Sharing the Gospel as Good News (2)

Okay, team, this morning we will address the gospel as good news.

And last week we explored together the fount and the pulse of witness bearing.

What are its originating springs and its sustaining energies in the life of the believer?

And this morning we turn to the message itself.

What is the gospel that we witness bearers bear?

And to this we might rightly answer that the gospel is good news.

That's what the word in Greek, gospel, evangelion, actually means, good news.

And that's a good place to start and yields some vitally important insights.

Let's consider first, what is the significance of the gospel being news?

News.

Now, news is something noteworthy that we announce.

Man lands on the moon.

Brazil wins the World Cup a fifth time.

A woman gives birth to nine.

Actually, this happened in Morocco a couple years ago.

Unbelievable.

Nine live births.

So, it is something noteworthy that has happened and we herald it.

And the term gospel adopted by the evangelists, the gospel writers, was drawn from the contemporary

context of a public declaration, perhaps of the birth of the king or an emperor or the declaration

of a decisive victory in war.

Like Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens, that 26.2 mile stretch to deliver the

news of victory over the Persians, announced,

Nicomen, we win.

We win.

We win.

And the term vividly communicates that the gospel is first and foremost a declaration,

not first a summons for us to exert ourselves.

First, it's a declaration of what has been accomplished.

It is, in the case of the gospel, an announcement of the great victory that God has accomplished

for his people in Christ.

A declaration of what he has done, not first what we must do.

And here we might clarify news in contrast with directive.

A directive.

So, news.

The herald comes from the field of battle and announces,

A great victory over the enemy has been accomplished.

Live in the joy and peace of this great new reality.

So, there's news.

Well, if there were no decisive victory that had been attained and the enemy is on the way

to the city, okay, the herald would show up and what you need to do is,

he'd give them a directive, okay?

Strengthen the gate.

Position the archers on the battlements.

Secure your stores of food and water.

Fight with all your might for your lives.

This sort of thing is a directive, okay?

Do you see the difference there?

This is vitally important.

And what God has achieved as distinct from what we must do

is the vital differentiation between grace,

that is, which by implication means God saves.

God is the one who saves.

As it says in Jonah, salvation is of God.

And works.

That is, somewhere or another, we save ourselves.

Sometimes this distinction is expressed in the contrast of grace versus law.

Law, again, the directive, do this.

Do this and live.

Okay?

As Martin Luther put it,

the law says do this, and it is never done.

Grace says, believe in this man,

and everything is already done.

So the gospel is a message about the grace of God.

As the apostle writes in Colossians,

this is Colossians 1.6,

it says,

The gospel,

which has come to you,

as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing,

as it also does among you since the day you heard it

and understood the grace of God in truth.

So notice, the gospel, what is that?

It's when you, you got the gospel,

when you understood the grace of God in truth.

It's interesting, the Greek on this,

not quite sure if it's an adjective or an adverb.

If you understood the gospel in all of its truth extensively,

or if you truly understood the gospel in its depth,

so both extent and depth could be rendered either way.

But this is to say that to get the gospel

is to grasp the grace of God.

To get the gospel is to grasp the grace of God.

I wonder if you found in your efforts to get grace across

that it's often really difficult for people to grasp.

Why do you think this might be so?

Non-rhetorical.

Why is it so difficult for people to grasp this notion of grace?

Any thoughts?

It's very antithetical to worldliness.

Say a little bit more, David, yeah.

Worldliness being...

In the world, it's a lot of expectations.

You have to deal with consequences

where people are not as forgiving

as the grace that's present in the gospel.

People aren't used to that.

Yeah, that seems right to me.

I mean, think of the environment that we are in

just by being in the world.

As soon as we spring from the womb,

we begin to notice as we're putting the world together

that there seems to be an unbreakable correlation

between the praise we receive

and what we have accomplished for ourselves.

Good grief.

I'm a believer.

I know about grace.

