The Gospel: its Content and Communication 9

In conclusion, a few thoughts about the communication of the Gospel.

1.  The key to persuasive communication of the Gospel lies more in character than in technique.  Paul was not eloquent by the standards of the day, 2 Cor 10:10, but he knew his own mind and understood others as well.  Although he relied on the Holy Spirit, he did not despise the ordinary means of persuasion.  He made every effort to avoid cultural barriers to communication, 1 Cor 9:19-22.  He gave of himself unstintingly, and allowed himself to be stripped of cultural pretension, Phil 3.

2.  We should follow the God-given procedural guidelines for communicating the Gospel.  We follow the lines of the biblical story, we keep close to the text of Scripture, and above all we focus on the person of Christ.  We do not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God, but we distinguish between milk and meat, between foundation and superstructure.  We show how the Gospel shapes our relationships at home and in the family and elsewhere.  We show respect for other cultures as well as our own, however pagan they may be.

3.  Christian communication is not easy.  There is not necessarily anything wrong with what we are doing if we meet anger and opposition: for this was often the experience of our Lord too.  The parable of the sower shows this, as does the raction of Chorazin and Bethsaida, Mt 11:1-6.

Based on J.I. Packer, ‘The Gospel – Its Content and Communication’, in Selected Shorter Writings 2, 230-232.

The Gospel – its Content and Communication 3

Story #2 – God’s people: the church.  In this fallen world people are alienated from God and from one another.  God has acted to created a new people who will live for him and for one another in covenant love and loyalty.  God established a covenant with Abraham and his descendants.  He gave the law, which showed what behaviour pleased him, and a cultus, with sacrifice at its heart, whereby sin might be dealt with.  A pattern of judgement and renewal was set up.  When Christ came to set up a new form of the covenant by his self-sacrifice, Israel spurned him, and he became in himself the faithful remnant.  In him Israel was reconstituted as comprising believing Jews and Gentiles alike, and the church will thus remain one city, one family, one flock for ever.

The pattern of judgement and renewal is fulfilled in Christ’s death and resurrection, which themselves give shape to the Christian life, as baptism shows.

Outwardly, God’s covenant people are humiliated, dispersed, opposed and distressed.  But inwardly their life is one of union and communion with the risen Christ, as the Lord’s Supper proclaims.  The Church is one body, each member serving the whole, animated by the Holy Spirit.

In this story, the goal is for God to have a people who are bound to him in love, and whose unity-in-diversity demonstrates to a watching world God’s many-stranded wisdom (Eph 3:10).  The Gospel call is to accept a share in this life and a place in God’s family by bowing to the One who loved the church and gave himself for it.

Based on J.I. Packer, ‘The Gospel – Its Content and Communication’, in Selected Shorter Writings 2, 2224-225.

The Gospel – its Content and Communication 2

What, then, of the content of the Gospel?

The underlying word, euaggelion, good news, is used 60 times in Paul’s writings.  It refers to God’s work in Christ for the salvation of the world.  Specifically, it incorporates the message of Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, reign and return.  Six overlapping stories are involved:-

Story #1.  God’s purpose: the kingdom.  All of humankind is subjected to sin and death, and all of creation to futility and corruption.  But God’s eternal plan has been to restore this situation through the God-man Jesus Christ.  God will exert his kingship by bringing in his kingdom.  In his kingdom, trusting and obeying Christ, his vice-regent, is God’s appointed way of returning us from sin to God’s service.  God’s kingship over Israel was a preparation for this kingdom.  When at the appointed time Christ came, God’s prepared people rejected him, but this very rejection meant world-wide redemption.  In this story, the goal is a restored and perfected cosmos, and the Gospel call is to abandon rebellion, acknowledge Christ as Lord, accept forgiveness, enlist on the victory side, be faithful and life in hope of God’s final triumph.

Based on J.I. Packer, ‘The Gospel – Its Content and Communication’, in Selected Shorter Writings 2, 223-224.

The Gospel – its Content and Communication 1

J.I. Packer has a helpful article that explores this topic with cross-cultural evangelism in mind.  Here’s the first part of my summary.

Three preliminary thoughts:-

1.  The communication of the gospel must be determined by its content.  The content includes a diagnosis of the human condition, value-judgements on the life that is, and the life that might be, lived, and a call to respond in radical commitment.  Now this content must be verbalised, and it must be preached (i.e. explained and applied).  Such media as instrumental music, pictures, sculpture, or dance may reinforce the message, but only preaching can communicate it.  Nor can the theologian take the place of the ambassador.  Heb 1:1-3 describes God’s Son as a preacher even before he is described as as priest, sacrifice and mediator.  This is borne out by the Gospels themselves, which present him first of all as preacher of the Gospel of the kingdom (Mk 1:14f; Mt 4:17, 23; Lk 4:16-21; Jn 3:3-15).  So, preaching must continue as a main activity of the church, and the manner of the preacher must back up his matter.

The Emerging Church in its own words 5

Chapter 6 of Gibbs’ and Bolger’s book, Emerging Church: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures, is entitled, ‘Welcoming the Stranger’.

Unlocking the mind of the unbeliever

In a recent article in Evangelicals Now, Andrew Baughen reports on a gathering of UK evangelists with Tim Keller.  The Clerkenwell Sympsium, as the gathering was called, explored an approach to evangelism that seeks to uncover the various barriers to belief and to suggest ways of overcoming these, so as to lead a person, using a conversational approach, towards an understanding of God’s point of view.

Puritan Evangelism

J.I. Packer has an interesting note on the Puritan approach to evangelism.

Their programme as evangelists (Packer writes) was no more specialised than this: to teach and apply the Scriptures in a patient, thorough way, ranging wide in their declarations of the whole counsel of God but constantly returning to three themes.

Sharing Your Faith

First and Last Things.  Look at the first thing that Jesus said to his disciples, Mt 4:19.  Look at the last thing he said to them, Mt 28:16-20.  What is similar about these?

Evangelism and Social Action

Christians have often perceived a tension between evangelism and social action.  Evangelicals have usually stressed the former, whereas liberals have invariably emphasised the latter.  John Stott writes: ‘the evangelical stereotype has been to spiritualise the gospel, and deny its social implications; while the ecumenical stereotype has been the politicise it, and deny its offer of salvation to sinners.  The polarisation has been a disaster.’