Intro and Question #1: Good News?

First, I must say my motivation in trying to answer these questions is due to a wide range of missional philosophies, doctrines, vision statements, core values, etc. I don't really know what my specific calling is, but I know above all, I am called to obey God. Completely. And that's impossible, but that doesn't mean quit. Since I want to obey God, I want to know what He wants, what exactly does He call us to be and do?

This is where things get murky and sunday school answers began to fail. Sometime ago, I found my self at church singing and worshiping. Like many of the songs that folks of older generations tend to downplay due to repetition of words, I noticed the word worthy being repeated numerous times, and in numerous songs. Suddenly I realized I had no idea what I was singing. What does worthy mean anyways? "Deserving of worth, duh" shot back an internal Webster's. So what worth does God deserve? doesn't He have it all anyways? What made Jesus a worthy sacrifice? He didn't deserve to die. I certainly wouldn't say He's an unworthy sacrifice, that just sounds wrong, but what does it mean to be a worthy sacrifice?

I found thereafter that there are many such words that are so easily thrown around, but I had no idea what they meant. Words like heart, holy, gospel, salvation, even love. Yes, I can smile and nod, but what was I smiling and nodding at? Jesus is the truth and He wants people to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. So what is the truth behind a word? And more than words, what about actions?

Back to missions. From my outsider prospective, many agencies and movements are driven by words, visions, ideas and concepts based on interpretation of the Word. But what interpretations are the truth? I don't want to go and do what God doesn't want. Unless God builds the house, the laborers work in vain. God's work must be done God's way. What is God's way? Thus a series of intertwined questions arose in my mind. I will attempt to walk through them and show different view points, thoughts, and definitions.

What is the Gospel?
Yes, I actually am asking that question. And how can anyone whose grown up in the church even dare to ask that question? Simple, because it never gets defined. There has been a lot of reexamining of the concept of Gospel in various missional groups. The Gospel is a very important matter and Christendom as whole needs to know what exactly it is. I'm going to outline the two different approaches to the Gospel that I see currently in missions. In order to elucidate the two sides, I'm going to somewhat exaggerate the differences between the two, just because it is very easy to stereotype an idea and as such, reject the whole thing when actually there is some truth to it. I also want to try to give a somewhat Biblical analysis of the whole Gospel thing as well. But as you'll see, after all this analysis/research, I honestly still don't know the answer. (Hint: The brain is a marvelous creation, but it is completely lost without the guidance and revelation of the Holy Spirit. Still waiting).

Side A, "Traditional" If you've grown up going to a church where people describe themselves as "born again" or something of the sort, this is probably the Gospel you're thinking of. The key components are: 1) You are a sinner and there is nothing you can do on your own power to change that or make you free from your sins. 2) You will always fall short of the glory of God. You CAN'T work your way to Heaven, it doesn't matter how good you are or how many baby seals you save, you are doomed to Hell from the get go. 3) BUT, Jesus loves you so much that He died so that you can be forgiven of you sins and not go to Hell. 4) if you accept Jesus' free gift of salvation for you, you will have eternal life and life to the full. 5). Respond by repeating this prayer, confessing you're a sinner, confessing you believe in Jesus, and asking Him to come into your heart. Amen.

Side B, "Transformational" This might be new to some, but it is gaining ground, especially in a lot of missions group. Many times it is referred to as the Whole Gospel, the Gospel Jesus taught, and some detractors call it the Social Gospel. Depending on who you're talking to, this Gospel includes the elements of Side A as a subset of the larger Gospel. The key elements to the Transformational Gospel are: 1) The world is a broken place. Everyday we hear about another famine, hurricane, crime, injustice, war. Even our own broken families testify that man is at odds with man, and man is at odds with God. When you really look at it, the world is messed up in a bad way. 2) BUT things weren't always like this. When God made the world, He made it good and at peace. But not just peace, it was in shalom. Shalom being the Hebrew word for peace, but its better than just plain old peace. Everything was in right relation to everything else. God was in good relation with man, ie they walked in the garden together. Man was in right relationship with man, ie Adam and Eve were a match made in, um, Earth. Nature was even good with itself, ie the lion and the lamb were kickin' it. 3) Everything was great until sin entered the world. With sin in the picture it broke all those relationships and shalom was kicked out along with man from the garden. Now there is brokenness between God and man, man and man, man and nature and everything else. Thus we find ourselves in the broken state we started at. 4) BUT, there is hope. Jesus, God's only son, came to restore the world to its original state by establishing the Kingdom of God. In this Kingdom the shalom of the world will be restored. All relationships will be reconciled: man will be reconciled to God, man will be reconciled to man, even across racial, political or social divides. Injustice can be overturned, the world can be restored through the Kingdom. There is hope! 5). The work of the Kingdom and ministry of reconciliation is happening now and it is the work of the people of God. Join with the work of restoring the world through Jesus, reconciling the world to Jesus, and bringing shalom back. Go, go help!

