A great video...
I have seen it before but got sent the link again and it touched me again.
It is amazing what can happen when the tables are turned.
Isn't that the real essence of the hope of the gospel? Not just the redemption of our own souls (which will take me well into eternity to start to scratch the surface of), but the ultimate redemption of everything.
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Saturday, 7 March 2009
What is the Gospel?
Anyone got $64,000 for the answer?
But as promised on Thursday I want to put in a few thoughts.
What is the "good news"?
I think Steve Chalke had a point. I also think it was poorly expressed, using terminology that was bound to offend, which was a clear mistake. I also don't agree with his conclusions. But it does not stop Him having a point about the way the gospel is sometimes presented. I fear his danger is sending the baby, the tub and about half the bathroom out with the bathwater.
What is our gospel? What is the "good news" we offer people?
Often I hear:
There appears little room left for "For God so loved the world".
If our talks start to sound very dark then are we expressing Jesus, the Light of the world very well?
Then social action becomes slightly at odds with what the gospel presented sounds like. "We love you but our God is angry at you" looks inconsistent.
Some people go too far and depict God as an all loving sky fairy who wants to cuddle people into His kingdom and therefore miss the severity and implications of human sin, and reduce the role of God's justice.
But some do depict God as an angry old man in the sky with a bad temper and we miss His great love for us.
I do think we need to be very careful how we depict God and how we express Jesus as it is so quickly misunderstood by hearers. There is a middle road which encompasses the rich variety of what the gospel means and strikes a level of balance. I think we need to explain the love and justice of God in proportion because neither facet of God's character is fully expressed without the other.
NB: This is not intended to be a theological defence of anything. Just a snapshot of some of the gospel messages I have heard.
But as promised on Thursday I want to put in a few thoughts.
What is the "good news"?
I think Steve Chalke had a point. I also think it was poorly expressed, using terminology that was bound to offend, which was a clear mistake. I also don't agree with his conclusions. But it does not stop Him having a point about the way the gospel is sometimes presented. I fear his danger is sending the baby, the tub and about half the bathroom out with the bathwater.
What is our gospel? What is the "good news" we offer people?
Often I hear:
- You are a sinner.
- Your relationship with God is destroyed by your sin.
- Your sin has made God angry and he has to punish it.
- God would rather forgive you than punish you but he can't let your sin go unpunished
- Jesus is the only person who can take your punishment
- God sent Jesus to be punished when He died on the cross
- Now you can put your faith in Jesus, and be forgiven, and go to heaven when you die
There appears little room left for "For God so loved the world".
If our talks start to sound very dark then are we expressing Jesus, the Light of the world very well?
Then social action becomes slightly at odds with what the gospel presented sounds like. "We love you but our God is angry at you" looks inconsistent.
Some people go too far and depict God as an all loving sky fairy who wants to cuddle people into His kingdom and therefore miss the severity and implications of human sin, and reduce the role of God's justice.
But some do depict God as an angry old man in the sky with a bad temper and we miss His great love for us.
I do think we need to be very careful how we depict God and how we express Jesus as it is so quickly misunderstood by hearers. There is a middle road which encompasses the rich variety of what the gospel means and strikes a level of balance. I think we need to explain the love and justice of God in proportion because neither facet of God's character is fully expressed without the other.
NB: This is not intended to be a theological defence of anything. Just a snapshot of some of the gospel messages I have heard.
Friday, 1 August 2008
5 Sermons that changed my life NUMBER 5
J. John "They're everywhere!"
I cannot remember when I heard this, or where. I have heard J.John at Soul Survivor, and at the Newfrontiers Evangelist's Summit, and at the Newfrontiers Brighton Conference, so I don't even know if my memory is of a talk or an amalgamation of a series of talks heard by the same preacher - J.John.
He is undoubtedly one of the most gifted communicators of this generation. He is intensely funny, and very insightful. In short - he is a scream. He is the kind of guy you want at the Barbeque when you first invite a friend, you want him on the car park on the first Alpha night, you want him in the pulpit explaining, challenging, bringing the gospel to life, and you want him in the pub answering the tough questions after the talk.
But the brilliance of J.John is that he equips and exhorts every believer in their personal witness. This is no platform expert doing the stuff on your behalf, this is a prophetic voice, a heart changer, a life-shaper, taking a consumerist and introverted church into a missional calling. If anyone fulfills the role in Ephesians 4 of apostolic evangelist in my life it would be Him.
I remember two things so clearly. Him saying that some Christians say "I don't know how to meet non-Christians" and him jumping around the stage shouting "BUT THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!", "THEY ARE EVERYWHERE". More than 95% of people you could accidentally meet are them. They are in the shops, in the pubs, in the parks, on the bus, at the football, in the houses, at the school gate. If you speak to ANYONE there is a 95% chance you are speaking to someone who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus. So this means everything, everywhere is witness.
Then he encouraged us to go and find something we love, and do it, enjoy it, and meet people, build friendships, be salt and light, and be an ambassador for Christ with them. I was captivated. I made a decision, deep down, that I liked football, and so I was going to engage with it as best I could, and burn for Jesus in that environment. An example is given here.
