What Do I Mean By “The Gospel Is Our Only Hope?”

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”” (1 Corinthians 1:18–19, NIV84)

The words “Hurry Obi-wan Kenobi. You’re our only hope” still make me chuckle. I don’t know why, they just sound silly to me. I wonder sometimes if in our earnestness to express the value the Christian gospel in our lives if we don’t come across as sounding kind of silly too. We probably do to some people.

In my post Monday I expressed – as I usually do – that the gospel is our ultimate hope. It is our only hope. But what did I mean by this? On the surface, it might sound as if I am saying that if we could just make everyone Christians we wouldn’t have these sort of tragedies. The implication is that Christians are inherently more moral than those who are not.

The End Of Us All

“It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2, NET)

That old man you know wasn’t always elderly. He wasn’t always dying. That person lying in that bed gasping those recognizable breathes of one who is close to eternity used to be hale and vibrant. He used to play volleyball, and work the fields. He used to shape wood into beautiful figures. He used to a drive school bus and let the kids stop by the ice cream shop on the way home. He used to laugh. But now he has passed, and like a dream, those memories are truly memories. They are sweet reminders of what was. 

Jonathan Martin: Pastor of Renovatus Church in Charlotte NC – On Mitt Romney, Liberty University and civil religion.

I want to post this blog essay by Pastor Jonathan Martin on Liberty University and its relationship to civil religion. This is a nice complementary piece to my post on civil religion. As you read this, please keep in mind that I am an alumnus of Liberty who served the university in the Residence Life department for 3 years. I’m not an outsider throwing stones.

Follow the link below:

Jonathan Martin: Pastor of Renovatus Church in Charlotte NC – On Mitt Romney, Liberty University and civil religion..

The Kingdom Come To Earth

With all the talk about the Kingdom of God lately, I thought I would take a minute to clarify something I might not have said clearly before.

The Kingdom of God is not a place like New Jersey is place. It is any realm where the Sovereign God reigns and dwells. The Kingdom is the sphere of God’s influence. In the New Testament, the term Kingdom of God means to a Jewish hearer “God’s reign come down to earth.” So, the announcement of the presence of the Kingdom was the announcement that God had moved his sphere of influence down to earth. In the case of Jesus, this means that he is bringing in that Kingdom, and that where he is, there is the Kingdom.

So, for the Jewish listener this is good news because it means the fulfillment of their desire for God to dwell among them (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Malach 4:1-5) and be their ruler and King. When Jesus announces he is bringing the Kingdom with him, he announces that he is God come to dwell among his people.

The King Jesus Gospel (8)

This post is part of an ongoing series in which I am blogging through The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight. See the whole series here.

In Chapter 4 of The King Jesus Gospel Scot McKnight begins to examine  1 Corinthians 15 where he believes Paul comes the closest of anyone in the New Testament to actually giving a definition of the word “gospel.” He divides the appropriate verses into three parts (after the jump).

The Religion Of America Is Not Christianity

For a couple of weeks, I’ve been promising a post on civil religion, and its ramifications for Christianity in America. This is a big topic with several angles from which it can be examined. For this post, I want to give the term civil religion a definition, give a little history, and show some of the negative consequences of civil religion as it relates to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The King Jesus Gospel (7)

We continue talking today about Scot McKnight’s book The King Jesus Gospel. (See the whole series here.) After 7 posts, we’re still only in chapter 3, but hey, slow digestion is healthy.

In this post we’ll discuss the 4 big category of the gospel as outlined by our author. He wants to talk a bit about the method of persuasion and briefly how it pertains to the whole. Keep in mind that these are acting as introductory chapters to the concept, so we won’t discuss every question here. As the book unfolds, more detail is discussed.

The King Jesus Gospel (6)

In chapter 3 of The King Jesus Gospel, Scot McKnight begins to make the case for his perspective on the original gospel (good news) message preached by Jesus and the disciples. The early posts in this series covered the argument that the gospel of salvation as it is often preached in evangelical circles is not consistent with the original gospel message, and that it is not useful for making committed followers of Jesus.

The King Jesus Gospel (5)

In chapter 3 of The King Jesus Gospel, Scot McKnight begins to make the case for his perspective on the original gospel (good news) message preached by Jesus and the disciples. The early posts in this series covered the argument that the gospel of salvation as it is often preached in evangelical circles is not consistent with the original gospel message, and that it is not useful for making committed followers of Jesus.

Why I’m Always Talking Kingdom: My Journey

For some of you reading this blog, this might be the first time you’ve thought about some of these things. For some of you who’ve known me a long time, you might be surprised to hear me talking about the Kingdom of God so much. You might be wondering why I’ve seemingly become obsessed with the topic and why this blog is going in this direction. You can find much of what I’ll write here in greater detail in the series of posts entitled “Who Stole the Kingdom of God?”, but I want to recount my journey here in short form so my readers can understand where I’m coming from.