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RUTH ROBINSON:
MY Response:Brandon, yes, involvement in loving social transformation by the church as an entity is all part of "let Your Kingdom come." But our goal can be: somewhere in this journey, some will come to a relationship with Jesus that links them to an eternity with Him. It's not consumerist capitalism if the people themselves are not the task, the target, the goal.
One question: if "personal salvation/entrance into heaven" isn't the end goal of the Gospel, what is: cultural transformation, food for the hungry? We can, as churches, be involved in caring for social issues AND love people into a relationship with the Lord. The priorities we set between these elements will shape the way we choose to implement strategy.I agree, we cannot pretend to love people without being involved in caring for felt needs. But neither is it loving to ignore that a relationship with Jesus is the only way to eternal life.
This has been an important discussion in my own heart and mind because it's helped me discern the problems that I have with the traditional evangelical definition of "The Gospel" that I've been brought up and discipled in. That traditional definition essentially says that The Gospel of Jesus is only concerned with the eternal destination of individual souls. Any concern for justice or the physical needs of people is secondary or optional.. . . Never would I say that we can “ignore that a relationship with Jesus is the only way to eternal life.” Nor would I ever say that the end goal of the Gospel is “food for the hungry” or “cultural transformation.” Those are even more severely truncated than “personal salvation/entrance into heaven.” I will clearly say, however, that the end goal of The Gospel is something closer to the Kingdom that Jesus announced and demonstrated in his ministry and that was continued by the early church.
If we say that the end goal of the Gospel is “personal salvation,” then we might as well 1) cut out the life and teachings of Jesus from our Bibles so that only his birth and death and resurrection matter; 2) throw out our ideas of discipleship,sanctification, and the clear teachings in Scripture that reveal God’s passionate heart for the oppressed, the poor, the helpless, the marginalized, etc. I don’t think anyone in evangelicalism would go so far as to actually cut these things from scripture, but without a more holistic understanding of the Gospel, we’ve certainly relegated the aforementioned issues into the “optional” category.
Okay, so I’ve said much more than I set out to here. This post was meant to cap off a conversation that we were engaged in 2 or 3 months ago. Just to summarize my thoughts and clear things up: The Gospel necessarily includes the redemption of individual people that guarantees them eternal life, both here and in the afterlife. BUT . . . The Gospel is also bigger than just that. It goes beyond making people merely “heavenbound” to making them a part of an other-worldly community that serves as a sign and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. Enter the issues of “social justice” that cannot be separated from our definition of The Gospel.
As usual, there's still more that can be said to clarify some of these things and certainly more input from Scripture. That's the thrill of healthy dialogue! If this discussion sparks anything in you, ticks you off, or causes you to want to cut all ties with the Wellcomes =), please contribute to the conversation!
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteYour question about the Gospel hits me where I am at. I guess I would start by camping out in 1 Cor 15:3-11-ish and all of Philippians. Also, I like to use grace and the gospel interchangeably just for simplicity, I know there is a difference, but they are closely related. Here are my thoughts:
The Gospel interaction with a soul is both a one-time event which then starts a series life-long events in relationship to Him. Paul talks to that in the above passages in a variety of ways: (a) (1 Cor 15) The Gospel event and/or message (v3-9) and Grace motivated him to work hard (v10) at what God called him to do. Implication: The acceptance of the Gospel event drives/begins a relationship based on Grace and Hard Work (b) (Phil 1) Paul commends the Philippians in their partnership in the Gospel "from the first day until now". Implication: Again, the Gospel becomes an event and a process where God "completes" us. (c) (Phil 3) There lots of Gospel in this passage; the thought I hang out on most is that "all of us who are mature should take a view of such things and if on some point you think differently that too God will make clear to you.” Implication(s): Paul wasn’t as concerned with somebody having everything figured out as he was being in the process (discipleship) of being faithful, available, teachable.
So if you ask me how to get the Gospel of His Grace to the world (and should it involve social change, etc)? Then I would say sure (Is 58; 42:6-7; 61; 11:10; 19:19-25), as long as it involved people who had experienced the Gospel as a one-time event and were currently experiencing it in their lives to the point of obeying their Savior and His Word, and at some point that involves the salvation of people’s souls. If you look at Jesus’ life, He was all over the map as far as the questions of proclamation, miracle and service for their own sake, etc. (Nicodemus/Woman at the Well, vs Turning Water into Wine/Telling the Healed Guy not to Tell Anyone/Giving a Child a Cup of Water), The only way I can make sense of all of it is to know He remained in His Father throughout His life (John 14:15-21, et al) and that sets the example for us (Heb 5:7-10) by looking at every person as cherished by God. (Ps 45:10-11) There was just something about His life that “demanded an explanation” and I want/need to become like that in whatever context He puts me in.
