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The Gospel in a
Mean World
- Rev Gilbert Wong Introduction Somehow we in the modern world seem to have blinded ourselves to the fact and the seriousness of sin. Perhaps we have been too impressed by our achievements in the physical world. We have made tremendous advances in science and technology and this tends to breed an attitude of self-sufficiency and self-confidence. Humankind today knows more about the mighty universe than the mighty God. Humankind knows the minute atom with its even more minute particles than the minute sins in our lives. Humankind can perform the miracle of travelling to the moon. Humankind can fill his world with an astonishing array of gadgetry and perform extraordinary feats of construction. But our mastery of the outward world is not matched by a corresponding mastery of our inner world. Love on a Cross The light-hearted attitude our generation so often takes towards sin does not get rid of it or its consequences. That is the problem our world faces. But this is not the end of the matter. The wonderful thing the Bible makes clear is that God loves us and does what is necessary to deliver us from sin. The Old Testament is clear that God loves the people “with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). It is of interest that Jeremiah usually employs such words of love to bring out the truth that God’s people have been false to God. Jeremiah uses it again and again when he wants to bring out the love the people had for false gods. But though the prophet thinks so readily of the people’s false loves and of their rebellion against the One who loved them truly, he is in no doubt about the quality of God’s love. That love is deep and lasting. There is no way that God will cease to love, not even in the face of people’s unceasing sin. The people sinned and sinned and sinned, but God loved and loved and loved. Jeremiah gave this emphasis; he knew that God’s love is everlasting. And he went on to speak of the “new covenant” that God would make with his people. There are several covenants in the Old Testament, some with individuals, such as Abraham, and some with groups, like the Aaronic priests. The one which primarily concerns us is that with the nation as a whole (Exodus 24). Twice the people vowed that they would obey all the Lord’s commandments (verses 3, 7). But it is easier to vow than to perform what is vowed. The people sinned repeatedly and broke the covenant. Jeremiah recognized the hopelessness of relying on the covenant and he looked to God to make a new one. It does not seem to have occurred to him that God might abandon his people. God’s love was too great for that. But he would do things differently and the prophet Jeremiah looks for a new covenant, a covenant that would be based on God’s forgiveness, not the people’s commitment to obedience. It would be inward: the law of god would be written on the hearts of the people (Jeremiah 31:33-34). Jesus took up this radical thought. When he began the service of Holy Communion he spoke of “my blood of the (new) covenant” (Mark 14:24). The blood of Jesus shed would establish that covenant that would make all things new. There are, of course, other ways of looking at what God’s love did at the cross. The death of Jesus means redemption: his people are brought out of their slavery to sin, released from the sentence of death sin had brought upon them. It means reconciliation, for God and man are reconciled and men are reconciled to one another. It means justification, whereby those who have no righteousness of their own are declared to be in the right, given right standing in the sight of God. It means propitiation, for the wrath of God which operates against all evil is turned away from those who are in Christ. And there are other ways of looking at it. What the new covenant stresses is that an Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled, a prophecy which came from a prophet imbued with the idea that God’s love would certainly find a way to save sinners. And that is what happened at the cross. Sin is a complex phenomenon and it is not surprising that salvation is also complex and that it can be viewed from any one of a number of angles, as we have just seen. Whatever had to be done for sinful man was done. The love of God triumphed, though at great cost. The Saving Act of God Just as it is important to see that the evil that we do and which is part of us is a great problem, so it is important to see that the love that provides for our salvation is the love of God. It is easy to distort the position and some Christians have sometimes done this. They have pictured God as a stern Judge, who sentences sinful people. Into this picture comes a loving Son who bears the punishment the Judge metes out to sinners ad thus enables the sinners to go free. There are elements of truth in this, but as a whole it is a caricature. The Father and Son were not on different courses. 2 Corinthians 5:19 tells us that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself”. Spreading the good news of what some man has done is a pleasant exercise, but there is no compulsion on anyone to engage in it. The good news of what God has done is, however, quite another matter. That must be told to the very ends of the earth. That means that those who have been saved and who now see themselves as the people of God cannot but give themselves over to the task. Precisely because this is God’s answer to the problem of human sin, those who belong to God must proclaim it everywhere. There is an inbuilt compulsion. The task of evangelism is implied by the very nature of the Christian message. There is no escaping it. It accords with this that Scripture records an authoritative command to engage in evangelism. Matthew tells us that Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:18-19). A similar charge is found in each of the other Gospels as we have them and in Acts. It is clear that at the very end, Jesus’ final charge to his followers stressed the importance of their proclaiming the gospel. Simple obedience to the Lord of the church requires that members of the church be actively evangelistic, quite apart from the obligation that must be deduced from the nature of the gospel message. New Life in Christ The gospel then must be preached to a world of sinners. It is God’s answer to their sin. But this does not mean simply that sinners are forgiven and then go back to their former way of life. