The Claims of Christ and the Issue of the Week

A single line from Doug Wilson’s most recent fake letter to a Jewish man grappling with the Christian faith leapt off the screen at me this morning. It was this: “Jesus did not rise from the dead because Sandi is beautiful, and He did not remain in the grave to keep your parents from having to grieve.”

That’s not going to make a whole lot of sense to you if you haven’t read the post. It doesn’t really need to. Doug’s point was that people have all kinds of personal issues, problems, conflicts, needs and desires that Jesus Christ can address and satisfy. But Christians are unwise to present him to the world as merely a “fix” for their personal issue of the week, month or even lifetime.

That’s not first and foremost who he is or why we preach the gospel.

The Issue of the Week

If you look closely at the lives of Christians around you, you will quickly notice that we all have our problems too. Some of us have the same problems unbelievers do. Some have worse problems than you or I will ever encounter. If you came to Christ only because he was presented to you as the fix for a specific crisis in your life, don’t worry, there will shortly be another one. And another one. And another one. We are human beings. We have problems and we’ll have more of them. Welcome to life.

Preaching a Christ who can make your life better in one way or another is not incorrect or untrue, but that single line from Doug reminded me that such an emphasis is a shift away from the first century focus of the gospel. It’s simply not the way the apostles preached to either Jews or Gentiles. That should grab the attention of any Christian seeking to follow the scriptures as he presents Christ to the world.

YouTube Sales Pitches and the Gospel of the Early Church

Most of the books of the New Testament are not primarily gospel-oriented. Their emphasis is not on getting the reader saved from death, hell and the rightful consequences of his sin. Rather, the writers of the NT sent letters to Christians struggling with various issues, reinforcing and clarifying the theological and practical implications of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. You will not find much of an altar call in Ephesians and Colossians, except maybe between the lines.

However, the book of Acts is history. In Acts, Luke records how the apostles and other believers of the first century presented the message of salvation to both Jews and Gentiles in their day. In most cases, he actually gives us their words. That’s useful if we want to compare today’s YouTube sales pitches and Sunday morning megachurch messages (“ask Jesus into your heart”) to the gospel preaching of the early church.

The Gospel at Pentecost

Acts 2 at Pentecost, and Peter is addressing a spontaneous gathering of Jews in Jerusalem drawn by miracles associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world. I won’t quote it here, but I’ll link to it. If you’re unfamiliar, have a read. I promise you, there’s not one word in it about a Christ who can fix your daily dramas, help you meet the love of your life, or do anything other than to reconcile you to God and save you from coming judgment. Those are not small issues. They are also the biggest thing the Lord Jesus is concerned about doing for you, the crux of human need. You may feel like losing your job or fighting with your wife is a big deal, and in the moment it certainly is. If somebody told you his religion had an answer for that, you might even pay attention. But trust me, being called to account for every sinful thought, word and deed you have ever committed is a much bigger problem than any you will ever have in your home.

Peter was talking to the generation of Jews that rejected and murdered the Son of God. His message: Repent and be baptized. Get your sins forgiven.

More Gospel to Jews

Acts 3 at the temple in Jerusalem after a healing gave the apostles another audience. Here’s that message. Again, it’s full of the righteous claims of God against sinners. Again, there’s not a single word pitching the Lord Jesus as the answer to anybody’s less-than-perfect life experience. Acts 4, when brought before the rulers, elders and scribes, it’s the same story. Acts 5, when under arrest and explaining themselves, Peter accuses guilty men rather than offering them anything they might secretly be searching for. Acts 7 is an entire chapter of Stephen letting the Jews have it about their rejection of Christ. Their response was predictable and ultimately fatal.

In Acts 13, Luke summarizes Paul’s message in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. Like Peter, Paul presents the gospel as an opportunity for the forgiveness of sins, a challenge and a warning. He ends with “Beware.” Again, there is not a word about the wonderful benefits of belonging to Christ, though these are many, and Paul was certainly able to explain them more than adequately in Ephesians and Colossians. In their gospel preaching, however, the apostles made no attempt to foreground these features of the Christian life.

