2/9/2025 From “Evangelical” to Gospel-Minded

Acts Lesson 43

Date: February 9, 2025

Title: From “Evangelical” to Gospel-Minded

Scripture: Acts 8:35–40

Acts 8:35–40 (ICB/Standard New Translation)

35 Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this passage, taught about Jesus and proclaimed the gospel.

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. What is preventing me from being baptized?”

38 So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water. Then Philip baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but he went on his way rejoicing.

40 Philip appeared at Azotus and went on to preach the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Overview

Last week we encountered the scene in which the royal treasurer of Ethiopia received baptism from Philip. This event marks the very first time the gospel was introduced into Ethiopia—a country that today is recognized as a true Christian nation with 60% of its population being Christians. About 300 years later, in the 4th century, Christianity became the state religion of Ethiopia.

All these events began with the ministry of Philip, as recorded in Acts chapter 8. From that moment on, one person’s sharing of the gospel became a seed that spread throughout an entire nation. Nowadays, it is increasingly difficult to find any place in the world where the cross and the church do not exist.

From the beginning of Acts to the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, the “Great Commission” to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth has remained an ongoing “mission on earth” for all Christians throughout history.

I, too, encountered Jesus in an evangelical church and received training, with evangelism being one of the most important disciplines. Especially after coming to New York, I quickly realized that this is truly a place where evangelists are desperately needed. As you may have noticed, whether at school or work, you will encounter foreigners—and many of them have never been to a church or heard the gospel.

Once, when I was engaged in campus evangelism, I met a variety of people. At one point, I encountered a Jewish student at Hunter College. Coincidentally, I had been reading a small booklet on methods for Jewish evangelism from a Jewish Christian group, so I showed that student Isaiah 53. When I asked him who he thought this passage referred to, he replied as if it were obvious: “Isn’t it Jesus Christ?” I then explained that this passage is not from the New Testament but from Isaiah—a prophetic book held in high esteem by the Jewish people—and his eyes widened in surprise.

Let’s take a closer look at this passage:

[Isaiah 53:1–12]

1. “Who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

When we speak of someone as being the “right hand” of another, we mean a trusted person or one who embodies power. In this context, the “arm of the Lord” signifies His mighty power. Ultimately, this passage refers to the Messiah, yet it tells us that many do not believe.

2. “He grew up before the Lord like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty

that we should desire him.”

Being compared to a tender shoot indicates fragility, while a root from dry ground suggests a withered, hard condition. In other words, he had neither a beautiful appearance nor any majesty that might attract us—overall, an unremarkable and insignificant appearance.

3. “He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

There is little recorded about the approximately 30 years between when Jesus was baptized by John and when He began His ministry. Most portray Him as a carpenter who lived a quiet life in the countryside, making and selling furniture. However, this passage in Isaiah shows that such portrayals are far removed from reality.

In fact, the Bible tells us that Jesus had no beauty that would render Him attractive. Moreover, the original Greek word for “carpenter” is teknon, which refers to a construction laborer who works with stone and wood.

About 6 kilometers north of Nazareth—where Jesus spent most of His life—Herod Antipas, the son of King Herod, was rebuilding a city called Sepphoris. This massive construction project required enormous manpower, so it is reasonable to assume that carpenters from the surrounding area were all called to work there. 

Since the work lasted from 4 BC to AD 40, we can deduce that Jesus’ entire life overlapped with this period of construction.

At that time, Jewish children began learning and assisting their fathers from around age 7, and by age 12, they took on responsibilities and began working seriously as adults. 

Thus, until about the age of 30—when Jesus began His ministry as a rabbi—He likely spent over 20 years commuting daily to Sepphoris and living as one of the construction laborers. 

The Bible does not mention this period at all, which indicates that Jesus lived each day just like most laborers in Nazareth, in an unremarkable manner.

What I find most astonishing is that Luke records that at the age of 12, Jesus clearly understood who He was. From that point on, He knew that He was the Son of God, the Lord of the whole world—yet He spent nearly 20 years living as an ordinary construction laborer. 

It must have been a time of unimaginable humility and patience.

