Spreading the Gospel
It is important to understand that before every action there is the intention. How people behave depends on their motivation: what drives them to do what they do. For many people it is the connection to family, country, culture, or religion. So, if a person is born into a family in a country where the culture and religion are of a particular kind, that person will act accordingly.
In Australia, I sometimes hear Christians say that their faith is about loving others and trying to do good in the world and not thinking about theology. Of course, this is a reasonable attitude, but what motivates them is not clear: I suspect that for many it is hoping to go to heaven when they die. But the followers of other religions and secular philosophers say much the same. So why is Christianity any different from other religions and from what philosophers say about how people should live their lives?
I believe that at the heart of Christianity there is something special, and it is this unique basic element that should provide the motivation for people to become followers of Jesus of Nazareth. It is his willingness to be the Suffering Servant of God as described by the prophet Isaiah in Chapter 53 of his book. The Servant suffers and dies for a purpose, and Jesus chose to die on the Cross, believing that it would bring in the Kingdom of God. He was motivated by love to pour out his life unto death and bear the sin of many. (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 26:28,29) Isaiah outlined the divinely ordained pattern for the Messianic mission of Jesus.
Jesus’ death on the Cross did bring in the Kingdom because many people today confess that for them Jesus is Lord. (Romans 10:9a) Mark wrote at the end of his gospel that Jesus sits at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19), but he does not rule as earthly rulers do: he rules by love. It is his sacrificial love, his example of self-giving concern for others, that motivates his followers and constitutes the Kingdom. It is what he did as a human being for his fellow human beings: he saved them from a world where Self is king. In that world of darkness (Colossians 1:13) lurk greed, animosity, and all that is evil.
People enter the Kingdom in an existential and emotional way. Christians are with Christ existentially because each human being is an independent conscious entity. The individual understands that Jesus acted out of love for him or her personally, and can say, with St Paul, “Jesus loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) This existential situation is, I think, a divine construct.
Christians are with Christ emotionally because their response to seeing an innocent man naked and bleeding on the Cross is emotional. They realize that he represents them in a profoundly human way. Emotion or feeling is innate in human nature and an essential part of life. It rouses them to find meaning in what Jesus did on the Cross, and when they realize it was out of love for them, that love penetrates their psyche, and the Holy Spirit enters their heart. (2 Corinthians 1:22)
If Christians want to spread the good news that the Kingdom of God has come they should follow Paul’s example and just preach Christ crucified: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) As Paul said, this is the wisdom of God and the power of God.
Christianity spread rapidly among the Gentiles in the Roman Empire because of the fervent preaching of missionaries like Paul. He emphasized that Christ died for them to enable them to be in the Kingdom of God and to live in a spiritual way. Human beings need spirituality in their lives, something more than what they experience in the material world. Otherwise, it is like trying to appreciate a painting by analyzing the pigment on the canvas. Paul stressed that being a Christian is a spiritual matter: “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1)
To revitalize Christianity today, we should focus on what is basic and point to Jesus on the Cross as the ultimate example of self-giving love. Then, we can let the Holy Spirit, who also points to Jesus (John 14:26), transform the world. Being motivated in this way, people will use their God-given talents “to do good in the world.” It is the intention that matters, and selfish motivations, such as wanting to get to heaven, are not what Christianity is about.
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