The Road to Shalom

Is Our Gospel the Hole Gospel?

• Fran Sciacca • Season 2 • Episode 8

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     When you hear the word, “gospel,” do you think immediately of evangelism? If someone asked you, “What is the gospel?” would your answer have to do with personal salvation, or something bigger? Is there a relationship between the gospel and justice? What’s the difference between systematic theology and biblical theology? What do all these things have to do with you? Well…if you want your gospel to be the whole gospel, you might have to find first if it’s the hole gospel.
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OTHER  RESOURCES BY FRAN SCIACCA:

Near the close of the blockbuster movie, “Knives Out!,” the enigmatic detective, Benoit Blanc furthers his reputation for being philosophically obscure with a comment he makes to Marta Cabrera, the dead family patriarch’s nurse. He says, “I spoke in the car about the hole in the center of this donut. And, yes, what you and Harlan did that fateful night seems at first glance to fill that hole perfectly… A donut hole in the donut’s hole. But we must look a little closer. And when we do, we see the donut hole has a hole in its center — it is not a donut hole at all but a smaller donut with its own hole. And our donut is not a hole at all!”

His comment caused countless numbers of people to Google them online, debate their meaning, and eventually walk away scratching their heads. And rightly so, because Rian Johnson, the movie’s Director, wrote them to be confusing.

I promise you, that will not be the case with this episode, even though it’s got the word “hole” in the title. Hi, I’m Fran Sciacca, host of “The Road to Shalom,” a podcast that orbits the idea that there actually is a way things are supposed to be, where everything has a place, and doesn’t negate more than it contributes. The Hebrew prophets had a word for it: the word, “shalom.”

I opened with that quote from “Knives Out” for two reasons. One, I loved the multi-layered metaphor of the donut and the hole, and also because of how confusing it was. Now to be clear, this isn’t going to be a pastry version of the movie, Inception, with a hole within a hole within a hole. But, we ARE going to look at our understanding of what we glibly call, “the gospel.” And, I’m going to argue at the very front end that the gospel as it’s currently understood and proclaimed within Evangelical America, is a donut gospel. It has a hole in it. So, I guess we can say it’s the “hole” gospel. But, if we want to say we have the “whole” gospel, WITH the “W” in front of the “H-O-L-E,” we’re going to need to expose the hole and then fill it. So…are you buckled in?

Okay…A few weeks after the murder of George Floyd, I hosted a 2-hour live Q&A webinar with two experts, on the topic of “Race & Ministry in 2020”. (If you missed that, and would like to watch it, go to fransciacca.com, and search under the “Free” menu). For the webinar, we allowed people to submit and choose questions for my two urban ministry expert guests. In the process, I began to notice two things. One was the large number of questions containing the word, “justice.” The other was the glaring reality that in the minds of many, the justice was entirely separate from the gospel. There were questions about how the two are related, what should be our primary concern of the two, whether or not the Church should use its time and resources for justice issues, even if pursuing justice was a distraction from the church’s mission. As a result, it dawned on me that for many Christians—perhaps even most—issues of justice, and the mission of God were on different pages of their ministry playbook, if they were in the same book at all.

In this episode we’re going into a theological minefield. And I’m asking you to step into it with me. You’ll need to check your theological biases at the door. I know that feels dangerous to some of you, But, I believe it’s worth the risk, and I am pretty sure we’ll get to the other side of the field with all our body parts intact, and most likely with improved vision.

