An important issue in the church today is gospel fluency in its members. Why do so many believers struggle to share their faith? Many believers confuse fluency with eloquence. But gospel fluency is not about polished speech. It’s about a life transformed by Christ, revealing to the world both the story and results of our redemption through Jesus. It involves learning, living, and loving this good news.
The path to gospel fluency begins in the same place for each believer. We must first learn the gospel. One learns the gospel when they hear it proclaimed. In Romans 10:14-17, Paul notes that no one can believe without hearing, and for one to hear, they must have been preached to. What is being preached? It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the fact that man is sinful and fallen (Romans 3:23), that their sin separates them from God (Isaiah 59:2), and because of this separation, there is a need for salvation and reconciliation to God (Romans 5:10). To redeem mankind, God sent his only son Jesus to live a sinless life and serve as the perfect sacrifice for sin (John 3:16). Making propitiation for sin, the death of Jesus satisfied the wrath of God which should have been poured out upon mankind individually in the Judgment (1 John 2:2). But because of God‘s great mercy and love, Jesus not only lived, but died a sinner’s death, was buried, and resurrected again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Through this miraculous act, Jesus made reconciliation between man and God possible for those who would believe (John 1:12).
When one hears the gospel presentation with an inclination to respond, Scripture is clear that God is drawing them to his Son. Jesus said no one comes to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). We also know that the Spirit brings conviction (John 16:8). And this is how God redeems sinful man: by calling sinful man into a relationship with Him through the sacrifice of His Son. God made a way for mankind to be fully and eternally reconciled to him. But learning the gospel is just the beginning—true fluency comes when belief becomes visible in the way we live.
Learning of and responding to the gospel is only the first part of gospel fluency. For someone to be fluent in the gospel, they not only should learn the gospel, but they should also live the gospel. By saying this, I’m not referring to the quote often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words when necessary.” It is impossible to share the good news without words! I simply mean that we interact with others in light of the gospel. I also mean that we think of ourselves in light of the gospel. Doing so is transformative. We treat others differently when we do this.
When I live the gospel, I recognize that I was once a sinner separated from God by my sin – spiritually dead – and an object of his wrath. It is only through the work of Christ that I am made alive and live reconciled to God despite my transgressions (Ephesians 2:1-5). This is a humbling reminder that serves to ground me in my interactions with others. No longer do I look at people through the eyes of my preference, approval, or offense. To live the gospel, I must look at others through the eyes of Jesus Christ looking out from the cross. I must look at others with compassion and mercy, and in like manner, I give myself grace. Rather than live in self-condemnation when sin does occur in my life, I repent, worship, and look to the grace of God to work in my life as it has done time and time again. This is not a license for sin. Rather, it is a constant reminder of the love and mercy of God and drives me to want to share it with others. Learning the gospel introduces us to the idea that a loving God has made a way for sinful man to be reconciled to Him. Living the gospel brings us to a place in which we live like the Lord has done the miraculous in us! This leads us to love the gospel.
To be truly fluent in the gospel, we must not only love the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, but we must also love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said that both the law and the prophets hang on this idea. We know that the law and the prophets point to the Messiah of God, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, the son of the living God who gave his life for sinful man. The entirety of scripture points us to the gospel. When we hear the gospel, we have the opportunity to respond, and it is through the grace of God that he gives us faith to do so. This learning of the gospel should not only lead us to live the gospel, but also to love it. Seeing the Lord constantly redeem us and sanctify us causes us to love him all the more. Further, we not only love the work of the Lord in our lives, but we love the work of the gospel in the lives of others as well. This, in a way, is how we partake of that food that the disciples did not know of when Jesus spoke of doing the work of his Father. To love the gospel is to love God‘s work in the lives of ourselves and others.
We can have the right things to say, but if we do not desire to see others miraculously brought from death to life by the power of the blood of Jesus, we are not fluent in the gospel. We can live lives that reflect the values of Jesus, but if we have not experienced new life in Christ, we are not fluent in the gospel. If we do not love to see God redeem the sinful and lost of the world, what does that say about our experience of this redemption? If we do not want God’s salvation for those in prison, if we do not want God’s salvation for those who persecute us, if we do not want God’s salvation for those who have wronged us; have we lost sight of the depths of God’s great mercy and love seen in the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ being proclaimed to a sinner drawn by God to respond? 1 John 4:10 reminds us that it is not we who set the benchmark for love, but God set this standard in sending Jesus to atone for our sin. Our love of the gospel is simply a reaction to the love of God revealed in his gift of salvation. This love is revealed in our sharing the gospel with others, in celebrating the testimony of those born again with passion, and in faithfully pursuing depth in our own walk with the Lord.
Gospel fluency can be summed up in this way. When we have experienced the gospel, it changes our lives, and it changes the desires of our hearts so that we want others to see and know Jesus in a real and saving way. Gospel fluency has everything to do with the transformation that comes through regeneration in Christ and should be the ultimate goal and work of every believer. It does not require a degree or decades of experience in ministry. Once you have learned it, you can live it. As you live it, you come to love it. So where are you in this process? Still learning, or living and loving it in such a way that others can see Christ in you?
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