Our Easter weekend was one for the books at Southlands Brea. From our Good Friday gathering through to our three Sunday services, I am grateful and amazed at the life that was found at the foot of Christ's blood stained cross and His empty tomb. The baptisms, the salvations, the army of joyful volunteers hosting the great throng of guests and the faithful so warmly. Thank you, sincerely, to all who served and all who attended.
One conversation I had with a newly married couple from our church has lodged in my heart though. It is why I am writing this piece in reflection. They recently relocated to another city and church about an hour away because of work. I was saddened to hear of this, but recommended a church I know in the area they were moving to. They came back to worship with us on Good Friday, which was a joy, and the husband said to me, "We have had some concerns about the church you recommended to us." I probed further. He replied something to the effect of, "I think they are editing the gospel for the sake of reaching their culture." I asked for an example. He replied, "For instance, they have changed the lyrics of the song "'Christ Alone,' from "And on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied," to "And on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified."" This lyric change was emblematic of larger concerns they had with lack of Biblical integrity in the church.
Although disappointed to hear of this, I actually felt really proud of this couple for their discernment. They were looking beyond the vibe, the excellence and the popularity (this church has all of these) to the substance. Let's be honest, this is rare.
In my Easter message, I preached from Paul's entreaty to the Corinthians to keep the gospel as 'the most important thing.'
"When I came to you I preached the gospel to you as the most important thing. For I passed on to you what I received," that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and was raised ion the third day, according to the scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
Paul then goes on to say that he has heard that some of them have stopped believing that Christ was bodily raised from the dead. He is horrified that they have changed the message that he had passed on to them. without the resurrection, the gospel bears little resemblance to the original message, Paul contends. He is emphatic that if there is no empty tomb at the center of the Corinthian's, their gospel is empty. "If Christ has not been raised, we are false teachers, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins, and in fact, you are to be more pitied than anyone!"(v 17-19) Understandably strong words by Paul.
Andrew Wilson, in his commentary on this chapter, sums up Paul's warning as follows: "Christianity is nothing without the risen Christ. If the corpse of Jesus had been found in the Middle East, it would not just mean that the walls of Christianity needed repainting , it would mean that the whole house had come crashing down. If Jesus is still dead, then sins have not been forgiven. If Jesus is still dead then we are all lost, hopeless liars. If Jesus is still dead then we are not just mistaken, we are to be most pitied. Christianity cannot survive a dead Savior.'
It's as if the Corinthians had been playing a game of broken telephones, in which one person whispers a message to the next and each time the message is passed on, it changes, leaving the final message with no resemblance to the original. Paul will not tolerate the 'lost in translation' message, and clearly restores the miscommunication back to the original integrity of the message with this emphatic affirmation:"But as it is, Christ has indeed, been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." (v 20) Jesus' resurrection guarantees our resurrection, and that changes everything! This is at the heart of the gospel message.
Why were the Corinthians changing the original message? In short, their culture was generally gnostic. They had allow view of the metal world and a high view off the spiritual world. This meant that they believed in the immortality of the soul but not the body. That sounded implausible Perhaps, too Jewish. They edited their message to suit their culture. And we are prone to do the same. Which is why a church would feel tempted to play broken telephones with a concept like wrath. It is not the material world we struggle with like the Greeks, it is the idea of a God who punishes sin that were struggle with. It seems so judgmental and unkind. And yet, if we look at the cross, we must admit that Jesus the Lamb of God, was experiencing God's wrath on our behalf. he was taking our punishment as a substitute, absorbing God's righteous anger against our sin, to give us peace. "We considered him stricken and afflicted by God, yet it was the Lord's will to cause him to suffer. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his stripes we have been healed."( Isaiah 53) This is not being pedantic. If you remove substitutionary atonement from the gospel, you have lost the gospel.
I want to ask you whether your church has been playing broken telephones, editing out the hard parts of the gospel for the sake of so-called cultural relevance? Cultural relevance at the expense of Biblical faithfulness, is a fool's errand.
Instead, I commend two antidotes to Biblical Broken Telephones.
First, the Creeds. I want to Make Creeds Great Again! This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. This confession is what the Church has agreed upon throughout the ages, that defines Christian Orthodoxy. Protestants, Catholics, Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians agree upon this confession. Hold your church up against this creed, for a start. If it does not affirm it, it is not a Christian church, period. I have found this to be so helpful, particularly when contending with progressive Christians who have an issue with our stance on sexuality, gender, the sanctity of marriage or life. The first thing I ask is, "Do you affirm the Nicene Creed before we have a discussion?" Very often I find that they cannot. "They say something like, "I do not see God as father. Or I do not believe that Christ died for sins, or that Jesus is the only God. It is then that I realize, we are not agreeing about the fruit of Christianity because we have different roots. Theirs is a version of Christianity that falls outside the bounds of historic Christian Orthodoxy, which means they are coming to different conclusions about the fruit of their faith. If they do affirm the Creeds, then I am more than happy to have discussion about the fruit of our faith.
Second, I commend to you Tim Keller's concept of Middleware from his book, Center Church: doing balanced gospel ministry. he describes how churches tend to grow. The first is through what he calls 'hardware', which he describes as Biblical faithfulness.Hardware churches are courageous. The second way is through 'software,' which he describes as 'cultural relevance.' Software churches are creative. But he proposes that the best way for a church to grow, is 'middleware,' which he describes as the point at which Biblical faithfulness is bright to bear on a changing culture in such a way as they can and want to receive it. Middleware avoid playing broken telephones through courageous faithfulness, but they also pass the message on effectively through creativity and winsomeness. Lord, help us as we trust in the power of Your gospel.
No comments:
Post a Comment