St. Patrick, Jesus, and the Good News

Do you ever ask yourself the really difficult questions? You know, those deep philosophical queries that take you all the way to the core of the meaning of life? Questions like: Why does everybody wear green on St. Patrick’s Day? And why do I get pinched if I don’t? And why are the Irish so lucky, anyway? Well, this little leaflet may not fully answer those questions. But I can say this: there is no such thing as luck! God is orchestrating everything in this universe—from the orbit of the planets (Isaiah 40.22) to the exact time when a sparrow falls out of a tree (Matthew 10.29). He controls it all! And the story of St. Patrick is an example of this truth—a great illustration of God’s loving hand designing our days for good …

Contrary to our childhood imaginations, Patrick of Ireland was not a quirky little Irishman who went around pinching people and searching for four-leafed clovers! It is also highly unlikely that he wore a funny green suit. In fact, Patrick wasn’t even Irish! So who was this man who has a holiday named for him?*

Patrick was a modestly educated boy who lived in late 4th century Britain. Though his father was a deacon, and his grandfather a pastor in the local church, Patrick was unimpressed with Christianity, unconcerned with eternity, and unacquainted with Jesus Christ. That is, until he was sixteen. That was when he was captured by pirates and ferried across the Irish Sea to become a slave of those ‘barbarian’ people called the Irish.

For six years Patrick served as an enslaved farm-hand. But there on the Irish hillsides, desperate and alone, he began to call out to the living Christ whom his grandfather had preached. There, in the midst of harsh slavery in a pagan land, Patrick became a committed follower of Jesus! Gone were the trappings of mere outward religion; and in their place came a genuine trust in the life and death of the historical God-man, Jesus Christ. God allowed this young man to hit rock bottom, so that he might finally turn his eyes heavenward!

Isn’t that a wonderful illustration of how “God causes all things”—even the lowest moments of suffering—“to work together for good to those who love God” and are “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8.28**)?

And God’s goodness did not end with Patrick’s conversion to Christ …

After six years of slavery, Patrick escaped and was eventually reunited with his family in Britain. It must have been a glorious reunion! His parents must surely have thought that neither they nor their son would ever have to think of those pagan, unchristian Irishmen again. But God made them think again! Patrick began to sense that God was summoning him to return to the land of his captivity … this time, not as a slave of the Irish, but as a servant of Jesus Christ—a missionary!

And that is exactly what Patrick did! He went and gave himself to the people who had so demeaned and abused him, and laid out his life in missionary labors among them—just like his Lord had done four centuries before! Within decades, under Patrick’s preaching, Ireland began to glow for Jesus! Thousands of people became followers of Jesus, and little congregations began to be planted here and there among the Irish hills!

To this day, many thousands of Irish believers can trace their history to God’s grace in sending such a man to their island. Talk about ‘the luck of the Irish’!

But what did this ancient saint teach? What message did Patrick bring to Ireland? And has it any relevance for today? Well, quite simply, Patrick taught the Bible! Indeed, his writings are chocked full of Bible quotes! Let me mention just a few of Patrick’s biblical quotations,^  expounding myself on the meaning of each verse as I go along:

• “There is no other” God (Isaiah 45, v.5) – only one true God … who reveals Himself (as Patrick was eager to point out) in the persons of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
• “He who sins is a slave” (John 8, v.34). And I hasten to add that all of us are, by nature, thus enslaved—knowing what we ought to do and so often failing to do so; knowing that there is a God (who made us, owns us, and loves us), and yet failing to honor and obey Him as we know we should.
• “Those who do evil … are to be damned” (Romans 1, v.32). Simple and sobering. We deserve to die for our dishonoring of God.
• And yet, Jesus Christ “gave his own soul for [us]” on the cross (1 John, 3, v.16)—taking the death penalty that we deserve, so that we might be rescued from it ourselves; so that we might be forgiven, and granted “everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6, v.23).

