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Mega-city Churches 5: What to say?

June 3, 2007

And what if some are not very good speakers, or not very bright, or too frightened, or too ignorant? Or live in what we could call a restricted context?  None of this seems to trouble the Father because he calls all those kinds of people to be disciples of Jesus, and places them just where he wants them. And gives them the message that fits them and their context.

So does that mean the message varies? Undoubtedly. But only in the way it is formed and applied. The apostles obviously adapted the message to suit the people they were speaking to (compare Acts 13 and 17 for example). But the core of the message remained the same and its central application was also the same.

The core always concerns Jesus. He is the Christ, the Lord, the one who died and was raised. But he was spoken about by prophets, promised, sent and anointed. When we start to talk about Jesus, his God and Father gets drawn into the message because it is the Father who sent the Son. And the life and forgiveness that is promised through the Son is given and comes from the Father and the Son.

Furthermore the promise includes the presence of the Father and Son with the disciples in the person of the Holy Spirit who is sent from the Father. So the core of the message exposes the true God into whose name the disciples are baptised, the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This God is to be worshipped, loved, obeyed, and trusted.

The application of the message involves calling on humans to change their attitude to this God so that they do actually worship, love and obey him. So the message calls on people to change their mind and attitude and consequently to change their behaviour. But such a change also requires pardon. The fact that people are called on to change in this way, implies that  there has been a fundamental lack of worship, love and obedience on their part towards God. 

This has to be corrected not only by their change of heart and practice but also God has to find it in his heart to forgive them. God loves them – no doubt. But can he just forgive without any consequences? Can he act as though there was no justice or right and wrong? Would this not be the worst kind of nepotism? So the message at its core also tells how God put forward his Son as a sacrifice of atonement. It tells us that forgiveness is possible because the Son willingly laid down his life for us. And that leaves disciples in considerable debt.

Dale

Comments

I think that is the most important point that God gives the message to us no matter how bad our past is. We all are called by His holy calling to share the message that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. But the problem is some people obey God's calling, some people stay ignore His calling and the worst is some people try to distort the core of the message.

Posted by Lidia on Monday, June 4, 2007 at 07:17:59

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