-
Jeff Fry
  - Joined on 07-31-2006
- Lichfield, UK
- Posts 237
|
Vision 2009 #1b: How to Proclaim the Gospel in an Age of Pluralism
How to Proclaim the Gospel in an Age of Pluralism
by Jeff Fry
NIV Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
NIV Acts 17:22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' 29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-- an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 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." 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject."
Thesis: We must no allow pluralism to intimidate our telling of the gospel story.
I. Intro
A. Review
1. Exploring Faith Series - exploring idols of our culture
2. Last week took a departure from the series and spoke on "Why we must not stop short of the gospel"
a) previous sermons are on the web site under "teaching " link
b) John 10:10 " … I came that they might have life and have it to the full"
(1) The purpose of Jesus' coming is to give spiritual life to those who are dead - which is all of us (Ephesians 2:1-2; Genesis 2-3)
(2) Helping others is a great thing like Jesus did, but like Jesus we must not stop there.
(a) because God's word says that we all are by default dead spiritually speaking because of our sins and the wrongs we have committed
(i) Ephesians 2:1 " you were dead in your transgressions and sins"
(ii) "you" is plural implying a general you referring to the Ephesians and thus implicitly extending to all people
(b) If we stop short of offering this to our friends, family, neighbours, acquaintances and those to whom God leads us then they remain dead and under the wrath of God (Ephesians 2:3)
(3) The gospel is like having the cure for cancer and not giving it to someone suffering from the disease - we must take the next step because we are ambassadors for Christ.
(a) "As the father has sent me , so I send you" (John 20:21)
(b) And so we must seek to give spiritual life thru the gospel
II. We must not allow pluralism to intimidate our telling of the gospel
A. State
1. pluralism =
a) empiracle pluralism - the sheer diversity of race, value systems, heritage, language, culture etc.
b) cherished pluralism - diversity is a good thing and we applaud and support it. It is celebrated.
c) philosophical pluralism - the approach that a particular religion or faith is better than another is wrong. No religion has the right to pronounce itself right or true.
(1) do we really want to say that all religions are equal?
(a) Was Jim Jones and his followers as good a religion as the one Jesus started?
(b) Was the Waco Texas Branch Davidians equal in quality with Christianity?
(2) This is the most dangerous idea because it can lead to nothing being believed - we better not believe too fervently or else we may become exclusive. So we back off our beliefs. It can lead to a lot of things including a biblically illiterate society as people back off their beliefs (perfect tactic of the enemy) because they don't want to be too exclusive
(a) we can't use our Christianese, God-speak when sharing our faith assuming that people will understand the words
(i) how would a new-age, reiki believer understand your terms (reiki is an Eastern healing art which believes that there is a natural healing energy which works on every level - not just the physical - and promotes self-healing aspect of the body. The energy (chi) can be manipulated by a Reiki master to promote healing.)
(a) Spirit?????
(i) he would hear "universal spirit", "universal energy"
(b) sin??
(i) he would hear "bad energy" caused maybe by a bad past experience you had
(ii) we have to be much more careful in explaining what we mean
2. Read Acts 17:22-32
3. Getting our head around the passage
a) background
(1) Paul's 2nd missionary journey
(2) during this missionary journey Paul spoke at a number of cities along the way to the Jews in the synagogues of those cities
(a) this was Paul's custom - to reason with them from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2)
(3) But Paul now comes to Athens, Greece
(a) he goes to the synagogue
(b) he goes to the market place
(4) Five years before this event, Athens was at the height of its glory in art, philosophy and literature. She retained her reputation in philosophy over the years and still was home to a leading university in Paul's day.
(5) paul is then taken by some philosophers to the Areopagus - a council which had authority over regligion and morals in Athens - they were the custodians of new religions and philosophies.
b) who is speaking?
c) how does he explain the way of Christ to them? what words? what material does he use? (altar v. 23, quotes their poets v. 28, etc)
4. The environment was pluralistic in Athens
a) Jews in synagogues (Acts 17:17)
b) God-fearing Greeks (Acts 17:17)
c) stoic philosophers in the marketplace
d) epicurean philosophers in the marketplace
5. how does Paul put across the message in the Areopagus?
a) He doesn't reason with them from the Scriptures - why?
