Okay, team, this morning we will address the gospel as good news.
And last week we explored together the fount and the pulse of witness bearing.
What are its originating springs and its sustaining energies in the life of the believer?
And this morning we turn to the message itself.
What is the gospel that we witness bearers bear?
And to this we might rightly answer that the gospel is good news.
That's what the word in Greek, gospel, evangelion, actually means, good news.
And that's a good place to start and yields some vitally important insights.
Let's consider first, what is the significance of the gospel being news?
News.
Now, news is something noteworthy that we announce.
Man lands on the moon.
Brazil wins the World Cup a fifth time.
A woman gives birth to nine.
Actually, this happened in Morocco a couple years ago.
Unbelievable.
Nine live births.
So, it is something noteworthy that has happened and we herald it.
And the term gospel adopted by the evangelists, the gospel writers, was drawn from the contemporary
context of a public declaration, perhaps of the birth of the king or an emperor or the declaration
of a decisive victory in war.
Like Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens, that 26.2 mile stretch to deliver the
news of victory over the Persians, announced,
Nicomen, we win.
We win.
And the term vividly communicates that the gospel is first and foremost a declaration,
not first a summons for us to exert ourselves.
First, it's a declaration of what has been accomplished.
It is, in the case of the gospel, an announcement of the great victory that God has accomplished
for his people in Christ.
A declaration of what he has done, not first what we must do.
And here we might clarify news in contrast with directive.
A directive.
So, news.
The herald comes from the field of battle and announces,
A great victory over the enemy has been accomplished.
Live in the joy and peace of this great new reality.
So, there's news.
Well, if there were no decisive victory that had been attained and the enemy is on the way
to the city, okay, the herald would show up and what you need to do is,
he'd give them a directive, okay?
Strengthen the gate.
Position the archers on the battlements.
Secure your stores of food and water.
Fight with all your might for your lives.
This sort of thing is a directive, okay?
Do you see the difference there?
This is vitally important.
And what God has achieved as distinct from what we must do
is the vital differentiation between grace,
that is, which by implication means God saves.
God is the one who saves.
As it says in Jonah, salvation is of God.
And works.
That is, somewhere or another, we save ourselves.
Sometimes this distinction is expressed in the contrast of grace versus law.
Law, again, the directive, do this.
Do this and live.
Okay?
As Martin Luther put it,
the law says do this, and it is never done.
Grace says, believe in this man,
and everything is already done.
So the gospel is a message about the grace of God.
As the apostle writes in Colossians,
this is Colossians 1.6,
it says,
The gospel,
which has come to you,
as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing,
as it also does among you since the day you heard it
and understood the grace of God in truth.
So notice, the gospel, what is that?
It's when you, you got the gospel,
when you understood the grace of God in truth.
It's interesting, the Greek on this,
not quite sure if it's an adjective or an adverb.
If you understood the gospel in all of its truth extensively,
or if you truly understood the gospel in its depth,
so both extent and depth could be rendered either way.
But this is to say that to get the gospel
is to grasp the grace of God.
To get the gospel is to grasp the grace of God.
I wonder if you found in your efforts to get grace across
that it's often really difficult for people to grasp.
Why do you think this might be so?
Non-rhetorical.
Why is it so difficult for people to grasp this notion of grace?
Any thoughts?
It's very antithetical to worldliness.
Say a little bit more, David, yeah.
Worldliness being...
In the world, it's a lot of expectations.
You have to deal with consequences
where people are not as forgiving
as the grace that's present in the gospel.
People aren't used to that.
Yeah, that seems right to me.
I mean, think of the environment that we are in
just by being in the world.
As soon as we spring from the womb,
we begin to notice as we're putting the world together
that there seems to be an unbreakable correlation
between the praise we receive
and what we have accomplished for ourselves.
Good grief.
I'm a believer.
I know about grace.
But even I, I've just had a grandson that's born.
And it's unbelievable to watch this guy.
A year and a half, maybe now.
And as soon as he does something in any way noteworthy
or even trivially spectacular,
he'll immediately look around to make sure
that someone has seen him.
And then in case they haven't started to clap themselves,
he'll actually start to prompt them solicitatingly.
Yeah.
Just hungry for that.
Because he sees that connection.
And I'm sure the travesty is occasionally,
I'll reinforce this.
As soon as he does something,
he starts to take a step or two,
and I'll say, great job, great job.
Just reinforcing this.
And then on it goes.
And on it goes.
Everything seems,
it's almost like a titanium alloy,
tungsten reinforced correlation
between these two things.
It is my accomplishment
that will gain my acceptance.
It is my achievement that will gain praise.
And so it is, you know,
you win the race, you get the reward.
Again and again.
