Gospel Shrinkage
"I was in the pool!!" Okay anytime I hear the word shrinkage I think of George....forgive me!
I had to jot this down in my blog just so I don't forget the concept or ideas floating in my head.
I just read a section in Brian McLarens book about the possibilities of bringing the kingdom of God concept to our current world. The current world of course not a model for succes or equity for all.
He brings to light a concept which I hadn't thought about until now but it seems to make sense. Read the following excerpt from his book.
"Because sin and evil are so "big and ubiquitous" and because the geography of evil extends so far beyond the dimension of the individual soul, any gospel capable of confronting todays' global crises must be correspondingly exapnsive.
Sadly in too many quarters we continue to reduce the scope of the gospel to the individual soul and the nuclear family, framing it in a comfortable, personalized format-it's all about personal devotions, personal holiness, and a personal Savior. The domesticated gospel will neither rock any boats nor step out of them in stormy waters. We have in many ways responded to the big global crises of our day with an incredible, shrinking gospel. the world has said, "No thanks"
This paragraph and chapter really challenged me. I had never thought along the global terms before. But I am tracking with his thoughts. I think back on all the teaching, and books that I have studied and learned under and I can't think of one that has adreesed this issue. It's all about me and my. Or reach out so they can me and my. ;But I see a Jesus portrayed that was concerned with the rejection of the Roman kingdom for a kingdom of God way of life.
I don't read seek ye first a personal realtionship....I read seek ye first the kindom of God...Hmmm
What are your thoughts I'd love to hear them.
Randy
I had to jot this down in my blog just so I don't forget the concept or ideas floating in my head.
I just read a section in Brian McLarens book about the possibilities of bringing the kingdom of God concept to our current world. The current world of course not a model for succes or equity for all.
He brings to light a concept which I hadn't thought about until now but it seems to make sense. Read the following excerpt from his book.
"Because sin and evil are so "big and ubiquitous" and because the geography of evil extends so far beyond the dimension of the individual soul, any gospel capable of confronting todays' global crises must be correspondingly exapnsive.
Sadly in too many quarters we continue to reduce the scope of the gospel to the individual soul and the nuclear family, framing it in a comfortable, personalized format-it's all about personal devotions, personal holiness, and a personal Savior. The domesticated gospel will neither rock any boats nor step out of them in stormy waters. We have in many ways responded to the big global crises of our day with an incredible, shrinking gospel. the world has said, "No thanks"
This paragraph and chapter really challenged me. I had never thought along the global terms before. But I am tracking with his thoughts. I think back on all the teaching, and books that I have studied and learned under and I can't think of one that has adreesed this issue. It's all about me and my. Or reach out so they can me and my. ;But I see a Jesus portrayed that was concerned with the rejection of the Roman kingdom for a kingdom of God way of life.
I don't read seek ye first a personal realtionship....I read seek ye first the kindom of God...Hmmm
What are your thoughts I'd love to hear them.
Randy
posted by Randy W. @ 5:21 PM
2 Comments:
At Nov 19, 2007, 9:17:00 AM ,
Deck said...
one of my favorite savings that you hear on the news quite often is that it was his/her faith in her beliefs that got that person thru. or their belief in prayer did it. we all know better. i scream at my tv (sometimes silently) every time i hear that. it's not my faith in prayer that gets me thru the hard times, it's my faith in God - that One, True, Biggest, Unshakable God - the One who made the heavens and the earth and who knows how many hairs are on my head. He knows my DNA - and He has a name for every star He created in the night sky. Prayer is only one way to converse with Him. I totally see where you are coming from here - we have diminished God by making Him fit our perceptions. If we only had one clue as to how AWESOME He IS, we wouldn't find any excuse at all to stay away from Him or away from any medium that will help us get closer - whether that be church, our Bible study groups, our acts of service, our relationships with other people. we think so small - in our tiny little bubbles - bringing everything closer to us rather than going out and being Christ to so many others.
At Nov 19, 2007, 1:29:00 PM ,
Anonymous said...
randy, i like to think about it this way... though the gospel is intensely personal, the gospel message is intensely global...
look at all the "one another"'s in scripture, and you'll soon realize that a personalized, shrinking gospel is really no gospel at all.
as the first line in warren's "purpose driven life" suggests: "it's not about you."
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