"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20>

The Great Commission. The only part of God"s great plan for the salvation of mankind he asked for our help with.

Yet, very few Christians pay any regard to it at all. Perhaps the reason most Christians do not carry out the Great Commission is because they have never been properly trained. A lot of Christians are afraid to share their faith with others, not because they are ashamed of their faith, but because they do not want to look like fools when they cannot answer a question. Many Christians do not know how to explain the most basic concepts of the gospel. It?s not entirely their fault. Most churches these days spend little time preaching the actual gospel message.

And what, exactly, is the gospel? Some people cannot even begin by answering that simple question. So for this reason I have chosen to fill this void and write on the topic of evangelism; specifically what the gospel is and how to effectively share it with others.Many Christians cannot effectively share their faith is because they have never really been discipled. Discipleship is really what being a Christian is all about. When Jesus gave us the Great Commission, he said ?Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations?? (Matthew 28:19). He did not say "Go therefore and make converts"

Each of us should spend large amounts of time with strong, elder Christians learning from them so we can understand better what we really believe. Likewise, as we grow stronger in the Word it is our responsibility to develop those we lead to Christ. Our responsibility goes well beyond leading them through some ?sinner?s prayer? or dragging them into a church. We are to make them disciples.

I had the privilege of being discipled by a man who knew the gospel very well. As a former professor of evangelism and apologetics, he was definitely experienced in sharing the gospel, and teaching others to do the same. He invested a great deal of time in teaching me the gospel and training me to train others. We should do the same with every person we lead to Christ, for that is the Great Commission.

There are several popular gospel methods out there. The Roman Road, and Evangelism Explosion, for example. There is nothing wrong with these methods; they have undoubtedly led thousands to Christ. Many people use these methods to share the gospel, but a problem arises as soon as somebody asks a question. With these methods, you need to follow them exactly step by step, but that is rarely an option. Somebody will certainly ask a question not covered in them.

Let me give an illustration. When I go to buy a car, it only takes me a few seconds to notice the salesman is giving me his pitch. You can tell it in his voice; and you can tell by the way he seems to insist on dominating the conversation, and sticking to his plan. This of course leads me to distrust him, and being the shrewd buyer I am I try as hard as I can to lead him off his script and get him lost.

However, if I sit down, and he seems genuinely concerned in hearing what I have to say and answering my questions, I will also notice that immediately, and I will trust him. Well, when you teach the gospel you get the same result. Those you share it with will notice the difference. They will see how important this is to you, and how well you know it, and they will trust you and be much less likely to be hostile. Also, you will open up a world of opportunities to share bits and pieces one day at a time.

So I asked a question earlier, what exactly is the gospel? The gospel can be found, in a nutshell, in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5:

?Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.?

Now, to sum that up even further, it basically says the gospel message is that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and was raised from the dead, and believing this will save you from the punishment for sin.

Wow! We narrowed that down, didn?t we? But all this does is lead to more questions. Nobody can understand the gospel with only this little bit of information. Why did Christ have to die? How did that save us? What is the punishment for sin? What is sin? What are we supposed to do about all this? These are questions which must be answered and understood to be able to explain the gospel. And so my focus will be to address these important questions.

Before I go into these questions deeper, I?d like to draw your attention to that little phrase, ?according to the Scriptures.? When this was written, there was no New Testament. These Scriptures are the Old Testament. Yes, the Old Testament contains the gospel too. Imagine if you, like Paul, had to share the Gospel using nothing but the Old Testament! I encourage you to read Isaiah 53 and see how clearly it speaks of what our savior needed to do for us over 700 years before he began his life as a man. It is a wonder that the Jews were (and still are) looking for a pompous military leader to save them from their earthly enemies, instead of a humble servant to sacrifice himself to save them from the wages of their sin. I suppose they haven?t given much thought to Isaiah 53.

What makes the strongest argument for the gospel being true, is the fact that everything he would do for us was prophesied about long before he did it, and so we will look at all these Old Testament references also.

So to summarize, the gospel is not complete without four basic elements: Who God is and what he requires, who man is and what he is (and isn?t) capable of, what Jesus did for us to solve it, and what our response to that should be. The gospel message requires each of these four elements, and I will strive to clarify each of these so you can effectively share them with others. As you read through this series, I urge you to post any questions you have in the forum, and to take what you learn, make it your own, and share it with those you meet.

God could speak His Word from the sky to the entire world at once, but instead He?s trusted you to spread it for Him. Take that seriously.

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Published on: 2006-01-13 (1851 reads)