But even I, I've just had a grandson that's born.

And it's unbelievable to watch this guy.

A year and a half, maybe now.

And as soon as he does something in any way noteworthy

or even trivially spectacular,

he'll immediately look around to make sure

that someone has seen him.

And then in case they haven't started to clap themselves,

he'll actually start to prompt them solicitatingly.

Yeah.

Just hungry for that.

Because he sees that connection.

And I'm sure the travesty is occasionally,

I'll reinforce this.

As soon as he does something,

he starts to take a step or two,

and I'll say, great job, great job.

Just reinforcing this.

And then on it goes.

And on it goes.

Everything seems,

it's almost like a titanium alloy,

tungsten reinforced correlation

between these two things.

It is my accomplishment

that will gain my acceptance.

It is my achievement that will gain praise.

And so it is, you know,

you win the race, you get the reward.

Again and again.

So everything, as David says,

everything in the world seems to reinforce

this impression that when it comes to acceptance,

acceptability, praiseworthiness,

it pivots entirely upon our accomplishment,

what we have achieved.

We are valued for our performance.

The culturally reinforced presumption

is that what must commend us

is our accomplishments.

So that makes it really hard to get grace.

It's cutting against the grain

of all the cultural sensibilities and enactments.

Any other thoughts?

Why?

Yeah, yeah, Richard.

Yeah.

It's too good to be true.

And that being the case,

probably isn't true.

Yeah, that's great.

And haven't we cultivated

an incredible capacity for suspicion?

You know, yeah,

people are trying to scam us

at all kinds of things.

Yeah, so it just seems that can't be.

You know, the Bible takes up that theme

in a few places too,

where it worries that we will never be able

to receive this announcement

of how good the gospel is

without it continuing to reinforce that

and give us every assurance

that this is in fact what God is telling us.

I, God, who cannot lie,

notwithstanding,

will take an oath to reassure you

this is going to be true.

Even though I wouldn't need an oath

to keep me from lying,

I'm doing it for your sake

because you just won't believe it otherwise.

It's too fantastic.

Yeah.

Ivor, did you have a comment?

Or Susan?

Yeah.

I'm only focusing on the difficulty

in believing grace

or the news.

Great.

I think just the grace part of it,

that the news is grace.

That this is something.

Yeah, yeah, no, we'll get to that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no.

Hopefully we can get to that.

Yeah, yeah.

So, well, yeah.

And this sort of,

and again, even other sort of religious backgrounds.

Oh, yeah, yeah, Christianity,

that's a religion thing.

Yeah, I know religions.

You know, because it's upon this rock

that all religions of the world

take their stand

with unvarian consistency,

including sometimes a lot of encounters

that they have had with Christianity

that actually appears this way,

that we're only accepted

based upon our accomplishments

and achievements.

How well are we living out

the Ten Commandments?

This sort of thing.

Yeah.

When people hear the gospel then,

they naturally try to assimilate it

into this framework.

But it can't fit this framework.

It explodes it.

It's just like if you were to try

to put new wine in old wineskins.

If we assimilate the gospel message

into our conventional,

instinctual religion,

we modulate it into our own thoughts

and so denature the gospel

that we lose it completely.

As God tells us in Isaiah 55,

8 and 9,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are my ways your ways,

declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

It's interesting that the context

of that verse, too,

is grace.

Come all ye that are thirsty and drink.

Buy bread who have no money.

So the context of my thoughts are higher

is in the context of grace,

talking about grace.

Here's a second reason that occurs to me

why we're so resistant to the gospel.

is that, have you noticed

how much the gospel wounds our pride?

Just wounds our pride.

Fatally, in fact, fatally wounds our pride.

For the gospel is all of grace

and allows us nothing,

nothing of self-contribution.

As Spurgeon says,

if we add a single stitch

to our garment of righteousness ourselves,

the whole fabric unravels.

Just unravels.