Jesus lived in lowly circumstances—not only in appearance but also in social status, identity, region, and occupation.

In verse 3, we read that He suffered contempt and rejection, experienced great sorrows, and was intimately acquainted with sickness. Here, “sorrows” corresponds to “suffering” in English, signifying that He endured many kinds of pain, while being “acquainted with sickness” implies that He was thoroughly familiar with illness and physical affliction.

Thus, this verse does not refer solely to the suffering of the cross.

Jesus experienced a variety of pain and suffering even before beginning His ministry and long before the agony of the cross. He became so accustomed to physical pain and illness that He knew it all too well.

As I shared last time, having studied art and drawn countless images of Jesus in meditation, I came to realize that no movie or illustration truly captures the appearance of the real Jesus who walked the streets of Israel 2,000 years ago.

 Most portrayals show a handsome, majestic figure played by a very attractive actor. Perhaps that image reflects not the Jesus who lived on earth, but rather His transformed, spiritual glory.

Discovering the True Jesus

There is a reason I emphasize Jesus as a human being today. Jesus Himself continually stressed that He was the “Son of Man.” 

Only by recognizing Jesus in His humanity can we more clearly and profoundly understand God’s love.

We come to grasp the significance of Jesus having lived not only the three years of His public ministry on earth but also an additional thirty unrecorded years—a span of time ten times as long—in which He lived an utterly ordinary life.

What does that mean?

Even though many people were already following Him, when Jesus chose His twelve disciples He did not select the most promising or outstanding individuals. Instead, He chose those who were ordinary—even so ordinary that they were regarded as lowly and ignorant fishermen, considered insignificant by the world. 

This was no accident.

It is no coincidence that when God sent Jesus, He allowed Him to live most of His life first as the weakest of infants and then as an exceedingly ordinary construction laborer, subjecting Him to a wide range of hardships and even accustoming Him to illness. 

And when Jesus departed, the very people He commissioned to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth were not chosen from the elite but from those so ordinary that they would be looked down upon wherever they went!

Isn’t it all interconnected?

Thus, the meaning is exactly this:

“You too can do it!”

Most of us have enjoyed better food, received higher education in fairer environments than Jesus or His disciples—even worshiping on some of the most expensive land in the world. There is no need to mention Nazareth in Galilee… Can Jerusalem be compared to New York?

We live in an environment and a world that the disciples could scarcely have even dreamed of. That means we cannot say that what they were capable of, we cannot do.

Yet we rarely take this thought seriously. We seldom hear of such challenges. Instead, we tend to think, “He is the Son of God” or “They are specially chosen disciples.”

Evangelicalism

Most Christian churches in Korea and the United States are “evangelical” churches. No one denies that, according to Jesus’ Great Commission, our most important mission is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus throughout all of Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.

Evangelical churches have dispatched missionaries more zealously than ever before and have poured tremendous effort into evangelism. Churches have been established with the express purpose of spreading the gospel as widely and as far as possible throughout the world.

It has become increasingly difficult to find any continent or country without a church, and the Bible is now translated into most of the world’s major languages. Since the Internet age began, there has never been a generation for which it was easier to seek out and listen to the message of the gospel and songs of praise.

However, because the very word “gospel” means “good news,” evangelical churches naturally emphasize messages that comfort and give hope. In fact, when evangelicalism spread throughout the world, the positive message aimed at opening the hearts of those encountering the gospel for the first time was emphasized far beyond its actual proportion within the New Testament.

Yet, just as the law, though good in itself, can lose its essence when it becomes legalism… so too can the gospel, though inherently good, become problematic when it turns into a mere form of “evangelicalism.”

Just as a mistaken equation arose—that keeping the law is equivalent to loving God—so it has happened that in evangelicalism the act of proclaiming the gospel, evangelism itself, is mistakenly taken to be the very expression of loving God.

In Jesus’ day, when legalism was widespread, believers exerted every effort to strictly obey the law—perfectly keeping it—even though they paid little attention to God; they diligently performed charitable acts for the poor as commanded by the law, yet lacked a heart of love. That is why they ultimately received the most severe warnings from Jesus.

