When I read John 14:6, I face a dilemma. I believe the truth, that is not the challenge. Dr. Mark Chan, scholar, theologian, author and professor at University of Nottingham, captures the problem for me. He wrote, “Our concern is with the challenge of following Jesus as Truth at a time when the concept of universal truth is in question.” (2007) He goes on, “When the church declares that [Jesus] is the way to the truth about God and eternal life, she is making a statement about reality that is true for everyone and everywhere, and not just for Christians.”
As a boy my world was simple. There were four mainstream churches – Anglican, United, Pentecostal and Salvation Army. The 3,000 or so population all identified with one persuasion or another. There were a few minor differences – the Anglicans and United practiced communion; the Pentecostals practiced water baptism and The Salvation Army – well, we are who we are! However, we all believed the Christian premise of Salvation through Jesus Christ; that He is the Son of God and that’s that. Even the town drunk and drug addict believed that though they didn’t embrace the teaching.
A respected leader, now retired, told me something once that has stuck with me for years. He commented that in his younger years as a pastor, things were fairly black and white. He told me things are not as black and white anymore but become grayer as he grows older.
I tend to agree, as post-modernism settles to stay. Post-modernism paid us a visit in the 1960s and has been here ever since. Of course there are truths that I can never compromise but I am more reserved to stake a claim on some positions or beliefs I held dear years ago. Life is simply not that easy anymore.
My challenge is the same as yours – embrace the truth of John 14:6 and live that out as commanded in Matthew 28:19, in a world that by and large, does not believe it. Before 1971 less than 1% of Canada’s population declared itself as non-religious. In 2001 that figure had grown to 16% or 4.8 million Canadians. The majority of those are 24 years of age and younger. The 2006 census does not report religious affiliation or information.
Because post-modernism is having a significant influence on religious life in Canada, we need to know what exactly we refer to when we talk about post-modernism. Dr. Chan helps us understand it. He offers, “Postmodernism can mean different things to different people… It is more a mood than a movement… it is better described as a loosely connected bundle of diverse viewpoints.”
If we are to effectively “make disciples” to follow “the way…the truth…the life” we must understand what we’re up against. I’ve drawn some concepts from Dr. Chan’s article “Following Jesus as the Truth”.
1. Post modern thinking rejects stories that explain and give meaning to life
People raised in the Christian faith as followers of Jesus have the same reference points. We know the stories of Daniel in the Lions’ Den, David slaying Goliath and Jonah in the whale. Then the ultimate story springs to life especially at Christmas and Easter – the birth of Messiah and his final work of restoring humanity to God through His death and resurrection – his miracles and anti-religious behaviour make us say “YES” (followed by the familiar arm-pull gesture). As our faith developed from childhood to personally validating it as Truth we declared and proclaim daily with St. Luke in Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
Here is our bone of contention. Dr. Chan notes that post-modernism rejects such thinking. It believes “there is no simple reality, only representations of it; there is no singular truth, only multiple truths. There is no grand reason, only socially defined reasons…It denies the possibility of a ‘God’s eye view’ of anything, and…we have only community-specific stories that have no truth-validity outside the communities in which they function.” Meaning, we believe the stories of the Bible and Jesus as Truth because our families and culture raised us to believe these things. The same is true of people raised as Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists. These like the Christian faith, are rooted in cultural community and are valid only in the context of that community. Post-modernism suggests that if our communities had raised us in any of these or other alternatives we would be as they are. You can see our problem, our challenge.
Because of these realities post-modernism decides it cannot trust knowledge and must revise it to the current reality because previous explanations are rooted in social contexts.
2. No one has access to the truth ‘out there’…Instead of the truth, we only have ‘truths’.
Post-modernism is suspicious of perspectives where people or groups – maybe especially churches – are fighting to be King of the Hill. Because post-modern thinking is adamant that no one perspective enjoys privileged status, they struggle terrible with any church that tries to “convert” them to one specific way of doing things or belief system.
We must be fully aware of this attitude as we explore the methods and means of presenting The Truth of Jesus Christ. It is not to suggest we compromise the message of getting The Truth out. It is information to make us aware of another significant reality we face in our mandate to “make disciples of all nations.” Post-modern thinking looks at groups that make “claims to absolute truth as attempts by the powerful or those with vested interests to stifle dissent and push their agenda.” (Chan, 2007) It is a huge task to share The Truth without giving the impression of arrogance and superiority in a society that, to quote Don Carson, author of The Gagging of God, believes “a historical universal knowledge does not exist.”
