Rethinking Gospel: Taking Possession of “My Gospel”

“Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith—“

What was Paul proclaiming as his message and what did he mean by “my Gospel?”

Clearly Paul had a much different idea about the Gospel than many understand it today. I mean, who really talks about “my Gospel?”

For Paul, the Gospel was not an ethereal idea about making a “decision” to get “saved,” as some future benefit. Of course, eternal salvation is central to the Gospel and Paul elsewhere talks about the Gospel of your salvation (actually Romans 1:16 and Ephesians 1:13 are the only two verses that directly link the words Gospel and salvation in a single verse). But for Paul, there was much more to the Good News than making a decision. It only started there. 

There is something complete, compelling, and clarifying in what Paul is expressing here when he says, “Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel.” Paul understood what he had been “saved” from (Romans 5:6-7). More importantly, Paul knew what he was “saved” to, what he was established by, what gave direction and definition to his life (Ephesians 1:17-20). But Paul knew he was still a work in progress for he says, “not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12). 

Paul’s message wasn’t just something that he added to his life, as a one-time decision. His message was his very life, because his Gospel was Jesus Christ himself. This Gospel made Paul who he was and by Him he lived, worked and persevered for his Gospel – His Jesus. Paul did so not for his own sake, to his gain alone, but so that “that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith.”

 

That is what Paul wanted to establish in the Romans he was writing to as well. Paul had just written a very lengthy letter about all he understood about his Gospel. The Gospel had taken hold of all of Paul’s life. Paul had taken possession of his Gospel, or better his Gospel had taken possession of Paul. 

How different this is for most American Christians.  More importantly, we should ask, how is this different in my life? 

I know some of have taken possession of their Gospel.  Their lives are wholly dedicated, defined and directed by their Gospel. There is nothing more that they want in life than to live for their Gospel. We commonly call them missionaries, wherever they serve. They can also be called World Christians  - those who understand their mission, as being part of God’s mission. They are not a special breed of elite Christian. They do however possess a knowledge, a testimony, that activates and animates their lives – just as Paul had. 

What do those who know “my Gospel” understand differently? For one, like Paul, they understand that they have died to self and they live for Christ (Galatians 2:20). This makes the Gospel theirs. They also understand that the Gospel is not about them but rather and most importantly it is about God. They live for God’s purpose in the world, not their own. They then ask different questions and set different priorities. 

Recently, I came across an excellent post, written about one of my favorite books, that provides a good framework by which to rethink taking possession of “my Gospel.” The writer of this post draws a dichotomy between what most of us think is important against the real questions and consideration we need to be making.  We can frame it as the difference between being a worldly Christian and a World Christian. 

Below are six points to prayerfully consider and use as a gauge. It would be a good exercise to honestly grade yourself on where you fit on this scale: 

Worldly Christian ----1----2-----3----4----5----6----7----8----9----10----World Christian

·       

• We ask, ‘Where does God fit into the story of my life?’ when the real question is where does my little life fit into the great story of God’s mission.

• We want to be driven by a purpose that has been tailored just right for our own individual lives, when we should be seeing the purpose of all life, including our own, wrapped up in the great mission of God for the whole of creation.

• We talk about ‘applying the Bible to our lives’. What would it mean to apply our lives to the Bible instead, assuming the Bible to be the reality — the real story — to which we are called to conform ourselves?

• We wrestle with ‘making the gospel relevant to the world’. But in this story, God is about the business of transforming the world to fit the shape of the gospel.

• We argue about what can legitimately be included in the mission that God expects from the church, when we should ask what kind of church God wants for the whole range of his mission.

• I may wonder what kind of mission God has for me, when I should be asking what kind of me God wants for his mission.

Perhaps you don’t know God’s mission. That’s not uncommon, many Christians don’t. I will be blogging more about this in future posts and mentioned some resources in this post. To take possession of “my Gospel” we must move along this scale toward living fully as World Christians, and let that define our lives. 

