THE TRANSFORMING GOSPEL
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
“For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.”
A gospel that only makes a difference after death will have little impact in today’s sceptical world. Anyone can make claims that cannot be substantiated, and many do.
Paul’s Gospel however came with not just words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. What was the difference? May I venture to suggest that the answer is in the next sentence: “You know how we lived among you for your sake.”
The Thessalonians were drawn to the Gospel because of what they could see in the lives of Paul and his co-workers. And when they embraced Paul’s Gospel, they imitated their example, and the Lord, and in turn were able to share the Gospel just as effectively.
The modern church’s obsession with numbers as a measure of success has resulted in watering down the Gospel and reducing it to a few sentences to be intellectually accepted. The manifestation of the Gospel in lives transformed, joy in all circumstances, love that transcends barriers, has been replaced by slick advertising, massive concerts, promises of material well-being and charismatic personalities.
Such evangelism dispenses with the need to embody the message, which ensures the integrity of the Gospel. In wanting to reach out to as many as possible we have made the Gospel into propositional truths that we can disseminate in as many ways as possible. We teach that the power of the Gospel is in the message and the effectiveness of our efforts is in the hands of the Holy Spirit; our job is only to tell others about it. And so we have instances of people holding up placards saying “John 3:16” in football stadiums. Clearly they do so in faith and obedience but would that be faith in and obedience to what Scripture teaches?
I suspect that we have all come to accept that our Gospel is unattractive to most people and that is why many of us need to be guilt into sharing the Gospel, even to those we love.
But perhaps it is unattractive because we only give it our intellectual assent, our time on Sundays and our last resort when all else fails, and so the Transforming Gospel has no traction in our lives to show the world what it can do. All we want is the ticket to heaven and, God forbid, we might not even have that.
“They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”