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that the life to which the gospel calls is a radically new life. When Jesus saves he does not leave the sinner as he was. Jesus’ touch is transforming and the New Testament uses some striking expressions to bring this out. There is a conversion (Matthew 18:3). A man is going down a road and realizes that he is on the wrong track. He will never get to his destination by going in that direction. So he turns, is “converted”, and goes in a completely different direction. The life of the believer is headed in a completely different direction from that of the unsaved sinner. Again, he is regenerated, born all over again (John 3). The life he now lives is so different that it is as though he has been completely reborn. Or the imagery may be of death. He dies to an old way of life. Paul once says that in baptism he is buried with Christ (Galatians 2:19) and it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh (Galatians 5:24). In the cross of Christ the world has been crucified to Paul and Paul to the world (Galatians 6:10). Then there is a language of resurrection. The believer is risen with Christ (Colossians 3:1). He has died, but his life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), which points to the divine life at work in him. He is partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We could go on. The New Testament is eloquent of the newness of the life in Christ. The gospel is not an invitation to modify slightly a few of our worst habits, not to replace one set of customs by another, throwing in a few taboos for good measure. It is an invitation to die to a whole new way of life and to rise to a radically new one. To become a Christian is to undergo a revolutionary change. The cross is the means of bringing about this salvation and the cross stands over all this new life. Jesus said that his follower must take up the cross daily (Luke 9:23). Newness of life does not mean that the believer is brought into a way life where all his ambitions and desires are fulfilled. He is brought into a way of life where selfishness has no place and where he lives in love. It is love that is the mark of the Christian. He lives to serve his fellows in deep and genuine love. While this love is given freely and is not to be used as bait, as a means to an end, we should still notice that genuine love is a powerful force for evangelism. The People in Iran were impressed by the love Christians showed and they were “drawn by the simple practical impact of the readiness of Christians to help in the forming of a co-operative in farming and building”. Love that issues in lowly service is a necessary feature of genuine Christianity. This emphasis on love means that there is no thought of cheap grace. It was not cheap for Christ, for it cost him his life. And it is not cheap for us, for it demands a response that it total. The saved, in Paul’s graphic phrase, “have become slaves to God” (Romans 6:22). He can write, “You are not your own, for you were brought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Response to the gospel is not the acceptance of a form of words or the membership of an organization. It is the whole of life. From one point of view, it is true, it is an invitation to personal salvation, but from another it is a call to a life of sacrifice and service. Nothing must obscure this. Much could be added. It is a fair to point out that the life of service takes place within the fellowship of the church. There is a community of believers, an outgoing community, for the New Testament does not envisage believers as self-centred or organization-centred. But it does not envisage either that Christians will be a series of pious particles, solitary souls living out the faith in splendid isolation. The church is integral to the Christian way. When we evangelize we invite people to join the fellowship of all those who are in Christ. And we point out that the New Testament emphasizes the work of the Spirit. From the day of Pentecost on (Acts 2), the infant church depended entirely on the strength and guidance of the Spirit. Evangelism does not mean bringing a message that God has acted decisively for our forgiveness but that thereafter we are left to our own devices. That is not the way of it at all. God is active in the way believers live out their faith, just as he is in the way their sin is put away. I want to do no more here than hint at the riches of the Christian life the gospel holds out to the believers. It is a full and satisfying life; a life of love and service, a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. But our concern here is simply the fact that the more real this life become to us, the more we are committed to the task of making it real to others. Spreading the Christian gospel is an integral part of being a Christian. To understand what the gospel means is to be initiated into a life of service, a life in which bringing others to accept the gospel is a vitally necessary element. (Adapted from Leon Morris, 1983) [Top] |
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Church of the Ascension, 13
Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339 |