The Gospel of Signs, Sageness, and Success

Tim Keller shows us that Paul preached one gospel but it was distributed in two different forms to two different audiences. This helps us think through what form of the gospel America needs to hear the gospel in.

“So yes, there must be one gospel, yet there are clearly different forms in which that one gospel can be expressed... After [Paul] insisted there is only one gospel (Gal. 1:8), he then speaks of being entrusted with "the gospel of the uncircumcised [Greeks]" as opposed to the "gospel of the circumcised [Jews]" (Gal. 2:7). When Paul spoke to Greeks, he confronted their culture's idol of speculation and philosophy with the "foolishness" of the cross, and then presented Christ's salvation as true wisdom. When he spoke to Jews, he confronted their culture's idol of power and accomplishment with the "weakness" of the cross, and then presented the gospel as true power (1 Cor. 1:22-25).”

Paul appealed with the “gospel of signs” (my phrase) to his fellow Jews. They desired to experience God's power through miraculous signs. But they totally missed the biggest sign of all when Jesus showed up on the scene and accomplished the biggest miracle the world had ever seen.

Paul appealed with the “gospel of sageness” (my phrase) to the Greeks. They desired to be wise through reflection and experience. But they totally rejected Jesus, the wisest person to ever walk the planet.

The gospel confronted both audiences while... rebuking their earthly desires to have power and wisdom while at the same time offering them the opportunity to have heavenly power and wisdom by clinging to the person and work of Jesus.

I think that today we as Americans desire success more than anything. We desire high-paying jobs, big ministries, mega-churches, super-athlete kids, big retirement packages, and anything else that sets us apart as being important or on top.

But the gospel of success confronts these idols because true biblical success does not always match up with earthly success. What if God calls you to give up your high-paying job to raise your own salary and work with a non-profit instead? What if God doesn't give you a super-athlete kid but rather gives you a kid with a birth defect? What if he calls you to give away your retirement savings before you get to retirement for the sake of advancing His Kingdom on earth?

When we think of success as preaching watered-down messages to get more people into our churches, skipping church to take our kids to ball games so that they'll become heroes in high school, creating Christian business directories to increase the success of only those inside the church, I think we start missing godly success altogether.

Yes, the gospel of success confronts our culture's idols but it also gives us the opportunity to cling to Jesus and have true success – that which isn't always measured in dollars, numbers, or prestige. It gives us the chance to leave a real legacy here on the earth – one that glorifies God and helps us to be set free from our bondages to sin so that we can enjoy God more and experience Him more deeply.

The gospel of [true] success needs to be distributed to all Americans.

Satan’s Schema – Part 4

Jesus is tempted three times in Matthew 4. The third and last temptation goes something like this: “Worship me and I will give you all of the kingdoms of this world.”

This temptation is a little less subversive than the others. Satan simply wants Jesus, the Son of God, to worship him. It is no secret here that this is what Satan wants. That’s his motive for everything he does. That’s why he got kicked out of heaven (FYI: he used to be an angel). He stopped worshiping God the Father because he wanted to be like God and be worshiped.

This temptation can be broken down into two temptations: WORDLY AMBITION and IDOLATRY- yet both are linked together.

An idol is anything we worship other than God. Idolatry is not simply worshiping Satan or other gods, but can be a worship of money, sex, our boyfriend or girlfriend, our family, our job, or even our favorite Sports team.

An idol is anything we elevate and make supreme over the one true God.

If we are worshiping (talking about, praising, meditating on, etc.) anything more than God it is idolatry - which is Satan’s desire for us. As long as he takes our attention off of worshiping God (which is the only worship that is truly satisfying to our souls) he wins. There is no middle ground. There is no gray area. There is only lightness and darkness. There is the kingdom of God and kingdom of Satan. If we aren’t worshiping God as supreme, we are in the realm of Satan’s kingdom.

In Matthew 4, Satan was trying to transfer Jesus out of the kingdom of God and place him in his own kingdom.

And how did Satan try to accomplish this with Jesus? By appealing to his fleshly need for power – which is exactly what he does with us.

Here are a few examples of how Satan uses power and ambition as a temptation for us to worship in his kingdom:

• Satan: If you just put in more hours at work you’ll be a) richer and b) more powerful within your company. You won’t have time to worship God, and your family will be left in the dust, but you’ll be powerful.
• Satan: If you spend all your time studying for your classes, I will give you a wonderful job someday. A job that will give you power and prestige. Even if you don’t have time for God or time to go to church or time to serve others, you’ll get a lot of money someday which will take care of all your needs.
  

Now, I think that working hard in school and working hard in the workplace are good godly desires. However, my point is that Satan’s goal is to take good things and make them ultimate in our lives so that we worship those things and not God. If Satan gets our eyes off of God, he wins.

What are the idols in your life? What are you fixing your eyes on, thinking about, praising - that is not God Himself? How is Satan using worldly ambition to tempt you away from God?