January 2, 2005

Spreading the Good News

by Pierre Gilbert

Mark 1:14-28

Read 1:14-15:

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

The Bible states loud and clear that all men and women are free to accept God's invitation of friendship and enter into the sphere of Life. In 1 John 2:2, it is said that Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Do you know what that means? It means that no one will ever be condemned or go to hell simply because of their sins.

Did I say hell? How dreadful! How can anyone seriously think that there is a hell in 2004? Well, how it is experienced, what exactly it is, I don't know. All I know is that there has to be some eternal state that corresponds to this word. The reason is simple. In the Bible, heaven, eternal life, is essentially defined as living in the presence of God.

God constantly invites men and women to turn to him. He pleads with humanity. But in the end, he cannot force us to love him. By definition, you can't! Human beings are given the greatest power imaginable in the universe. We are given the power to say no to God.

There are some people for whom the very notion of loving God and turning from self is repugnant. They will resist God until the day of their death. For these people, there is no redemption. They will be given the freedom to live an eternity without God, without Christ, whatever that means, and however horrible that is. There has to be a hell, for God will not coerce anyone to love him.

But the Good News is that we can plug ourselves into eternal life, right now, right here. It's the easiest thing in the world, but there is only one way to do it.

Acts 4:12 reads: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

This notion of Christ as the only means of reconciliation is no small problem for the missionary church. It smacks of arrogance. It sounds imperialistic. It is certainly not politically correct. How dare we say: "This is true, but this is false?" Let me offer a few thoughts.

The missionary church does not coerce anyone into accepting Christ’s invitation. Our mandate is to introduce men and women to the one who is the ultimate fulfilment of every good human aspiration and of everything that is right, just, and honourable in this world. We are simply sending an invitation: "This is our God!"
To affirm the uniqueness of Christ; the truth of the Gospel is not imperialistic. The Gospel does not belong to the Western world. The Gospel came originally to a small group of former slaves in the Ancient Near East: Israel. The Word of God confronted Israel. The Word of God confronted me when I was 15 years old. The Word of God equally confronts all who receive it. It does not belong to us and is therefore not ours to withhold.

Through Christ, God has provided the cure to the Human Death Syndrome, Sin, and it is the wonderful privilege and the responsibility of the missionary church to share the only cure there is with our fellow human beings.