I want to contend that the way we most embody the story is to witness to Jesus Christ:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
Beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. (Acts 1:22)
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. (Acts 2:32)
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. (Acts 3:15)
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (Acts 5:32)
We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross. (Acts 10:39)
He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. (Acts 10:41)
And for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. (Acts 13:31)
You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. (Acts 22:15)
Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. (Acts 26:16)
Of all these statements, the first and last are the most important to me: We are witnesses and we are called to be a witness “of what we have seen and will see” of Jesus. We embody the gospel when we convert churches from lifestyle organizations and from political powerhouses into places where people can hear about Jesus, find Jesus, and learn to live under him, with him, and behind him. We are witnesses when the entire church becomes enraptured with the story of Jesus and lets that story shape everything: everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do.
Do you want to embody the gospel? Tell people about Jesus. Point people to Jesus. Live Jesus. With others.
Bibliography
Dickson, John. The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission: Promoting the Gospel with More than Our Lips. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.
France, R. T. The Gospel of Mark. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
Gilbert, Greg. What is the Gospel? Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.
Gomes, Peter J. The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good about the Good News? New York: HarperOne, 2007.
Jenson, Matt, and David E. Wilhite. The Church: A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: T. & T. Clark/Continuum, 2010.
McKnight, Scot, and Hauna Ondrey. Finding Faith, Losing Faith. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008.
McLaren, Brian. Everything Must Change: When the World’s Biggest Problems and Jesus’ Good News Collide. Nashville: Nelson, 2007.
———. The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
Piper, John. God is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself. Wheaton: Crossway, 2005.
Wright, Christopher. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006.
1. See Gomes, Scandalous Gospel; McLaren, Secret Message; Everything Must Change.
2. See Piper, God is the Gospel, and Gilbert, What is the Gospel?
3. More precisely: Acts 2:14–39; 3:12–26; 4:8–12; 10:34–43 with 11:4–18; 13:16–41; 14:15–17; 17:22–31. If we add Stephen’s speech, 7:2–53.
4. Dickson, Best Kept Secret, 140, emphasis added.
5. Jenson and Wilhite, Church, 153–91.
6. Wright, Mission of God.
7. France, Gospel of Mark, 167.
8. See McKnight and Ondrey, Finding Faith.
2
Being God’s People Among the Nations
Gleanings from Kings
John Olley
From the beginning, by placing the call of Abraham after Genesis 1–11, the Bible situates the life of God’s people in the midst of God’s purposes for the whole of creation, including all humanity. The call of Abraham culminates in a promise of blessing for “all the families of the earth.”9 The next mention of blessing to “all nations on earth through him” is immediately followed by “for I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”10 Blessing comes to the nations through the God-like lifestyle of his people. In contrast to the lifestyle of Babel/Babylon which is concerned for issues of security and self-protection (a “city” is walled), and of reputation and remembrance through a building (“a name”),11 Abraham is promised a name and God’s protection through a journey of trusting, risk-taking obedience.12
The rest of the Old Testament tells the story of God’s people in the midst of the “peoples” and “nations.” The narrative provides many examples of common occurrence: God’s people do not always experience blessing, nor do they always bring blessing to others! The Old Testament is nevertheless an account of God’s ongoing presence working out divine purposes for all the earth in and through imperfect people. The twofold combination of God’s presence and provision and his people’s lifestyle amongst the nations is explicit in the exhortation before entry into the land:
See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? (Deut 4:5–8)
The Old Testament provides a rich resource that can be a mirror for exploring features of Christian life and witness today around the globe. For several centuries following Abraham, the people lived as a minority in the land of Canaan and then in Egypt, and even later with some measure of political autonomy there was continual influence from surrounding nations, not always benign. Importantly, the accounts of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as we now have them are addressed initially to people in exile under the dominance of wealthy, powerful Babylon (1 and 2 Kings) or living in a province of the even greater Persian Empire (1 and 2 Chronicles).13 The final bringing together of what we now call the Old Testament was by people who lived under foreign rule, as were the early Christians who have given us the New Testament. Indeed, in contradistinction to much reading of the Bible in past centuries within “Christendom,” the whole Bible is best read as God’s word to a minority people living in the midst of larger communities and under pagan rule—the context of most Christians today.