I’ve updated the essay I wrote last year about the message of salvation to a postmodern culture. The updated version is aimed less toward a philosophy of youth evangelism, and more toward evangelizing anyone.
It is not finalized, as nothing like this I write really is. Hopefully it’s a step in the right direction. I’m sure I’ll update and clarify it in the future.
The Gospel to Postmoderns: Where are we going?
Introduction
In the wake of the postmodern situation, the Church is faced with a dilemma: Do we continue communicating our message in the same way, or do we move forward and reshape our message to reflect the gospel in a different culture? This is a difficult question, one that presupposes that the message proclaimed for many decades was shaped in a context suitable for those generations, and that a new one is necessary in a changing culture. This is, for many, a very shaky endeavor.
While books have been written about how much the message and/or method of evangelism should change, I will summarize the debate here. There are four options: (1) Little change in message, little change in method, (2) little change in message, big change in method, (3) big change in message, little change in method, and (4) big change in message and method. My personal belief is that a change in method and message is necessary to proclaim the gospel in a postmodern culture. But to be clear: this does not mean a change in the central theme of the Gospel. It does mean, however, a change in what we say and how we say it. Of course, some semantic differences could be pointed out here, but my point is this: changing the message for a new culture does not mean changing the gospel. For example, did Jesus ever employ a “prayer of salvation†message? No, but for many years, the Church employed that message: “Pray to God for grace and mercy on your life, soul, and destiny.†And it was a good message at the time. But how much of the kingdom of God (however it could best be described) did we hear in a “plan of salvation� Jesus spoke most often about it, and somewhere in the message of decades ago, we missed it. Sure, we talked about “joining God†or sometimes “taking up our cross, †but for the most part, the gospel we proclaimed was more of sin management than it was of life change.
So a change, however large or small, is necessary in what we say as well as how we say it. It begs the question, “What does this look like if we’re not changing the gospel itself?†To answer that, I believe we must understand why we have been proclaiming what we have been, what was wrong with it, and where to go from there.
We Made it Too Easy
We like to tell younger children that God wants them to “receive Him, †“ask Him into their hearts, †“accept Him as their personal Savior, †or some otherwise only partially acceptable (albeit easy to understand) statement. So, in their minds, this is all that is required of them in order to please God (or, more specifically, to “get to heavenâ€). And it serves well for parents who want the assurance that their children are either on their way to heaven when they die or that they will live a holy and righteous life. The problem, however, is that eventually some children rebel, and parents will be left befuddled and confused. “Yes, †they will say, “they don’t believe now. But they are saved because they got saved when they were six. I remember how sincere they were.†They’re “in†as long as they’ve “said the prayer.â€
So the story goes. But what we get is a generation of “saved youth†who assume that, while they are supposed to be good because they “accepted Christ, †obedience isn’t really necessary, because they’ve already done enough to save them from hell. What else is more important?
So this reductionist approach (“let’s make the gospel simple so it will be easily acceptableâ€) spilled into the evangelization of adults, even ones who were beyond simplistic formulae of faith. The Christian community soon became obsessed with one thing: numbers. Either it wanted many people to go to heaven when they die, or it wanted many people on its side. How often did we hear reports from missionaries or homeland evangelistic efforts based on “professions of faith†or “conversionsâ€? And no matter how much it downplayed the numbers (because its members reminded themselves that wasn’t the real reason they did this), in our minds, a “numerical judgment call†was always on the table.
So the free gift of God became a free-for-all game pursuing people to purchase our message, to buy the right formula. It became like scanning an item at the supermarket. As long as the item was scanned (i.e. as long as the prayer was prayed), the scanner recognized it as legitimate. I call this phenomenon a moment-in-time event, where typically a prayer is said, and the person is now “saved” (which really meant the person has done what was necessary to save themselves from hell).
But the act does not save a person, nor is the gospel all about being saved from hell. In my estimation, this borders on works salvation. It encourages people to do something in order to receive a ticket to heaven.
This is important for many reasons. One reason is that a reduced, simplistic gospel “formula†can be antithetical to what Christ wants people to become: changed, faithful, and committed disciples. A second is that we are likely to lose touch with the culture because we really can’t offer them anything substantial to meet its needs. If a culture is dealing with things like divorce, rape, violence, and addiction, how can a ticket to heaven change any of that? It’s like treating a plant with an antibiotic—it’s totally the wrong medicine.
Salvation is not a moment-in-time event. It is a transforming process, rendered by grace through faith, made possible by Christ. And it starts with the Holy Spirit’s calling, results in a conversion, and continues in a life-changing direction. But the church has become more obsessed with the eternal destiny of each person, rather than making the Kingdom of God and its life-changing force the forefront of its message and lifestyle. This is where I think the Church must adjust the focus of its message of the gospel.