Or several times in the Old Testament,

it indicates that the stones

that were to be,

the altar was to be made of

in the temple.

The stones of the altar in the temple

were permitted to have no human tool

ever touch them.

Or any human artifice

come near those stones in any way.

Nothing of human artifice

be part of this sacrifice

on the stones.

This is interesting.

Check it out.

Exodus 20, 25.

Deuteronomy 27, 5 and 6.

Joshua 8, 31.

Again and again.

It makes this point.

Again and again.

So, oh, come on.

Does grace not leave any place

for self-contribution?

And so self-congratulation?

Not even just a little private boast

for us to cherish in our hearts?

Just a tiny one?

Our flesh will fight to the death

to preserve this prerogative.

And what would we expect

of the flesh to do?

Because if the gospel alternative

shapes it,

it is the death of the flesh.

So of course it's going to fight

to the death.

Because if the gospel prevails,

it dies anyway.

So what the heck?

I might as well die trying

to preserve myself.

I'm going to die

if I receive the gospel.

My flesh will.

There's no alternative to death.

But we cannot both

receive the gospel

and keep our pride

and self-congratulation.

They're just reciprocally excluding.

They're mutually exclusive.

Can't do it.

As we read in 1 Corinthians 1, 28 and 29,

but God chose what is foolish

to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak

to shame the strong

so that no flesh may boast

in the presence of God.

That's the all-governing premise.

No flesh may boast

in the presence of God.

Now naturally,

the fleshly reaction to grace is,

this is a hard saying.

Who can receive it?

On such conditions,

how is grasping

the grace of the gospel salvation?

Even possible.

Even possible.

We might be forgiven

for saying with the disciples,

who then can be saved?

But Jesus looked at them and said,

yeah, you're right.

With man,

these things are impossible.

But with God,

all things are possible.

It takes grace

to appropriate grace,

to receive grace.

It takes grace

to receive grace.

That's why we say,

it's all of grace.

Paul writes,

it was by his doing,

graciously,

that you were even in Christ,

in this position of grace.

So,

the gospel is news.

That is,

it declares

what God has done in Christ.

It is all of grace.

The gospel news

is also

good news.

It's good news.

It's good news

objectively,

that good in and of itself,

whatever our perceptions.

It's good objectively.

To lay hold of Christ,

Paul says,

is to possess all things.

He is heir

of all things.

So,

if we are in Christ,

if we're united with Christ,

we are heir of all things.

Objectively,

superlative,

fantastic.

But,

it is also

good news

subjectively.

That is to say,

it can be heard

and received

as good news.

And this will be true

for those

appointed to life

in whose hearts

the Spirit has worked

to receive the word

with gladness.

To such,

the gospel is,

to use a phrase of Paul's

in 2 Corinthians 2.14,

a fragrance

of life

to life.

Just,

it just,

it,

we experience this

as a life-giving fragrance

that indeed leads us

to life,

spiritual life,

a fragrance

of life

to life.

And we're gonna,

we're gonna focus

on this

subjective

reception

by asking

the question,

how may we

communicate

the good news

of the gospel

such

that it

might be

heard

as

good news?

Okay,

so that's

what we want

to do.

So,

how do we

get the gospel

to be more

readily heard

as

good news?

Well,

it's helpful

to recognize

that all gospel

presentations

present Jesus

as the answer

to a question.

Jesus is the answer

to a question.

Drawing from titles

of tracts,

these little evangelistic

tracts that I've

encountered

in my lifetime,

Jesus might

be offered

as the answer

to such

questions as,

how can I

find peace

with God?

That was the

title of one.

Or another,

how may I

know God

personally?

Or,

how may I

find power

for living?

Or,

how can I

know I will

go to heaven

when I die?

Okay,

so,

always Jesus

an answer

to a question.

