Yesterday morning, Dr. Tim Keller continued his explanation of the gospel,  but focused this time on a more outward perspective: The gospel for unbelievers.

His text was Luke 10.

Dr. Keller pointed out that there are four M’s of the gospel in this chapter: Gospel Mission, Gospel Message, Gospel Motivation, and Gospel Method.

Gospel Mission (Luke 10:1-8)
In Luke 9, Jesus send out his twelve disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God. In Luke 10, he sends out 72 (some manuscripts say 70) to do the same. Why 72? 

Genesis 10 accounts for 72 nations. By first sending the twelve, and then appointing seventy-two, Christ was not just sending out his apostles; he was sending out all of humanity. The Gospel mission is a mission for all. If you know Christ, it is now your chief mission to make him known. Every Christian man and woman is a man and woman with a mission.

The Gospel turns every person who receives it into a person with a mission. And a full understanding of the Gospel transforms you into something like the woman at the well in John 4 who immediately ran into town to tell everyone about ‘the man who told her everything she has ever done.’ [sidebar: if you are looking for a great sermon series on the woman at the well, I highly suggest Dr. Curt Heffelfinger's, which can be found here, here, and here.]

‘Ok, ok…I get it. We have a mission. So what does that mean? Do I have to become a missionary now?”

Yes and no.

Yes, because you part of this mission and are called to help fulfill that mission.

And no, because not everyone is supposed to quit their job to become a ‘vocational missionary.’

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
- Ephesians 2:10

We are God’s unique workmanship. The original greek word for workmanship is POIEMA, which means handiwork or craftsmanship. In English, it becomes the word ‘Poem.’ We are each God’s unique work of art, created with differing gifts and talents and passions. For the gifted engineer who displays integrity, character, and Christ’s love to his Islamic and Hindu co-workers, that’s your mission. For the compassionate teacher who displays intentionality and Christ’s love to children who live in unloving homes, that’s your mission. 

You don’t have to be a missionary, but you do need to have the mindset of a missionary in your place of influence. We have found the Fountain of living water. Let us not be so selfish to neglect to offer this never-ending source to those who store up broken cisterns which hold no water.

Gospel Message (Luke 10:9-12)
Sixty years ago, evangelism was an irritation to people. The word evangelism made some people cringe. Today, it is flat out offensive. Keller says that evangelism has become one of today’s secular sins. Even to the point that our society’s attitude says “Evangelism is bad for out culture.”

However, there is a problem with having a problem with evangelism. The problem comes from the origin of the word Gospel, which means ‘good news.’

The Gospel is good news, not good advice. News is an historic event that changes something. Advice is a suggestion that says, “Hey, this has worked for me. Try it out.” 

When we turn the Gospel into advice, it can lead to a new believer into becoming extremely frustrated when it doesn’t “work” the way he hoped. However, when someone accepts the Gospel as what it is (good news), no matter what happens, the news doesn’t change.

Which is why in the end, every other religion will fail because they all say, “Here is our founder giving advice on how to find God.” Christianity says, “Here is God! He has come into the world to find us.”

Gospel Motivation (Luke 10:17-20)
The third M of the gospel in Luke 10 is motivation. Dr. Keller suggests that it is easy to get our motivation wrong, and that we should learn from the example of the 72 that Jesus sent out. 

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
-Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy. What were they joyful about? “Even the demons are subject TO US in your name!” How quickly we can turn the ability that Christ has given us into our ability that we possess.

Christ shows them the correct motivation to not rejoice in that, but to “rejoice that your name is written in heaven.” 

Are you getting your significance through what God is empowering you to do? Your job is not about you. Ministry is not about you. Here is your significance: Your name is written (past tense) in heaven.

Live on a platform of knowing who you already are in Christ, and simply be a messenger.

With the correct motivation, lost souls turned to Christ are not scalps, they are children of God.

Gospel Method (Luke 10:25-37)
Keller’s last M of the gospel is Method. What is the correct method of presenting the gospel?

Be a good samaritan.

You will be a lousy messenger if you are a lousy neighbor. Don’t just try to meet the spiritual needs of your community while neglecting to meet their physical, social, or economic needs. God created a physical and spiritual world. He is redeeming the physical and spiritual. The Fall didn’t just alienate us from God, it also psychologically alienated us from ourselves (we know we are naked). It socially alienated us from each other. And lastly, we experience physical alienation…we die. 