Now that last point is really good news, isn’t it? Yes, we have sinned our way out of God’s good graces … but we do not have to earn our way back in! Jesus has done that for us – by “[laying] down His life for us”! And so forgiveness and heaven are a gift! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6.23). That is the good news young Patrick discovered as he sat enslaved and alone on those ancient Irish hills! That is the good news he preached to the Irish in the fifth century AD. This is the good news that Jesus and the apostles preached in the first century. And this is the same good news that will rescue 21st century men and women, too!

So let me ask you: Have you recognized your Maker? Have you realized that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59.2)? And have you turned from those sins and placed your eternal hope squarely into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus? This is what Patrick, all those centuries ago, urged the Irish to do! And this is what I urge you to do today: stop running from God; stop hiding from God; stop ignoring God; stop defying God … and, like young Patrick so long ago, turn to Jesus for mercy. And when you do, He will forgive all your running, hiding, ignoring, and defying!

And (for us religious types), let us lay aside the idea that we must earn our way back to God with all our religious activity (penance, mass, confession, good works, etc.). And let us believe, rather, that salvation really is a “free gift”! And if we will; if we will simply trust that, by His sinless life and sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has earned our way back to God for us – then God will forgive our sins, too! For “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16)!

_________________________________

*My sources for the life of St. Patrick are his own The Confession of Saint Patrick. Translated by John Skinner. (New York, NY: Image Books, 1998); and Philip Freeman’s Patrick of Ireland. (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2005).

**Aside from those scriptures quoted directly out of Patrick’s own writings (and placed in bold print), all other Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Italicized emphasis within scriptural quotations is inserted by the tract’s author.

^These scripture quotations are drawn from Skinner’s The Confession of Saint Patrick (which includes both Patrick’s actual Confession, as well as a letter of rebuke he wrote to a group of barbarous soldiers).

What Manner of Man is this?

The following is an evangelistic article I wrote last year some time and never published. I post it now because:

1. It might be helpful to some of you readers in organizing your thoughts...and praising the Savior.
2. You might want to bookmark it as a brief something you could send to friends who are asking questions about God and Christ.
3. Anthony is preaching on a similar theme at PRBC this weekend, and I thought this brief article might serve as a little appetizer to whet our appetites for the meal he is preparing.

A great teacher? Founder of the world’s largest organized religion? Prophet? Humanitarian? All of these descriptions have been attached to Jesus Christ of Nazareth through the years. And none of them without warrant. For Jesus did teach like no one ever taught. Millions of people world-wide do claim Him as the founder of their faith. And Jesus did care for humanity with a power and a compassion unparalleled in history. But none of these man-made descriptions fully captures the essence of the true man, Jesus.

So who, really, is Jesus? Let’s let Him answer the question Himself.

Jesus claimed to be God Himself. He took on prerogatives that belong only to God Himself (e.g. forgiving sins, Mark 2.5). He claimed to be one with God, the Father (John 10.30). He commended the apostle Thomas for calling Him “My Lord and my God” (John 20.28). And He was constantly referring to Himself by God’s personal name, “I AM” (John 4.26, 8.58, 18.6, etc.). Jesus was fully God. And yet…

Jesus also claimed to be fully human. Jesus slept, ate, drank, wept, and bled. There is no question that He was (and is) a real live man. Even after His resurrection, He made it clear that He was flesh and blood, just like us: “See My hands and feet…touch Me and see Me, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see” (Luke 24.39). Jesus was fully man.

Now, how can a person be fully God and be, at the same time, a human being? The question is beyond full comprehension. But we get some clear insight when we read about the virgin birth of Jesus (Luke 1-2). Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (and thus is fully God), and yet was born of Mary, a Jewish woman (and thus is fully human).

And why are these things important—and why is Jesus Himself so important? Because…

Jesus claimed to be the only hope for man’s salvation. He claimed that no one (no one!) can know God unless they come to God through Him (John 14.6)! Why? Because all of us are sinners—intentionally ignorant of God and rejecting the knowledge of Him that is obvious in the created world (Romans 1.20-21). God made us, loves, us, cares for us, and has made Himself plain to us. But we have been traitors.

Yet Christ came to bring sinners back to right relationship with God; to give His life as a ransom payment, absorbing the punishment that we deserve for our treason against God (Mark 10.45); and thus, to grant us eternal life (John 3.16) in place of the judgment we deserve. But to do so, He had to be the one and only God-man!

