Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Wisdom, Folly, and Truth

Here is what I posted at the Grace and Peace blog yesterday. Check it out to find more gospel centered writing in several different types from my good friends.

If you have ever attempted to give testimony of the gospel to a lost person you have probably heard something like the following response, “Well, that may be true for you but I have my own beliefs and they are true for me.” This kind of response comes from a post-modern worldview; which tells us that any non-testable truth claim is subjective and, therefore, cannot be applied to every person universally.

In some ways this way of thinking is a good thing. Every time we see or experience the rotten fruit of Islamic fundamentalism we should be glad that America allows the freedom to adhere to any truth as long as it doesn’t break certain moral laws. The belief in relative truth has its own way of encouraging some humility in the public square where ideas are shared.

On the other hand, this view of truth mostly comes straight out of secularism which says that God does not exist (or at least we cannot know that He exists) and man is the authority for judging truth and falsity. It is a view that comes straight out of Romans 1:21 by which man suppresses the truth about God by claiming ignorance on the most important matters.

What I want to do here is spend a little time looking at one example in Scripture of the interplay between subjective and objective truth. Perhaps I do have my own truth and you have yours but what I want us to see is the truth that really matters. I also want us to see how we might apply that truth to our evangelistic ministry.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18 ESV)


Notice how Paul addresses things throughout this chapter and especially in this particular verse. There are wise people and there are fools. The strange thing about these two types of people is that they are exactly the opposite of what one would expect to read. The bad guys with whom Paul completely disagrees are called wise. The good guys who have given up everything to follow Christ are called fools. Why is that?

The reason is because Paul is looking at these two kinds of people from the perspective of the lost. They are wise in their own eyes and have, according to Romans 1:22, become fools. So subjectively Paul is able to say that the message of the cross is folly in the eyes of the one group.

On the other side we have the fools. Why are they fools? From the standpoint of the lost it is because they have given up their lives in service to this mysterious God of the low and despised. From another perspective we can say that they are fools because that is what they are apart from Christ who chose them in order to shame the wise (see 1 Corinthians 1:27). To these foolish people the message of the cross is the power of God to save them.

So here we have two groups with opposing truth claims. They are completely at odds and there appears to be no way of reconciling their worldviews. However, we can consider that someone is writing this story. There is one who is telling us about these two groups and how they think. In the same breath by which Paul tells us what the wise man says and what the foolish man says he tells us what is really happening to them…objectively! The truth is that the wise man is in reality the perishing man and the fool is the one being saved.

Unfortunately in our day we will do almost anything to convince the wise man of the truth of the gospel by using his own “wisdom.” Some appeal to scientific evidence while others try philosophical arguments. Others just do whatever they can to get you in the doors of a church so they can show you how much better Jesus is for your emotional well-being. But verse 17 says “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

The power of the cross is its ability to save. If we try to take the form of a fellow truth-suppressor we will only convert them to a slightly different form of rebellion against God. We might have more theistic heathens but in the end there won’t be anymore knees bowing to Jesus (unless God is so kind as to convert them despite an unbiblical presentation of the gospel).

My encouragement to you is to remember as you do apologetics and try to reach out to people that you don’t try to do it in a cunning persuasive way. Show people you care about them, show them that the Bible answers the questions they have (even the deep ones), but in the end let them accept or reject the truth of the cross. It isn’t up to you to convert souls, it is up to you to speak the truth of the gospel. The rest is up to God.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Grace, Peace, and a Few Things of Lesser Importance...

Here is what I posted at the Grace and Peace blog yesterday. Check it out to find more gospel centered writing in several different types from my good friends.

In this world of new media there are millions of voices vying for the opportunity to be heard. Nothing guarantees that any of these voices will be worth your time, in fact, most of them aren’t worth the cost of the computers by which they communicate their opinions, but they are still there and you have the choice to give them your time and attention or not.

After having said all of that, allow me to introduce the Grace and Peace blog. Several new voices added to the blogosphere: myself (Stephen), Lukas, Jonathan, Sarah, JD, and probably some others from time to time. But what could we possibly add that hasn’t already been said? Hopefully nothing. It is not the goal of any person writing on this blog to blow your mind with some sort of new wisdom. Instead, we are only as wise as we have given ourselves to the guidance of Scripture.

Finally, why Grace and Peace? Well, we needed a name. But this term has great significance in Scripture. It is the term Paul used to greet the recipients of all thirteen of his letters. In addition we find the term used by Peter in both of his letters and even John at the beginning of Revelation. What makes this greeting especially great is that it serves as a summary of the gospel.

Matthew Henry writes:
“All gospel blessings are included in these two: grace and peace. Peace, that is all good; peace with God, peace in your own consciences, peace with all that are about you; all these founded in grace. “(Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Romans 1:7)

This blog will only be helpful inasmuch as it points people to God’s Word and the redemption that is found therein. Just as Paul had this way of opening his letters he frequently closed them in similar fashion with the phrase “grace be with you.” Hopefully you will find these posts to be gospel saturated, even when the topic being addressed is seemingly irrelevant to the gospel.

There is diversity in this group and that will be reflected in the kinds of posts this blog will contain from day to day and the subjects that will be addressed. But one thing, if nothing else, holds this group in complete unity, the gospel. So please subscribe or stop by occasionally for some good discussion, quotes, song lyrics, and probably even some designs. New content will be added every week day.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

Monday, September 14, 2009

New Blog!

I know it's been a month since I posted regularly but a new schedule is coming. With that said I want to introduce the new Grace and Peace blog! I have hoped to do this for a long time and it looks like it's finally happening. Myself along with four other great folks are teaming up for this new blog and new content will be up every week day. I will be posting on Mondays (my first post is up) and then I will repost the same thing on this site on Tuesdays. So check out us out at www.gandpblog.blogspot.com.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen