PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL

A week ago, Matt McCormick, a friend from our family's years in Haiti, started writing on Substack.

I found myself resonating deeply with his second post: What Jesus Talked about Most.

Matt continues to work innovatively for development in Haiti through an organization called Xcelerant.  

In the article, he expresses frustration over the question most often asked by American Christians when they are considering whether or not to financially support his work: 

"Is Xcelerant a Gospel-centered organization, or just a humanitarian one?"

They ask because American Christians are more likely to give money to a ministry which is actively "spreading the gospel" than one "merely" helping the people Jesus came to set free!

Our definition of "gospel" is so skewed. 

Remember, Jesus came "proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom"! (Matt 4:23) The Kingdom of God is where everything that is wrong with this world gets set right - in Jesus' name. And that is THE good news.

When we do God's will - feeding the hungry, healing the sick, setting free the captive - we ARE proclaiming the gospel. 

Matt took an interesting approach in his article. 

He has an engineering mind, so he looked at every one of the 2,024 New Testament verses recording the sayings of Jesus and looked for trends. In the end, Matt found that each verse fit into one of four broad categories:

• 56% — How to live in the Kingdom

• 15% — What the Kingdom is

• 15% — Who the King is

• 14% — Receiving or resisting the King

THIS is what Jesus spent his days talking about.

I pray that the American church will wake up and embrace the fullness of the gospel. Until then, we will be missing the vast majority of our opportunities to proclaim it. 

FAITH IS VISIBLE

A quick thought on faith:

If faith is mere intellectual assent to a propositional truth (like "Jesus died for my sins"), then how does one SEE faith?

Both Jesus and Paul saw faith:

Mark 2:5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Acts 14:9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.

BELIEVE IN ... (FILL IN THE BLANK)

It's interesting to step back and take an overview of the word "faith/believe" in the New Testament.

If I am reading my sources correctly, the Greek word "pistis", the noun form translated most often as "faith" occurs 243 times in the New Testament. 

Coincidently, the verb form, "pisteuo", translated typically as "believe" also occurs 243 times. 

Both exist quite often without any object. But when they do have objects, there is quite a range.

Here's a sampling of the noun form, pistis/faith: 

The Bible speaks of faith...

• in God (Mark 11:22)
• toward God (Heb 6:1)
• in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21)
• in him who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5)
• in the Son of God (Gal 2:20)
• in Christ Jesus (Col 1:4)
• in the truth (2 Thess 2:13)

The verb form, pisteuo/believe, has even more variety in its objects:

The Bible speaks of people believing...

• John the Baptist (Matt 21:32)
• in the gospel (Mark 1:15)
• that what Jesus says will come to pass (Mark 11:23)
• that you have received what you asked for in prayer (Mark 11:24)
• the reports about the risen Christ (Mark 16:14)
• Jesus's words (Luke 1:20)
• all that the prophets have spoken (Luke 24:25)
• in His name (John 1:12)
• the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken (John 2:22)
• in the Son (John 3:36)
• that "I am He" (John 8:24)
• in the Son of Man (John 9:35)
• the works Jesus performed (John 10:38)
• that "you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world (John 11:27)
• that God sent Jesus (John 11:42)
• in the Light (John 12:36)
• that Jesus came from God (John 16:27)
• that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31)
• Philip as he preached the good news about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12)
• in the Lord (Acts 9:42)
• in God (Acts 16:34)
• in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord (Rom 4:24)
• that God raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 10:9)
• that Jesus died and rose again (1 Thess 4:14)
• that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 5:1)
• in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13)

But most often, the Bible simply speaks of "believing in Jesus". 

It's funny that when you hear people try to define exactly what a person must "believe" in order to be saved, the answer is usually something like "You must believe that Jesus died for your sins and that He is the only way for you to be forgiven and to get to heaven".

But belief is never formulated exactly that way even once in any of these verses. 

Wouldn't you think that if faith were simply a mental assent to some propositional truth, the magic formula would be repeated throughout the New Testament, so that nobody would miss it?

When you look at the lists above, it seems to me that the emphasis is not at all on propositional truths, per se.

The emphasis is not on the object. The emphasis is on the verb itself.

Believing is a heart attitude. 

Believe = Trust. 

FILTHY RAGS?

Just about every time you listen to Christian YouTubers build a biblical case - either for their own particular theological paradigm or against someone else's - you can bet that proof texting will play a major role.

Broad doctrines are often built (or rejected) on the flimsiest of premises: one or two verses ripped out of context and read as woodenly as possible.

There are certain proof texts that just drive me mad these days - ones that are cited time and again but are NEVER examined in context.

For instance, I am sure that you have heard preachers point out that "our righteous acts are like filthy rags in God's sight". 

Isaiah 64:6 says so!

And then the preacher expands upon the verse, saying "God is so holy and you and I are so incredibly sinful that even when we try to do something good, God is simply disgusted by it."

I've heard this applied to non-believers and believers alike. 

Apparently, God is impossible to please. Try to do good and you only succeed in ticking Him off. 

But take an extra 30 seconds to look back even a single verse for context and then ask "Who is the 'our' in this verse?" and here's what you read:

5You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

So, who is the "we/our" in this context? 

God's people, but currently in rebellion against Him!

Picture a cheating husband, caught in the act, who tries to smooth things over by buying his wife a bouquet of roses. The wife has every reason to throw those flowers back in his face.

This does not indicate that the wife, in happier times, did not find a gift of roses to be absolutely delightful and romantic. 

