The Radical Gospel
In our bible study last night one of the guys made the statement, “dang, the gospel keeps getting more and more radical everyday.”
I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to hear others give voice to that. I feel that the more and more that I look at the scriptures and try and get a handle on the “good news” and the call of discipleship, it just keeps on getting bigger and bigger.
How about you, is your understanding of the gospel becoming more and more radical as you look at it?
Daniel said...
109/27/07 8:09 AM | Comment Link |
Yes! Definitely! And it´s like a strange rash - the only way to get relief is to infect someone else. It really is the good news.
The other day my wife mentioned Jesus words “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me”. Her point was that it so often is used in an excluding way, while she found it to fit so well with other Jesus words like “Come to me, you who are burdened” and “Who ever is thirsty come to me and drink”. And I believe she i right. It’s an invitation. The gospel is not “this is the only way”, the gospel is “there is a way!”
Vance Harwood said...
209/29/07 12:19 AM | Comment Link |
Hi Todd, Can you elaborate on what you mean by “The radical gospel”?
Todd said...
309/29/07 4:41 AM | Comment Link |
Vance,
I am mostly referring to the “call” of the gospel on our lives. Whoever wishes to follow me must take up their cross daily… if you wish to save your life you must lose it…
the person in my small group was also referring directly to Scot McKnight’s definition in his book Embracing Grace:
“The gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community for the good of others and the world.â€
does that help?
Vance Harwood said...
409/29/07 8:42 PM | Comment Link |
Hi Todd, Yes that does help. Radical surgery comes to mind as an analogy. The surgeon is working in places we would rather they not touch. The Great Surgeon has recently been cutting on me in the area of my will–and God’s will for me. For me Bonhoeffer in his “Ethics” captures this tension well:
“The will of God, which became manifest and was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, embraces the whole of reality. One can gain access to this whole, without being torn asunder by its manifold variety, only in faith in Jesus Christ…”