"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"(Matthew 7:21-23, NIV)I had the opportunity to attend a conference on "Missional" theology at Biblical Seminary yesterday. The good news is that there was emphasis on taking the gospel into the post modern culture that surrounds us. There was a challenge for the Church to have a sense of mission. There was much emphasis on the development of relationships for the spread of the gospel. So far so good.
Here is the bad news. There seems to be little agreement in this movement on what the gospel is. I heard nothing about the fallenness of man. I heard nothing about a sin nature that is in open rebellion against God. I heard nothing about the eternal destiny of those who have not responded to the Gospel.
I do not have any statistics handy (and I'm too lazy to go look them up at the moment), but it seems to me that the Gospels record more words of Jesus about Hell than Heaven. Hell is a very real place and we should be very, very concerned that people we know are destined to go there without intervention.
The desire to address the issues of poverty and live in an eco-friendly manner is good. I think that good stewardship of the planet's resources has been a weakness of western Christendom. Using these issues to bridge the communication gap between the church and the world makes sense to me. Where I really, really get frustrated is when this desire to bridge the gap ignores the fact that Jesus gives us propositional truth about God, Man, Sin, Salvation, the Church and the culmination of history. It is this propositional truth that was largely ignored in the conference yesterday.
In Matthew 7, Jesus posits that he will say to many, "I never knew you." Two things come to mind. To know someone is to know the truth about them and to respond accordingly. Secondly, relationship very much matters. The "missional" movement seems to largely ignore the uncomfortable aspects of being in relationship with a Holy God. It is uncomfortable to know that my sin nature continues to be at war with God and will not ultimately be conquered until I am with Jesus. It is uncomfortable to have the responsibility to tell people that their current path leads to eternal damnation. Yet, these uncomfortable truths are part of the communication that the Church is required to present and a requirement for being in relationship with God. The Church cannot say more than what Jesus said to the culture, but it certainly should not say less.
I am grateful for the emphasis in the conference on relationship. I am grateful for the fervor surrounding the desire to be a light to a lost culture. I am grateful that there is the desire to bring salvation to the members of our community. At the end of it all, though, I was saddened that there was not clear articulation of what salvation looks like other than providing a safe environment and feeding the hungry.
Paul says "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." (1 Corinthians 15:19, NIV). The "gospel" presented in the conference yesterday, the gospel of full bellies and lack of conflict, is inadequate. If it only gives hope for this life, we are to be pitied.
2 comments:
Now before I broach this subject let me just let you know that I approach this topic as agnostic, not as Christian.
First and foremost I think that if you try to tell people that they are currently headed to hell that you win no friends and gain many enemies. And preaching hell to people who are currently working toward heaven serves only to destroy confidence in doing the right thing.
As for trying to give helpful things to do this is much more useful. Prohibitions are not guidelines any more than speed limits are they are useful to control large people but do not help people work together or tell people how to get from point A to point B.
As for trying to do things in christ only in this life that I agree totally with as church requires a lot of sacrifice of time, money, and effort for little return in this life. So for people such as myself I see little use to go as I only have one life and their are faster ways to improve life around you. However if there hope for an afterlife the investment is highly worth it.
I saw this website through your daughter's facebook. You should be proud of her, she seems to have both feet firmly on the ground ready to make her mark on the world.
Thanks for your response. I appreciate your feedback and perspective.
Thanks also for your comments about my daughter, I am proud of all three of them. I am blessed.
As to the other comments, I would remind you that Jesus offers everyone the opportunity to spend eternity with him.
I will pray that God will reveal himself to you so that you will know "the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance . . . and his incomparable great power for us who believe." (Ephesians 1:18-19)
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