Being the Good News – Part 2

The late Joe Aldrich believed Christians were to be good news before they shared good news. This is called incarnating the gospel, before we proclaim the gospel. Aldrich continued, “The music of the gospel must precede the words of the gospel and prepare the context in which there will be a hunger for those words.”54 That is, the words are to be incarnated before they are articulated. People see a vision of the gospel that we say we believe, one that is evident in our attitudes and action, before we say a word in witness.

These are stunning presuppositions to evangelism. The challenge, according to Aldrich, is not with the unconverted, but with the Christian, the messenger.

“The music of the gospel is the beauty of the indwelling Christ as lived out in the everyday relationships of life. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ has solved the problem of man’s sin and offers him the potential of an exchanged life, a life in which the resources of God Himself are available for his transformation.”

The age-old truism still rings out, “When love is seen, the message is heard.” Again, we don’t have the message, we are the message. Witness is not a verb, but a noun (Acts 1:8).

Aldrich observes that much of our evangelism training is focused on what words to say and how to say them. Saying the words of the gospel without the gospel itself having seized our lives is hollow. Aldrich says, “Once the music has been heard, expect to be asked for the ‘reason for the hope (beauty) that you have.’”

Evangelism then, is “expressing what I possess in Christ, and explaining how I came to possess it.” Evangelism puts God’s character, reflected in our lives, on display – His love and faithfulness, His justice and righteousness. To evangelize the world, God called Israel and gave them the tabernacle (God’s presence in their midst) and the tablets (the law). One showed them how to worship, the other, how they should walk. He called the entire nation to be a kingdom of priests – but Israel declined the offer. He then sent prophets, but their hearts were hardened. He sent them into exile, and they came back more closed to mission to the world than before.

In the end, God wrapped Himself in flesh and came to the earth disguised as a man. John said he tabernacled among us. Like the tabernacle that was erected in the center of Israel’s wilderness camp, so God pitched His tent in Christ, and dwelt, lived, among men. God sent a man – the man Jesus, the Christ. And God still sends men to accomplish His purposes and complete His mission. Men who ‘tabernacle’ among other men, hosting God’s presence. Here, men meet grace and truth. The Greek word for truth is aletheia, “that which is open to view… unconcealed and transparent.” The Hebrew word is emeth, meaning secure, solid, firm. It is the idea of trustworthiness and reliability. The Lord is ‘full of truth.’ His life is open, transparent, with nothing to hide, free of deception, with no intent to conceal or cover something up.

Remember, Aldrich says, identification with the world is not the same as being identical with it. Christ was effective due to his radical identification with the world, while being radically different. This radical identification was different than other religions in which their gods kept their distance. Not so with Christianity. God, in the incarnation, radially identified with the fallen human race, and in his ministry, despite that radical identification, his radical difference, his deity burst through. Even his disciples were amazed, “What manner of man is this?”

Neighbor means to be near or close. To be a neighbor is to develop the capacity to be near, to get close to someone, to settle down beside them. Evangelism effectiveness is related to the ability to become, to adapt. Paul said that he had “become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (I Cor. 9:22). To the Jews, he related as a Jew. To non-Jews, he drew on his Greek and Roman heritage. To those devoted to the law, he observed the law. He became a slave to everyone to win as many as possible (I Cor. 9:19-23). We have placed the emphasis in doing evangelism on what we need to know to evangelize. Paul placed the emphasis on what we needed to become, how we adapted, and related and built bridges. Evangelism is then as much about identity as it is information. How do we relate? What posture do we take? What identity do we claim?

Aldrich, quoting James Jauncey, notes, “buttonholing a stranger, witnessing to him and pressing him for a decision will likely do more harm than good. Most responsible people react negatively and often quite violently to this kind of assault. It shows a fundamental lack of respect for human dignity and personality.” We must adopt models of care, of being, of loving. What impacted Rome was the care by the believers of the throwaways, the babies, along with the elderly, that others had left in the streets to die. The church took such folks in, so much so that they became known as gatherings of old folks and children. This love ultimately rocked the Empire.

Aldrich sees evangelism in three stages – presence, proclamation and persuasion. Persuasion is primarily a work of the Holy Spirit with encouragement by the evangelist. Proclamation is exposure to the scriptures – by Bible reading, a book or literature, personal sharing, an invitation into a Bible study or an Alpha course. Here, this stage is complete only after someone has heard the words of the message and understood. Presence is the foundational movement. Here the music more than the words, matter. This is where the unbelieve gets a taste of the ethos of true Christianity – love and unity, good works and deeds, a resilient sense of hope, acceptance, understating, the invitation to belong. Here, for the first time, the unbeliever encounters the presence of God – a drawing, attractional dynamic. Hearing the music opens them to hearing the proclamation, the words. And that brings them to a place of persuasion – encouraged by us but orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. The person listens because they sense love. Truth engagement must follow love. As is stated often, “People don’t care how much we know (proclamation) until they know how much we care (presence).”