Category: Evangelism

The Gospel for the City in Genesis 10-11

Genesis 10-11 show again the effects of the fall in the revolt of humankind against their Creator God. Here fallen mankind seeks to find security and peace through their united efforts in city building. Instead of scattering throughout the earth to fulfill the creation mandate, they build a tower to symbolize their united effort to develop human society their own way. Their common language, which is a gift of God designed to make possible God-centered community, is instead used in an attempt to secure their lives apart from God.

God confuses their language and scatters them in judgment. Yet, in the midst of that judgment there is grace. Hopefully, as humankind begins to experience the fragility of their idolatrous, self-made security, they may begin to seek the True Prince of Peace.

Acts 17:26-27   26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,  27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him.

Humankind scattered in judgment and in grace awaits God’s redeeming intervention. That intervention is anticipated in the genealogy that leads to Abraham who will model the way of justification by faith.

The geographical and linguistic divisions of the human race are largely being erased today in a world where travel, commerce, and technology transfer people, products, and information across all boundaries. Also, institutions like the United Nations attempt to bring together this divided world, pursuing a Babel-like security. Cities often become, not the melting pots, but the stews, where these diverse people live in the same city but yet remain separate. Despite all the programs on multiculturalism and diversity, all human attempts to unify the nations that ignore the need to be first reconciled to the Creator God ultimately fail.

The way to re-unify the nations of the world is modeled in Abraham who exemplifies the way of justification by faith and whose descendant, Jesus, will eventually be the One who reconciles people to God and to each other.        

Urban church planting has the unique opportunity and joy of experiencing the unity of the nations that only the gospel can bring. People who were formerly divided by economic, racial, and educational barriers now gather together in the gospel to worship Jesus Christ as Lord and King of all the nations. We are beginning to taste this at Grace Church of Philly (www.gracechurchphilly.org) and we long for more.

The Gospel for the City in Genesis 5

Genesis Five confirms God’s earlier threat to Adam that death, both spiritual and physical, would be the consequence of rebellion against the Creator. Though it would appear that some might escape the threat of death, living for as much as 969 years, inevitably death comes to all – except for one. God takes Enoch from the death-cursed world demonstrating that He alone rules over death and can rescue anyone from death. He also shows His power over an evil world by raising up Noah, a type of the Messiah, who witnessed a world devastated by rebellion and evil and through whom God brings about a new world.

The new world of Noah would again be ravaged by sin, necessitating One, the promised seed of the woman, who would finally deliver the world and its inhabitants from the curse. The Deliverer has come; He has borne the curse for us; He has inaugurated a new creation in which we now participate.  We are tasting the new creation in Christ and longing for its consummation at His coming.

 Though we still read obituaries in the city newspapers, being reminded of the reality of death, we do so understanding that the One who conquers sin and death has come. Though urban centers, perhaps more than any other place, bear witness to the devastating ravages of sin, we have the joy in church planting of raising up new communities, bringing the presence of Christ’s kingdom into an alien and fallen kingdom. This New Covenant Kingdom radically differs from the kingdom of this world: www.firstimportance.org quotes from Neil Williams on the radical newness of the Kingdom of Christ.

“The kingdom of God is the new and final age that began with the coming of Jesus. His kingdom is not part of the present age — an age where the flesh reigns; where people are divided, relationships are broken, and suspicion and competition dominate; where money, sex, and power are abused; where leaders are first and servants are last; where behavior is controlled by laws, and identity is defined by race, gender, or social standing; and where gifts and resources are used for the advancement of oneself. Rather, the kingdom of God is the new age. It is the age of the Spirit (Matt 12:28). It is the age of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). The kingdom of God is about the renewal, restoration, and reconciliation of all things, and God has made us a part of this great story of salvation.” – Neil H. Williams, Gospel Transformation (Jenkintown, Pa.; World Harvest Mission, 2006), iii.