#BibleStudy Timeless Truths. Serving the Gospel
The spiritual needs of humanity take precedence over the political concerns of culture at large.
P. T. Forsyth* taught us that the task of the church is to serve the gospel.
*Peter Taylor Forsyth, (born May 12, 1848, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland—died November 11, 1921, London, England), Scottish Congregational minister whose numerous and influential writings anticipated the ideas of the Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth.
He reasserted the classic faith of the Reformation in terms appropriate to his own time, bringing the word grace back into Protestant theology and showing anew what was meant by the sovereignty of God as revealed in holy love in Christ. Forsyth anticipated many insights characteristic of Barth. Through Barth’s work, Forsyth, often misunderstood in his own time, gained new attention.
How foolish it sounds to proclaim the need for revival over the need for political “revolution.” How passionate it sounds for the church to address the systemic sins of culture while overlooking the sins of individuals within that culture. Paul understood that the church in Corinth needed to come to terms with the foolishness of God (and the gospel) rather than the wisdom of a world and it’s teaching that had no regard for God.
In the midst of cultural chaos, the church must stay true to the gospel, its mission, as it confronts the forces of evil (whether from the right or left) in the name of Jesus Christ.
Sometime later Paul reminded the Corinthians that
“the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4).
We are not called to choose sides; we are called to serve both sides with the gospel of reconciliation that heals wounds untouchable by political dictates.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:17-21)
It takes strength to take your stand on the gospel.
May God use people of faith, faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, to be agents of healing in the cultural chaos of our world.
Thanks to Dr. Robert Smith for this timely insight into today's complex cultural milieu.
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