“Redemption by the Son”

“Gospel People” — Week 3 Reflection

Losing the Message in the Method

At my last church, evangelism was at the heart of its culture. The pastors regularly preached that our encounters with non-Christians were an open door or a divine appointment. The church provided evangelism resources, hosted evangelism-focused conferences, offered apologetics classes, organized weekly street witnessing ministries, and even held large-scale events with the sole purpose of extending an altar call to a stadium full of lost people. Evangelism was the vibe, as the young kids might say.

During my time there, I loved it. I still think very highly of that church and deeply value its culture of reaching the lost. Yet, I also admit that in such an environment, it was easy for me to become fixated on the tactics of presenting the gospel—at the expense of delighting in it. I wanted to be polished in how I shared the message, so I focused on memorizing clever one-liners or five-point methods to lead someone to the cross of Jesus. But in doing so, I got lost in the method and forgot how to speak from a place of sincere affection for my Savior.

Christ is the Message

What I appreciated about this chapter by Michael Reeves, “The Redemption of the Son,” is that it draws our attention to the person of Christ. A gospel people are evangelists who, compelled by their love for Christ, lead others to know Him.

And we have so much to be affectionate about. As this chapter lays out, Christ is utterly unmatched. No one else is both the Word and flesh—only Jesus. No one else is fully sufficient for our redemption—only Jesus. No one else can offer justification by faith alone—only Jesus.

Reeves reminds us that Jesus is not merely a doctrinal concept, but the very heartbeat of the Christian faith, shaping every aspect of the lives of gospel people.