CHRISTIANESE AVOIDANCE – COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL IN THE RIGHT CULTURAL CONTEXT: USE PARABLES TO TELL BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES.

Here is my take on the famous “Prodigal Son” parable and put it into a current, western cultural context. Please add your comments in the box at the end of this blog; feedback is important that is the best way for me to share your comments with others. Names used are made up; any resemblance to a real person’s name is coincidental.

Jack Cohen never graduated High School but inherited his dad’s farm. He was able, through hard work, diligence and support of his lovely wife Lisa, to build it into a very large enterprise. He was a God fearing man and the blessings from above were obviously on this business. Jack and Lisa had two sons. Michael had a BA in agriculture and an MBA. He was working for his dad, helping run the farm. Jake was the younger brother, hanging out in the dorm at college, studying Liberal Arts, in other words he had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life. Like so many of us in the late 1960’s his mantra was “sex, drugs and rockin’ roll.”

With failing grades and a really bad attitude, Jake decided to quit school and “go find himself.” When he gets home for Christmas break he tells his parents his hair brained plan, “Mom & Dad, please give me whatever money you would leave me in your wills right now. I want to go out on my own and see what I can find for my miserable life. College was just not for me.” Sadly, his parents give in to him and say, “OK Jake, if that’s what you are sure you want, here you go. I think you are making a big mistake but we will give you $500,000 to invest in your life. Let’s see what you can do with it.”

Jake takes off for the city. With that much money he rents an expensive apartment, connects with drug dealers and pimps and stumbles into a destructive lifestyle, very different than how he was raised. Not wanting to lie to his parents about what he was doing he never, contacts them. They have no idea where he is. He even blocked their numbers from is iPhone. Between the drugs, women and some gambling the money runs out in about a year. Jake gets evicted and finds himself homeless. He is now holding up the “Will work for food” sign and freezing his butt off on the cold northern city sidewalk. Another homeless guy offers to share some pickled pig’s

feet and half a cigarette he found in the gutter.

"What am I doin'?" Jake exclaims, my daddy has more than 1,000 cows on our big farm, what am I doin' eating this deadly Yuck and begging for liqueur money? I guess I found myself and I stink. I wasted a fortune and feel so ashamed and miserable. It's time to stick out my thumb, hitchhike home and become a farm hand for my dad; at least I’ll eat good while taking care of those stinkin’ cows. I don't know what he will say but there is nothing to loose.

While Jake was throwing is life and money away, Jack and Lisa were heartbroken and praying most of the time. Michael married and built his large nice house very close to his parents' place.

After a few days on the road Jake was tired, hungry, dirty and smelly, but for the first time in his life he was confident he made the right decision, no matter what would happen.

Lisa was working in the kitchen, fixing dinner and, as she did continuously since Jake left, was looking out the window for her son. Jack was out in the barn, finishing up and for waiting for dinner. His cell phone goes off, Lisa is yelling, Jack! Jack!! Jack!!! Look down the road, look down the road!! Jack walks out of the barn, and starts running as fast as his old body could move. Lisa starts calling all the family and farm hands, soon there's a crowd of people running to the road.

Jack gets to Jake first and doesn't give Jake a chance to speak; he is so excited to see his boy. He is just hugging his tight and telling him how much he missed him. Lisa joins them in the long embrace then calls the best restaurant in town to make reservations for a big party.

After the long walk down the lane to the house, Jake goes up to his old room and finds it just as he left it, only cleaned up. He sits on the bed and starts crying his eyes out. Such undeserved love and welcome blows his mind and touches a deep place in his heart that he hid from for a few years. Jack struggles to regain enough composure to get a shower and clean clothes on for this big dinner in a fancy restaurant. On the way there Jake finally gets to work through his tears and say what has been on his heart since that evening at the gutter. His dad assures him of love and forgiveness, and not to worry about where we go from here, we'll deal with that latter. Jake feels the weight of all his "young and dumb screw ups” fall off his back.

They all were having a great time at the restaurant, everyone excited to see “the kid” back and

all kind of awe struck at the love and forgiveness shown by Jack. Jack suddenly realizes there is no sign of Michael or Carry, Michael’s wife. Lisa calls him and gets a gruff "I'll talk to dad latter."

