When a person tells me that they’re a mechanic, I automatically assume that they know how to do simple tasks like changing the oil, checking the tire pressure, etc. When someone tells me that they are a nuclear physicist, I assume that they certainly have a fundamental understanding of atomic structure, the composition and behavior of elements, Newton’s laws – you know……the nuts and bolts of their field.
When a person tells me that for they’ve been the leader/spokesperson for a majority of the evangelical world over the last decade or more, I assume that they understand the fundamentals of the Christian story, and the expectation of God concerning the pathway He provided by which people can know Him.
Man I wish that was true.
Ted Haggard made a joke out of me and every other Christian this week in his less than stellar interview with Oprah. He was given multiple opportunities to give simple authoritative answers to obviously slanted questions concerning his demise and supposed recovery, and all he could muster was a series of mystical gibberish nothings that paved an unopposed pathway for Oprah to attempt to invalidate our Gospel. Ted’s wife, Gale, did the best she could to attempt to stand for something closer to the right answer, but when her own husband couldn’t help her out, her lack of the ability to articulate her convictions forced her to concede.
Many others have done this. Joel Osteen is a perfect example. He is a spokesman for Christianity to millions of people, and he blew the whole thing wide open on Larry King Live a year or so ago. He too had an opportunity to present the Gospel in the face of opposition, and he too caved – diminishing the message to nothing more than one where the focal point is love and loving everyone, and that there are many ways to God.
The Gospel, the one that Paul talked about so much, is not simply that God loves everyone. While God’s love for man is an obvious theme in scripture and an integral part of what the Gospel actually is, there is so much more to it than that.
So then, what is the gospel?
The word gospel is translated from the Greek word, “euangelion”, meaning “good news”. A familiar term in the First Century world, the use of “euangelion” in its roman context was as a political proclamation that Caesar – god in human form, the savior of the world, protector, healer – had been born, or had come of age, or ascended. It signified that a new era had dawned for the whole world – though it had seemed that the gods had withdrawn their presence from the earth, the “soter” (Greek for savior) had come, and that he had been seated on the throne.
Paul knew very well the meaning of this term and the implications that it would have in the society of that day when he wrote it to the church in Rome. His decision to use it in the opening paragraph of the letter he wrote to them was intentional, and made a specific and pointed statement that a new era had indeed dawned for the world. The “soter” had come, He was seated on the throne, and He was not Caesar.
The gospel that Paul was proclaiming was a culmination of the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of the exile and restoration of Israel, the expectation of God’s people, the promised kingdom He spoke of through the prophets, and of His accomplishment of it all in Messiah. He was plainly stating that Jesus was the King of Kings, and that the way that He had paved was the only way into God’s kingdom.
It was this gospel that Paul was speaking of when he said,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… “ (Romans 1:16, excerpt)
It was and is THIS gospel that can and will change the world, and this is the gospel that should have been presented this week – not the mystical gospel of love and acceptance of everyone and every way to God.
The answer should have been something like this...
Jesus stated very clearly the way in which men could know and please God, and in the end, enter into His kingdom. That way did not involve homosexuality or any other practice of sin. He did not say that those who failed to practice the requirements of that way were not loved, or that God did not desire that they would know Him. He did, however, make it perfectly clear that those who continue in practice those things should not expect to enter His kingdom.
All of us fall of the path at times, and God provided step by step plan for us to get back up when we do. The goal, however, is that we DO stay on the right path through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
...the end.
The truth is that anyone of us who call ourselves Christians should be able to do what Ted and many of our other comrades have not – that is plainly and simply articulate the gospel of God.
We have to know this stuff guys – and not only that, but we have responsibility to make it know. We’re in this together – let’s get it done.
My prayer:“God, help me to always speak the truth of Your gospel with wisdom and authority when I am given opportunity, and forgive me for past failures where I have not. Please guide my study and thought as I continue to learn. “
