DID JESUS AND PAUL PREACH DIFFERENT GOSPELS?

Honestly, I can't believe I need to write and entire blog post to explain this one, but apparently there are Christians who really do believe that Jesus taught one Gospel and that Paul taught another.

[Hint: they did no such thing]

So, in the interest of debunking this nonsense, let me explain a few things:

First, both Jesus and Paul preached the same Gospel. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom.

What's the Gospel of the Kingdom, you ask? Well, very simply, it's the "Good News" that the Kingdom of God where He rules and reigns can be experienced today by anyone who surrenders their life to Christ as their King and begins to learn to follow Jesus in their daily life. 

Jesus talks about the Gospel of the Kingdom all throughout his ministry, for example:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” - Mark 1:15 

“The kingdom of God has come upon you.”- Matthew 12:28

“For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” - Luke 17:21

“After his suffering, he [Jesus] presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” – Acts 1:3

Paul also taught the Gospel of the Kingdom, as we see here:

“I have gone [among you] preaching the kingdom of God” - Acts 20:25

“We must go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God.” - Acts 14:22

"For the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." - Romans 14:17

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” – 1 Cor. 4:20

“Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.” – Acts 19:8

“He [Paul] witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus.” – Acts 28:23

“He [Paul] proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” – Acts 28:31

“Now I [Paul] know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.” – Acts 29:25

For that matter, Philip and the other Apostles also taught the Good News of the Kingdom [because there was no other Gospel to teach], as we see demonstrated here:

“But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” – Acts 8:12

See also: 

Heb. 1:8; 11:33; 12:28

James 2:5

2 Peter 1:11

Rev. 1:6; 1:9; 5:10; 11:15; 12:10

What's the big deal?

Well, the problem with believing that Jesus and Paul each had a different Gospel is that we run the risk of missing the actual Gospel that Jesus [and the Apostles] preached.

Some Christians want to say that Jesus may have taught the Kingdom Gospel, but Paul taught the "Gospel of Grace". 

This "Gospel of Grace" was for the rest of us [the Gentiles], while Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom was meant only for the Jews.

One of the biggest problems with that assumption is that we see that the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached to the Gentiles all the time. [See those references above, for example]

Some want us to believe that the Hebraic Epistles [like the book of James, for example] contain the "Gospel of the Kingdom" while the epistles written to the Gentiles contain the "Gospel of Grace".

Again, this isn't what we see at all. Paul speaks about the Kingdom to both Jews and Gentiles alike. 

The phrase, "Jesus is Lord", is a statement about the Kingdom of God, because, in a kingdom you need a king, or a "lord". 

Paul affirms to both Jews and Gentiles alike that everyone who confesses that "Jesus is Lord" will be saved. [See Romans 10:9]

This means that Paul understood the "Gospel of the Kingdom" and he taught it all throughout his ministry.

The confusion comes because some Christians have lost the "Jesus-Centric" approach to scripture. They major on the teachings of Paul and wrongly assume that he can't be talking about the same things that Jesus talked about.

They also get easily confused when Paul says: 

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel." [Gal. 1:6]

They think that Paul must be saying that he taught people to "live in the grace of Christ" and that there must be more than one Gospel.

But that's not what Paul is saying. Not at all. In fact, let's look again at the full passage and please notice something at the end:

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." [Gal. 1:6-7]

Did you catch it? Notice that right after Paul says that people are turning away from the Gospel of Grace he refers to this Gospel as "the gospel of Christ".

Wait, what?

That's right. Paul's Gospel of Grace is the Gospel of Christ. 

And the Gospel of Christ is what Christ preached: The Gospel of the Kingdom of God. 

Keep in mind, Paul didn't think he was writing the Bible. He was writing letters to friends and fellow Christians in various places who were struggling to follow Jesus in their respective lands. 

Because of this, Paul doesn't spend a lot of time repeating the Gospel of the Kingdom to these people. He knows they already know it. In fact, many of them knew this Gospel long before Paul knew it. Remember, when the movement stared, Paul [Saul] was persecuting the Church.

But we do know that Paul was aware of this Gospel of the Kingdom because A) he preached this Gospel all through his ministry [see references above] and B) it was the only Gospel anyone in the Christian church had ever heard up to that point.

