Biblical Evangelism

Think about it for a few seconds. I'm sure that, with little effort, you can come up with the standard lines that most people throw out when witnessing. You'll typically think of lines like "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" or "Christ died for you." They'll need to hear, I'm sure, that they need to "ask Jesus into your heart." Whatever the standard lines might be, I'm sure you'll speak of entry to heaven.

How odd, then, when we look at the biblical accounts of Gospel presentations. Not once do we find any such things in their messages. In fact, it's a bit disturbing if you look at Jesus's version.

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)

This is an interesting "Gospel." "God's kingdom is here. Repent and believe." Sorry, but where was the "good news"? John the Baptist carried the same Gospel just prior to Jesus's ministry. In Matthew 3 he preached "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). When the Pharisees showed up, he greeted them warmly and told them that God loved them and kept his message friendly so as not to scare them away. Wait ... that's not right, is it? No, here's how John treated these people who came to be baptized:

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matt. 3:7)

Umm, John, look, that's not exactly "seeker-sensitive", man. I mean, seriously, what's up with that? John didn't stop there. He wanted to know, "What makes you think that my baptism offers you anything of any value?" He wanted to know "What makes you think you're any better than a rock just because you're of your father, Abraham?" He wanted to know, "You're so keen on repentance; when are you going to show it?" Then he told them, "Listen, I'm just the early messenger. The one that follows me is bringing fire" (Matt. 3:7-11). John really messed up the whole concept, didn't he?

Perhaps not. Look through the Gospel presentations of the Bible and you'll find a strange lack of today's vernacular. You don't find the message of an all-loving God. You don't find the message that "Christ died for you personally." Nowhere do you see anything about "You need to accept Jesus." There are no altar calls, no "Sinner's prayers," very little that we might recognize today as "the Gospel". Instead what we find is a lot of "Repent!" Peter thought the best approach to win converts to Christianity was to tell them about "Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified" (Acts 4:10). When Paul gets around to sharing his version of the Gospel with the people he'd never met, the people in Rome, he starts out with three chapters on the sinfulness of Man. The remedy, it seems, is faith apart from works. And the call is for repentance.

This seems a far cry from the typical Gospel we hear today. It appears as if we want to present a friendlier message than they did. "Sin" isn't the key problem. "Hell" isn't the final destination. "Repent" isn't the key word. We want to present a warm, loving God who would likely never be mad at anyone. (Imagine how confusing that becomes when they contemplate the problem of the existence of evil.) We want to assure them that God feels warmly toward them and Christ died for them and all they have to do is ask Jesus into their hearts. It strikes me as odd since that isn't a Gospel approach I find in the Bible. And if we believe that the Bible is our sole source for faith and practice, don't you think it should strike most of us a bit odd? I have to wonder why it doesn't.