I have been reflecting this morning on the nature of the gospel and how it is supremely relevant to my life – and yours. This is just a thought I had while driving in to work. Would you help me kick it around?
A weekly small group meets in my home. We have been using the book, The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith as the launching point for our discussions and prayer. Last night we took a most helpful tangent, discussing the scandal of the gospel. It was engaging and liberating, for me anyhow.
But this morning I was thinking about the ways societies fashion and form their understanding of ‘god’ in their own image. In the socialist state God is the perfect socialist, embodying all socialist values. In the capitalist state God is the quintessential C.E.O who rewards those who are entrepreneurial and work hard. But the gospel slices through both. Jesus’ kingdom is neither socialist, nor capitalist.
The capitalist is offended by a gospel of sovereign grace and unmerited favour. He needs to hear that the early church’s proclamation of the resurrected Jesus was bolstered by the fact that they shared everything in common and no one was found in need (Acts 4:32-33).
The socialist is confronted by St. Paul’s instruction to the earliest churches. He prescribes good moral conduct in light of the gospel, requiring masters to be good masters and slaves to be good slaves (Ephesians 6:5-9). St. Paul insists that in this the power of the gospel is demonstrated to the world.
My simple point is this – the gospel slices the world in a way that is categorically different than our social constructs.
Allow the gospel to challenge you. Look beyond our polarizing world of political parties. Look to Jesus and seek his kingdom.
How does the gospel challenge you and shape your values?
