We might be preaching a gospel of grace with our words, but when our life doesn’t match up with what we are preaching, we are likely to be discredited as hypocrites.
Read I Corinthians 15
With the holidays fast approaching, it is prime time to discuss how we are going to approach our friends and family with the gospel. We all have someone that we have been praying for to be saved, but even if we have tried to witness to them in the past, it grows increasingly difficult from year to year.
“Why should we prepare?” you might ask. Because we have a tendency to assume the gospel and underestimate how difficult it actually is until we are put in the spotlight.
First, when we are actually given an opportunity to share our faith, we aren’t ready. We stumble over our words. We miss opportunities when they present themselves.
Second, if we aren’t holding the gospel in front of our eyes on a daily basis, then we are likely to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Without the reminder of our need for a savior to humble us, we develop a sense of pride in our own self-righteousness. When our sin goes unchecked it damages our witness. We might be preaching a gospel of grace with our words, but when our life doesn’t match up with what we are preaching, we are likely to be discredited as hypocrites.
Third, when we assume the gospel, we will find it difficult to keep the presentation clear and concise. Our friends and family are not going to sit down and have a long drawn out discussion as we unpack the various elements of our faith. They’re going to lose interest as we meander down rabbit trails based on our hobby horse doctrines.
We need a refresher course on the gospel.
What is the Gospel?
The word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news.’ It is a proclamation of what Christ has done for us. The gospel has the power to change lives, to bring the dead back to life, to break through the hardest of hearts, and to satisfy the deepest longings of our heart. Just as God used words to bring all of creation into being, so words are the medium that God uses to call us to faith. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
To share the gospel, however, we have to first know what we are talking about.
When the Apostle Paul gave a definition of the gospel, he broke it down into three categories, “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4). These essentials are of “first importance.” If we are going to have a working understanding of the gospel, we must explore these three points.
Christ Died for Our Sins
The cross is easily understood in relation to the gospel message. It is the evidence of God’s love that Jesus died in our place and bore the punishment for our sins. Yet, the cross, for many, is an offense or a stumbling block. It is not the fact that Jesus died for a cause. That story is compelling. It is why Jesus died. He died to pay the penalty for our sins. That is what people find difficult to accept. It forces us to recognize our need for a savior.
Romans 3:21-26 gives us the clearest explanation of why Jesus had to die. In order for us to understand the righteousness of God, we first have to understand that we have all sinned and fall short of His glory. The only way that we could ever stand before a righteous God is if our sins were removed. Jesus did this by bearing the full weight of our sins and God’s wrath on our behalf, redeeming us by His blood.
But why did anyone need to die in the first place? Why couldn’t God just overlook our sins and forgive us without the need for a sacrifice? Because, as Paul explains, God must remain just. He cannot compromise on His righteousness while remaining holy and pure. That is why Jesus had to die, to pay for our sins. “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,” the Apostle John wrote, “but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2). This means that on the cross, the Father poured out the full cup of His wrath for every sin that had been and ever would be committed and made the Son drink it until the very last drop.
It is hard for us to fathom what Jesus truly endured on the cross. We are only aware of what happened on the surface. We see the mocking, the false accusations, the beatings, the crown of thorns, the cruelty of the cross, and public shaming. But it isn’t until we hear Jesus’ cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) that we understand what He truly endured. Jesus was forsaken so that we could be forgiven.
Christ was Buried
The mention of Jesus’ burial here in the text seems like an unnecessary detail. We can pass over it so quickly that we neglect to see its significance. However, Paul includes it here along with the other two elements of ‘first importance.’ Therefore, we need to examine it as well.
For the past several years, I’ve written daily devotions for Holy Week. I have to admit that when I first started doing this, I struggled whenever I got to Saturday. What are we supposed to dwell on in regards to the burial of Christ? There’s not much in terms of Scriptural narrative to consider.
Then I started to contemplate the mindset of the disciples, how they must have felt after Jesus had died. They had all abandoned Jesus in His final moments. Peter publicly denied Him three times at Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrian. We can infer that Peter, and the other disciples would have felt a considerable amount of guilt and shame as they hid away in the upper room. Peter’s memory of his own impulsive blundering must have rung in his ears: “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away,” and later, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you” (Matthew 26:33, 35)!
When Peter eventually wrote his first letter to the churches, he described how we suffer in two different ways. We can either suffer the consequences of our mistakes, in guilt and shame, or we can suffer for the cause of Christ, “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil” (I Peter 3:17). This was likely a lesson Peter learned during the time that Christ was buried in the grave.
Peter would then go on to explain the significance of the tomb, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, (read: hell) because they formerly did not obey” (I Peter 3:18-20).
For Peter, the burial testifies that Jesus only had to die once. His sacrifice was sufficient. He does not continue to suffer for our sins. Furthermore, Jesus' burial was a declaration to the unseen spirit realm that the battle had been won. It was His victory lap. Now, he has sat down in heaven with “angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” (I Peter 3:22).
There is no longer any reason for us to suffer over our sins. Christ’s work is completed. It is finished. He has reconciled us to God. There is no longer any power in heaven or hell that can harm us or take away our inheritance. We should rejoice in our freedom in Christ.
Christ Rose from the Dead
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is probably the most crucial component of the gospel in our day. It addressed the dualistic thinking of Western Civilization: a culture that likes Jesus for His moral teaching on tolerance and love, but rejects His lordship over their lives.