Being fully God, and having no sins of His own for which to die (Hebrews 4.15), Jesus was, therefore, spiritually capable to die for ours. And being fully human, Jesus was physically capable of entering into the physical, human death that our human sins deserve.

There have been numerous religious characters to come on the stage of the world—each of them claiming to have the solution for bring man together with ‘god.’ But no other character on the pages of human history ever even so much as claimed to be capable of dealing with the problem of mankind’s guilt. No one ever claimed to be able, single-handedly, to make man right with God. But Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, not only claimed the ability, but demonstrated the willingness to do so by laying down His life on the cross. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3.18).

Amazing claims! And Jesus not only made them, but proved them by raising Himself from the dead! Here is a life worthy of our consideration…and, more than that, our admiration and adoration!

The Luck of the Irish?

Do you ever ask yourself the really difficult questions? You know, those deep philosophical queries that take you all the way to the core of the meaning of life? Questions like: Why does everybody wear green on St. Patrick’s Day? And why do I get pinched if I don’t? And why are the Irish so lucky, anyway? Well, this little leaflet may not fully answer those questions. But I can say this: there is no such thing as luck! God is orchestrating everything in this universe—from the orbit of the planets (Isaiah 40.22) to the exact time when a sparrow falls out of a tree (Matthew 10.29). He controls it all! And the story of St. Patrick is an example of this truth—a great illustration of God’s loving hand designing our days for good …

Contrary to our childhood imaginations, Patrick of Ireland was not a quirky little Irishman who went around pinching people and searching for four-leafed clovers! It is also highly unlikely that he wore a funny green suit. In fact, Patrick wasn’t even Irish! So who was this man who has a holiday named for him?*

Patrick was a modestly educated boy who lived in late 4th century Britain. Though his father was a deacon, and his grandfather a pastor in the local church, Patrick was unimpressed with Christianity, unconcerned with eternity, and unacquainted with Jesus Christ. That is, until he was sixteen. That was when he was captured by pirates and ferried across the Irish Sea to become a slave of those ‘barbarian’ people called the Irish.

For six years Patrick served as an enslaved farm-hand. But there on the Irish hillsides, desperate and alone, he began to call out to the living Christ whom his grandfather had preached. There, in the midst of harsh slavery in a pagan land, Patrick became a committed follower of Jesus! Gone were the trappings of mere outward religion; and in their place came a genuine trust in the life and death of the historical God-man, Jesus Christ. God allowed this young man to hit rock bottom, so that he might finally turn his eyes heavenward!

Isn’t that a wonderful illustration of how “God causes all things”—even the lowest moments of suffering—“to work together for good to those who love God” and are “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8.28**)?

And God’s goodness did not end with Patrick’s conversion to Christ …

After six years of slavery, Patrick escaped and was eventually reunited with his family in Britain. It must have been a glorious reunion! His parents must surely have thought that neither they nor their son would ever have to think of those pagan, unchristian Irishmen again. But God made them think again! Patrick began to sense that God was summoning him to return to the land of his captivity … this time, not as a slave of the Irish, but as a servant of Jesus Christ—a missionary!

And that is exactly what Patrick did! He went and gave himself to the people who had so demeaned and abused him, and laid out his life in missionary labors among them—just like his Lord had done four centuries before! Within decades, under Patrick’s preaching, Ireland began to glow for Jesus! Thousands of people became followers of Jesus, and little congregations began to be planted here and there among the Irish hills!

To this day, many thousands of Irish believers can trace their history to God’s grace in sending such a man to their island. Talk about ‘the luck of the Irish’!

