If It Isn’t Love, It Isn’t the Gospel
A simple framework for sharing Jesus well
Return
G’day Everyone and Welcome to another edition of The Holy Go Newsletter!
A special hello to all the new (and older) subscribers, I hope you find these weekly newsletters helpful in your evangelism and discipleship!
Last week I took a break from writing, and focussed on enjoying holidays with my family. But I am back into it now and ready to share some more thoughts on the “Why, What and How” of evangelism and disciple making.
For too long we have allowed our why, what and how of sharing Jesus to be disjointed, and it has ended up hurting people. I believe the model below will help us share Jesus in a more beautiful way.
Equip
When speaking about sharing the gospel I like to talk about The 3 M’s of Evangelism:
Motivation
Method
Message
Jesus shows us that His motivation, message and method were all LOVE. When we think about why we share the gospel, how we share the gospel, and what our gospel message is, we should remember that the simple answer is love.
Motivation - The Why - Love
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16
Why did God come in the flesh to us? Why did Jesus die on the cross and rise again? The simple answer is love.
God loves you! He loves all people everywhere!
The motivation of Jesus is Love!
Message - The What - Love
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:37-40
When we look at what the content of Jesus’ message, we see that it can be summed up as “love.”
As I have written previously, the gospel Jesus preached was the “Good News of the Kingdom of God.” This is the announcement of God saving, forgiving, healing, restoring, and making all things new. It’s God pouring out His love on us.
The message of Jesus is Love!
Method - The How - Love
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35
Jesus tells us exactly how to share the gospel and make disciples: Love.
Everything Jesus did was an expression of love. His incarnation, His teaching, His healing, delivering and miracles. His care for the poor and advocacy for the marginalised. They are all expressions of love.
The method of Jesus is love!
Tough love?
The word “Love” can mean different things to different people. “Love” can even be the excuse we use for poor behaviour.
For example, we may call it “Tough Love” and may preface something mean we are about to say by saying, “I’m telling you this in love” before going on to say something really horrible.
In this example we use “love” as our motivation… however we fail to keep love as our message and method.
When our motivation, message and method are not in sync we end up hurting people, misrepresenting the heart of the Father, and perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Therefore it is important that our standard of love is based on Jesus Christ who showed us what love looks like. (Motivation, Message and Method) As John tells us, love looks like Jesus on the cross,
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. - 1 John 3:16
The love of Jesus must be our standard for our why, what and how.
Activate
The world is in desperate need of people who will commit to not only saying we are motivated by love when sharing the gospel and making disciples, but people who will back up that motivation with a message and method that reflects the love of Jesus Christ too.
For this weeks challenge, take some time in prayer to re-read the crucifixion passage1, then ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you the answers to the following questions:
When sharing the gospel and making disciples:
To what extent is LOVE my motivation? (My Why)
To what extent is LOVE my message? (My What)
To what extent is LOVE my method? (My Method)
Remember, Jesus on the cross is the standard.
May love be our motivation, message and method.
Let’s Go!