In fact, if someone listening to me does not believe the message of the Scriptures they may be making the same conclusion of what I’m saying now. It is this challenge that gives power to St. Matthew’s words in chapter 10:16, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”
3. Image and Style is everything
I remember an experience as a 16 year old, Salvation Army soldier. A soldier in The Salvation Army subscribes to a unique set of standards for Christian deportment, including commitments to abstain from alcholic drink, tobaacco and the use of non-prescriptive drugs. I was walking to the church from my house for Bible study. In those days soldiers wore uniforms to every church function. On route to the church there were 12 or 15 peers hanging outside the pool hall that I had to pass. I’ll never forget my classmates laughing as I walked by. They used choice language and threw rocks. Little did I realize this was my first experience with post-modern behaviour. I stood out because I didn’t subscribe to the norms, I didn’t fit the standard image and style. Postmodern people constantly look for ways to present themselves differently and better. They are not concerned about substance like living by a specific set of values. They are interested in how people perceive them and put a lot of energy toward understanding how the social class wants them to look and behave and they follow that.
This challenge helps us understand why embracing Jesus as “the way, the truth and the life” is a tough concept to promote. If it doesn’t fit the cultural norms of image and style or if it is not the “in thing”, some people move from embracing to leaving it behind as quickly as they picked it up. We face the problem of external image and style influence in the Church. Twenty years ago it was highly irregular that people would leave their faith base and convert to another. Today, people church-hop-and-shop in response to what they’re feeling and think they need. Steve Cornell, pastor in Lancaster, Pennsylvania notes, “Church hopping is an example of the overall instability of our culture. It reflects a deeply troubling trend of how easily people slide in and out of commitments…Reflecting the prevailing discontentment in our culture, people are endlessly looking for something better. But better, often means more exciting, entertaining; more satisfying to the ruling self. Churches calling for higher levels of commitment should expect to be smaller.”
Enough of the challenges. The big question is how should the church respond and not only survive but especially thrive in the face of these realities? Jesus did not raise the Church to fail! He did not birth a second-rate plan! Since he designed the model she will succeed as long as she knows her purpose and follows His plan!
We need to make some important points.
A. Don’t view postmodernism as an enemy
Daniel B. Wallace, author of A Clash of Cultures: Evangelism in a Postmodern World (Part I)) warns the Church about seeing “everything in the enlightenment is wrong,” or “everything in our modern culture is wrong.” He goes on to tell the following story. “I heard some philosopher-theologians debate one another at the Evangelical Theological Society. The topic was postmodernism…An astute observer from the crowd said, “Maybe you guys just need to learn to love a little more! It won’t kill you to change your paradigm a bit.”
Part of the Church’s challenge is our tendency to die on religious hills for which we shouldn’t fight. We have a notion that every belief is absolute truth to the point of symbolically choking anyone who dares suggest we haven’t figured everything out and that in some respects we may actually be wrong.
Don’t read into this statement something I’m not saying. Is Jesus’ declaration “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” absolute truth? Absolutely. It is non-negotiable and something we should live and die for. Time won’t permit me to address a list of examples. The point here is to simply remind us that post-modern thinking and behaviour is not the enemy. Often the enemy is the way we respond to “other” thinking in our attempts to bully people to think and behave like us. Dr. Chan illustrates by saying “The kingdom of God is about the redeeming and transforming of this world. This is attractive to those within the postmodern family who value social justice and want to get their hands soiled in order to build a better world.” If we can look at this reality and see an open door to win post-modern thinkers we will gain far more ground that we are presently losing. What better church than The Salvation Army and our social justice ministries, to get an audience to post-modern people. Add to that Carson’s observations that “many post-moderns believe in the supernatural” and you’ll see why everything is in our favour to get a seat at their table.
Our quibbling can end in defeat if we don’t learn to handle ourselves properly.
B. Don’t sell your theology to post-modernism
Most of us raised in the church will remember the days when it was unthinkable to go to a restaurant, go snowmobiling on “the Lord’s Day”, or have a round of golf on Sundays. Somehow church leaders viewed having fun or enjoying family and friends on Sunday as a terrible sin. We had to live in that box of going to church four times a day and spending the rest of the time sleeping or sitting at home, waiting for it to end. The problem was our belief that such activities violated theology. I use the example to make the point that the danger and challenge we face in suggesting we not sell our theology is being sure we understand what theology this.
Theology reaches beyond black and white understanding. The problem was the same in Jesus’ day. Take the issue of murder as an example. People viewed murder then, as now, as the act of taking a person’s life, an act that Moses’ law clearly opposed. Jesus complicated their simple definition by taking murder a step further and offered in Matthew 5:22, “But I say, if you are angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the high council. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”
The lesson is to understand what God is saying to us, not what we think He’s saying.
C. Don’t remain stuck in a time warp and ignore postmodernism – adapt and embrace the opportunities
The exciting lesson here is, post-moderns assume everyone has the right to be heard in the marketplace. Everyone should be able to share his or her ideas. This means the church can without apology make her voice heard in the postmodern world. Pluralism works both ways. Post-modernity makes commitment harder, but it also opens the door to share the gospel.
