by David Dixon
“How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
- Isaiah 52:7
I can remember exactly where I was when Greg met me that day to have a conversation. He had reached out to me a few days before and said, “Pastor, there is something that I want to talk to you about. Can you meet this week?”
Greg and I had been meeting together on a regular basis for some time, but this was different. Greg was a godly man who was active in our church. He had a beautiful family. He was very professional, hard-working, and rising in his workplace. Even as I spent time with Greg, I always found him to be sensitive to the work of Jesus in his life and he had a desire to share his faith with those around him.
So, when I got the text that said, “Can we meet?” It seemed a bit out of character for him and had me a bit worried.
There we were, sitting in a coffee shop, and I remember what he said as I asked him, “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“This is because the Gospel is not only the message that saves us, it’s the truth that transforms us.”
He looked at me and said, “I can’t stop making snarky remarks to my wife and it’s really hurting our relationship. You have to help me figure out how to stop.”
In my head, I felt a small sense of relief as I was expecting something much worse than that, but that quickly faded as I realized what he was asking me; He was asking me to fix something that was wrong with him on the inside and I didn’t have the power to fix that.
We kind of stumbled through the next parts of the conversation as we talked about work, home life, and a variety of other things as we tried to figure out what the core of the problem was. Eventually we found it; Greg would often make snarky remarks that would hurt his relationships at home and at work whenever he felt like others were challenging his competency. Even if those people were challenging him unintentionally, he would respond with hurtful words or actions because he felt like his identity was threatened.
In that conversation, I could have given him solid advice like when you feel that way count to three before responding or to tell him to sit down and have a conversation with his wife about this and to figure out what regular things make him feel that way. He likely would have been content with that advice and worked hard to put them into action.
But what Greg needed in that moment was not just good advice, he needed the Good News of Jesus. He needed the Gospel.
This is because the Gospel is not only the message that saves us, it’s the truth that transforms us.
For Greg, there was a part of his identity that had not yet been healed by the Gospel. He was still clinging to his ability to “do it all” as a source of who he was. Because of that when that part of his identity felt threatened it would respond defensively in an attempt to justify its place in his life.
If that part of him was to really experience healing and transformation, Greg needed to repent of building his identity on his own effort and trust the new identity that Jesus had given to him was better and sufficient for all of his life. That Jesus does love him, made him with the specific skills and gifts that he was intended to have, and that Jesus was working in his life to redeem all of him, not just part of him. Greg needed to hear the Gospel again and respond.
One of the reasons that the conversation was so memorable for me was not only the way it started but the way it ended. It ended with Greg saying, “I’d like to trust Jesus in that kind of way,” and us praying together before he headed off to work.
By the grace of Jesus that was a turning point in Greg’s life as he realized that the Gospel wasn’t just for his salvation, it was for all of his life. As he continued to trust Jesus with that part of his life there was significant change, less of a weight on his soul, and sense of joy in his life. The Gospel was truly changing him from the inside out.
When we talk about proclamation, we are not only talking about publicly declaring the message of salvation, we are also talking about these Gospel conversations where we tackle the problems and issues in our lives by applying the transforming power of Jesus into the everyday situations of life.
I pray for the day when those kinds of Gospel conversations would become normal in our churches. Where people are in essence sharing the good news of Jesus over and over again to one another, because Jesus is the only one that bring us hope and joy. He is the only one that truly make us new.
May we seek to become that kind of Gospel proclaiming people for “how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.”