Abraham Sangha, one of the contributors for the blog, The Institute, mentioned in his most recent post that he was once asked how you would tweet the gospel, to which he quickly replied, "You don't." I'm inclined to agree with him.

In recent months, I've noticed that some people involved in church ministry have increasingly been using Twitter as a platform for talking – though perhaps it would be better to call it preaching – about the gospel, in some cases almost exclusively (I'll attribute it to mere coincidence that this started to happen with more regularity once John Piper started tweeting). Below, I pulled a sample of some of these tweets so you could see what I'm talking about:

Reading the sample tweets I've posted above, there were a few things that came to mind. First, while I don't disagree with anything said above (although I might word them differently), these short tweets are lacking context. Now, in the case of the persons who tweeted these things, the vast majority of their followers will be Christians, with many likely coming from a similar tradition of the Twitter user and able to supply the needed context. In one sense, then, they are preaching to the choir. But perhaps one of their followers is in a place where they need to hear one of these messages, and are encouraged by it.

However, if you have people following you who are not Christians, none of this will likely make any sense to them. And though having followers who aren't Christians shouldn't stop you from tweeting thoughts that resonate with you or inspire you, it is worthwhile to consider your audience and the medium of the message. One other thing bearing consideration is the nature of social media relationships – is there some semblance of a personal relationship when following someone on Twitter such that you are sharing the gospel in the context of relationship, or is tweeting the gospel a 21st century varient of tract evangelism?

Secondly, these types of tweets seem to restrict the gospel message to the singular idea that we are saved by God's grace apart from anything we can do. While this is entirely true and was one of the major themes of the message Jesus came to proclaim, is this all the gospel is about? What about Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God? The presentations of the gospel that come out of this recent Twitter trend seems to focus solely on personal salvation and individual piety. Again, while these are parts of the gospel, it is not the whole message. Is it a good practice to present bits and pieces of the gospel 140 characters at a time?

At any rate, I am probably reading too much into it this, and could just be missing the point. These are just some of my initial reactions to this increasing trend of tweeting the gospel. What do you think? If you like to tweet the gospel, why do you do so? Can you really present the gospel in 140 characters?

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John Stott is well-known for his advocacy of expository preaching. In his book, Between Two Worlds, he says that to "expound Scripture is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it to view. The expositor prizes open what appears to be closed, makes plain what is obscure, unravels what is knotted, and unfolds what is tightly packed." The intent of such preaching is nothing more than setting forth the truth of Scripture in a manner that is plain – and excuse the buzzwords  – relevant and applicable.

Stott goes on in his book to set out what he feels are some of the strongest arguments for expository preaching, one of which is the recognition that exposition imposes limits upon the preacher. He writes,

It restricts us to the scriptural text, since expository preaching is biblical preaching. We are not expounding a passage from either secular literature or a political speech or even a religious book, let alone our own opinions. No, our text is invariably taken from God's Word. The very first qualification of expositors is the recognition that we are guardians of a sacred 'deposit' of truth, 'trustees' of the gospel, 'stewards of the mysteries of God.'

Not many people like the idea of being confined by something, or being limited by something external to themselves, but when it comes to preaching, there really is no other option if we are to faithfully proclaim the truth of Scripture. Stott quotes Donald Coggan, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, who noted that it was, in fact, a joy to be confined as a preacher by the Word of God:

The Christian preacher has a boundary set for him. When he enters the pulpit, he is not an entirely free man. There is a very real sense in which it may be said of him that the Almighty has set him his bounds that he shall not pass. He is not at liberty to invent or choose his message: it has been committed to him, and it is for him to declare, expound and commend it to his hearers... It is a great thing to come under the magnificent tyranny of the Gospel!

I quite like that, the "tyranny of the Gospel." It is, indeed, an absolute authority that we come under when we submit ourselves to Lordship of Jesus Christ and his Word. It demands our complete and unfailing loyalty. But yet it is under that authority that we find the most faithful and the most powerful preaching.