So everything, as David says,
everything in the world seems to reinforce
this impression that when it comes to acceptance,
acceptability, praiseworthiness,
it pivots entirely upon our accomplishment,
what we have achieved.
We are valued for our performance.
The culturally reinforced presumption
is that what must commend us
is our accomplishments.
So that makes it really hard to get grace.
It's cutting against the grain
of all the cultural sensibilities and enactments.
Any other thoughts?
Why?
Yeah, yeah, Richard.
Yeah.
It's too good to be true.
And that being the case,
probably isn't true.
Yeah, that's great.
And haven't we cultivated
an incredible capacity for suspicion?
You know, yeah,
people are trying to scam us
at all kinds of things.
Yeah, so it just seems that can't be.
You know, the Bible takes up that theme
in a few places too,
where it worries that we will never be able
to receive this announcement
of how good the gospel is
without it continuing to reinforce that
and give us every assurance
that this is in fact what God is telling us.
I, God, who cannot lie,
notwithstanding,
will take an oath to reassure you
this is going to be true.
Even though I wouldn't need an oath
to keep me from lying,
I'm doing it for your sake
because you just won't believe it otherwise.
It's too fantastic.
Yeah.
Ivor, did you have a comment?
Or Susan?
Yeah.
I'm only focusing on the difficulty
in believing grace
or the news.
Great.
I think just the grace part of it,
that the news is grace.
That this is something.
Yeah, yeah, no, we'll get to that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no.
Hopefully we can get to that.
Yeah, yeah.
So, well, yeah.
And this sort of,
and again, even other sort of religious backgrounds.
Oh, yeah, yeah, Christianity,
that's a religion thing.
Yeah, I know religions.
You know, because it's upon this rock
that all religions of the world
take their stand
with unvarian consistency,
including sometimes a lot of encounters
that they have had with Christianity
that actually appears this way,
that we're only accepted
based upon our accomplishments
and achievements.
How well are we living out
the Ten Commandments?
This sort of thing.
Yeah.
When people hear the gospel then,
they naturally try to assimilate it
into this framework.
But it can't fit this framework.
It explodes it.
It's just like if you were to try
to put new wine in old wineskins.
If we assimilate the gospel message
into our conventional,
instinctual religion,
we modulate it into our own thoughts
and so denature the gospel
that we lose it completely.
As God tells us in Isaiah 55,
8 and 9,
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are my ways your ways,
declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
It's interesting that the context
of that verse, too,
is grace.
Come all ye that are thirsty and drink.
Buy bread who have no money.
So the context of my thoughts are higher
is in the context of grace,
talking about grace.
Here's a second reason that occurs to me
why we're so resistant to the gospel.
is that, have you noticed
how much the gospel wounds our pride?
Just wounds our pride.
Fatally, in fact, fatally wounds our pride.
For the gospel is all of grace
and allows us nothing,
nothing of self-contribution.
As Spurgeon says,
if we add a single stitch
to our garment of righteousness ourselves,
the whole fabric unravels.
Just unravels.
Or several times in the Old Testament,
it indicates that the stones
that were to be,
the altar was to be made of
in the temple.
The stones of the altar in the temple
were permitted to have no human tool
ever touch them.
Or any human artifice
come near those stones in any way.
Nothing of human artifice
be part of this sacrifice
on the stones.
This is interesting.
Check it out.
Exodus 20, 25.
Deuteronomy 27, 5 and 6.
Joshua 8, 31.
Again and again.
It makes this point.
Again and again.
So, oh, come on.
Does grace not leave any place
for self-contribution?
And so self-congratulation?
Not even just a little private boast
for us to cherish in our hearts?
Just a tiny one?
Our flesh will fight to the death
to preserve this prerogative.
And what would we expect
of the flesh to do?
Because if the gospel alternative
shapes it,
it is the death of the flesh.
So of course it's going to fight
to the death.
Because if the gospel prevails,
it dies anyway.
So what the heck?
I might as well die trying
to preserve myself.
I'm going to die
if I receive the gospel.
My flesh will.
There's no alternative to death.
But we cannot both
receive the gospel
and keep our pride
and self-congratulation.
They're just reciprocally excluding.
They're mutually exclusive.
Can't do it.
As we read in 1 Corinthians 1, 28 and 29,
but God chose what is foolish
to shame the wise.
God chose what is weak
to shame the strong
so that no flesh may boast
in the presence of God.
That's the all-governing premise.
No flesh may boast
in the presence of God.
Now naturally,
the fleshly reaction to grace is,
this is a hard saying.
Who can receive it?
On such conditions,
how is grasping
the grace of the gospel salvation?
Even possible.
We might be forgiven
for saying with the disciples,
who then can be saved?
But Jesus looked at them and said,
yeah, you're right.
With man,
these things are impossible.
But with God,
all things are possible.
It takes grace
to appropriate grace,
to receive grace.
It takes grace
to receive grace.
That's why we say,
it's all of grace.
Paul writes,
it was by his doing,
graciously,
that you were even in Christ,
in this position of grace.
So,
the gospel is news.
That is,
it declares
what God has done in Christ.
It is all of grace.
The gospel news
is also
good news.
It's good news.
It's good news
objectively,
that good in and of itself,
whatever our perceptions.
It's good objectively.
To lay hold of Christ,
Paul says,
is to possess all things.
He is heir
of all things.
So,
if we are in Christ,
if we're united with Christ,
we are heir of all things.
Objectively,
superlative,
fantastic.
But,
it is also
good news
subjectively.
That is to say,
it can be heard
and received
as good news.
And this will be true
for those
appointed to life
in whose hearts
the Spirit has worked
to receive the word
with gladness.
To such,
the gospel is,
to use a phrase of Paul's
in 2 Corinthians 2.14,
a fragrance
of life
to life.
Just,
it just,
it,
we experience this
as a life-giving fragrance
that indeed leads us
to life,
spiritual life,
a fragrance
of life
to life.
And we're gonna,
we're gonna focus
on this
subjective
reception
by asking
the question,
how may we
communicate
the good news
of the gospel
such
that it
might be
heard
as
good news?
Okay,
so that's
what we want
to do.
So,
how do we
get the gospel
to be more
readily heard
as
good news?
Well,
it's helpful
to recognize
that all gospel
presentations
present Jesus
as the answer
to a question.
Jesus is the answer
to a question.
Drawing from titles
of tracts,
these little evangelistic
tracts that I've
encountered
in my lifetime,
Jesus might
be offered
as the answer
to such
questions as,
how can I
find peace
with God?
That was the
title of one.
Or another,
how may I
know God
personally?
Or,
how may I
find power
for living?
Or,
how can I
know I will
go to heaven
when I die?
Okay,
so,
always Jesus
an answer
to a question.
But,
if I,
the witness bearer,
have all the
goodwill,
and all the
zeal,
and all the
sincerity
imaginable,
it's still
very hard
to get
someone's
sustained
attention
if I'm
offering
Jesus
as an
answer
to a
question
that they
are neither
asking
themselves
or
can identify
with
if I
ask it
for them.
You see?
In such
cases,
my witness
strikes them
as irrelevant
as it
fails to
connect with
any of
their felt
concerns.
I'm giving
them an
answer to
a question
they're not
asking.
And even
if I ask
it myself
for them,
if they
can't identify
with it,
not much
hope for
a connection
there.
I wonder
if you've
ever felt
in your
gospel
conversations
as though
you were
setting
forth
Jesus
as the
solution
to a
problem
that your
hearers
didn't feel
like they
had.
You're
telling
them
how they
might be
justified
by God
and
not even
quite sure
what that
term
means.
It's not
as if
they have
any sense
of being
alienated
from God
or maybe
God's
not even
on their
map.
It's just
not even
in their
address book
in their
phones.
It just
doesn't
connect at
all.
Or maybe
a resolution
to an
aspiration.
Jesus
is the
resolution
to this
aspiration
but they've
never felt
that aspiration
with any
poignancy
at all.
Or maybe
they'd be
utter
strangers
to that
aspiration.
Don't you
want to
go to
heaven
when you
die?
I've
never
thought
about
what's
heaven.
I've
never thought
about it.
Don't have
that aspiration
at all.
It's easy
to experience
something like
this and
to get
frustrated.
And I've
found it
can be
more
effectually
engaging
if we
can offer
the gospel
as the
answer to
a question
that they
are asking.
And we
have a good
example of
this from
Paul in
Athens.
So if you
have your
Bibles or
your phones
with you,
you might
want to
look at
Acts 17.
First half
he's in
Thessalonica
in the
synagogue
and the
second half
he's at
Athens.
So just
find the
little section
that says
Paul in
Athens.
Okay?
And he
has recently
been in
Thessalonica,
that's the
beginning of
Acts 17,
sharing the
gospel in
a Jewish
synagogue
setting.
And Paul
would have
been quite
accustomed to
such a
Jewish
context,
the synagogue
in Thessalonica,
and no
doubt he
had developed
a very
sophisticated
way to
argue from
the scriptures
as to the
identity of
the Messiah.
And if you
look at
verse 2
and 3
in chapter
17,
you'll notice
that's just
what he
was doing.
But,
as familiar
and well
honed as
his argument
was,
repeated as
often as it
had been in
the synagogue
setting,
he can't
simply show
up in
Athens
and press
play on
that Jewish
method,
that message.