Ok, first of all, forgive me for portraying these two "gospels" as so 1-D and in a somewhat mocking tone. However, I have been quite frustrated because I hear many catch phrases and buzz words tossed around so much that either I ignore them or they bring up so much distracting baggage attached to them. On the two sides of the isle, the traditionalist views the transformational gospel as sheer heresy and the transformationalist hardly uses the word Gospel. I don't say this to judge, only to point out because, I don't really know what is THE Gospel. My own opinion is that neither have it totally together. I think both originate from true foundations, but I can't quite bring myself to fully defend either of the ones portrayed above.

So what's the deal with side A? I've tried to display Side A as the traditional alter call. It is aimed at the individual and stops with the individuals decision to accept Christ as Lord and Savior or not. It can be preached using the Romans Road, a series of verses from Romans describing how no one is righteous or good (which still rubs me the wrong way since God viewed certain people as righteous. Perhaps the no one righteous quote refers to the gentiles since all those seen by God as righteous were Jews and knew Him. Another question . . .) and that all who confess Jesus as Lord and believe in their heart that He rose from the dead will be saved. The goal of the altar call is the individual's salvation. Is this salvation good news? Absolutely, as long as they acknowledge their own need to be saved (which is another post). Now this truly is amazing. Without Jesus' death for us, we would be utterly lost. But He does love us enough to die for us even though we were His enemies, and dead ourselves to sin. (And who dies for a dead man that was your enemy?) But as incomprehensible and great as that good news is, is it THE good news?

One thing that bothers me from an academic point of view is that people can be saved by Jesus but have no idea who in the world Jesus is/was. I say that bothers me, but I've met a number of people who did respond to this call of salvation, and they are on fire. They are such a joy to be around and God uses them in amazing ways. There is something great about how simple this message is, but how deep it is too. On the other hand, I've seen people respond to this altar call half a dozen times without any real change in their lives. But whether something is worth pursuing based on it effectiveness is another question.

My own personal experience with sharing the Gospel of side A has been few and far between. Sharing this scares the snot out of me, and actually asking someone to pray to accept Jesus would take me seeing the four horsemen of the Apocalypse bearing down at us. I say this a confession of succumbing to fear, something God has been helping me with, but I know He wants more. I'll take a spiritual conversation of any sort with a non-christian as a gift from God. At the same time, my fear of sharing this message makes it so intriguing to me. Off the top of my head, I can think of three or four times I've shared this message, but I've never "led" anyone to Christ. Perhaps its my own fear or short sighted lack of results that makes me think there must be more than this. Growing up in the church, it is so easy for me to take salvation for granted. It is something I've heard all my life and as such, when I hear it, I'm left wanting greener grass on the other side. Even writing this I'm disgusted with myself for how ungrateful and jaded I am. I don't know how to be different. I see the joy of salvation in others so readily, but lack it in myself. Spiritual thankfulness is my weak point, sharing this message (and finding people to share it with) is my weak point. But more on this later.

To sum up for side A, I see this as the message of salvation, which is true but not necessarily the gospel. Where I see it falling short is although there is a promise of love, peace, joy and new life, the emphasis is on snatched from Hell, wait for Heaven and don't do anything really bad till you die.