But what did this ancient saint teach? What message did Patrick bring to Ireland? And has it any relevance for today? Well, quite simply, Patrick taught the Bible! Indeed, his writings are chocked full of Bible quotes! Let me mention just a few of Patrick’s biblical quotations,^  expounding myself on the meaning of each verse as I go along:

• “There is no other” God (Isaiah 45, v.5) – only one true God … who reveals Himself (as Patrick was eager to point out) in the persons of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
• “He who sins is a slave” (John 8, v.34). And I hasten to add that all of us are, by nature, thus enslaved—knowing what we ought to do and so often failing to do so; knowing that there is a God (who made us, owns us, and loves us), and yet failing to honor and obey Him as we know we should.
• “Those who do evil … are to be damned” (Romans 1, v.32). Simple and sobering. We deserve to die for our dishonoring of God.
• And yet, Jesus Christ “gave his own soul for [us]” on the cross (1 John, 3, v.16)—taking the death penalty that we deserve, so that we might be rescued from it ourselves; so that we might be forgiven, and granted “everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6, v.23).

Now that last point is really good news, isn’t it? Yes, we have sinned our way out of God’s good graces … but we do not have to earn our way back in! Jesus has done that for us – by “[laying] down His life for us”! And so forgiveness and heaven are a gift! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6.23). That is the good news young Patrick discovered as he sat enslaved and alone on those ancient Irish hills! That is the good news he preached to the Irish in the fifth century AD. This is the good news that Jesus and the apostles preached in the first century. And this is the same good news that will rescue 21st century men and women, too!

So let me ask you: Have you recognized your Maker? Have you realized that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59.2)? And have you turned from those sins and placed your eternal hope squarely into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus? This is what Patrick, all those centuries ago, urged the Irish to do! And this is what I urge you to do today: stop running from God; stop hiding from God; stop ignoring God; stop defying God … and, like young Patrick so long ago, turn to Jesus for mercy. And when you do, He will forgive all your running, hiding, ignoring, and defying!

And (for us religious types), let us lay aside the idea that we must earn our way back to God with all our religious activity (penance, mass, confession, good works, etc.). And let us believe, rather, that salvation really is a “free gift”! And if we will; if we will simply trust that, by His sinless life and sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has earned our way back to God for us – then God will forgive our sins, too! For “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16)!

_________________________________

*My sources for the life of St. Patrick are his own The Confession of Saint Patrick. Translated by John Skinner. (New York, NY: Image Books, 1998); and Philip Freeman’s Patrick of Ireland. (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2005).

**Aside from those scriptures quoted directly out of Patrick’s own writings (and placed in bold print), all other Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Italicized emphasis within scriptural quotations is inserted by the tract’s author.

^These scripture quotations are drawn from Skinner’s The Confession of Saint Patrick (which includes both Patrick’s actual Confession, as well as a letter of rebuke he wrote to a group of barbarous soldiers).

7th Commandment Links

Here are some of the resources I am pointing our folks to in regards to the command: "You shall not commit adultery":

• Covenant Eyes - An internet accountability tool
• Matthew 5.27-32 - And my sermon on it
• Girl Talk blog, Modesty Tag - Particularly the Modesty Heart Check
• Josh Harris's books - I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Boy Meets Girl, Not Even a Hint (recently retitled Sex is not the Problem, Lust is)
• Southwest Airlines - One encouraging trend in a 'sex-sells' culture
• 1 Corinthians 7 - Especially verses 3-5 and verse 9
• CCEF's booklets on various sexual sins (and how the gospel overcomes them!)

Good News

The bad news is that all have sinned (Romans 3.23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6.23). That is actually horrible news. Sin deserves death. All of us are sinners. Therefore all of us have a death sentence hanging over our heads. And since we can never go back and erase our sins, we can never go back and alter the judgment. We are deserving of death. But is there any good news? Yes! Namely that, though God is rightfully angry with our sin, He loves sinners! He loves to set sinners back on their feet again! He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Psalm 103.8)!

But, wait. God cannot just simply let us go free, can He? Wouldn’t that be a corruption of justice…to let a convicted criminal go free? How would you feel if the judges in your city began a new policy of letting thieves and rapists go free simply because they felt sorry for them? You’d be calling for a new judge! Letting criminals walk with no penalty is the worst kind of injustice. And if God were to somehow ‘work the system’ and bend the rules for us, He’d be sinning too!

So, we have a dilemma. God loves sinners and wants to set them free. But His perfection demands that He must punish the crime! What is He to do? How will He maintain His impeachable justice and at the same time reach out a hand of mercy to sinners whom He loves?

