Defining the Gospel.

So, a couple of weeks ago at a leadership lunch hosted by KKLA, Alistair Begg gave a short message. He spoke a bit about Martin Lloyd Jones – the late theologian / teacher / evangelist – who was in his lifetime challenged to get the gospel right. It would be something like you or me walking up to Billy Graham and saying “Are you sure you’re teaching the Whole Gospel?” Ridiculous. Right?

Well Martin basically locked himself in a room with some books and The Book for days studying – rediscovering the word, if you will. The mark of humility – he wasn’t offended by the challenge – he wanted to be sure he knew what he thought he knew. His wife thought he had gone insane. When he emerged, he had a new perspective, and refreshed vigor for the Gospel.

This is interesting to me because I think we sometimes think we know enough. If someone challenged me about preaching the Gospel right, I’d be defensive – and go into theologian mode, spouting what I know about the atonement, sanctification, propitiation, and several other big words I’ve learned along the way.I bring this up because as we study Mark on Sunday mornings I’ve noticed something. The initial message of Jesus wasn’t “I’ve come to die for your sins” it was “the Kingdom of Heaven is near – repent and believe the good news (the gospel).” In fact, what Jesus taught he referred to as the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven – te good news about God’s Kingdom. It is mentioned many more times in the 4 Gospel’s that even the crucifixion.

Now, of course His death and resurrection are central to salvation – but clearly, Jesus wanted us to understand more about the Kingdom part of the gospel. It is what he taught about, and it is what he commissioned his disciples to preach about when they went from town to town.

So when Mark (probably telling Peter’s story) writes that Jesus preached the Gospel, what do you think he was preaching?

Duplicity vs Simplicity (How many things do you want?)

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”

Søren Kierkegaard wrote a book called Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing. I’ve not read it yet, but I’m fascinated by the title. He puts the two things at odds: Double-mindedness is the opposite of a pure heart. A double-minded man wills many things – fortune, fame, comfort… the man who has a pure heart wills for God to be glorified.

Look:

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to what is false,

and does not swear deceitfully.

(David)

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.

(James)

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.
(Jesus)

God and the Simpsons…

The Spirituality of Springfield by Gerry Bowler

On The Simpsons, God, the Devil, Heaven, Hell and angels are all treated as having objective reality. Homer, in fact, meets God. He and the Creator of the Universe discuss Homer’s decision to stay home from church and God admits that he himself is not a big fan of sermons or of Reverend Lovejoy, to whom he thinks he will give a canker sore. Later, when Homer has agreed to go back to church and he falls asleep in the pew, he has another vision of God. Homer asks him the meaning of life, and God reveals that he knows old jokes:

God: Homer, I can’t tell you that. You’ll find out when you die.
Homer: I can’t wait that long!
God: You can’t wait six months?

Reaching for the Invisible God

How does a relationship with God really work?

How do I relate to a God who is invisible, when I’m never quite sure he’s there?

How do I know him?

How do I communicate with him?

How do I live my life growing in my understanding of him, living more and more with a conscious awareness of him, doing more of those things he indicates are good for me–and others?

Many have found the bright promises people make about God don’t work.

Others have seen God’s promises work, but have stumbled, and want to believe again…

Philip Yancey wrote a book and called it “Reaching for the Invisible God” to try to answer some of these questions. Pretty great read. It’s been years since I read it, but recently I loaned my copy to a guy at my work who was asking some of these same questions. Today he told me that he has almost finished it (in about a week) and has recommended it to 9 people, and his mom has already bought a copy.

I’ve recently picked up another Yancey book entitled “What’s so Amazing about Grace.”

What are you reading?

I love Ed Stetzer and you should too.

This is about 8 minutes and is full of things that cause me to say AMEN!

Ok, Ok, I’ll post something.

Here’s an interesting video by a ministry conducting man on the street interviews… what do you think?

Are you theologically conservative? Do you know your hermeneutic?

The Hermeneutic Quiz – take this quiz at churchleaders.com to find out your interpretation style…