Friday, February 18, 2005
Approaching the Simple Gospel from a Different Direction
Fellow Warnie Winner, 21st Century Reformation has a very interesting post on his adolescence. In it, Brad laments that the church seemed irrelevant to him as an adolescent because it was more interested in self-help than world-help. He also wonders in light of that impression from his youth
This train of thought takes me back to Jollyblogger's point that Jesus is the gospel, simple and complex. As Jollyblogger says, with the simple gospel we are seeking a way to tell people about Jesus. No here's a question that bothers me -- Why is this question so hard?
Let me lay this out for you. We are trying to tell people about Jesus and get them to respond to Him. Jesus is God. God, by definition, is the most beautiful/attractive/good person/thing/diety imaginable and unimaginable. Things should go pretty easy on this one, but they don't.
The answer lies, of course, in the fact that God rarely reveals himself to us directly, rather he chooses to reveal Himself to us in each other. Thus people see the beautiful/attractive/good only as it is reflected through us.
This, I think, gives us a good answer to the question of how to present the gospel -- We need to work very, very hard on being better reflections of His glory.
This is easier said than done. I can think of no more worthy or difficult task.
Where should the gospel start? What should the church become in light of HOW WE DEFINE THE PROBLEM?In some ways he is joining the now two-week-old Simple Gospel discussion.
This train of thought takes me back to Jollyblogger's point that Jesus is the gospel, simple and complex. As Jollyblogger says, with the simple gospel we are seeking a way to tell people about Jesus. No here's a question that bothers me -- Why is this question so hard?
Let me lay this out for you. We are trying to tell people about Jesus and get them to respond to Him. Jesus is God. God, by definition, is the most beautiful/attractive/good person/thing/diety imaginable and unimaginable. Things should go pretty easy on this one, but they don't.
The answer lies, of course, in the fact that God rarely reveals himself to us directly, rather he chooses to reveal Himself to us in each other. Thus people see the beautiful/attractive/good only as it is reflected through us.
This, I think, gives us a good answer to the question of how to present the gospel -- We need to work very, very hard on being better reflections of His glory.
This is easier said than done. I can think of no more worthy or difficult task.
