The Whole Gospel

I feel I must share something God has been teaching Patrick and I this past year. Through books (Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Radical, The Hole in Our Gospel), church, my Bible study and most importantly God's Word, we have been challenged to reconsider our concept of the gospel. As Rich Stearns asks in The Hole in Our Gospel, what gospel have we embraced:

• a revolutionary gospel that is truly good news for a broken world? or...
• a diminished gospel - with a hole in it - that's been reduced to a personal transaction with God, with little power to change anything outside your own heart?

Honestly, until recently, I did not understand or think much about what Jesus meant when He prayed to God "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10, emphasis added).  Christ often talked about God's kingdom on earth, making it clear the gospel is more than saving souls for an future eternity with God in heaven.  I finished Richard Stearns book this morning and found this portion perfectly sums up what we've been learning. It's long, but good. :)

"This gospel we have been given - the whole gospel - is God's vision for a new way of living. It inaugurates the reality of God dwelling within us, His followers, no longer in a temple in Jerusalem. And it calls for us to join Him in saving the world that He loves so much. The power of this gospel was announced by Jesus in a synagogue in Nazareth, when He made an audacious claim - and an outrageous promise that the good news would be preached to the poor and that justice would be restored. The poor would be helped by the rich; the powerful would protect the powerless; the hated would be loved; the brokenhearted would be comforted; the oppressed would be liberated; the downtrodden would be lifted up. God's kingdom was going to begin on earth through the changed lives of His followers, and its hallmarks would be forgiveness, love, compassion, justice, and mercy. There would be no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female- all would be equal in God's eyes. This was the essence of the good news of the gospel, the whole gospel.

...Jesus was to be the firstborn of this new kingdom...He went to the cross to defeat death and evil in the spiritual realm and to thrown open the gates of heaven. Man and God could now be reconciled. And then Jesus rose again, showing Himself to those who loved Him, and giving them a charge to set the gospel in motion while He was away. Then He ascended, right before their eyes, to heaven, so He could prepare a place for all who would be saved through the lives and work of those who call Him Lord. Jesus had changed everything.

This was God's plan to change the world - He chose His followers to be the change - He chose you, and He chose me. We are the ones who will bring the good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, and stand up for justice in a fallen world. We are the revolution. We are God's Plan A...and He doesn't have a Plan B."

Wow. Ok, that stirs a lot up in me. I highly recommend this book and any of the others I listed above. We have made some changes in our lives based on what we are learning and are excited about the opportunities we have to serve God and others.  We are also very excited for whatever it is God has in store for us as we continue to offer our time, talents and treasures!  Thanks for letting me share :)

And because every good blog post has a picture, here you go. While at my parents a couple weeks ago, we had the chance to participate in a fundraiser for a couple going to Fiji on a mission trip.  For a donation, we got to have professional photos taken by Katie White Photography, http://www.katiewhitephotography.net/. You know I couldn't pass that up. :) Here are a couple. I'll post more next week.