Having done that, it helps us to see then, what the Gospel is. And just like last time, don't expect to see a list of "if this isn't in your Gospel you've got it right/wrong" items. This isn't about what's in the Gospel; but about the "isness" of the Gospel.
First of all, the Gospel is incarnational. This may not be an earth-shattering idea - the Gospel is something that is lived and breathed. But it took Jesus in the flesh to bring the Gospel in its fullness. And it has taken people in the flesh to continue to share the Gospel throughout the ages. The Gospel is experienced through all the senses - not just the ears. This is how it started, and this is how it should remain. But too often we want to create a false dichotomy between living (a life exampling the Gospel freedom) and breathing (proclaiming that Jesus has brought life). This is because too often we want to split what can't be divided: the message and the medium. One cannot exist without the other. This is so blindingly obvious that it is so easy to overlook. If we speak words of grace but exhibit lives of arrogance and judgement, how can we think this communicates the Gospel? Alternatively, if we live lives of grace and compassion but don't speak the name of the One who is grace and compassion, how can we think this communicates the Gospel? So firstly, we need to see that the Gospel is both the message and the medium that carries it. And if we are genuine about following the example of the One who brought the Gospel into existence, then we would benefit from starting where he did.
When Jesus began to bring the Gospel to life it began with an invitiation: "Follow me". Jesus interrupted, in particular, 12 individuals and invited them away from the life they were living to instead take up a life alongside him. It took them over three years to wrap their heads around what was going on - and it was only through their continued participation that 11 of the twelve got to be a instrumental in the birth of the Church. So secondly, it needs to be seen that the Gospel is an invitation to participate in life. And I think that this too often isn't given enough emphasis when it comes to how the Church teaches its people to share the Gospel. Even the terminology of "sharing the Gospel" is somewhat biased towards our preference to see the Gospel more as a message of life than an invitation to participate in life. Don't get me wrong, the Gospel contains a message of life. But that life is one about participating in life in Jesus. Which by implication means participating in his body, the Church - the place where the Holy Spirit lives and dwells. By seeing the Gospel as a message of life, the core becomes about personal salvation. A gift to be given out by the church, rather than a life to be lived by the Church. Is it any wonder that personal salvation seems to so easily come apart from the community of faith? The Gospel initially came to those who followed Jesus as they wrestled with what they had seen, heard and experienced. As a community they wrestled with what this meant and how this transformed how they participated in life in the world. The book of Acts is all about the spreading participation in this new life that came in Jesus. It's all about inviting others to share in the Gospel.
Which makes it super interesting that what Acts doesn't contain is the six step outline to talking about Jesus that surely must have been needed to see such a drastic transformation in the lives of so many. Sure, there are some cracking sermons in Acts. Great Gospel sermons even. But there is not a four point or six step outline that can be repeated throughout the ages contained anywhere in the New Testament. This is because the Gospel is full of richness and complexity. So it makes it strange that the Church seems so determined to convert the Gospel into a nice four to six piece message that is easy to remember and pass on. Don't get me wrong, helping people to be able to articulate their faith is a noble task. But often in doing so, we've sucked so much of the life from the Gospel. By creating simple to understand outlines and calling them "the Gospel message" we are robbing people of the complexity that is a life of faith. Not only that, but in our certainty of having "the best" Gospel explanation, we can be encouraging people to accept/reject "the Gospel" based on only one way of articulating it. This rejects the approach of the early Church as they cannonised the Bible. As I already alluded to, the New Testament contains a myriad of ways in which the Gospel is "told". From four unique but similar stories recalling what went on when Jesus came in the flesh (The Gospels); to the numerous Gospel sermons in Acts; to the different ways the authors of the NT letters summarise and "catch-phrase" the Gospel at different times for different situations. It seems that perhaps something as rich and complex as the Gospel shouldn't be restrained and contained by one formulaic presentation. I would go further and argue that it is actually impossible to do this as the Gospel only comes alive in the community as it is expressed and lived.
Which is why so much of Paul's direction in the pastoral epistles doesn't focus on either the intricate details of what constitutes the Gospel message. Or a clear Gospel outline for his pastoral appointments to teach to the people left under his care. It is because Paul recognises that the Gospel is grounded in a community of ritual. What Paul focusses on instead is encouraging the men he left to pastor the churches he planted to example and embed a Gospel way of life in the community in which they have been left. This way of life includes teaching the message of Jesus and the life that is available as he has triumphed over death. And the need to place our faith in him and not in us. But it is clear that this teaching is not to be given through a modern classroom mindset where the primary focus is to teach minds. Instead it is to be taught as in the actions of life as people abandon their old ways of life, where they were held captive by death, and embrace a new life that has brought freedom and grace. The communities are to be particular communities, living in particular ways - not just believing particular things. Communities with particular ways of life that are shaped by the initial invitation from the Saviour himself - "Follow me". To join with those who have responded to this invitation previously and start on a journey of faith together. A journey that both is, and communicates, the Gospel.
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