Plenary Session 8 - J.D. Crowley

January 6, 2010 – 5:09 pm

After a bit of playful picking on Mark Minnick’s amazing collection of signed books (listen to the mp3s of his sessions), J.D. Crowley preached his second plenary session on Ephesians 6:10-20.

The Religion with the Best Story Wins

Ephesians 6:15, “As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” We’ll meditate on the There is no other religion in the world that has a story that compares with ours in glory. There’s no 2nd place or 3rd place. Before I tell you our story, let me tell you their stories. Here are the stories of Scientology, Mormonism and Buddhism. (You’ll have to listen to the mp3 for the excerpts.) Now listen to our story as I read from the pamphlet, Two Ways to Live.

My goal in this session is to motivate you with the power of our story, and to urge you to consider the wisdom and necessity of telling all of it. I want to help you put your shoes on.

Do You Have Your Shoes On?

I want to focus on the unique word that’s here: preparation (or, readiness). Many of us enter every day without this readiness. We remember our jackets, backpacks, breath mints, laptops, books, iPods, wallets, etc. But we forget our shoes on. Although we’re in a war, we’re not prepared with the gospel of peace. “Gospel-ing” takes a lot of preparation.

Stories and Their Propositions

We must get good at telling the whole story from the beginning to the end. I want to convince you that you must tell the story, not just the propositions from beginning to end. For example, the three little pigs teaches these various propositions: “Hard work and preparation pays off.” “Laziness brings disaster.” “Listen to your mother.” “It’s a dangerous world out there.” These are propositions. Knowing these are essential, but these are not what we tell our kids. Our kids don’t go bed begging us to tell them more propositions. 

(J.D. gave a funny illustration of telling The Lord of the Rings through propositions.)

The Stories are Critical to Understanding the Propositions.

Let me make it clear that I am not making fun of propositions! Propositions are essential. And propositional evangelism has been very effective over the last century. But propositional evangelism is only effective if those whom you’re evangelizing have a basic understanding of the storyline of the Bible. My message is this: “Don’t just strip the story and tell the propositions. Tell the whole story with the propositions.” If you asked church leaders in Cambodia, “How do you know that God is holy?” It’s likely that they would point you to a Biblical story that evidences God’s holiness (Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the garden, God on Sinai, the cross).

When Cambodians have watched The Jesus Film, they frequently say things like, “I feel so sorry for Jesus,” or, “Jesus must have done something very bad.” This is because they’re watching it through a Buddhist storyline/worldview. D.A. Carson explains in his essay, “The Biblical Gospel”:

Thus the gospel is integrally tied to the Bible’s story-line. Indeed, it is incomprehensible without understanding that story-line. God is the sovereign, transcendent and personal God who has made the universe, including us, his image-bearers. Our misery lies in our rebellion, our alienation from God, which, despite his forbearance, attracts his implacable wrath. But God, precisely because love is of the very essence of his character, takes the initiative and prepared for the coming of his own Son by raising up a people who, by covenantal stipulations, temple worship, systems of sacrifice and of priesthood, by kings and by prophets, are taught something of what God is planning and what he expects. In the fullness of time his Son comes and takes on human nature. He comes not, in the first instance, to judge but to save: he dies the death of his people, rises from the grave and, in returning to his heavenly Father, bequeaths the Holy Spirit as the down payment and guarantee of the ultimate gift he has secured for them—an eternity of bliss in the presence of God himself, in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. The only alternative is to be shut out from the presence of this God forever, in the torments of hell. What men and women must do, before it is too late, is repent and trust Christ; the alternative is to disobey the gospel. This storyline and its connection with the gospel. This story-line, and its connection with the gospel, could be fleshed out in a number of ways. But the point is simply this: the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ makes sense in the context of this story-line and in no other.

In both Acts 14:8-18 and Acts 17:22- Paul had to counter worldviews in his articulation of the Gospel. This is also how the book of Romans begins. In chapter 1 Paul explains creation and the fall. In chapter 2 he teaches about the Law and conscience. The worldview foundations of creation, fall, Law, and conscience must be laid before a non-Christian can understand Romans 3:23 (which is where “The Romans Road” begins).

A Caution: Don’t Reject the Propositions.

There’s a popular movement called “The Orality Movement” which I must warn you about. Though there are helpful aspects (recognize that many people cannot read). However, they often urge us to tell stories and never use propositions. Rather, we must tell the stories, and tell the propositions–explaining what they mean and why they’re significant.

The Bible stories are powerful in revealing the gospel to sinners. Are we using all the tools that God has given us to articulate the gospel?