Flossing

“Do the right thing!”
“Slip, slop, slap!”
“Click, clack... front and back!”

These exhortations, from high profile media campaigns from the last millennium, all had one thing in common: they all worked on me! I don’t litter. I slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat when out in the sun. And I wear a seatbelt in the car. Maybe I am overly susceptible to ‘sloganistic’ media campaigns. Perhaps I simply do what I’m told.

Well, actually, I don’t always do what I’m told. I don’t always acquiesce to exhortations. Apologies to all the dentists out there, but, while I regularly brush my teeth... I don’t floss! I know, I know! I’ve had the benefits of flossing between my (very close together) teeth carefully explained to me by patient oral health specialists. I’ve even been to the chemist and bought the relevant flossing equipment. But I just don’t do it.

Sometimes we take good advice. Sometimes we don’t.

What about biblical exhortations? Take the following, for example: “always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). This instruction makes a lot of sense to a Christian, and it comes from an authority greater even than our dentist. We—followers of Jesus—are told to be prepared to explain the basis of our Christian hope. Central to this is the need to be able to explain what it is that gives us hope—that is, the good news about Jesus Christ.

One of the best ways to be prepared is to familiarize oneself with a gospel outline. I learned one suggested by John Chapman back in the 1980s—“God... Person... God... What if you do... What if you don’t...”—and I’ve never forgotten it (for details, see his Know and Tell the Gospel book). Over the years, this simple outline has helped me to make sensible comments in brief spiritual discussions with non-believers; engage in longer gospel discussion with those who were sufficiently interested; and give structure to evangelistic talks that I’ve delivered. (Of course, there’s also the classic gospel outline, Two ways to live, which comes with its own training course, and which we have profitably used at our church.)

So why is learning a gospel outline like flossing for so many people? Why is it something they know would be good for them... that they know they should do... for which they may even have purchased training materials... but which they simply have not yet done?

There are many reasons why people resist 1 Peter 3:15, and resist learning a gospel outline. They may be lazy, lukewarm or fearful. But one reason some keen Christians may resist it is because they think they can already explain the gospel when, in fact, they can’t!

A friend of mine is a youth minister at a church in Sydney. Here’s a simplified and slightly stylised version of an interaction he once had with a youth group:

Youth leader: “Hey, guys, do you reckon you know how to explain the gospel?”
Youth group: “Yeah!” (implied: “Hello?! Of course we could.”)
Youth leader: “Okay. What is it? Explain it to me!”
Youth group: (suddenly the proverbial deer caught in the headlights) “Ahhh... ahhh... errr...”

The simple fact of having heard the gospel numerous times, and perhaps even being able to identify a false gospel, does not mean that a person can reproduce it. Recognition does not equal reproduction. For example, we might recognize the Mona Lisa, but how would we go at sketching even a rudimentary representation of it? Would we get the smile right? The hair colour right? The body angle right? What are the hands doing? How much of Mona’s body is in the picture? And what is in the background?

A good exercise might be to give your Bible study, youth group, congregation, and perhaps even yourself a piece of paper and two minutes to anonymously write out a brief outline of the gospel. If you do this I don’t know what you will find. The results may be a little discouraging. But they may also be just what a keen Christians needs to convince him or her that they really do need to learn a gospel outline.

It might elevate 1 Peter 3:15 somewhere above the level of “Floss!”

Photo credit: Jeff Boulter