You know,
imagine,
shows up in
Athens,
men of
Athens,
let's take
up the
burning
question of
the Messiah.
Now,
as you
well know,
in Psalm
110,
be a
complete
non-starter.
I mean,
why couldn't
he do that?
Why couldn't
he do that?
Thoughts?
Non-rhetorical.
What's Psalm
110?
Yeah,
what's Psalm
110?
Yeah,
what is that?
The Messiah?
You know,
in Greek,
it's just the
smeared one.
What is he
smeared with?
Did he fall
in a puddle?
You know,
yeah,
exactly.
Absolute
incomprehension.
Yeah,
would they have
been interested
in that concern?
Yeah,
unimaginable.
Isn't that
like a,
isn't that
like a Jewish
obsession?
Yeah.
Paul's,
Paul's hearers
in Athens
are so distant
from a gospel
framework
that on their
first hearing,
if you,
if you look
at like verse
18,
it seems like
when he was,
began to speak
about Jesus
and the
resurrection,
they,
they would
have heard it
in Greek,
Jesus and
Anastasis,
which sometimes
was a,
was a name.
They probably
thought,
putting it in
their framework,
that he was
talking about
the Jesus
and Anastasia
like two
deities.
In Greek,
you'd often have
double deities.
You'd have one
deity and then
the consort
and the two
deities would
come together.
And that
seems to be
what they
understood him
first.
Verse 18,
notice,
he seems to be
speaking about
strange deities,
plural.
At least,
this is what
Chrysostom
thought in
his commentary
on this.
Complete
incomprehension.
So,
no,
the apostle
can't just
do what he's
used to.
He has to
change his
approach.
And he does.
He changes
his approach.
So,
let's ask
first,
what does
he do?
And then
second,
we'll ask,
how did he
get there?
Okay,
so first,
what does
he do?
Anybody remember
from the story?
How does he
manage to
engage them?
How does he
manage,
what does he
do to begin
to get a
conversation with
them that
actually gets
in gear with
them?
He starts
from creation
and world
to build.
Yeah,
yeah,
he goes back,
he finds
something that
they have in
common.
Do you
remember what
he found
that sparked
his conversation?
Anybody
remember what
he found?
Yeah,
yeah,
that's right.
Yeah,
Amanda,
he says,
I was walking
through your
territory and
I saw this
altar with
the inscription
on it,
to the
unknown
God.
So,
he's found
something that
they actually
care about.
And he
starts with
that.
he translates
the gospel
into the
terms of
something that
they care
about.
He gives
the gospel
as an answer
to their
question,
to the
unknown
God altar.
He connects
the gospel
to their
cultural interest
in having a
comprehensive
catalog of
all the
gods.
and this
was something
very important
to them.
Because if
you left
out one
of the
gods,
these gods
were peevish
and they
could be
vindictive.
And they
might,
you know,
strike you
with a
thunderbolt.
Or they
might keep
you from
blessings that
you might
otherwise have
if you
named them
appropriately
and,
you know,
disemboweled
your birds
and gave
them some
sweet-smelling
aroma.
Otherwise,
if not,
if we
don't get
all the
gods and
we miss
one out,
who knows
that we
might not
drown by
shipwreck in
the next
ship voyage
that we
take.
Who knows
whether our
new wife
or our
new field
that we
bought
will not
be fertile
unless we
manage to
get all
the appropriate
offerings.
So this
was something
that was
exceedingly
important to
them.
In fact,
so as to
make sure
they didn't
miss,
they had
an altar
to an
unknown
God.
We're sure
you're out
there somewhere,
we just
don't know
your name
yet,
but we're
covering our
bases.
It's something
that they
care about.
Wow,
that's pretty
creative,
Paul.
How did
you come up
with that?
How did
he?
How did
he know
about that?
Did he just
read encyclopedias
a lot when he
was a little
boy?
How did he
come up with
this?
Non-rhetorical.
How did
Paul come up
with that?
Any thoughts?
Just
concretely.
Yeah?
Absolutely,
yeah,
look at that.
As I
passed along,
I was
observing,
verse 23,
I think it's
23,
23.
Yeah,
I was
observing.
See,
he's going
around and
he's there,
he's in this
new culture
and he's
just observing.
His antenna
are up.
He's
starting to
take in all
this information.
What do
these people
care about?
What's
important to
them?
Where might
I have a
place where I
could start a
conversation on
some sort of
question that
they're asking?
What are they
asking about?
See,
he's looking
for those
things.
He's making
all these,
he's like a
cultural
anthropologist
for the
gospel.
Looking to
see what
do they
care about.
And
it's not
just a
matter of
observation
too,
he's also
engaging them
in conversations.
That can be
a helpful
way too.
