The Gospel of the Kingdom

In His parables Jesus referred to the Gospel as seed, and in so doing sought to present features of this Good News and the manner in which it needed to be received. The seedbed, of course is the human heart. People need to hear the message of the Christ and embrace it by faith, and, in so doing, allow it to grow within their soul, letting it become an informing influence in their lives. Yet this seedbed already has vegetation growing within it. From infancy we’re taught how to get along in this world in which we live, how to understand our surroundings, how to avoid harm, how to make our way into adulthood and benefit from our various activities.

Our existence is defined through our interaction with other people; our families and our communities teach us how to understand the world around us. We learn what is considered good and what is considered bad. In complex societies basic values may be contested, but even in this complexity there are certain fundamental beliefs that are embraced by most members of a particular society.

All these features pertaining to our surroundings are referred to as culture. The culture works to define us and all who are part of our culture are defined in similar ways. When the Gospel is presented within any culture it may share some common elements within that seedbed but it will also invariably conflict with that culture because at its core it is unique. And its uniqueness will work to challenge the people within that culture to choose the Gospel over what they have absorbed from their surroundings.

Mark Williams is a long-standing Christian who has labored in the evangelical Church within the United States for many years. He holds advanced degrees in the history of Christian thought from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield Illinois. He has served as both a laymen and as an ordained minister, working to promote a better understanding of the Gospel and helping equip those who have been called to serve in various ministerial capacities. He has also been engaged as an instructor in secular history at various schools in the Chicago area, teaching both American history and the history of Western civilization.  He is currently retired and living in south Florida.