It is particularly important to have biblical theology in a special area of the life of the Church: our understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Gospel. The Gospel is the heart of Christianity and therefore must be the heart of our faith. We should all pray that we care more about the wonderful good news of salvation in Christ than about anything else in the life of the Church. A healthy church is filled with people who have a heart for the gospel, and having a heart for the gospel means having a heart for truth: for God’s presentation of himself, for our need, for Christ’s provision, and for Our responsibility.
When I introduce the gospel to someone, I try to remember four points: God, man, Christ, and the answer. I wonder: Have I shared with this person the truth about our Holy God and Sovereign Creator?, as human beings, are we a strange mixture: creatures created in the image of God and yet fallen, sinful and separated from Him?The person I speak to understand who Christ is?God-Man, the only mediator between God and man, our surrogate and risen Lord?And finally, although I shared all this with him, did he understand that he needs to respond to the gospel, that he must believe this message and thus abandon his life of self-centeredness and sin?
- Presenting the Gospel as an additive to give non-Christians something they naturally desire (joy.
- Peace.
- Happiness.
- Realization.
- Self-esteem.
- Love) is partly true.
- But only partly true.
- As JIPacker says.
- “a half-truth disguised as an entire truth becomes a total lie.
- “Basically.
- Everyone needs forgiveness.
- We need a spiritual life.
- To present the gospel in a less radical way than that is to require false conversions and irrelevant adherence to the church; both make it even more difficult to evangelize the world around us.
Members of our church scattered in homes, offices, and neighborhoods will come into contact with many more non-Christians on the same day, much longer than they will be for Christians on a given Sunday. Each of us has a great new salvation in Christ. Let’s not trade it for anything else, and let’s share that today!George W. Truett, a great Christian leader of the past generation and pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, said:
The supreme accusation you can file against a church . . . is that this church has little passion and compassion for human souls. A church is nothing better than an ethical club if your compassion for lost souls does not overflow, and if it does not disappear. to try to bring lost souls to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
A healthy church knows the gospel and a healthy church shares it.