Climb high, Sleep low

We pride ourselves on the simplicity of the Gospel.  We hold fast to the teaching of Christ to, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” – Lk. 18:16b-17.  So why do we find it so hard to communicate our beliefs to unbelievers and the un-churched in a language that they can understand?  Let, me try to explain this predicament another way.  I told the story of Jesus’ resurrection to the Tuesday School group this week.  On more than one occasion during the story I had to stop and search for a word they would understand to communicate more effectively the point of the story.  An example would be instead of saying tomb I would say grave, or instead of spirit I used ghost.  Now this may not seem like much, but if the students did not understand what a spirit or tomb were then how much of the story would they understand?

On that same token if I tell someone who is not familiar with the language of the church that they must be washed in the blood, sanctified, spirit filled, Jesus lives in me, I am saved, reconciled, redeemed, Body of Christ, the Lord’s day, power in the blood, give it to God just to name a few.  I am willing to bet that most of these statements make perfect sense to you.  I am also willing to bet that to a non-churched person they are the equivalent of quantum physics to yourself.  Now does quantum physics seem like child’s play to you?  It doesn’t to me, and so now I must reflect on how I share the Gospel.  I must rethink my approach and reword my thoughts so I can present the message clear and plain to those who do not know God.  Do you need to retool your message?  Have you been communicating with a message that is full of your culture, but over the head and beyond the experience of your audience?  Hey, it is just something to think about.