Last time, I talked about how practicing certain things like listening well, asking good questions and winsomely engaging with others by giving them permission to disagree is huge in having conversations with those who don't believe in Jesus Christ. Today, I would like to talk about how the Gospel - because it is universal in its message and in where it touches - can reach any individual and influence how they think about the world in a variety of ways.
First, I'd like to start by noting one thing and then ask a few hypothetical/rhetorical questions. There is at least one thing that must never change when presenting the Gospel to someone, and that is love. Love is the central pillar of the virtues listed in the New Testament, and in 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul says that love is greater than even faith and hope. What does it mean to love someone who doesn't know Christ? At the very least, it means interacting with them in such a way that your message and mode of delivery honor Christ and respect the intrinsic dignity of the person you're interacting with.
With that being said, here are some things to consider. How would you articulate the Gospel story to a lawyer/legal scholar, literary critic, farmer, engineer, historian, scientist, psychologist, philosopher, or someone who works in the film industry? The Gospel story contains many aspects of God at work in our world, and these aspects can potentially reach every person within each of those working professions or careers. But you might wonder why it matters whether the Gospel can or should be appropriated to each person represented in all those professions.
My suggested answer is that every one of those professions has shaped - in some way - how each person understands himself and the world he or she inhabits. We are all wired a certain way, and we process life in various ways that tend to impact what profession or career we choose.
A lawyer is going to notice the ideas of justice and evidence in relation to the Gospel story because he is trying to bring justice to society on a daily basis, and he examines a variety of evidence to determine whether a crime has been committed. The Gospel can reach the lawyer when tailored to highlight evidence and justice in a fallen world. The literary critic will be familiar with the role of myth, metaphor and allegory in the telling of stories and with the preservation of literature across the world. C.S. Lewis was won over to the Christian faith through the influence of J.R.R Tolkien, who described Christianity as the "perfect myth." A farmer works with soil and seed and has a decent working knowledge of nature. The Gospel message contains elements of agricultural language in nearly all the parables of Jesus.
An engineer personally builds things or at least constructs building blueprints and projects. Christ is described as being the cornerstone of the support system for a building to stay up. A historian wants to know the factual credibility of past records and reports. The gospels present themselves as reliable records of what Jesus said and did, and they provide an accurate description of Palestine.
A scientist observes the workings of nature and the universe and develops hypotheses or explanations for what he currently observes. The Gospel story includes a story of the creation of everything out of nothing, which would imply that the universe has not existed forever. If the physicist or astronomer can see the credibility of the claim that the universe was brought into existence because it had a beginning in time, then that could be a conversation starter.
The psychologist seeks to understand how the human mind and behavior operate in the world. He also understands the role that desires play in how we interact with our world and live our daily lives. What about habits? How are they formed and developed or changed?
The Gospel tells us that we are creatures of habit and that without Christ, we lack the power to change deeply ingrained habits that separate us from Him. Certain habits can be changed without the aid of God's saving power, but some do depend on God's saving work. That idea is similar to how a person working in the field of psychology views the world.
A philosopher reflects rationally on the world. He considers various aspects of ourselves that play a role in our daily lives, such as reason, will, emotions and desires. He also engages something to see whether it has rational credibility before he can believe it. Is it contradictory or no? The Gospel commends itself as coming from a supremely wise and rational God who seeks to persuade certain people through the use of argument.
Lastly, someone working in film can write the script or be in charge of the filming production. In either case, they are doing a couple of things. They are telling a story about the world we live in, are trying to make it reachable to every person who would watch it and are making a number of assumptions about the world we inhabit.
Films parallel stories in a book because they have a plot and characters involved. There are moral lessons to be learned from observing the characters. Many questions are meant to be implicitly raised in a film, such as "Can we know right from wrong?" "What is the proper structure of the family?" "Does life have an objective purpose?" "Is God real?" "What makes humans valuable?" "How should we understand death?"
In the Gospel, God is telling a story about mankind and Himself in relation to them, a story that has a good beginning, a bad aftermath, a beautiful climax, and a glorious ending. We are the characters, and God orchestrated the script. The Gospel is not just presenting a narrative of human history but a Grand Narrative that bears over every narrative in every culture.
Tailoring the Gospel message depending on your audience can be challenging and awkward if you have yet to try it. But I recommend you do so because you will set yourself up to build bridges with others who don't really understand the Gospel for a variety of reasons. Be all things to all people so that by all means, you may win some.