Paul lived to bring definition from God’s perspective in all areas of his life and ministry, therefore, he knew the Gospel was his. No price was too big, no challenge too great, no obstacle too large to find his place in God’s story for God’s mission, toward the transformation of God’s world, for the glory of God among the nations. I am evaluating what this means for me, how I can rethink the Gospel through these 6 points…for Living Sent Today.

Rethinking Apologetics: Why I Didn’t Watch the Nye/Ham Debate

I have been reading a lot this week about the debate between Bill Nye, the “Science Guy” and Ken Ham, the YEC. I didn’t watch it and really didn’t care to. 

One reason I didn’t watch this much publicized debate was because I was preoccupied with my Perspective students, equipping them to live as World Christians. Even if I had the time, however, I wouldn’t have invested it, any longer, in watching a battle of worldviews. Nothing much is gained by doing so. Did the world see a witness for Christ’s love and grace, did any atheist watching come to Christ after the debate, or was it simply another meaningless philosophical argument, with some meaningless scientific data thrown in, but no winners? 

Scientific data will not compel anyone to think, “oh, I should become a Christian, these guys are just too smart.” I have no idea who won the debate, and don’t really care. Of course, one side will say Nye had the better argument. Others will say Ham. It doesn’t really matter. To their credit, I understand it was a respectful debate.

Such debates over creation, and scientific data, tend to miss the point - God's purpose in creation. 

The fact is, creation is a mystery and I don’t find it helpful, any longer, to be dogmatic about a mystery. What is the point, especially when the purpose of creation isn't even discussed? Hebrews 11:3 tells us that "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible"  The mystery is the how (ex nihilo) and when but more important is to understand something of the why (Colossians 1:16). 

Notice, I have now said “any longer” twice. The reason is, I once did argue and debate over these matters and thought I could so with the best of them. First, I did so from the atheist perspective, as I was a professing atheist for several years in my late teens and early twenties. Then, coming to faith in Christ, at the age of 36, I learned the apologetic arguments about creation. I could argue endlessly, in chat rooms, blogs and other social media forums - “defending the faith.” 

The result was, I never got anywhere. No one ever changed their position. No one came to Christ. It was a futile effort amounting to nothing but mental gymnastics that gave me a sense of intellectual superiority.  In fact, I found satisfaction in tearing down my opponents arguments, belittling their position, and threatening them with hell and damnation for opposing God. I could wield Psalm 14:1 as a bloody sword. I thought I was loving God with all mind and strength but did I love my atheist "neighbor" as myself? No and it was evident to them. 

Over the past few years, I have given up this battle. First, because I find no basis for it in Scripture, Neither Jesus, Paul or any of the other New Testament writers argued apologetics with atheists, over origins, cosmology, epistemology or other philosophical position. Sure, Paul talks about the condition of the unbeliever in his Romans letter (Romans 1), but this isn’t license to use those arguments to defeat others. Rather, they should inform us of who we are apart from the grace of God in our lives (Romans 2).

I still appreciate good apologetic reasoning, I just don’t find it all that useful in dialogue with unbelievers. It is not our job to convince people we are right in what we think about "how" we came to be. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us that the unbeliever cannot grasp these matters due to having their understanding blinded. Their worldview simply does not allow for them to think in terms of a God who created it all. And, then to make claims that the earth is only 6,000 years old, based on an accounting record of Genesis certainly makes no sense to them. I have come to think it doesn’t make much sense to me either and I'm not alone in that assessment.

I think rather we need to rethink how we use apologetics. Let’s visit the verse in 1 Peter 3:15 from where we get this apologetics idea. 

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” 

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you know this verse well. You know that the words “give an answer” is the Greek word ‘apologia,’ from where we get our word 'apologetics.'