A Reasonable Objection

An objection arises at this point, and it’s legitimate: Peter and the apostles were preaching to Jews. Of course, in the years after Israel conspired to have its Messiah crucified, it was necessary to call on the men who did it to repent and believe. What does that have to do with me today?

Fair enough. We need to see how the apostles presented the gospel to Gentiles, don’t we? Fortunately, Luke has also provided us with accounts of several messages that give us some idea of the first century gospel emphasis to non-Jews.

The Gospel to Gentiles

First, there is Peter to the household of Cornelius. He gives the Gentiles there an account of what happened to Jesus in Jerusalem at the hands of the Jews, then announces that God overturned their verdict by raising Jesus from the dead. Peter declares him the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Messiah and the one appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. That’s it. The good news he offers is that there is now a way for sinners, Jew or Gentile, to be reconciled with God and to have their transgressions forgiven. There is not a word of appeal to them to receive Christ on any other basis, and certainly not as the answer to the difficulties and shortcomings of normal human existence.

Next, there is an incomplete message at Lystra, cut short by the idolatrous reaction of the Gentiles there to a miraculous healing. He challenges them to turn from idolatry to the living God, who created the world and provides generously for the needs of all men. That’s all he had the opportunity to get out, but Paul certainly wasn’t coming on like a used car salesman.

There is also Paul’s message at the Areopagus in Athens. Again, his focus with Gentiles is on Christ’s resurrection, God’s coming judgment of the world through him, and the need for repentance and forgiveness of sins in view of that day.

Finally, we have his personal testimony to King Agrippa when under arrest. He tells the king of his mission to convert the Gentiles from idolatry to faith in Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the prophets and the means by which repentant sinners may be reconciled to God.

In Summary

That’s it, that’s all, as far as the record of first century gospel preaching is concerned. Obviously, we do not have every word spoken by every apostle in every gospel opportunity, but what we have is surely sufficient to direct us as we take the gospel to the world today. If we are to summarize the main points of all these messages, we have Christ as the fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures, Christ crucified and resurrected, Christ as God’s minister of coming judgment on the world, and the universal need for repentance, belief and forgiveness of sins. The only difference between the gospel as presented to Jews and Gentiles is the absence of the accusation of having killed the Christ. Gentiles still needed forgiveness for the sins they had committed, of course, and the gospel provides that hope.

What we have in the book of Acts is consistent presentation of the claims of Christ and the need to acknowledge and respond to them. There is not a single occasion in scripture when the apostles or others tried to present Christ as the solution to any human need beyond the need to have our sins forgiven.

Claims and Benefits

That’s not in the least to minimize a single wonderful thing that a living relationship with our Father in heaven through his Son regularly accomplishes in the life of believers. The benefits of knowing Christ are endless: guidance, direction, a better way to live, happier homes, better marital relations, wisdom in parenting, provision, purpose, fellowship, confidence, peace, hope, joy, love … you name it. But a biblical gospel is never that kind of sales pitch.

I spent an evening this week hearing from a man who had watched the gospel turn his family upside down. His daughter came to Christ when a young man convinced her from scripture that she was a sinner in need of a Savior. Her protective brother began to investigate what his sister had gotten into for himself. Short story: both his children now have loving Christian partners and happy homes. He has two lovely grandsons as a direct result. What could he do but believe as well? The joy of the Lord was bubbling right out of him as he told me all the ways that one faithful presentation of the gospel had born fruit in his life.

Oh, there is no end to the practical benefits of acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. There’s not a single area of human experience to which he cannot add value in the immediate present. But the early church never talked about these potential benefits when preaching the gospel. Not once.

If the claims of Christ on our fallen race are the core message of the gospel, as it appears, might it not be prudent for modern Christians to get back to preaching them?