Implications for the Proclamation of the Gospel
In my previous two posts (“The New Testament Scripture and the Proclamation of the Gospel” and “The Gospels and Acts and the Proclamation of the Gospel“), I’ve looked into examples of Jesus and his first follower when they proclaimed the gospel to unbelievers.
I summarized what I’ve found so far like this: “Those proclaiming the gospel made a concise statement without getting into much explanation or argumentation. Then, they waited for their audience to respond. For those who responded positively or with interest, they spent more time explaining and teaching.”
Now, I’m still studying this, and it’s possible that I will completely change my mind about this. However, if I’m correct about the examples that we see in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, then there are some implications about how we proclaim the gospel today.
First, we don’t distinguish between the “crowds” (to use the term found in the Gospels) and those who show genuine interest in following Jesus.
Second, because of this, I think we typically spend too much time and energy explaining the details of the good news to people who are not interested – trying to talk them into accepting something, which is not our responsibility.
Third, all of this works well with a goal toward helping all people follow Jesus – without forcing them into anything – in other words, it’s all discipleship, focusing more on those who are actually disciples or who are moving toward being disciples without neglecting others.
Fourth, there is not a minimum amount of information that must be shared or explained in order to proclaim the gospel.
Finally, if we want someone to ask questions concerning the gospel (instead of trying to provide all the answers), then knowing something about the person and where they are in life is extremely important and part of proclaiming the gospel.
There are other implications, I’m sure. What other implications would you add to this list (assuming that I’m right about the examples we find in the Gospels and Acts)?
Church in the fullest sense of the word
Felicity at “Simply Church” has written a very good post called “What is church?” I love that her posts are usually very short and to the point, and this one is as well.
In this post, she briefly talks about three scriptural metaphors for the church: temple, living stones, and family. She spends a little more time fleshing out the familial metaphor.
Then, at the end of her post, she includes this very good quote:
When two or three true, born-again believers come together in His name, Jesus is in the midst. Jesus in the midst is church! It is a different experience than Jesus within. We cannot experience Jesus in the midst when we are alone. We can only experience Jesus in the midst when we are in company with others–at least one or two others.
But is it church in the fullest sense of the word? Yes, it is a church in the fullest sense of the word. It is the basic church. You can have more than two or three and it is still a church, but it does not become “more church” because there are more than two or three. It only becomes bigger church.
This is a pretty good explanation. The number of people gathered together does not make a group “more” or “less” church.
The Gospels and Acts and the Proclamation of the Gospels
In my previous post “The New Testament Scripture and the Proclamation of the Gospels,” I wrote that I was going to consider the proclamation of the gospel to unbelievers in the New Testament. Most “gospel presentations” that I’ve heard and read about rely primarily on the Epistles. However, the Epistles were all written to people who were already believers. I think we can learn more about proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers by studying the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and Acts.
When studying how Jesus first approached people or how he first “proclaimed the gospel,” we can begin with this passage:
From that time Jesus began to preach (proclaim), saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 ESV)
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15 ESV)
Interestingly, when Jesus sent out the apostles for the first time, he also told them, “And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'” (Matthew 10:7 ESV) Later, when he sent out 72 others, he gave them similar instructions: “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.'” (Luke 10:9 ESV)
Now, while each of these “proclamations” point to the nearness of the “kingdom of God/heaven,” that’s not what I want us to think about. Instead, notice the brevity of each proclamation and in the instructions of what those who were sent out should proclaim.
While the hearers would have some ideas about the kingdom of God, repentance, and good news, it is clear from later interactions that their understanding concerning these concepts were vastly different that what Jesus meant when he used the terms. But, he did not spend time explaining exactly what he meant. He made short and concise statements, and he told his followers to begin proclaiming the good news of the kingdom with short and concise statements.
When we get to the Book of Acts, we find something very similar when Jesus’ followers are first proclaiming the gospel to people. Even in the longest speeches (i.e., Peter in Acts 2, Stephen in Acts 7, or Paul in Acts 17), the disciples of Jesus do not spend much time explaining exactly what they mean. They make a statement about what has happened, and leave it at that.
I think this is planned, and I think we see the pattern through the Gospels and Acts.
Those proclaiming the gospel made a concise statement without getting into much explanation or argumentation. Then, they waited for their audience to respond. For those who responded positively or with interest, they spent more time explaining and teaching.
