Sharing the Gospel

My wife recently watched the movie, Hawaii, based on James Michener's book. The movie from 1966 starring the likes of Julie Andrews, Max Von Sydow, Richard Harris, and Gene Hackman tells the story of Abner Hale and his wife, Jerusha, who, in 1820, are missionaries to the exotic island kingdom of Hawaii. It is an unpleasant movie, where "Christianity" is forced, stereotypically, down the throats of these islanders. They aren't taught about the Gospel. They are taught about how to act "Christian." The clash of cultures is large and tragic.

This isn't a review of the movie. It's a commentary on the folly of this type of "missionary work." It is folly because it isn't the Gospel. Christianity is not about making people act a certain way. It isn't about rules of morality. It isn't about converting savages to European cultural norms or any such thing. Still, it is this stereotype that hangs on for so many when they think "Christianity."

The Gospel isn't about behavior. The Gospel is about salvation. The Gospel is about a problem with Man's relationship with God and the remedy for that problem. It isn't about being a better person, a nicer person, a moral person. Yet, so often, that, it seems is the target. And that ... misses the target completely.

Is there morality in Christianity? Sure there is. But Christianity holds that it is a product, not a means or an aim. It is the natural result of a living faith. It is the unavoidable result of a person who has the seed of God. Believers, the regenerate, the born again, are changed people with changed lives. That's true. As such, it would seem obvious that trying to compel such behavior without the underlying change would bypass the basic problem of Man -- sin. Making people behave more morally doesn't make them better people. They don't gain God's love by being nicer. And to make that the primary message as so many have in the past and as too many do today is to completely miss the mark.

Today, missionaries mostly don't try to make natives change their culture. They try to teach them the Gospel within their culture. That's a good thing. Still, we are often confused about Christianity versus morality. We think "If we can get homosexuals to stop what they're doing, they will be more acceptable to God" somehow. Oh, maybe we don't think that "out loud," but it appears to be a motivation for some. "If we can stop drug users from using drugs, they'll be more acceptable to God." "If we can stop child abusers from abusing children, they'll be more acceptable to God." We do it all over the place ... and it completely misses the point. We are never commanded, "Go into all the world and make people more moral." We are commanded to spread the Gospel. We are commanded to make disciples. It is much easier to see changes in behavior. Maybe that's why we focus there. But it is the Gospel we are to share, not the rules. Some of us need to shift our attention in what we are aiming to share with those around us who don't know Christ.