Chronological Teaching: The Need For Common Ground

2012-08-18

The further you get from people who have a western background that once reflected some kind of Christian heritage, the more likely they will be very lost when you try to communicate the Gospel. People in America in recent history (though this is becoming much less the case) typically understood that God was the creator, and had some kind of power over the world and care over the creation. The remote animistic peoples of the world do not have that concept. When you start talking about God, they are likely to have a very different perspective of who God is (or what “god” means). What god are you talking about? What about the spirit world they deeply believe in? How can we manipulate this god like the spirits? Why does this god have a son? How could he possibly die? What is sin? The questions need to be answered, and need more than pat answers. In a culture that explains things in stories, we need to tell them the Story, not a four point outline in five minutes that could possibly work in the western world.

Falling by the Way Side

Matthew 13:3-4: “Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up.” Jesus told his disciples this parable, and he also was willing to share precisely what it means: “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side” (Matthew 13:19).

When people hear the gospel and do not understand it, salvation is hid from them. These people are not saved (Luke 8:12). You can see here, as well as in the other Gospels, that these people are not necessarily rejecting Christ, and these are not the ones blaspheming the Holy Ghost. They just do not understand. Just as the original hearers of this parable would have known well, the unprepared ground is not going to grow the crops; only the good ground will (Matthew 13:23). In fact, why would anyone ever even want to plant seed on unprepared ground? It would be because of laziness or lack of knowledge of gardening. We do not want to plant seeds by the wayside; however, we could prepare the ground by the wayside to be good ground! This is how we can do this in our teaching: we teach Bible truths from the Old Testament to show who God is and what he is like, so they can understand why Jesus died for humanity.

Moreover, the goal of Gospel preaching is not merely getting people saved. It is probably the most important aspect of Gospel preaching, but it is not the only goal. Jesus wanted disciples. Watch closely the Great Commission: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). But what are we teaching people? Now finished the sentence: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus wants people to follow him, even today in the twenty-first century. Without a firm grasp of who God is, religious syncretism will remain at best, and at worst you have a bunch of confused people who are more lost than they were before you got to them.