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:

• 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
  

Anger, wrath, punishment, vengeance. Those presenting it, in trying to make the point clearly, try to express just how angry God is or just how bad our sin is. The message can come across as very dark.

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.

Meeting Steve Chalke

On Friday we had a service of celebration for a member of our Church who was a headmaster at the Oasis Academy in Bristol.

Steve Chalke came to the service and gave a tribute on behalf of the school and Oasis.

Now over the last five years or so Steve Chalke has gone from being in many ways the poster boy of UK evangelicalism to a more controversial figure. His achievements with Oasis Trust, Faithworks, media appearances, politics and conference speaking (Spring Harvest, Soul Survivor), put him right in the top group of christian leaders in the UK. He even inspired a line in the wonderful song by Why? called "While Rome burns"

"Every year Steve Chalk brings out a video
With a hope to show us what goes on in third world countries
Occasionally we contemplate, to make a pledge
But relegate, or think of kids in Bangladesh and
Watch the news

Are you going to try to find a way
Visit and care donate and pray
Or are you going to rosin up your bow
And fiddle while Rome burns"

That first line best expresses who he was to my generation, as the thousands who jumped up and down at Greenbelt singing those lines understood. It was the nineties, we were Christian young people, and he was a voice in the culture standing up for the voiceless.

Yet many people now know of him since he wrote his book "The lost message of Jesus" and the debate on the atonement that has raged ever since.

I don't hold the same view as Steve Chalke regarding penal substitutionary atonement, but I can see where he is coming from. I will explain that in a future post. It just seems a shame that the reaction it has provoked (from people I mostly agree with!) has, I believe, actually made it more difficult for discussion. Black and white, "with us" or "against us", heresy hunting is more akin to the inquisition than modern British evangelicalism. We won't win many people if we talk and act like that, and we certainly won't win each other.

Not that I spoke with him about this at all, it was not relevant.

He was gracious, kind, friendly and affable. He gave a fabulous tribute to John and showed his own vulnerability in facing such tragedy while also lifting people's gaze to the love of God found in Jesus. He was loving and tender with the family.

His work in education in the UK at the moment is simply amazing, and he remains a key voice within evangelicalism, keeping the message of social action both at home and abroad on people's minds.

And I think that is what struck me the most on Friday. If some of his critics had but a twentieth of his track record then maybe some of their criticism would sound less hollow.

So while I do certainly disagree with him on the technical specifics of penal substitutionary atonement, I value his contribution to the UK Church scene and pray for an increase in his ministry as he continues to be a voice for the voiceless, and brings hope where there has been no hope.

Can disagreement actually bring you closer together? I think so, when you love despite your differences, not because of your agreements.

God's timing

It has been booked for a couple of months now, and after much planning, we are going away this weekend with three friends we met when Esther was away at university.

It feels like we are coming to an oasis in our journey.

Why do I feel like that?

• They really love Jesus and that lifts me
• They are different to me and that challenges me
• They accept me even though I am a bit different to them
  
• They make me laugh and laugh with me
• They are real and open. Real about life and the challenges and open about their own journey.
  

Something we booked months ago is now going to be a great blessing in our journey.

That has to be "God's timing".

A tough week...

It has been a pretty tough week.

Esther's uncle died, and his funeral was on Tuesday in Cornwall (I could not go but Esther drove various family members).

On Friday we had a huge celebration service for the life of John Williams which has taken up a large amount of time and energy, with over 250 in attendance from all over the country. It was a simply wonderful occasion, and yet so desperately sad.

On Saturday night our church centre was broken into. Just the usual hacking away at doors with a crowbar and not really nicking anything but it still grates.

On Sunday morning I preached on "Turn the other cheek".

On Monday I visited my Grandad in hospital. It was so sad. He winked at me, and kissed my hand. That was my last encounter with him, it did not need words.

On Tuesday I felt really quite unwell, so went to the doctor's this morning. I have got to have some blood tests and an ECG next week. My blood pressure is fine and the doctor is not expecting anything nasty but I still feel a bit jaded.

This morning I also found out that grandad had died. So that is where I am going now, off to Wrexham to be with the family.

On Friday we read this Psalm, as a tribute to John whose love of mountains had taken him to the top of Mont Blanc. The words are strong comfort now.

" ¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."

The Marriage Course: Part Four

Three weeks ago Esther and I embarked on the seven week Marriage Course based on DVDs and materials from the Holy Trinity Brompton stable which we are running at our Church in Shrewsbury.

Week 4: "The power of forgiveness" was a look at resolving past hurts and working through them.

To be honest, for us, it was not particularly scratching where we are itching. I think that is partly because we have only been married two and a half years (although we have been an "item" for seven). the other thing is that when asked to list unresolved things between us there simply was not much on the list. Not a lot in terms of numbers, or in terms of importance.

What that did was encourage us greatly, and make us pray we keep it that way.

Other couples there seemed to be having really good discussions and were getting to grips with some deep stuff. I can see a huge value in the exercise, every so often, to keep close account.