PS Looking back on my words, somehow I don’t want to send them because they are so inadequate to describe the Gospel. It is definitely just “two euro-cents”
Regards, DougG
The E-Mail you have for us is good.
Thanks so much for your thoughts, Doug. I especially appreciate your postscript! Your humble approach to this discussion is an example to me.
ReplyDeleteI think what I’m trying to do is to redefine the individual Gospel (i.e., “so I can go to heaven”) more faithfully in light of the Kingdom Gospel that Jesus announced and demonstrated. That Kingdom Gospel was an invitation to the lost to enter into a different, other-worldly economy of life in the here and now. An economy (or kingdom) where God’s will happens on earth as it is in heaven. An economy/kingdom where the other cheek is turned in response to an attack. An economy/kingdom of extravagant generosity where two miles are walked instead of the one asked for. An economy/kingdom where [insert Matthew 5-7].
I think part of my concern with the traditional Gospel formula is that it dichotomizes “salvation event” and discipleship. First “get saved,” then “become a disciple.” It’s a false dichotomy that you just don’t see in Jesus’ teaching, much less the rest of scripture.
Enter the Lordship Salvation debate that blew onto the American evangelical scene in the early nineties. DTS folk tried arguing for “carnal Christianity” where it was possible to “be saved” without actually following Jesus. MacArthur-ites argued for a type of obligatory sanctification that accompanies “true salvation,” at times losing sight of grace. I realize I’ve oversimplified those theological debates (probably unfairly), but the point is this: Both schools of thought made the fundamental mistake of separating personal salvation from discipleship in their formulations of the Gospel. (I even hesitate to use the word “discipleship” since it sometimes feels overused and cheapened in evangelical circles. “Followership” is another word for it, but my middle school English teachers would be very disappointed.)
When we define the Gospel holistically, it’s an invitation to step into eternity in the here and now, fully enter in to a process of spiritual transformation, and get caught up in God’s mission on the earth, one day giving way to the New Earth. That mission includes both the announcement of the Kingdom (preaching/teaching/propositional statement) as well as and never separated from demonstration of the Kingdom (caring for widows and orphans, feeding the hungry, etc.)
The traditional formulation of the Gospel makes social justice issues a “good idea.” The Gospel of the Kingdom includes social justice issues in its very substance and definition.
Brandon, good stuff as usual. I too struggle with the same "save souls so they can have eternal life" scenarios, probably because we had similar influences growing up. Last Easter I sat at our parents church and listened to the pastor giving a fairly heavy salvation sermon aimed at the twice a year church-goer. What troubled me was in all of his imploring of how important it was to get saved to get eternal life, he never talked about what it would mean for their lives NOW. In Campolo and McLaren's book on how the church as neutered the gospel, Campolo emphasizes the here and now of the gospel in the Lord's prayer, "thy will be done, ON EARTH, as it is in heaven." He touches on themes of what you envoke, that Christ does not want to just punch tickets for heaven, but relationships here and now that can bring us joy beyond all measure. Does the group that was outside of Qwest Field for The Stones/DMB concert this week with "tun or burn" type signs have a fulfilling relationship with Christ? Not for me to say, but is seems that "turning" for the sole reason of "not burning" is not the motivation I'm looking for. The Kingdom of God is at hand, and it's all around us. If we celebrate it, others are going to want to celebrate it, and get so much fulfillment that they'll want to continue it into the next life as well. Ok, enough rambling, thanks for more thought provoking stuff.
ReplyDeleteRon Stuart
Thanks for your thoughts, Ron. Something that I've picked up from guys like Darrell Guder and the late Leslie Newbigin is that the church is called to be both sign and forestaste of God's inbreaking Kingdom. It's meant to hold that tension of the "now and the not-yet" in balance. As you say, the Kingdom is already here. We aren't called to "build it" or "expand it" or even "advance it." Jesus said "It's here!" and invited people into it.
ReplyDeleteHi, hope you don't mind a stranger posting on your blog. I was browsing, and happened upon this blog (and post). I enjoyed the material, and agreed with your ideas.
ReplyDeleteIntegrating our lives as followers of Christ into our claims to spirituality has been, and always will be, difficult. But it's vitally important that we learn to do so, if we are ever to make an impact in the world around us. Like you said, the ideas of Christ's spiritual kingdom are inseparably connected to the social gospel that Christ himself lived out in his ministry. It is also important that we learn to integrate those ideas, so that we can learn to understand who we are personally in Christ's kingdom, both the finished work, and the continuing, growing work in progress. We are physical beings as well as spiritual, and we must live out the kingdom of Christ as such.
I apologize if I spoke too much as a complete stranger. I just really enjoyed the ideas you were sharing, ideas that unfortunately, aren't being communicated very extensively these days.