In his book, Center
Church, Tim Keller (borrowing from D.A. Carson) wrote about the important
work we must do to make the truth of the Gospel clear to people who are far
from God and disconnected from the language, life and worldview of God’s
people. He argues that the Gospel, while it is universally
true and timeless, must be contextualized for different people in different
cultures so that they will be able to understand it and respond. The New Testament writers themselves did the
same thing. Keller identifies six motivations
to use when appealing to non-Christians to believe the gospel:
- Sometimes the appeal is to come to God out of fear of judgment and death. (Hebrews 2:14-18)
- Sometimes the appeal is to come to God out of a desire for release from the burdens of guilt and shame. (Galatians 3:10-12)
- Sometimes the appeal is to come to God out of appreciation for the “attractiveness of truth.” (I Corinthians 1:18)
- Sometimes the appeal is to come to God to satisfy unfulfilled existential longings. (John 4)
- Sometimes the appeal is to come to God for help with a problem. (Matthew 9:20-21, 27, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 17:11-19)
- Lastly, the appeal is to come to God simply out of a desire to be loved. (Keller, 3024-3055)
Clearly the Gospel of salvation is completely by grace
alone through faith alone. Being
faithful in contextualizing the Gospel is never about changing it or altering
that core truth. However, because we are
faithful to the Gospel and the call of Jesus on our lives, we must be diligent and
dedicated in the work of contextualizing the Gospel for those who have not
heard it, have not understood it or who have yet to receive it.
Let me break it down even more. Take my friend (to protect the innocent, I
will call him Joe). Joe had a short and
very dysfunctional church experience as a child and was sure to run from it as
fast as he could when he was an adult.
Now, as a husband and father, he is searching spiritually for the first
time in years. We have talked a number
of times about spiritual subjects and he has even begun to come to church. However, there are distinctive obstacles for
Joe to connect with the Gospel as well as with other Christian people. His understanding and the biblical
understanding about basic words like salvation, confession, repentance, forgiveness,
obedience, righteousness, holiness, etc. are totally different. Therefore, every time he reads them or hears
them discussed there is a disconnect between the truth and his caricature of
the truth. His idea of who God is, how
He relates to humans and what He expects from us is pretty skewed.
What is God calling me to do with Joe? Give up? No!
Hope he just figures it out on his own?
I don’t think so! Throw out all
the parts of the Gospel that will be difficult for Joe to embrace like
surrender or dying to ourselves?
Absolutely not! I could go on.
I believe God has called me to . . .
- enter into a relationship with Joe whereby my life can best represent the transforming reality and good news of Jesus Christ.
- really listen to Joe’s story and sympathize with his hurt so that I can gain credibility and help him get past his distorted images of God, the Bible and the Gospel.
- articulate the truth of the Gospel in such a way that Joe can hear it, grasp it and respond accordingly.
What do you think about all this? What is God calling you to do with the Joe’s
in your life?
