The Gospel Goes Viral

May 3, 2016  David Murray   4 comments

Viral videos are marketing gold in the new economy. In the old economy, you paid a fortune to produce a 30-second TV commercial, then paid even more for a few peak-viewing slots, and you had no guarantee that your target audience would see it; and even then there was no way for them to share it if they liked it.

In the new economy, viral videos cost little to produce, and nothing to distribute, as people do it for you by sharing with their friends and followers on social media, who then share it with their network, and so on. No wonder there are now companies specializing in viral videos.

But the Gospel can also go viral, as John 1:36-51 demonstrates. Here are five lessons we can learn about making the Gospel infectious from that passage.

Social Networks
The closer the relationships in any social network, the more powerful the recommendation. For example, a restaurant review on Google or Yelp is more helpful than the impersonal marketing blurb on the restaurant website. But a personal recommendation on Facebook is even more influential than a Google or Yelp review.

The two social networks in John 1 are effective because of the closeness of the relationships. The first one goes from John the Baptist to two of his disciples (36); then one of them, Andrew, spreads the message to Simon (40-41); and, of course, Peter became the great Pentecostal preacher who saw thousands converted, and the great letter writer who has edified millions through the centuries.

The second social network goes from Jesus to Philip (43) to Nathaniel (45), whose story continues to be communicated from pulpits to this day.

Challenge: What is your social network and what are you doing to use these relationships to spread the Gospel?

Simple Message
Although corporations often think that the more information they pack into a video, the more successful it will be, viral marketers emphasize the need for a short and simple message, ideally with a human touch. That’s exactly what we see here.

  • Five words: Behold the lamb of God (36)
  • Five words: We have found the Messiah (41)
  • Two words: Follow me (43)
  • Six words: We have found the predicted Messiah (45)
  • Three words: Come and see (46)

Note how short, how simple, and how personal the messages are. All of them are so focused on Jesus.

Challenge: Are you excusing yourself from witnessing because you don’t know all the arguments, or can’t speak eloquently and persuasively? Look at how short, simple, personal, and effective the Gospel message can be!

Selfless Messengers
Viral marketers tell us that the best way to get people to enjoy your video, share your video, and respond to your message, is not to try and get money from them for your product, but to try and give them something that will benefit them.

That’s what we see here too: John the Baptist, Andrew, Peter, Jesus, Philip, Nathanael – all of them wanted to give something to people rather than get something from them.  They were not focused on their own gain but on the gain of everyone else.

Challenge: Andrew is mentioned three times in the Bible, and all three times he is selflessly bringing people to Jesus (John 1:40-41;  6:8; 12:22). Are we motivated by a desire to bless others and give to others?

Satisfies Need
It’s always easier to market a product to an existing need rather than try to create a new need that a product or service meets. And the more widespread and common the need, the better. Again, notice how the Gospel satisfies such common needs: 

  • The need for a satisfying sacrifice: Behold the lamb of God (36).
  • The need for a satisfying teacher: The two disciples were looking for a trustworthy rabbi to live with and follow (37-39).
  • The need for a satisfying purpose: Jesus gave Peter a new purpose in life – to be a rock for the future infant church (42).
  • The need for a satisfying relationship: “Follow me” (43) meant walking in Christ’s footsteps in the closest possible connection with him.
  • The need for satisfying fulfilment: Jesus was the climactic consummation of all Old Testament prophecy (45).
  • The need for satisfying answers: Jesus answered and satisfied Nathanael’s skeptical and suspicious questions (46).
  • The need for heavenly communication:  Jesus would open heaven to enable maximum communication from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven, all via the medium of Christ’s person (51).

Challenge: Identify your needs, and the needs of those around you, and meet that need – no matter how many or how great – with the all-sufficient and all-suitable Gospel.

Significant Impact
The more impact a video makes on a person the more likely they are to share it. Same with the Gospel; the more impact it makes on us, the more likely we are to share it. John the Baptist, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael were powerfully transformed by the Gospel and could not help but share it. They were contagious Christians full of Gospel enthusiasm.

Challenge: Pray that God would deeply infect you with the Gospel so that the health-giving contagion of grace will touch others in a life-changing and eternity-changing way.

  • johntjeff

    Here is a list of 38 “Five Word” statements from Scripture that are all “sermon worthy.” They are assembled under four subject headings.