This pattern is seen clearly in several passages, but especially in this passage in Acts:
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (Acts 17:32-34 ESV)
(By the way, this pattern also explains why Paul and others write so much about the gospel – explaining and teaching about the good news and the implications of the gospel. They are writing to people who have demonstrated an interest in continuing to grow and learn and follow Jesus.)
What do you think? Was gospel proclamation to unbelievers in the Gospels and Acts shorter and with less explanation? Do you agree that we see a pattern of increased explanation only to those who positively respond to that shorter proclamation?
Thank you to Ed Stetzer and to Jeopardy
Something strange happened on my blog a couple of days ago.
First, Monday morning, Ed Stetzer linked to an old post that I wrote called “Luther and the non-Christian ‘worship service’.” I wrote that post four years ago, and I don’t think I’ve linked to it in the last few weeks (but I could have on Twitter or Facebook).
I usually don’t get links from big time bloggers like Stetzer, so I really appreciate it.
That night, I decided to check my site’s stats to see how many hits I got from Ed Stetzer’s post. I got a few, but what really surprised me was a big spike around 7:00 p.m. Now, this spike wasn’t huge, and it didn’t swamp my other posts or anything like that. But, it was a spike that I noticed.
After doing some investigation, I realized that the hits were all going to a post that I wrote last year called “The Day of Pentecost in the Upper Room.” Strange… Pentecost was a couple of weeks ago. Plus, these hits did not come from a link on someone else’s site. The hits came from search engines, searching from different locations (48 different states/countries) and different search strings all related to Pentecost.
I did not know why so many people around the world were searching for information about Pentecost a few weeks after the fact. So, I began asking around. And, Jeff had the answer. This is what he said on Facebook:
It was a question on Final Jeopardy…
It occurred last night and depending on what time zone you are on would determine when you were searching. There is controversy on the question and answer; so it sent people searching.
It turns out that the Final Jeopardy question for the episode that aired Monday, June 11, 2012 was this (the category was “Events in the Bible”):
Acts 1:13 says this event occurred in “an upper room.”
The answer that was ruled correct was “The Last Supper”… which is not correct. But, that’s beside the point. (In Acts 1:13, the only event to happen in “an upper room” is some people “stayed.”)
Apparently, the controversy concerning that “correct answer” sent many people scurrying to Google and other search engines in order to determine the correct “correct answer.” And, several of them landed on the post that I wrote last year.
So, I wanted to publicly thank Ed Stetzer and Jeopardy for the intentional and unintentional (respectively) increase in traffic to my blog on Monday.
The New Testament Scriptures and the Proclamation of the Gospel
To say that proclaiming the gospel is an important aspect of the New Testament Scriptures would be an understatement. There are both examples of proclaiming the gospels and exhortations to proclaim the gospel found throughout the New Testament.
It is very important for those of us who are in Christ to remind each other and encourage each other about the good news of Jesus Christ! Extremely important.
However, in this short series, I want us to consider the proclamation of the gospel to unbelievers in the New Testament. Now, we know that the Epistles and Revelation were written to people who had already believed the gospel (to use Jesus’ words). They were already following Jesus and were already indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
But, what about the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and Acts? There are still arguments and discussions about whether these books were written for people who were not believers or for people who are already believers. To me, if we take John at face value, that Gospel was written (at least in part) for an audience of people who did not yet follow Jesus:
[T]hese are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31 ESV)
When compared to the Epistles and Revelation, it is more likely that the Gospel of John and the other Gospels were written for an audience of unbelievers. If Luke also wrote Acts (and I believe he did) and if he wrote it to the same person and for the same reason, then we could also assume that the Book of Acts was written (at least in part) for an audience of unbelievers.
So, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, we find our best examples of how Jesus and his first followers proclaimed the gospel to unbelievers.
But, have you thought about how Jesus and his first followers proclaimed the good news in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts? From what I can tell, the way that they proclaimed the gospel (at least what we read) is alot different than the way that we generally find today.
In fact, from what I have experiences, many Christians today rely more on the Epistles to proclaim the good news than on the Gospels or Acts. But, the passages quoted from the Epistles were written for people who were already believers. (I’m not saying that is wrong or invalid. I’m simply saying it’s something that I’ve noticed and find interesting and perhaps peculiar.)