Likewise, if the motivation and meaning behind proclaiming the gospel are lost and evangelism itself becomes regarded as an absolute good—a purpose in itself—the same situation may occur.

A few months ago, before we moved to this place, I once tried a method on Sunday evenings at Bryant Park with several fellow church members. We sang and worshiped, and when the Holy Spirit came upon the heart of Manhattan, we would invite those who showed interest to join us for a meal or fellowship.

However, every time, an older Korean gentleman—wearing a mask and hardly making eye contact—silently handed out an evangelistic track. When I tried to greet him and speak, he simply tucked the track back into his bag without a word and left. I saw him repeatedly, always wearing a mask and using the same method of evangelism.

That approach might very well be his calling; if it leads someone to believe in Jesus, I have no desire to criticize him.

But I would like us to consider it as one example together.

At the very least, couldn’t one offer a gentle smile with kind eyes, or say something as simple as “God bless you,” as is common in the United States? Yet before I attended church in Korea, I too often encountered evangelism of a similar style—and each time, the impression I got was, “Either accept this or go to hell!”

Just as one can strictly observe the law without genuine love for God… (not that this is always the case) preaching the gospel without love—something that should be impossible—can, and all too often does, happen. It has become a case of “evangelicalism.”

Since we have decided to take a period of rest and preparation for street evangelism until this year’s Easter, let us pray together and seek methods that are well suited to those to whom we must now bear witness.

When the law—a good gift from God—becomes a shackle that binds someone, or a tool for wielding power over others, Jesus was most vehemently angered by it. This is because the very reason for keeping the law—loving God—was lost, leaving behind only an empty shell of form and ritual.

Without the love for other human beings that is revived through loving God, everything else becomes the same.

The most effective and clear way to make this possible is selfless prayer! When we pray every Sunday morning for the nations, it is not only a prayer for those countries and peoples, but also an opportunity to nurture within ourselves God’s love for them.

When we research countries we never even knew, think about their prayer needs, and pray for them, something stirs within us without even realizing it.

Then, if we happen to meet someone from one of those countries on a street in Times Square… that encounter becomes special. It is like a tiny mustard seed of interest—but that interest is none other than God’s love. If you have ever called out that country’s name and prayed for it even once, isn’t that making a difference?

Let us now continue with Isaiah 53.

4 “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

5 “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”

As we live in this world, we must continually experience this grace. The Lord takes away my suffering and grants me peace; He takes away my illness and bodily pain and gives me health.

And with that health and grace, we are to live as a living, little Christ for others. What is the purpose for which Jesus took my troubles upon Himself and gave His life in my stead?

Positive Message

6. We are all like sheep, for we have all gone astray, each of us turning to his own way; yet the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7. When he was oppressed and afflicted, he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers remains silent, he did not open his mouth.

In evangelical churches, the emphasis is often placed on the message, “God loves you just as you are!” But if that means it’s acceptable to live without hope—without knowing God or even realizing one’s own sinfulness—doesn’t that message seem intended for those who are not yet Christians?

Yet for those who have returned to God through Jesus, have they not come to understand the 30 years of endurance Jesus underwent to rescue us, as well as the agonizing suffering of His final cross? And even if they continue to live in the same old ways—without any distinction from the world—does it mean that God loves them and rejoices in them just as they are?

Among us, there may be friends who have not yet established a genuine relationship with God. For them, the open arms of the Lord who accepts them exactly as they are should always be proclaimed.

But what if that becomes the conclusion of most messages—if it turns into what is known as an “evangelical message”?

If God’s Spirit dwells within us and eternal life has begun, does that life not grant us a new longing and the power to live anew? Even when we stumble, the life of Jesus within us continually leads us to be transformed in His likeness, never allowing us to remain stagnant.

Thus, an evangelical-style sermon might, on the contrary, produce the unfortunate result of shutting down that inner demand for life and renewal—or, if that life has not yet truly manifested, it may lead to a state of religious brainwashing, a false sense of security in which one considers oneself a Christian without sensing any true need for change. I am afraid of this!

