The Gospel and the End Times

Posted on July 17, 2013 by tdillmuth

WLO_proclaimgospelPost by Pastor Tim – A key phrase in understanding the Work of Mercy of proclaiming the gospel is “according to the Scriptures” or as Jesus put it, “all that the prophets have spoken.”  Too often when we present the gospel, we focus on a few Scripture passages from the book of Romans and ignore the greater testimony of God’s word.

This becomes extremely important as it relates to the first coming and the second coming of Christ.  Most of the New Testament Jews misunderstood who Christ was and what he was trying to do precisely because they misinterpreted Old Testament Scriptures in relation to the Messiah’s coming.  And this is why Jesus points the disciples to “all that the prophets have spoken.”  They thought that Jesus would destroy the wicked and that the righteous would be vindicated . . . in other words they thought that Jesus would restore the kingdom to Israel.

What they didn’t understand was that the Day of the Lord (as they understood it) could only be inaugurated through Jesus laying down his life.  In many of the gospel presentations that we see in the Scriptures, the presenter points to the Day of the Lord.  For example, in Paul’s Acts 17 gospel presentation, Paul ended his sermon by saying, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:31).”

Notice that Paul doesn’t give a discourse to the Athenians on pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib.  And before the altar call, he doesn’t require them to subscribe to a dispensational understanding of end-times (and by the way there actually was no altar call).  He does, however, make it clear that there will come a day where God will judge the world, and that this Day of the Lord is only possible because Christ rose from the dead.

Practically speaking, how should this affect our Gospel Proclamation?

  1. Include the “Day of the Lord” in your gospel proclamations.  Peter did it (Acts 2:17-21) and Paul did it (Acts 17:31). The Gospel is not simply about “accepting Jesus personally into your heart” and “going to heaven when you die.”  It is about the Kingdom of God, and how Christ’s rule, already begun, will be fully realized at the Day of the Lord!
  2. Don’t emphasize your own pet doctrines regarding the End Times.  When thinking about the “essentials of the faith,” think about the Nicene Creed and its specific convictions about the End Times–ones which have been shared always and everywhere by all faithful believers.  If you are introducing doctrines and beliefs that are opposed to the creed or even are not found in the creed, you may be muddying the waters when it comes to your gospel presentation. Elements such as the rapture or the tribulation are not tests of faith and the church has never used these things to delineate whether or not someone was a believer.  For example, the pre-tribulation rapture was not a popular teaching until the mid – 1800’s, and even then, only in parts of the church and the world.  Conversely, being post-trib is not heresy.
  3. With that said, it is a good thing to study and understand “all that the prophets have spoken.”  Take some time to understand the different viewpoints on Christ’s return, and make sure to look how Christians throughout history have interpreted these portions of Scripture as opposed to what only modern, Western authors write.
Posted in Proclaiming The Gospel | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Four Most Important, Least Uttered Words In Proclaiming The Gospel (And No, They’re Not “Jesus Died For You”)

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Pastor Foley

WLO_proclaimgospelIt’s turning into “Gospel in Few Words” month here at DoTheWord blogging central. We’ve been examining the efforts of many to share the gospel in ten words, seven words, and even one word. (Fortunately, no one has yet suggested the gospel in no words, i.e., the quote incorrectly attributed to St. Francis, “Preach the gospel. Use words when necessary.”)

All of the efforts have one thing in common: They are all very clever. And, as the venerable Thomas Oden observed, cleverness is not a theological virtue.

In fact, the Apostle Paul, in his 90 word gospel summary that is 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, goes out of his way to ensure that novelty does not creep into our gospel proclamation. He does so by repeating one phrase twice. It is the only phrase he repeats in his gospel proclamation, and yet it is a phrase that does not appear singly in the ten word, seven word, and one word summaries of the gospel, namely: according to the Scriptures:

That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Craig Bubeck contends that Christians don’t like “love” as the whole gospel in one word because we are keen to attach a “but” to the end of any statement about God’s love. The Apostle Paul is not keen to attach a “but,” but he is keen to attach an “according to the Scriptures,” since, as Jake Meador notes in his fine post, Politics and the Bible as Narrative, “Scripture is a narrative, not an ancient version of Brainy Quote.” Meador is writing specifically about our tendency to mine through Scripture in order to extract images that suit our political purposes, but what he shares speaks equally well to the dangers inherent in any effort to liberate the presentation of the gospel from Scriptural moorings. He quotes Oliver O’Donovan:

If political theologians are to treat ancient Israel’s political tradition as normative, they must observe the discipline of treating it as history. They may not plunder the Old Testament as though it were so much raw material to be consumed, in any order and in any variety of proportions, in the manufacture of their own theological artefact… To dip into Israel’s experience at one point…and to take out a single disconnected image or theme from it is to treat the history of God’s reign like a commonplace book or a dictionary of quotations.

And this is true even when we dip in and emerge with a single word gospel summary like “love.”

It is not accidental that Paul is shown presenting the gospel by reasoning from the scriptures or that the Ethiopian eunuch receives the gospel from Philip in the course of attempting to make sense of a passage of scripture.

Lesson: If your presentation of the gospel makes sense independently of the Scripture–if it relies on drawing on a napkin more than drawing on the prophet Isaiah, for instance–you may be a candidate for the Galatians 1:8 Gospel Proclamation Award.

Posted in Proclaiming The Gospel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Video – What is the Gospel?

Posted on July 12, 2013 by tdillmuth

Pastor Tim talks about the Work of Mercy of proclaiming the gospel and notes that the word “gospel” refers to something very specific.  Sometimes we get things like our personal testimony confused with what the gospel really is.  Ultimately, a true gospel proclamation is the victorious telling of Christ’s death and resurrection according to the Scriptures.

For all of the latest podcasts on Proclaiming the Gospel and on past Works of Mercy visit our Seoul USA Podcast Page!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment