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It's Necessary...Use Words

I can remember coming across a “feel good” quote back in high school. It gave me confidence that I was being a good Christian. And I think it probably eased some of the fear that I had about actually sharing my faith.

As I become more acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I realize that the message that I valued so much was wrong and dangerous. It was wrong because it wasn’t based on truth. It was dangerous because it was a misrepresentation of the Gospel.

I’ve seen many slight variations of the quote, but here is the general idea:

“Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

It sounds nice. It even makes mention of the Good News. But sadly, the second sentence obscures the clear teaching of Scripture. It muddies the definition of the Gospel. It is easy to receive this quote to mean that we don’t have to actually speak the name of Jesus Christ to be preaching the Gospel. We can just live a good moral life and do nice things for people.

Obviously, these things are good and we should strive after sound morals and acts of service. However, these things are not the Gospel! Doing good to others and avoiding curse words does not save souls. Saying prayers before meals and telling people not to get drunk does not save souls. Giving millions of dollars to hungry orphans, while being extremely generous and Christ-like, does not in itself save souls.

Only one thing has the power to save souls from death: the Gospel. And let’s be clear that the Gospel is the spoken Good News of Jesus Christ describing how One has died so that we sinners might be reconciled to God. Jesus lived a perfect life and died on a Cross in our place. His brutal death is what we deserved because of our sin. He died that God’s wrath would be satisfied and that we would be forgiven of our sins IF we place our faith in being righteous before God entirely in Jesus Christ and His finished work at Calvary.

Romans 10 makes this as crystal clear as possible. This is God’s kindness to a people hardened by sin and prone to muddy up the message of salvation.

For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?.. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Romans 10:13-14, 17

How are they to believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Actions do not speak louder than words in this instance. Why? Because the Cross of Christ is folly to those who are perishing. We are not going to gather that Jesus died for our sins simply because someone bought us some groceries. We will conclude that they are way nicer than they ought to be and leave it at that! Without the explanation behind the act, our attempt at “preaching the Gospel” amounts to little more than a good deed by a nice person.

J. Mack Stiles puts it this way in his book Marks of the Messenger:

So, is caring for others “the gospel”? Is that evangelism? No, not without the spoken message of the gospel of Jesus. The gospel message is the message that

produces salvation. So we should never confuse meeting physical needs with

sharing the gospel. Caring for others represents the gospel, it upholds the gospel,

it points to the gospel, it’s an implication of the gospel, but it is not the gospel, and it is not equal to the gospel.

I am woefully far from being faithful in this, but I believe what Scripture says and am committed to making progress in this area. I hope that you will join me! And don’t be the person who says, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” While some people are definitely gifted in this area, evangelism is not most of all a gift. It is a command of the Lord Jesus.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:18-20

WWJD? Preach the Gospel. Use words. It’s necessary.

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