You know the kind. They stand on the street corner holding a sign that says “Turn or Burn!” or they shout at concert goers through a megaphone about how the lines in hell are even longer. They call themselves evangelists, but is that really what they’re doing?
It’s true that some Christians
feel that preaching the Gospel is primarily about informing people that they
are going to burn in hell forever. This is usually defended as “telling people
the truth” and in spite of all the spittle and phlegm they assure you that they’re
doing it all in love.
Why this may technically be
true, at least in part, I want to ask whether or not this is the way that the
Apostles preached the Gospel message, according to the scriptures.
Leaving behind the debates
about Hell, (and its duration and purpose), let’s stick to the evidence we have
in scripture regarding the sermons that Jesus and the Apostle’s actually
preached.
See, contrary to popular
opinion, Jesus did NOT spend most of His time talking about Hell. He spent
nearly every breath talking about the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Yes,
Jesus did make reference to the punishment that awaited those who chose not to
follow Him, but He did so in the context of a larger conversation about the
Kingdom of God.
I wonder what Paul focused on
when he preached the Gospel?“He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” (Acts 28:30-31)
And
when Paul stood up to preach to those godless pagans in Athens, what did he
focus on? Hell? Judgment? Damnation? Did Paul love them enough to tell them the
truth about their eternal destination? Let’s see:
“Paul then stood up in the
meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way
you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your
objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN
GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am
going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and
everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples
built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed
anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything
else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole
earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of
their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for
him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live
and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his
offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s
offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or
stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such
ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set
a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He
has given proof of this to everyone by raising him [Jesus] from the dead.” (ACTS
17:22-32)Whoa! Where’s the fire and brimstone? First he compliments them on their spirituality, then he jumps right into telling them all about who God is, and how God wants to be found, and then he even quotes one of their pagan pop stars (or poets) and concludes that everyone one of us "are God's offspring".
Where’s all that love stuff about sinful abominations and eternal
suffering in a lake of fire? Sure, he mentions that a day of judgment is coming, but he leaves out the fact that they are the ones who will end up getting the short end of that stick. I’m sure it wasn’t very effective. Right?
“Some of the people became
followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the
Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.” (ACTS 17:34)
So, what Gospel did Peter
preach? It was all about Jesus:
“Fellow Israelites, listen to
this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man
accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among
you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by
God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,
put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of
death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (ACTS
2:22-24)
I wonder how much more
effective our street preachers today might be if they preached this same kind
of Gospel as Peter preached? Instead of focusing on Hell, maybe we should be
preaching about Jesus with the same intensity and passion as the Apostles did?
Peter continued by saying:
“Therefore let all Israel be
assured of this: God has made this Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and
Messiah.”When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to
Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children
and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With
many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves
from this corrupt generation.” (ACTS 2:36-40)
Again, notice there’s no
emphasis on eternal suffering here. Peter’s entire focus is on the person of
Jesus. He’s our only hope. He’s the Messiah. He gave His life to save all of us
because of His great love for us and those who receive Him will also receive
many wonderful blessings as a result.
Given that Jesus, Peter, and
Paul (not to mention the other Apostles) never made eternal suffering the theme
of their Gospel presentations, I wonder why we don’t see more preachers and
evangelists today proclaiming what they did?
Can I make a suggestion? I’d
like to suggest that those who have a gift of evangelism try to focus their message
on preaching what Jesus and the Apostles did; The Gospel of the Kingdom. Or,
for variety’s sake, try simply lifting up the person of Jesus and sharing with
everyone how wonderful it is to know Him and to love Him and to follow Him.
Just imagine how great that could be, especially if people actually respond and
decide they’d like to know more about Jesus.
You know, I’ve found that
people really are interested in knowing about Jesus. They may not be very
interested in Church, or in joining a Christian club, but they are interested
in the person of Jesus. We should take advantage of that fact. We should do all
we can to point people to Jesus and to invite them to follow Him in their daily
lives. That’s sort of what the Great Commission was all about anyway.
As Paul said let us all, “…preach
to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.” (Eph.3:8)
Maybe, just maybe, the world
would respond to the message that God loves them and would rather die than live
without them.
I think it’s worth a shot.
-kg
1 comment:
Yes, follow Jesus in thought and deed, beginning with the two great commandments, so that life here and now may be is in heaven.
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