As part of my job, I get the privilege of being shepherded by a great pastor. We have pastors' meetings twice a month where he leads us, shapes us, challenges us, and loves us. It's really an amazing privilege. The past couple meetings have been rocking me. He's leading us through the most basic of stuff, yet the most profound of stuff...the gospel. What is the gospel? If we are followers of Jesus, we know, right? Not so fast...
I would say that the majority of people like me, who have been nurtured in their faith in the evangelical church, have largely subscribed to a gospel that is very personal. Me and Jesus. Jesus died for me. For my sins. If I was the only person here on earth, Jesus would still have died on the cross for me. Really? Why? If that scenario were actually true, would the cross have actually been necessary? The truth is that the cross is indeed the centerpiece of all history, but it lies at the center of a story of redemption that is huge. Now, all the personal implications of the gospel that I have been trained to espouse are certainly true. My faith is a personal thing. But it's not ONLY a personal thing. To remain in a place solely standing in Christ work of justification for me is a very limited understanding of the gospel.
The truth is that Jesus is reconciling all things to himself. This began in Genesis 3, and will continue until the days that John describes at the end of the Revelation given to him by Jesus. This doesn't make substitutionary atonement any less central to salvation, or limit it's importance in any way. It simply says that there is more. Our atonement falls in the midst of a grand narrative of redemption whereby God is putting all things back together. God's redemptive plan includes us, but is so much bigger than us. Colossians 1:15-23 gives you a window into this.
These, I suppose, are mostly rambling thoughts coming off of a meeting this morning that was super challenging. But I'd throw out the question to you; "when you stop and reflect on the enormity of God's redemptive plan, how does this affect you? What reaction does it cause in you? What does it make you want to change about your life?" My mind immediately goes in a couple different directions, but I'd love to first hear thoughts from you...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
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After talking about this on Sunday night, it has been a topic of conversation and thought this week. In fact, today while driving in my car I was listening to Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, and reminded again of the significance of God's redemptive plan for all creation. Rob's point was that all of creation is groaning in anticipation of being restored.
There was a turning point for me a few years back when I reconsidered my thoughts on heaven. If we are preparing to be taken away to some other-worldly destination, then it makes little sense to care about anything material. But if the gospel is about re-creating, restoring and reconciling our world, which I believe it is, then the here-and-now really matter. Why would God resurrect the dead if we were leaving (Matthew 22:23ff and Luke 14:14 are two examples)?
I am still wrestling with this, but it makes sense that God is interested in making a new creation, both me and the universe in which I live. Somehow it is in process now, and will be completed someday. The implementation of God's kingdom is a complex idea that I can't firmly grasp, but want to be a part of. The exciting, invigorating thing is that God wants me to play a role in his renewal. He does want to work in me. Sometimes he works in me by working through me, and other times the other way around. The paradox of all of this is astounding. I am so small and insignificant in the big picture, which really makes God awesome, and yet I know that I am significant because God has placed me in the cosmos to take part in the gospel in a way that no one else can.
I just read that passage in Matthew this morning, where dead people come walking out of their tombs when Christ is crucified. Every time I read that passage i find myself first surprised that I forgot all about that passage...then asking myself, "did I seriously just read that? That's in the Bible?" Those types of passages really mess with me...
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