Who Is Worthy of the Gospel?

Who is worthy to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Are there people who are so despicable or who are so entrenched in sin that they are not even deserving of the gospel message?

Imagine for a moment that you arrived in a foreign country (no language barrier). In this country there are actual idols of wood, stone, silver and gold. The people who live there willingly bow to their ‘gods’ that are no gods at all.

The gods they worship deeply influence their thinking and behavior. One of their many gods is a god of war. As a prominent god in their culture, violence is justified as a tribute to this god. To you and me they would seem blood-thirsty and brutal. Yet, violence has become their way of life.

Another one of their gods is a god of sensuality. So, the people accept all kinds of sexual practices as normal. To us, their practices are a perversion of what God intended when he created mankind. However, their gods approve, even promote, acts that we would call immoral. A prostitute in their culture could be just as prominent a citizen as a successful and respected businessman in our society.

Because of our values based on biblical teaching we would find their beliefs, attitudes and practices barbaric and completely immoral.

Is there any hope for those people? How many barriers must be hurdled to reach them with the gospel? Many gods; sensuality and immorality; violence. 
Hopeless!

Would you waste your breath sharing the gospel with a prostitute in that foreign land of idolatry and paganism?

There was a prostitute in a land of idolatry, sensuality and violence and her name was Rahab. (See Joshua 2.) The people of Jericho were so deeply entrenched in sin that God had decided that it was time for judgment – they were to be wiped off the face of the earth!

Nearly 700 years later God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, a city filled with idols, the capital city of a nation given to war and sensuality. Jonah did not think they were deserving, but God wanted wanted them to be warned...and they believed!

Nearly 800 years later the Apostle Paul entered another city of idols and he was completely repulsed. Yet he found a way to speak to the people of Athens by observing that they were religious. He spoke God’s message and there were some who believed.

There was no preaching in Jericho. It was too late; it was time for judgment. Yet, Rahab the harlot believed in God. In faith she made a desperate plea and she and her family were spared from destruction. She then followed God.

Are there people that you know, like Rahab the harlot, who would surely not listen to the gospel. Would you think that they are unworthy of the gospel?

Are there people who are so different in their thinking, their beliefs, their values, that you find their way of life repulsive like Paul’s Athens?

Is there a place in this world to which you would refuse to go, like Jonah’s Nineveh?

If these examples teach us anything, it is that God is looking for genuine faith, but not all believers will be found in our nice, clean Midwestern neighborhoods. In truth, no one is ‘worthy’ of the gospel.

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient.
Hebrews 11:31

We must never think anyone is a lost cause!

Mark Stinnett