Gospel Notes

Gates to the Cross

I’ve been working with a few groups recently, exploring the heart of the good news of Jesus as a basis for exploring evangelism.

The classic explanation of the Christian gospel is found in the Four Spiritual Laws, developed by Bill Bright for Campus Crusade for Christ.

1. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
2. Man is SINFUL and SEPARATED from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life.
3. Jesus Christ is God’s ONLY provision for Man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.
4. We must individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

The presentation ends with the the sinner’s prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I
open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for
forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my
life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”

This is the explanation with which I was encouraged to ‘make a decision’ for Christ, as a fifteen year old teenager. It’s based on the substitutionary atonement model put forward by Paul in the Letter to the Romans. I responded with a resounding yes to God.

However, the four spiritual laws framework doesn’t fit so well now. I could rephrase the language to make it more inclusive gender wise. But over time I’ve come to experience the life, death and resurrection in many more ways than these ‘four spiritual laws’ can explain.

One approach I’ve found helpful is the ‘Ten Gates to the Cross”, developed by John Driver in his book, “Understanding the Atonement for the Mission of the Church”, Herald Press, 1986. (buy it through Amazon.com). The Ten Gates approach was picked up and popularised in New Zealand by Gordon Miller, of World Vision, in his Leadership Letter.

The image I find helpful is the cross surrounded by a wall in which there are ten gates. A person first sees the cross through one of those gates. Over time that person has the opportunity to walk around and see the cross from different perspectives. What Driver gives us is the reminder that there are at least nine other approaches to the cross besides the classic ‘guilt/forgiveness’ gate.

1. The Deliverance Gate speaks of Christ’s victory over the powers of darkness.
2. The Suffering Gate focuses on Christ’s suffering for us.
3. The Leadership Gate holds Jesus out to us as a representative person, pioneer, forerunner and firstborn.
4. The Martyrdom Gate reminds us of how Jesus laid down his life for us.
5. The Transformation Gate traces our new vibrant Christian life back to Jesus’ sacrificial death.
6. The Cleansing Gate gathers up all the richness of the Old Testament mercy seat picture.
7. The Service Gate captures the life of service we owe to the One who purchased us from the slave-market of sin
8. The Peace Gate reminds us of how God turns his enemies into friends.
9. The Forgiveness Gate speaks of the marvellous new relationship we have with God when we accept the death of Christ for our sin.
10. The Family Gate focuses on the wonderful family privileges we now enjoy through the death of Christ.

Responses I’ve had when preaching through this have been varied. Some people have been greatly relieved to find their understanding of the cross was aligned with a New Testament approach. Others are annoyed that I’d made things far too complicated. They liked it when they could put the basic contract with God in a few sentences. How would we know if someone was a real Christian now? Some of the same people thought this sounded like pluralism, ‘New Age’ and liberalism. Gordon’s response, when I talked it through with him, was keep preaching it from the New Testament so it’s clear it’s not just ‘New Age’.

What I’m now working on is what would it look like if someone responded to God through the other nine gates? What are the alternatives to the classic sinner’s prayer?

Posted in Gospel | 3 Comments »

Passion on the street

I have vivid memories of Palm Sundays.

1991. My daughter, Kristen, was born on Palm Sunday. Our church, Brockville Union, in Dunedin, was celebrating that morning by making and distributing little crosses made out of New Zealand flax.

1993. St Mark’s Presbyterian, Tokoroa, celebrated Palm Sunday with the fronds from tree ferns. They were strewn around inside the church building. I invited the congregation to pick them up and take them for a walk down the street. The reaction was mixed. Most of the kids really got into the occasion. This was much better than sitting in church! A number of adults entered into the occasion. Some participated with scowls of disapproval. And some just stayed behind waiting for what would happen next. We came back and talked about the challenge of living Christianity out ‘on the street’, rather than in the privacy of our own homes or dedicated worship space. One person I spoke to later told me she’d found it harder to take part in the street walk than sharing faith in an overseas country as a ‘missionary’ just a few years before. I’m not sure how I’d do it differently. Perhaps give people some options, rather than forcing people to choose between conformity or rebellion. It certainly got people thinking though.

1995. Tawa Union (Presbyterian/Methodist/Church of Christ) in Wellington. I’d written a play exploring the mixed expectations of the crowd on the day of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. It was intermingled with the political agenda of the time - the occupation of Moutoa Gardens in Wanganui. Maori protesters standing up against the confiscation of property in an earlier time.

1999. The Woolworths carpark in Tawa, Wellington. Geoff Allen, a playwright and director, put together live theatre to add some spice to the end of the traditional Sunday afternoon street march. Instead of gathering in a church, we were worshipping out in public. Some of the Anglican members took on the role of concerned religious leaders. We had a few Baptists, Pentecostals, and Union members take roles as crowd, disciples etc. I was Peter, unsure about it all, looking on from a distance. And then Jesus calls me down for a closer conversation. How apt that was. Jesus calling for an intimate conversation even in the middle of a high power rally with so many agendas at play.

Now in 2005, it seems strange not to be in a large religious gathering this coming Sunday.

Posted in Gospel | No Comments »

A Personal Note

I engage with the Lazarus story as one who has lost both parents as well as a daughter.

In 1992 my father died in March, after a life time of alcohol-related suffering.

In September the same year my 18 month old daughter died after being hit by a car outside the house where we lived. I arrived on the scene after attending an interdenominational ministers meeting at which the Assemblies of God pastor was sharing about people being raised from the dead on a mission trip in India. Believe me, I did call on God to intervene on the spot. But it wasn’t to be. Kristen Joy had died instantly and there was nothing that could bring her back.

My mother died in 2001 after a long period affected by Alzheimer’s Disease.

I have become very familiar with the ‘tasks of grief’ outlined by J. William Worden:

1. Face the loss
2. Face the pain
3. Face the emptiness
4. Face the future

I believe these are tasks faced not only by individuals but also by families, communities and nations as they transition from the past, through the present into the future.  The good news in the Lazarus story is deep. Jesus gives an assurance of resurrection, life beyond the limitations we now experience. But at the same time he’s deeply moved by our experience of grief - indeed he grieves alongside us.

Posted in Gospel, John | 1 Comment »