Tag Archives: Sharing the Gospel

Knowing the Gospel We are To Share

Discipleship

February 4, 2021

Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe betide me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. –1 Corinthians

If we proclaim the gospel, we will do well to know it to the best of our ability. The gospels include Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but they are implanted amid the history of God’s acts in the world both before Jesus and after the resurrection. Understanding these four books requires a good knowledge of that history. Some of it is quoted in the gospels. Being aware of the worldview held, both in the life of Jesus and in the church’s development, is also helpful. Studying the worldviews since the Bible was compiled shows us how the world can redirect the teachings of Christ—identifying that in history provides a means for our understanding of how our worldview is affecting our faith practices today.

My genealogy work for most of the families I trace has me now scouring records from the 1600 and 1700 hundreds in the United States. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the time wedged between the Document of Discovery*and Manifest Destiny** that set down God’s blessings on displacing the New World’s indigenous people. Black slaves began to be imported into the New World in 1619.  I knew that one of my great grandfathers was a captain in the Confederacy and a slave owner in the mid-1800s. I have been surprised at how many of my ancestors living here before the Revolutionary War were slave owners, too. Our Constitution’s original language provides that enslaved blacks in a state would be counted as three-fifths of a person to determine a state’s allocated seats in Congress. Enslaved blacks were only included because the states that had many slaves wanted more representation. The 3/5th designation was deemed enough to be counted but not to vote.

We can look back on this history with dismay, but, I fear, we are as blind as my relatives were to how we are treating others in our world today. We wonder how anyone could support such actions based on Christ’s teaching, but we do not see how some of our efforts today cannot be justified by the teachings of Jesus. How can we give people long sentences for minor crimes to support for-profit prisons? How can we close voting places and force people to travel long distances to vote because they are from minority groups? How can we contract Medicaid management to for-profit companies whose whole idea of managed care is to provide the minimum health care necessary to increase their profits? How can we support a minimum wage that forces people into poverty, requiring them to access food stamps, childcare subsidies, and Medicaid to survive? These services are not welfare. They are wage supplements for thriving big businesses. How can we say we welcome strangers when we take refugees’ children away from them and hold refugees in horrible conditions also provided by for-profit businesses? Many of the refugees fleeing to the USA are Christians.

When was the last time we people proclaiming the gospel read the Sermon on the Mount or Matthew 25?

Prayer: Lord, take off our blinders and help us see the destruction we are creating for your children throughout the world by our actions of greed and lust for power. Amen.

* A Papal Bull (decree) that stated that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered,” claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers  see more at https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/doctrine-discovery-1493

** the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Opening the Schoolhouse Door

Living in the Spirit

August 23, 2020

Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:13-20
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Peter’s getting the keys to the kingdom of heaven delineates his and our role of opening the schoolhouse door rather than serving as an usher into heaven. Sharing the Word of God is a sacred trust. Jesus is telling Peter that what he says and how he acts will be how the lives he touches welcome Christ into their lives. That is an awesome responsibility and one that all Christ-followers are called to do.

Jesus did not leave us alone to take on such a task. He left us an Advocate, Counselor, and Helper who is always with us. God provided us with the written word of how our ancestors in faith experienced God. And God communes with us as we commune with God.

The Greek word translated “bind”* means to forbid, prohibit, declare to be illicit. It comes from the Rabbinic tradition. I could not help but think of Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees*, in those three years he spent in Arabia wrapping his head around the traditional role of a teacher while he is being commanded and drawn into taking the gospel to the gentiles. At each stop, moving from one city to another, Paul encountered some facet of life out of sync with things the Rabbi’s had taught him. He had to discern whether they were out of sync with God. Circumcision was probably the most challenging of these issues.

We deal with new and different aspects of life that require us to turn to God, searching for answers to what is of God and what is not. We can easily get caught up in making rules about things that I doubt God gives much thought to. We made Native American children cut their hair and wear European style clothing and shoes when missionaries first reached out to them.

To me, the primary test of whether something is of God or not is: does it past the test of love? Does the behavior or cultural norm have any negative impact on the person’s loving God or loving their neighbor as they love themselves? Does it support wanting the very best for the person and others?

Prayer: Lord, help us discern our ways and words carefully as we share your good news with others. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/1210.htm
** Philippians 3:5

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Caring for the Gospel

Living in the Spirit
October 27, 2017

Scripture Reading: 1Thessalonians 2:1-8

As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. –1 Thessalonians 2:4-8

What an interesting example of taking the story of God to others, Paul compares it to a nurse tenderly caring for her gospel of God. I worked as a nurse’s aide in one nursing home when in high school and another in college. Working the day shift, I was responsible for bathing my assigned patients. Frail elderly persons often have dry paper-thin skin that required the gentle touches. For most patients, the feel of the warm washcloth brought them comfort and renewal. Throughout the day, I fed many patients who could not feed themselves. Feeding another is an art, learning to understand what they like and do not like when they cannot tell you. Different from feeding a baby who is learning new taste, the elderly already know what they like and have lost control over their choices of eating unless the person doing the feeding cares enough to grasp the reactions they have to the food offered.

Church experiences earlier in some people’s lives left them scared. Others glean opinions of faith from the diversity of practices they observe from the outside, which in our world today is bound to confuse. Loving the other enough to take the time to get to know them and let them get to know us is crucial as we attempt to share the love of God with them.

Prayer: Lord, make us gentle nurses tenderly caring for the gospel of God as we share it with others. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.