There are needs in the community far beyond simply spiritual. Obviously, that is the primary and most pressing need, but we need to see that God cares for all needs. After all, didn’t Joseph lead one of the most massive hunger relief programs of all-time? Is Exodus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy not full of laws that help create order to meet social needs?

Counsel. Serve. Give.

“Yeah, but I have earned this. They haven’t.”  I think Jesus could say the same. But He didn’t.

“Yeah, but they don’t deserve it.” Again. Come on people. (Keller’s words)

“They’ll waste/misuse my gifts.” Jesus knew that there would be many who would use his grace as a license to sin. He died for us anyways.

Let’s be good neighbors. If the world sees us doing nothing except evangelizing, they are going to assume that we are only out to get more power. If we are actually making the community a better place, then they’ll like that we are around and maybe listen to what we have to say. Being great neighbors will give us a platform for the hearing of the gospel.

Parks Society Special Event – Tim Keller
This morning, Tim Keller spoke at Orangewood Presbyterian Church at a Parks Society Special Event. He outlined what a gospel DNA is within a ministry, and why it must exist in order to reach the culture.

Gospel DNA is essentially just ministry emphases that rely on the saving work of Christ on the cross. The heart of every ministry, church, cause, mission, etc. should be the gospel. The gospel itself is “the power of God unto salvation.” It alone is enough to reach the hearts of men. Though God provides different avenues to bring this message to his people, the power lies in the gospel.

So what does a gospel DNA look like? Keller explains that there are 4 key factors involved. 

Grace-Motivated People
The first factor is that people are motivated by grace. Repetitively pounding your will upon people will not motivate them to do or believe anything. Telling them over and over again that they should do something just because they should doesn’t win their hearts. People are motivated by the grace that has been poured out for them and freely offered. People are motivated by grace that pours from Christ’s never-exhausted reservoir of love and patience.

City-minded & Kindgom-minded
The second key factor in a gospel DNA is that the ministry/church/people must be city-minded and kingdom-minded. This factor poses the challenging question: ‘Is this city here for the growth and success of your church, or is your church here for the redemption of the city?’ Pour your life out for the city. Do not let your vision become skewed and make your existence upon power. Be city-minded.

Keller also urges that we recognize that we are part of a bigger thing than denominations. Our aim is bigger than being Baptist, Presbyterian, or Pentecostal. We are part of God’s redemptive cause in bringing many sons to glory. We are part of Christ making all things new (not that we have the power to do so in ourselves, but through his gospel). We are part of the growth of His Kingdom. Be kingdom-minded.

Integrative-Balanced Ministry
In order to be effective as a ministry, we must have an integrative balance. There are three focuses here: Connect people to God, connect people to each other, and connect people to their culture. 

Connecting people to God is important because if we aren’t doing that, why do we exist? We are created to know God. If we know already Him, our purpose is to know Him deeper, and point people to the Treasure we have found. Simple as that. Outreach is essential. Keyword: Outreach. Reach out to people. Last time I checked, people aren’t running in droves through church doors on Sunday mornings on their own to hear about God.

Secondly, we must connect people to each other. Change happens in community. You become like the people you spend time with. Connecting people with each other is essential for a Christian’s growth.

Connect people to the culture. We need to be teaching Christians to be salt and light to the world. Part of that is being able to disciple people outside the 4-walls of church. One thing we are really good at (that maybe we shouldn’t be) is taking a Christian out of the culture, bringing him inside church, and making him really useful inside the church. We need to be better at teaching people how to be useful as engineers, architects, salesman, artists, real estate specialists, receptionists, CEO’s, labor workers. The best evangelism is laying yourself out for the city.

Contextualization 
Ministries and churches need to contextualize themselves. We cannot be so one-dimensional in our outreach to the city. Just because we are moved by something in a particular way doesn’t mean others are moved by the same thing. To think so is prideful. We should aim to place the gospel in a understandable context. You wouldn’t tell a four year-old about God’s love by explaining the imputation and impartation of Christ’s righteousness to us. You sing “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” An understandable context for a four year old. Keller said that the very incarnation of Christ was contextualization. The incarnation was “Diety for Dummies.” 

Reformed rap is a huge new context for outreaching to urban communities. Guys like Lecrae, Tedashii, and Trip Lee are placing gospel truth in an understandable context for urban communities. And it’s working. 

A vital focus is to maintain truth though. It’s useless to be relevant if we are delivering a different message, or a watered-down one. Be in the world, not of the world.