When I was in college, my wife couldn’t stand me. Neither of us were Christians at the time, but that wouldn’t have made much of a difference. You see, I came predictably late to an English class we were in. Jill, the dutiful student, had done all of the assigned reading. I hadn’t done any of it. But, before the class was over, I had become the dominant voice, with arguments and insights I deemed worthy of serious consideration. It infuriated Jill. I came late, unprepared, but pretty much expected to be heard and my opinions given equal credance with others in the class…most of whom had arrived early or on time, AND were familiar with the task at hand. What’s that got to do with justice and the gospel? Well, let’s start with two quick and painful trips to the mirror. First, we need to own the fact that as a group, we Christians are predictably late to the party when it comes to matters of cultural importance. You name it, we’ve arrived late, if we arrive at all. Issues of race. Concerns about the environment, gender issues, wage equity, education, etc. And one of the unfortunate realities about coming late to the party, when matters of cultural importance are concerned, is that latecomers don’t get to create any of the vocabulary associated with the question or issue at hand. In America, the secular culture arrives at the table first, and by the time we enter into the conversation, the rules, the vocabulary, the leadership, the agendas are already set. Then, we predictably react to all of the above with criticism and often choose to distance ourselves completely. For example, there’s a large number of professing Christians who are agitated over phrases like “white privilege,” or “black lives matter,” or “social justice.” Maybe you’re one of them. Some of the reason is simply because we don’t have a place for “justice” in our church mission statements. I can’t imagine the power it would have in my home state of Alabama, if the believing component of this state led the way in removing the full 9-10% sales tax on food. We’re one of only three states that do so. Or if Christians were the ones who led a reform movement for establishing an equitable minimum wage. Currently our state doesn’t even have one. Oh, I know that the Federal minimum wage is in force in Alabama and the other four Southern states with no minimum wage. But, on the other hand, there are 27 states in the U.S. whose minimum wage is higher than the Federal minimum. In one case, nearly double.  I’m not throwing my state under the bus here, or elevating any other state. I’m just saying that if anything happens to create a more just economic climate in Alabama, the evidence suggests that it most likely won’t START within the faith community. That’s all I’m saying. So, regarding our frustration over vocabulary, agendas, etc., for starters, If we want to have a voice at the table, it might be a good start if we got to the table on SOME issue first, rather than last. And, I promise you, the watching world will move from skepticism, to respect, if they see God’s family simply acting like it.

Second painful trip to the mirror. I believe our gospel really does have a hole in the middle of it. What I’m about to say started a whole lot longer ago than 50 years, but I want to go back to the mid 60s for a modern illustration. In 1965 an evangelistic tract was created that served to reduce the message of salvation down to a powerpoint slide. Four points and a prayer. And that tract, The Four Spiritual Laws, had a number of cousins that became pretty well-known too. They had slightly different names, but were built on the same four points. The Bridge to Life, The Real Purpose to Life, Steps to Peace with God, and The Roman Road are among the best known. Now, lest you think I’m speaking against Cru, the Navigators, the Southern Baptist Convention, or the Billy Graham Association, I’m not. In fact, I came to know Jesus on a college campus 50 years ago, at 3 in the morning, thanks to a Navigator using the Billy Graham tract.

But, I am suggesting that there are two very important things that need to be said about that approach to evangelism. The first is to recognize that it distills an expansive spiritual issue down to a narrow forensic message. It presents sin as something that produces human guilt before God. All of those tracts stress that every human stands guilty and condemned before God for personal sin, and that God in Christ has provided a personal answer to their personal guilt. In fact, he offers them a “wonderful plan for their life.” Is that true? Yes, sorta. But, it neglects the clear teaching in the Bible that sin—while certainly personal—is also corporate, systemic, and exhaustive. A forensic approach to the gospel neglects the comprehensive teaching of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, that sin’s entrance into the world also brought with it a tsunami of corruption. Everything that God had declared to be “good” or “very good” in Genesis 1, was now “bad” and getting worse. Sin is a two-sided coin: guilt on one side, corruption on the other. Justification is the big word really smart Christians use to describe the work of God that removes our guilt and replaces it with a record of perfect obedience through the life and death of Jesus Christ. We call that justification. But, and that brings me to the second thing we need to understand. The message of justification is NOT the gospel. The removal of my guilt and the gift of Jesus’ perfect life is not the gospel. That’s the message of reconciliation and the offer of forgiveness IN the gospel. We’ve created, unfortunately, what I would call a “justification only gospel.” We’ve equated the removal of guilt and the gift of Christ’s righteousness with the gospel. As a result, questions like “What business is it, of Christians, to be engaged in matters of economic, environmental, racial, and social justice?” make perfect sense. They have nothing to do with man’s forensic problem before God? They have nothing to do with human beings being reconciled to God through the finished work of Christ.

But, what if that gospel has a hole in it? Dead center. A hole in the heart of that gospel? What if believing that the passionate pursuit of justice and the passionate pursuit of world evangelization are separate and unequal, is actually evidence that we’ve got a hole in our gospel? I think it is. Okay, the table’s set. Please join me at it. But maybe, you should put on your floaties…we’re going to spend some time in the deep end.

