by the blood of the cross, and God’s righteousness is covering you – then you can enter eternal life. And if not? You can’t.
We were created for relationship, but sin created an uncrossable chasm.
If you believe the biggest problem in the world is ignorance, what’s the solution to ignorance? Education – to know. So people who think that ignorance is the problem – they will spend their lives in education; in schools. Other people think the basic issue is poverty. If we could just fix poverty… one of the solutions for that is community development. Let’s go help. And these are all good things to do – but these are symptoms of the problem. Ignorance and poverty are the “runny nose” – but they aren’t the infection.
As a Christian, I believe the biggest problem is sin – separation from God. And what’s the answer to that problem? Jesus. So I’m a missionary. Now, let’s take care of the symptoms – YES! Let’s educate and build the community… but let’s not ignore the problem.
Without Jesus, people are on their way to an eternal separation with God. Not necessarily because they are horrible, horrible murderers or because they have done terrible things – but because they don’t have Jesus.
Jesus talked about hell more than heaven. We cannot ignore this.
Pretend you come to class and outside the door is a man-eating lion. But I don’t want to scare you… so I say, “okay, outside that door there’s a cat. So be careful, because there’s a cat.” Now, have I loved you by no sharing the full truth? No. I’m sure you want to know
Romans 5:8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You know – Christianity is the only religion in the world where God takes the initiative towards man. In Islam – it’s all about good works. In Buddhism, it’s about man seeking Nirvana. In Hinduism, you try to be good so you can come back to life as some better form of life.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Surah 3:42-55)
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus didn’t wait for us to be perfect. He came into our mess. And this is great for evangelism. GO to the sinners. When you’re a Christian, go to the people that need to hear the gospel – don’t wait for them to walk through the doors of a church. Don’t wait for them, go GET them. Because Jesus came to get us.
He not only came, but he sought.
Luke 15:8-10
"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
This is beautiful – not because it’s about a woman with a lost coin… but because it’s about God and how He feels about all of us. All the other coins? God has those. He has them. He wants to find the one that’s lost; and He still seeks people today.
And in the end of Jesus’ life – he made a way – because there was no way. We were trying, and trying. How do we get there? In the Old Testament there was a sacrifice – but that sacrifice wasn’t good enough. It was only good for a year – and they had to do it again and again and again. But when Jesus went to the cross – he took all of our sins. He had one hand on earth with us and one hand in heaven, and he brought heaven to earth and gave it to us. He took our shame, took our sin, and in his resurrection, he defeated death to give us life. This I what he did. He didn’t have to – but he did because he didn’t want any of us to perish.
Jesus made a way. Now it’s our job to make him known.
There is a saying: to know Christ and make him known.
Now there’s something else. A response is required.
What is that response? Is it just to know?
Romans 10:9-10
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Acts 2:38
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'
Acts 17:30
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
What is repentance? It’s confession of your sin and making restitution. It’s if you’re walking one direction – you change and start walking the other direction. Repentance is turning your back on your sin – and not looking behind you.
I want to tell all of you that I’ve made the mistake before of sharing the gospel with somebody and then never giving them a chance to respond. Give them a chance to respond. Ask. “Would you like to ask forgiveness?” And many people say, “yeah!” So don’t forget to leave your friend with the question.
Martha’s challenge:
NOW – take this message and put it into some form that you are good at and that you like – so you can share it with whoever you want to share it with. If you think you’d like to share it with your family, friends, youth, adults, strangers… write it for them. Who are you talking to? Keep that in mind – because that will change how you present this.
Presentations can be from 5-10 minutes. If you choose children, you might want to use stories, storybooks, games, a craft, and the rest of the class will be your audience. We will pretend to be whoever you have written it to.
posted by CarbonChris at 1:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home