Michael's discussion with Jack was not too pleasant. Michael felt slighted and unappreciated. His father's attitude towards his brother really bothered him, after all his efforts and education did a great deal to build the business and he was never celebrated like this. Jack's response was so perfect, "son, in all this time, anything you've wanted could have been yours. You're brother was really messed up and now it looks like he wants to get right and become part of the family again and you complain? God has answered our prayers for Jake and you should have enjoyed the celebration with us. I suggest you get over it and learn to love your brother again

CHRISTIANESE AVOIDANCE – COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL IN THE RIGHT CULTURAL CONTEXT

Use Parables in to tell biblical principles: Part 01

This is the first lesson about telling parables, putting those stories in our own words in such a way. Putting these stories in my own words I hope to stimulate God’s creativity in you. Ask yourself how you might tell that story so that the people you are telling, or writing, to will really get the message. Jesus did this so effectively and I am sure He will lead you to do likewise. What awesome results can we expect when we do what Jesus did? You can put His stories in your culture, in your time, framed for your audience. Be careful to never stray so far from the Word that you misconstrue God’s message, we are not writing a new “translation” or even a paraphrase for publication, just sharing the Gospel in our own words. The stories about the people in the Bible really lend themselves to this approach, as do the Parables where I will be starting. Feel free to add any comments in the box below so that I can share your insights with readers all over the world.

Mark 4:34   In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.

Jesus used parables almost always. This verse stresses their importance and our need to do likewise. I am convinced that if we are committed to doing what Jesus did, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so, the Lord will inspire us to use the practical things of life as tools to share Biblical principles with un-churched people or those with a , "don't preach at me" attitude.

Here is an example of how I once used a parable in a practical way. Many years ago we lived in Cortland, NY, apple country. A couple of men I worked with had had a life changing experience with the Lord but were not plugged into a church. I was praying for them and as I was getting ready to leave for work one day I just knew exactly what to say. I drew the analogy of an apple in spring. The apple is small, very green with lots of potential. By October it will develop into a large, delicious fruit if it stays connected to the tree. If the little apple decides to jump down to the ground its future is not going to be good. The men listened, they were given many opportunities and numerous invitations to church. Sadly they never connected to the tree and the enemy of their souls snatched them into some cult.

Now lets look at a  personalization  of the parable of the lost coin (see Luke:8,9). It is short, simple and simply profound.

When I was 13 my parents gave me a very expensive, beautiful ring for my Bar Mitzvah. It had a large black sapphire surrounded by several small diamonds. It was made of white Gold. We lived at the beach and on eday I left the ring with my friends mother while I went swimming. When I got out of the water she had moved her spot and my ring was nowhere to be found, it fell in the sand somewhere along their move. We all were very distressed and I was glad my parents were understanding when I got home. I spent most of the summer wondering if it could ever be found. I was not a Christian, did not hear the Gospel until many years later, but looking back I see that The Lord was showing me His goodness even then. Towards the end of the summer I was digging in the sand near the water, far from where the ring was lost. Suddenly, I felt something round and smooth. I grabbed it, held it tightly as I washed it off in the water. That same friend was with me and we ran to his mother with great excitement.
 Nice story but let's bring it home. Have you lost something very valuable that you thought you could never find again? What in life could be more valuable than an ever growing relationship with God? If you have ever experienced Jesus like this you know what I mean. He is waiting for you to put your hand in the sand, to wash the stains of all your screw ups and heal the scars of rotten attitudes. Once done it is time for more excitement than you could ever experience.

Preface Christianese Avoidance – Communicating the Gospel in the right cultural context:

I want to express a heartfelt thank you to all those who have been reading the blog, “Life Lessons from Revelation.” (See www.andy-levine.blogspot.com for 64 lessons on this topic). I started writing on that theme in Oct. of 2011 and since then it has been read around the world with just shy of 5,500 page views in many nations. Praise God. At this point, I’ve enter a new season with a new burden. The purpose of this new series of blog posts is to equip the Body of Christ to communicate basic truths of what Christians believe without speaking in “Christianese.” I’ve seen how turned off non-believers can get to the language that is typically heard in churches. Let’s get in the habit of speaking in the language and culture of your hearers, minus any profanity of course. I make no attempt to create another Biblical translation or paraphrase, we already have an abundance in English.

Any discussion, presentation or whatever you want to call a Christian witness, must be done in such a way that it is understood by the people being addressed. This involves cultural sensitivity as much as linguistics. I live in the south eastern US, an area known as the Bible Belt. There is a tremendous Christian influence in the culture. Most people from this part of the world have some understanding of the Gospel, a great many attend church and grew up going Sunday School. They have a basic understanding of Biblical principles whether they live it or not. Unfortunately, many use the excuse of other people’s hypocrisy as their excuse to leave those roots. Now there are many moving to the south for work and/or the lower cost of living from other cultural environments, from Mexico and many other nations. In a very real sense, the foreign mission field has come to us.

In the following weeks I will be sharing about the Parables, putting those stories in my own words in such a way as to stimulate your thinking. Ask yourself how you might tell that story in so that the people you are talking, or writing, to will really get the message. Jesus did this so effectively and I am sure He will lead you to do likewise. What awesome results can we expect when we do what Jesus did? Let’s put His stories in our culture, in our time, framed for our audience. Be careful to never stray so far from the Word that you misconstrue God’s message, we are not writing a new “translation” or even a paraphrase for publication, just sharing the Gospel in our own words. The stories about the people in the Bible really lend themselves to this approach, as do the Parables where I will be starting.