Elsewhere, Paul says we should prepare ourselves to preach the "Gospel of Peace" [Eph. 6:15], does that mean we have a third Gospel? Is the Gospel of Peace yet another Gospel competing for space with the Gospels of the Kingdom and Grace?

Of course not. There is only one Gospel. Paul knows that. The people he is writing to know that. There is no Gospel other than the one that Jesus preached. 

Is the Gospel also about Grace? Yes.

Is the Gospel also about Peace? Yes, again.

But there is only one Gospel and that is the Gospel that Jesus preached and that Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom, as found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and also in John.

Jesus and Paul were on the same page. 

We should be too.

-kg

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THE CROSS

One thing I have found very fascinating in N.T. Wright’s newest book, “The Day The Revolution Began” is the exploration on what is meant by “forgiveness of sins” in the context of the story of Israel.

Throughout the Old Testament scriptures, we read over and over again how God established His people in a “Promised Land” only to have them rebel against Him – or sin – and then being exiled as punishment.

This is the consistent picture throughout the Bible story: God blesses His people – They sin – He exiles them from this good land – They repent of their sins – He restores them to their land.

This pattern is first established in Genesis chapters one and two. God creates a beautiful world, places His wonderful creatures in a garden, they sin and are exiled from the garden.

The rest of Israel’s story is simply this same narrative repeated over and over again with slight variations.

So, if we keep this in mind, then “forgiveness of sins” means the end of exile and the opportunity to return once again to the good land where the people are once again living under the rule and reign of God.

Jesus, the Messiah, arrives on the scene and proclaims that the Kingdom of God is at hand and the gates are wide open to anyone who wants to return to the “good land” provided by the King Himself.

Because of the death of Christ, we are no longer exiled from God or His “good land” [Kingdom] but freely encouraged to return home, once and for all.

Wright also makes another interesting point later on in his book about how Jesus was falsely accused and crucified for “our sins”. He was not a violent revolutionary, although the people of Israel certainly wanted Him to be. In fact, this violent rebellion was in their hearts – not in His heart. Yet, Jesus suffers the penalty for their sin of violent rebellion, which under Roman law was crucifixion.

Think about that: The people’s sin was that they wanted a violent rebellion against Rome. Jesus did not want this. The penalty for violent rebellion against Rome was crucifixion. The people were eager for this rebellion and in their hearts this desire for violence against Rome was equal to actually committing the sin. 

Remember Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount about how looking at a woman with lust was equal to actual adultery? The same principle is in effect here: The people wanted a violent rebellion and the wages of that sin was crucifixion on a Roman cross. But who suffered the punishment for that sin? Was it the people whose hearts were crying out for armed rebellion? No. It was Jesus, the Messiah who came urging them all to love their enemies, bless those who persecuted them and walk the extra mile whenever a Roman soldier handed them their pack to carry.

In this way, Jesus died "for their sins". Their sin was a desire for rebellion. Their penalty was crucifixion, but Jesus took their place on that cross and suffered their fate.

This act of love indicated that their sins were forgiven and that now their exile was over. They could now return home and live once more in the “good land” of the Kingdom of God where Jesus would be their King.

This is Good News. The exile is over. We are free to return home, forever. Our Abba is throwing wide the gates of His Kingdom and welcoming any and all to come and live in his “good land”.

“Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand!” – Jesus, Messiah.

-kg

DISPENSATIONALISM REFUTED [Part 8] - Christ's Kingdom: Now or Later?

 

In this episode, we look at Ephesians Ch. 1: 20-23

Problem: Dispensationalism teaches that Christ came to offer an earthly-political kingdom to Israel, and they rejected it. So, Christ withdrew his offer, postponed the kingdom, and established the Church as a Plan B until the Jewish people are finally ready to accept him as their king so that the Millennial Kingdom may be established.

In short: Dispensationalists argue that Christ is not now reigning as king.

But is that true? Not according to Eph. 1:20-23:

“He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Click the image above to watch the video, or visit Keith's YouTube channel to view here>

Also, read Keith's blog: "The Kingdom Reality"

If Jesus Is Lord Then Why Don't We Obey Him?