In my next post, I’m going to look at a few examples of “gospel presentation” in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, but for now, I have a question for you:
From your reading of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, what are some aspects of proclaiming the gospel do you think were important for Jesus and his first followers?
The baptism of Jon, from where did it come?
No. There is no typo in the title of this post. And, yes, it is a take-off of Matthew 21:25. However, I am not talking about “John the Baptist.”
Instead, I’m talking about Jon from “Jon’s Journey.” He has started a series on the topic of “baptism” that promises to be very good.
So far, he’s published two posts: “Baptism Questions” and “Baptism without Water.”
Here is part of his latest post:
Could it be that John baptized with water, but Jesus was going to wash/immerse/dye people with the Holy Spirit and fire (and not necessarily with water). John doesn’t say Jesus will baptize with water and also baptize with the Holy Spirit.
I did a similar study of baptism a few years ago, covering the use of the term in the LXX (Septuagint), Philo, Josephus, and the New Testament. Unfortunately, the Greek text in those posts was corrupted during a database upgrade, so much of the series is indecipherable.
Baptism is definitely an interesting study, and followers of Jesus come to different conclusions today. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of Jon’s study.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on baptism.
Knowing who you are and how others identify you
This post is part of the June 2012 Synchroblog on the topic “What’s in Your Invisible Knapsack?” Yes, I know… that’s a strange topic/title. But, when you hear what it means, I hope you understand why I was interested in writing for this synchroblog.
(By the way, if you want to take part also, it’s not too late. You can find the details in the post “June Synchroblog – What’s In Your Invisible Knapsack?“)
The purpose of this synchroblog, is to consider who you are and what privileges you may or may not have in society based on who you are. Here is a longer description:
Whether it is white privilege, heterosexual privilege, male privilege, Christian privilege, able-bodied privilege or any other privilege that we enjoy through no effort of our own, we all have a tendency to be blind to our own position of privilege. We easily recognize the privilege in groups that we don’t belong to and ways in which we ourselves are oppressed, but we don’t tend to recognize our own unearned privilege that saves us from facing certain obstacles, gives us certain guarantees and benefits, and works to the disadvantage and oppression of others. We like to think that our success is something that we have worked for and earned when things may have turned out much differently if we were born with a disability or in a different place, if we were a different race, a different sex or of a different sexual orientation…
Here are some questions to get your creative juices flowing:
Do we take our unearned privileges for granted? How does unearned privileges hurt/harm others? Should we try to dismantle systems built upon unearned privileges? If so, what are some practical solutions to dismantling such systems? Are unearned privileges an obstacle to us putting other people’s interest above our own? Is our position of privilege impairing our ability to love others? How does unearned privilege impact educational systems, faith communities, neighborhoods, work places?
To me, my primary identity is as a child of God. However, I must also admit for most of the people who meet me, they will not identify me primarily as a child of God. Instead, they will identify me through various societal identifiers. And, some of those identifiers will reflect various types of “privilege” as listed above.
For example, I’m male. I’m caucasian. I’m married. I’m a parent. I’m employed. I’m educated. I’m a homeowner.
In many circles (societies), these markers do provide certain kinds of privilege. The society that I live among in North Carolina, USA does recognize these attributes as types of privilege. When I interact with people in this particular culture, they will begin to identify me (even before they know me) by these positive markers (because they generally view these things in a positive light).
In other societies (in even among some subcultures in North Carolina, USA), these same characteristics are not seen positively, but are seen negatively. When people in those societies (or subcultures) first begin to identify me (even before they know me), by these negative markers (because they generally view these things in a negative light).
In many ways, in order to rightly relate to other people, it’s important to both understand how others identify you (by those markers or characteristics or privileges) and also what those markers mean within those societies. At times, it may be necessary to work to demonstrate that you are not the same as they may think (based on those markers).
Of course, Paul said this better than I could ever say it:
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23 ESV)
While Paul wrote this in the context of proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers, it is just as applicable in the context of discipling and fellowshiping with other believers. The one who is “free from all” in Christ both recognizes the privileges offered to him/her by society and also gladly gives up those rights for the benefit of others.
This is life walking in the Spirit. This is following Jesus Christ, who is the epitome of giving up his rights for the benefit of others.