    1. The Person of Christ — The Redeemer:

    “Before Abraham was I am.” (Jn. 8:58)
    “I am Alpha and Omega.” (Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13)
    “I am the Good Shepherd.” (Jn. 10:11)
    “I am the True Vine.” (Jn. 15:1)
    “He is Lord of all.” (Ac. 10:36) [“Jesus Christ is the Lord.”]
    “This is My Beloved Son.” (Mt. 3:17; 17:5)
    “Behold the Lamb of God.” (Jn. 1:29, 36)
    “We have found the Messias.” (Jn. 1:41)

    2. The Work of Christ (as Prophet, Priest and King) — Redemption Accomplished:

    “He called His Name Jesus.” (Mt. 1:25)
    “He shall bear their iniquities.” (Is. 53:11)
    “Christ died for our sins.” (1 Cor. 15:3)
    “And that He was buried” (1 Cor. 15:4)
    “He shall prolong His days.” (Is. 53:10)
    “He rose from the dead.” (1 Cor. 15:12)
    “I have overcome the world.” (Jn. 16:33)
    “Sanctify them through the truth.” (Jn. 17:17)
    “He shall see His seed.” (Is. 53:10)

    3. The Salvation of Christ — Redemption Applied:

    “He shall save His people.” (Mt. 1:21)
    “Ye have not chosen Me.” (Jn. 15:16)
    “Neither do I condemn thee.” (Jn. 8:11)
    “Go, and sin no more.” (Jn. 8:11)
    “Peace I leave with you.” (Jn. 14:27)
    “By grace ye are saved.” (Eph. 2:5)
    “Ye must be born again.” (Jn. 3:7)
    “We have peace with God.” (Rom. 5:1)
    “My sheep hear My voice.” (Jn. 10:27)
    “Joy shall be in heaven.” (Lk. 15:7)
    “Continue ye in My love.” (Jn. 15:9)
    “I am crucified with Christ.” (Gal. 2:20)
    “Buried with Him in baptism” (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12)
    “Ye are risen with Him” (Col. 2:12)
    “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Mt. 16:23; Mk. 8:33; Lk. 4:8)

    4. The Return of Christ — Redemption Revealed:

    “We look for the Savior.” (Phil. 3:20) [“Jesus Christ is coming again.”]
    “Blessed is he that readeth.” (Rev. 1:3)
    “The time is at hand.” (Rev. 1:3; 22:10)
    “Behold, He cometh with clouds.” (Rev. 1:7)
    “I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:5) [“God wins in the end!”]
    “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)

    • David Beirne

      Good stuff, thank you!

  • johntjeff

    The following also came to mind from your “Simple Message” point above:

    “Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”
    — Paul, 1 Corinthians 14:19

    “But the seed, though very small, was a living thing. There is a great difference between a mustard seed and a piece of wax of the same size. Life slumbers in that seed. What life is we cannot tell. Even if you take a microscope you cannot spy it out. It is a mystery, but it is essential to a seed. The Gospel has a something in it not readily discoverable by the philosophical inquirer, if, indeed, he can perceive it at all. Take a maxim of Socrates or of Plato, and inquire whether a nation or a tribe has ever been transformed by it from barbarism to culture. A maxim of a philosopher may have measurably influenced a person in some right direction, but who has ever heard of a someone’s whole character being transformed by any observation of Confucius or Socrates? I confess I never have. Human teachings are barren. But within the Gospel, with all its triteness and simplicity, there is a divine life and that life makes all the difference. The human can never rival the divine, for it lacks the life-fire. It is better to preach five words of God’s Word than five million words of human wisdom. Human words may seem to be the wiser and the more attractive, but there is no heavenly life in them. Within God’s Word, however simple it may be, there dwells an omnipotence like that of God from whose lips it came.”
    — Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Mustard Seed: A Sermon for the Sabbath-School Teacher” (Lk. 13:18-19), Sermon No. 2110, delivered 20 OCT 1889, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, U.K.; in Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 35 (1889), pp. 565ff.; in Charles H. Spurgeon, The Parables of Our Lord (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2003), pg. 707; and on The Spurgeon Archive at http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2110.htm [accessed 23 DEC 2014].

    “God is the one Source and sole Author of truth. Sin is whatever God says it is. Judgment is whatever God says it is. Salvation is what God says it is. Heaven and hell are what God says they are. It matters not what man says but simply what God says. One word of what God says is worth more than ten thousand libraries of what man says. “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (Romans 3:4).” Steven J. Lawson, in sermon titled, “What is Truth?”
    — Steven J. Lawson, “What is Truth?,” Tabletalk Magazine (1 SEP 2010), on Ligonier Ministries at http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-is-truth/ [accessed 3 MAY 2016].

  • David Beirne

    Excellent and inspiring. Always wondered why neither the gospels nor Acts lay out a clear 13 week training course in evangelism. Maybe this is why.