Oct
07
2009
Hal Poe: The Gospel and Its Meaning
SESSION 3
SPEAKER: Harry L. Poe, Professor of Faith & Culture at Union University
TITLE: The Gospel and Its Meaning: Implications for Southern Baptists and Evangelicals (Audio here)
THE GIST: The gospel holds the answer to the questions postmoderns are raising. The gospel includes several aspects that apply to different questions being asked by people in different generations. It is important that we preach an unchanging gospel, but that we not rely on a stock presentation of the gospel. We need to recover the full-orbed gospel that speaks to the questions people are asking.
BRIEF OUTLINE:
Popular Evangelistic Methods in the Past
- Focused on methods. A “plan of salvation.”
- John Stott used a dialectic argument. (Christ’s Person, Our Need, Christ’s Work, Our Response)
- Bill Bright utilized the metaphor of “Law” to carry the gospel presentation. (“Four Spiritual Laws”)
- D. James Kennedy’s “Evangelism Explosion” (Grace, Man, God, Christ, Faith)
- The Romans Road, Bridge Illustration.
What do these examples have in common? They presuppose that the person understands sin. But what happens when people no longer believe in sin?
How did Paul Write about the Gospel?
- He mentions those aspects assumed by his listeners, and then he begins to answer the question of his readers (the “Gentile question”) by turning to the aspects of that gospel most relevant to that question.
8 Basic Aspects
- Fulfillment of Scripture, of all God has promised, is a major part of the gospel.
- Christ’s death for our sins.
- Christ’s resurrection.
- Gift of the Holy Spirit
- Christ’s deity and incarnation.
- The Second Coming and Judgment.
- The God of Creation
- Christ’s exaltation as Lord
Do we find Paul’s version of the gospel in the Gospel accounts of Jesus?
- Yes, even if words and terms differed due to the audience.
- We see Jesus after his resurrection reviewing his teaching over the years: fulfillment of Scripture, death related to forgiveness, resurrection, gift of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus’ full humanity and deity.
Sharing the Gospel Today
- The gospel addresses all sorts of questions besides “How do I get forgiveness?”
- We must not reduce the gospel, but proclaim all its aspects.
MEMORABLE QUOTES:
Jesus is the answer, but Christians do not always attend to the question, so they can explain how Jesus is the answer. It is much easier to rely on answers previous generations gave to earlier questions.
Evangelistic presentations are a sign of failure. They show that Christians no longer talk about their faith in their everyday life. If a Christian has believed the gospel, why would they not know what to say if asked about it?
Christians must not confuse a particular way of presenting the gospel with the gospel itself. Such confusion would be like a church member confusing a sermon with the Bible.
The gospel answers the deep spiritual answers of every culture, but a gospel presentation focuses on a particular issue or question.
The gospel is not only the message of how to get saved, but also how to be saved. The gospel is for evangelism and discipleship.