The only story we must preach

Written by Zhey Chua |Posted on October 17, 2008 | Comments

I had a chance to chat with an old friend this morning about Christianity.

He believes that salvation is by grace through faith, not good works. He believes that Christ is the Savior. He was a little bit confused about Lordship-Salvation, but I explained that to him and we agreed on it. He also believes in the doctrine of election. We have yet to agree about the tribulation (he believes in pre-trib) but that is something we have to work on later. Everything was going smooth until the conversation swerved to ministering to others.

My friend had a dark past (didn’t we all?) and believes that young adults will learn a lot from his life story. How he rebelled against his parents, how he struggled against his pastor-father, how he became a band-leader, how he turned to drugs, alcohol and women for comfort and finally, how he was picked up from the dirt and given a chance to rebuild his life again. It is quite a testimony, really. I myself love hearing about it and I praise God for the work He has done in my friend’s life. When I look at the handiwork of God in his life, I am truly amazed. Happily married to a beautiful wife, four cute kids and a stable business… He is a picture of success.

But that is not the Gospel.

The Gospel is Jesus Christ crucified for the redemption of man’s sins. And it is the only story we need to preach to convict those who have yet to see how wretchedly hopeless and depraved we are, how we need Christ to save us from eternal condemnation.

Our testimonies are just that, testimonies. Stories about how God picked us up from our brokenness to make us whole again. They may inspire others to worship the Lord, but nothing else compares to the conversion that only the Word of God can make.