"I heard it said once, the social gospel is great, it builds roads, schools and hospitals, but, how much better is the TRUE Gospel that saves men from Hell?"
Whenever I read something like this my stomach starts to turn, kind of like when my Haitian amoeba, that I happen to share a stomach with, begins doing back-flips. This is one of those statements that just rankles my cerebrum. Why? Because in a way the guy is not totally wrong but at the same time he is totally wrong. When the our un-churched friends look at churchydom today they tend to group us in one of two camps. There are the hippie do-gooder churches that are soft on preaching but do a bunch of great things in the community...and then there are the hardcore "drill Sargent" type, fundamental Bible thumpers that know they have the truth and will be glad to shove it down your throat as soon as they meet you. Now my Facebook friend may not put himself into the second category but I would wager that most of his un-churched neighbors have never seen the true gospel.
So with that intro...here's the lowdown on the "True" gospel.
As with many difficult modern day "church" issues this one has its roots in the modernist-fundamentalist showdown that took place in the early 20th century. At that time liberal theologians were restricting the modern significance of Jesus Christ to ethical considerations, ie. meeting human needs while downplaying the spiritual needs of man. Liberal theology focused on the good works of Christ and remade the "gospel" into a "meeting the material needs of humankind" gospel. The fundamentalist group chose to emphasize the proclamation or preaching of the gospel ie. salvation through faith in Jesus Christ preached to every creature. So in response to the liberal churches' left turn toward mercy ministries, fundamental churches responded with a farewell to mercy ministry and a hard right and full steam ahead approach into hell-fire and damnation preaching ministry. (This last statement is said somewhat tongue in cheek, recognizing there are the exceptions whenever speaking about large ecclesiastical groupings).
The truth is that while good works will never save a single soul, faith without works is dead and we know dead faith...what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. We are now seeing churches that are practicing both mercy ministries and proclamation with amazing effects. We can think of it as the two hands of the gospel. 1) salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and 2) consideration of the material well being of people. In the New Testament we find that it is not an" either/or" but a "both/and" proposition. To be a true follower of Jesus Christ we must practice good works or "love our neighbors as ourselves" and love them enough to teach them all that Jesus taught.
Just in case you're still not convinced let's look at the ministry of Jesus and the apostles which were ministries of both word and deed.
Ministry of Jesus:
Healing (Matthew 8:16, 12:22, Luke 4:40)
Feeding (Matthew 15:32-39, John 6:4-13)
Delivering (Matthew 9:32-34, 12:22)
Preaching/Teaching (Matthew 5-7, Mark 1:14, Luke 20:21, John 6:59, 18:20)
Other teachings (Matthew 9:35, 10:7-8, Luke 19:1-10)
Ministry of the Apostles:
Mercy Ministry (Acts 2:44, 3:1-9, 4:34-37, 5:16, 6:1-6, 8:7, 9:34, 28:8-9
Preaching (2:14-44, 5:17-42, 5:42, 7:1-53, 8:4, 13:16-41, 17:22-31)
Wow, if you took the time to read just half of these scriptures I know that you have been blown away by how these two hands of the gospel worked (and still work) in unison. I am convinced that those we seek to reach are looking for Christians that are showing their faith by their works. (James 2:14-18 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.)
In the next post we will see that this two sided ministry of Jesus was not some new part of God's nature that was unrevealed to the Old Testament saints. But God has consistently demonstrated his love through both word and deed.
No comments:
Post a Comment