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A few weeks ago I was on a plane, and sitting a few seats over across the aisle from me was a Haredi Jew. I had seen Haredis before, but for whatever reason, I was intrigued by the man and spent a portion of the flight watching him. He read quite a bit from a book printed in Hebrew and at one point he was even working on a paper or some other document in Hebrew on his laptop. When they served the food they had a special kosher meal for him, which did not look all that appetizing (apparently his thought too, as he barely ate any of it).

As I watched him fiddle around with the food, I suddenly found myself a little frustrated, and I wanted to grab him by the shoulders, give him a good shake and say to him, "Why don't you get it? How can you immerse yourself in the Tanakh and not see that Jesus is the Messiah? How can you not understand?" After we landed and he went off to baggage claim I stood there for a moment watching him walk away as the thought continued to roll through my mind.

This past Sunday our adult Sunday School class was studying Romans 9, a passage in which Paul struggles with a similar frustration. His frustration is much greater than mine, however, since he laments the failure of his own people to put their faith in Christ as the promised Messiah. As we looked at the passage, I was struck by an element of Paul's struggle that was entirely lacking in mine. He says, in Romans 9:1-5,

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

When Paul thinks of the Jews, he has "great sorrow and unceasing anguish" in his heart. How great this anguish must be if he nearly wishes himself cursed and cut off from Christ for their sake!

It is to my shame that I did not feel sorrow and anguish for the Jewish man on the plane. Yet I shouldn't just feel sorrow for this particular Jewish man, or the Jewish people in general, but all those throughout the world who don't know the Lord. That sorrow comes more naturally, perhaps, if we are talking about those close to us who aren't believers, but when we start to think about those much more distant from us, both relationally and physically, it's much easier to let our thoughts pass over them.

Not so with Paul. He devoted his life to proclaiming the gospel to the world, and while he here confesses his anguish for the Jews, his life made it evident that he felt this sorrow for all those who did not profess faith in Christ. I am not saying, of course, that we all need to be career missionaries, but only that our hearts would be filled with the same love and compassion for the people in this world.

Lord, give us the heart of Paul that we too may earnestly desire to make the gospel of Jesus Christ known to the nations.

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If you are not familiar with Lesslie Newbigin's story, he grew up in Britain and studied at Cambridge, where he was converted and trained for the ministry. After getting married, he spent nearly forty years in India as a missionary. When he was in Britain as a child and a student, it was still something of a "Christian" society, but upon his return in 1974, he discovered a country that he could describe as nothing less than pagan.

Michael Goheen, in his doctoral dissertation on Newbigin's missionary ecclesiology (which is available online for free!), writes that Newbigin had come to understand the church's relationship to the culture as a missionary encounter because "the church embodies the gospel as an alternative way of life to the culture in which it is set and thereby challenges the culture's fundamental assumptions" (365). Newbigin borrowed language from the sociology of knowledge to express this notion of a missionary encounter in his book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. He writes,

The gospel gives rise to a new plausibility structure, a radically different vision of things from those that shape all human cultures apart from the gospel. The Church, therefore, as the bearer of the gospel, inhabits a plausibility structure which is at variance with, and which calls into question, those that govern all human cultures without exception (9).

Goheen adds that "all cultures exhibit a plausibility structure that embody and transmit the fundamental beliefs of its inhabitants. Those fundamental beliefs stand in opposition to the gospel and if there is to be a missionary encounter, the church itself must be a community that embodies an alternative set of foundational beliefs" (365-366). If the church is faithful in doing this then three things will result: first, the foundational beliefs of a culture will be challenged; second, the church will offer the gospel as a credible alternative way of life; and third, the church will call the culture to radical conversion and invite it to live and understand the world through the lens of the gospel. At that point, the culture is left with the choice of accepting or rejecting the gospel and the lordship of Jesus Christ. As Newbigin expresses it in his little book, The Other Side of 1984: Questions for the Churches, the church that embodies the gospel

must necessarily clash with contemporary culture. It must challenge the whole 'fiduciary framework' within which our culture operates. It must call unequivocally for radical conversion, a conversion of the mind so that things are seen differently, and a conversion of the will so that things are done differently. It must decline altogether the futile attempt to commend the biblical vision of how things are by seeking to adjust it to the assumptions of our culture (53).

