In October 2001, Paolo Ricca, then leader of the Italian Baptists, presented a wonderful two-day conference on telling people the "evangel," or good news. In his talk on what our message is as Christians, Ricca invited us to think about what convinces us to follow Jesus ourselves. He cited the four things about Jesus that convinced him: Jesus' words, his life, his death, and his resurrection.
It was the first of these that surprised me. In all I had heard and read on the subject over the years, I think Ricca was the first to suggest the words of Jesus as a key element in the Christian message. When you think about it, that's pretty surprising!
Ricca gave his short list of the words of Jesus that convinced him:
- "Love your enemies."
- "The last shall be first, and the first last."
- "Call no one on earth your Father, for you have one Father - the one in heaven."
- "This person, too, is a descendant of Abraham."
- "Truly I tell you that even in Israel I have not found such great faith."
What is your short list of the words of Jesus that you would highlight in explaining the good news to someone? I'll post my list tomorrow.
4 comments:
It's interesting that all of the verses that first came to mind were from Ephesians or Romans (which are very good as well). I really like Matthew 5-6. However, my favorite would be Matthew 22: 36-39 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Hi Mark,
It's nice keeping up with your thoughts...
I like this list by Paolo Ricca. BTW he is a Valdense, not a Baptist...
Greetings from France.
Pierre
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is so full of the good news it's difficult to parse out just one or two jewels.
Anon - Yes, we tend to be trained in Paul's words more than in Jesus'.
And yes, Paolo Ricca is a Waldensian - who merged with the Italian Baptists! I didn't know anyone over here had heard of him!
Rick - It would be great to use the Sermon on the Mount as a way to introduce people to Jesus. I think it made a huge impression on me when I was in college.
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