Growing up in my neighborhood, my friends and I would
often hold wrestling contests like those we saw on TV. One of our rules of engagement was if someone
got into a situation he couldn’t get out of, he would simply say “uncle” (our
version of tapping the mat or raising a white flag) and his opponent was
obligated to let him go. It was a
statement of surrender….for the moment!
But we all knew it would start all over again later. Nothing had really changed. Sometimes people “come to Christ” with the
same mentality. They have little
intention of changing their lives and discipleship is totally irrelevant.
In order to understand the foundation for discipleship on
the resurrection side of the cross, we need a clear understanding of the
gospel. We need to correctly answer
three questions:
- What is the gospel?
- What issues does it resolve?
- What is the required response?
I have suggested in previous blogs that the gospel is the
narrative of Jesus Christ the Lord and His kingdom (Rom 1:1-4). It is His story – all of it from His
incarnation to the final courtroom.
The second question is what issue(s) does the gospel resolve? In blog 51, I made a distinction between
proximate (immediate) issues and causal (root) issues. Both are real, but the former is symptomatic
while the latter is the underlying issue.
Scripture describes many proximate issues:
Fallen, lost, dead, missed the
mark, broken, guilty, shameful, unbeliever, sick, captive, slave, brokenhearted,
poor blind, oppressed, etc.
However, the causal issue goes much deeper and is found in
the very beginning of humanity. Adam’s
sin was more than violating a command of God.
It was deliberate and outright rebellion from God’s authority and
leadership over his life. The result is
that we are all born into the kingdom of rebellion and are individually
complicit with it. This condition is
also described as being ungodly, haters of God, children of wrath, children of
the devil, those without law. We are
rebels against God, declaring our independence from His authority.
When presenting the gospel, it seems more compassionate to
infer a person is lost rather than a rebel.
But if we don’t identify the underlying issue, we rob the gospel of its
power and marginalize the freedom that it brings.
The third question is what is the required response that
must be made? If we are simply lost,
then we need to be found; if broken, then we need to be mended; if poor, than
we need resources, etc. But if we are
rebels, what is required? Jesus began
His ministry announcing the gospel of the kingdom and said, “The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel”
(Mark 1:15).
Two words we tend to use interchangeably are surrender and
repent. I would submit, however, there
is a critical distinction that should be made.
Surrender is an act of giving up, saying, “I quit. I can’t go on”. It is like tapping the mat, the white flag,
or saying “uncle”. It implies submission (temporary) but not allegiance.
In WW II, POWs were soldiers who had surrendered. Most were held in camps of internment with
various levels of treatment. A few tried
to escape and return to the fight, but most
simply waited until the war was over to return to their country of origin. The main point is that although POW’s
surrendered, they did not change their allegiance to the country in which they
were held captive.
I am concerned that too many times we present a gospel
response that looks a lot like surrender.
People feel overwhelmed with their sin, guilt, shame, fears or other
proximate issues and finally say “I quit” or “I give up; get me out of my mess”.
Repentance, however, is not only surrender but a change of
allegiance. It is a turning from
self-governance to Christ-governance. It
is renouncing our loyalty to self and pledging loyalty to Christ.
ISBE: Repent = to
change the mind
The
word μετανοέω, metanoéō, expresses the true New Testament idea of the
spiritual change implied in a sinner’s return to God. The term signifies “to
have another mind,” to change the opinion or purpose with regard to sin. It is
equivalent to the Old Testament word “turn.”
It is one thing to be bested, beaten, or defeated. It is a whole different thing to change the
loyalty of our hearts and minds to embrace Christ as our new and final authority. The gospel demands not only surrender but a
new allegiance. Repentance is more than
the acknowledgement that we have blown it, made a mess or even violated God’s
moral code. It is life under new
management.
Surrender without allegiance creates a syncretistic1
gospel, one that reinforces the myth that “life is still all about me” but hopefully
with less pain.
The gospel response that brings new life is more than saying
“uncle”. It is the reset of our hearts
to live under the rule of our benevolent King and gracious Father. It is to renounce our rebellion and pledge
our allegiance to our Creator. The
gospel Jesus preached and the one the early church embraced was a radical
invitation to leave our rebellion against God and come back home as the
prodigal son did.
Questions for reflection:
1. How could you
guide a spiritual conversation from proximal issues to casual ones?
2. Reflect on 1
John 3:8, “The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned
from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the
works of the devil.”
1 Syncretism (Dictionary.com): The attempted
reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles or practices.