The word “gospel” in our Bibles is the English for the Greek word, euangellion. You can hear the word, “angel” in the tail end of that word…sorta, at least. That’s because euangellion is a composite word. The “eu” prefix means “good.” We put it at the front of words like “eulogy,” which are the “good words” said about someone at their funeral. Euangellion also contains the word family that has to do with a “message” or “to proclaim a message.” Our modern word, “gospel” actually comes from an Olde English word meaning a “good story,” or a “good tale.” “Gospel” is the proclamation of something really good. And that something that is really good, is the arrival of the Kingdom of God. That’s why Jesus calls it the “gospel of the Kingdom.” Paul calls it “the gospel of God,” the “gospel of Christ,” and the “gospel of peace.” Or put another way, “the announcement of the good news of God’s offer of shalom.”

Well, if all this is true, where in the world does the our doctrine of justification fit? And, equally important, what sorts of things are  supposed to characterize the arrival of this Kingdom of God that we’re supposed to be proclaiming? Getting answers to both of those questions is going to involve us re-norming a few ideas we have about what happened that day in the Garden of Eden. Many of us think that Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden, and Milton got it right when he wrote the epic poem, “Paradise Lost.” Adam and Eve lost Paradise. They lost the garden. They lost the presence of God. All true. But, that’s not what was lost that day. What was lost was “shalom.” Nothing was the way it was supposed to be. The universe tilted that day. It still is. Adam was ashamed to be naked in front of his wife. They both were afraid of God. They lost their two sons. One to fratricide, the other to banishment. Vegetation fought back, childbearing became painful. Relationships on every level began to disintegrate. Even the natural world was corrupted by sin. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the whole creation is groaning, awaiting its own redemption, and release from its bondage to decay. Beloved, sin caused guilt, but sin’s long tentacles colonized, affected, and IN-fected everything and every relationship on earth. Shalom is what was lost that day. Not the garden. And, the restoration of shalom is the mission of God. In fact, Paul uses shalomic language to talk about our reconciliation with God. He makes it clear that shalom has to be restored between us and God. And Christ does that on our behalf. This verse should be familiar to you: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have shalom with God.” Our justification is the entry point for our participation with God in this massive mission. But, it IS NOT the ENDpoint. This fact has enormous implications for both why and how we do evangelism AND disciple-making.

So…the Prince of Peace has secured shalom with God for you, me, and for any who trust in him. But, beloved, that’s not the gospel. That’s the message of reconciliation. The offer of shalom with God in Christ. So, what does the gospel “look” like? Well, we can get some insight from Jesus’ inaugural sermon in his home synagogue. Jesus is handed the Isaiah scroll, and he unrolls it to Isaiah 61, and lays out the mission of the God:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me [chriō] to proclaim good news to the poor. [there’s our word, euanngelizō] He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,” (Luke 4:18)

A few chapters later, John the Baptizer gets a serious Old Testament lesson from Jesus when he sends some of his own disciples to Jesus to ask if he’s the real deal. Jesus says, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.” Or in other words, Jesus tells John, I’m doing what Isaiah said the messiah would do, John. Do the math. (Luke 7:22)

What am I saying here? I’m saying that being deaf, being blind, being socially and economically oppressed, is NOT the way it’s supposed to be. Their presence is evidence of shalom’s absence. That’s why the gospel is “good news” for the poor. The King has come, and when he leaves, His subjects will restore shalom in his name. As much as can be done in this life. A harvest of righteousness will be sown in peace by those who make peace…according to the brother of Jesus.

All the current talk about social and racial justice…well beloved, it SHOULD have begun with us. Instead we came late to the party and now we’re upset over words, over organizations, and over personalities and politics. I suspect most of you knew that in the days of Jesus, Jews hated Gentiles. But, did you think that the Gentiles was a group that hated them back? You need to know that Romans hated Greeks, and Greeks hated Romans, and Samaritans disliked them both. Beloved, racial animosity is an ancient thing. It’s one of the non-guilt infections of sin. It’s part of sin’s corruption of God’s shalomic creation.That means racial distrust and hatred is one more evidence of the loss of shalom among the children of God? Perhaps you knew that. But, did you also know that one of the distinct reasons Jesus CAME, was to destroy all this? The racial animosity, phobia, and bias? I mean, have you ever wondered just HOW God was going to get people of every language, of every tribe, and race, and people group to sing the same worship, around the same throne, wearing the same clothes? Did you think it was just something that was going to happen sometime between the take-off and landing of the rapture? I’m serious here, beloved. Listen to Paul here. This will take your breath away:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off (Gentiles) have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our shalom, who has made us (Jews and Gentiles) both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making shalom, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached shalom to you who were far off and shalom to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:13–22)

