Redemption Song

“Old pirates, yes, they rob I;

Sold I to the merchant ships,

Minutes after they took I

From the bottomless pit.

But my hand was made strong

By the 'and of the Almighty.

We forward in this generation

Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing

These songs of freedom? -

'Cause all I ever have:

Redemption songs;

Redemption songs.”¹

While suffering from cancer the Rastafarian Bob Marley recorded "Redemption Song." The song is one which expresses a hope for future freedom, however at the current time all that can be done is to sing songs of this future freedom, redemption songs.

Evangelicalism in The United States of America, which claims to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, is in many cases like the singer of this song, only seeing redemption through song (word) and not in action (deed). Evangelicals are great at proclaiming the gospel through word, however many do not proclaim the gospel in deed. Redemption is often viewed as being future oriented and that healing will come in heaven or in a future kingdom. However, it is my argument that this is far from what is demonstrated by Jesus in the Gospels and by the Apostles in Acts. Both Jesus and the Apostles demonstrate the gospel in both word and deed. They both preach the word and heal the sick, preach the word and liberate the oppressed, preach the word and serve the poor. For Jesus and the Apostles, the gospel was both a song and an action.

Near the beginning of his ministry Jesus proclaims that the prophecy of Isiah is fulfilled in him, the prophecy which states, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."² In this Jesus states that the gospel is to be revealed in both word and deed. Jesus claims that he has been anointed to preach and proclaim along with healing and releasing. Jesus' ministry was to include not just the preaching of the gospel but also the practicing of the gospel. Jesus' ministry inaugurated the kingdom which would be fulfilled at his second coming. Even though the fullness of the kingdom was not present, some of the realities of that kingdom were and are present. As all will be healed in the eternal kingdom, some will be healed in the inaugural stages of the kingdom.

Another example of the inauguration of the kingdom here and now occurred in the midst of Jesus' ministry. John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus, basically asking him if he was the messiah. Jesus responds by saying that he has demonstrated the fact that he is the messiah in both song and action. He tells messengers to return to John and tell them that, "the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy^ are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."³ The evidence of Jesus being the messiah, is the fact that he has demonstrated the gospel through actions; that he has demonstrated the message of the gospel through healing. The messiah was one who would come with a song to sing and actions to demonstrate. Jesus came singing the song of the gospel and following it up with the actions of the gospel. The ministry of the messiah was not limited to preaching and teaching, it also encompassed the healing actions of the gospel. As the messiah Jesus is to bring about the kingdom of God. Jesus has begun the kingdom, which makes it possible for the gospel to be proclaimed in both song and action.

In Christ we have more than songs of freedom, we also have freedom. If we only preach the gospel in word, we are not proclaiming the whole gospel. As Leslie Newbigin states, "preaching is meaningless without . . .healings."⁴ Christ heals our broken lives. Throughout the Gospels Jesus is found acting out what he is teaching. He is consistently living out the gospel along with preaching it. In all of Jesus' actions he was revealing God's truth through his humanity.⁵ Jesus' actions of healing lepers, eating with sinners and tax collectors, feeding the masses, raising the dead and overturning tables in the temple were all actions done to proclaim the gospel in deed. All of these actions were demonstrations of the gospel lived out. Jesus did not merely sing songs of the gospel he lived out the gospel in actions. Jesus brought meaning to his message through his actions. A lesson which Evangelicals can learn from.

In the Gospels Jesus calls his followers to be come participants in his prophetic ministry and this means that they must be willing to boldly and fearlessly proclaim the gospel in both word and deed.⁶ Evangelicals need to step up to the plate and fearlessly proclaim the whole gospel. Jesus and even the Apostles were willing to die for the holistic proclamation of the gospel and we Evangelicals should live out the gospel with as much boldness as them. We have no excuse for only proclaiming the gospel in song and not in action. As those who are part of the eschatological kingdom of God now, as those who are experiencing the first fruits of that kingdom, we ought to proclaim the good news of that kingdom in both word and deed. We are the living proof of what will be in the future kingdom of God, and by not proclaiming the gospel in both word and deed we fail to join in Jesus' prophetic ministry of proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to the poor, or even to the rich.

The Apostles who followed after Christ also understood that the gospel was to be proclaimed in both song and action. After Peter's sermon at Pentecost, the birth of the Christian church where he preaches the gospel, he is seen healing a crippled man.⁷ Peter did not merely preach the gospel he acted it out. The gospel freed the Apostles to give life.⁸ The gospel which proclaimed new life also gave new life. The proclaimed gospel did not just give life through the spoken word and the receiving of eternal life through faith in Christ, but actual life here and now. Peter in the name of Jesus gave the crippled man a new life by healing him. Paul also demonstrates the life giving actions of the gospel when Eutychus fell while Paul was preaching and died. Paul, understanding the life giving power of the gospel went down to where the man lay and raised him from the dead and continued preaching after having a meal.⁹ The book of Acts demonstrates that the Apostles understood that the gospel was to be proclaimed powerfully in both song and action. The Apostles understood that there would be a future kingdom, but that we could experience now part of what will be.

