Month: March 2008

Macarthur on Contextualization

Posted on March 6, 2008

This is almost funny…check out John Macarthur’s castigation of contextualization and the discussion at Boars Head Tavern. An excerpt from Macarthur:

The apostles went out with an absolute disdain for contextualization. The modern drive for cultural contextualization is a curse, because people are wasting their time trying to figure out clever ways to draw in the elect. Contextualization is “zip-code ministry.” The message of Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is transcendent. It goes beyond its immediate culture or sub-culture. It crosses the world, and ignores the nuances of culture. It never descends to clothing or musical style, as if that had anything to do with the message of the Gospel.

 

Macarthur is out of his league here. Some his statements are just naive. He clearly hasn’t understood the difference between contextualization and syncretism, but what’s more is that he has neglected the ultimate paradigm of contextualization–the Incarnation. An excerpt from my article on Missional Discipleship:

When the Father sent the Son, Jesus left the glory of his trinitarian abode and became a helpless infant in the care of humans he created. This required an accommodating humility. Jesus grew up and became a first century, toga-wearing, sandal-sporting, temple-frequenting Jew. He accommodated first century Jewish culture (also known as contextualization). So, within reason we should take on the trappings of our culture in order to contextually relate the gospel. This can entail wearing broken-in jeans, togas, hand-made sandals or a suit and tie.

Everyone is contextualized; all truth is expressed in cultural forms. The Bible is contextualized…Hittite treaties, Greek epistles, vice and virtue lists, sea stories…Macarthur is contextualized…

However, contextualization is not purely cultural; it is missional. It leads us to immerse ourselves into the humanity of our neighborhoods and cities in order relate the gospel to people and their needs. Being a local missionary requires more than relevant attire; it demands humility of heart to listen to the stories of others, to empathize with their frustration, suffering, and brokenness and to redemptively retell their stories through the gospel. To be sent by God is to follow the example of the incarnation, to redemptively engage others with a humble heart and cultural accommodation.

Don't Preach Faith or Truth, Preach Hope

Posted on March 6, 2008

Read this outstanding summary on why we need to be preaching hope instead of faith or the truth of the gospel. In an age when truth is commonplace and quotidian—internet, science, mathematics—people need to hear the gospel where they are lacking, where they are bankrupt. That place is hope.

American Church in Crisis

Posted on March 5, 2008

The American Church in Crisis answers the questions church leaders are asking: Why are these trends occurring? What can our church do to reverse its pattern of decline and decay? How can we make the gospel story come alive again to new generations? How must Christian leaders change their values, habits, and priorities for the American church to grow in health and influence? By following a four-step process of observation, evaluation, introspection and action, readers will find hope in the possibility of God rebuilding and restoring his church.

Do Christians Who Reproduce Contribute to Mass Condemnation?

Posted on March 5, 2008

I recently responded to the following question/syllogism at the Boar’s Head Tavern:

1. The vast majority of people will not be saved, but rather damned.

2. The command to be fruitful and multiply is especially imperative upon believers and it is the believer’s duty to procreate.

3. Is it incumbent upon believers to populate the earth with people who will in large measure, be damned?

Assuming the veracity of #1, the logic of this syllogism leads us to conclude that believers who follow the creation mandate contribute to the mass condemnation of humanity, truncating redemption. In other words, no matter how many people Christians lead to Christ, spiritual births will be outpaced by natural births, making Christianity a self-defeating, others-condemning venture. Why not stop having kids and just evangelize? There are several flaws, I believe, to this line of thinking. I will hone in on one.

First, the amount of people who will spend a Christless eternity does not ultimately hinge upon our reproductivity, physically or spiritually but on God’s election. Second, and the primary issue I want to focus on, is that the syllogism does not account for a biblical theology of the creation mandate. In short, it puts creation before redemption.

The creation mandate to be “fruitful and multiply” (half of the mandate) is issued before the Fall, laying out God’s plan to populate the earth with his divine image, expanding his glory over all the earth. After the Fall, the image of God that is man is broken and disfigured by sin. In turn, the earth is populated with murderers, adulterers, sinners (as the Cainite line demonstrates in Genesis). The creation mandate is re-issued after the Fall but only in part (Gen. 9:1,7; 17:2-6; 26:3; 28:3; Ex. 1:7; Ezek. 36:11; Jer. 23:3). The command of “fruitful multiplication” becomes a promise with Israel, a promise that is reissued throughout the history of the Hebrews (Abraham/Wilderness/Conquest/ Exile/Post-exile). So, one could conclude that this part of the CM devolves onto Israel; however, the NT demonstrates that Jesus reconstitutes Israel around himself as a people who fruitfully multiply shaped by the gospel.

In the NT, the fruitful multiplication of the CM is reshaped by the gospel. This is seen in the allusions to the word pair “fruitful” and “multiply” in Acts 6 and Colossians 1, where fruitful multiplication takes on a gospel-centered meaning of “being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” It follows then that people who increase do so along the lines of the Word of God, the gospel, they are “spiritual offspring” who are fruitful in social and spiritual activity (to use a dualism). Therefore, reading the CM in light of a whole biblical theology leads us to the conclusion that the creation mandate has taken a redemptive turn, not mainly focusing on physical reproduction, but upon new creation activity, evangelistically and socially.

So, believers populate the earth with people remade into the image of Jesus who, in turn, bless the earth with their whole gospel living and Jesus-centered discipleship. For a popular level article on this see my Missional Discipleship: Reinterpreting the Great Commission.