How to share the GOSPEL in 4 parts (no script)

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Most of us could pick the gospel out of a lineup, but when we say it out loud, we often feel stuck. In this episode, John Hopper walks through four ideas to help you in gospel conversations: what God is like, what we're like, what Jesus has done, and how a person responds. It isn't a script or a diagram to memorize, and it doesn't have to happen in one sitting. 

Hosted by John Hopper, Mary Jo Sharp, and Blaine Larsen. The Reach Podcast is produced by Search Ministries, which has been doing relational evangelism for almost 50 years.

Want to get better at these four? The Reach Video Series walks you through them: https://reachothers.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's really helpful for people to understand what God is like if they're going to understand why Jesus came.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

So we have a question from Emily. She says, I love Jesus, but when I talk to others about him, I really don't know what to say. Can you help me?

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Well, I hope I can help her. And you know, Emily's question is not unusual. I mean, I think there's a lot of Christians that don't voice it because they think that, well, I'm supposed to know the gospel, right? So they don't really ever say, hey, I need some help in how to share this with someone. They might be able to recognize the gospel like on a multiple choice test, but if they have to explain it themselves, they're a little bit fishing, right? So hopefully in this podcast, we can give them some ideas about how to share the gospel. And I think what's important about the way that I'm going to address it here is I'm not giving you a presentation or even, you know, sometimes you can learn a diagram about how to share the gospel by drawing this picture. And those things can be really helpful. But I'm just going to share with you sort of four key ideas that as you share the gospel, you need to touch on these things. And it may not be in this order, it may be one in one conversation and one in another conversation. It may not be this, you know, package deal all at one time. But I think these four ideas that I'm going to share with you from the scriptures are really important to get across to people as we share the gospel.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: It's like a mental framework to have that you can just think through as you're talking to somebody. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

So the first one is we want to help people understand what God is like. In some ways, that's sort of almost a forgotten piece in terms of sharing the gospel. We want to get right to Jesus and he died on the cross, but it's really helpful for people to understand what God is like if they're going to understand why Jesus came. And the other reason it's important is because a lot of people throw around the word God, but they may not be thinking the same thing, right? They might have a different image, a different conception of God. And so we want to help give them a biblical conception. So there's a particular scene in Exodus 34 where God is going to show up to Moses. And when he shows up to Moses, he self just gives a self-description. And in that self-description, he talks first about his love and his mercy and his graciousness and his goodness and his forgiveness. But then he goes on and he says, But I also don't leave the sin of the guilty unpunished. Like wow. So we're really seeing these two uh really sort of focal points of God's character, that he is loving, incredibly loving, gracious and good and kind and forgiving and merciful, and yet at the same time, he doesn't wink at sin. And I think it's really important that as we're sharing with people that they understand that God is both. And what I found in my conversations with people is that people will grab a hold of one and they struggle with the other. So there are people who have maybe because of upbringing, they've seen God as this like taskmaster, like he's just out to get me, and they really don't see him as loving and kind. Or there's people like, oh, God is love, he's so wonderful, he's so gracious. But that sort of means that they can kind of do whatever they want to do, and g God just sort of puts a stamp on it of approval or sort of turns, you know, aside when when they do something that's egregious. So so it's really valuable for people to see, you know, God, He's He's both things. In fact, I was thinking about this conversation before we started here, that you know, both of you okay, you grew up in non-Christian environments, and so as you're developing your view of God, which of which was most difficult for you to sort of uh grapple with or with when you think of those two?

SPEAKER_01 4:07

I I would say probably that God is loving because the uh the idea of justice and just get what you put out, that kind of idea seems baked into somewhat of our society, so it's a little easier to picture God as uh just God, but that He would be loving and gracious and kind and merciful and all the other side. That part was probably has been the harder one for me, if I'm being honest.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah. Yeah, for me, um, it's it's both. It's a both and where the just part, um, I grew up in a sort of a cultural feel of, you know, people are basically good, right? So, I mean, what do we need that for? What do we need an ultimate judge like that, a cosmic judge? So I was like, well, you know, people aren't that bad, they're pretty good. And um, I've changed my mind on that over the years, but that was hard for me. And then the other was the love, for me, it was hard to, it humanizes God uh in a way that I didn't think about him being a person. Um so that was hard for me to conceive, like if there's this being that created the universe, that that person was loving. Um, it just didn't seem to compute to my like scientific rational mind.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Sure. Yeah, I can see that. And again, in my conversations with people, I've found them on one side or the other oftentimes. They they they can take in one easily, but the other one they struggle with. And and so that I think that's super informative as we're you know just sharing the gospel with people and we're talking with them about God and what God is like. In fact, I often ask people, so what do you think God is like? And to get the conversation going with them. And uh if I find that they wait one side or the other more, then I will concentrate on the side that they're sort of struggling with or weak on, right? Like if someone has this grand picture of God as love and patient and kind, but they don't think of him as a judge and they kind of do whatever they want, like I probably need to spend a little extra time on that, right? Or vice versa. And so being in a conversation with someone about what God is like rather than just having a presentation can be super helpful because we're able to sort of wait the side that we need to wait in order for them to get a good picture of who God is.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, that's um I I've said I'd probably even said it on this show before, but the when I'm talking to people who um don't believe in God and they describe God to me, a lot of times I say, I don't believe in that God either, because what is God like? Well, not that. You know, that's I find that one of God's attributes is being focused on, and a lot of times it's his justice, uh, void of mercy, like you're saying, void of his love. And you can't do that when you're talking about the Christian God. So uh, because it's not the Christian God to be just wrathful or justice or whatever. You have to have that mercy and love, like you're saying. So you covered here the first of the key truths that you share, which is what is God like? Uh so what what is the next one when you're sharing the gospel after what is God like?