Notice that this verse doesn’t give license to use apologetics as a debating tactic. It instructs us to give an answer for our hope - when we are asked. Our hope is not in our cosmological arguments, or our epistemological reasoning. But in Christ alone!  That is why Peter instructs us to set apart Christ in our hearts, to revere Jesus Christ as Lord of all. It is for that reason, Peter tells us that when we give an answer to do so with “gentleness and respect.” I have repented of not doing so, which is another reason I don’t watch these debates. 

But we also need to put this verse in context. Peter was writing to a Christian church, suffering great persecution at the hands of a pagan culture. Still he says, their hope must be communicated in “gentleness and respect.” 

In verse 14, Peter writes, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed." Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened." 

Too often it seems apologetics today is used as a weapon against the threats of our increasingly pagan culture, as if we really have something to fear.  In Christ, we don’t. In fact, Peter tells us that when we suffer, for the cause of Christ, we are blessed. That is certainly a counter-intuitive idea for American Christians but a high calling in Christ. 

No, I don’t want to see American Christians or any of our brothers and sisters around the world, suffering for Christ. That’s not the point. The point is are we truly setting apart Christ, revering him as Lord, bearing witness to his grace, mercy, love and truth. Or, do we simply want to see the Bill Nye’s of the world defeated intellectually? 

The greatest apologetic we can offer the world is not a battle over origins. The greatest apologetic we can offer the world is the incarnational presence of the resurrected Christ. It’s time we rethink apologetics in how we love our neighbor as ourselves.  It’s time the Church stop majoring in the minors but embrace the “most excellent way” for Living Sent Today.

Ethnic Embrace USA: A Response to the Super Bowl Coke Commericial

 

"Give me your tired, your poor, 

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

These famous words are inscribed on one of the most famous of the world’s statues as an open invitation to the world’s people – “Come, we welcome you here.”  Such an invitation to the "tired," the “poor,” the “huddled masses,” the “homeless” of humanity, yearning for the freedom we still do have in the United States was once a banner to our nation’s unique place in history - a place of “liberty for all.” Today, it would seem, for some at least, those words should be covered over with a sign that reads “Closed.” 

How did this happen? Have we forgotten, again, the blessings of welcoming those who long to be free? 

The 2014 Super Bowl featured the above advertisement from Coca-Cola that celebrated the new ethnic diversity of our nation.  Conservative groups have taken issue with Coke, declaring the commercial an attempt to promote multiculturalism and responded negatively to the ad. Social Media lit up in hyperbolic vitriol once again, as  #BoycottCoke became a global trending topic on Twitter and a new Facebook group calling themselves Boycott Coke for Anti-Americanism added to the response. 

I thought it was the best 60 seconds of a 3 hour celebration of Americana we call Super Bowl Sunday.  

Immigration is certainly a hot-button issue that divides even Christians.  There seems to be four reasons that people oppose immigration. First, and probably the most prevalent is the issue of “illegal” or “undocumented” immigration.  Of course, “illegal immigration” is only part of the larger immigrant picture but it gets the most press and needs to be handled fairly. The legal and sociological issues are complex and there are no easy answers. I have previously blogged about this issue here. 

Second, is economics. The claim is that immigrants take jobs away from Americans. This is demonstrably false for two reasons. First, nearly 1 million immigrants, on average, become legal residents each year. They are therefore Americans and deserve the same rights to pursue the American Dream as any other American. Second, under scrutiny this argument does not hold up, especially when considered from a Conservative free market position. Most immigrants are ambitious people, they would not have taken the risk to come here otherwise, and many create businesses and employment opportunities contributing much to America. 

Third, is the cost to government. The claim is that immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, cost the government in terms of social welfare programs. This too is reported as false. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office finds: “On balance, the economic impacts not included in the cost estimate would have no significant net effect on federal budget deficits during the coming decade and would reduce deficits during the following decade” (Source).  In other words, the cost to our government is negligible and after 10 years will be a net gain.  Why? Because people once in the shadows will now be tax-payers. 

