Shaun Groves, a Christian, writes about being recently witnessed to at his own concert. It's an interesting read.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Uh... I Think There is a Disconnect Here Somewhere...
Shaun Groves, a Christian, writes about being recently witnessed to at his own concert. It's an interesting read.
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6 comments:
I agree with what Shaun writes here. The Gospel is both about this life, radically, and about eternity. We are saved from God's wrath and brought into His family, so that we can live transformed lives for His glory here *and* spend eternity with Him (in Heaven and on the new earth).
I do admit to some discomfort, though, when I hear Shaun and other Christians say things such as, "Salvation is not 'just' about going to Heaven to be with God, instead of going to Hell." In a literal and important sense, that statement is true. However, I am concerned that the "just" in that statement minimizes something (perhaps unwittingly) that is very, very important. Whether one will be with God in Heaven (and on the new earth) or go to Hell to face His wrath for all eternity is no small matter...
Amen and amen. However, what about those who haven't yet heard the good news? Shouldn't that really be our focus in all of these "heaven-on-earth-bringing" acts of love? It seems that blessing others physically is just not enough.
I agree, Mark and Maki. Meeting the physical, material, and emotional needs of non-Christians should normatively be a way of hopefully opening the door to share the Gospel with them-- which will help to meet their *objectively greatest* need of being being saved from God's just wrath and being brought into His family.
Being most concerned to share the Gospel with people is not narrow or uncaring (as some might think), as long as one doesn't turn a cold shoulder to peoples' physical needs *in the misdt of* trying to share the Gospel with them. Our efforts to "redeem the culture" and "renew society" mean precious little if we are not concerned, first and foremost, with making sure that lost people hear the Gospel.
When talk of addressing environmental and physical poverty starts up, why do some people automatically think such activities are taking place to the detriment of addressing spiritual poverty?
It's a great and unfair assumption, a bias of some kind I don't understand. It's about as fair and accurate as someone believing that Billy Graham, because so much of his public life is about conversion, doesn't care about or do anything about the almost 30,000 children under the age of five who die every day from poverty related causes. Unfair.
Where do these assumptions and fears come from?
Shaun,
Thanks for the comment. I think church history, especially of the early 20th century has caused some (probably rightly so), to be defensive when it comes to these talks. Early 20th century liberalism wanted to "expand" the gospel to mean caring for the poor, etc. Just a few years later all the Gospel meant for those folks was doing works of social justice. The Gospel of substitution and imputation was left far behind. It was too "narrow".
So I think it is wise to keep this church history in mind as a caution, lest we repeat their error, all the while embracing a robust Biblical view that says without apology, "The Gospel has implications! Eph. 2:8,9 has verse 10 following it!"
We are a community of word AND deed and may we never separate the two. I am not comfortable with saying that the Gospel IS helping the poor, but I am very passionate about people living out the implications of that Gospel through ministries like Compassion, adoption, IJM, etc.
Make sense?
Shaun,
I was told this might be informative on this topic:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-audio/carson/20090724_gospel_and_deeds_of_mercy.mp3
D.A. Carson, Proclaiming the Gospel and Performing Deeds of Mercy
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