I am an editor of the club fanzine, and moderator on the supporter's website, I have led press campaigns, served on the board of the Supporter's Trust, and met literally hundreds of local people, and made some great friendships. To many of my friends I am one of a handful of "religious" people they know, if not the only one. I get intense banter about my faith (and some abuse), and a lot of questions. And I greatly enjoy being out there, having fun, meeting people, and being active in a local subculture within our community where there are few known believers. These are not "projects" or "targets" for me, they are my friends, and I want to reflect something of Jesus to them.
So it changed my view of witness, and it changed how I spend my spare time. Every day is an opportunity to reflect something of Jesus to people, and amongst the people I have the most in common with there is the biggest opportunity.
I cannot remember when I heard this, or where. I have heard J.John at Soul Survivor, and at the Newfrontiers Evangelist's Summit, and at the Newfrontiers Brighton Conference, so I don't even know if my memory is of a talk or an amalgamation of a series of talks heard by the same preacher - J.John.
He is undoubtedly one of the most gifted communicators of this generation. He is intensely funny, and very insightful. In short - he is a scream. He is the kind of guy you want at the Barbeque when you first invite a friend, you want him on the car park on the first Alpha night, you want him in the pulpit explaining, challenging, bringing the gospel to life, and you want him in the pub answering the tough questions after the talk.
But the brilliance of J.John is that he equips and exhorts every believer in their personal witness. This is no platform expert doing the stuff on your behalf, this is a prophetic voice, a heart changer, a life-shaper, taking a consumerist and introverted church into a missional calling. If anyone fulfills the role in Ephesians 4 of apostolic evangelist in my life it would be Him.
I remember two things so clearly. Him saying that some Christians say "I don't know how to meet non-Christians" and him jumping around the stage shouting "BUT THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!", "THEY ARE EVERYWHERE". More than 95% of people you could accidentally meet are them. They are in the shops, in the pubs, in the parks, on the bus, at the football, in the houses, at the school gate. If you speak to ANYONE there is a 95% chance you are speaking to someone who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus. So this means everything, everywhere is witness.
Then he encouraged us to go and find something we love, and do it, enjoy it, and meet people, build friendships, be salt and light, and be an ambassador for Christ with them. I was captivated. I made a decision, deep down, that I liked football, and so I was going to engage with it as best I could, and burn for Jesus in that environment. An example is given here.
I am an editor of the club fanzine, and moderator on the supporter's website, I have led press campaigns, served on the board of the Supporter's Trust, and met literally hundreds of local people, and made some great friendships. To many of my friends I am one of a handful of "religious" people they know, if not the only one. I get intense banter about my faith (and some abuse), and a lot of questions. And I greatly enjoy being out there, having fun, meeting people, and being active in a local subculture within our community where there are few known believers. These are not "projects" or "targets" for me, they are my friends, and I want to reflect something of Jesus to them.
So it changed my view of witness, and it changed how I spend my spare time. Every day is an opportunity to reflect something of Jesus to people, and amongst the people I have the most in common with there is the biggest opportunity.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
10 reasons I hate prosperity teaching...
Yes "Hate" is a strong word.
to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest:
Yep - that covers it!
1) HEAVEN OR EARTH?
It focuses on earthly treasure - not treasure in heaven. (We have been warned about that)
2) GENEROSITY
It makes the goal of generosity the return we get - not selfless compassion and love.
3) POSSESSIONS
It focuses on "outward things" like possessions, not fruits of the spirit, like grace, love, humility.
4) STEWARDSHIP
It makes our "stewardship" about our "accumulation", not our "distribution". Thus it replaces generosity with greed. It makes "ownership" and "receiving" the prize - not sharing, that does not sound like Acts 2.
5) FAITH
It implies those with more "faith" get more "wealth". It therefore ignores:
- economic factors (such as industry declines etc)
- educational background & the opportunities provided
- family background & the expectations / opportunities given
- choice of career (Teacher vs Investment Banker)
AND it implies or accuses those with LESS that they somehow LACK faith that would have redeemed a blessing from the great cosmic bank account.
6) CONTENTMENT
It makes us dissatisfied. God's provision does bring some level of contentment and joy for the believer and leads us to worship Him. But the idea that more stuff = more blessing leaves us never satisfied. It is the spirit of consumerism marketed in a christian sweet wrapper. I need to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more is a symbian circle of greed that chokes faith. Suddenly "more" is better, and once "more" is master you are never satisfied.
7) JESUS & THE APOSTLES
Mark Driscoll said... "How can any teaching say "If only you have more faith then you won't be like Jesus""
Add in any of the disciples to that quote. Do we suggest that the apostle Paul lacked faith. Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 and then tell me faith = blessing = provision.
8) SELF RELIANCE
If YOU give and if YOU have more faith then God will bless YOU. Nope - our Father in heaven gives good gifts to his children and provides for our needs. Our needs are internal and external, spiritual, emotional and practical, and the answer is in God not us.