There is only one solution. Someone else has to pay. If God wants to both punish your sin and rescue you from punishment, someone else has to pay the penalty. It’s the only option. But where could God find a man who did not have sins of His own to pay for? There aren’t any! So the only option is for God to become a man Himself (in the person of His Son) and to be, Himself, the one who would pay the penalty for everyone else’s sins! This is the story of Jesus! He was pierced for our transgression, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him (Isaiah 53.5). Christ’s death purchases for us forgiveness, a right relationship with God, a fresh start, God’s supernatural help to overcome our struggles with sin, and a permanent home in heaven that will never be taken away!

Jesus Christ died to save sinners…even sinners like you. His job is done. That is the best news a person could ever hear! But you must respond. You must lay hold of this free gift by faith. What that means is this: You must rest in Jesus. You must stop running from God…and run to the care and provision of Jesus. And, if you are the religious type, you must stop trying to save yourself with good deeds, or religious activity…and rest in Jesus’ good deeds on your behalf! He is fully capable of rescuing you and restoring you to God. He does not need your help. But He will only perform the rescue when you stop running from Him…and stop striving to save yourself and rest in Him! Salvation does not depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans 9.16). So, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16.31)!

Bad News

‘Bad news?’ you ask. ‘I thought Christianity was supposed to offer good news!’ Of course it does…and don’t worry, we’ll get there. But before a life boat appears very useful to us, we have to realize that we have fallen overboard. And before the good news will have the poignancy that it ought, we have to hear the bad news. And there is bad news…

The Bible says that all human beings are, by nature, sinners (Romans 3.10-11). And our experience bears this out. Each of us has observed the fact that even small children (who seem hardly know right from wrong) figure out quite quickly how to defy mommy and daddy! No one has to teach them how to throw a fit, or hit their brother, or lie about it when they get caught. So, to say that human beings are naturally good not only denies the Bible, but our common human experience. We are born selfish. We are born knowing how to sin…and wanting to sin. And, as adults, these innate qualities continue to cling to us like filthy axle-grease. We still pitch fits (perhaps more sophisticatedly, but fits nonetheless!) when we do not get what we want. In our actions, and in the secret places of our minds, every one of us lives a life in defiance, sometimes of the laws of the land, and other times of the laws of our own conscience. All of us find ourselves, at times, deliberately doing that which we know is plain wrong. Why? Because we’re born sinners!

But the major problem comes when we realize that we are not simply sinning against the laws of the land or the laws of our own consciences…but against the laws of God! St. Paul described the human condition like this: Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks (Romans 1.21). That’s pretty accurate isn’t it? All of us know that there is a God out there (Romans 1.20). We see Him evidenced in the created order. And our moral consciences also inform us that there is a God who has set certain moral principles in place for all his creatures (everyone knows, innately, that certain things are right, and others wrong…and that knowledge is from God). Yet each of us ignores, dishonors, and outright disobeys what we know of this God. Examine your own heart and you will find this is true.

God’s response to such defiance? The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth (Romans 1.18). We suppress the truth, Paul says. We deliberately ignore God, His commands, and His authority. We have thumbed our nose at our Creator! And God has, therefore, shut the door on relationship with us, and is preparing eternal punishment for His rebellious creatures!

That is the bad news. It is awful news! We are sinners and there is, literally, hell to pay. But once we have come to terms with our rebellion, we are candidates to hear and love the good news…namely that “Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3.18). Have you come to believe the good news? Have you let Christ bring you to God?

Who is Jesus?

A great teacher? Founder of the world’s largest organized religion? Prophet? Humanitarian? All of these descriptions have been attached to Jesus Christ of Nazareth through the years. And none of them without warrant. For Jesus did teach like no one ever taught. Millions of people world-wide do claim Him as the founder of their faith. And Jesus did care for humanity with a power and a compassion unparalleled in history. But none of these man-made descriptions fully captures the essence of the true man, Jesus. So who, really, is Jesus? Let’s let Him answer the question Himself.