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Yeah, I think we want to sh share with people what we're like, right? For them to get a clear picture of that. Uh you mentioned that, you know, as you were growing up, you just sort of had this idea of, well, we're all pretty good, right? People are generally good. And and you've changed your mind on that, even, right? I think there's a lot of people in that same place where they see, well, you know, I'm a pretty good person, right? And I'll I'll I'll be okay because I'm I'm all right, I'm a pretty good person. And so we need to help them see that um we're measured against the character of God, right? Not like relative to one another. Because oftentimes our goodness, we say, Well, I'm better than he is, or I'm better than she is, right? We sort of measure ourselves in in that way, as opposed to relative to God's character. And when we do that, it's like whoa, like I I really fall short. Now, there's there's a little exercise that I do with people, uh, a little illustration often, and I've gotten the same response every single time. So if I'm sitting in a restaurant, maybe even a home or in an office, and I say, Suppose that that everything you said or thought over just the last month were written out on these walls all around you. And and all the things that you should have said or done or thought that you didn't do, they're there too. So that mumbling you did, you know, in regards to your wife, or that thing you said about your coworker, or the the way you ignored a situation because you didn't want to be bothered by it when you could have easily helped someone, it's all out there for everybody to say, to see, and to read. What would you do? And the response, every single time that I've shared that, they'd say, I'd run away. I'd go hide somewhere. Now they're feeling at that point kind of like the shame of like, if my life was really open books, like I wouldn't want any I wouldn't want anybody to know about it, I wouldn't want anybody to see me. Now we're feeling that way relative to other people that are probably in the same place as we are. So how would we feel before a holy and righteous God, right? And that's what the scriptures tell us, right? Before we've all sinned, but we've all fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3.23. And so boy, we're we're we're maybe not as good as we think we we are, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah. Yeah, there's a uh C.S. Lewis comments on this back in Mere Christianity, which I think I there were lectures in the 40s, but then he published in 1950. So a long time ago, he was saying people today have no framework for sin or judgment uh or atonement. I did a debate on evil in the Bible, and I remember that the atheist YouTuber said to me something about, um, you know, but look at all the stuff that God allowed to happen in the Old Testament. And I was like, Yeah, look at the people and what they were doing in the Old Testament. And then I I realized what was going on. He thought people were basically good and that God's being vengeful or mean or something. And I said, Oh, I don't think people are as good as you think they are. Like that was my response. Like, oh, we we're different here. So I think that's an important point. What are we like? Um, and that's hard.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

I I've have found this to be the easiest thing to get people to buy into. In my own story, I'll I'll never forget this because it's one of the reasons why I uh became a believer. But I grew up as we've talked about similar to you. I didn't grow up really learning that I had a problem that I and I was a pretty good kid. Like I didn't get in trouble. I didn't I was compared to other people, I was a good kid.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

We will we'll verify that later.

unknown 11:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

But actually it's important because and in all seriousness, I was a pretty good kid. But I knew I had a problem, and so we know uh not only because it's in the Bible, but we know in like Romans 2, for example, that we have a conscience. So people know, just through their own conscience, that they that they aren't fully measuring up to some standard. And so when I heard the gospel, and the guy who shared with me talked to me about this problem, uh, I remember thinking, that's how I know this is true, because there's been something way deep down in here that I knew was wrong, even though on the outside everything looked kind of fine. I had this overwhelming feeling that I was in deep trouble. When I heard the gospel, I just I knew it was true because it was somebody going, they're putting his finger right on that thing in there that I was like, I didn't even know anybody could know that was in there.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Blaine, I think you're right. I think a lot almost no one will say, right, I'm perfect. I've got this nailed. But they don't necessarily attach consequences to their shortcoming. So it's like, yeah, I'm not perfect, but uh you know, I think I'll I'm good enough, right? So but what we see in scripture is is that that there are consequences to our shortcoming. And th that's the part of this, I think, that's that's difficult for people to swallow, right? Is that what are we like? Yes, we fall short of God's standard, but also yes, we are subject to the consequences for that, the judgment of it, right? So the scriptures say the wages of sin is death. And that's a little bit harder part for people to understand. But it makes more sense if we understand that God is both loving and just.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