Jesus said, “Follow me!” and He instructed us to live according to His example.

Indeed, He even commanded us daily to deny our desire to be the masters of our own lives and to follow Him by taking up the cross that has been entrusted to us.

Loving those who are not lovable, and sharing the gospel with others, are both aspects of bearing one’s own cross.

Jesus demonstrated the gospel with a love that willingly sacrificed for others—a love that endures suffering for the sake of others, a love that mirrors the cross.

What do you think? Could evangelism be accomplished in this manner?

In this era, is it truly impossible to encounter Jesus simply because the information does not reach someone? Rather than due to the gospel’s message failing to reach or being insufficient…

Is it not that, in the lives of those who profess to believe in the gospel, they fail to perceive its reality—the life of Jesus and the transformative difference it should make in their lives!

In this age of self-promotion, where selfishness is no longer a source of shame, the greatest miracle is a love that comes at a cost—a love of sacrifice.

 In such times, that miracle will be mightier than ever. People who experience the love conveyed through us—those of us who daily bear a small cross in following Jesus—will be won to the gospel.

Become a Gospel-Minded Person by Living a Gospel-Centered Life

Why did Jesus—who was the greatest at evangelism—entrust evangelism to His disciples and then depart?

Jesus left the task of proclaiming the gospel in the hands of His disciples, who were still far from perfect, in order to give us the opportunity to become little Christs. 

He charged us, being filled with the Spirit of Jesus, to willingly take up the cross for the sake of the souls that need salvation—just as He did.

Imagine if Christians truly heeded Jesus’ words and took up their crosses every day… if, for even one soul that needs Jesus, someone carried the cross. Just imagine: if you were to bear the cross for that person, how would that person react? 

Would the world still point its finger at our community? 

Would they scorn this church that bears the cross for others?

9 He committed no violence, nor was there deceit in his mouth; yet his tomb was with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.

10 It was the will of the LORD to crush him with suffering; and when he had offered his life as a guilt offering, he would see his offspring, and his days would be prolonged; and through his hand the will of the LORD would be accomplished.

11 He shall see the result of his labor and be satisfied; my righteous servant will justify many, bearing their iniquities upon himself.

12 Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall share the spoils with the mighty; for he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors—but he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

We do not confront evil with violence or deceit. We may suffer the injustice of being regarded as villains—even face martyrdom. Yet in the end, the truth is revealed, and the light of the Lord’s glory shines forth.

That we shall “see our seed” and that “our days will be prolonged” signifies that the spiritual descendants who follow him will continue to multiply. Just as it is written in Daniel that those who bring many back to the right path will shine like stars forever, 

those who follow the path of Jesus will be remembered and shine as an example for eternity.

Our own small crosses carry injustice, suffering, and affliction. Thus, to love people is always a challenge that entails sacrifice—because it is a cross to bear.

Yet this cross is exceedingly precious and costly. But the will of the LORD that delights Him will be fulfilled in us.

Being counted among the rich after death means that we do not truly suffer a loss.

Whatever seems like a loss now will be rewarded with a crown of glory of equal measure—a resurrection that is the most radiant and glorious.

Although evangelistic tracts (such as those still circulating among people who have never heard the gospel) may be useful, the most powerful method of evangelism is “the story of God and me—our testimony.”

As with my own testimony last week, take a moment to reflect on the stories in your life that are worth testifying to. Will the story of how you schemed to avoid any loss be the testimony you share? 

In time, such actions may indeed come to be regarded with shame.

It is the stories of loss—of choices that the world may deem foolish, of the endurance we displayed like the lamb led to the slaughter who did not open its mouth—that remain. Only these stories of small crosses will shine like stars for eternity.

The time we spend following Jesus, the days in which we live as a little Jesus for someone, are what will forever bring us joy and fulfillment.

This is the way of life to which Jesus has invited us. 

“If Jesus of Nazareth was able to do it as the Son of Man, then you too can do it. Follow Me!” 

This is a gospel-centered life—a life filled with the light of Jesus and the light of the gospel.