thisnumbersdisconnected
New Member
Dr. Russell Moore, president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, recently created a stir among conservative Christian talk show hosts when, during an address to the ERLC's Leadership Summit in Nashville in late April, he said:
We are all guilty of much the same thing. We have labeled many things, erroneously, as "the Gospel." I want to offer an opinion about what the Gospel isn't.
So this is the Gospel. It is plainly, simply, truthfully being. In sin, we are being ourselves, in the flesh. In Christ, we are being reborn, renewed, returned to the image -- not how we look, but in how we "be" -- of our Creator, and any message we share with the word that doesn't convey that message is not the Gospel.
Also, I should share with you the fact I did not quote the entire paragraph from Dr. Moore's speech at the beginning of this post. That quotation above ends thusly:
Christian talk show hosts were up in arms, feeling that his comments slighted an entire industry. Well, my feeling is, if the shoe fits, wear it.
We are all guilty of much the same thing. We have labeled many things, erroneously, as "the Gospel." I want to offer an opinion about what the Gospel isn't.
The Gospel is not moral outrage.
Much of what we hear from Christians today is unbiblical, even though it rightly repeats biblical truths. We allow ourselves to provide an outlet for the flesh by castigating others in great flourishes of carnal pageantry. It as though we attempt to fulfill the lust of the flesh and simultaneously claim divine direction and divine favor inherent in that very act, a feat of tremendous spiritual and mental gymnastics. Add a dose of "courage" as well as "boldness," and we have the perfect example of allowing the old man to once again have free reign.
There is a distinct difference between correction within the body and castigating sinners. It is beyond me how anyone could read the gospels and not see that one of the reasons our Lord was criticized was because He was a friend to sinners. He was seen in their company, and He showed uncommon love for them in spite of their sin. He reserved His most poignant rebukes for the self righteous leaders of the Temple. Yet we act as though setting foot among the sinners would turn our flesh to salt. Hint: That has only happened once in history, and that wasn't the reason it happened.
Within today’s church it has become fashionable to exhibit moral outrage to lost sinners and their sin. Instead of spreading the good news of the Gospel, and instead of fasting and praying inside the kingdom of God, the church releases concerted efforts to change the culture. The church even goes so far as to embrace a false mission to return America to the intent of the founding fathers. We as Americans of any stripe can desire to do so, but it is not a mission of the church, but in undertaking that as our mission, we have left the Christ and chased after idols. We can only change the culture by preaching the Gospel -- the real Gospel -- and watching the Holy Spirit change lives, which in turn will change the culture.
The Gospel is not justice.
The works we do because we love God are important, but they are not the mission of the church, nor were they integral to the gospel. Jesus said the two great commandments are "Love God, love your neighbor." He didn't say doing so would get you into heaven, or more importantly, provide you His grace to do the things we otherwise are incapable of doing.
Everything the church does is not its mission. There are many things that the church is involved with that are not essentially its mission but are nonetheless what Christ's people do precisely because they belong to Christ. We unfortunately get the two confused, and believe that in doing the mission, we are "doing" the Gospel. But when the apostles preached the Gospel in the New Testament, they were referencing God's redemption of sinners -- and not social justice.
The Gospel is about how sinners who rightly deserve nothing but the eternal condemnation of God nonetheless are redeemed by His decisive act in Jesus Christ to redeemed sinners. It is true that liberal churches have a social cause but no altar call, while many conservative churches have the altar call, but no mission to the world. The issue we face as Christian people is not whether we can have both, because we can. The issue is, what is that mission? Is it to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoner -- or is it to take the message of salvation to the world? The answer is "Yes." But if we do not accompany the feeding, clothing, visiting with the message, we've failed.
The Gospel is not a set of beliefs.
It is not just a system of thought, a type of mystical experience or way of life. Christ did not simply come to give us a new system of thinking, even though there can be nothing more profound than knowing Him. Christ did not come to give us a new feeling of God, even though there is nothing more life changing than meeting Him. Christ did not come to simply tell us how to live, even though we are told we should be known for the things we do. Christianity is none of these things.
Christianity is ultimately rooted ontologically, in being.
Christianity is rooted in being in its method of revelation. To have seen Christ is to have seen the Father. Jesus did not come to tell us about God. He came as God. It is in His very nature. He is not God because of the things he said or did. These things did not make him the Son of God. Rather He is the Son of God by nature, in His very being. Everything he said and did flowed from that.
Christianity is rooted in being in salvation. It is through Christ’s physical death and bodily resurrection that we are saved. It is because of what He took on in his being that we are saved. All the wrong thoughts, all the harmful experiences, all the wrong things done He took on, in his body, so that we might be saved. That is why we read that he became sin for us.
Christianity is rooted in being in transformation. Jesus said that anyone wanting to enter heaven must be born again. The fundamental problem facing humanity is not one of knowledge, or feeling or even how to live. The fundamental problem is that we are fallen beings. It is only as our very beings are restored that we can truly begin to learn how to think, how to relate to the world around us and how to live.