That passage, the wages of sin is death, what I tend to put it into philosophical terms, and the theologians probably don't like this at all. But I'll say, yeah, close your ears, everybody. Uh but I'll say things like, yeah, the consequence of evil is destruction. So when we do things that aren't good, it uh ends up destroying things. What we've heard so far in how to share the gospel is what is God like, then you're comparatively what are we like? And so you can hopefully now you can see the difference, right, between the two. And so what is the third uh point or the third key truth that um you use in the sharing the gospel?

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Yeah, and and really, if you think about it, we haven't really gotten to what we consider the good news at this point in time, right? So so in some ways you can say, well, it's bad news, right? Like God's like this and we're like this, we're in big trouble, right? People can't understand what Jesus did, and that's really where we're going right now, if they don't understand what God is like and what we're like. And so what we see and what we want to communicate with people is what Jesus has done for us. And what he's done for us is he's expressed both the love of God and the justice of God toward us, right? He's he's shown us this love and his willingness to come uh uh here on earth and live in this broken world and to give his life for us. And he's also dealt with the justice issue because we we deserve certain consequences, right? And he took that on to himself. So rather than God saying, Oh well, you guys blew it, it's all right, everything's gonna be good. No, God said, No, this sin, your sin, is worthy of death, but instead of you paying it, I'm going to have my son, Jesus, pay it. So God took care of our problem, consistent with his own character, right? By showing his love and showing his justice through the person of Jesus. So God so loved the world, right, that he gave his one and only son, right, for us. He did that for us, to be an atoning sacrifice uh for our sins.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah, and so is that that's kind of it? So everybody's good? Is that how that works? Just go sweet.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Does that yeah? So that's yeah, is that that means we're all good to go, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Well, so what what Jesus has done for us is essentially, and this is the way that you know scripture kind of couches it for us, is he's he's offered us a gift. The gift of his life for us, right? But that's a gift that we can reject if we want to. If you're granted a pardon and you choose not to receive it, then you are still guilty and you have to pay the consequences of your crime. We are granted a pardon by Jesus and what Jesus has done for us, but we have to receive it in faith. We have to come to that place where we say, God, you are right. I fall so short. I am worthy of your judgment. But I trust that what you've done through Jesus is good enough for me. In fact, it's the only place that I can turn. And it's only when we receive that gift that we are able to enjoy it. We are able to enjoy new life with God where where his uh sacrifice applies to us individually. So so yes, Jesus has done the work already. That's great, it's wonderful, but there's still a part of us that that what we have to receive that. We have to trust in what Christ has done for us. So my son, he uh I was with him just in the last couple of days, and he was having to drive uh three and a half hours with a friend. And uh in the car, the conversation came up relative to the gospel. Okay. So his friend said, So what do you believe? And he said, Dad, I just told him God man Jesus repentance. So what he meant was these four things that we talked about. I talked about who God is, I talked about what we're like, I talked about Jesus, and I talked about our need to turn to him and receive him. Any conversation we have with other people, if we're able to in time go through those four with people, maybe not all in one sitting. Sometimes it's just one of these uh elements of truth at a time over four conversations, over maybe many months. But if we're able to move through those four with people, I think it's always worth our time. If we've talked through these things and you go, boy, I gotta get better at these sharing these four key ideas with people. So I would invite you to go back to the Reach Video series. So go to reachOthers.org and you'll see it very prominently available there, the Reach Video series. And the Reach Video Series is going to lead you through how you can share Christ with people, how you can develop relationships with people, how you can start conversations with people. But as a part of the Reach Video series, you're going to get a clear very clear outline of these four different elements we've talked about today.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Thanks for listening to the Reach Podcast. If you've got a question that you'd like to submit, go do that on reachothers.org slash podcast. And that whole website, reachothers.org, was developed by Search Ministries, which is our parent organization. And Search has been doing relational evangelism in the United States for almost 50 years, and we want to give the best of what we've learned away to you, and that's what we've done on reachothers.org. Hope you enjoy it. Come back and listen to the next episode.