The Greatest Tract of All
The Word One to One’s Director of Evangelism, John MacKinnon, explains why John’s Gospel might be the best gospel tract that we can share with others.
Christmas and Easter are two of my favourite times of the year.
The special gatherings with family, the great food, the joy of gifts given and received and of course the odd piece or three of chocolate! Every good and precious gift comes from God and these two celebrations give us countless reasons to be thankful.
It’s also the case that there seems to be more openness amongst our loved ones to the message of the season, and this provides us with the opportunity to share the good news of the amazing gift of our Lord Jesus Christ with our family, neighbours, and friends.
I find myself appreciating and applauding the creative energy that many Christian publishers and agencies invest in providing trusted, timely and winsome resources that focus on the message of the gospel. Isn’t it wonderful when you hear stories of people who have come to faith through the impact of a gospel book or tract that was faithfully and prayerfully given to them? It’s a reason for rejoicing, and this often neglected ministry has a powerful track-record in transforming lives.
It was Charles Spurgeon who said so beautifully:
“When preaching and private talk are not available, you need to have a tract ready…get good striking tracts, or none at all. But a touching gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life. Therefore, do not go out without your tracts.”
A truly gospel tract
However, my favourite and my nomination for the greatest gospel tract of all is (drum roll)…the “Gospel according to John”.
John the Apostle was a man of vision, purpose, and steadfast priority. We witness this in his amazing account of the life of Jesus when he writes:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
He writes these words right after Thomas, the one we often call ‘doubting Thomas’, makes his incredible confession about Jesus, calling him ‘My Lord and my God’. I think John does this very intentionally, because the whole reason why he writes his gospel is that he wants everyone who reads it to find life in Jesus’ name. In the previous verse he had written, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed’.
His whole reason for writing is driven by his desire that those who read his authentic and genuine account of Jesus’ life might come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour by the work of the Holy Spirit and through the Word.
The gospel is a masterpiece of carefully selected signs that provide a rationale for belief in Jesus, showing us clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, and the deliverer and Saviour of all who will believe. God justifies both Jew and Gentile in the same way, in Christ, by faith in Him.
A truly personal tract
It is possible that my love of John’s Gospel dates all the way back to the day of my salvation when someone read and then explained John chapter 10, and my heart was both convicted and convinced of my need of Jesus in the words:
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”
Love, light and Life are three recurring themes in all of John’s writings. For John, ‘life’ is always eternal life; it is life at its best, living it under the gracious hand of God both here and now; and then for all eternity.
A truly transforming tract
It is for this reason that I love the ‘Bible sharing’ simplicity of The Word One to One. My ‘Greatest Gospel Tract of All’ is presented in short episodes, it comes with accompanying helpful notes, and its format provides me with the most stunning Word-centred approach to sharing my faith with others. I can’t speak for Spurgeon, but perhaps one day I’ll ask him what he thinks, and I’m confident that he might say this qualifies as more than ‘a good striking tract’.
As we look together with our friends at the first eighteen verses in John’s Gospel, we discover that Jesus is God Eternal, that He created all things and that through His grace we can know Him personally. There really is transforming power in allowing God’s word to do its best work in someone’s life.
I particularly like the fact that we invite someone to look at this with us, which makes it more personable than simply handing someone a tract. As we invite a family member, friend, or colleague to consider its claims, we’re not preaching a sermon or conducting a Bible study or even running a course – all of which are invaluable – but instead we are joyfully turning the pages of the gospel, guiding our non-believing family member or friend through the Word and longing that they might come to a living faith in Christ.
This is the heartbeat of The Word One to One throughout the world, and we can testify to countless numbers of people becoming followers of Jesus through the impact of John’s Gospel in their lives.
As we celebrate this wonderful season and marvel at the wonder of the ‘Word became flesh’, why not take the opportunity this season provides and invite someone you know to look at John’s Gospel, and pray that they might come to see and know the wonder of the Word for themselves!
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