Finally, and perhaps most profoundly, there is a human aversion to ‘multiculturalism.’ This is not just an American phenomenon but it is however fear-based and betrays a level of ignorance of the “other.” Think about the parable of the Good Samaritan. The dominant culture would not help the person in need but a despised “other” did so. This would have come as quite a shock to Jesus listeners, who thought themselves superior to the lowly Samaritans. 

“Othering” is any action by which an individual or group becomes emotionally classified as “not one of us.” Then the “other” can be dismissed as being in some way less human, and less worthy of respect and dignity, than we are. 

Many complained about the multilingual rendition of “America the Beautiful” that it should be sung only in English, after-all this is America. While English is the dominant language, there are today hundreds of languages spoken in the U.S. In Dallas, my nearest major city, in over 40% of the legal residents English is the second language of the home. But this is nothing new. Go to Brooklyn, New York and in many homes, for decades now, Italian was the language spoken.  Go to any Chinatown and you’ll hear Chinese. English has never been the official language of the United States, just the most commonly spoken. 

Immigrants to America do have a great desire to learn English, but it takes some time. Many immigrants already speak two or more languages when they arrive. Many internationals want to learn English as it is a global business standard. Many seek to learn the language and what a great opportunity ESL affords Christians to be a blessing to international here in the process. But, sadly, the visceral reaction to a beautiful rendition of a beautiful song displays a level of “othering” that Christian Americans especially need to consider carefully – and repent of. 

There is much to understand about the immigrant experience, and I am still learning. As I reflect back across my own life experience, I am reminded of the immigrant experience of my own family. My maternal great grandmother came from Poland, with my grandmother, through Ellis Island in the early years of the 20^th Century. Great Grandma spoke only broken English her entire life, preferring to speak in her heart language. My Grandma was what could be considered a 1.5 generation kid, being born in Poland but coming here as a young girl. She spoke both languages fluently. My mom then is a second generation American, she spoke limited polish. Now as a 3^rd generation American, on my mother’s side, I have no knowledge of Polish but my life is enriched by my heritage. 

On my Father’s side, my great grandfather came to this country during the Irish potato famine. It was a time when American businesses would hang signs that read “No Irish Need Apply.” I guess this unwelcoming attitude also has deep American roots, at times. But somehow we managed to progress as a people.  

As you travel across the USA you encounter cultural enclaves of the early 20^th Century, or even earlier in some case. People came seeking the American Dream but wanted to hold onto to some of their cultural heritage. There are Chinatowns in both New York City and San Francisco. There is Koreatown in Flushing, NY and if you’ve ever walked those streets you would swear you were in Korea. There is Little Italy, Germantowns, and Polishtowns in several cities. The fact is that America has always been rich in and blessed by our cultural diversity. But why do we then see this pushback against the recognition of our new cultural diversity as depicted by a Coke commercial? 

I believe one of the major reasons is that many of these New Americans are different - they look different and have different religious beliefs – they are the “other.” The “other” creates anxiety. Many are also other than European Protestant or Catholic (although a large percentage are Christians from places where our brothers and sisters are being persecuted). The European immigrant assimilated well into our “Christian” nation and gave expression to it the 20^th Century. The Koreans were mostly Christian when they came, and many Chinese became Christians here. These newcomers however desire to hold onto their strange foreign beliefs. Not only do they want our jobs, they want to build their mosques and temples, and they want to speak their own languages. But this is Christian America! 

Yes, it is and for that reason we must revisit the inscription on the statue of Liberty. If as Christians we care about welcoming and serving the “tired,” the “poor,” the “homeless”, and we must to call ourselves Christians, then we need to think well about how to respond in Christ-like manner to these “strangers next door.” It goes beyond simply serving however for as Christians we must seek justice for the immigrant, desire mercy for their plight and walk humbly before our God. We must pursue human flourishing for all as we are all God’s people created in his image. That calls us to a Christ-like response. When we love our neighbor as ourselves there is no “other.” 

America should not simply be a place where Americans born here thrive. That is selfishness, a hording of our blessings. We are called to a higher standard as a people. America must be a place of opportunity too for the foreigner who comes here. Yes, we have internal issues today, and yes there must be intelligent immigration policy reform but if we hang out a “Closed” sign on Lady Liberty we lose the benefits that these New Americans can bless and enrich our nation with, as every generation of immigrant has done before. Worse, I believe, we lose the blessings of God who calls us to be a blessing to the nations among us. Jesus said, “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in” (Matthew 25:35). How will Christian America respond? 

I want to leave you with this video and will blog more about this important issue in future posts. 

Rethinking Discernment: Toward Greater Understanding

One of my pet peeves, grievances or judgments (see my prior post: “Stop NOT Judging”) is the prevailing lack of discernment used by Christians today. I'm not claiming I get this perfect, or do this discerning thing well for that matter, but I think there is great need to rethink this important concept.

This discernment deficit takes on many different shapes and sizes. It gets expressed in different ways, is often rooted in fear and frequently occurs due to laziness to fact check. Too often it is shaped by a political position. To many FB posts, to many blogs, to many articles today in our social-media crazed world, and even some initiatives coming from Christians, lack discernment. That is how I discern it anyway. 

Maybe it’s time we stop and rethink discernment? The causes for this lack can be easily remedied if we do. It just takes thinking about things, not just reacting to them. 

Newton’s 3^rd law of physics, an action causing a reaction, need not be relevant to our thinking. Our thinking need not be controlled by the things we see happening around us or the information we receive. Rather we should be controlled by the power of God working in us. His power, at minimum, should say to us, “stop and think about this a moment.” But in our furious paced, instant communication, tell it like we perceive it world, we don’t see a lot of such thinking happening. 

What am I talking about? Well for starters, you’ve seen the emails, the facebook posts, the tweets that spark an emotive response. They get spread around, go viral and even tend to repeat themselves, sometimes slightly altered. I can’t tell you the number I’ve seen over the years. All the hoaxes, urban legends, half-truths (which means fully false) claims about an impending change of law, political action, or other encroaching doomsday catastrophe, that when examined turn out to be false. 

Of course, it’s just not Christians but sadly American Christians can be among the most misinformed people. The world looks at us, and it is an “us” collectively, scratching their heads wondering, “how can they be so foolish?” Too often they are right in their perception, because too many react without discernment. The result is, or so they claim, Christianity promotes ignorance.

Ignorance is not a sin as it simply means there is a lack of knowledge. That is unless no effort is made to educate one’s self. We have a choice to make when we receive new information – react or research. We can also choose not to respond. Reacting though often reveals our ignorance and lack of emotional intelligence. It’s a not good choice. Reactions often flow from a place of fear, fear breeds ignorance and ignorance creates fear. It’s a vicious cycle. But there is a more noble way. 

 “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Acts 17:11

‘Noble’ is rarely a word used any more, except perhaps in relation to the prize given out in Oslo, Norway. Perhaps a better word is ‘principled,’ with respect to ethics and justice. The word “eagerness” in this verse speaks not to a reaction but rather to receptivity, a readiness of mind. The Bereans were ready to receive new information but their response was that they “examined” thoroughly what they received – they did their research. 

It’s lacks discernment to simply except ideas at face value, as legitimate as they may seem. That was the Berean’s position. It especially shows no discernment to react to those ideas. We need to “examine” what we receive before responding. We need to control our emotions as we do. And it usually doesn’t take much time to do a bit of research. Just Google it. 

What is worse however is when we allow our political agenda to get in the way of principled response to information we receive. This is what really got me started on this post.  

As you know my ministry focus is on immigrants, “New Americans,” the Unreached peoples of our cities – the “strangers” among us. This naturally intersects with the complex issue of “illegal immigration.” I’ve blogged about this previously here and also recommend this extensive well balanced article on the subject: Illegal Immigration: Seeking a Christian Perspective. 