Notice in
verse 18,
he's going
into the
marketplace,
the marketplace
there,
that's the
agora,
kind of
functioned as
like the
watering hole,
everybody shows
up to talk
about this,
that,
and everything,
sell their
wares,
hawk stuff,
sell art,
sculpture,
people wanted
to find a
job,
they'd go
down there,
where'd you
go to get
hired?
It's where
everything went
on,
the best
place to
observe what
this culture
cares about,
what interest
them,
and that's
where he
starts
conversations
to find
these things
out.
And he's
not just
engaged,
he also
seems engaging
too.
Notice
verse 20,
it says,
he brought
strange things
to their
ears,
strange things
to their
ears.
I believe
strange,
not in the
sense of
just weird,
rather maybe
in the sense
of Sherlock
Holmes to
Watson.
strange,
Watson,
isn't this
strange?
There's
something to
this.
In other
words,
salty,
flavorful,
something that's
really interesting
and engaging.
the apostle
uses this
word in
Colossians 4,
6,
where he
talks about,
hey,
believers,
let's make
our speech
when we
engage with
unbelievers
really salty,
Colossians 4,
6.
What does he
mean by salty?
Make it
flavorful.
Make it
flavorful.
Yeah,
yeah.
Have you
ever found
yourself among
really salty
conversationalists?
What's that
like?
What makes
a conversation
salty,
flavorful?
Any thoughts?
Interesting,
yeah,
yeah.
Oh,
wow,
this is
interesting.
Sometimes I'm
embarrassed to
say,
sometimes I'm
like in some
sort of crowded
situation,
I'm in a
conversation
with like
utterly
unsalted
interlocutors
or whatever,
you know,
but my ear
catches something
salty,
and then half
of my brain
is kind of
listening in
on this other
column,
because it's
just really
flavorful and
interesting,
and this is
something that
can be so
helpful.
You're just
drawn to
that,
aren't you?
It says of
Jesus,
I can't remember
where,
that the
crowd loved
to hear
him,
loved to
hear him,
so they
crowd around,
and you
look at some
of these
sayings,
it's in the
context of
saying,
hey,
well,
you know,
this is
interesting,
have you
ever thought
about this?
Psalm says,
hey,
my Lord
says,
my Lord
said to
his Lord,
sit at
thy right
hand,
who,
wait,
how do
you solve
that?
We've got
a paradox
here,
who's he
talking about,
what do
you think?
Anybody
have thoughts
out there?
Salty,
suddenly there's
a crowd,
he's in
the temple,
you know,
some of
you,
oh boy,
those boring
Pharisees,
oh no,
no,
they're walking
over to
Jesus,
oh,
there's
going to
be an
encounter,
Jesus is
salty,
let's,
can't wait
to hear
how this
interaction
is going
to go,
so we
want to,
we want to,
we want to try
to be salty
and flavorful
in our
encounters
with
unbelievers,
and let's,
let's zoom
in a little
bit and,
and be
curious about
the topic
that Paul
selected,
you know,
that Amanda
identified,
this altar
to an
unknown
God,
okay,
and,
so,
what might
have made
this a
really promising
choice
for a
topic
to wrap
the gospel
around?
how would
he have
been able
to hope,
you know
what,
I bet
you this
one's going
to connect
with him,
what might
have been
some of
the features
about that
particular
topic that
would have
made it
perhaps very
promising
an effort
in,
in regard
to the
Athenian
culture
broadly,
any thoughts?