Jesus claimed to be God Himself. He took on prerogative that belong only to God Himself (e.g. forgiving sins, Mark 2.5). He claimed to be one with God, the Father (John 10.30). He commended the apostle Thomas for calling Him “My Lord and my God” (John 20.28). And He was constantly referring to Himself by God’s personal name, “I AM” (John 4.26, 8.58, 18.6, etc.). And yet…

Jesus also claimed to be fully human. Even after His resurrection, He made it clear that He was flesh and blood, just like us: “See My hands and feet…touch Me and see Me, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see” (Luke 24.39). Surely his agonizing death, along with the testimony of eye-witnesses, also prove clearly that Jesus was fully human just like you and I.

How can a person be both fully God and fully man? The question is beyond full comprehension. But we get some clear insight when we read about the virgin birth of Jesus (Luke 1-2). Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (and thus is fully God), and yet was born of Mary, a Jewish woman (and thus is fully human).

And why are these things important—and why is Jesus Himself so important? Because…

Jesus claimed to be the only hope for man’s salvation. He claimed that no one (no one!) can know God unless they come to God through Him (John 14.6)! Why? Because all of us are sinners—intentionally ignorant of God and rejecting our innate knowledge of Him (Romans 1.21). Yet Christ came to bring sinners back to right relationship with God; to give His life as a ransom payment for our sins (Mark 10.45); and thus, to grant us eternal life (John 3.16) in place of the judgment we deserve.

Being fully God, Jesus had no sins of His own for which He had to die (Hebrews 4.15)—and was, therefore, spiritually capable to die for ours. And being fully human, Jesus was physically capable of entering into the physical death that our sins deserve. No other character on the pages of human history claimed to be capable of dying for the sins of the world. But Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, not only claimed the ability, but demonstrated the willingness to do so.

Amazing claims! And Jesus not only made them, but proved them by raising Himself from the dead!

God, Sin, Christ, Response

The gospel of Jesus Christ is really a very simple thing. There is a God in heaven who made us, loves us, owns us. He deserves the highest love and honor in return. But none of us gives it. “Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks” (Romans 1.21). This is called sin. And all sin is punishable by death. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loves us” made a way for sinners (who deserve death) to be rescued, and given eternal life. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, and rise again - all on behalf of sinners (see John 3.16). Because Jesus has lived and died for us, we may go free. But only those who repent of their sins and believe on Jesus will benefit from God’s great plan. God requires a response—repentance and faith.

That is the gospel, in its simple form—God, sin, Christ, response. No gospel presentation is complete without these four elements. But only these four elements are necessary to give people the simple message that gives life - backed up, of course, with supporting verses from Scripture.

It’s not a lot to remember. It’s not all that complicated to explain (although we can and must understand these things better and better as we grow in our faith). But the basic gospel is just that—basic, simple, easy to remember, and easy to explain.

But can I ask you a question: When is the last time you sat down with someone and really explained these things? I know that many of us have opportunities here and there to speak with friends and neighbors about our church, or about how good God has been to us, or about what the Bible says about this issue or that. But when is the last time you actually sat down with someone and walked them through God, sin, Christ, response?

I realize that not every conversation will lead to a full explanation of the gospel. I realize, too, that sometimes we get it to people and bits and pieces over a period of time, or in the course of our day-to-day routines. But I also realize that some of us never really get down to the business of sharing the message of God, sin, Christ, response with lost people. We (myself included) get in ruts where we are timid about using the name Jesus, timid to speak about sin, timid about the exclusivity of the claims of Jesus. So we talk about ‘God’ and ‘the Lord’ and ‘forgiveness’ and ‘grace’ without ever explaining fully why we so desperately need them, or through whom we may receive them—Jesus! Some of us very sparingly use that name!

So can I issue you a challenge? Can I urge you to stop floating around the surface of the gospel and really get to the meat of it (God, sin, Christ, response)? Can I challenge you to pray that God would give you the clear opportunity to explain this simple message with at least one person in the next week? Go ahead and pray now! And can I urge you, when God answers that prayer, not to be ashamed of the gospel, as I so often am?

Finally, can I remind you of these convicting words of the apostle Paul (emphases mine): “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? .... So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10.14, 17)!