No where in Acts is the song and action of the gospel more clearly seen than in Ephesus. The power of the preached word in Ephesus caused action.¹⁰ Paul demonstrated the power of the gospel through extraordinary miracles. Paul's song was followed up by actions. Paul followed up the extraordinary preaching of the gospel with extraordinary demonstrations of the gospel. Paul brought the gospel message to life. It was not only Paul who followed up the word of the gospel with deed, but the people of Ephesus followed in suit with Paul. Some in Ephesus burned their sorcery scrolls which were valued at more than a months wages as a reaction to the gospel. The economic impact that the gospel had on the community started a riot. Those who accepted the word of the gospel, lived it out in deed. They changed their lives in such a great way that it effected all in Ephesus. It almost seems that in Ephesus the actions of the gospel spoke much louder than the spoken words of the gospel. Unlike many Evangelicals many in Ephesus experienced the realities of the kingdom even though it is not fully established. In Ephesus, due to the work of the apostles, the Ephesians saw the gospel as something to be proclaimed in both song and action.

If evangelicals are going to have a complete gospel they need to proclaim a gospel of song and action. The gospel preached and presented by Jesus was one of both word and deed, this is also true of the Apostles. When evangelicals only proclaim the gospel in song or they are missing out on half of gospel proclamation. Evangelicals need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and the Apostles proclaiming the gospel in song and action. As Christians, or "Christ followers," Evangelicals need to follow after Christ in proclaiming the gospel in both song and action.

By only proclaiming the gospel in word Evangelicals are only living out and representing a half gospel, a gospel which has little power. The actions of the gospel give it its power. While the words of the gospel are powerful their power is weakened without the actions which they proclaim. As it is Evangelicals are reaching out to 4% or less of the up and coming generation.¹¹ The gospel is not being proclaimed properly. We are preaching a crippled gospel, one without actions, and it is having a crippling effect on our evangelism. The Evangelical church in America is in trouble, and the problem is not with those outside the church, it is a problem with those with in the church. The problem is that only one half of the gospel is being proclaimed. The gospel is being proclaimed in word but not in deed. The gospel is the foundation of Christianity and when it is being proclaimed properly, that foundation becomes weak. It is not that the gospel itself is weak, but the way in which the gospel is being proclaimed is weak, leading to a weak church. An Evangelical church which looks so highly towards evangelism is not properly evangelizing. The Evangelical church is building on only half of its foundation and it is going to tip over unless something changes and the gospel is preached in both word and deed. "A lot of people in this world are looking for a place where the gospel of embracing grace transcends proclamation and becomes performance, and when they see it performed, they join in."¹² People want the complete gospel, and we need to give it to them.

Along with being preached, the gospel must be acted out. Darrel Watkins argues that it is the call of "the evangelist to emulate Christ and His concern for the physical, social, and emotional needs of persons, along with the spiritual."¹³ Watkins argument is that those who's responsibility it is to sing the song of the gospel must also preach the gospel in action. Watkins sees a holistic gospel where people's physical needs along with their spiritual needs are met. Watkins' view of the gospel is one of both song and action, the evangelist who proclaims the gospel in word also needs to proclaim the gospel in deed. Similar to Newbigin, Watkins claims that those who preach the word need to back up their preaching with actions. Evangelicals need to ask themselves a question which was popular in the 1908s, "you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?" Evangelicals can proclaim the gospel in word, but can we proclaim the gospel in deed? The preaching of the gospel can only go so far, it must be supported by actions. No where in the life of Jesus or the Apostles do we see the gospel being preached without actions following up that preaching. Yet in American evangelicalism the gospel is often preached without being proclaimed in action. The half gospel one of only song is often heard. We often find ourselves singing a redemption song without living a redeemed life.

Unless we desire to be like the Bob Marley, who has nothing but redemption songs to sing, we need to proclaim the gospel in action. The Rastafarian has nothing but songs to sing, but the Christian has both redemption songs and redemptive actions to live for. Something to note is that a couple of months before cancer killed Marley he received more than redemption songs to sing. He was baptized into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, with tears running down his face, the man who had nothing but songs to sing had actions to live. For a short time before his death Marley acted as an evangelist for the Orthodox church and encouraged people to find more than redemption songs in the gospel. If the aparently hopeless Rastafarian can find a way to live out the gospel in both song and action, we Evangelicals should be able to find a way to do this also. This should not be too difficult to do because we have the examples of Jesus and the Apostles to look to. After all we are part of the church and the church as Kelly Fryer writes, it "is the people of God, who are being transformed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel in word and deed."¹⁴ As the people of God, we Evangelicals need to be transformed by the Holy Spirit and proclaim the gospel in both song and action.

1Marley, Bob. Redemption Song, Uprising, Tuf Gong/Island 1980.

2Luke 4:18-19. NIV.

3Luke 7:22.

4Newbigin, Leslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1989). 132.

5Anderson, Ray S. An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). 77-95.

6Johnson, Luke Timothy. Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel. (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1999) 175.

7Acts 3:1-6.

8Gutierrez, Gustavo. We Drink From Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books ). 91-94.

9Acts 20:7-12.

10Acts 19.

11Rainer, Thom S. The Bridger Generation. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997). 169.

12McKnight, Scott. Embracing Grace:A Gospel for All of Us. (Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2005). 4.

13Watkins, Darrel R. Christian Social Ministry. (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994). 111.

14Fryer, Kelly A. Reclaiming the "C" Word: Daring to be Church Again. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2006). 28.