Have we been taught to share the whole Gospel or just the comfortable parts? Generally, I believe that Christians are able to share the following points:
1. All people are spiritually dead because of their sins and in need of right standing with God.
2. God will breathe new life into every sinner who believes in Him and confesses Jesus Christ as Lord.
3. As a result, a relationship is formed through Jesus' blood and the believer undergoes a process known as sanctification.
4. At the end of the believer's physical life comes glorification-eternal life in heaven with God the Father.
Is this a complete Gospel presentation? I believe that it is not. What about Luke 14: 25-33? In this passage, the crowds are following Jesus. My fiancé preached on this passage a few Sundays ago and as he pointed out, Jesus isn't interested in crowds. He is interested in those who count the cost of being His disciple. Jesus stops the crowd and in a sense says "You are following me now, but do you know where I am going? I am headed to the cross. Count the cost now because once we get to the cross, only those who are true disciples will stay with me."
Counting the cost, huh? When people hear the Gospel message and comprehend it (cognition), do they just pray the prayer and move on? I believe that we should encourage those considering Christianity to count the cost. Being a follower of Christ could cost your comforts. It could cost your family. In fact, it could cost your very life. Is it worth it? Is Jesus worth it? This is the part that seems to be missing from most Gospel presentations. We are so afraid to offend people. We don't want to tell them that sin in their lives must begin to be removed (sanctification). We don’t want to tell them to leave their lives of lustful thinking. We don't want to warn them of their love for the materials things of this world.
Dr. Plummer tells the story of a man who is presenting the gospel door-to-door with a tract. He knocks on a door and a lady answers. He asks if he can share this good news with her. She says yes and begins to listen. He reads each page of the tract. When he comes to the last page, he says "ma'am, I can't read this part. Will you read it out loud?" She says "sure, no problem." She begins to read "the prayer." "Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. I confess that Jesus is Lord. Please come live in my heart...." When she finishes, the man jumps up and down shouting "Yes!! We've got one more!! This lady has just accepted Christ!"
This is NOT the right way to share the gospel! Instead, he should let her know up front that being a follower of Christ will require counting the cost many times.
Counting the cost is not just for those checking Christianity out. It needs to happen often in the lives of believers. Daily sacrificing and dying to your flesh-this is counting the cost. We should encourage each other to daily count the cost of being a disciple of Christ.