By Doug Benshoof
During the past few months I have taken a closer look at the Gospel we use when we dialogue and study with nonbelievers. While I have spoken to those training in San Antonio to “live among the lost,” the question of how to better understand what our Gospel is has surfaced.
At the beginning of one training study I asked each person to write out a definition or description of what the Gospel encompasses. Then toward the middle of the study, to rewrite the definition according to what they had learned from their investigation of the Scriptures. There was a significant change in their papers. Now, in the final segment of the study, they have been asked to write a third paper . . . what will they have learned this time?
I met with a couple of staff in Austin a few years ago and asked them what their Gospel was. We chatted for an hour or so. On their trip home they wondered why I’d asked such a thing. A few months ago, however, one of these two staff men said to me, “I never understood your question and its importance until I had a number of nonbelievers studying the Gospel. Now it’s so clear how critical understanding the Gospel accurately is to me.”
Dallas Willard believes that we preach more of a truncated “benefits Gospel” or a “therapeutic Gospel” than a New Testament Gospel. After having asked many to give me a definition of the Gospel, I have come to agree with Dr. Willard. We have more of a bulleted or benefits Gospel and often do not do a good job of helping a secular unbeliever understand it accurately. Most folks have given more or less a 1 Cor. 15:3-4 type of answer to the question: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” While this is a technically accurate summary, it in no way communicates adequately or clearly with the majority of the secular lost.
I recently went through the Gospels and the book of Acts and examined every conversation I came across. I was amazed at how Jesus handled folks He talked to. Much of His comments do not sound like “good news”! Very rarely do we see Jesus trying to market the Good News or convince people to believe.
Consider the following verses:
Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.’ – Luke 19:9-10
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? – Mark 8:35-38
And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. – John the Baptist, Matthew 3:8-10
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. – Luke 15:7. [Three stories by Jesus on the Lost Coin, the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Son show God's pursuit of lost.]
These are just a few references that indicate Jesus (and John the Baptist) started with “getting people lost” before giving them the Good News of salvation. Spurgeon says: “Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace.” We need to help people see that they’re lost before they can be saved. Jesus repeatedly had difficulty with the Pharisees because they felt obeying their religious system made them okay with God. The unsaved don’t even agree that much of their conduct is sin. Much more of our effort needs to be directed at making them see they’re lost.
The apologetics needed for this generation does not start with the intellectual issues. Josh McDowell has said that for years he started with the “rational reasons for belief” when speaking to college students. Now he starts every meeting by sharing his personal reasons for believing. We need to start where this generation is. But first, we need to get them lost. They need to understand why their lives aren’t working–see ours working! No one eagerly invites the God of the universe to enter and rule his life as long as he feels adequate or in control. In John 16:8 and 9, Jesus gave us some help: “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;” The Holy Spirit will convince men of sin, which is not believing in Jesus. [Another way of stating this is that the principal sin God is concerned with is man's determination to make his life work without Him.]
The Bigger Picture
Man cannot make life work without God. In the Garden of Eden man declared his independence. But God removed this evil rebellion immediately and cursed man’s relationships and his efforts for security. Every generation continually strives to make life work without God. God continually thwarts these efforts.
Most people try to make their lives work in the physical, social, and intellectual/career arenas without God. Getting people lost means they realize that:
- They have excluded God.
- They are trying to make life work according to their efforts.
- Their effort is not working.
When unbelievers see why these attitudes have caused their lives to go wrong–and what Jesus has done right in our lives–they’ll be in a true position to understand and accept God’s forgiveness and offer of salvation.