Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
By Justin Taylor. Full Story.
In Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living, and Speaking the Gospel (IVP, 2010), J. Mack Stiles sets out something I’ve heard Don Carson say a number of times: “Losing the gospel doesn’t happen all at once, it’s much more like a four generation process too:
…The gospel is accepted –>
………….The gospel is assumed–>
………………………The gospel is confused —>
……………………………….The gospel is lost.”
How do you know if your church is beginning to assume the gospel? The answer, Stiles says, is when you no longer hear the gospel. He asks a series of diagnostic questions:
Was the gospel in the sermon Sunday morning?
Could the uninitiated hear that sermon and come to real faith in Christ?
Are gospel principles governing organizational decisions?
Do you hear the gospel in people’s prayers?
Does your fellowship encourage you to say the gospel? And then is it more than just a memorized sketch? Sure, it may follow the form of “God, Man, Christ, Response,” but is it in people’s own words?
Furthermore, do you see it in their actions? Is the gospel lived out?
Is membership based on a true commitment to the gospel or just because someone wants to join an organization—or maybe write an expose?
The healthy evangelist is asking these questions and looking for answers so as to guard the gospel. Here is the critical test.
Could you have preached that sermon if Christ had not died on the cross?
Could you have developed that leadership principle had Christ not been crucified?
I’m not saying be impractical—the Bible has much to say about being practical—but make sure that the practical is tied to the message of Jesus. Otherwise we are on the road to an assumption that will lose the gospel.
(p. 41, my emphasis)
May God give us grace to be men, women, and children of, by, and for the gospel! Full Story Here.
Editor’s Note: “If we do not preach about sin and God’s judgment on it, we cannot present Christ as Saviour from sin and the wrath of God. And if we are silent about these things, and preach a Christ who saves only from self and the sorrows of this world, we are not preaching the Christ of the Bible . . . Such preaching may soothe some, but it will help nobody; for a Christ who is not seen and sought as a Saviour from sin will not be found to save from self or from anything else”
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 
Our pastor has many times said that the sad state of the visible church today is a direct result of 100 years of teaching nothing. I couldn’t agree more. That was where the assuming started. Then, as people became illiterate in the gospel, many preachers began to “dumb-down” the message so people could understand. Then those people grew up knowing nothing, and even when they were enthusiastic, they were misguided. Some became leaders in their church congregations, or even pastors themselves, due to their enthusiasm, but had nothing to teach, because they knew nothing. And now (the 4th generation) doesn’t even *know* they are following what Paul called “that other gospel.” It’s a downward spiral that, like a whirlpool, sucks in everything around it. The movement – if it can be called such – has spread, to the point where there is but a remnant of the original left. But God works with remnants, and He will use this remnant to get His message out.