Recently, I came across a group calling themselves ‘Evangelicals for Biblical Immigration’ (EBI). We should all be concerned for a principled Biblical approach to illegal immigration, so I thought how excellent. That is until I visited their Facebook page and found this post. 

I also happen to know of the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), so this troubled me. I stopped what I was doing and did some research. I visited the EBI website to learn what they were about. And then I did some further research to find out what I could about this post. According to a Christian Post article concerning the facts of this issue, I sadly had to discern that the EBI, for political, not Biblical reasons, is bearing false witness against the EIT. (The USAToday ad being questioned can be viewed here.)

Why share this on a post about rethinking discernment? For one, those 7 little “likes.” They represent, at minimum, 7 people who lack discernment, at least on this issue, and are wrongly judging a broad based Christian initiative, represented by over 200 prominent Christian leaders, focused on an important issue of the day. Upon rechecking the EBI's Facebook page, to their credit they removed this post. But it lacks discernment to make such statements to begin with, without doing the proper research. 

What then is discernment? It is another Christian concept that we don’t hear discussed frequently enough in the Church today. Discernment means: 

Maybe one reason we don’t hear about much discernment these days is because of that first definition of “the ability to judge well.” It’s politically incorrect to "judge," right? I also get a kick out of the distinction between No. 1 and No. 2 in the above. It is as if the “absence of judgment” allows for an improved perception because it comes from a Christian. My argument, alas, is that many Christians do not do what is necessary to “judge well.” 

Do we think simply because we are Christians we have some superior ability to perceive truth?

The good news is - we do! 

Note that “discernment” is a noun, something we have possession of or at least we can. Discernment is in fact a spiritual gift but we must learn to use it well. We must use our God-given, Holy Spirit led, discernment, if we are going to offer a response, before we forward that email,  ‘share’ that Facebook post or disparage another Christian group or individual. That requires we do the research, with a principled approach to discovering truth, or we end up misinformed, worse misleading others, bearing false witness or simply being harshly judgmental. We need greater discernment for confronting our culture today. 

One popular pastor gives us this understanding of discernment to consider: 

 “The spiritual gift of discernment is the ability to quickly perceive whether such things as people, events, or beliefs are from God or Satan. People with the gift of discernment know that Satan and his demons disguise themselves as holy (1 Cor. 11:14-15). They also know that Satan empowers counterfeit miracles (Ex. 7:11-22; 8:7; Matt. 7:21-23; 2 Tim. 3:8) to deceive people (2 Thess. 2:9), and that he empowers false teachers (2 Pet. 2:1), false prophets (Matt. 7:15), false apostles (2 Cor. 11:13), and false doctrines (1 Tim. 1:3; 6:3).” 

I have two challenges with this thinking: First, not everything is easily divisible into God’s stuff and Satan’s stuff. Sincere faithful Christians can and often do differ on important matters, such as immigration as only one example. Our discernment should tell us in this case to extend grace to those who have a different view. Second, is the word “quickly.” What we see today is too often a quick reaction, leading to the prevalent lack of discernment. We must not quickly assume that because an idea doesn’t line up with our beliefs it is evil. We need to examine our position against the Scriptures, just as the Berean’s did, and explore other sources of information. What we may discover is that there is no clear-cut judgment to offer, in which case we extend grace. And any judgment we do offer must come from a place of love, as I wrote about last time. 

James 1:19 tells us to “take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” When we react quickly to information that comes our way, out of anger or fear, we lack discernment. Our quick response should be to stop and think, to examine the issue. 

Perhaps the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, who certainly had great discernment even though he too made mistakes, instructs, “let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance” (Proverbs 1:5).  We would do well to pursue greater understanding of this gift by adding to our learning and seeking guidance, with all humility. In other words, do your research for Living Sent Today.