An Authentic Calling: Representing Christ and His Kingdom through the Church

Ses s i on 2: A Ca l l to Sa l vat i on

29

The Fifth Gospel

I call this the fifth gospel. We have the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, and now a fifth, the Gospel of St. Evangelicals. The Gospel according to St. Evangelicals is taken from verses here and there in the other four Gospels. We take one verse here, one verse there, all the verses that offer something, all the verses of the promise like John 3:16 and John 5:24, putting all these verses together to form a systematic theology on salvation. Then we forget the other verses, the demands of Jesus Christ. This is the fifth gospel, the gospel of the offers, the gospel that presents Jesus as a personal Savior – only. Who authorized us to present Jesus as this or as that and not as he really is? Suppose a young couple is getting married. And when the pastor asks the groom, “will you take this woman to be your wife?” the young man says, “Pastor, I accept this girl as my personal cook, dishwasher, and maid.” What would the girl say? She would say, “Wait a moment. I’m going to cook, yes. And I’m going to wash dishes. I’m going to clean the house. But I am not a maid. I’m going to be your wife, and you also have to give me your love, your heart, your home – everything.” That’s marriage! It’s the same with Jesus. It’s true he is the Savior. Then we get spiritual and accept him as healer too. Wait a moment. He is what he is. We cannot cut Jesus into pieces and take the piece we like the best. We are like children who are given bread with jam. They eat the jam and give you back the bread. Then you put more jam on it and they lick off the jam again and give you back the bread. That’s the way we want to do with Jesus. We want to take the jam and give the bread away. We have to eat the bread with the jam. Heaven may be the jam, but the Lord Jesus is the Bread of Life.

~ Juan Carlos Ortiz. Call to Discipleship . Plainfield, NJ: Logos International Press, 1975. pp. 55-56.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

II. Responding to the Call

A. Implications for urban ministry

1. God is in control, and is working out everything for his own sovereign purpose. No address, neighborhood, community, city, or region is intimidating to him , Isa. 44.6-7 (ESV) – Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. [7] Who is like me? Let