Rector's Rambling - May 13, 2012 - Sharing the Faith part 4

The past three weeks in this column I wrote of the importance of sharing the Good News of the Resurrection and Lordship of Jesus Christ. Having looked at the importance of sharing about Jesus both in word and deed, about embracing the reality that Jesus is the unique and only way of salvation, and looking for and making opportunities for sharing the faith, we now look at an important thing – sin and salvation. St. Paul reminds us that “we all sin, and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23), but our self-esteem, therapeutic-oriented culture wants to make all people believe that they are basically good, with perhaps a few shortcomings. One challenge of bringing people to Christ is to acknowledge that the relationship we have with him is based on the reality of salvation, and more importantly our need for it. H. R. Niehbur was famous for pointing out that the church has lost its way by trying to proclaim, “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross”. It sounds good, but it isn’t the truth! The reality is that we are creatures affected by original sin and in need of a Saviour. Thankfully we have that Saviour in Jesus Christ! But to accept a saviour one must be convinced of sin. And usually this isn’t hard. I am not talking about beating a person over the head with a Bible and screaming at them. Rather, a loving approach to laying out the scriptures in such a way that sin is a reality, all are affected by it, and that there is a solution. Next week we will look at some of those scriptures! To be continued…