Who is worthy of the Gospel? Simple: Anyone who wants to be. Only the those who reject the Gospel are eligible to judge themselves unworthy of the salvation message and they do so by their disobedience. Yet they cannot even judge themselves until a Christian gives them the opportunity to receive the Good News. God has judged that, at minimum, every human is worthy to hear about Jesus. This is a concept that I grappled with not long ago.
Recently, I was exiting a restaurant and saw a group of young people (probably in their early 20s) sitting outside smoking. They were behaving in such a manner that it was clear to me they weren’t Christians. My heart went out to them and I had the inkling to engage them in Gospel conversation, but I assumed that they wouldn’t be interested in discussing Jesus so I decided to keep walking. As I started on my way, I felt uneasy about my decision. I thought: What gives me the right to assume someone wouldn’t want to talk about the Lord? Why not let them make that decision instead of me? So I doubled back toward the group.
It turned out that one member of the group (who didn’t see me approaching) was leaving just as I was walking up. I tried to strike up a conversation with the two who remained — one of whom chose to walk away, clearly annoyed that the other was willingly talking to me about Jesus. I stood talking to the one young lady until a friend who she was meeting came and they left together. As far as I know, none of those young people committed to Jesus that night, but at least one of them heard about his love from one of his followers. In that particular instance, had I not shared the Gospel the biggest reason would have been because I made an uninformed assumption that they were uninterested — and unwittingly judged them unworthy.
When Paul proclaimed Christ in Pisidian Antioch (part of modern-day Turkey) and received a negative response from some listeners, he said of them, “you thrust” the Gospel “aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.”1 Jesus had the same mindset. He told his followers a parable in which a king sent out his servants to invite people to a wedding feast. The servants represented evangelists telling people about the feast in honor of the king’s son, who represented Jesus. In the story (only after some of those who were invited rejected the offer) the king declared, “those invited were not worthy.”2 They were only unworthy by virtue of declining their opportunity to attend the celebration. Finally, when Jesus sent the apostles out into villages to evangelize, he ordered them to seek lodging among those with whom they shared the Gospel. He told them, “if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.” 3 Jesus’ definition of an unworthy person was “anyone” who “will not receive you or listen to your words.”4 In each instance, the offer is given to be “worthy of the Gospel of Christ.”5 Everyone has a choice.
As Christians cross paths with those who clearly are not worshipers of Jesus, we should share the Gospel with them if we have the time and the opportunity. They are worthy of our attention, if not salvation. That they are worthy of our time and Gospel explanation is God’s judgment; whether they’re worthy of salvation is entirely up to them.
1. Acts 13:46
2. Matthew 22:8
3. Matthew 10:13
4. Matthew 10:14
5. Philippians 1:27
PHOTO BY: Daniel Wehner
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