But,

if I,

the witness bearer,

have all the

goodwill,

and all the

zeal,

and all the

sincerity

imaginable,

it's still

very hard

to get

someone's

sustained

attention

if I'm

offering

Jesus

as an

answer

to a

question

that they

are neither

asking

themselves

or

can identify

with

if I

ask it

for them.

You see?

In such

cases,

my witness

strikes them

as irrelevant

as it

fails to

connect with

any of

their felt

concerns.

I'm giving

them an

answer to

a question

they're not

asking.

And even

if I ask

it myself

for them,

if they

can't identify

with it,

not much

hope for

a connection

there.

I wonder

if you've

ever felt

in your

gospel

conversations

as though

you were

setting

forth

Jesus

as the

solution

to a

problem

that your

hearers

didn't feel

like they

had.

You're

telling

them

how they

might be

justified

by God

and

not even

quite sure

what that

term

means.

It's not

as if

they have

any sense

of being

alienated

from God

or maybe

God's

not even

on their

map.

It's just

not even

in their

address book

in their

phones.

It just

doesn't

connect at

all.

Or maybe

a resolution

to an

aspiration.

Jesus

is the

resolution

to this

aspiration

but they've

never felt

that aspiration

with any

poignancy

at all.

Or maybe

they'd be

utter

strangers

to that

aspiration.

Don't you

want to

go to

heaven

when you

die?

I've

never

thought

about

what's

heaven.

I've

never thought

about it.

Don't have

that aspiration

at all.

It's easy

to experience

something like

this and

to get

frustrated.

And I've

found it

can be

more

effectually

engaging

if we

can offer

the gospel

as the

answer to

a question

that they

are asking.

And we

have a good

example of

this from

Paul in

Athens.

So if you

have your

Bibles or

your phones

with you,

you might

want to

look at

Acts 17.

Acts 17.

First half

he's in

Thessalonica

in the

synagogue

and the

second half

he's at

Athens.

So just

find the

little section

that says

Paul in

Athens.

Okay?

And he

has recently

been in

Thessalonica,

that's the

beginning of

Acts 17,

sharing the

gospel in

a Jewish

synagogue

setting.

And Paul

would have

been quite

accustomed to

such a

Jewish

context,

the synagogue

in Thessalonica,

and no

doubt he

had developed

a very

sophisticated

way to

argue from

the scriptures

as to the

identity of

the Messiah.

And if you

look at

verse 2

and 3

in chapter

17,

you'll notice

that's just

what he

was doing.

But,

as familiar

and well

honed as

his argument

was,

repeated as

often as it

had been in

the synagogue

setting,

he can't

simply show

up in

Athens

and press

play on

that Jewish

method,

that message.

You know,

imagine,

shows up in

Athens,

men of

Athens,

let's take

up the

burning

question of

the Messiah.

Now,

as you

well know,

in Psalm

110,

be a

complete

non-starter.

I mean,

why couldn't

he do that?

Why couldn't

he do that?

Thoughts?

Non-rhetorical.

What's Psalm

110?

Yeah,

what's Psalm

110?

Yeah,

what is that?

The Messiah?

You know,

in Greek,

it's just the

smeared one.

What is he

smeared with?

Did he fall

in a puddle?

You know,

yeah,

exactly.

Absolute

incomprehension.

Yeah,

would they have

been interested

in that concern?

Yeah,

unimaginable.

Isn't that

like a,

isn't that

like a Jewish

obsession?

Yeah.

Paul's,

Paul's hearers

in Athens

are so distant

from a gospel

framework

that on their

first hearing,

if you,

if you look

at like verse

18,

it seems like

when he was,

began to speak

about Jesus

and the

resurrection,

they,

they would

have heard it

in Greek,

Jesus and

Anastasis,

which sometimes

was a,

was a,

was a name.

They probably

thought,

putting it in

their framework,

that he was

talking about

the Jesus

and Anastasia

like two

deities.

In Greek,

you'd often have

double deities.

You'd have one

deity and then

the consort

and the two

deities would

come together.

