Question #2
Please respond by April 29, 2007
Please respond by April 29, 2007
"By combining physical help with spiritual help, the modern missionary undermines the power of the Gospel."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God." -- John Stott
4 comments:
I don't think that that is true at all. Using physical and spiritual help. The modern missionary has to do all that he or she can. While using spiritual help is the most important, relying on God fully and knowing that we can do anything without Him. He doesn't want us to be lazy, and not do anything at all. That's where the physical comes in, after receiving instruction, then playing out our own efforts, on what has been told to us.
What is the Gospel? It is the Good News of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. He Himself related the elements that make the news of the Kingdom so Good: physical healing, freedom, forgiveness of sins, and the year of the LORD’s favor (Isaiah quote). Jesus not only talked about these realities, but He brought the physical help to the people (feeding, healing, and deliverance). If the King of the Kingdom mixed physical help with spiritual help, doesn’t it follow that we should as well? In fact, the salvation of the Kingdom is not only for one’s spirit but for physical and mental-emotional problems too.
I must admit that it saddens me that so many people become distracted by the physical elements of the Gospel that they neglect the core message: forgiveness of sins in Christ and restoration with God. Also, when many people attempt to bring the physical elements of the Kingdom, they often do so in their own strength. Not that medical doctors and cooks have no place in the Kingdom of God, but we musn’t forget the Kingdom of power that Jesus proclaimed. If ever we become content with neglecting any component of the Gospel message—physical, spiritual, or miraculous—something has gone wrong. The Gospel must be preached in its entirety, and we must demonstrate both the power and compassion of God to back up this message: this is the true merging of the physical and spiritual elements of the Gospel.
Lisa Mawhinney said:
Physical help and Spiritual help go hand in hand. it makes sense that people would THINK that modern medicine can undermine the Power of Our Living God. The body of Christ believes in the power of Jesus to heal the average person. He does still reveal his power in that way, but modern medicine can help restore people as well. In using modern medicine, missionaries can move the process of healing and comfort along very well. i think medicine helps with comfort most of all. Missionaries that bring medicine to the people are not undrmining the power of the gospel but only making people more comfortable where they are. It also does not discredit or undermine the power of Jesus' healing. it only shows God's goodness through things that have been man made on Earth.
meg-
I disagree. Christ not only met the spiritual needs but also the physical, (think fish and loaves, Matt. 14) There are different opinions about this, one side thinks that you can't mix the Gospel and social care, without those being helped will only see the food not the Gospel, and others say that the hierarchy of needs must be met, (starting with the physical needs before the spiritual needs are met.) Instead of looking to what the world says we need to look to the ultimate example of ministry, that of Christ and his disciples, they met not only the spiritual needs, but also the physical (widows and orphans Acts 6.)
Post a Comment