"All of us have BECOME like one who is unclean" indicates clearly (to anyone who knows how to read) that this is not describing a perpetual state of God's displeasure with all humans, in all places, across all of history. 

Imagine the harm the misreading of this verse has caused over the years! Christian teachers should be ashamed.

SOME REQUESTS FOR MY FUNERAL

I overthink absolutely everything. 

And so I am sure my family will not be surprised after my death to find some very specific thoughts on how my funeral should be conducted. 

(Yes, I have thought through the fact that I will not be around to enforce my own desires and so I am already thinking about which of my children I should take aside and make swear an oath to uphold my wishes.)

So here is a list of my funeral requests in no particular order. And I reserve the right to add to these right up until the moment I expire: 

Find me the cheapest casket possible.

And I don't want people spending a bunch of money on flowers. What a waste. (And a hassle to deal with after the funeral.) I will certainly designate some specific charity people can give to in my memory - probably Mission Resource or Cap Haitien Christian School. They need the money more than the florist does.

Make sure there is a really great potluck at church afterward. (And say, "Steve would have really loved these deviled eggs!")

Have some guts and get up and say something nice about me. And, for that matter, feel free to criticize me if you want - what do I care? Get it off your chest.

No canned music, please. A piano will suffice. A guitarist would be better and a praise band better still. 

A time of dancing - like they do in Ghana - would be super cool, but I know this particular request will not likely fly. (I guess you can be allowed to nix at least one of these requests.) 

Let's do a few songs - a mix between some old hymns and more modern praise music. (You can be certain I will leave a list of suggestions for both.)

DO NOT sing "I'll Fly Away". It's got terrible theology of death and heaven. 

And that brings me to my most important request: I need someone to use the occasion of my death to preach a proper biblical theology of death, resurrection, and the eternal life to come. 

Make sure people know:

• I will not be carousing with those who have died before me. 
• I will not be saying "Hi" to any of your previously deceased loved ones for you. 
• I will not be watching over my own loved ones from heaven. That can be a creepy thought, anyway, so I am glad it's not reality.
• I will simply not be in heaven yet. (Nobody is.)
• I will not be appearing as a cardinal in anybody's front yard.
• I will not be an angel. I will not have wings.
• I will not be playing a harp. Or fishing. Or drinking beer. Or anything else.
• I will be resting and awaiting my resurrection body. The most prominent biblical metaphor is SLEEP. 

All this is hard to convey at anyone else's funeral, although I try to do so to one degree or another whenever I am called on to officiate. It just feels like you have to step very carefully. 

For some reason, people really cherish their little extra-biblical fantasies and superstitions about death. 

So if I can't fully preach Biblical concepts regarding death at other people's funerals, the least I can hope for is to find someone to do it at mine.

Any takers?

WHAT WAS BELIEF, BEFORE THE CROSS?

I keep thinking about those who want to reduce the gospel to "Just believe that Jesus died for your sins and you will be guaranteed a place in heaven when you die".

It seems to me that they have a major timeline issue. And it includes every single person who "believed" in Jesus before his death, burial and resurrection.

What exactly did those people "believe" before Good Friday rolled around?

Jesus simply wasn't walking around telling people that all that really mattered was that they believe he would die for their sins.

In fact, he spoke so little about the necessity of his own death that his disciples were caught completely off guard when it happened. 

So then, for one example, what message did the Samaritan woman take back to her village that caused many of the people to "believe in him"? (John 4:39)

John tells us her message: it wasn't "this guy is going to die for our sins" but, rather, "he told me all that I ever did". 

THIS was enough to motivate the villagers to go to Jesus and ask him to stick around for a couple of days. (Because it made her wonder if Jesus was the promised Messiah.)

And by the end of two days in the company of Jesus, they said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (v.42)

Now, if you grew up in the church, you have been conditioned to read "Savior of the world" as "the guy who can get you into heaven no matter what you've done". 

But that obviously wasn't what the Samaritans meant by that phrase.

To them, "Savior of the world" probably meant something more like "the single most important man to ever walk the face of the earth - the One sent by God to set all of creation right again". 

And if that is who you "believed" was standing in front of you, what would you DO?

I HEAR YOU, NEIL DIAMOND

The temperature was mild this morning for February and so I decided to take a walk. I was listening to some music on my phone as I left the house when I Am I Said by Neil Diamond started to play.

As the song ended, I found myself hitting the replay button - three times. I was trying to figure out a new connection to lyrics which had been familiar to me since my childhood:

L.A's fine, sun shines most of the time
And the feeling is laid back
Palm trees grow and rents are low
But you know I keep thinkin' about
Making my way back

Well I'm New York City born and raised
But nowadays, I'm lost between two shores
L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home
New York's home but it ain't mine no more

I finally realized that in my head I was hearing "L.A." as "Ghana" - with sunshine and palm trees - and New York City as Indiana, where I was "born and raised".

I love visiting Ghana, but the downside is that it reminds me of Haiti, where at least half of my heart remains to this day.

And Ghana is fine, "but it ain't home" and Indiana's home but, in some weird sense, "it ain't mine no more". 

Some days I am very conscious of the fact that I am still a missionary at heart.

And I would struggle to fully define what I mean by "missionary", but at the very least it seems to involve living life "lost between two shores", even after returning "home" nearly six years ago now. 

As I walked in the Indiana sunshine this morning, I asked myself, "Who did this to me?"

And you can guess how I answered...

"I Am", said I.  😉

And, honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way.