yeah,
there was
an inscription
there,
so that
would have
been
something
that he
could have
referred to
concretely,
yeah,
was it,
was,
was that
something a
little eccentric,
you know,
what if,
what if he
would have,
would have
tied it to
some sort
of strange
little topic
that would
have been
in one of
these little
vendors booths
where nobody's
buying anything
anyway,
you know,
the little,
I don't know,
little carvings
of one
particular
strange thing
that nobody
wanted,
well,
I'll connect
it to that,
obviously,
this is very
popular,
not,
yeah,
it's unknown,
excellent,
to the unknown
God,
in other words,
he connects
it to something
that they have
acknowledged
questions about,
yeah,
and then they
have interest,
there you go,
excellent,
yeah,
there's a good
thing,
if we,
again,
he knew that
it was their
question because
he's unknown,
we wish we
did know,
we have a
question about
this,
so yeah,
what are,
yeah,
that's a great
one,
what about
its pervasiveness,
it reflected,
this concern,
this interest,
reflected no
eccentric
pocket,
not like,
you know,
the little
vendor that
was trying
to sell,
who knows
what,
burnt pancakes
and nobody
cared,
nobody was
interested at
all,
no,
it says
the city,
verse 16,
was full
of idols,
full of
idols,
this is
something
that's really
pervasive,
in the
Baedeker of
those days,
they actually
had these
tour books
and they
said,
Athens,
you can't
miss Athens,
it's an
amazing city,
there are
more idols
than there
are people,
so this is
something really,
really pervasive,
so yeah,
we have good,
yeah,
I have an
idea of
that,
but not
coming home
to Jesus
and he
got so
interested
he became
a follower
of us,
you know,
left,
that means
yeah,
right,
that's right,
very much,
yeah,
and this,
and it
wasn't a
matter of
tepid
interest,
just slender
interest,
slight interest,
no,
this
engaged
their passions
intensely,
there was an
intensity
to their
passions about
this,
notice how
Paul observed
that they
were very
religious
in all
respects,
verse 22,
okay,
find something
for which the
person is
very intensely
interested,
or passionate
about,
and that's
likely to be
a more
interesting
conversation,
more interesting
one,
and
the,
and particularly
too,
there's something
about,
he ties it to
their objects
of worship,
worship,
when you
can find out
what a
person
worships,
and by
worship,
our worship,
the word
worship comes
from worth,
what is it
that this
person
ascribes
supreme
worth,
or weightiness
to,
if you can
connect up
with that,
you will have
yourself a
really good
and deep
conversation,
because people
care about
nothing more
than what they
worship,
whatever that
might be,
love,
yes,
your,
your most
intense,
your supreme
love,
what you
ascribe maximum
worth to,
and weightiness
to,
that's,
that's the
table in the
middle of the
dance floor
that you're
going to bump
into all
the time,
okay,
so these,
these,
such characteristics
would indicate
a promising
place for
engagement,
so when we
go around,
you know,
as our
cultural
anthropologist
for the
gospel,
looking for,
looking for
doors for
the gospel,
we want to
look for
things where,
for the
gospel message,
and we
should be
particularly
attentive to
matters that
are pervasive,
remember,
idols everywhere,
prominent,
passion laden,
puzzling,
and prized.
so,
and it
has some
of those
characteristics,
that's probably
a real promising
place to
connect the
gospel to,
and if we
fail to
connect the
gospel to
issues that
matter most
to our
hearers,
we will
inevitably
and fatally
reinforce the
sense that they
probably already
have of the
utter irrelevance
of our
message.
Most people
already think
that,
what possible
relevance could
this have to
me?
And if we
don't connect
it to things
that they care
about in their
life, it'll
just reinforce
that.
Yeah,
that's what I
thought.
You know,
what,
they wanted me
to have a
conversation about
the atoning
blood of a
Nazarene
carpenter?
Huh?
So,
let's ask
briefly,
let's ask
briefly,
yeah,
Richard.
It seems
this would,
on the part
of us,
the part of
the witness
bearers,
right?
It seems
this would
take some
hard
imagining
to make
the connections,
especially
with our
pre-existing
Christian
mindset.
Yes,
yes.
So,
well,
I'm sure.
No,
no,
go ahead.
How do
you do
this?
How do
we get
this?
And that's
exactly
where I
want to
go.
What would
encourage
us?
Because I
do think
this takes
some
attention
and care.
And one
of the
things,
we started
with our
motives,
and one
of them
is love
of neighbor.
neighbor,
and I
think that
this flows
most naturally
out of love
of neighbor,
where I
genuinely care
about this
person.
What do
they care
about?
Let me
discern,
and I'm
going to
adapt my
language and
my approach
to this
person because
I want to
have a
conversation
in the
same way
that I
do with
my wife.
You know,
well,
let me
translate this
into some
sort of
vernacular
that will
allow us.
Let me
accommodate
them.
So,
in one
sense,
Paul has
connected it
to these,
he's speaking
to a
crowd,
so he
has to
pick things
that are
kind of
broadly,
these broad
cultural
aspirations,
kind of
collective
aspirations,
to that
culture.
Now,
of course,
we all
as individuals
inhabit our
own
microcultures.
So if
you're having
a conversation
with one
person,
I mean,
you might
guess that
they might
reflect the
generality of
humanity,
you might
guess,
well,
relationships are
important,
probably,
with all
human beings,
probably,
or maybe
a little
cultural gets
smaller and
smaller.
Well,
yeah,
Americans are
obsessed by
this,
or Nigerians
are obsessed
by,
you know,
but eventually
it's going to
get down to
the individual,
and yeah,
it takes a lot
of work,
Richard,
to figure out,
it takes asking
a question or
two.
What do
you care
about?
Yesterday,
I was in
the sauna,
and there
was a fellow
that I wanted
to find out,
what does he
care about
most?
And I
probably have
two minutes,
so I've
got to move
fast,
and I said,
hey,
what if you
were to find
this really
cool Aladdin's
lamp,
and you could
rub it,
and you'd
get three
wishes,
just in
terms of what
you would
want to do
in the world?
