Many years ago I knew a pastor who had a very simple formula for ministry. He told me it was tried and true and for a time, I believed him and believed completely in the method. If you asked him what the key to sharing the Gospel was and what it was he wanted to accomplish, his answer was this:
“Get ‘em in and get ‘em saved.”
As far as getting them saved, he was a “Romans Road” guy, and so, spent a lot of time in the book of Romans and in Paul’s letters. He had everything boiled down to this philosophy and had complete tunnel vision. He wanted to get people saved and into heaven. It was (and still is) his life’s work. I hold much respect for the man and know that God has used him to bring many to salvation.
But I always knew something was amiss. Something wasn’t quite right with it all. What I didn’t know then is not that he was wrong, but that his presentation of the Gospel was incomplete. It wasn’t until sometime around 1994 that I began to see what was missing (although I was far from getting past the trap of the “ticket to heaven” gospel.)
I was asked to teach a class to some teens in an inner city church. I had no idea what I was doing or what to even teach. So I just opened my Bible with the intent of rereading the New Testament until something jumped out. It didn’t take long. :)
I reached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and while I had read it before, I couldn’t remember hearing many sermons or a lessons on it. The ones I did remember I discuss below.
Here was Jesus on his “Galilee Tour” with huge crowds following wherever he went. He goes up onto a hill and sits down with his disciples and begins to teach. And the things he teaches them are revolutionary for the times (actually, they are revolutionary today).
He starts with the beatitudes, you know the “blessed are the _____” statements. As I reread these, I had a bit of an epiphany. What I though I knew about these sayings was that because Jesus said them, we were to take on these postures. Like, if those who mourn are blessed, then we should mourn for our lost friends and family. Also, because of the last line in these Beatitudes, they became rules and regulations for, yep, once again, getting into heaven. But these things just weren’t quite right.
No, as I reread these and looked back over all the heartache and hard times I had suffered from childhood up to that very point, I realized he was talking to those already in some of these postures if not all. He was speaking to me. Then I thought of the tough times the young people I was about to begin teaching were having. We were all in the same boat and this was some good news for sure.
More than anything, this encounter with scripture made me realize that while salvation was of the greatest importance, the Gospel was bigger and more all encompassing than that. As I read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, I could see that Jesus not only wanted us back into relationship with him and his Father for all eternity, he was giving us good news for right now! He was laying out a blueprint for redemption and atonement that could give us a glimpse of his Kingdom here.
Like I said before, it took at least the next 10 years for this to sink in. At one point I became very angry with those who had taught me before. I couldn’t understand why they would skip this when it was what I and many of those close to me desperately needed to hear. And even today, I am still figuring out how all of this works together.
There is so much more I could say but will save it for future posts. But I will close this post with this question: “How big is your Gospel”?
Comments