The rest of I Corinthians 15 is the Apostle Paul’s argument for the truth and importance of the resurrection. He starts with an apologetic argument: an appeal to eyewitness testimony as proof that the event actually happened. Peter (Cephas) was the first to witness the empty tomb. The rest of the disciples would follow. Then Jesus appeared to as many as 500 people, some of whom were still living at the time Paul was writing this letter. This meant that the readers of Paul’s day could have gone and interviewed individuals that actually witnessed the risen savior.
Modern day scholars argue that this is one of the strongest and most compelling evidences of the gospel’s claims. Furthermore, that those witnesses would ultimately become martyrs for their faith is a testament to the veracity of their claims. The Apostle Paul then shares his own testimony, not only of his encounter with the risen Jesus, but of the way it completely transformed his life. He went from persecuting Christians to being persecuted himself as a follower of Christ.
All of this would be foolishness, Paul claims, if the resurrection wasn’t true. It would make them and God out to be liars. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, then we are all in trouble because, “If Christ has not been raised, (our) faith is futile and (we) are still in (our) sins” (I Corinthians 15:17).
Furthermore, if the resurrection is a lie, then it makes everything Paul had dedicated his life to into nothing more than a foolish errand. If Jesus was just a good, moral teacher, who opens up the path to our best life now, then why did so many of His followers give up their lives to follow Him? Paul says that without the doctrine of the resurrection, we are a people to be pitied (I Corinthians 15:19) and if it's not a verifiably real event, it would be better for us to, “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (I Corinthians 15:32). The point is, if all we have to hope for is a better life now, then we ought to live it up because this is the best we will ever get.
Except that isn’t the message of the gospel. The good news that Christ is risen from the dead is a declaration that we have a future hope that is yet to be fulfilled. That is why we can be, “Steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord (our) labor is not in vain” (I Corinthians 15:58).
Preach the Gospel! To Whom?
Now that we have covered what the gospel is, we must prepare how we are going to present it to others. The three elements of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection are essential in making the gospel clear in our communication, but it may require a different balance of each ingredient as we are declaring it to the lost.
Some might struggle with the offense of the cross: they can’t imagine a God who would punish Jesus for our sins. We might have to work through that issue before we hammer home the concepts of Christ’s burial and resurrection. On the other side, some might struggle with guilt and shame for their sins, unable to believe that the cross was enough to pay the penalty for their sins. They need to be reminded that the work of Christ is finished, once and for all. Then there are those who say they believe in Jesus, but they are so consumed with the treasures of this world that they don’t take the gospel seriously. They need to be reminded that Christ has promised a treasure far greater than anything this world can offer.
So, who are the different people in our lives that need to hear the gospel? There are many, and it starts with us.
Preach the Gospel to Yourself
The most important person in our life that needs to hear the gospel is the one who is reading this article right now. We need to linger a little bit longer at the foot of the cross. We need to wrestle with the disciples in the upper room. We need to wonder about the risen savior and its implications on our lives. Ultimately, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, “...the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
This will keep us from assuming the gospel in our lives as well as bring our lives into conformity with Christ. As we preach the gospel to ourselves, we are calling our heart, soul, mind, and strength into conformity with Christ. This will prepare us so that we are ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us about our hope in Christ (I Peter 3:15). If we want to be effective witnesses, it starts with preaching the gospel to ourselves.
Preach the Gospel to Fellow Believers
If we need to preach the gospel to ourselves, then those who worship with us need to be reminded of it as well. Jesus instituted the practice of communion for this very purpose. Paul writes, “For as often as (we) eat this bread and drink the cup, (we) proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (I Corinthians 11:26). As we are taking the elements, we are remembering the gospel, that Christ died, was buried, and that He rose again. We do this publicly, and corporately, because we need this reminder as a community of believers.
All of the elements of Christian living recorded in the New Testament are tied to the gospel as well. When husbands are instructed in how to treat their wives, they are told, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). We cannot think of our role as heads of the home without first considering what Christ has done for us. The same applies to church members, wives, children, masters, and servants. The gospel must be lived and shared with those who know us and are able to examine our lives.
Preach the Gospel to Unbelievers
If we are faithfully preaching the gospel to ourselves, and regularly sharing it with other Christians, we should be well equipped to articulate our faith with unbelievers. That which is at the front of our mind should be fresh on our lips as we have opportunities all around us to share our faith.
Evangelism really shouldn’t be that complicated. When we truly love something, it shouldn’t be that difficult to talk about with others. We don’t have a difficult time talking about our hobbies or interests. If we are daily in the Word of God and growing in our walk with Christ, it shouldn’t be a burden to talk about what is actively front and center in our lives.
It can be a lot easier to talk to a total stranger about our faith, while remaining difficult to talk to our loved ones about the gospel. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they have examined us under a microscope and they know all of our shortcomings.
If we have sinned against a family member, we should tell them we were wrong, but remind them that we sinned against God first and foremost. We should be genuine and acknowledge that we struggle with accepting forgiveness, but the work of Christ compels us to set aside our guilt and shame. We should make them aware that our confidence doesn’t come from our own good works, but Christ’s righteousness. Then we should demonstrate that we are striving to be more like Christ.
There are so many ways that we can share our faith with those we love, but it takes an intentional plan. Rehearse the gospel. Don’t assume it. Bring your heart, body, and soul under the conviction of the work of Christ. Surround yourself with people who can sharpen your understanding of our faith. Pray for the lost and keep your eyes open for opportunities to share the hope you have in Christ. Be ready. As a disciple of Jesus, you bear His name in front of everyone who knows you. Walk in a manner that is worthy of the gospel.
Adam Miller is the President and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church.
You can hear his teaching on our daily broadcast on the radio or online, watch his preaching live on Facebook, and read his articles on our website.
