I Am Concerned
Posted in: TeachingI am concerned that modern day “Christian” culture, especially that culture geared towards the younger generations, are turning us away from the Gospel. I had a conversation today (and times prior) with a bright young lady in our church about what the Gospel is. It seems that because of the books that we read today and the articles we see, and the music that we are producing, we are slowly forgetting the Gospel. Instead we are turning it into a sugar-coated, pattycake version of humanism: let us serve the common good. Let’s give money to the poor, let’s serve the homeless, let’s put our faith into action. Now some may read my comment there and say that I am against those things. Absolutely not true. I am positively for those things: but only in light of the Gospel. The Gospel, the good news, is this: Jesus died in my place, taking on God’s wrath for my sins. He then rose from the dead to conquer satan, sin, and death for all time on my behalf. Should I repent and believe on Him, I will be saved from the holy wrath of the Almighty Creator.
The fringe things arise out of me being a Christian, like serving the poor, like serving the homeless. Those things, in and of themselves, are not good news to anyone. It’s just humanity trying to save humanity, which will amount to nothing.
So to Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, et al: I love what you stand for, and where your heart is. I truly do. You stand for good things. But let us make the main thing the main thing. There will never be A Generous Orthodoxy, A New Kind of Christianity, a Blue Like Jazz, or an Irresistible Revolution without Jesus dying in our place.
By the way, if you’re a church leader out there reading all of Stetzer, Rick Warren, and various other “how-to” manuals, put them down every once in a while, and re-examine the Gospel. The Gospel is the power of God that will grow churches, not the coolest flyers or band:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Let us lead one another to the Great Thing: Jesus, who’s glory was shown first and foremost at the Cross and the Empty Tomb.
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
hey, I just wanted to let you know that I had a really good conversation with my sister on the way home this afternoon, and after that and this blog post, I better understand where you are coming from and what I was really trying to say today at lunch. I want to agree with you that working for social/political/economic/environmental change is not good news and won’t be very fruitful if we are not first reconciled with God in and through Christ. I also want to reaffirm that I believe that that our reconciliation with God is the reason why and the foundation from which we work for change in this world. At heart level, I think I have known this all along…I think that my arguments in favor of Claiborne and McLaren have been reactionary to what *I* have seen as a mistake in many churches: not enough application of the Good News, not enough extension of the reconciliation we have with God to everyone and everything else - especially our enemies, the poor and outcast, and God’s creation, which we have been given to take care of, not to exploit.
As an addition note, I was wondering: wouldn’t it be a good thing to make a point of celebrating Jesus’ resurrection more? Like the previous topic of my comment, I understand that the resurrection doesn’t mean anything without the cross, but I wonder if we’re short-changing ourselves by only focusing on the resurrection at and around Easter. I guess this partially stems from my desire to celebrate and enjoy life everyday and from my love of dancing, but I’m wondering if you think it’s a valid point.
That’s wonderful, Becca! I wish that more of us (self-included at times) would examine our beliefs and how they align with Scripture, to make sure that we are not being reactionary to mistakes in the church, and instead are being aligned with the Word of God. Every theological system’s problems, from Calvinism to the new “Social Gospel”, always fall along the lines of reactionary thinking instead of a Scriptural study of God.
As far as the Resurrection, I am currently compiling some sources to write a book on it. Like you, I think that one of the shortcomings of the Reformed/Calvinist traditions is that the Resurrection is biased against in the Gospel because of the fascination we have with the Atonement. (BTW, this shortcoming arises because Calvinism is a system that arose out of a reaction to a system that does not line up with Scripture). They are equally necessary, and should be treated as such. NT Wright has some great writings on the Resurrection (Surprised By Hope being the most readable, The Resurrection of the Son of God is the most in-depth). He’s an example of a “good” Anglican theologian that gets most things right
. I too love the resurrection and think that we should reexamine it, after all without it, our faith is futile (1 Cor. 15)!
There is another selfish sadistic version of the gospel that says the only reason Jesus shed his blood is so that I won’t go to hell when I die… so now that I have my fire insurance I’ll go sit in my booth and dream about when I get to heaven (and walk on gold streets) and when God will burn up all the evil people.
I think that atonement goes far beyond forgiveness onward to reconciliation and restoration. We are forgiven, atoned, reconciled, recreated, healed and enlisted. Instead of just appeasing God’s wrath, the effects of sin are healed and creation is restored to its natural state. The gospel of Jesus was one of sowing the vision for the liberation of the world from sin and it’s effects. “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9: 35-36 After our personal liberation we get to participate in the reconciliation. Jesus told about his plan for establishing a new Kingdom whose origin was not from man but from God. This new Kingdom would be implemented on earth but would be established for eternity. It was about living an abundant life withing the current circumstances and changing these circumstances by being salt to the world while being compelled by Christ’s love to . ok ok I’ll wrap it up…
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. II Cor 5:17-19 The good news is that God has a Divine Plan (Logos) (who’s name is Jesus) to return creation to it’s orginal natural state and after I am personally liberated from the bondage of sin by the power of the substitutionary atonement I am compelled by Christ’s love to participate in the reconciliation of others as a citizen of God’s eternal Kingdom.
Absolutely. “Fire insurance theology” never got anyone anywhere. The Gospel is not static. Works follow faith, if it doesn’t, the news isn’t believed to begin with. But the works aren’t the good news that we preach, Christ being rose from the dead is. The atonement definitely includes reconciliation and restoration. But not the other way around. We must preach the Atonement fully, including the reconciliation and restoration. My concern is for those who preach that reconciliation and restoration includes the atonement, which is dreadfully untrue and backwards.
(check your grammar, Derek
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