Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Gospel isn't just another good idea...

The following is a response that someone made to a question that had been asked about "how the best way is to show people that the Gospel isn't just another good idea that we can choose from, but the idea of all time".

Just recently, I was confronted with this question in my own life, and going through Porterbrook. I think, quite honestly, the best way to show people that the gospel isn't just another good idea that we can choose from, but THE idea of all time, is to show how glorious the gospel is for them specifically. An example of this would be someone whoseeks the approval of their boss, in a sense, worshipping their employer. Getting them to see that could be easy or hard, but lets pretend it's easy. "Of course I'm constantly seeking their approval. This person holds my entire career in their hands. If I don't kiss the ground the walk on, I'm done. My family is a wreck, I'll be broke, and there will be no hope for me. My boss controls my life, and isn't very charitable. What's wrong with just trying to put food on the table?" How could we respond to that? One way could be the miraculous, and I don't doubt that many people have met Jesus through that. But I believe the most glorifying way would be to show how much GREATER it is to worship God rather than their boss. "Look, you're in ontant worry and fear, your boss rules over you, you hate it, you feel like a slave, and you're in constant anxiety because if you don't perform perfectly, your slavemaster may throw you out on the streets an d leave you there to die. But the GOOD news is that, you have a God who sees your suffering, who knows your struggles, and who cares infinitely more about you and your family than you do. He can deliver you from slavery. The way he does this is through Jesus, who reconciles us to God, so that we may worship and trust him! And when you do that, your worry goes out the door because you know that ultimately, a good holy perfect righteous God who loves you is in control. You don't have to be perfect because Jesus was perfect for you and you don't have to earn your favor with him. You don't have to feel like a slave, because Jesus has set you free from the guilt of not being good enough! Brother, the gospel is good news!" Each person has their idol. What we do is expose those idols and show how terrible gods they make, but we can't leave it there. We then have to show them how much more glorious the real God is. How much joy, freedom, peace, and love there is when we worship him instead of others. The fun, but also the hard work comes when doing that in each individual person's story. This requires us knowing them serving them, lovimg them, and being their friend to know what is going on in their heart. Ultimately the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts and use you to let them see how much more beautiful and glorious Jesus is to them. Pray for that, and for wisdom. I pray this helps brother. (Though this, I feel, is the best way to present the glory of the gospel, I do believe it's best for you to adapt and "become all things to all people" to your friends of different religious and political backgrounds. Learn about it, and adapt and contextualize the gospel to them so as not to create any barriers for them accepting the gospel. A good example would be not to eat bacon in front of Muslims, so as not to be a hindrance.) God bless your family and your ministry

No comments:

Post a Comment