And that

seems to be

what they

understood him

first.

Verse 18,

notice,

he seems to be

speaking about

strange deities,

plural.

At least,

this is what

Chrysostom

thought in

his commentary

on this.

Complete

incomprehension.

So,

no,

the apostle

can't just

do what he's

used to.

He has to

change his

approach.

And he does.

He changes

his approach.

So,

let's ask

first,

what does

he do?

And then

second,

we'll ask,

how did he

get there?

Okay,

so first,

what does

he do?

Anybody remember

from the story?

How does he

manage to

engage them?

How does he

manage,

what does he

do to begin

to get a

conversation with

them that

actually gets

in gear with

them?

He starts

from creation

and world

to build.

Yeah,

yeah,

he goes back,

he finds

something that

they have in

common.

Do you

remember what

he found

that sparked

his conversation?

Anybody

remember what

he found?

Yeah,

yeah,

that's right.

Yeah,

Amanda,

he says,

I was walking

through your

territory and

I saw this

altar with

the inscription

on it,

to the

unknown

God.

So,

he's found

something that

they actually

care about.

And he

starts with

that.

he translates

the gospel

into the

terms of

something that

they care

about.

He gives

the gospel

as an answer

to their

question,

to the

unknown

God altar.

He connects

the gospel

to their

cultural interest

in having a

comprehensive

catalog of

all the

gods.

and this

was something

very important

to them.

Because if

you left

out one

of the

gods,

these gods

were peevish

and they

could be

vindictive.

And they

might,

you know,

strike you

with a

thunderbolt.

Or they

might keep

you from

blessings that

you might

otherwise have

if you

named them

appropriately

and,

you know,

disemboweled

your birds

and gave

them some

sweet-smelling

aroma.

Otherwise,

if not,

if we

don't get

all the

gods and

we miss

one out,

who knows

that we

might not

drown by

shipwreck in

the next

ship voyage

that we

take.

Who knows

whether our

new wife

or our

new field

that we

bought

will not

be fertile

unless we

manage to

get all

the appropriate

offerings.

So this

was something

that was

exceedingly

important to

them.

In fact,

so as to

make sure

they didn't

miss,

they had

an altar

to an

unknown

God.

We're sure

you're out

there somewhere,

we just

don't know

your name

yet,

but we're

covering our

bases.

It's something

that they

care about.

Wow,

that's pretty

creative,

Paul.

How did

you come up

with that?

How did

he?

How did

he know

about that?

Did he just

read encyclopedias

a lot when he

was a little

boy?

How did he

come up with

this?

Non-rhetorical.

How did

Paul come up

with that?

Any thoughts?

Just

concretely.

Yeah?

Absolutely,

yeah,

look at that.

As I

passed along,

I was

observing,

verse 23,

I think it's

23,

23.

Yeah,

I was

observing.

See,

he's going

around and

he's there,

he's in this

new culture

and he's

just observing.

His antenna

are up.

He's

starting to

take in all

this information.

What do

these people

care about?

What's

important to

them?

Where might

I have a

place where I

could start a

conversation on

some sort of

question that

they're asking?

What are they

asking about?

See,

he's looking

for those

things.

He's making

all these,

he's like a

cultural

anthropologist

for the

gospel.

Looking to

see what

do they

care about.

And

it's not

just a

matter of

observation

too,

he's also

engaging them

in conversations.

That can be

a helpful

way too.

Notice in

verse 18,

he's going

into the

marketplace,

the marketplace

there,

that's the

agora,

kind of

functioned as

like the

watering hole,

everybody shows

up to talk

about this,

that,

and everything,

sell their

wares,

hawk stuff,

sell art,

sculpture,

people wanted

to find a

job,

they'd go

down there,

where'd you

go to get

hired?

It's where

everything went

on,

the best

place to

observe what

this culture

cares about,

what interest

them,

and that's

where he

starts

conversations

to find

these things

out.