(1) they were philosophers and didn't have detailed knowledge of the Scriptures
(2) the Scriptures may not have meant much to them since they were philosophers
(3) this would be like quoting verses to a reiki practitioner
b) he does use their altars and objects of worship
c) He does use their poets
(1) this is the same principle we talked about before with the Reiki believer - you have to be aware of how they will understand you
(2) don't assume you are talking to people with Christian worldviews or even Christian background knowledge
6. what is Paul's message to them? - The Pressure of Pluralism does not cause Paul to change the gospel
a) Does Paul change the message of gospel?
(1) he points out some common misconceptions and challenges their worldview
(a) God is the creator of man contra pantheistic stoicism (Acts 17:24)
(b) Acts 17:26 says that God is the one who planned where nations should live or what space they should occupy - God is the designer. things are not left to chance like the epicureans thought.
(2) he calls for repentance (acts 17:30)
(3) he explains judgment (Acts 17:31)
(4) he explains Christ's resurrection (Acts 17:31)
(a) they sneer at the resurrection (and Paul, embarrassed never spoke again about Jesus for fear of being humiliated again! No!)
(b) we need to be courageous to a certain extent to proclaim the truth without being obnoxious and contentious
B. Illustrate
C. Apply
1. When's the last time you share the gospel message with someone? the good news?
a) We must be courageous to share our message with others
(1) we must ignore the sneer factor in Acts 17:32 and share without getting our self-images wrapped up in it.
(a) we must not base our self-worth on what man thinks
(b) we must strive to please God and be who we are in Christ - ambassadors for Christ as God makes His appeal through us - be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20)
(2) we must remember the "follow factor" in Acts 17:34
(a) "a few men become followers of Paul and believed"
(b) persevere , don't get discourage
b) We must not warp, perturb, or change the gospel:
(1) God creator and Lord created us to put Him first in our lives.
(2) But we have put ourselves first - before God, before others. Man is sinful and in need to turning away from himself and his wrongs in light of God's final judgment.
(3) God grants forgiveness through Christ's death on the cross to all who would turn to Him for it. No exceptions.
(4) We must then live God's way with His help from the Holy Spirit
III. Conclusion
A. Be courageous, don't let pluralism push you around.
B. Carson's quote on the family"Nor can I quite bring myselfto believe that the medium of television is so bad, intrinsically speaking,that even if all the programs were Christian the medium itself is beyondredemption: so McLuhan, Ellul, and many others.21 Granted, a great dealof what appears on television is rubbish; granted, this medium, de-ployed in an undisciplined way, can take over families, squash conver-sation, fertilize couch potatoes, discourage serious reading and thought,and pamper my desire to be entertained; granted, much that evangeli-calism has attempted to do on television is theologically pathetic;22granted, a culture addicted to the visual presentation of data presentspeculiar challenges to the proclamation of a God who is not only invis-ible, but who insists that the desire for visual security and certainty isone of the hallmarks of idolatry.23 Still, I think that one of the most fun-damental problems is want of discipline. Homes that severely restrictviewing hours, insist on family reading, encourage debate on good books,talk about the quality and the morality of television programs they dosee, rarely or never allow children to watch television without an adultbeing present (in other words, refusing to let the TV become an unpaidnanny), and generally develop a host of other interests, are not likely tobe greatly contaminated by the medium, while still enjoying its numer-ous benefits. But what will produce such families?The sad fact is that unless families have a tremendously strongmoral base, they will not perceive the dangers in the popular culture;or, if they perceive them, they will not have the stamina to oppose them." (D A Carson, "The Challenge of Pluralism to the Preaching of the Gospel", Criswell Theological Review 7.1 (1993) 99-117).
|
|