Truth
plays a key underlying part in evangelism and is of extreme importance, not
just with the context of truth within the message we preach, but how it affects
even our ability to properly evangelize.
As Pontius Pilate expressed in the New Testament - “What is truth?”- we must
also ask the same question. Not only that but also, of what power does truth
have in our very play through existence?
Yet we must start somewhere so let us ask ourselves honestly, what is
essence of truth? What we come to know
as truth is what we can securely deem “Ultimate reality”. Ultimate reality is a term used in philosophy
to indicate the underlying nature of reality, ultimate truth. Where most would find Ultimate reality being
much different than others’ beliefs of what Ultimate reality is, there is no
change in the actuality of it because it is “ultimate”- it is the underlying
reality which makes it out of our reach to morph or change according to human
will. For Christians, the Ultimate
Reality is not a concept but a Person.
It is the Person of God- He is the Ultimate Reality. This is what truth has determined for us,
that God is the Ultimate Reality, and out of our reach to alter according to
our own will. Yet Ultimate reality has
made a choice to expose Himself to us through His Word (John 14:9; Philippians
1:4-9; 1 John 1:2). This is an exaggerated point that could easily be stated as
God holds truth and determines Ultimate Reality because He is Ultimate Reality. He is Truth.
Ultimate
reality will inadvertently have the greatest affect on our faith, or more
precisely, what we put our faith in.
Paul Tillich describes faith as essentially our “ultimate concern”
towards what we deem as Ultimate reality.
He says, "Faith is the state of
being ultimately concerned: the dynamics of faith are the dynamics of man’s
ultimate concern.” In this concept, to
have faith is to have an ultimate concern, whether it is success, family,
nation, or God, etc. This ultimate
concern is shaped by what the person deems as the true Ultimate reality. For a Christian, ultimate concern is centered
on God, from who we are even given this faith [ultimate concern] (Romans 12:3). So not only is the Ultimate reality
established in us but the ultimate concern by which we live is established as
well.
This ultimate concern proves itself
manifestly through our desire for fulfillment.
The reason we concern ourselves so highly on an Ultimate reality is that because
in it we believe we will find ultimate fulfillment, which can only be assumed
through faith in the Ultimate reality.
Tillich continues to explain this- “But it is not the unconditional
demand made by which is one’s ultimate concern, it is also the promise of
ultimate fulfillment which is accepted in the act of faith.” Where our ultimate concern is demanded by our
Ultimate reality, it has also been promised of ultimate fulfillment. If anyone believes that ultimate fulfillment
can be found in an Ultimate reality, they will find themselves required to give
their ultimate concern in the process.
So what does this all have to do
with evangelism? Since evangelism is
essentially expressing our faith in the God of the bible by sharing it with
others, we can conclude that ultimate concern for the Ultimate reality will
inevitably be the core reason of why we evangelize. Yet, not only is our ultimate concern for the
Ultimate reality the reason for our evangelism, it is also responsible for how we evangelize. If the focus of our entire being is on God,
we must conclude that our entire being will be focused on the Truth of the
Gospel, the Love of Christ, and the Actuality of God. All of our evangelistic endeavors will essentially
stem from this core concept of faith in God.
If our faith [ultimate concern] lacks, then our evangelism will
lack. If our understanding of God [Ultimate
reality] lacks, then our faith will lack.
If our relationship with God lacks, then our understanding of Him will
lack more so. If our ultimate concern [faith]
comes from hearing and understanding the Word of God, then not only what we evangelize but how we evangelize stems from it was
well. (Romans 10:17)
If the faith that is expressed by
works has the ability to rescue us into Salvation, then it also has the ability
to evangelize this process to others. To
have a deep, powerful faith is to have a deep, powerful evangelism. Not because we strive so deeply to
evangelize, but because we strive to know God more deeply, to become closer to
Him, and in an essence to ultimately be concerned for which we are ultimately concerned. To love more of what we already love, to seek
after what we've already found. Our
faith is not only in the hope to ultimately be fulfilled, but is, in itself the
ultimate fulfillment of our being. This
can only be said for the one who believes in Christ Jesus, as I have said in a
previous essay, for one can not seek to find God if he does not recognize God
seeking to find Him first. There is no
other religion that fulfills our human desire to be one with the Eternal
creator such as Christianity. For Christianity
portrays not only the human desire to be with God, but a God that desires to be
with His creation, thus our faith [ultimate concern] grows as God fulfills our
ultimate desire, which is to be with Him. Our evangelism stems from this fulfillment,
for there is only one common desire found in all human beings, a desire to be
fulfilled, a desire put there by God who is the only one who has the ability to
fulfill it.
Now
this begs for further explanation. It is
true that all human beings desire fulfillment.
It is why we long for movement, adventure, progression, promotion,
experience, wealth, immortality, and love.
The only person who does not seek fulfillment is the one who believes
they can never be fulfilled (yet, even most find themselves looking for which
they have no intention of finding).It is not a question of desire for them; it
is a question of actuality. It is hard
for some to believe that this world holds the key to their fulfillment, and
they are half right- the world does not
hold this. Yet, if even we Christians
find ourselves feeling unfulfilled it could only be for two reasons: (1) we either have found our anticipation for
the reunion of Christ and His bride so uncontrollable we only consider value in
His return or our death. Those in this
situation unfortunately cannot see the beauty in what Christ has already done,
but only, what He will do. Or (2) we
lack the faith to find our Ultimate reality fulfilling, furthermore, the
fulfillment of God’s Spirit in union with Man.
Though
we as Christians have earthy desires, even noble and honest ones, our complete
being should not be weighed in the balance of these successes. Our faith must be grounded in the actual
fulfillment of our being through Christ, not simply in feeling, but in knowing
that what God has done is witness to what He wills to do. If we lack faith in God, than we lack faith
in His ability, essentially His ability to keep a promise, the promise of
fulfillment. With this lack of faith we
will inevitably seek fulfillment outside of God, placing our faith [ultimate
concern] else where other than Him. The
completeness we find in Christ is our ultimate testimony to the world, it is
the validation of life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).
Now, it
does no good to say that because our ultimate concern is fulfilled through our
faith in God, then there is no reason for us as Christians to concern ourselves
with evangelism. On the contrary, we
should concern ourselves with evangelism when our ultimate reality is God, even
more so now that we have found fulfillment in Him.
If we
strive for this faith, we will undoubtedly find it has become our ultimate
concern- a concept that moves beyond emotion and intellect into our will, which
is the production of fulfillment. All
this is found in the Gospel of Christ, our complete being brought
into union with God, relieving our search for Him outside of Him. We have found what the world is still looking
for, better yet, it has found us.
We
evangelize because we have found ultimate fulfillment in the Ultimate reality
[God] through our ultimate concern [faith].
Now we seek to tell others of what has found us because we have found it
useless to continue seeking else where.
We desire others to find fulfillment as we have found it. It should be of no question why Jesus ask for
all the weary and broken people to take upon His yoke ad burden, because not
only is it light, it is fulfilling not only is it life, it is life more
abundantly. The essences of the relief
from Christ, is that we no longer are concern with the weight of searching for
fulfillment, purpose, and Love because we have found it.
The
question that Pilate asked “What is truth” was meant to be rhetorical, but
Jesus answered Him before he even asked in his statement previous to his. “To this
end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”(John
18:37)For those who have found ultimate fulfillment will know where they
found it, in the Ultimate reality, in Truth, in God Himself. Therefore, not only is truth the context in
which we preach, it also is the reason we do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment