Introduction
The gospel is the gospel, right?! So why should we include an adjective, like, fuller gospel? If a fuller gospel exists, does that also mean that a thinner gospel exists?
But first a story of two farmers that lived on opposite sides of the road. One farmer’s soil had been plowed for decades. It had been meticulously maintained, weeds pulled, soil irrigated and faithfully fertilized. The second farmer had an equally impressive amount of acreage. His far was different: trees with mature roots dotted the landscape, seemingly immovable rocks, weeds galore and portions of the soil, while weedless, seemed to never receive a drop of water.
Both farmers had the same amount of acreage but for a variety of reasons the immediate history of the farm informed what the next steps ought to be to produce a harvest.
What is a fuller gospel?
When we say a fuller gospel, what we mean is we ought to know the type of soil we are cultivating. (Matthew 13)
Each generation of pastors must be able to respond to a rapidly changing culture. American culture is increasingly progressive, secular and non-Christian. We are living through and ministering in a post Christian culture.
There are distinct advantages and disadvantages of ministering a more Christian-ized culture: 1) We share similar vocabulary and definitions. 2) We share a regard for the Word of God as foundational or even authoritative to one degree or another. 3) We share a similar worldview. (e.g. sharing the gospel with a Roman Catholic vs a Mormon). The advantage is we can immediately begin discussing underlying issues, comparing and contrasting whether or not our solutions are rooted in God’s revelation, the Bible.
Fuller also means deeper!
In a post Christian culture, we begin at a more foundational level which is one reason why a relationship is indispensable. Big concepts, such as, God, the Bible, Jesus and the solutions to life’s deepest problems are more “debatable” in the eyes of this culture. A fuller gospel is essential, because a fuller gospel pulls spiritual weeds, removes root systems, extracts large rocks, irrigates dry soil and fertilizes barren land intentionally, consistently and faithfully.
I have Muslim, “Christian”, Hindu, secular, and even Mormon neighbors. Each of these will need a fuller gospel because there are major deficiencies in their understanding of sin, authority and God’s provision for forgiveness of sins.
As a Christian, I need to be able to…
- explain the gospel,
- answer objections to the gospel, and
- defend the gospel.
In reality, what Christians and Christian churches are coming to the realization is that we don’t need fewer and shorter touches with the gospel. Because of our anti-Christian culture we need more and deeper touches with the gospel. We need a fuller gospel.
Conclusion
Just this past week, we had someone in our church walk through the four-week Exchange Bible Study, which definitely reflects a fuller gospel. He didn’t receive Jesus yet so now are next step is to walk him through the gospel of John on a weekly bases (e.g. see Conversations with Jesus).
A fuller gospel is willing to take time answering objections and walking with our friends down a longer road as we seek to introduce them to our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Joel Mosier is the Lead Pastor at GraceLife Baptist Church in Cypress, TX and serves as an Exchange Trainer. Contact Joel about leading an Exchange Training Event or to discuss this article at [email protected]