Shallow evangelism holds a terribly destructive influence over the one who thinks he is hearing the gospel but is not. While he believes heaven awaits if he only walks down an aisle, lifts a hand or fills out a card the true gospel of repentance and faith in Christ has been withheld from him. The cardinal sin in those who practice shallow evangelism is “thou shall offend no one.”
The gospel must always contain two elements that are essential to the biblical message of salvation.
- The holiness of God.
- The sinfulness of man.
The Psalms are a wonderful place to learn about the holiness of God. “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!” (Ps. 97:12) Psalm 99:3 proclaims, “Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!” And again in Psalm 103:1, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”
“Holy” is the only description of God repeated three times (Is. 6:3). He is perfectly pure, perfectly righteous and full of light. The Bible says there is no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5). Oswald Chambers said, “Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ.”
Yet we are stained with the blackness and filth of sin. This is the offence that cannot be removed from the gospel. The word gospel means “good news.” One cannot understand the good news until he first understands the bad news. The bad news is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). When we realize that we have broken God’s law and stand before Him guilty and under His righteous condemnation, only then, does the good news become very good.
Romans 9:33 proclaims, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Any gospel that removes the issue of sin and repentance is not the gospel at all but an attempt at self reformation.
J.I. Packer said, “Evangelism is in essence the communication of a message – good news about Jesus Christ as the source of life and hope for lost sinners.” Removing the extremely high cost of sin from the gospel takes away its life-saving message. Oswald Chambers said, “The first thing Jesus Christ faced in men was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its blasting power.”
Lewis Drummond gave this definition of the gospel, “A concerted effort in the power of the Holy Spirit to confront unbelievers with the truth about Jesus Christ and the claims of our Lord (Acts 2:22-24,31) with a view to leading unbelievers into repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21) and thus into the fellowship of His church so they may grow in the Spirit.”
True effectiveness in the gospel is measured by remaining faithful to the biblical message.
Brad Ferguson