A Gospel Imperative

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been following a number of discussions about evangelism, lordship-salvation and the power of preaching. The following observations arise out of sort of a hodge-podge of related thoughts.

I don’t quite know how else to say it: as modern evangelicals, our gospel preaching just seems weak. I feel this when I hear the gospel presented by other Christians; I feel it especially when I present it myself. It’s been hard to put my finger on the problem. After all, the scriptures assure us that the gospel message itself is powerful. It is the power for salvation for all who believe.

A watered-down gospel will certainly be weaker, and the church has certainly struggled with that problem over the years. But often, even those gospel presentations that include important biblical content still seem to lack something. I been thinking about it; and it seems that there’s an important aspect of apostolic evangelism that is frequently missing in our own. Its absence might explain why our preaching often feels so anemic by comparison.

The apostles’ preaching and that of Christ himself were loaded with imperatives. Matthew and Mark, in fact, sum up Jesus’ preaching in a single command. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 4:17, Mark 1:14). Christ sent out the apostles with the same kind of message, telling them to make disciples of all nations and to teach them to obey all things he had commanded him (Matt 28:19-20). We see that they did so. Peter concluded the first post-resurrection gospel message with this imperative, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins.” He took a similar tone in his second sermon, “Repent ye, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).

The apostle Paul used the same kind of language in his evangelism. He commanded the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house (Acts 16:31). He spoke even more forcefully to the Athenians, “The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth all men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30). It was this perspective that lead Paul to describe his ministry as an “apostleship unto obedience of faith among all nations” (Rom. 1:5). To Paul, the gospel was more than a mere message to be believed; it was a command to be obeyed, and that by all men.

Here’s what I’m observing: when the apostles preached the gospel, their message was simple, Christ has died, he has risen, and he has ascended; you must repent. When they proclaimed repentance and faith in Christ, they weren’t suggesting them to non-believers as an available option; they were declaring them as an unavoidable obligation. They weren’t asking, they weren’t pleading, they weren’t inviting. They were indiscriminately declaring, ordering, commanding, "All men everywhere must now all repent."

We simply don’t evangelize like this.