What would
those three
wishes be for
you?
He said,
oh,
wow,
that's
interesting.
Well,
I think I'd
really want,
where do we
go?
To a complete
stranger,
within about
30 seconds,
I was finding
out the
things that he
cared about
most in
the world,
because he
would want
to change.
So you
think about
questions that
you might be
able to ask
to get at
that,
conversations,
and then he
gave something
and says,
now I know
what he cares
about.
Let me
connect that,
I'll follow
up.
You know,
that's
intriguing.
I've been
grappling with
that too,
and to me
the question
really seems
to be this,
and on from
there.
But it
helped to
connect.
If I would
have just
come in and
said,
have you ever
heard of the
four spiritual
laws?
That might not
have been able
to have the
same connection
because it
doesn't line
up with the
concern.
word.
So, yes.
All right.
Where are
we here?
Ah, yes,
yes, yes.
So, it's
also very
instructive to
notice that
the apostle in
his engagement
with the
Athenians
opens with
affirmation.
Did you
notice that?
Verse 22.
Men of
Athens,
I perceive
that in
every way
you are
very
religious.
Every way
you are
very
religious.
Verse 22.
So, he's
not trying to
insult them.
No, no.
He didn't
start out of
the gate
slapping them.
You pagans
believe all
the wrong
things and
your behavior
is obnoxious.
Let me tell
you the right
thing to believe
and the right
way to live.
Well, I
slap them
right out of
the gate.
No, no,
no.
So, why
do you think
it might be
helpfully
significant to
lead with
affirmation?
Why do you
think that
might be
important?
Yeah, yeah,
Kevin.
They'll stay
willing to
listen.
That's right.
They'll be
willing to
listen.
I mean, if
you open up
with criticism
or contradiction,
you risk
souring
irritation right
out of the
gate and an
untimely
offense on
the part
of your
hearers.
It sets
up the
whole
conversation
oppositionally.
They dig
in their
heels.
You're trying
to change
me.
Well, that's
unpromising.
And notice
Paul doesn't
simply lead
with affirmation.
He looks
for opportunities
for agreement
and points of
alignment where
they can be
found.
Did you notice
that in the
text, too,
where he
favorably invokes
Epimenides of
Crete.
He cites
their poets.
In him, we
live and move
and have our
being.
He cites
Eratus.
We are
indeed his
offspring.
Eratus,
it said,
you know,
verse 28,
says we're
his offspring.
This word
indeed,
could stand
as cipher
for this sort
of approach
or even
attitude.
Indeed.
Look for
opportunities in
your conversation
to say,
indeed.
In other
words,
yeah,
I think
your instinct
is right
on this.
I think
you're on
to something.
Yeah,
that's a
thread we
should pull.
That seems
to be right
to me.
Let's think
about this
together.
Looking for
ways to
affirm.
You genuinely
can.
Sincerely.
So,
it helps
if we
as witness
bearers
can be,
you know,
you're kind
of picking
this up.
We want
to be
versatile
and adaptable
to our
hearers.
I think
we're probably
picking that
up as one
of the themes
here.
Versatile
and adaptable.
We want
to kind
of cultivate
a capacity
to be like
a good
travel adapter.
You guys
are travelers.
You know
what I mean.
You can get
this thing
and it's
like a
multi-plug
and wherever
you land,
Albania,
China,
Singapore,
you flip that
around and
you can figure
out how to
put it in the
plug and get
your laptop
plugged in
and there's
a connection.
Boom,
there's a
charge.
And that's
what we want
to be like,
like a good
travel adapter.
So wherever
we are with
any person,
you find
yourself with
this person,
that person,
the other
person,
you can figure
out how to
get a
connection.
Adapt
yourself to
get plugged
in with
them and
adapt to
them so you
can get a
connection,
get a charge
in any context
that you find
yourself.
And finally,
let's ask,
does the
gospel come
to our
aid here?
Does the
gospel itself
give us
any resources
such that
our message
and connection
point could
be adaptable?
Without
wavering a
whisker from
Paul's
assistance in
Galatians 1.6,
that there's
only one
gospel,
only one
gospel.
If you
verge from
that gospel,
there's no
gospel at all,
Paul says
very insistently,
does he
mean by
that that
the gospel
can have
no variations
that are
not distortions?
Does he
mean that?
Perhaps we
could get at
that answer
by asking,
and I'll
ask you,
I'll ask us,
when Jesus
spoke about
the kingdom
of God
and of
himself,
did he
always speak
of it in
exactly the
same way?
Give me
some examples.
When Jesus
was talking
about the
gospel
himself,
how would
be ways
in which
he would
introduce
it?
What sort
of terminology
would he
use?
Kingdom
of God
is like,
yeah,
is like.
