The Relevance of the Gospel in a Postmodern World

By: congerdesign at pixabay

I have heard of the golden verse in the Bible since I was a kid (John 3:16) and I knew about Jesus Christ because my parents taught me about the Christian faith and always brought me to Sunday school so these truths were ingrained in me from my childhood but I only realized and understood what they all meant recently, about four years ago, and at that point, it all jumped out at me full of meaning and vigor, the Word of God, active, alive, and at work in me. And it has been the most joyful, exciting, fulfilling, and incredible experience I have ever had.

For almost 2,000 years this same message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, has been transforming lives and turning the world upside down, and I would like to argue that the world has essentially not changed since the ancient times with respect to human nature and the inclinations of the human heart which is I believe the fundamental issue that is central to all dilemmas being faced in every aspect and in every front of human life.

However, there will come a point when the world shall see wickedness that is so unimaginable, so beyond compare to what has already been conceived or seen, even worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre, Sidon, Nineveh, or Babylon. But essentially, the crux of the matter remains to be the condition of our hearts with its propensity toward sin and a growing hatred and rejection of God.

One may think that it has only been in the past hundred years that we have faced such immense destruction, violence, and wickedness in the world, and it may be true that all the atrocities that have happened in the past century outweigh those that have happened in previous millennia and we might have to wait for the day when the world shall see disaster that has never been seen and will never be seen throughout the history of the world.

Still when we dig through all the layers of complexity and get down to the foundation of all these occurrences, all of these are essentially driven by the same root cause that fuels all other tragedies, which is man's disobedience to God. And because of his rebelliousness and rejection of God, the harmony and balance within God's creation has been disrupted and as the Bible says, this suffuses throughout all creation and the earth itself is groaning, waiting to be released from its agony due to human sinfulness.

We were the cause of all the mishap and mayhem that has plagued the world in all of history and though one may also be tempted to think that it is God who caused all of these occurrences which leads people to doubt the authenticity and the existence of God since much evil has corrupted the world but the truth of the matter is that our sin made all this happen because we decided that we did not need God in the picture to tell us how to live our lives or how the dynamics of creation and life work, rather we expressly acted on our own volition to distort God's commands and go against what He desires for us which is a life with Him, instead we wanted to become the god of our own lives thus pushing God out of our lives.

Adam and Eve made the original sin by disobeying God's command that they should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and I believe that since then sin has been inherent in human nature or rather from that moment on, we see exactly the susceptibility of man's will to deceit and temptation, and that has been passed on from generation to generation until today.

Man's sinful nature was passed on or handed down from one generation to the next as sin continued to creep through the sinews of creation and cause havoc, by inducing man to act on his selfish desires and reject God's instruction and wisdom.

All mankind have fallen short, nobody has been able to hit the mark when it comes to God's standards of living, no one has been able to attain the kind of connection, perfection, and relationship with God that meets His criteria until Jesus Christ came and modeled to us how to live such that we would please God and bring glory to Him as was intended originally.

Jesus had God's stamp of approval as He fulfilled and upheld all the laws given to Israel so that they may live in righteousness and be in right standing with God and lead the other nations to God, but Israel was unable to accomplish the mission God has given them, which was inevitable I believe because though the law can enlighten us on what is acceptable and pleasing to God versus what is sinful and abhorrent in God's eyes therefore, Jesus Christ had to come to us who are in the dark and became the light who would show us the way to the Father. It was He who reconciled us with God and drew us nearer to Him.

Through Jesus' death and resurrection, He propitiated and justified us by giving His life and righteousness in exchange for our sins, and by His grace, salvation has been made available to the world for all those who would believe or have faith in the begotten Son of the Father. This is the message of the Gospel, no more and no less; it is Christ and Him crucified on the cross and that is what we proclaim throughout the world no matter what the consequences may be because this is the key to eternal life for all those who would believe.

As I said, through hearing of the Gospel and believing in Christ, lives have been changed and God has revealed Himself to countless people who then, motivated by the love they have experienced and by the grace that abounds in their lives, go and preach this Gospel, no matter what the cost may be, and make disciples wherever they may find them, whether in the remote corners of the earth or in the house right next to them or the person seated beside them while they wait in the queue. This has been our mandate as followers of Christ and it will press on until all nations have heard and those whom God has chosen have come to a relationship with Him.

This is not an easy pill to swallow for most and that is why it is God who softens the heart of men so that they may believe, it is God who gives faith to those whom He has called. Simply examine the life of Paul who was once called Saul, a persecutor of the church, but along the way to Damascus, he had an encounter with Jesus and he was subsequently transformed and became a minister to the Gentiles.

Or take the example of Peter who had denied Jesus three times, abandoned Him in His hour of need, and hid in a room because He was too scared. He later preached the Gospel in Jerusalem where 3,000 people believed in Jesus Christ on that same day. It's amazing what wonders God can do in our lives when we humble ourselves before Him and submit to His will, which was what God had desired to happen when He gave us free will, that we may freely and willingly give our lives to Him even though we know He has given us so much and we can do so much, but only because of His grace.

In a world that is increasingly postmodern in thinking, the Gospel is as relevant as ever. Though people want to live their own lives and walk their own paths, we all still have that longing within us to seek something that is far beyond our comprehension, beyond our realm of experience because we have questions that we simply have no answer for and we can't find the answers in science, philosophy, and sometimes even in religion.

And that's why many of us are restless even though we may gain all the riches in the world, and every material possession that can be obtained, but the essence of being alive is not found in the accumulation of stuff, of fame, of pleasure, or of any kind of pursuit in this world, they are all futile because there is only one pursuit that would lead to true joy and satisfaction, and that is the pursuit of God, knowing Him, having a right relationship with Him, and growing closer and deeper in that relationship.

Many people, though they may have doubts or at one point in their lives, have outright rejected God, may still have questions which they can't push out of their minds because the thought of God has always been nagging at the back of their minds and at the very core of their being since we all came from God, we were all created by God, for His glory and purpose.

Our soul yearns for God because He is the source of life, the one who brings meaning and contentment in our lives, the one in whom we find all that we would ever need, and this longing for God springs forth because He has placed His image and likeness in us, it was embedded in our being, and when we strayed from that, we were disconnected from the one who enabled us to make sense of all the realities that we face in life, our identity became blurred and distorted as if there is something lacking or missing in our lives, and that's why we try to fill the void in our lives with other pleasures but we fail to realize that our soul yearns for the ultimate pleasure which is God, to have fellowship with Him, and to partake of the fullness of His character.

Let me give you five reasons why the Gospel is relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago:

1. The condition of the human heart is still the same.We are still as sinful today as the people were during the days of Jesus Christ and even before that, during the time of the patriarchs and the pre-flood era. Every intention of the heart of man, as God had described it in Genesis 6, was only evil all the time and that same heart condition persists until this day even though salvation has already been given through Christ, we still have to battle against our sinful flesh because our inclinations are toward sin, it being a part of the human nature passed on to us by our forebears, Adam and Eve. The only way to change the heart of man then is to get rid of the old, sinful heart and get a new one that desires what is pure, holy, and acceptable to God, and this is only possible through the power of Jesus Christ.

2. We are living in a postmodern, post-truth world.
The millennial generation has become accustomed to postmodern thought where there is no objective standard by which we uphold the morality of our thoughts, words, and actions. We are simply disconnected from having the presupposition of what is right and what is wrong because these in turn become relative to how someone perceives the world thus it is subject to one's experiences, emotions, or ideals. The danger with this is that it creates confusion in our minds about what should be morally justified to do or to say because we become afraid of offending someone or sounding as if we are imposing our values or morals upon others, an act or behavior seen as bigotry or intolerance in today's growing culture of moral relativity. Of course, in this discussion we have to delineate preferences from truth and opinion from fact, and though we have to speak the truth with love, gentleness, and respect, this doesn't mean that the truth won't hurt no matter how compassionate or loving we are toward other people.

3. The church is being bombarded on multiple fronts.
No doubt persecution and oppression are prevalent throughout the world especially for Christians. People are being insulted, cast out, rejected, beaten, and put to death because of Jesus Christ and this is somewhat depressing for many Christians and it drains us physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually so to combat the pain and suffering we feel, we remind ourselves of the Gospel and why we endure all the persecution that the world has to offer and we encourage one another in love. As we are one body in Christ, we rejoice when one part rejoices, and the whole body suffers when one part suffers, and we are all united because of the Gospel. This becomes our hope that our perseverance would not be in vain and that our lives will be used by God to reach out to the far flung corners of the world that they may also be saved and we draw our strength from God knowing His promises that He will be with us until the very end.

4. Looking for fulfillment in the wrong places.
We all want to feel accepted, loved, and satisfied with life; these are some of the fundamental needs that we have as human beings. We were all created for fellowship, we were all created to experience giving love and being loved, and we were created to enjoy life and take pleasure in living with and for God but the problem was that we looked for it in the wrong places. We didn't go to the source of ultimate joy and pleasure which is God and so we shortchange ourselves, instead of having the best, we settled for what was okay. Many people are lost and are still searching for the right piece to fit the puzzle in their hearts but the world can't give it to them because only God can fill that hole. Only the Gospel can point them to the right way that they may have life and that they may know the truth.

5. God's Word continues to work powerfully in people.
Romans 1:16 rings true today as it did when it was first written. It says, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes." God is immutable, He never changes and His Word has the same power it had from the moment He created all things to eternity and it will not return empty, it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. God is continually at work in the lives of men and women so that their heart may be changed and their lives transformed, and all it takes is perseverance in sowing the seed and building the relationship, letting God cause the growth.

The Gospel is as relevant today as it did during Jesus' time. So when I heard about the "seeker-sensitive movement," I was confused because there is no need to commercialize or water down the Gospel so that people would come to Christ, the center of our focus is not to get as much people to come to church but to get the truth of God's Word to as much people as we can. The church is not about lofty sanctuaries, convenient seats, relaxing music, or self-help tips from the pulpit, that would be the wrong motivation for people to go to church or to commit their lives to Christ. People need the Gospel because we are broken and lost, we need the truth to be spoken to us in full and with the authority that the Word of God has in its power. No sugarcoating, no cherry-picking, no pandering to the people. In and of itself, the Word of God will change people's lives, and the Holy Spirit is the one who will transform our heart and mind so that we may understand.

The Gospel is not a fairy tale that we tell people so they can fantasize about their happy ending. It's not a self-help book that you can quickly browse through so that you can become a better morning person or become a better you. It's not a product that we to try to sell to other people and beg them to buy because we need more people to fill our seats in church. No, the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Nothing more, nothing less.