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Ashamed of the Gospel
- 02/22/10
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Note: This is a sponsored post (click here to learn about sponsored posts)
A quick note from Tim: Crossway has just released a third edition of John MacArthur’s “Ashamed of the Gospel.” Depending on when you ask me, this book was either the first or second Christian book I read in adulthood. It rocked my world. At the time I was a member of a church that was almost exactly the kind MacArthur warned against in this book. I read this along with James Boice’s book on the five points of Calvinism and I was never the same. All this to say that I’m thrilled with the re-release of the book and the additional chapters that have been added to it.
*****
In this newly revised and expanded edition of Ashamed of the Gospel, John MacArthur issues a warning against preaching and teaching a candy-coated gospel that neither offends nor convicts anyone. He challenges readers to return to the roots of the Great Commission.
Here is an excerpt:
What kind of ministry pleases God? “Preach the word” (v. 2). Obedience to that simple command must be the centerpiece of every truly biblical ministry philosophy. The preacher’s task is to proclaim Scripture and give the sense of it (cf. Neh. 8:8). All other content is extraneous to the message.
My father was a pastor, and when I first told him that I felt God had called me to a life of ministry, he gave me a Bible in which he had written, “Dear Johnny, preach the Word. 2 Timothy 4:2.” That simple statement became the compelling stimulus in my heart. I have never forgotten that simple biblical instruction from my dad—preach the Word. What else is there to preach?
Preaching the Word is not always easy. The message we are required to proclaim is often offensive. Christ Himself is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense (Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:8). The message of the cross is a stumbling block to some (1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 5:11), mere foolishness to others (1 Cor. 1:23). “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Why do you suppose Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Rom. 1:16)? Surely it is because so many Christians are ashamed of the very message we are commanded to proclaim.
As we have noted, Timothy evidently struggled with the sin of being ashamed. He was “ashamed of the testimony about our Lord,” and even ashamed of Paul (2 Tim. 1:8). Timothy seems to have been a timid soul, not at all like the strong and courageous apostle Paul. He was young, and some people demeaned him because of that (1 Tim. 4:12). He knew full well that even being associated with Paul was dangerous. Publicly proclaiming God’s truth could land him in prison with Paul. At the very least, he was sure to incur hostility and debates from Jews who were antagonistic to the gospel.
What is more, Timothy apparently struggled with the impulses of youthful lust (2 Tim. 2:22). He may have felt he was not all he should be.
Those were some compelling reasons for Timothy to silence his proclamation. So when Paul commanded him to preach, he was demanding that he go against his own natural inclinations and inhibitions.
What was the Word that Timothy was to preach? Paul had made this clear at the end of chapter 3: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16, emphasis added). This is the Word to be preached: “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). In chapter 1 Paul had told Timothy, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me” (v. 13). He was speaking of the revealed words of Scripture—all of it. He urged Timothy to “Guard the good deposit entrusted to you” (v. 14). Then in chapter 2 he told him to study the Word and handle it accurately (v. 15). Now he is telling him to proclaim it. So the entire task of the faithful minister revolves around the Word of God—guarding it, studying it, and proclaiming it.
For more information, visit Crossway.
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I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (7)
This remains within my top five favorite books as well. The reprint is a good reminder for me to re-read!
“Ashamed of the Gospel”!!!! What a horrible title for the book. MacArthur should repent and believe the GOOD NEWS! I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ and neither should anyone else. We should warn everyone about this book. The title alone is reason enough to burn it.
/ end sarcasm.
I thought that after all the McLaren bashing by people who won’t even bother to read the book but take your word on it, Tim (a very unfair review, if I may say so), I thought some satirical humor might be in order.
Chad, we all have only so much time in our lives, and we cannot read everything. I read one of McLaren’s books four or five years ago - and that was enough to know that reading any more of them would be a waste of time.
Some books - such as those by Stott, Packer, Sproul, or MacArthur - bear not only reading but re-reading.