The reductionist approach has failed us. It is not working very well any longer because people want a genuine faith experience that lasts longer than a few moments after a prayer. It is not real because it is inaccurate to call it the “gospel of Jesus Christ, †because it isn’t. It is misleading because we are concerned with precisely the wrong things about the gospel message. And it is incomplete because it leaves out some very important aspects of the gospel message.
Essentially, the message of Jesus was a restoration of the creation in a right relationship with the Creator, his Father in Heaven. Jesus did this by proclaiming a kingdom, a dominion where the subjects of this kingdom were in right relationship with the King, and therefore would become in right relationship with each other. He didn’t preach a “plan of salvation.†He asked people to follow him, not just recognize he was there as the Son of God to save them. If this is the gospel, then assurance of salvation can only be understood in light of continual obedience to the King.
We Ignored Some Important Things
Just as Jesus called those around him to follow, he calls us to make students (disciples), not mere converts. If we are truly concerned with making disciples (and being sincere students), we will want the conversions to be authentic and fruitful. The reductionist approach really isn’t a solution to the eternal needs of the world. In fact, this approach may have produced as many negative results as it has positive. What we have preached as “the good news of Jesus Christ†may not be as good as Christ himself intended it to be.
When many of us present the gospel, we present it from Romans, Ephesians, or Acts, but we rarely attempt to preach the Gospel Jesus himself presented. If we do, we only cite verses that use the “simple†words (which are no doubt full of more meaning than we wish to ascribe to them), primarily revolving around the term “believe.†And yet Jesus teaches us that to believe means more than to make an acknowledgement in our minds.
The Kingdom of God—Despite theological differences as to what the Kingdom of God really means, this was Jesus’ primary teaching. He traveled around Palestine teaching principles of the Kingdom and inviting people to become part of it. People interested in him often misunderstood it to be an earthly concept, so he had to correct their thinking, showing them it was primarily a spiritual kingdom, something they are to be a part of in this life.
To enter God’s Kingdom is to place oneself into subjection to the King, for when we become his disciple, we are entering his Kingdom. He is our Lord, our King, or Master, our Authority. We are not “saving ourselves, †as many would have us think. We are becoming part of a undying revolution, the goal of which is the reconciliation of the whole world (creatures and creation alike). We are his people set apart to be like him to bring about a restoration of creation, something longed for since the Fall of mankind into sin.
Eternal Life Here and Now—Having eternal life does not only mean that once we die we’ll live forever if we “get saved.†We have life now, in his Kingdom, in his power, nature, and authority. It is power over daily struggle, sin, and the forces of evil and darkness that prevail in the world. It is in the nature of an agreement with a King who promises to be faithful to us in life. It is an authority in which we are servants of the King, and with his divine power, we can have victory over sin and live a life that glorifies the King.
To believe otherwise is to assert that there is no rhyme or reason to living or behaving as faithful subjects here on earth. If our eternal destiny is only about the afterlife, then what occurs before death is inconsequential. But there is no disparity between having faith and living faith. We are living as citizens of the Kingdom now, not just in the future (Philippians 3:20).
Discipleship—Jesus didn’t come so that he could get a bunch of people “on the roster.†He came to call people to become committed and faithful subjects of his Kingdom, people who were all about his glory and a revolution of life. If Jesus simply came to “save us from hell, †then why did he not simply say so? Why did he go around preaching about Kingdom life available to us now?
Even his final commission before he ascended to heaven was to make disciples. Perhaps we’d be better off calling each other disciples rather than believers, which only assumes part of the role. It tends to neglect that person as a disciple, a follower, a seeker, and a student, which is exactly the types of people we are committed to becoming and making.
The Glory of God—We approach people as though salvation were all about them: “Confess Christ as Lord so you won’t go to hell!†“Say this prayer so you can go to heaven!†“Come to church so you can be blessed!†The benefit seems to be only about us. We arrive at the problem from a negative angle: save people from hell. But Jesus seemed to be more about the positive angle: bring people to Me. And while the human perspective is certainly important, our approach robs us from what our goal really is: to bring people into God’s Kingdom. Notice it’s about God’s purpose on earth, not our eternal well-being, although that will certainly be a benefit of it.
If people are approached with the idea that salvation is all about them, God can easily be robbed of his glory. Their need to become part of his Kingdom is not just because they don’t want to go to hell, but because they are not yet glorifying him for Who He is: the King to be worshiped.
