Friday, February 11, 2011

When the Gospel is no longer a matter of life and death...

One of the most dangerous things about the character of modern day preaching and teaching is that life and death are no longer the parameters of both our need and God's remedy.  Faith is no longer about life and death issues but about quality of life.  The cross is no longer about life stolen from the hands of death but an abundant life in which success is measured in earthly terms (health, wealth, happiness).  I do not know when things began to shift but it is clear that if you listen to the modern day telegenic preachers (Warren, Osteen, etc.) you do not hear the framework of the malady or the medicine shaped in terms of life and death.

Perhaps it is that we have achieved a level of sophistication and education (at least in our own eyes) that we no longer see death as the result of sin, disease the result of sin, the brokenness of the world the result of sin, etc.  We have, to some measure, made our peace with death.  It is no longer a shadow cast over us -- unless it comes too early and before we have had our chance to live a full and complete life.  Death is just death and life is what  happens between birth and death.  We have come to terms with this is such a terrible way that faith is no longer essential to us but a fringe benefit for those who might find it helpful.

So it stands to reason if we have made our peace with death, that the attention of religion would shift from death to earthly life.  In this way even staid and sturdy old denominations like Rome and Wittenberg have preachers (and prominent ones) whose gospel sounds more like Dr. Phil and Oprah than it does Jesus or Paul.  We have come to see the role and function of the Church to enhance and improve this earthly life -- from the material to the emotional side of it all.  Christ is the healer of relationships more than He is the Giver of life to the dead and dying.  Christ is the guide to success for business and personal life more than He is the Author and Pioneer of the path that leads through death to life.  Christ is the bestower of individual self-esteem and aids for marital and parental success more than He is the Innocent who dies for the guilty in order to declare them just.

On another forum I have listened to the cries of people who wonder how we can get people into the Church (whether for contemporary worship that mirrors earthly expectations or to encounter the mystery of God's presence in the means of grace and the liturgy).  Over and over again people from both perspectives lament that people do not seem to want to go to Church (even those who were raised in the Church).  I maintain that at least part of this is due to the way we have framed the Gospel.  We have given up the ground for which Christ died and surrendered the life or death nature of faith and the Gospel.  The faith and the Church are no longer urgent because they are not about the stark and real divide of death in search of real life.

Jesus has not come to make our lives richer or better.  He came to rescue us from the death of sin that holds us captive.  We are the dead, the walking dead, whose lives are but a shadow of our Creator's intention.  We are the lost groping through death and its darkness in search of light that is always beyond our reach.  And the miracle of the Gospel is that God came as one of us to walk in this dark shadow and even to embrace the dark night of our death and the grave.  The love that would not let us go has triumphed over this darkness to shine with the light of life.  He is risen not for His own glory or vindication but to lead us to the life that death cannot overcome.  This is not a message tailored for the quality of our life but the proclamation of life that is empty and void until the Spirit breathes in us this life and engenders within us the faith to grasp His lifeline and be pulled from the encroaching death of sin to the safety of life.  This is what persuaded Paul to become all things to all people -- not some hints to making things better or some helps for a people who have made their peace with mortal life.

Until we begin to speak again in these terms, the truth is that people will not know their need or the wondrous gift that God has given to us in His Son.  Until we admit that making your peace with death is dancing with the devil who celebrates our demise, the radical nature of Christ's incarnation and His death that gives us life will seem distant, dull, and routine.  Perhaps we have sown the seeds of our own irrelevance by accepting the greatest evil lie of all -- death is just death and life is what you do with the time between its coming and its going...

6 comments:

Alden said...

Amen!

ErnestO said...

"When the Gospel is no longer a matter of life and death..." why are not all men saved (converted), seeing that God's grace is universal and all men are equally sinful?

"Religious education without conversion is like a course in marriage relations without marriage." E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973)

Anonymous said...

As Tonto and the Lone Ranger were surrounded by bloodthirsty Indians, the Lone Ranger whispered, “I think we are in trouble, Kemosabe.” Tonto responded, “What’s this “we” stuff, Paleface?” I was reminded of this anecdote as I read your posting, Rev. Peters, because I could not include myself in each of the “we-s” and “us-s”. “…faith is no longer essential to us…”, “We have come to see the role and function of the Church to enhance and improve this earthly life…”, “Jesus has not come to make our lives richer or better. “, “We are the dead, the walking dead, whose lives are but a shadow of our Creator's intention. We are the lost groping through death and its darkness in search of light that is always beyond our reach. “, “…but the proclamation of life that is empty and void until the Spirit breathes in us this life and engenders within us the faith to grasp His lifeline and be pulled from the encroaching death of sin to the safety of life.”

Is it not true that the world is divided into “Us” and “Them”? Those who are in the Kindgdom, and those who are not? Jesus did indeed come to make our lives richer and better. He said so Himself, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” It is true that “abundantly” means something different to “them” from what it does to “us”. We are not “the dead”. We were when “we” were “they”. But the dead are not “the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand,” whom nobody will snatch out of His hand. And when we were baptized, the Spirit not only “breathed” into us, but He came to live in us, which is why we can have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And we are not pulled from “the encroaching death”. We were dead, it was not just encroaching, when “we” were “they.” But now “we” are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Could it be that people don’t come to church because they do not know who they are, Kemosabe?

Eph. 3:” 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly (the same word our Lord used to describe the life He gives us) than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Peace and Joy!
George A. Marquart

Anonymous said...

Until people admit they are sinners,
they will see no need for a Savior
from sin. Robert Schuller, Bill
Hybels, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren do
not preach the Law or the Gospel.
Osteen preaches Health and Wealth,
that God wants you to be healthy and
wealthy, and if you are not then you
just need more positive faith thinking. Osteen had one semester
at Oral Roberts University and no
theologocial education. He was
simply ordained by his father.

Andrew Grams said...

Ahhh.... There is also a notion in this (small g) gospel that we can somehow STAND in the very presence of God, facing Him, arms open wide, simply in awe. If we dare to believe that we can face God and live, well there is a certain arrogant madness that leads us to be secure in our sins, and trusting not in our Lord, but in our own ability. After all, Moses had to be hid in the cleft of a rock just to see the backside of God. Ezekial had to be lifted by the spirit of God. John had to be raised by Christ Himself. In the latter two examples, both were laid flat on the ground unable to move, "as if dead" according to John. Just friendly reminders that we are dead apart from Christ.

Mr. Marquart's comments too raise the other issue here: We're all Christians here, so we don't need to talk about all that life and death stuff anymore, right? But do we really know what it means to be a Christian? What it means to live the Gospel???

aletheist said...

How many among us - even within the church - do not recognize that every human being's single greatest need is the forgiveness of sins?