Some years ago we attended Julia’s Christmas pageant in Welland while there as pastors. The pageant was a presentation of various religious belief systems and the value of Christmas in these faith communities. At first it was rather annoying as we sat through 45 minutes of everything that, in our minds, did not represent Christmas. I practiced in my mind the letter I would write the Principal the next day. As the program neared the end it featured the Christian view at which point the lights came on in my head! The Principal had one option to host a Christmas pageant while remaining politically correct. She (yes, a woman had this brilliant idea!) had to feature every religious system represented in the school. She did so, ending the pageant with a message that declared, “There are many options for you to explore but there is only one truth and this is it!”
The Principal presented truths, as far as they were truths rooted in cultural community. It was however a well-crafted means to an end – to present The Truth. She embraced the opportunity of post-modern community and got the message of the gospel out to a significant number of non-Christian people whether they realized it or not.
D. Hold to the Truth - unapologetically
John 14:6 is the dividing Truth between followers of Jesus and every other belief system that exists. Dr. Chan reminds us, “The gospel message about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is described as ‘the word of truth’ (Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5; Jas. 1:18), and Christians are said to be those who ‘belong to the truth’ (1 John 3:19) and are instructed by the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:17; 1 Jn. 5:6). So there is really no getting around the truth!”
The fact is, the moment we decide these things are not true is the moment we desert the faith and desert Jesus Christ. He put His life on the line for it and His sacrifice is central to our faith.
The issue is how we hold to the truth unapologetically. It begins by witnessing to the truth in our lives. If we have not moved beyond mere words to having proven the words to be Truth personally for us we will not hold to John 14:6 unapologetically or any other foundational Truth. We have to believe it ourselves.
E. Don’t become confused so as to apologize for Truth in dialogue with postmodern ideas
It is important to engage people in conversation and as one writer notes to “…be sensitive to the many genuine differences that exist between people.” Doing so must not result in getting confused and compromising or apologizing for the Truth. I read a story that if a fish could believe that water didn’t exist, it doesn’t change the fact that water exists and the fish would not survive without it. Truth exists whether people believe it or not. It is what it is.
The secret to getting people to see truth and experience truth involves a process of reasoning and dialogue, without compromising the core of the lesson. Using reasoning is not unlike a government defending its platform and policies or a teacher using reasoning to help a student contribute as a member in the class. Sales people use the power of reasoning to convince us we need the product they’re promoting. Jesus was a master at using reasoning. We see it at work in his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. Through the course of the conversation Jesus led Nicodemus to the place where He invited Nicodemus to trust the story Jesus was telling him, that He was the Messiah of God.
We must listen to peoples’ stories with an eye to telling our own story. We venture to tell our story with delicate respect. St. Paul speaks to us in Ephesians 4:14-15 about not letting people trick us with false doctrines or non-truths and schemes. Our handling of it he says is to “speak the truth in love.”
I discovered a very powerful statement by Dr. Chan in my reading this week. He said, “Learn to sow seeds of doubt in the field of unbelief.” This means we must learn the skill of bringing people from not believing Jesus is the way to God to believing that Truth for themselves as a result of our gentle, delicate but powerful witness.
F. There are no NON-believers
All people believe in something. Dr. Chan notes, “Even people who say they do not believe in anything believe that there is nothing to believe in!” When hardened post-moderns say ‘There is no such thing as universal truth!’ they decide the truth is there is no universal truth. They may not believe in Jesus as God’s Son, but they believe something about it. “The question therefore is not so much whether people believe, but what do they believe.” (Dr. Chan)
God made us in his image and likeness as told in the creation account of Genesis. The result is humanity has a glimmer of truth embedded in our being whether or not we recognize it, understand what the void is or deny it. Because of this truth, we can meet all people on the common ground of our humanity. The fact is every race, creed and color needs food, air and water to survive. We all need sleep and experience pain and grief. Our blood runs red and we all die.
The process of connecting with the common threads of our humanity to finally experiencing the Truth of Jesus Christ involves something very special. We call it relationships. It requires being in relationship with God and bringing others along for the ride. Bringing people to personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not satisfied with dropping a flier at someone’s door or extending a “God bless you” after Sunday morning church. The time has come for us to get comfortable talking to people down the street, at the grocery counter or in the coffee room at work about our story. If we will be serious about making disciples as commanded, we have to be prepared to invest ourselves in other people. One-on-one relationships are the most effective way of growing the Church of Jesus Christ.
There is one final word to act. The work of winning people to The Truth is the work of God’s Holy Spirit. It is not ours. It is only our responsibility to tell our story and patiently, gentle, and convincingly win them, a little at a time until they see the Truth and experience The Truth for themselves!
Dr. Chan gives us a good word. “Winsome witness and humble apologetics must be joined by prayerful intercession.”
The message is powerful and the responsibility is great. Jesus said,
“I am the way, the truth and the life…”
“Go and make disciples…”
Lord, may it be so.