Tim,
I loved your post. “Ashamed of the Gospel?” rocked my world as well, I read it about ten years ago. After reading it, I found that I was a member of a church that wasn’t as bad as John writes of but it was not good. It was “Purpose Driven” and that seemed to drive everything rather than the gospel. Children’s Sunday School bible lessons were being replaced with video games, many of the adult classes revolved around “Five Love Languages” instead of the Word. Needless to say, we left and never really looked back, the Lord blessed us with a great church with a pastor and elders who loved the Bible and taught it to us faithfully.
I am looking forward to reading it; gty.org just gave this book away for free and I got my copy. Waiting for my copy to arrive.
These days I’ve noticed that the church at large seems to be very excited about doing good deeds. “Be missional,” we’re told. And that’s really good. But we need to be careful that the preaching “Be missional” is accompanied by the preaching of the gospel.
There are a lot of people who are not followers of Jesus in our world doing a lot of good deeds. Often, they do more good in our world than believers. Lots of people are feeding the hungry, providing clean water, building medical clinics, and adopting 3rd world kids.
What makes us different? What do we have to offer that the world doesn’t have? In Luke 4, Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 and says that He was sent ” to bring good news to the poor” (Isaiah 61:1, ESV). And in John 20:21 He says, “As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.”
So, we’ve been sent to bring the “good news.” We know that the phrase “good news” is often translated with the word “gospel” in the New Testament. We are to be “gospel bringing” people.
So, what’s the gospel?
On Friday, a friend asked me to “Tweet” a definition of the gospel to him. Part of me resisted the idea. But I decided to give it a shot. Here’s what I sent:
Jesus is God in the flesh who died for our sins and rose from the dead so we could be justified. Repent of sin; believe in Him; be saved.
Now, let’s expand that definition: We believe that there is a real heaven and a real hell and that real people like you and me are headed to one or the other. We believe that all men and women and boys and girls are sinners who deserve the wrath of God - that we’re all headed to hell without Christ. But we also believe that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to suffer the wrath that we deserve - He died in our place and paid for our sins. We believe Jesus rose from the grave and that He invites us to live out His resurrected life in a decaying world. We believe that the only way to be saved is to repent, to trust this risen Christ - to know Jesus, to enter into a relationship with Him. And when we do, we are set free. We are saved. We have a home in heaven. That’s “good news.” That’s “the gospel.”
So, if we provide safe water in 3rd world countries for hundreds of thousands of people, but they die in their sins and go to hell, we haven’t really loved them with Jesus’ love. If we feed the homeless week after week, but they never meet Jesus and they don’t make it to heaven, we didn’t really love them with Jesus’ love. If we free young girls from sexual slavery, but they die and go to hell, we haven’t really loved them well.
We have to do good deeds and also open our mouths and be unashamed of the gospel. We have to point people to Jesus, the Savior who loved them enough to die for sinners.
As the externally focused church people say, “We do good deeds to create good will so we can share the good news.” Now, that might sound like manipulation. It might sound disingenuous. It might sound like we are doing good deeds with an ulterior motive. But it’s not really an ulterior motive. It’s the ultimate motive.
If the BIble is true and there’s a real heaven and a real hell and if only Jesus saves, then we don’t really love people very much if we do all kinds of good deeds for them, but we never tell them that they need Jesus to be their Savior and Lord.
We must not be ashamed of the gospel. We must tell people that they can receive the Lord’s favor and grace through Jesus. We must tell them that, because of our rebellion against God, apart from Christ there’s a day of vengeance coming. We must encourage people to connect to Jesus, the One who took the vengeance we deserved on Himself when He died on the cross.
Let’s do more good deeds. But let’s do more than good deeds. Add to the good deeds. We are not ashamed of the gospel. In our own way and in our own style, we have to learn how to point people to what the BIble says about the good news about Jesus.
I read a book about McLaren once. It was a book entitled Heretics by G.K. Chesterton.