And he's

not just

engaged,

he also

seems engaging

too.

Notice

verse 20,

it says,

he brought

strange things

to their

ears,

strange things

to their

ears.

I believe

strange,

not in the

sense of

just weird,

rather maybe

in the sense

of Sherlock

Holmes to

Watson.

strange,

Watson,

isn't this

strange?

There's

something to

this.

In other

words,

salty,

flavorful,

something that's

really interesting

and engaging.

the apostle

uses this

word in

Colossians 4,

6,

where he

talks about,

hey,

believers,

let's make

our speech

when we

engage with

unbelievers

really salty,

really salty,

Colossians 4,

6.

What does he

mean by salty?

Make it

flavorful.

Make it

flavorful.

Yeah,

yeah.

Have you

ever found

yourself among

really salty

conversationalists?

What's that

like?

What makes

a conversation

salty,

flavorful?

Any thoughts?

Interesting,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

Oh,

wow,

this is

interesting.

Sometimes I'm

embarrassed to

say,

sometimes I'm

like in some

sort of crowded

situation,

I'm in a

conversation

with like

utterly

unsalted

interlocutors

or whatever,

you know,

but my ear

catches something

salty,

and then half

of my brain

is kind of

listening in

on this other

column,

because it's

just really

flavorful and

interesting,

and this is

something that

can be so

helpful.

You're just

drawn to

that,

aren't you?

It says of

Jesus,

I can't remember

where,

that the

crowd loved

to hear

him,

loved to

hear him,

so they

crowd around,

and you

look at some

of these

sayings,

it's in the

context of

saying,

hey,

well,

you know,

this is

interesting,

have you

ever thought

about this?

Psalm says,

hey,

my Lord

says,

my Lord

said to

his Lord,

sit at

thy right

hand,

who,

wait,

how do

you solve

that?

We've got

a paradox

here,

who's he

talking about,

what do

you think?

Anybody

have thoughts

out there?

Salty,

suddenly there's

a crowd,

he's in

the temple,

you know,

some of

you,

oh boy,

those boring

Pharisees,

oh no,

no,

they're walking

over to

Jesus,

oh,

there's

going to

be an

encounter,

Jesus is

salty,

let's,

can't wait

to hear

how this

interaction

is going

to go,

so we

want to,

we want to,

we want to try

to be salty

and flavorful

in our

encounters

with

unbelievers,

and let's,

let's zoom

in a little

bit and,

and be

curious about

the topic

that Paul

selected,

you know,

that Amanda

identified,

this altar

to an

unknown

God,

okay,

and,

so,

what might

have made

this a

really promising

choice

for a

topic

to wrap

the gospel

around?

how would

he have

been able

to hope,

you know

what,

I bet

you this

one's going

to connect

with him,

what might

have been

some of

the features

about that

particular

topic that

would have

made it

perhaps very

promising

an effort

in,

in regard

to the

Athenian

culture

broadly,

any thoughts?

yeah,

there was

an inscription

there,

so that

would have

been

something

that he

could have

referred to

concretely,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

was it,

was,

was that

something a

little eccentric,

you know,

what if,

what if he

would have,

would have

tied it to

some sort

of strange

little topic

that would

have been

in one of

these little

vendors booths

where nobody's

buying anything

anyway,

you know,

the little,

I don't know,

little carvings

of one

particular

strange thing

that nobody

wanted,

well,

I'll connect

it to that,

obviously,

this is very

popular,

not,

yeah,

it's unknown,

excellent,

to the unknown

God,

in other words,

he connects

it to something

that they have

acknowledged

questions about,

yeah,

and then they

have interest,

there you go,

excellent,

yeah,

there's a good

thing,

if we,

again,

he knew that

it was their

question because

he's unknown,

we wish we

did know,

we have a

question about

this,

so yeah,

what are,

yeah,

that's a great

one,

what about

its pervasiveness,

it reflected,

this concern,

this interest,

reflected no

eccentric

pocket,

not like,

you know,

the little

vendor that

was trying

to sell,

who knows

what,

burnt pancakes

and nobody

cared,

nobody was

interested at

all,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

it says

the city,

verse 16,

was full

of idols,

full of

idols,

this is

something

that's really

pervasive,

in the

Baedeker of

those days,

they actually

had these

tour books

and they

said,

Athens,

you can't

miss Athens,

it's an

amazing city,

there are

more idols

than there

are people,

so this is

something really,

really pervasive,

so yeah,

we have good,

yeah,

yeah,

I have an

idea of

that,

but not

coming home

to Jesus

and he

got so

interested

he became

a follower

of us,

you know,

left,

that means

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

right,

right,

right,

right,

that's right,

that's right,

that's right,

very much,

yeah,

and this,

and it

wasn't a

matter of

tepid

interest,

just slender

interest,

slight interest,

no,

this

engaged

their passions

intensely,

there was an

intensity

to their

passions about

this,

notice how

Paul observed

that they

were very

religious

in all

respects,

verse 22,

okay,

find something

for which the

person is

very intensely

interested,

or passionate

about,

and that's

likely to be

a more

interesting

conversation,

more interesting

one,

and

the,

and particularly

too,

there's something

about,

he ties it to

their objects

of worship,

worship,

when you

can find out

what a

person

worships,

and by

worship,

our worship,

the word

worship comes

from worth,

what is it

that this

person

ascribes

supreme

worth,

or weightiness

to,

if you can

connect up

with that,

you will have

yourself a

really good

and deep

conversation,

because people

care about

nothing more

than what they

worship,

whatever that

might be,

love,

yes,

yes,

your,

your,

your most

intense,

your supreme

love,

what you

ascribe maximum

worth to,

and weightiness

to,

that's,

that's the

table in the

middle of the

dance floor

that you're

going to bump

into all

the time,

okay,

so these,

these,

such characteristics

would indicate

a promising

place for

engagement,

so when we

go around,

you know,

as our

cultural

anthropologist

for the

gospel,

looking for,

looking for

doors for

the gospel,

we want to

look for

things where,

for the

gospel message,

and we

should be

particularly

attentive to

matters that

are pervasive,

remember,

idols everywhere,

prominent,

passion laden,

puzzling,

and prized.

so,

and it

has some

of those

characteristics,

that's probably

a real promising

place to

connect the

gospel to,

and if we

fail to

connect the

gospel to

issues that

matter most

to our

hearers,

we will

inevitably

and fatally

reinforce the

sense that they

probably already

have of the

utter irrelevance

of our

message.

Most people

already think

that,

what possible

relevance could

this have to

me?

And if we

don't connect

it to things

that they care

about in their

life, it'll

just reinforce

that.

Yeah,

that's what I

thought.

You know,

what,

they wanted me

to have a

conversation about

the atoning

blood of a

Nazarene

carpenter?

Huh?

So,

let's ask

briefly,

let's ask

briefly,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

Richard.

It seems

this would,

on the part

of us,

the part of

the witness

bearers,

right?

It seems

this would

take some

hard

imagining

to make

the connections,

especially

with our

pre-existing

Christian

mindset.

Yes,

yes.

So,

well,

I'm sure.

No,

no,

no,

no,

no,

go ahead.

How do

you do

this?

How do

we get

this?

And that's

exactly

where I

want to

go.

What would

encourage

us?

Because I

do think

this takes

some

attention

and care.

And one

of the

things,

we started

with our

motives,

and one

of them

is love

of neighbor.

neighbor,

and I

think that

this flows

most naturally

out of love

of neighbor,

where I

genuinely care

about this

person.

What do

they care

about?

Let me

discern,

and I'm

going to

adapt my

language and

my approach

to this

person because

I want to

have a

conversation

in the

same way

that I