The previous post centered on how we must be careful to not wrongly emphasize eternal life in our evangelism to the point that we make Christ a mere means instead of the climax and goal of the gospel. The warning is that if we do so, we may only appeal to people’s natural longing to live forever, to be forgiven, or to have peace in death. Desiring these things requires no new birth. We must, then, emphasize Christ in our gospel presentations, displaying him as lovely and worth devoting your life to.
As we discussed, this doesn’t mean we ignore the glorious benefits of salvation. After all, eternal life is the free gift of God. The point was more that when we do so, we much make Christ climatic and central: “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
How Do We Do This?
This post, then, asks the question: How do we do this?
Should we avoid methods like the Romans Road? Not necessarily. This gospel presentation can still be helpful. The issue isn’t the method but us using it in such a way that we make Christ a mere means.
Or should we never incentivize with Christ’s gifts, such as eternal life? Certainly not. The New Testament abounds with appeals to eternal life, forgiveness, joy, love, and peace.
What then? How do we preach the gospel, speak about the benefits to those who believe, while emphasizing Christ? Answer: Whatever methods we decide to use in evangelize, we always make sure that Christ is the emphasis. Not his gift. Not his giving of eternal life. Him.
Let’s get even more practical, though. To accomplish this Christ-centeredness in our evangelism, we’d be helped to keep two assumptions in mind as we attempt to navigate our conversations, teachings, and proclamations of the gospel.
1. People Want to Live Forever (So, We’re Skeptical)
First, when we’re sharing the gospel—whether in a church sermon or a personal conversation—we assume that the people who are listening don’t want to die and want to live forever. The same goes for their desire to not be guilty, too.
This assumption makes us rightly skeptical about their reception of the gospel. I know that sounds pessimistic, but such suspiciousness was taught by Jesus himself in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15). We expect people to confess phony belief in Christ when they care less about Christ himself. We’re skeptical because we know that many people “believe” mainly because they naturally want to live forever or have their guilt forgiven.
We’re careful to not believe that a re-sparked desire to live forever equals the new birth. As a result, when someone hears about new life and expresses belief, even “with joy” (Luke 8:13), we’re skeptical because we know that desiring to live forever ins’t necessarily a sign of the Spirit’s working. John Piper said it well,
“It doesn’t take a new heart to want the psychological relief of forgiveness, or the removal of God’s wrath, or the inheritance of God’s world. All these things are understandable without any spiritual change. You don’t need to be born again to want these things. The devils want them. It is not wrong to want them. Indeed it is folly not to. But the evidence that we have been changed is that we want these things because they bring us to the enjoyment of God.” (John Piper, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, 62; see the full quote here).
2. People Crave Christ (So, We Emphasize Christ)
Second, we assume that although they want to be forgiven and live forever, we know an even greater need and joy of theirs, namely, Christ himself. We know what they desire deep down as people made in God’s image for God’s glory—for God’s gospel. They may think that immortality is the best news they’ve heard, but it isn’t. They may believe that to be guiltless is their greatest need at the moment, but it isn’t. Their (and our!) greatest need and joy is to know Christ and be reconciled with God.
We must assume this is the case—no matter what—with everyone as we share the gospel: they crave Christ. So what do we do? We purposefully emphasize Christ. However, whenever, wherever we share the gospel, and whatever blessing of the gospel we speak of, we make Christ himself the focal point.
Darkened hearts aren’t changed by an appeal to live forever. They’re changed when the same God who said “let there be light” shines “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” into a sinner’s heart (2 Corinthians 4:6). This is every person’s need and joy. They long to see Christ as glorious, as they were designed to. And so, when we share the gospel, we make sure to show him.
We don’t focus on Christ’s gifts, for that will never change nor satisfy a sinner’s heart. We emphasize Christ himself.
Keeping Christ Central
So, when we teach, persuade, and trek down evangelistic Roads using verses like Romans 6:23—texts which talk about wonderful benefits of the gospel like eternal life and forgiveness—we navigate with these two assumptions in mind: 1) everyone wants to live forever, and so people who don’t love Jesus still will be drawn to his gifts of eternal life and forgiveness, and 2) Christ is their greatest desire and joy.
And both assumptions (not just assumption two) will make us earnestly desire to keep Christ central in the gospel.
- First, because we’re rightly skeptical about people who just want mere eternal life or forgiveness, we’ll make sure to present our Romans-Road-like appeals in such a way that “in Christ Jesus” (not “eternal life”) is the emphasis. We don’t want to produce false belief. If people only believe because they want to live forever, we want them to know that. We don’t want them to be deceived about the most important reality in the universe.
- Second, because we know each person craves Christ, we can rest assured making Christ the emphasis. Although at first this focus may not be a “felt need” like immortality or forgiveness, we can have comfort that Christ-centrality will take root for certain people (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). Even if a person doesn’t know it when the teaching, the sermon, our our conversation first began, we know they are made ultimately not for mere eternal life, nor for just forgiveness, but for him.
Let us, then, use whatever methods, conversation starters, preaching styles, church outreach events, and more to share Christ. But when we do so, let us not set up a blockade and lead people to accept eternal life, or forgiveness, or peace, or joy, or heaven apart from Christ. To do so, we must be careful and skeptical. And more important, we must emphasize Christ himself.
May we share the gospel accordingly.
