Monday, April 25, 2005
How Much Gospel Do We Need?
by David S. Apple
In his book Basics for Believers D. A. Carson writes, “I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different ethnic origins, or who are poor or homeless. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions re-directed or my giving too greatly enlarged. I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service. I would like about three dollars worth of gospel, please.”
Of course, none of us is so crass as to put it that way. But some of us have felt the temptation to opt for the
above. Some of us want a tamer gospel—one that doesn’t command us to be so Missional. Yet missions—
Christ’s mission—is the overarching principle of all the Church is, says, and does. Missions expresses service to
God by witnessing to what God has done, so that Christ is the whole content of who we are, where we serve,
what we say and what we do.
Why is that? Why is being a Christian so demanding? The answer according to scripture is we have been bought with a price (1 Cor.
Our lawful goal, then, as Missional people, is to follow Jesus’ example and to integrate into our lifestyles the mandate for missions. What are the “marks” of a Missional mandate? We are united as a gathered together people. We are set apart. We are welcoming: we invite and incorporate others into this organic, living, growing body to love the broken and brokenhearted in word and deed. We are incarnational servants who actualize our faith in missions: we break down barriers, intentionally crossing them to proclaim the gospel to the unchurched in the name of Jesus Christ Our identity is now with God in Christ.
How much identity in Christ do we need? We need enough to completely surrender and empty ourselves for his sake. We need enough to be in union with Christ—totally devoted to serving him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our total identity in Christ cannot be separated from mission. It is always in context with others and for others; it means we are growing in Christ and dying to ourselves daily. Identity in Christ cannot be a privatized $3-worth-of-the-Gospel faith.
A Sabbath for Good Works
Someone asked Jesus the question, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” To that he answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28-29). It is in this work that we can perform good works. The Westminster Confession states,
These good works, done in obedience to God's commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the Gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end, eternal life (XVI, 2-10).
In his commentary on Philippians, James M. Boice observes, “We are to act in light and wonder of ‘so great a salvation.’ Good doctrine always leads to practical Christianity. Because God has already entered your life you have his power at work within you. As God works in you, work out your salvation by expressing it in action” (Philippians 2:12-13).
ACTS Ministries provides opportunities for Tenth Church to express its faith in action. These opportunities bring us next to people in need. Conveniently, most ministries of ACTS occur on Sunday—right after morning worship or just before evening worship. By establishing his Sabbath God provides us with the time and space to share our faith in the Lord Jesus and to show his love and concern for others. According to the Westminster Confession, “This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works
. . . but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy” (XXI, 7-8).
ACTS mercy ministries use a three-fold model of becoming involved, establishing relationships, and offering hope. One example of this model was seen at our nursing home ministry. A resident had great difficulty getting dressed and was unable to attend our worship service. After the service was over she called out to the worship leader. When the leader came into her room, she asked what he preached about and he shared his entire sermon on “salvation in Christ.” She then prayed to receive Christ as her savior and that evening she passed away into eternal life and joy.
There are many other examples of our sovereign God working in and through us for the salvation of unsaved men and women here at Tenth Church. People have been saved through the ministry of Fellowship Bible Study, the Community Dinners and the Prison Ministry. Is your gift evangelism? God can use that gift in ACTS Ministries. Can you cook or serve food? God can use you. Do you have musical gifts? God can use you vocal or instrumental gifts. Can you lead a Bible Study or a worship service? God can use that too. The fact is you can be involved. You can serve two hours a week, one hour a month, even one half hour a month. Our sovereign God will bring the increase. What matters is that you serve.
Again, Dr. Boice observes, “We are not justified by works. If we are trying to be justified by works, we are not Christians. But neither can we claim to be Christians if we do not have works” (Matthew 25:14-30). “Surely, we are missing the boat if Sunday is not a day of spiritual refreshment [and] evangelistic opportunity (Romans 14:5-6).
Are You a Missional People?
Do you remember how the Urban Mission Conference brochure defined Missional? It read, “We are a sent people, responding to the call of Christ to go into the world—at home and abroad—witnessing to salvation in Christ and participating to build up the Church. Our mission (a) begins in worship, (b) ministers to the world in evangelism and compassion, (c) encourages believers toward Christian maturity through discipleship, and (d) prepares women, men, teens and children for service.”
If we are a missional people, we will speak as if non-believing people are always present. In fact, we will conduct ourselves as if our whole neighborhood is present (not just Christians). By acting this way eventually more and more of our neighbors will find their way into Tenth or be invited to attend.
If we are a missional people our prayers, Bible studies, and worship will better equip us for evangelism and facing non-Christian values in our public lives—where we live, work, and play.
If we are a missional people we will think Christianly about everything and work with Christian distinctiveness. We will know what cultural practices honor God and can be embraced, what practices are opposed to the gospel and must be rejected, and what practices can be redeemed.
If we are a missional people we will be prepared for public life. We will be in vita positions to renew and transform the culture by acting Christianly in our vocations. And, if we are a missional people we will use the gospel to demonstrate true, biblical love in the public arena toward those with whom we differ.
If we are a missional people we will not engage in an evangelism “program.” Rather, we will in our relationships love and talk positively about our city and neighborhood. Through these relationships we will bring neighbors into our Bible studies (or begin new studies!) and show how the gospel has answers to the core concerns of all people. Because of our relationships we will be interested in the literature, art and thought of the surrounding culture and we will be able to discuss it both appreciatively and critically. Because of our relationships we will not bash other Christians and churches. We will exhibit a deep concern for the poor. We will be concerned for the purity and respect of the opposite sex, and will show humility toward people of all races and cultures. Because of the relationships we have in our neighborhoods and in our workplaces, unbelievers people can be easily invited to Bible studies and worship and will come and will stay as they seek to fill their spiritual emptiness.
