by Gospel Fluency is a book focused integrating the gospel into a person’s lifestyle. The gospel is the good news that should not only be shared but lived out in every aspect of a person’s life. The premise is that language shapes culture and the gospel should be the fluent language of the local community. Fluency in a language is when you move from translating an unfamiliar language into a familiar one to interpreting all of life through that new language. It occurs when you can think, feel, and speak in a language.[1] The gospel is the truth of Jesus, and if people are going to grow up into Christ in every way, they need to hear the truths of Jesus (the gospel) and learn to speak it as a language.[2] Part of growing in gospel fluency involves regularly replacing lies we have believed with the truths of God revealed in Jesus.[3] The thesis of the book is, “Christians need to learn and apply the truths of the gospel into every aspect of their lives and to share those truths within their local community.”
Applied Review
Speaking the gospel to myself is in line with part three, The Gospel in Me. I have been immersed in the gospel heavily in the last three years being retired and in seminary. While I am not as fluent as Vanderstelt in the gospel, I have integrated it into a lot of my daily conversations. “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Incorporating the sermon message into my conversations throughout the week will be one way for me to improve my gospel fluency. This will also help me remember and reflect on the message to where I am also applying the message into my lifestyle as well as talking about it. This all stems from my love for God and wanting to talk about what I love (truth of Jesus). Another application for me is to be more observant and vocal about the miracles, answered prayers, and movements God is making in my life. He is working for my good and I need to speak about Him more as He is the originator of my blessings, and everyone should be reminded about Him and what He does. I will also use the “Fruit to Root and Root to Fruit” as the roots of our faith produce the fruit of our life.[4] Whenever I see or stumble in sin, I will look beneath the sin to identify the truth about God that failed to be believed. Correcting the wrong belief is the key to removing the sin at its root.
Speaking the gospel to my family and fellow church members is in line with part four, The Gospel with Us. Vanderstelt explains, “Growth in gospel fluency requires regularly being with others who know and love Jesus, speak about him often, and commit together to regularly remind one another of the gospel when they forget.”[5] One of my applications is to take the opportunity at every meal to remember and worship Jesus vocally at the table. This should start a conversation about Him and how He is our provider. Our daughter is grown up, so the themes of the week do not really apply to us. Jesus is the answer to most challenges in life, and I plan on reminding others when they face challenges that Jesus is “the better” in all aspects of who someone is disappointed in. We need to repent of expecting someone to be perfect or to be God for us or them. Another application for me is to formulate my interpretation of the larger story of the Bible in a way that I can teach from it and refer to it in my teachings. This will take some time and will be done early next year.
Speaking the gospel to the world is in line with part five, The Gospel to Others. Leading by example is important when attempting to show how Christians should love others. One of my applications when giving the gospel to others is to make sure that I listen more and talk less. I need to learn their stories before I attempt to provide them with truth that might be contradictory to their way of thinking. It is important for the person to feel heard and understood as they will not trust me until then. I need to remind myself that behavior is more caught than taught and that my actions are more convincing than the words that I speak. Another application for me is to intentionally talk about what Jesus is doing in my life along with what He has done recently. This is where I will “declare” Him more, even when I am not directly attempting to share the good news. My final application is to ensure that I am always giving Him the glory. This is easy for me to do, but something that I do not always intentionally do as I should.
Fluency Experiences
My most recent experience in sharing the gospel was at my local American Legion post where I was talking to an agnostic about the existence of God. This was part of my apologetics course field assignment. One of my strengths was that I had a constructed argument for the existence of God and a plan of how I was going to engage the person that I already had a relationship with. This was another strength as I am the chaplain for the post, and everyone knows me as the chaplain. I do lead by example and that is another strength of the book. One of my weaknesses during the conversation was my lack of transitioning to the gospel easily. I need to work on my transitions into the gospel and then give the gospel in a consistent and complete way. This is like having the larger story of the Bible and being able to refer to it and start from it easily. In this case, I should have been able to not only transition, but also present the gospel smoothly while getting away from the questions and answer session we were in. One of the successes from the conversation was that we ended on a positive note, to where I can continue the conversation later because the relationship is still strong. I will also be more intentional with him regarding what God is doing in my life. The conversation also increased my confidence in addressing opposition to God. Vanderstelt mentions that it might not always be a confidence issue with sharing the gospel and sometimes it is a heart issue. In my case, it is a little of both. With the application of the above-mentioned actions, I can see where delivering the gospel will be easier and just part of my everyday language.
Bibliography
Vanderstelt, Jeff. Gospel Fluency: Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017.
[1] Jeff Vanderstelt, Gospel Fluency: Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 40.
[2] Ibid., 28.
[3] Ibid., 88.
[4] Ibid., 118.
[5] Ibid., 134.