The fact that Newbigin would say something this provocative in the context he did was significant, for he was speaking about a culture that, to some degree, still believed it was a Christian culture, much like America today. But Newbigin understands that just because a certain percentage of a culture's population professes belief in God or attends church regularly does not mean its underlying worldview is shaped by the gospel.

Further, he rightly recognizes that the worldviews that give shape to a culture are religious in nature. Religion, in Newbigin's view, is not just a cultural form, and "it is more than an institution that embodies beliefs and practices concerning God and the destiny of the soul. It is a set of ultimate commitments about the nature of the world that gives shape, direction, and meaning to life and demands final loyalty" (Goheen, 367).

And here, then, is the reason the gospel needs to challenge the foundational beliefs of a culture—because all of life is religion, and everything we think, say, and do is either in service to God or an idol. Christ is Lord over all of life, and the church is called to proclaim and embody this truth. As witnesses to Jesus and the presence of his kingdom and rule, we cannot be satisfied to accept a sacred/secular divide and leave our culture to let its presuppositions inform certain areas while challenging its assumptions in other areas. All of life belongs to the Lord and our calling as the church is to unapologetically call to the world to recognize that truth.

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It's not my usual practice to use this space to fill you in on all the details of my life, but last week was a break from the usual routine. I spent most of the week in Ontario visiting family and serving as a good friend's groomsman in his wedding. It really was nice to get away for a few days (and a quick interjection—if you're looking to get away for a few days and want to fly within the United States, I highly recommend Southwest Airlines. I've not flown much, but was very impressed with their service). Just a few observations, then.

It was good to experience some real autumn weather again. It was low to mid-50s while I was there, and had the appropriate mix of sun, clouds, and drizzle to make it feel like fall. The only unpleasant day happened to be the one I spent playing golf with my friend and some others. We gave up after nine holes; a windy, rainy 48°F had us shivering and soaked to the bone. It didn't help that the course was difficult and long—the second hole was 590 yards.

My friend and his new wife were apprehensive all week about the forecast because the wedding was to be outdoors. It didn't look good at first, as the forecasters called for rain on Saturday. However, it was nothing short of divine orchestration when the day arrived. It stopped raining at 9:30am when the chairs arrived to be set up, and didn't rain again until just after the photographer snapped her last photo at 4:30pm. To top it off, the sun peeked out behind the clouds to shine on the wedding as they recited their vows. Some would label that a coincidence, but the precise timing of it was certainly something more than that.

I spent some time reading in the library at my alma mater, Redeemer University College. For whatever reason, I need very specific environments in which to get reading done, and Redeemer's library was always conducive to that. Thankfully, it hasn't changed, and I got a lot done. It was rather strange, however, to walk around the school and not recognize any faces, and further, that the only people I still know and friends I have there are professors.

The highlight of the weekend, of course, was seeing two good friends pledge their love to each other and covenant before the Lord to live their lives in faithfulness to one another. What added to the beauty of the wedding was the pastor who married them (my former pastor at New City Church) delivering an incredibly Gospel-centered message to an audience of which at least half did not know the Lord. I'm not sure I have ever heard the Gospel preached so clearly and honestly as I did in those eight minutes this past Saturday. His message began by emphasizing that the love between husband and wife is reflective of Christ and His Church, and in the next few minutes unpacked why that love was so different, unique, and beautiful. He then very directly stated that if you did not understand that love, you could not know what true love was, and ended by pointing to Christ as the only one in whom that love is found. It was a great encouragement and a great challenge.

Normal life resumed today again, although with some sad news. I received a call from my family saying that they had to put the family dog down. She lived a good life of 12 1/2 years, but unfortunately old age had caught up with her. She was a faithful friend, and we're all going to miss her.

That will be about it for the personal updates. Look for more traditional posting to resume here in the next few days as I dig back into my reading for the semester.

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