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June 2012 Synchroblog “What’s in Your Invisible Knapsack?”
Here is a list of bloggers taking part in this synchroblog:
Rebecca Trotter at The Upside Down World – The Real Reason the Term “White Privilege” Needs to Die
Carol Kuniholm at Words Half Heard – What Do You Have That You Didn’t Receive
Glenn Hager at Glenn Hager – Unjust Justice
K.W. Leslie at More Christ – Sharing From The Invisible Knapsack
Jeremy Myers at Till He Comes – My Black Privilege
Alan Knox at The Assembling Of the Church – Knowing Who You Are and How Others Identify You
Leah Sophia at desert spirit’s fire – backpack cargo
Liz Dyer at Grace Rules – Christian Privilege
My friend started a new site: New Testament Ministries
A friend of mine started a new website called “New Testament Ministries.” His first post is “Starting from scratch… all over again.”
(After I wrote this, I realized that I never asked permission to use my friend’s name, and his name is not on the site. So, I’m not going to mention his name here either.)
I met him a couple of years ago online, then we met in person a couple of time: once while we were traveling through his city and again at a workshop in a nearby city. We’ve had some wonderful, encouraging conversations then and through email.
Here is a brief excerpt from his first post:
I had the opportunity to watch a group of about 25 Christians come together and break out into a spontaneous (but ordered) rendition of what you just read above. It was so refreshing. There were no bulletins, no sitting in rows looking at the back of each others’ heads for an hour while listening to a sermon, but it was interactive and participatory. Anyone with something edifying to say (or sing) could do so at virtually anytime. However, what struck me most was two things (1) simplicity, and (2) the obvious, deep love that these people had for Christ and each other. The second point struck me the most. I walked away almost speechless thinking, “this is what I’ve been missing for so long.”
I’m looking forward to reading more from my friend. I hope you’ll decide to follow his site also.
Refuse to try to control others among the church
“So, Alan, when you gather with the church, how do you do X?”
I’m often asked that question. Sometimes, my friends who are part of more institutional churches ask me questions like that. Sometimes, my friends who are part of more organic churches ask me questions like that.
Invariably, regardless of whether the questioner prefers more organization or less organization, he or she will find something that we do (or don’t do) with which to disagree. Then, I’m asked the following question, “Well, why do you do that, when Scripture clearly says such-and-such?”
Or, even more exciting, occasionally someone will determine that we do things in a different way than what I’ve written about here. Then, I’ll here or read a statement such as this: “Well, why do you do that, when you’ve written that you believe such-and-such is better or more scriptural?”
Both answers make an invalid assumption. The answers assume that I control the church in such a way that we always do (or don’t do) exactly what I think we should do (or not do).
Believe it or not, I do not control the brothers and sisters with whom I meet regularly. In fact, I do not even WANT to try to control them – even when they decide to do something that I disagree with.
We cannot disciple one another – helping one another follow Jesus Christ – via control, even if we are right. (Of course, we will never know with certainty that we are right… but that’s beside the point.)
Instead, we help one another follow Jesus Christ through teaching, example, and patience, trusting that God will help all of us learn to follow together.
In the meantime, we all still live with one another in Jesus Christ, even as we are maturing (but not yet perfected). If we are maturing (but not yet perfected), then we will follow imperfectly (all of us, both individually and corporately). We will not always make the best decisions individually, and we will not always make the best decisions corporately.
So, we only have a few choices: 1) We try to control others and make them do what we think is best. 2) We separate from those who refuse to do what we think is best. 3) We live with one another in our imperfections continuing to help one another follow Jesus Christ and mature in him.
I decided long ago that I am not in control and that I will not attempt to control others, even when someone (or some group) decides to do something that I do not think is best. I’ve also decided that I will stick with my brothers and sisters even when they make decisions with which I disagree.
(By the way, God has surrounded me with some wonderful people. You know, when I disagree with the decisions we make together as a church, I am often the one who is wrong…)
Scripture… As We Live It #212
This is the 212th passage in “Scripture… As We Live It.”
(Note: This re-mix is the “flip side” of last week’s “Scripture… As We Live It #211.”)
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble I will make it a rule that no Christian is ever allowed to eat meat again, and even questioning this rule will be considered heretical. (1 Corinthians 8:13 re-mix)
(Please read the first post for an explanation of this series.)