And what of Side B, pray tel? Side B relies heavily upon the life and teachings of Jesus, and not so much His death. After all, Jesus did do much more than just die. He lived: He was a little kid, He was a teenager, He worked, He learned a trade. Before He started His ministry, you probably wouldn't even have given Him a second look. In fact, He wasn't even physically handsome. (Isaiah 53:2). Once He began His ministry, He began with the poor. Many of the people that came to Him were broken, either poor, physically ailed, someone in their family had problems, etc. And, never, never once does Jesus ever turn away someone who is desperate for Him. He does turn away the pride and arrogance of the pharisees. Jesus even forgave sins of the people that came to Him . . . and He had not died yet to forgive them. Jesus preached the Kingdom of God while on Earth, and He said the prostitutes and charlatans were entering before the pharisees. He came to establish the Kingdom and He did. Its not something you can point to and say there it is, or here it is, rather it is within you. (Luke 17:20-21).

So what does this have to do with side B? Good question. I see side B as being rooted in the ministry of Jesus to the poor and lost. But at the same time, where do we see Jesus transforming anything? This is the next question to answer, but I'll briefly bring up the issue here. Does Jesus want the Kingdom of God expressed in social and political systems? If your goal is to transform the world, then many systems need to be transformed as well. If you are going to bring peace to the world, then wars need to cease; oppressors need to see the slave as their brother, not an object of hatred. If you aim to end poverty, you need to establish a just system of wealth and economics. How does Jesus address these issues? He doesn't. He ran away when the people tried to make Him king. He told the Jews to go the extra mile for their oppressors, and to still pay taxes to them. His call is to love our enemies instead of trying to overthrow them. Jesus worked within the systems that were established. He challenged the thoughts and ideas of the pharisees and the burdens they were putting on the people, but He never challenged the government. Jesus hardly ever addresses political or social justice in the aim of transforming systems.

HOWEVER...the Old Testament is FULL of the establishment and pursuit of social and political justice. It is HUGE on God's heart. If you want to know what a just group of people should look like, read Deuteronomy. That is God's intention for how His people as a nation were to live in the land He was about to give them. The poor were taken care of, the alien, fatherless, and widow were to be cared for. There was no room for oppression. You see God's heart doubly again in the book of Amos when Israel had wandered far from God's intentions. So does God heart for justice suddenly die after Christ's coming? Again, another question.

So the big issues with Side B are that they do recognize the brokenness of the world and God's abundant heart for the poor. But does God really want the world and society transformed, or does He want His people transformed? Again, another question. Also, I doubt that transformation is THE Gospel. Yes its good news, but I doubt as to whether the world will actually be transformed as many hope it will be.

My own experience with sharing this Gospel has been interesting. I shared to a coworker about my trip to Peru and how some friends of mine were living in urban Fresno to help out the people there. I began to explain how having a Christian presence in poorer urban neighborhoods or apartments helps to reduce crime, helps out kids who have broken families and no where to go, and gives an alternative to the darkness that they know. I kept saying that I wanted to go help this world; help those in need. My coworker was clueless to understand why anyone would want to move into a crime ridden, poor area. I thought that it was because she didn't know Jesus and His love, both for her and for the broken. Ironically it hit me afterwards that I was able to explain my whole desire to "help" the poor without ever once mentioning the name of Jesus or God. I could be doing it just because I'm demented, or for fame. I know why I'm doing it, because Jesus loves me and calls me to love others in the same way, but I was never required to say that. Transformation or peace corps can look the same. Now it was my own fault and loss for not mentioning Christ as my motivation, but still if transformation is the only focus, then God can take a back seat.

On the other hand, one of my old bible study leaders is working in Fresno for AmeriaCorp. From her experience, she had seen and knew the only power that could ever hope to transform anything was Jesus. No amount of money or programs or any physical thing would help, only the transforming love of Christ. I had never met anyone who had Jesus' name always on their lips as much as she did. It was awesome and it truly was a light in the midst of the darkness.

In summary, Side B is true when Jesus is the power. Is world transformation what Jesus really came to do? I don't think so, but I'll try to address this next. None the less, Side B has God's heart for the poor and oppressed dead on which is extremely commendable and praiseworthy. However, the goal of change on a bigger scale may not be the goal of Christ.

