A letter from a chinese christian—a one-time ardent Buddhist who is now professor at a graduate school here in America—expresses concern over whether the Church will remain Christian or settle for Confucian ethics and a non-Christian form of religion. I share deeply in this concern.
The danger that now threatens the Church is compounded of a number of things, such as the present emphasis on “involvement,” the mirage of trying to make the Gospel “relevant” to the world, the confusion in the minds of many about the biblical meaning of “reconciliation,” and the shift from God’s message for the spiritually impoverished to one that seems so often concerned about man’s body alone. All these have caused untold confusion in both the Church and the unbelieving world, with tragic results.
The first result is the loss of the very heart of the Gospel: “… that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3, 4).
Let this be clear: If these truths are not believed and preached, the “Christian minister” has no Gospel to preach and what he preaches is “another gospel.” Harsh words? True words, and in this truth lies one of the grave dangers facing the Church.
Another danger is the urge toward entanglement in many secular movements unconnected with the spiritual work of the Church. Many programs that the Church is promoting rise no higher than those of socially oriented and motivated secular organizations that are honestly trying to do good in their communities.
The word relevant has become sacrosanct today. We are told we must make Christianity relevant to the world in which we live. But what we often see are attempts to make the world relevant to the Church so that the Church refrains from convicting the world of sin.
As for “reconciliation” (a popular theme of the day), only too often we find this used to mean the reconciliation of sinners with sinners, rather than the vitally necessary reconciliation of man with God through the death and resurrection of his Son.
Another grave danger is the misplaced emphasis on “poverty.” While it is the Christian’s duty and privilege to help care for the needy, the Church alone has the message to relieve spiritual poverty. We must not forget that the world’s basic problem is poverty of the soul. All around us we see materially prosperous persons who are desperately poor in things of the spirit. They know neither God nor his Christ and are ensnared in the sins of the flesh without knowing that Christ came to deliver them from their desperate plight and to make them rich in him.
In the second of Paul’s letters to his spiritual child, Timothy, it is obvious that Timothy had become fearful because of the opposition he was finding to his message there in Ephesus. In his letter the Apostle Paul makes it plain that to witness faithfully for Jesus Christ will mean suffering for that witness. Paul emphasizes the necessity of sticking with the message: “Guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us” (1:14); “what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2:2).
The Apostle Paul was deeply concerned about the content of the Christian faith. The Gospel he preached was a direct revelation from Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:11, 12), and he urged Timothy to stick to that Gospel, regardless of the consequences.
From the emphases of many in the Church today the unbelieving world would never guess that the Church’s central mesage has to do with sin—the fact of sin, its nature, and its effect—and with God’s plan of redemption through the atoning death of his Son. In fact (and I say this in love), much that is being offered the world in the name of “Christianity” is little more than a system of ethics. At its heart is humanism, with its emphasis on the welfare of the body and all its secularistic and materialistic concepts that ignore sin, the soul, and eternity.
The Apostle Paul warned Timothy not to change his message in the face of rejection but to “preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths” (2 Tim. 4:2–4).
The Church is in grave danger because its message is increasingly world-centered and man-centered. Many in the Church are willing to stress the compassion of our Lord for the material woes of mankind but unwilling to teach that his life, death, and resurrection had primarily to do with redemption from sin and with the result of that redemption—eternal life.
The Apostle Paul found himself in the midst of great wickedness in Corinth. Knowledge and art prospered, but there, as in America today, people were wallowing in the sins of the flesh. Paul knew there was but one answer, one message: “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1, 2).
“Jesus Christ and him crucified” is not at the center of the Church’s message today. There has emerged “another Gospel,” and it is playing havoc with the God-given task of leading sinners to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ.
To the Church has been committed the preaching of the Gospel of redemption from sin and the building up of the saints in spiritual knowledge and in practical Christian living. Christians must be shining lights, reflecting the glory of their Saviour in compassion and love for those about them. The hungry must be fed and the thirsty given drink as opportunity arises. There must be response to the needs of the stranger, the naked, and the sick. Visiting those in prison is a part of the Christian’s obligation. Yet all this is geared to a higher end than the immediate needs of mankind. We must above all witness to him who is the Bread of life, the One who quenches spiritual thirst—the One who ministered and suffered and died and who arose triumphantly from the grave.
Unless everything we do is to glorify Christ, then we too are preaching and living “another gospel”—and the end thereof is death.
L. NELSON BELL