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?" - Jesus [Luke 6:46]

It's a very good question. Our answers are usually of the "Nobody can do what Jesus commands" variety, but that answer isn't supported by the New Testament.

Instead, we're left with these annoying verses that say that we already have "everything we need for a godly life" if we are in Christ, and that the same grace of God that saves us also "teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives IN THIS PRESENT AGE" and that "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us", and on and on.

So is this all just bad theology mixed with a dash of "I don't feel like it"?

Yes, partially.

We mix our opinions about "keeping the Law" and our failure to "be perfect" with a side of complacency and wallow in our illusions of powerlessness. Partly because we prefer this reality, and partly because we sort of believe it is the Gospel.

But it's not the Gospel. It's a theology of partial truth marked by a cross, but missing the resurrection power of Christ.

Yes, Paul does stress that we are powerless to keep the Law of Moses. Because of our failure to do so, Jesus came and fulfilled the Law for us and took our sins to the cross. 

But is that it? Is that the end of the story?

Not at all!

The end of the Old Covenant - marked by a strict adherence to a Law that brought death - has been overshadowed by a New Covenant that writes God's law on our hearts and empowers us by His indwelling Holy Spirit to fulfill the Law of Christ by loving God and loving others as He has loved us.

That is the complete Gospel message. 

We are not powerless anymore. Jesus and the Father have made their home within us if we love Him and if we keep His commands. 

That abiding presence is what empowers us to put His words into practice. It's a symbiotic process where His Holy Spirit within us provides the power to love as He loved, and because of this we show our love for Him by obeying His commands which "are not burdensome".

"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." - 1 John 5:2-4

These "commandments" are not the Ten Commandments. Those are now obsolete and vanishing. No, the "commandments" that "are not burdensome" are the commands of Jesus to "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength" and to "love your neighbor as you love yourself."

How can we do this? Because we are now filled with the transformational agape love of Jesus which is something brand new and miraculous.

Now that the love of Jesus is alive and active within us, we can actually "love one another" as Jesus loved us!

That's good news!

When Jesus said that his "yoke was easy and [his] burden was light", he was contrasting that with the yoke of the Pharisees [which was the Law of Moses and the Old Covenant] which was heavy and impossible to carry.

Why is Jesus' yoke "easy"? In what way is His yoke "light"?

It's because Jesus, unlike the Pharisees who would not lift a finger to help those under the yoke of the Law, actually DOES help us to stand up under His yoke. It's easy and it's light because Jesus is abiding within us and He gives us "all we need" to "surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees".

[See "Effortless and Free" for more on this]

Does this mean we never blow it? Does it mean we are now perfectly capable of always loving everyone at all times? No, and yes: We ARE capable, but we are not always willing to.

This is why Paul admits that he "has not yet attained it" but that he does "this one thing; forgetting the past and pressing on the high calling of Jesus Christ". [See Phil. 3:13-14]

If Jesus is Lord, then we not only must do what He says, we are capable of doing it because He is alive within us.

Abide in Him and He will abide in you.

That's a promise.

-kg

FOR FURTHER READING:
*Effortless and Free [The Easy Yoke of Jesus]
*A Difficult Path and An Easy Yoke
*If Jesus Tells Me To Do Something, Do I Have To Do It?
*If I Love Jesus, Can I Ignore What He Says?

JESUS: OUR BLUEPRINT

"Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" - John 1:29

I've often referred to Jesus as our blueprint for living the Kingdom life because Jesus lived a Kingdom life for us to emulate. He showed us how to humble ourselves and serve others, how to love those who are outside our comfort zones, and how to forgive those who hate us.

The life of Jesus was intended to show us that, in fact, it really is possible for us to obey His commands and live as He did.

This is what Jesus meant when he said "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing" - John 14:12
If we trust in Jesus, if we really believe in what He taught us, we will put His words into practice and we will do the things we see Him doing.

A few verses previous to this one, Jesus lets the Disciples know that all He has ever done is what the Father told Him to do:

"The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." v. 10

So, if Jesus accomplished all that He did by listening to Father, and doing what the Father was doing, then we also can, and will, do the things that Jesus did when we submit our lives to God in the same way.

