I had this thought as I was driving home. I wondered at the idea of the intersection in reality that evangelism is required, and the transliteration of the word gospel is "good news", especially in contrast to the wicked. I thought, "is it good news for everyone?".
Is there any possibility that it is in fact good news, even for the wicked?
Perhaps therein lay some of my misgivings about modern day evangelism and how it's conducted. The perishing have no sense or desire for God. How can it be good news for them? Unless we believe that even by living Godly lives, their living experience will improve. It's true, it will. But, it's not good news for them, in the sense that it, it no way saves them. Nor can it, it's purpose in their life is to harden them and reveal their hatred for God in the day of judgement. They are damned.
But then, when we think of the damned and the wicked, we think of Hitler, Manson and Barney....oh, sorry about that last one. That's just me. My Christian experience has proven to me that the wicked are just as much a part of your church as they are out in the world. Today, it costs literally nothing to call yourself a Christian; and with so many definitions of what that means, combined with the unpopular method of "testing the spirits, to see if they be of God" what you are left with is wheat and tares raised up together. Hmmmm, someone said that would happen didn't they....?
It's my position that the Good News is only good news to the sheep. It's never good news to the wicked and the perishing. They hate it, even if the feign appreciation of it; and you can prove that by watching and paying careful attention to how people treat the good news; especially in application. They will omit parts they don't like; gloss over interpretations that don't suit them; deny the Lordship of Christ in their life by their actions and condemn themselves with their own words, unknowingly.
Their foolish hearts are darkened. They are not wise. They think themselves wise, but they are fools and the good news serves only to condemn their wickedness to their lying, foolish faces. We should have nothing to do with such as these, who with tears confess to you that they are saved, but by their actions they deny Him. We should not apologize that they don't understand, or think us arrogant. We should not be ashamed of the gospel. It says what it says. We should fiercely defend the gospel, lest weaker sheep believe that the good news is just a pile of facts about some distant, but cool, hipster who had long hair and called himself "Hey-Soos" and never really experience the good news...which is the Truth, The Life, and The Way. Accept no subsitutes.
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