Articles
The Broad Appeal of the Gospel
Jerome Sasanecki, preacher for the Dulles church, recently made an observation that deserves further thought. He was commenting on his own journey to belief in God and how it was less a matter of logic and apologetics and more the love, grace and mercy of God in the sacrifice of Christ. He noted, and I paraphrase, “God appeals to mankind on a variety of levels. To those who are more evidence-based and data-driven, God’s existence is affirmed by the creative power and physical reality all around us. To those who are more relational and emotion-based, the fact that God is so forgiving and desires to accept us back into fellowship makes a powerful appeal to them.” Jerome’s observation was spot on and insightful.
Consider some of Jesus’ interactions with people who were in great spiritual need. Sometimes His approach appealed to reason or intellect; other times He touched their emotions.
Who is David’s Lord? Three days before His death, Jesus returned the Pharisees’ gotcha questions with one of His own: “‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?’ They said to Him, ‘The Son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call Him “Lord,” saying: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’”? ‘If David then calls Him, “Lord,” how is He his Son?’” (Mt 22:42-45). The Pharisees, steeped in rabbinical tradition, did not have an expectation of a divine Messiah: “It does not seem that the phrase ‘Son of God’ was interpreted among first-century Jews to mean that the Messiah would be deity in the flesh, God incarnate. The phrase suggested to them that he would be a divinely-empowered or divinely-equipped person like Joshua or Solomon, a person who stood in a close relationship to God such that God would acknowledge him as a ‘son’” (From the Pen of Paul 66-67). Jesus directly targeted their intellect. The Holy Spirit indicated through David (Ps 110:1) that his own descendant would be his “Lord.” What did David mean by this? Jesus is trying to lead them to the conclusion that the source of salvation for the whole world was someone more than just a mere human sent on a mission by God.
Go, and sin no more. In a cruel and abusive attempt to incriminate Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees dragged a woman “caught in adultery, in the very act” (Jn 8:3-4) before Jesus and demanded that He pass sentence upon her (8:5-6). The text does not suggest that the woman was innocent, but the hypocrisy of the event was evident by the absence of the male adulterer. When Jesus calls them out by giving permission for those of clear conscience to “throw a stone at her first,” the accusers silently file out leaving only Jesus and the guilty woman. Lacking any kind of judicial charge, Jesus dismisses her with the admonition to cease the sin she had been committing (8:10-11). This was not an appeal to the woman’s rationality; rather, it was a statement of Jesus’ mercy and regard for her as a human being, albeit a sinful one. This was an appeal to her emotion, an attempt to reach her soul via gentleness, grace and love. We can only hope and pray that it had its desired effect.
You will have treasure in heaven. Late in Jesus’ ministry a young man “came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’” (Mk 10:17ff). On the surface the question seemed honest enough, but Jesus is one from whom we can hide nothing, not even the deepest truths that are unrecognized in our own hearts. This “rich young ruler” – a man of some stature, position and wealth – had an idol in his life, and Jesus on both an intellectual and an emotional level confronts him with it. At first Jesus nonchalantly directs him to the second half of the Decalogue, and the young man affirms that he did in fact consistently treat others according to the law (10:19-20).
In response to the young man’s insistence of his spiritual integrity, Jesus challenges him to confront his attachment to material things even while promising eternal blessing: “Go your way, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me” (10:21). One of the great dangers to spiritually-minded people is a hidden unwillingness to fully commit everything to God. Instead, some worldly treasure is held in reserve and when push comes to shove, the believer is unwilling to let go and embrace the will of God in all its duty and, possibly, pain.
We recoil from the notion of Jesus asking such a sacrifice of us. But the truth is, God has asked a lot more than this of some of His most faithful servants: Job, Noah, Jeremiah, Paul among them. Jesus tries to reach the rich young ruler by both emotion and reason, “but he was sad at this word, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions” (Mk 10:22). His question to Jesus proved hollow, for the answer he got exceeded his willingness to submit. His response also grieved Jesus, “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him …” (10:21). Mark is the only one to acknowledge this reaction; it deeply disappointed Jesus to know that this would-be disciple chose the world over Him.
Other NT passages show God’s appeals to accept Christ and His salvation on various bases:
Romans 1:19-20 – Paul affirms that the creation posits evidence of an omniscient Creator – an appeal to observation and logical conclusion.
John 15:9-17 – Jesus reaches out to all mankind through His loving sacrifice.
Acts 9:20-22; 13:16-41 – It was customary for Paul to reason with Jews in the synagogues that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. These are generally appeals to logic and applications of Scriptures to the facts of the case surrounding Jesus’ life and ministry.
Acts 17:22-31 – Paul made rational arguments to the Athenian philosophers that the true God was in reality quite different from their idolatrous suppositions. He did not preach “salvation” as much as he did the accessibility of God, an intellectual reality with emotional implications.
There is no personality type that is beyond being moved by thoughts of the Almighty. Academic, relational, self-critical, depressed, psychologically injured … no matter our personality traits or the filters that color life, God can move us to embrace Him and live a Spirit-filled life. We just have to be open to His overtures.
