The Elevator Question - Tim Phillips
When interviewing prospective church members, I sometimes get them to give an answer to what I call “The Elevator Question.” The Elevator Question is basically a short summary of the gospel. It goes like this: If you were on an elevator and someone asked you to explain the gospel, and you had only the time between floors to do it, what would you say?
Of course, there are lots of ways to give a correct answer. I always tell people they can’t go wrong if they answer with Scripture. Paul’s creedal summary in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, for instance, is a good answer. Most Christians have John 3:16 memorized, and that’s a good answer. Paul’s answer to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16 is another good place to go. The question is intended to be diagnostic in nature. You are seeing if a person truly understands the gospel and can explain the substance of the gospel to another.
The gospel message should be faithful taught and preached from our pulpits so that our people know what the gospel actually is. The more they hear it, the better they can articulate it. I learned the distributive property and how it applied to algebraic expressions in high school, but I didn’t always understand why it did what it did. It wasn’t until years later when I became a mathematics teacher that I felt confident enough to explain how and why the property worked. The more we learn about the gospel and the more we learn about Jesus Christ, the more confident we will be at explaining it to others.
Several years ago, when Phil Williams was Moderator of General Synod, his challenge centered on evangelism. I was so moved by his challenge that when I returned home, I interrupted my current sermon series and did a short series preaching Luke 5. My reason for doing so is the reaction of various people when they meet Jesus. They see their sin and their need for a Savior. That is where evangelism should point us. That is where the gospel message should direct us.
What should the substance of the gospel message be? In Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer gives a helpful definition: “In a word, the evangelistic message is the gospel of Christ, and Him crucified; the message of man’s sin and God’s grace, of human guilt and divine forgiveness, of new birth and new life through the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Packer then gives four “essential ingredients” of the gospel message:
I usually summarize this as “tell them about God, tell them about man, tell them about Jesus, tell them about their need to believe.” There are variety of evangelistic programs that use a similar approach (Matthias Media’s excellent Two Ways to Livemanages to have six steps, but it’s really just a different breakdown of the same four, but with illustrations and Australian accents). But those are the core elements of a faithful gospel presentation. A gospel message is not really a gospel message if we only talk about Jesus, but don’t talk about the reason sin is such a big deal, or the need to repent and believe in Jesus.
It's also important to talk about what all those words mean. Our congregation, on Wednesday evenings during the school year, has an outreach for young people in the community. This existed before I ever came to the church (so I can’t take any credit for it), but it is a major way in which we try to present the gospel. We have a meal followed by a short devotion which I lead. The theme for this past year has been “Words Every Christian Should Know.” Each week we have walked through the definitions for words that Christians use all the time – but may no realize that others don’t know what those words mean. So we talked about what words like “God, “sin,” “Christ,” “faith,” etc. mean. Many of those young people sometimes visit us on Sunday mornings, where they hear the gospel in Sunday school and the worship service.
The importance of know the gospel message was also emphasized recently with some of the men in our congregation. A few of us gather on Friday mornings at 8 a.m. for a time of devotion, discussion, and prayer. The book we are currently using is Following Jesus by Andrew Randall. It is a book about discipleship, and we just finished the chapter on evangelism. The author gives this summary of the gospel and evangelism:
A Christian is someone who trusts in Jesus Christ and so believes the gospel. The gospel is difficult to summarize in a few words because it is a diamond with many facets, but at its core is the glorious good news that although we are sinners who have rebelled against our Creator, Jesus died for our sins, and He rose again, and He is Lord. Jesus took in Himself the death that we deserve for our rebellion against God. He then rose to a new perfect and never-ending life, and He invites us into that life. Right now, He will put that life within us if we turn to Him in faith, so that we have a new life to live now, and a perfect life to enjoy eternally.
That’s not a bad answer to the elevator question. So what’s your answer, dear Christian?