Picture the scene – the Christianity enquirers group [insert ‘brand name’ of choice]. In a circle of chairs sit a mixture of Christians and non-Christians. Someone suggests that it might be helpful for the Christians to say a little about why they became Christians. One by one the Christians speak – and a pattern soon emerges in their answers, along the lines of: 'Well being a Christian is a great comfort to me, it’s so good to know that whatever happens in life God is there with me, Jesus has really helped me in some difficult times and I can talk to Him at any time, it's such a joy to have a relationship with God and to know He loves me and cares for me no matter what…etc’. Well, amen to that – it’s all absolutely true and is testimony to some great blessings that accompany the Christian life.
BUT - if we inserted the words ‘aromatherapy’, 'my spouse' or ‘golf’ instead of ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ into those sentiments wouldn’t they equally stand up? Golf is a great stress reliever, aromatherapy eases me through some difficult days, at the end of a hectic week it’s good to know we can get the old clubs out, my wife has stuck me with through thick & thin …etc. So the non-Christians listen to our endorsements and think it sounds good (if a bit airy-fairy) - but actually going to church, giving up my guilty pleasures, being labeled a ‘Christian!’ would probably be more like extra hassel than a way to chill out for me.
Maybe a more effective (certainly more thought-provoking) answer to the question: ‘Why are you a Christian?’ would be – ‘Because I don’t want to go the Hell’. Okay, you’ll probably send the other Christians into a coma of embarrassment – so negative, caricaturing, blunt, lacking a sensitive appreciation of the social & theological context of the listeners – but you may actually get a discussion going around the key issue of the Gospel.
You see we need to make it clear that the Gospel is not some spiritualized aromatherapy, golf, whale music or life coaching. The Gospel is a matter of life and death – eternal life and eternal death. The judgement of God is the starting point of the Gospel – ‘The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven…’ (Rom 1:18), God’s judgement on sin is the problem that the Gospel is the solution to, it is the question that makes being a Christian such a wonderful answer. We only fully appreciate and grasp the extend of God’s love towards us when we grasp that ‘while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8) – so that we might ‘be saved from God’s wrath through him!’ (Rom 5:9).
Paul & Tripp say of church kids that the reason they are often so unexcited about the Gospel is because they do not think they really need it. Do our contacts reject the gospel or are they just underwhelmed by it?
2 comments:
Thanks for this andy. A really interesting and helpful article.
Andy, thanks for all that. Helps keep the focus.
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