What are
some of
the things?
Living
water,
yeah,
living water,
yeah,
light,
bread from
heaven.
It's like
a person
that runs
away from
his father
and doesn't
go well
and comes
back.
It's about
home.
What else?
Like a
farmer who
went out
and sowed
seeds.
Yeah,
exactly.
Yeah,
and a
harvest.
Kingdom
of God
is like a
period of
time when
the seed
is sown
and there
will be
a great
harvest and
you want
to be on
the right
side of
the angels
in that
harvest.
Yeah,
exactly.
Look at
that.
It's just
there's a
tropical
profusion
of different
metaphors
and tropes
and images
and ways
in which
he would
communicate
this.
Unbelievable
variety.
How about
the apostles
that we see
in the epistles
and stuff?
Do we
see any
sort of
variation
on gospel
themes there?
What are
some of
the themes
that are
used in
the epistles
for the
gospel?
It's
unfolded
in terms
of?
Never
give up.
Never give
up?
Yeah,
perseverance.
Yeah,
adoption,
reconciliation,
justification,
union with
Christ.
They're all
kinds.
It's
just
unbelievable.
Resurrection,
exactly.
Eternal
life,
life from
above,
suffering and
victory,
sickness to
healing.
it's
unbelievably
rich.
It's
unbelievably
rich.
Yes,
yes.
Security,
invulnerability,
the vicissitudes
of life,
joy in the
midst of
suffering.
It's just,
I mean,
again,
a tropical
profusion.
I'm going
to queue
you up,
Alan,
in about a
minute here.
it would
seem,
friends,
that there
is a
rich
abundance
of the
themes
along which
we can
unfold the
gospel.
To use a
musical analogy,
perhaps we
might say
that the
gospel is
a melody
that has
multiple
themes and
variations.
A melody
with multiple
themes and
variations.
You never
get bored.
Exactly.
There's an
infinity to
it.
And some
of these
themes and
variations
may resonate
more with
certain hearers
and some
with others.
There is
one gospel,
we want to
affirm with
Paul in
Galatians,
one gospel,
but it
comes in
many forms.
Many,
many forms.
And this
realization
allows the
witness bearer
to particularize
our gospel
witness.
And we'll
have, I
hope,
further
occasion to
speak about
this
particularization
or this
customization
or perhaps
best,
personalization
of the
gospel to
hear.
We'll talk
about that
more.
just as,
I've got to
do some
Bible
translator
because
Richard's
here,
just as
Wycliffe
Bible
linguists
translate
scripture
into the
language of
their readers,
so we
as witness
bearers
similarly
do a
work of
translation
into the
vernacular
and even
into the
resonant
idiom
of each
hearer.
That is,
we select
lovingly
and curiously
the variation
of the
gospel melody
according to
the ear
and the
heart of
the hearer.
You see,
what do they
like?
Do they like
Bach?
I'll play it in
Bach.
Do they like
ragtime?
I'll play the
gospel in
ragtime.
What do they
like?
What will
reach their
heart?
What will
be resonant
for them?
I continue
to be haunted
by an
illustration
of this
unbelievable
versatility
and adaptability
of the
gospel.
I'll end
with that
and then
we'll have
some questions.
It comes
from the
early years
of my
ministry
here at
Yale
when a
speaker,
the theologian
musician
Jeremy
Begby,
paused his
talk and
there happened
to be a
grand piano
that was
sitting on
the stage
that they
hadn't
moved away.
He said,
oh,
this is
handy.
He walked
over to
it and
he played
this,
illustrating
this point
that we're
trying to
make about
the versatility
and the
inflecting of
the gospel
and different
things.
Alan,
can you play
that about
as loud
as it
will go
so people
can hear?
Very, very
flexible tune
like the gospel
itself.
Wonderfully
improvisable
by the
spirit.
Here it is
in its kind
of basic
form,
what I
call the
crematorium
form.
But suppose
Bach had to
improvise that,
what would
it sound
like?
This is
Jesus'
joy of
man's
desiring.
grace.
And of
course,
he always
wanted to
write Amazing
Grace.
is
finest music
or
what
would
he have
done
with
it?
What
about
Mozart?
What
would
Or maybe someone in Chicago in about 1930.
What about easy listening, Amazing Grace?
I used to play this sort of stuff in airports.
I think it got removed because it was such bad taste.
Or even works as ragtime.
There you go.
I can barely listen to this without getting emotional.
It's the versatility of the Gospel.
It's the first time to learn how to communicate it such that it's modulated along,
you know, from the melody, along a theme and variation that reaches the heart of the other.
That's how the Gospel is heard, as good news.
Sorry.
Oh, okay.
Thank you, team.
Move with dispatch and Lord willing, we'll see you next week.
Thank you.