At the conference Carl Ellis told us to “Get busy.” He said that we should reach out to our unbelieving neighbors and colleagues across the street and across the hall. Aaron Messner said that every Christian should be engaged in worship and that every Christian should have a quiet time with God and that every Christian should seek after his/her neighbor’s good, and that every Christian should be involved in evangelism. If we are missional people, none of these should be excluded, he said. As Christians we are called to honor God in all these areas.
So if we are a missional people we will establish relationships with unbelievers, engage in meaningful dialogue, share the gospel, and offer hope. As missional people we will make disciples in our neighborhoods and on our jobs.
The Great Collision of the Great Commission
At Tenth Presbyterian Church we want to prepare men, women and children for dynamic, authentic and courageous Christian missionary service. We want to prepare members for a lifetime of service, which means a lifetime of taking up your cross and following the one who came that you may have life and have it to the full. We want to prepare everyone for the spiritual battle awaiting all who seek faithfully to follow Jesus Christ.
What spiritual battle, you ask? It is the missionary battle. It is the battle of Christ against Culture. It is the battle for truth and the authority of scripture in the life of a Christian. It is the battle that places us on a collision course with the philosophy of a world that says there are no absolutes and that all beliefs and forms of worship are permissible.
Our culture states that our beliefs are relative. We cannot value them above other people’s religious experiences or set them apart from the religious smorgasbord of spiritual ideas available to the seeker. They can have no claims on anyone and they cannot be spoke of in any exclusive way. As a missionary church we are on a collision course.
Our culture also states that our beliefs must remain private. Our talk about such things must be confined to our small religious communities that hold similar beliefs. If our lives have been changed, we can only speak of such change in vague statements so as not to offend. And we certainly can never suppose that such a change is necessary for anyone else. As a missionary church we are on a collision course.
Our culture has not tolerated Christians who violate cultural theories of relativity and privacy. But God’s missionary call to every Christian is absolute and the saving grace of Jesus Christ is neither relative nor private. The scriptural truths that state "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" and "God so loved world" are not relative. The command to "go and teach all nations" is not private. As a missionary church we are on a collision course as we teach, preach and heal in the name of Jesus.
This year’s Urban Missions Conference entitled “Here I am, Send me” suggests that Christians ought to be involved in urban ministry. At the very least it suggests that Christ has all the answers for anyone who has ever sought solutions anywhere: Christ is the answer for crime. Christ is the answer for drug abuse. Christ is the answer for racism. Christ is the answer for sexual abuse. Christ is the answer for child endangerment. What audacity to say these things! As a missionary church we are on a collision course.
To live Christianly in every area of life, to obey the great commission, to be salt and light in broken world and city is to face the oncoming collision. We do not rejoice in it, but we do not despair because of it. We wage a war in which Christ already has won the victory. Because of this we can say to God, “Here I am, send me.”
Following Grief, Hope
I remember when my former spouse left me in 1975. Like so many others who were suddenly separated I single-handedly provided daily care for small children. I took care of a home and I worked a nine-to-five job. I was involved in totally new and scary situations. I was forced to the best I could do under the circumstances. Where before, the load had been shared, I instantly became sole provider and caretaker. After giving and giving and giving to the children, there was nothing left of me—or for me—when the day was done. What I attempted to do was to race, continuously, until I dropped.
A typical weekday consisted of waking, dressing, and feeding my three children; getting them, respectively, to daycare, pre-school, and school and going to work myself. After work I picked up all three; prepared and cleaned up from supper; played with them, bathed them, bedded them down, prayed with them; did laundry and housecleaning; and then, total exhausted, I crashed.
Weekends were just slightly less hectic. I didn't go out at all for fear of being reminded of my loss. When I did venture out, my stomach wretched when I saw people who were happy and I cried non-stop when I saw couples walking hand-in-hand. I made myself a prisoner in my own home. My only outside activities were things absolutely necessary like food shopping and going to church. I had to change jobs; as a social worker I could no longer deal with others' problems when I couldn’t deal with my own.
About eighteen months later I started to feel less gloomy. I still wasn't going out, but I began to invite people in. My single friends and I played card games. We talked. We ate. I killed time. As the grieving process for the death of my marriage continued to unfold my children and I entered counseling. I grew emotionally and spiritually, gradually accepting the fact that there is life after separation and divorce. There began to be hope for my children’s future and my own.
I became more and more involved in the life of my church. My attitude changed through Bible study and I learned to understand what God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness were all about. Because of his love I learned to feel better about myself and developed in Christ a more positive self-worth. I was not so vulnerable any more. I became more assertive and was finally ready and able to re-enter society.
Yes, I remember it all: the countless nights when I cried myself to sleep and my depression when I hit rock bottom. These memories no longer haunt me for I found hope in my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ: hope for myself, hope for my children and hope for my future. My recovery from anger, hate, depression and self-pity took a lot of time and a lot of work. Yet, energy put to positive use has helped me gain a new, joyful, productive and blessed life. Of these, the greatest has been my marriage to Kate. For twenty-four years I have been blessed to have a godly wife, partner, help-mate and friend. I praise God for her and for his compassion. He rescues the weak (Psalm 82:4), heals the sick (Matthew 10:8) and give strength to the weary (Isaiah 40:31).