Did you hear that? If you’re a genuine Christian, you are part of a new humanity. A new human race begun with the last Adam, Jesus. You are related to everyone ELSE in that family because you share the same Father. Beloved, there IS no other path to racial shalom. Unless, and until WE who claim kinship to Jesus—all of us—verbally CONFESS before others that JESUS is our racial identity, there will be no healing. But there will be accountability before God for our failure. I say that because this one thing, according to Paul, was one of the express purposes of God in sending Jesus. To refuse to acknowledge that, to refuse to embrace that, to refuse to proclaim that, is to put a hole in the gospel. And in some cases, it’s to put a “black hole” in the gospel. A hole that focuses on me, and sucks everything else into it. When we make our agenda God’s agenda, we put a “black hole” in a gospel that’s already got a hole in it.

One last thing. What about my opening comments about the confusion regarding the place of the pursuit of justice in the life of believers, and the agenda and mission of the Church? Big topic. Real big. One reason, which I’m not going to unpack here, is that much of our vision of all things Christian is driven by systematic theology rather than biblical theology. We are committed to specific doctrines which we have systematized, that drive our ministries and our mindsets. Chief among them are our doctrines of justification by faith, and our doctrines of evangelism, world missions, and eschatology. To be truthful, we HAVE no clear doctrines of justice, wealth, the poor, the environment, good works, or race. If someone asked you to give a brief summary of what the Bible teaches on justice, or on race, or on the environment, or on the poor, or on the place and purpose of wealth, how would you do? Let’s face it, these things aren’t in our PERSONAL theological backpacks because these doctrines aren’t part of our theological systems, and therefore aren’t part of our theological training.. And beloved, this is tragic, because they are ALL in God’s narrative.

Biblical theology—done properly—emerges FROM the narrative of the Bible—God’s plan for the fulness of time to unite all things in heaven and earth in Christ—and biblical theology done properly is therefore submitted to God’s plan to restore shalom, to turn Genesis 3 on its head. A sense of identity, purpose, and mission that is rooted in the biblical narrative has a legitimate vision for doing justice and righteousness, alongside evangelism, not as competitors. And more than that, according to scripture, DOING these things—justice and righteousness—has EVERYTHING to do with the gospel. At least the gospel that God himself preached. Listen to our friend St. Paul one more time:

“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand [proeuaggelizomai] to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Galatians 3:7–9)

Did you hear that? God preached the gospel to Abraham, our spiritual father. And God’s gospel was that the nations would be blessed through the line of Abraham. What does that look like? Well, let’s listen to God having a conversation with himself about Abraham in Genesis 18:

“The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”” (Genesis 18:17–19)

“Doing righteousness and justice,” God says, is “keeping the way of the Lord.” It’s also the way of blessing to those who do it. Perhaps that’s why near the end of the Old Testament, the prophet Micah told God’s people:
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do [same verb as Gen 18] justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Finally, when it comes to the enormous topic of justice, I think we need to remind ourselves that justice is something that owes its existence to the absence of something else. Justice is necessary because of the absence of shalom. There will be no need to pursue justice in the next life, any more than there will be a need to do evangelism. Both exist now because shalom is missing…now. Missing between God and people, and missing between everything else. You know what this means? It means that justice is impossible to understand apart from a clear understanding of what shalom is, what it looks like when it’s present, and what it looks like when and where it’s missing. The secular culture—the ones with all the vocabulary, notoriety, and activity on these issues—can only view this whole thing from the side of justice. That’s one of the reasons they’ve had to categorize it: social justice, racial justice, educational justice, economic justice, and so on. Those of us in the faith community, rather than shying away from the topic because we don’t like the words or the players, HAVE to view this through the lens of shalomic restoration. Or put another way, we have to view the pursuit of justice through the lens of the gospel itself. Seeing it this way makes justice an essential PART of the gospel, by providing an amazing portrait of what it IS that justice is seeking to recover—shalom. and it also provides the only sufficient motivation for tirelessly working hard in that direction. Beloved, justice can never be an end in itself. It is a means to the restoration of shalom, which is the end justice serves. But, and this is important that you hear me…we work for shalom, because that’s what God is working towards. And shalom’s presence will not happen without justice. You and I should already know that. Our shalom with God required the fulfillment of justice on the part of Jesus. Can we do any less for those around us?

I hope these thoughts have given you reason, freedom, and motivation to plug the hole in your gospel. Or at least make it a little smaller. See ya next time…shalom.