The Sovereignty of God—We acknowledge God’s sovereignty because we can’t deny it, yet we regard it as marginal theology (until, of course, it helps support our other theologies). We seem to take upon ourselves the salvation of others, as if it’s the only thing God left up to us on this earth. Yet Jesus makes it clear that God is at the controls when it comes to salvation, not just the rest of life. John MacArthur, pastor of a large church in Los Angeles, was once asked if his goal was to build a big church. He replied, “No. Jesus said he would build his church. And I don’t want to be in competition with that.â€
This is clearly one of the most ignored aspects when trying to understand and present the gospel, yet it also offers the most encouragement and sustenance in the activity of witnessing. While this is only the divine perspective of salvation, without a proper understanding of it, we can become easily frustrated, depressed, or unnecessarily guilty.
The Whole Gospel: A Life-changing Story
The Kingdom of God can often be difficult to understand, especially for children. But they do know what it means to be a part of a family or part of something greater than themselves. Why do young boys often dream of becoming firemen, cowboys, or other kinds of heroes? Perhaps it is because becoming a hero is like becoming part of a story big enough to live in, a story greater than ourselves. God’s Kingdom is much like a story greater than ourselves. And not only are we part of the Story, we are dynamic characters, changing throughout the telling of the Story. It feels wonderful to be part of the Story, because we are being changed by the Author and main character of the Story.
Consider this summary of the Story, condensed (and slightly adjusted) from Brent Curtis’ and John Eldridge’s book The Sacred Romance.
Once upon a time there is God, Who before time delighted in Himself and enjoyed a joyful and romantic relationship among the persons of the Trinity. This love overflows into Creation, a magnificent and delightful world that, among all things beautiful, God designs a creature that is so like Him in many ways and is His prized creation. He loves him more than anything else in the world. In fact, God is such a Romancer that man and his wife dwelt with Him every day in perfect communion.
Although this Sacred Romance was amazing beyond comparison, this man and his wife lost for a few moments their vision for the beautiful Author and Romancer of their Adventure, and was taken in by the romancing of the Evil One. While God could no longer fellowship with His Beloved on earth, He promised to send a Prince to capture, win, and protect their heart in a battle of Good and Evil. As time unfolds God gives His most-loved creatures more details about this Promise and, as it turns out, this Prince will be God Himself.
The Prince finally comes to earth, and with Power from Heaven forever defeats the power of Evil, and begins to win back the heart of his Beloved. By defeating the Enemy, He rescues them from the shackles and power of Evil, and, by wooing and recapturing them, gives them a new Spirit, a new Passion, and a new Adventure. He gives them (or even more so, He becomes to them) all things Beautiful and Sacred. And while being his Beloved in no way relieves the current attacks of the Evil One, they know they are free from its Power, and with all certainty they know that their Prince will finally destroy the Evil One forever. They stay loyal to their Prince because they know that they will one day ride into the Sunset with Him forever.
Only when we enter the larger Story can we have an intimate Romance with the Prince that will not only shape our destiny, but will also change our lives and the lives of those around us. We must invite others to give everything to this Romancer, Jesus Christ, because he wants all of us—our mind, our emotions, and our will. We must invite them to become characters in a Story in which we all dream to live, a Story so large that it transcends life in the here-and-now and becomes an Adventure on which anyone would be willing to go.
This approach to the gospel can be quite a nervous endeavor by most Christians today because they may tend to want a way to define the gospel into a packaged, sellable item. And while being able to briefly describe our faith to someone is important, the importance should not be on how simple we can make it. The simpler we make it, the less real it will seem to others, resulting in a less desirable gospel. Do we really want to communicate a simple gospel at the cost of making it less desirable?
Jesus could have easily communicated a simple, precise message that was easily understood, easily understandable, and easily acceptable to everyone. But he did not. He preached the Kingdom, a complex, mysterious revolution that once a person became a part of it, their world would be forever changed. Some people faked it, others thought they knew it, but those who really knew Christ felt the presence and power of the King in their lives.
We Must Engage their Heart
On the surface, it may appear that I am dissuading people to make decisions about salvation. But to dissuade people from what really isn’t the gospel may send them down a road that will make them reject the real gospel once they hear it. My passion is to see people engaged by the gospel of the Kingdom, become changed by the Savior, and become loyal subjects of the King. Yes, it takes more time to demonstrate this in our lives. Yes, it is more complex and intricate. But it is more beautiful and universal, and hopefully the result will be a person so taken in by the gospel that they willingly engage themselves in the Story of the Kingdom.
If this new message is what the gospel is about, and it is what a postmodern culture will respond to, it is certainly a worthy journey on which to embark. To put it the way pastor Brian McLaren says it, salvation “is it about being rescued from a life that is disconnected from God and God’s adventure, both in this life and the next.â€
What serious seeker wouldn’t want this?
