I just started another
After talking about how much greater being honored before God is in comparison to all the honor of this world, Tozer says. . .
This being true and being known to the heavenly intelligences, the methods we use to persuade men to follow Christ must seem to them extremely illogical if not downright wrong.
Evangelical Christians commonly offer Christ to mankind as a nostrum to cure their ills, a way out of their troubles, a quick and easy means to the achievement of personal ends. They use the right words, but their emphasis is awry. The message is so presented as to leave the hearer with the impression that he is being asked to give up much to gain more. And that is not good, however well intentioned it may be.
What we do is precisely what a good salesman does when he presents the excellence of his product as compared with that of his closest competitor. The customer chooses the better of the two, as who would not? But the weakness of the whole salesmanship technique is apparent: the idea of selfish gain is present in the whole transaction.
The last line is the most potent to me. It is so true, that the most often explanation given in Sunday schools and evangelistic outreach is that Hell will be no good, and we can plan something better. It sounds like some deal that should include a casket, grave plot, and funeral plan package. I think the selfishness element is dependant upon this lack of perspective. How can salvation be worth much to one who needs so little?
The truth is that our salvation is always continually dependant upon our brokenness. Duh. We're obviously saved from something. But its never sold that way. How infrequently do we hear the Gospel from the beginning in this modern Christianity?
I think this falsely presented message is a mix of issues. The saddest of which is simply that those who do not understand the Good News fully are the ones trying to convince others of its worth. It can also be those most acquainted with the full message who become the most desperate. Observation provides insight into the fact that those most passionate about the Gospel are so greatly zealous that they fall quickly into a very deeply pensive state when pursuing the lost. We take on too much responsibility in the process. We love those souls with Christ's love, but find it discouraging and disheartening when we are unable to personally enact Christ's movement on their hearts.
Be encouraged little ones! It should be our greatest joy to allow God to take responsibility for changing the sinner's hearts! Our brokenness for the soul's of these should be comforted in the camaraderie found in God's same and greater heartbreak!
In the Bible we find the commission to spread the Word and make disciples. If you observe the processes in question, there is a middle step we seem to be excluded from. Perhaps we aren't meant to be a third party in the creation of this relationship! Our responsibility lies only in making Christ's glory known to the hearts of man, and in building up the lives of the children of the Burning Heart!
May your joy be multiplied in your reliance upon Christ to reach those on your hearts!
I do wonder though, to what extent should the Gospel be contextualized? It is obvious that Paul became all things to all men, and spoke in a way condusive to further connection with his audiences. But the message was unfaultering in remaining the identical core. It seems that more often we have flipped this, contextualizing the Gospel to its detriment and giving no thought in how to approach our target audience graciously.
Any thoughts on this?
Posts
