SAJIYH - Gospel What?

SAJIYH Part 2 - Gospel What?

Welcome to part two of the ‘Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart’ series. This post is intended to give a quick overview of the gospel before diving in deeper to the various components in later posts. 

The Need for a Two-Minute Gospel

I think it is important for believers to know the Gospel so well they can explain it in about 2 minutes. Because of busy schedules and short attention spans, you may only have a few minutes to share with someone. You also don’t want to have a one-sided monologue with a person where you talk forever while they inwardly wish you would just leave. I think it is important for the version you share to be one that stirs your affections for Jesus. If you share the Gospel but don’t get excited and feel like worshiping Jesus then it’s not good news to you and probably won’t be to your hearers either. I would also recommend not using formulas. No one wants to fall in surrender to the greatest truth of the world if it is presented in a pre-marketed way like a sketchy car salesman. People want authenticity. Share from how Jesus looks beautiful to you.  

My Two-Minute Version (An example)

God created the world and all things were only whole and good. Quickly into the story of humanity, Adam and Eve chose to believe the serpent rather than God and disobeyed their loving Creator. The result from their rebellion was that sin entered. The rest of the Old Testament shows humanity trying and failing to overcome their rebellion and find that place of wholeness again. God continued to love his creation in spite of their rebellion. Woven throughout the failings of the Old Testament was the hope of a Savior who would be able to rescue and redeem the broken humanity out of their rebellion. God loved you and I so much and wanted us to be a part of his family that he was willing to send the Savior, His Son Jesus, into enemy territory where we were kicking and screaming and fighting against Him to rescue us from that mess. The New Testament begins with the coming of Jesus. It explains how He lived the perfect life that humans had been unable to live since Genesis 3, making Him a valid rescuer for us after His death and resurrection. For those who choose to abandon all to follow Him and find forgiveness, he begins the slow process of restoring us back to our pre-Fall whole selves. Those who follow Him must count the cost of possibly abandoning all for Him. He may demand we give our lives, freedom, comfort, health, jobs, etc. This process of restoration will be finally finished when we either die or Jesus returns. At that point, we will be made completely perfect, sin will again be absent and we live in a place of only increasing joy worshiping God as He rightly deserves.    

(My two minute version is partially based on this video. My heart was so captured by the truths that as I tell this version over and over, I am humbled and in awe of our great God.) 

Another way to easily share the gospel is through story. I recently listened to a sermon about the prodigal son and thought how it drips with the gospel. Perhaps you could use the woman caught in adultery or the woman at the well. Many great books and movies, both classical and a few contemporary, have the themes of the gospel woven into them. Use them as a springboard to explain how these great stories echo a greater story. I highly recommend the book 'Epic' by John Eldredge to begin to see the gospel in movies and literature.

Here is an even simpler outline to keep in mind:

God is majestic, and you have sinned, but in Christ you can be reconciled to him.* 

In my next post, I will begin to go more in depth for each aspect of the gospel. While it is important to know a condensed version, it’s also important to know the foundations as well. Among these include how the gospel is for individuals and God wishes to save many people. Another foundation consists of the greater story of salvation history stretching from the creation in Genesis to the new creation in Revelations and how that story also fits within the gospel to all nations. I will use the following bullet points as a guide that touch on individual salvation as well as the greater story:

Creation/God

Fall/Man

Reconciliation/Christ

Response

Consummation/New Creation.**

Today's song is the mashup video mentioned above. The song is called 'How He Loves.'

As usual, if at any point in the series you have questions or comments you can either comment below or email me at lookingforgreenergrasses@gmail.com  Please correspond with me also if you have gospel related topics you would like me to address.

Table of Contents for Series
Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

Gospel What?
In the Beginning God
All Hell Broke Loose
Beautiful Scandalous Love
So You Think You're a Christian
And They Loved Happily Ever After
How Can I Be Sure?
I Stopped Asking Jesus Into My Heart
Tips & Resources

Sources:

1. Matt Chandler, The Explicit Gospel, 81.

2. I got these categories from two main sources. The first is 'The Explicit Gospel' by Matt Chandler. The second came from Jeff Vanderstelt's 'Gospel Fluency -Part 4' talk.