It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
9) EXTERNAL FACTORS
It ignores the following (a small example):
- international markets and trading (where we are told to seek justice for the poor)
- seasonal changes like drought (where we have an example to help the poor)
- wars, conflicts, the displacement of people (where we have an example to help those fleeing hardship, war or slavery)
This makes it an easy option for wealthy, educated "first world" Christians wanting success in their consumer culture. But it is a gospel of death to other believers around the world, who just happen to be our brothers and sisters in Christ, who we have a responsibility to help - both in terms of their humanity, and their place in God's kingdom.
In short, if you believe "faith = financial blessing" then go to a starving village in Ethiopia and tell the local pastor that.
10) HYPOCRISY
It means we talk about generosity and helping the poor, even though we already have more than we need, and give less than we can, and are dissatisfied! We are dissatisfied even though we have more than we need, as we want even more than we need, even though with more we will still give even less than we are able to, in order to sustain a lifestyle beyond what we need, which we remain dissatisfied with, while the poor we wanted to help stay poor.
We then wonder why those outside the Church think we are hypocrites...
For balance, I do believe that,
a) God blesses people as he chooses and some times with overwhelming wealth and power - Abraham, Job, Solomon etc. It is not wrong to be rich, to do a well paid job.
b) We do need to work hard to seek a return, especially if we have responsibility to provide for people and we should invest wisely to seek a return
c) God does bless us with nice things and let's us have nice things. It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
There is no shame in being very very rich, and there is no shame in being very very poor, and we get both cases within the body of Christ and both have enough when we share.
So while I love the provision of God and believe that wealth is a wonderful blessing from God I believe that the idea that guaranteed financial prosperity is part of our inheritance in the gospel is a lie and I hate it.
What we need is a balanced view.
to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest:
Yep - that covers it!
1) HEAVEN OR EARTH?
It focuses on earthly treasure - not treasure in heaven. (We have been warned about that)
2) GENEROSITY
It makes the goal of generosity the return we get - not selfless compassion and love.
3) POSSESSIONS
It focuses on "outward things" like possessions, not fruits of the spirit, like grace, love, humility.
4) STEWARDSHIP
It makes our "stewardship" about our "accumulation", not our "distribution". Thus it replaces generosity with greed. It makes "ownership" and "receiving" the prize - not sharing, that does not sound like Acts 2.
5) FAITH
It implies those with more "faith" get more "wealth". It therefore ignores:
- economic factors (such as industry declines etc)
- educational background & the opportunities provided
- family background & the expectations / opportunities given
- choice of career (Teacher vs Investment Banker)
AND it implies or accuses those with LESS that they somehow LACK faith that would have redeemed a blessing from the great cosmic bank account.
6) CONTENTMENT
It makes us dissatisfied. God's provision does bring some level of contentment and joy for the believer and leads us to worship Him. But the idea that more stuff = more blessing leaves us never satisfied. It is the spirit of consumerism marketed in a christian sweet wrapper. I need to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more is a symbian circle of greed that chokes faith. Suddenly "more" is better, and once "more" is master you are never satisfied.
7) JESUS & THE APOSTLES
Mark Driscoll said... "How can any teaching say "If only you have more faith then you won't be like Jesus""
Add in any of the disciples to that quote. Do we suggest that the apostle Paul lacked faith. Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 and then tell me faith = blessing = provision.
8) SELF RELIANCE
If YOU give and if YOU have more faith then God will bless YOU. Nope - our Father in heaven gives good gifts to his children and provides for our needs. Our needs are internal and external, spiritual, emotional and practical, and the answer is in God not us.
It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
9) EXTERNAL FACTORS
It ignores the following (a small example):
- international markets and trading (where we are told to seek justice for the poor)
- seasonal changes like drought (where we have an example to help the poor)
- wars, conflicts, the displacement of people (where we have an example to help those fleeing hardship, war or slavery)
This makes it an easy option for wealthy, educated "first world" Christians wanting success in their consumer culture. But it is a gospel of death to other believers around the world, who just happen to be our brothers and sisters in Christ, who we have a responsibility to help - both in terms of their humanity, and their place in God's kingdom.
In short, if you believe "faith = financial blessing" then go to a starving village in Ethiopia and tell the local pastor that.
10) HYPOCRISY
It means we talk about generosity and helping the poor, even though we already have more than we need, and give less than we can, and are dissatisfied! We are dissatisfied even though we have more than we need, as we want even more than we need, even though with more we will still give even less than we are able to, in order to sustain a lifestyle beyond what we need, which we remain dissatisfied with, while the poor we wanted to help stay poor.
We then wonder why those outside the Church think we are hypocrites...
For balance, I do believe that,
a) God blesses people as he chooses and some times with overwhelming wealth and power - Abraham, Job, Solomon etc. It is not wrong to be rich, to do a well paid job.
b) We do need to work hard to seek a return, especially if we have responsibility to provide for people and we should invest wisely to seek a return
c) God does bless us with nice things and let's us have nice things. It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
There is no shame in being very very rich, and there is no shame in being very very poor, and we get both cases within the body of Christ and both have enough when we share.
So while I love the provision of God and believe that wealth is a wonderful blessing from God I believe that the idea that guaranteed financial prosperity is part of our inheritance in the gospel is a lie and I hate it.
What we need is a balanced view.
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