Reach the World for Christ

It is said that anger is due to the perception that my rights have been blocked and frustration is due to the perception that my goals have been blocked. Generally speaking, frustration is caused when I set a goal for myself that is not valid. Now, this concept is pretty sneaky because our goals can appear to be really good. Take, for instance, the wife who sets a goal to make her husband happy. Now, what could be better than that? I mean, that's right ... isn't it? Unfortunately, it's a misguided goal. No person can make another person feel anything. You can set up situations that make it more likely. You can even be successful at these attempts much of the time. However, no person can make another person feel anything, so if her goal is to make her husband happy and his work has upset him, she has failed at her goal and will be frustrated. The frustration is due to a faulty goal.

We often make faulty goals out of lofty ideas. One that I see all the time in Christian circles is this one: Reach the world for Christ. "Faulty goal? What do you mean?? Isn't that a command?!" Well, many people think of it as the command we've been given, but it is slightly different and, as such, prone to error. Consider the actual command:

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15).

In the two statements, "Preach the gospel" and "Reach the world for Christ", there is a subtle but significant difference. The difference is what I will call the anchor point. In the actual command, the anchor point is "the gospel". There is nothing in that command that takes into account "the world". The goal is straightforward and unequivocal: "Preach the gospel." There is nothing about the environment in which it occurs. There is nothing about the form of the message or the culture in which it is preached. There is nothing about effectiveness. The anchor point of this command is the gospel. The anchor point of the synonym (which isn't actually synonymous) is "the world". There is a suggestion of "the gospel", but it is only implicit, not explicit. The goal of the second phrase is to be effective, not to preach the gospel. The goal, in fact, is to take on the duty that only God can take -- changing hearts.

It is this misguided goal that causes frustration and produces error. Despite the fact that it sounds right, it tends to head us in wrong directions. "Preach the gospel" allows us to modify the presentation to present it to the given audience, but it doesn't allow us to modify the gospel because the gospel is the anchor point. Missionaries do this when they go to places that the gospel hasn't been preached, learn a new language, and preach the gospel in that new language. This takes into account the audience without modifying the gospel. This is the command. But "reach the world" takes into account effectiveness. If we are "preaching the gospel" and no one seems to be listening, maybe it's time to modify the message. People don't like to hear about sin; don't preach about sin. People don't like to hear about exclusivity; don't touch on exclusivity. People don't like to hear about conflict; don't preach on conflict. Never mind that the gospel is all about the problem of sin, the fact that Jesus is the only way, and that only in a relationship with Christ can we find resolution to our conflict with God. So, to "reach the world", we modify the gospel. The world will likely respond more warmly ... but to what? We've denied them the gospel in favor of "reaching" them.

We are commanded to preach the gospel. Paul told Timothy, "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Tim. 4:2). In season and out of season. With reproof, rebuke, and exhortation. We are commanded to preach. Jesus commanded His disciples (which, by extension, would include us), "Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you" (Matt 28:19-20).

The goal of reaching the world for Christ sounds right. It sounds the same as "preach the gospel" without the jargon. It sounds like what we're commanded to do. It is, however, a goal premised on a false ground that will almost certainly produce frustration and has already produced "another gospel". We are not commanded to "reach" anyone. We are commanded to preach the gospel. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to reach people. We need to make our message clear. We need to remove unnecessary obstructions in our message. But we dare not change our message. Paul calls that "anathema" -- a curse.