The Gospel and Evangelism - additional comments

Matt Hand brought it to my attention that Graeme Goldsworthy addresses the same issue with which we have been concerned in our Gospel and evangelism posts. In light of the importance of this particular topic for the church I decided to post Goldsworthy's comments for your reflection.

“My concern about evangelism is that sometimes there is a greater emphasis on the need for some kind of response than on the c lear exposition of the gospel. Telling people they need to come to Jesus, that they must be born again, that they should commit their lives to Christ, and so on, is not preaching the gospel. It is, at best, telling them what they ought to do or, in the case of the new birth, what has happened when they have received the gospel. It is a remarkable thing in Acts 2 that Peter’s sermon contained no appeal. The appeal came from the congregation: ‘What should we do?’ It was the power and clarity of the gospel message that impressed them with the need to do something about it.

The evangelistic sermon, as we see in Acts, will therefore contain elements other than the gospel. Telling people their need for the gospel, both their felt need and the real need, is plainly important, but it is not itself the gospel. When we have explained what God has done for us in Christ –the gospel – then we may go on to explain the benefits of receiving the gospel and the perils of ignoring it. However, telling people that they can choose either heaven or hell is not telling them the gospel. Telling them, as Peter did, that repentance and faith go hand in hand with the gift of the Holy Spirit is important, but it is not the gospel. Whenever people’s sense of assurance of salvation is expressed in the first person, something is amiss. When the question ‘How do you know God will accept you?’ is answered by ‘I have Jesus in my heart,’ ‘I asked Jesus into my life,’ ‘The Holy Spirit is in me,’ and so on, the real gospel basis for assurance needs to be reviewed. We rejoice when the answer comes in the third person: ‘God gave his only Son to die on the cross for me,’ ‘Jesus died, rose, and is in heaven for me.’ When the focus is on the finished and perfect work of Christ, rather than on the unfinished work of the Spirit in me, the grounds for assurance are in place” (Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, p. 95).