Every other system, maybe by combining the three different pursuits of thinking, feeling and doing, ultimately want to change us as beings. Yet they are powerless to do so. It is only through Christ that we find our starting point is a transformation of our being, (born again), and that everything else follows on from that.
Much of what we hear from Christians today is unbiblical, even though it rightly repeats biblical truths. We allow ourselves to provide an outlet for the flesh by castigating others in great flourishes of carnal pageantry. It as though we attempt to fulfill the lust of the flesh and simultaneously claim divine direction and divine favor inherent in that very act, a feat of tremendous spiritual and mental gymnastics. Add a dose of "courage" as well as "boldness," and we have the perfect example of allowing the old man to once again have free reign.
There is a distinct difference between correction within the body and castigating sinners. It is beyond me how anyone could read the gospels and not see that one of the reasons our Lord was criticized was because He was a friend to sinners. He was seen in their company, and He showed uncommon love for them in spite of their sin. He reserved His most poignant rebukes for the self righteous leaders of the Temple. Yet we act as though setting foot among the sinners would turn our flesh to salt. Hint: That has only happened once in history, and that wasn't the reason it happened.
Within today’s church it has become fashionable to exhibit moral outrage to lost sinners and their sin. Instead of spreading the good news of the Gospel, and instead of fasting and praying inside the kingdom of God, the church releases concerted efforts to change the culture. The church even goes so far as to embrace a false mission to return America to the intent of the founding fathers. We as Americans of any stripe can desire to do so, but it is not a mission of the church, but in undertaking that as our mission, we have left the Christ and chased after idols. We can only change the culture by preaching the Gospel -- the real Gospel -- and watching the Holy Spirit change lives, which in turn will change the culture.
The Gospel is not justice.
The works we do because we love God are important, but they are not the mission of the church, nor were they integral to the gospel. Jesus said the two great commandments are "Love God, love your neighbor." He didn't say doing so would get you into heaven, or more importantly, provide you His grace to do the things we otherwise are incapable of doing.
Everything the church does is not its mission. There are many things that the church is involved with that are not essentially its mission but are nonetheless what Christ's people do precisely because they belong to Christ. We unfortunately get the two confused, and believe that in doing the mission, we are "doing" the Gospel. But when the apostles preached the Gospel in the New Testament, they were referencing God's redemption of sinners -- and not social justice.
The Gospel is about how sinners who rightly deserve nothing but the eternal condemnation of God nonetheless are redeemed by His decisive act in Jesus Christ to redeemed sinners. It is true that liberal churches have a social cause but no altar call, while many conservative churches have the altar call, but no mission to the world. The issue we face as Christian people is not whether we can have both, because we can. The issue is, what is that mission? Is it to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoner -- or is it to take the message of salvation to the world? The answer is "Yes." But if we do not accompany the feeding, clothing, visiting with the message, we've failed.
The Gospel is not a set of beliefs.
It is not just a system of thought, a type of mystical experience or way of life. Christ did not simply come to give us a new system of thinking, even though there can be nothing more profound than knowing Him. Christ did not come to give us a new feeling of God, even though there is nothing more life changing than meeting Him. Christ did not come to simply tell us how to live, even though we are told we should be known for the things we do. Christianity is none of these things.
Christianity is ultimately rooted ontologically, in being.
Christianity is rooted in being in its method of revelation. To have seen Christ is to have seen the Father. Jesus did not come to tell us about God. He came as God. It is in His very nature. He is not God because of the things he said or did. These things did not make him the Son of God. Rather He is the Son of God by nature, in His very being. Everything he said and did flowed from that.
Christianity is rooted in being in salvation. It is through Christ’s physical death and bodily resurrection that we are saved. It is because of what He took on in his being that we are saved. All the wrong thoughts, all the harmful experiences, all the wrong things done He took on, in his body, so that we might be saved. That is why we read that he became sin for us.
Christianity is rooted in being in transformation. Jesus said that anyone wanting to enter heaven must be born again. The fundamental problem facing humanity is not one of knowledge, or feeling or even how to live. The fundamental problem is that we are fallen beings. It is only as our very beings are restored that we can truly begin to learn how to think, how to relate to the world around us and how to live.
Every other system, maybe by combining the three different pursuits of thinking, feeling and doing, ultimately want to change us as beings. Yet they are powerless to do so. It is only through Christ that we find our starting point is a transformation of our being, (born again), and that everything else follows on from that.
So this is the Gospel. It is plainly, simply, truthfully being. In sin, we are being ourselves, in the flesh. In Christ, we are being reborn, renewed, returned to the image -- not how we look, but in how we "be" -- of our Creator, and any message we share with the word that doesn't convey that message is not the Gospel.
Also, I should share with you the fact I did not quote the entire paragraph from Dr. Moore's speech at the beginning of this post. That quotation above ends thusly:
Last edited by a moderator:
