GOOD NEWS EVANGELISM

Bruce Chant

generation-j

21.October.2001

Bible bashing.

We have here “exhibit A” (bring out bible)

Let the record show that, like right-thinking people everywhere, we at Girrawheen have been alarmed by recent rumors of people being "beaten over the head with the Bible."
We do not endorse, condone, or tolerate the use of the Bible as a blunt instrument.
We are shocked at the thought of unwilling converts cowering in Christian churches all over the land, in fear of further beatings-about-the-head by their evangelising Christian neighbors.
These assaults must stop at once!

Given the unmistakable overtones of violence that accompany the loud thumping of the Bible, whether with one's hand or upon a nearby table or pulpit, we urge all Christians to immediately cease being Bible thumpers. Become Bible wavers, or, better still, simply leave your Bibles at home, preferably secured with child-protective locks.

Intro.

Now it's true that no one I know has actually seen someone being literally beaten over the head with the Bible. In our world we don’t literally bible bash –

- we may bash on the basis of religiousity and personal taste and conviction,

- we may be bashed by secular humanism (eg no God in school)

But rarely do we take God’s word and get violent with it. Why don’t we use our sword?

Why is this? Why are we reluctant to be forceful about evangelism?

Reasons for Lack of Active Evangelism.

Probably because many of us have a feeling that is “doesn’t work”.
Many of us have had a go at it and have just found its too hard, it doesn’t work, and there are all these contradictions swarming in our head about “the why” of it all?

Eg When I became a Christian what I experienced was so real and vivid that it never crossed my mind that when I went to my mates and told them that they wouldn’t follow suit. When they didn’t it left me shaking my head.

It then becomes too hard and we look at it and think “well it doesn’t do what I thought”.
Or maybe our experience has left people hurt by our words and actions that has resulted in broken relationships. Or maybe we ourselves have been confused in our mind by how to put in to words the faith we have in our life.

And so we lock our weapon away where it is safe and secure. The problem is that’s not what God intended.

We must have the faith to live up to our beliefs and not down to the level of our experience.

If things are not going as we thought – is it God’s fault or ours? Ours.

The need now is great – Martin – election - Islamic threat.

Jesus said - "The time is come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the GOOD NEWS." Mark 1:15 Key = Good news.

We need to be clear about what the Good News is – and how we can tell other about it.

The question is “What is the gospel you believe?”

Evangelism in my life.

In my own life – there has been a tapering off of evangelistic activity. The weapon has been locked away – maybe because I have been fearful of being labeled a bible basher but also because I have not been walking by faith and have instead been going on what I see – an unpenetrating, clumsy gospel.

Eg This reached an important point when recently I was talking to my neighbour (the neighbour we know less well). As we were talking he mentioned his two young daughters were getting christened on Sunday and they would be having family over etc.

My response was “great”. That was it. I was presented with a golden opportunity to probe into the spiritual convictions of my neighbour, the door to tell this man the good news in my life had been opened by him and all I could come with was “great”. I realised with then that something had to change.

It was time to get the evangelistic weapon out, dust it off and reacquaint myself with it. But this time I wasn’t going to fall for the old trap – the bible – holder of the good news - was not meant to be used as a blunt instrument. God gave it to us as a sword.

What is the Good News?

So I asked myself what have I learnt to be the good news? what was it that I considered the gospel to be.

Here are the key verse I revisited:

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

“For God so loved that world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever

believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

The definitions of the key words I have believe to be:

Lost - Someone who is going to hell because he has not believed in Jesus for the payment of his sins.

Saved - Someone who has eternal life because she has believed in Jesus and asked him to forgive her sins.

Believe - To agree with the proposition that Jesus, God's Son, paid for our sins, thereby giving us eternal life. Generally we show that we "believe" in Jesus by praying a prayer asking him to forgive our sins and come into our lives.

Eternal life - Life in heaven with Jesus when I die. As millions of evangelicals have been taught to ask: "If you were to die tonight, are you sure you would go to heaven?"

This understanding of the gospel is essentially concerned only with how to deal with sin and death, with wrongdoing and its effects.
We've got the past covered - past sins are forgiven.
We've got the future covered - heaven when we die.
But what about the present? Life, our actual daily existence, is strangely absent from this version of the good news.

I thought back into the many conversations I had with people when I’ve explained to them the gospel. I’d roll out my usual presentation: God loves us, but we've all sinned. God sent Jesus to pay for our sins, and if we trust in Jesus' payment, God will forgive our sins and give us eternal life. I've practiced this stuff: I’d use clear words, my illustrations were clever. But all the while, I found myself thinking, "This doesn't sound like good news."

The gospel Jesus announced caused people to run after him, climb trees to get a look at him, go without food just to stay around him, tear the roof off of houses just so they could get close to him. The gospel I announced mostly caused people's eyes to glaze over.

