Dear People Who Keep Company with God,
In my personal life experience and my experience as a pastor dealing with human beings and the many problems we have to deal with in this fallen world, I believe there is one thing that stands heads and shoulders above the rest as a source of many of our problems: it is our perception of God. Francis Frangipane said it like this.
“Our capacity to actually dwell in Christ’s presence is based upon knowing the true nature of God. If we see Him as a loving Father, we will draw near; if He seems to be a harsh judge, we will withdraw. Indeed, everything that defines us is influenced by our perception of God.
If we do not believe God cares about us, we will be overly focused on caring for ourselves. If we feel insignificant or ignored by God, we will exhaust ourselves by seeking significance from men. However, once we realize that God truly loves us, that He desires we draw near to Him, a door opens before us into His presence. Here, in the shelter of the Most High, wise can find rest and renewed power for our souls.”
If this is true for those who know Christ, it must also be true for the unsaved. I believe the New Testament approach to presenting the gospel can be simplified to this: to show people that God really loves them, cares about their lives and is interested in proving this to them in some real way. In my experience most people in the world respond to this type of presentation of the gospel.
I believe it is because of our lack of personal revelation of God’s love that we continue to carry an Old Testament approach in presenting a New Testament gospel. This Old Testament approach places judgment as God’s first priority in man’s life versus His love. This is clearly demonstrated in the preaching of John the Baptist.
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Matthew 3:1-2
Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear goods fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:5-12
John the Baptist had good reasons for preaching this type of message. He was the last of an era and he was the last of the Old Testament Prophets, therefore, the only message He knew was that of God’s wrath and judgment upon sinners. However, when the Lord Jesus came, He preached a message of repentance as John did, but with a world of difference in meaning and priority.
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. 24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Matthew 4:23-24
Jesus first offered healing and life to the very people John the Baptist said Jesus was going to cut down and burn up. The way Jesus called people to repentance was truly good news because the presence and the transforming power of the kingdom of heaven, not human sin, is first in priority in His gospel. Jesus demonstrated the good news of the kingdom and the love of God before he ever talked about judgment. Jesus did talk about judgment, but it was not His first priority as it was in John’s preaching.
The Gospel of the Kingdom reveals something first and foremost about God’s love as revealed in Jesus Christ, and not about the human condition. This fact is repeated in all the teachings of the New Testament; grace always precedes judgment. The Apostle Paul said it like this,
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4 (also see Titus 3:4-5).
Bill Johnson said, “Jesus Christ is God’s perfect theology; if we do not see it in Him then we have reason to question it”. Simply put, Jesus, not John the Baptist, is the example we should use in preaching the gospel.
When Christians who have never settled the issue of God’s love for themselves present the gospel people will be saved because of the truth. However, this is not the gospel of the kingdom that will be preached over the whole earth as a testimony and then the end will come (see Matthew 24:14). The Holy Spirit is releasing the love of the Father into the heart of the church in this hour in preparation for a great harvest. The Father is looking for workers who will receive this love to overflowing to join Him in the harvest (see Luke 10:2).
Many Blessings, BW