Hebraic Musing – Why Do Some People Still Reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Even in America with Bibles available
and Biblical truths being preached, people still reject the Good News. Do people today reject the Gospel for the same
reasons Jews would not accept Jesus as Messiah?
Jesus came as a baby in a manger and lived a
humble life. The Jews were looking for a man, a Messiah, the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah who would reign as King, who would lead and liberate them. The Jews were not looking for the Lamb of God
who would take away the sins of the world.
Didn’t they understand they were sinners? Their
prior beliefs were not dismantled. There were yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies! Jesus did not do those things in His humble
incarnation. Instead, He lived the perfect, sinless life—the life we
cannot live—and then died! Thus, many
rejected their Messiah (Matthew 27:22). Do
we have a similar problem today?
Why
do people reject the Gospel today? *
1.
The gospel doesn't fit their plausibility structure; accepted beliefs,
convictions, and understandings that either
green-light truth claims as plausible or red-light them as implausible. i.e., Christians green-light the truth claim
of Jesus rising from the dead as plausible, but that claim may not be
plausible to a non-Christian.
2.
Evangelizing Christians have not looked for common ground. Do they look for common
ground that both they and their audiences already hold to be true as an
introduction to sharing the gospel? The Jewish
audience had Scripture as common ground. But for a gentile audience unfamiliar with
Scripture; but the common ground can be God’s grace, the miracle of creation,
and universal human desires. Christians
should still use Scripture but we don’t have to begin there; common ground
ensures the gospel won’t be rejected outright.
3.
They don't understand sin and guilt. Sin is our focus in gospel
presentations, but in our culture shame is becoming a more prominent concern. We have “shamed God” with our sin; we’ve “not
been honoring God”!
4.
Their questions aren't answered. Start with the basics, be ready to answer
tough questions about your faith, like “How do you know there’s a God?” People might be rejecting the gospel because
we are either answering questions they aren’t asking, or not answering the questions
they are asking. Listen!
5.
Ethics are a barrier to belief. Our non-Christian friends don’t
think of “Christianity” as the good news of salvation, forgiveness,
restoration, justice, mercy or love. Instead,
they think of hate, fear, power, and violence.
They think their stances are ethical because they empower, liberate, and
restore justice to the marginalized.
They are about choice, equality, and rights. Christians are thought to be unethical
because they are viewed as the oppressors, finger-pointers and haters; non-Christians
are viewed as the ones on the side of love, justice, and mercy. Do people reject the Gospel because of this image
problem?
6. The gospel isn't real in
Christians' lives. The question that
matters is “Is it real in your life?” Do we walk the walk and talk the talk? Do we evangelize to our postmodern friends in
a way that communicates authenticity? When
we speak words of truth, do they see a love that is real. In 1
Thess.1:5, they believed the gospel because they saw Paul’s authentic
living.
7.
Wrong evangelistic pedagogical methods. Evangelism in this
postmodern day requires a lifestyle change when it comes to our methods and/or
practice of teaching. From Active
practice comes Belief, then Truth. The
Christian life is livable; and if it’s livable then it becomes believable; and
if it's believable, then it's accepted as truth. When our non-Christian friends see how the
Christian life works, they will discover it is livable, leading
to believability. “And if they see
that, they might also acknowledge that it’s true!”
8.
Culture’s
existential cry goes unanswered. The gospel isn’t merely a set of propositional truths
about Jesus; it answers the cry of culture.
We need to speak to our audience in their culture, using the language,
idioms, and metaphors of their culture; “What bugs them?” Connect good news of the gospel to their
culture.
9.
Christians
try to win the mind before emotions.
However, if tomorrow you
woke to the headline, “The Bones of Jesus Have Been Discovered!” would you
believe it and leave behind your faith in Christ’s resurrection? Probably not, because we have prior truth
commitments that override what we heard.
When we present facts, evidence and data to our non-Christian friends
about Jesus’ resurrection it’s no different for them. Win over emotions before the mind; then the
door is open to overcome prior truth commitments.
♫ “The joy of the Lord is my strength”
10. Prior beliefs are not adequately dismantled. After
establishing common ground, we need to use reasoning and evidence to dismantle
a nonbeliever’s presuppositions. Resonate: Describe,
understand, and empathize with their presuppositions. Dismantle: Show a deficiency
or dissonance in their presuppositions. Gospel:
Complete their cultural storyline with the gospel. We need to dismantle their faulty worldview
and present the Christian worldview as an attractive alternative.
Point to ponder
How many come to the
Lord because someone (a Christian they knew) had what they wanted?
How did the early
Apostles use these approaches to overcome Jewish prejudices?
Does the world see us Christians as willing to die for
them?
Jesus must be our Creator God because Peace,
Justice and Love are not natural attributes!
In Luke 15:21 The prodigal son said “Father, I have
sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called
your son.” And the father
celebrated!
Yosef
a.k.a. Joe Brusherd
July 5, 2022
Author:
“Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring
the Hebrew roots of our faith”
“Biblical Marriage” Weekly “Hebraic Musings” InsightsByYosef.blogspot.com
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