Has God given us one message or two? Do we have one story to tell unbelievers and another to believers? Is the gospel intended for them or for us?
I recently read a radical thought from John Leonard in “Get Real.” We should disciple unbelievers and evangelize believers. Now that seems backwards. And it certainly is against conventional wisdom. But conventional wisdom is only good at conventions.
God has given us one message for all mankind. It is the Good news of what God has done for us in Christ. We all must embrace the grace and wisdom given to us in Jesus. We assume that Evangelism, with its 5 or 6 isolated texts, is for those outside the church, and discipleship – learning or training – targets those inside the church. Evangelism is for unbelievers and discipleship is for believers. Yes, that is true as far as it goes. But, it doesn’t go far enough.
In Matthew 28 we are commanded to make disciples of all nations. We are to disciple the unbelieving nations. We must teach them to walk with God in God’s world. In the United States, a basic, Christian understanding of the world, of marriage, of right and wrong, could be assumed 70 years ago. Not anymore. The unbelieving world needs to be taught the basics to even understand the gospel. They no longer think in Christian Categories. They need to be discipled, and taught.
Believers, too, never grow beyond the good news. We go deeper into it; we value it more and treasure what God has done for us. But we never mature beyond the simple gospel. Perhaps we have been taught to see the gospel as our ticket into the church, but once in, we can throw away the ticket. Not so. If you picture your growth in sanctification as so many rooms in the house of your salvation that must now be cleaned; the gospel is the key that unlocks every room. The law is the light that allows you to see the dust bunnies, and the gospel is the duster.
We must be reminded of who we are in Christ and the power at work within us. The gospel is not only good news once, it is good news for us every day, and as we seek to clean every room. Believers, and unbelievers, need discipleship through the gospel.