Bringing the Gospel to the World, What Do You Think We Should Do?
What is your eschatology? What do you believe the Bible says about the end of all
things? Is the world passing away
or is it being made new progressively?
How much continuity do you believe there will be between this world and
the next? Basic eschatological positions,
like historic pre-millennialism, amillennialism, etc, influence the way we view
the continuity of the current earth with the future new heavens and new earth. On one end of the spectrum, 2 Peter
3:10 speaks about the world passing away and being destroyed when it says, “But
the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away
with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the
earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” followed by 2 Peter
3:11 which encourages us to life holy and godly lives while we wait for the
day. Hebrews 1:10-12 also speaks
of the world wearing out like an old garment and being tossed aside by God for
a new one. Rev 21:1 also speaks of
the current world as going away. The
idea here is that everything is passing away. Little of what we do to reform culture and sustain this
world will have lasting affect.
Instead, we would be wise to “snatch people out of the fire” as Jude 23
speaks of. If we believe the world
is passing away then the Gospel is the only thing of lasting importance because
it is what we use to snatch people out of the fire. On the other side of the spectrum, many Christians think the
Gospel is slowly redeeming the world.
You might look to passages like Romans 8:19-22 which speaks of the world
being liberated from bondage and being redeemed. The idea here is that every believer has the duty to be the
redeeming force wherever God has placed him or her in this life. In fact culture can and will be changed
for the better through the influence of the Gospel and the church. If you would like to read further on
this second option. Al Wolters
book Creation Regained lays out this
classic reformational worldview. Some
eschatological positions even see the world being slowly redeemed until we
slide right into the millennium under Christ’s rule. Now there are a lot more
nuances to these arguments than I have given justice, but the point is that
your eschatology will fundamentally drive what you think a Christian’s
responsibility to the world is right now.
What about Biblical
Commandments? As I mentioned above 2 Peter
3:11 calls us to live a holy and godly life while we wait for the day of the
Lord. So what does a holy and
godly life look like? Here are a
few of the Biblical commandments that drive the way many strive for holiness
and godliness until Christ’s return: the great commission Matthew 28:18-20, the
greatest commandment Matthew 22:37-40, pure and undefiled religion James 1:27,
justice is what God requires Micah 6:8, weightier matters of the law Matthew
23:23, God is love 1 John 4:7-8, and many more. In popular Christian culture it seems that we have set up a
false dichotomy between being full of and showing love, justice, and mercy
verses bare bones evangelism when the Bible really wants both in the life of
the Christian. I believe the
popular dichotomy is also false because it leaves out a primary command of the
Bible to believers to keep themselves unstained from the world. When was the last time you heard
believers arguing over whether they should engage in “social justice”
ministries or work on their holiness, but this is a major aspect of the
Christian life that is all over scripture! 1 Peter 1:16 calls us to be holy as God is holy, quoting
Leviticus, and 1 John 2:15-17 calls us to not love the world or the things in
the world. James 1:27 that is so
popularly quoted in relation for calling people to love orphans and widows but ends
with the phrase, “keep oneself unstained from the world.” We could also point
to Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which calls for an all-encompassing devotion in our life
to God as primary before we do anything else. Dependent on the Biblical commands you know and how they
have been speaking to your heart will determine a lot about what you think a
Christian should do. I encourage
you to think deeply about the commands we find in the Bible.
What is your calling? What is God calling YOU to do? How has God gifted you and equipped you
to serve people and share the Gospel?
So often we make the ministry God has called us to do the only worthy
Christian pursuit. We force our
calling on everybody around us but God has uniquely called and gifted every
person in the body of Christ for service in his kingdom. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 is a good guide
here as well as Ephesians 4:8 and
Ephesians 4:11-12 which says that Christ “gave gifts to men” and he called some
to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints
for the work of ministry. Ephesians
2:10 speaks of good works that Christ has prepared for all of God’s people to
walk in before they are even saved!
Every believer has a specific calling from Christ to fulfill and none of
these callings are the same. If
Holy Spirit has moved you in your soul to fight for “social justice” then do
it. If the Spirit has moved you to
be a missionary overseas then do it!
If God has called you to work a regular job, raise a family, and be a
faithful church member then do it!
But please do something and be willing to have grace for other believers
to walk in their particular calling.
Now as a side note, we can learn a lot from each other and the
outworking of the particular gifts that each has been given. Take a moment to consider your gifting and
calling and then think about how someone else’s gifting and calling can help
you to grow and or support what you are doing.
How do you view the body of
Christ? 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
speaks of the body of Christ being made up of many different parts. Just as a church is made up of many
members that make a whole I think it is logical to think of the body of Christ
in any one city being made up of several different churches. Some churches are going to be more
about reforming the culture than other churches. Other churches will be more excited about evangelism. Some churches may be seeker friendly
while others yet may be about serious about Biblical teaching. I think we may need to tweak the way we
think about several Gospel believing churches in any one area and be ok with
the fact that one may be missional, while another may teach well, while yet
another will be excited to reform the culture, while another is digging wells
in Africa for the sake of the Gospel.
Don’t hear me wrong, every church should be Biblically driven, Gospel
centered, and have some level of concern for evangelism, Bible teaching,
cultural engagement, and care for the poor. But some will major on one aspect of the Christian life over
another and that is ok. Think
about how you view the people in your church, what are the different gifts in
the body you are a member of? Now
think about your city, what are the gifts and callings you see in particular
churches that together make up the body of Christ? When we see the body of Christ correctly it is an amazing
and motivating thing. God is
accomplishing his mission through the church, and churches in your city using
people and groups of people with particular passions and interests. Let us praise God for His ability to
orchestrate infinite diversity into powerful complexity for the purposes of His
will in one body, the body of Christ.
I
hope these four points of belief (eschatology, Biblical commands, calling, and
the body of Christ) have helped you think about the way you think about our
duty as Christians to engage the world with the Gospel. There are many views on what a Christian
should be doing in this life but if we take the time to think through the
beliefs listed above I believe we will be able to afford ourselves and others
more grace in how we attack the task of bringing the Gospel to the world and
influencing the culture around us.
If you have thoughts or comments on this article, I would love to hear
your feedback. Feel free to send
me an email.
*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
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