the mask as Jesus did with Zaccha- eus and you will find the misery. Man is alienated from himself, from his fellow man, and from his world. Above all, he is lost because he is alienated from God. When we lose touch with God we lose ourselves and our other relation ships go wrong. The salvation we need is one that deals with our ba sic lostness from God — and also begins to heal all these other alien ations. And this is what Christ of fers! All men, teaches the Bible, have been given life by God, and all have rejected that life. But all men are offered new life in Christ. But many have chosen to say "no" to God's design and to run their own lives. The result of their sin will be spiritual death, eternal banishment from the presence and fellowship of a just and holy God. God's blessing is eternal life and His wrath is eternal death. Death means that we lose something es sential to the kind of life we were made for. Life means fellowship with God; death means to lose that fellowship — here, now, and here after in hell. Does the thought of hell seem to you to belong to the Dark Ages? Jesus, who died to save us from hell, had the most to say about it! He, and other New Testament writ ers, use every image in their power to tell us that hell is real, that it is terrible, that it is something to be feared and avoided at all costs. In other words, hell will be as real and as lasting as heaven. G. K. Chesterton once remarked, "Hell is God's greatest compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human personality." You see, God is really saying to us, "You are significant. I take you se
riously. Choose to reject me — choose hell if you will. I will let you go." If we really grasp the Bible view of man — as sinful but significant — then we must understand that there is no barrier between social action and evangelistic concern. For if we really believe that man has a soul worth saving, then we will be committed to offer that man eternal life, and also to see that he receives economic and so cial justice in this life. The gift of God is eternal life through Christ. He is the bridge by which we can come back into per sonal contact with God. Jesus said: "I am the way, no man comes to the Father but by me." (John 14:16). This is not Christian arrogance, for it was Jesus Christ alone who died for the sins of the world, not Buddha, nor Krishna, nor Rama. If you are concerned about those who have not heard of Jesus, per haps God is saying, "You go tell them! How can they hear without a preacher?" We do not evangelize from a superiority complex. It is my re sponsibility to point you to Jesus who is the light, but it is God's re sponsibility to judge. I suspect Zacchaeus trusted Jesus because he sensed this man was ready to die for him. And I suggest men will believe what we say about Jesus when they see we are willing . . . in some sense . . . to die for Him and them. Is man really lost? Do not an swer too quickly. If we say yes, then Jesus may say, "Come with me, disciple . . . to Jericho . . . to Jerusalem . . . and to Calvary, and to the ends of your world." Page 13
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