After I published “Even the Wicked,” I began to struggle with the conclusion I had presented as N.T. Wright’s summary of the message of Revelation. I recommend reading the whole piece, but I will briefly state that Wright says suffering is God’s way to bring about redemption. I don’t doubt his reasoning; I think he is right, and the history of the church proves it. Unfortunately, this leaves Christians with a troubling message to share with unbelievers: come to Jesus so that you may suffer. That doesn’t sound like a winning sales pitch.
Of course, this is precisely why people like Rob
Bell have removed judgment and hell from their theology. Bell once said
that preaching about God’s judgment to unbelievers doesn’t make for a
compelling story. So, he stopped believing in hell. That’s not the answer, as
any serious Bible student knows; you can’t just ignore uncomfortable truths in
Scripture. When something in the Bible doesn’t make human sense, we are
reminded that God’s ways are not man’s ways—His thoughts are far above ours.
And though we can’t always think God’s thoughts, we must agree that they are righteous
and just. Because that’s what God is. Completely.
While I agree with Bell’s opinion that hell and judgment are
not attractive gospel selling points, I am still bound by the over-arching
biblical command to glorify God, which as I have said before means to make God
look good. The question becomes how to explain the apparently contradictory
ideas of willingly suffering for Christ and still being attracted to Him. The
first answer that comes to me is that there are other things that will cause
even greater suffering if one remains apart from Christ. In other words, if our
message to unbelievers is to be full gospel, we don’t downplay the suffering;
we recommend the gospel (good news) because in it one finds a purpose in earthly
suffering and the promise of eternal bliss.
At first blush, this seems impossible, at least in modern
America. All our needs are met – most of them instantly. The most basic needs –
food, clothing, and shelter – are met for almost everyone who makes even a
little effort. The next tier of “needs” including things like transportation,
entertainment, and recreation is also within reach of virtually everyone. Most
unbelieving Americans are being honest when they claim they don’t need God –
especially if that God requires suffering as the cost of believing.
However, the booming sales of antidepressants and the
thriving counselling practices tell another story. Modern Americans are missing
something; they just don’t know what it is. That’s where we come in with the
gospel. The
Preacher said it long ago: “[God] has put eternity in [human] hearts.” The
popular Christian artist, Plumb,
put it well: “There’s a God-shaped hole in all of us, and it’s a void only He
can fill.” I wrote at length about that need in “Do
We Really Need God?” It is basic to every human being whether they can see
it or not.
The short description of the need comes down to three
questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Why does it matter? Philosophers
have referred to these three as the question of origin; the question of
purpose; and the question of morals. The failure to answer these questions
satisfactorily explains why the richest people still want more, why the man
with the trophy wife still commits adultery, why the addict takes another hit.
Nothing satisfies that inner need. The task for the believer who wants to share
Christ with her neighbor is to drill down and find where that need is hiding.
That’s not easy, and the successful conversation doesn’t usually start with
“Are you saved?”
This dilemma is the second reason why I wrote Lead
a Horse to Water. My first purpose in writing the book was to encourage
people to build relationships where a gospel conversation could happen. The
second reason was to offer suggested approaches to various types of
unbelievers. In my book I referred to God
Space by Doug Pollock who recommends asking probing questions of the
unbeliever. He did not mean asking religious questions. He suggested getting to
know them on a deeper level than their opinion of the weather or their favorite
sports team. I also reminded believers that while it may seem daunting to come
up with the right questions, we have the
Lord’s promise that when we are defending the gospel, the Holy Spirit will
give us the right words. Prayerful preparation precedes powerful presentations.
I still chafe over the idea that suffering for Christ is one
of the primary things God uses to advance the gospel. Here again, church
history validates the argument. In the third century, Tertullian
is said to have commented: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Two millennia of statistics don’t show a perfect correlation, but the places
where the church is growing fastest in this century appear to be places where
martyrs’ blood is being spilled. On the other hand, no blood is being shed in
America, and church growth is flagging. Maybe the threat of the sword forces
people to discover their greatest need. We should pray that God doesn’t bring
the sword to America to make us see our need. Perhaps we can forestall that if
we get about the business of spreading the good news.
Related posts: Rolling
Thunder; Daily
Bible Reading; Understanding
the Times; Crisis
of Faith 1; Crisis
of Faith 2; Farewell
Rob Bell
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