So what about the word Gospel in the Bible, what is the consensus of the Word? The word Gospel shows up anywhere from 77 to 127 times in the Bible, depending upon what version you use. The word itself, as everyone knows, means good news. The greek word is euaggelion which is where the word evangelism comes from (not to mention some anime series I've never seen). So can the good news be any good news?

In the Gospels, Jesus is recorded as preaching the Gospel. I only know of one passage where it records what Jesus said of the Gospel, kinda. Mark 1:14-15. "And after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God draws near. Repent, and believe the Gospel." But believe what Gospel, that the Kingdom of God draws near? I don't know what that means to be honest. But I know He didn't preach the "traditional gospel". First, He hadn't died yet. Also, He only told His disciples about His future death and He told them to keep it secret. Later in Jerusalem, He made allusions to His upcoming death (destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days). However, I never see Jesus saying the words, accept my free gift of salvation.

It can also be argued that He did kinda preach the traditional Gospel in the book of John, John 3:16 being a key verse. It is interesting to note that the word Gospel does not show up in the book of John, ever. None the less, much of Jesus' preaching is recorded but it is only conjecture as to what constitutes the Gospel and what constitutes preaching.

Next, the book of Acts refers to the Gospel being preached by the apostles and Paul. Now again, when it says the Gospel was preached, it never records what they said, only that they did it. When it does record what they said, it isn't referred to as the Gospel. Now, if the Gospel is what they were always preaching, then it has about a billion different forms and key points since each message seems pretty unique. To be honest though, I haven't looked at Acts in depth.

Next are Paul's letters which by far contain the greatest quantities of the word Gospel. Most of the references are to Paul's preaching of the Gospel. (Do you get the idea that the Gospel is meant to be preached?) Second are references to the Gospel of Christ/God, after that is service to the Gospel, after which is "my/our" Gospel. I especially find references to "my", being Paul's, Gospel disturbing. Does he mean that it is his own good news or that he is merely the message bearer? Interesting to note, Gospel of Salvation occurs once (Ephesians 1:13, there is also Rom 1:16 which shows the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation), Gospel of life and immortality occurs once as well(2 Tim. 1:10). The one time I see that it refers to the Gospel that Paul preached occurs in 1 Corinthians 15 :1-8

"And, brothers, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you which also you have received, and in which you stand; by which you also are being kept safe, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve. Afterward He was seen by over five hundred brothers at once, of whom the greater part remain until this present day, but also some fell asleep. Afterward He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of time."

And apparently Paul was pretty adamant about His own preaching of the Gospel: "I marvel that you so soon are being moved away from Him who called you into the grace of Christ, to another gospel which is not another, but some are troubling you, and desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from Heaven preach a gospel to you beside what we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we said before, and now I say again, If anyone preaches a gospel to you beside what you have received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:6-9

So, is that it? THE Gospel is Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose the third day according to the scriptures and was then seen by a lot of people? No more no less? Was Jesus saying the wrong thing, is He to be accursed according to Paul? The answer to the last question is obviously no. Then is it possible that there are two Gospels; one for the jew (kingdom of God) and one for the gentile, (Christ's death for the forgiveness of sins, and His resurrection)? Whatever it is, I know it is important to have it right. As Paul says twice in Galatians 1 "But even if we or an angel from Heaven preach a gospel to you beside what we preached to you, let him be accursed." I am planning on talking to my pastor when I get chance about this and I will update when I know.

Looking at the Gospel Paul preached to the Corinthians, i guess it fuses elements of the side A and side B Gospels. First, yes, Jesus died for our own sins. That was the only way we could be forgiven. But it also doesn't leave Him dead either. It brings Him to life. He ain't done yet. His purpose for the world is still moving ahead. He's powerful enough to conquer death so He should be plenty powerful to kick the trash out of anything else. And not only that, He was seen. He didn't just up and leave, but wants to be seen. He is alive, and showing Himself.

"Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone,
Because I know, I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living, just because He lives"