On one hand I don’t want to water down the gospel – I didn’t what to give them the “when you get saved you don’t have any troubles” rubbish message – but on the other I wanted to present the living hope that transformed my life when I decided to follow Jesus.

The missing element was the now. I am not saying the opposite to Martin – because decisions about our eternal destination are made in the NOW.

Now is where it starts.

A Different look at Good News.

We know that God says His word will not return void so if something is not working it not His fault but ours. So I looked that the word again.

Mark 1:15: "The time is come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news."

Time is Come. Note the time is come. It is the time now for people to be hearing the good news. Today is the day of salvation – and we need to be aware of this matter of urgency.

Repent – many people believe it to mean "to be very sorry". But can’t be “very sorry about” about not knowing something that’s just be made known as news.

But you can change in response to news. And this change in direction is, in fact, the core meaning of the Greek word translated repent - "to turn around from the way you are going."

Kingdom of God – is where Christ is King – in heaven – but we are also instructed to pray that this may come to earth “kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”.

Where does the kingdom of God fit into our versions of good news?

Luke chapter 4 - the kingdom of God is:

‘The arrival of a different kind of life, under the reign of a present and powerful God who was intent upon restoring, healing, redeeming, and reconciling all of creation.’

Good News - Now this is truly good news - because
News is crucial information about the present.
Information about the past we call history,
Information about the future we call prediction.
The Good news, like all news, is about the present right now.

Knowing what we’ve seen about the “NOW” lets look back at the previous verse armed with this new way of looking at good news:

Lost - To be out of place, as Jesus makes clear in his series of stories in Luke 15. The sheep is not in the fold with the shepherd. The coin has rolled under the couch. The Jewish son is living with pigs rather than at home with his father.

I'm discovering that people around me actually do feel lost. They don't know who they are, they don't know what they're supposed to do, they don't know what is going to happen to them. In contrast, most people don't feel like they are going to hell. Jesus' gospel is good news for these people because it addresses the present in which they live, not just an afterlife that they are not contemplating.

Saved - If a person is lost, then being saved means being found, brought back to a place of belonging. This happened to the sheep, the coin, and the son. In each parable that which was out of place (lost) was brought back into the right place (found) - a return worth celebrating.

So "being saved" is about accepting an invitation to return to the right place, as a subject of the kingdom of God. And to gain an eternal disposition – to shift that focus from the present to the hope of eternity in Christ.

Believe - To trust or depend on someone or something. This is different than professing to believe something.

I can say I believe the chair will hold me up when I sit in it, but that is merely professing to believe something. To place myself in the chair, to put my full weight on the seat, is to believe.

So when we ask people to repent and believe the good news we are not primarily asking them to intellectually assent to something; we are inviting them to place their full confidence in Jesus for their whole life. In fact, this is how many people responded to Jesus in the New Testament. Matthew left a lucrative business to follow Jesus. The sick and disfigured journeyed to be near Jesus and risked public ridicule, confident Jesus could heal them. After meeting Jesus, Zaccheus gave away half his wealth and repaid those he had cheated, completely reorienting his life. Which is what happened to me. But you make that belief active starting now.

Naturally, this kind of trust involves acknowledging the ways we have lived without trust. Jesus' death paid for our sins - our choice to trust self and to mistrust God - and forgiveness is available. But forgiveness from our sins is just the precursor to the real drama of salvation. Salvation is not just from death, it is for life - a life lived with Jesus in the kingdom of God.

Eternal life - Jesus himself defined this one.
"Now this is eternal life: that they [my disciples] may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3).

Eternal life, a life in intimacy with God, starts now and continues as we move from this life to the next. Eternal life is news about what God is wanting to do with our lives starting right now in the present and going into the future.

This is the true substance of our faith - that's what the gospel is. It is the substance of good news for life.

Proclaiming this is the evangelism we are all called to and are all capable of. We now understand that evangelism is simply "good newsing" people. It is announcing the presence of the kingdom and its availability through faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul says, "We are holding forth the word of life." (Phil 2:16)

Our Requirement

Because our focus is eternal

Because we have hope in the eternal promises of God

We must realize the importance of the Now factor of the good news and act upon it taking it to the present situations in peoples lives.

This requires that we ourselves be "good newsed" continually- be immersed in and ravished by the reality of a universe permeated with God's presence, power, love, and activity. As we enter into an increasing experience of confidence, love, and power in our lives, our lives become good news to those around us.

We begin to bring to people the same message that Jesus brought: the offer of life with God and the invitation to be his coworker in what he is doing in the world. And if we aren't doing that, what are we doing?

Pray for courage, determination, passion and opportunity to be good newsers for God.