A few verses later Jesus is asked a question: "Why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the World?"
The disciples are wondering why Jesus doesn't reveal His Glory to the entire planet at once. Here's what Jesus says in reply:

"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." - John 14:22-23
Did you catch that? The Disciples want to know why Jesus only shows himself to the twelve and not to the whole World. Jesus answer? I'm showing myself to you and when you obey my teachings you show me to the World, then they will see me, and the Father.

Our obedience to Jesus allows the Gospel to be proclaimed in our lives each day.

The point of a blueprint is to read the plan and to duplicate it in the real world. Jesus' death on the cross was intended to set us free and give us a new kind of life in the Kingdom of God, here and now, where we live and breathe.

His sacrifice gave us life. His death gave us access to the Kingdom. And now, our daily sacrifice not only allows us to follow after Him, it is intended to put to death our flesh so that He can live in us.

Because Jesus died, we live. Because we die daily, Jesus lives within us.

Do people around you see Jesus in you? Are you daily taking up your cross to follow Him? There's still time to start living for the One who died to give you life.

"Behold, the Lambs of Jesus who die daily so that their Shepherd can live through them."

-kg

Worm-Free Christianity

There are no worms in the Body of Christ.

Everyone who abides in Christ is a brand new creature. We are no longer “worms” or “wretches” who are in need of God’s constant pity.

Our favorite hymns might suggest otherwise, but once we come to Jesus we cease to be worms and begin to become new creatures who are partakers of the Divine nature.

Yes, before the cross we were most pitiful and dead in our sins.

Before we knew Jesus we were broken and worthless and hopeless and blind.

But praise God we are no longer in this condition!

Those who are in Christ are no longer regarded as worms, but as sons of God.

We who are members of the Body of Christ are loved and treasured, not miserable wretches covered in our filthy sins.

Maybe there were some Christians in our church experience who poured shame over us.

Maybe there were pastors and teachers who preached messages of condemnation to keep us under control.

Maybe there were some worship leaders who planted melodies in our hearts that emphasized our former identity as worms and wretches.

But that’s not who Jesus says we are.

We are sons and daughters.

We are filled with the fullness of Christ.

We are new creatures with a new nature.

We are holy.

We are spotless.

We are dearly loved.

If you don’t believe me, look it up. The New Testament is chock full of truth about our new identity in Christ.

Jesus affirms our worth.

Jesus declares our freedom.

Jesus proclaims that we are friends, not slaves.

Jesus reminds us that we are God’s children who cry out “Abba!” to our Heavenly Father who loves us dearly.

Jesus says that He and the Father will come and make their home with those who love and obey Him.

Are you in Christ? Then there is no condemnation for you. None at all.

Are you in Christ? Then there is nothing in the entire Universe with the power to separate you from the love of God.

Are you in Christ? Then you are forever knitted together with Jesus for the rest of eternity.

Repeat after me: “I am not a worm. I am a dearly loved child of God. Jesus lives and breathes in me right now. He will never leave me. He will never forsake me. His love for me will never die.”

Now, set your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Place your hope in Him, the One who loves you beyond measure.

Start living every day, moment by moment, in the new reality of your identity in Christ.

If you can, try helping others to see that they are not worms, either.

We all need a lot more worm-free Christianity.

-kg

**

See also:

Erasing Shame

Shameless
Everything We Need

THE LOST INTERVIEW: DALLAS WILLARD

I had the honor of interviewing author and theologian Dallas Willard twice before he died. This interview was something that was intended to be published in a magazine that folded before this could be published. 

It also appears in my book [Subversive Interviews]. 

I hope you enjoy it!
-kg
**

PART 1 OF 3

Keith Giles- “Dallas, can you explain the difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom and the more popular, Gospel of the Atonement for us?”

Dallas Willard – “The Gospel of the Kingdom is that you can now live in the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of the Atonement is that your sins can be forgiven. Those are the, respective, ‘Good Newses’, I suppose.”

KG- “So, are you saying there are two Gospels? Are my sins not forgiven if I live in the Kingdom? Or am I not in the Kingdom of God if I accept the Gospel of the Atonement?”

DW- “The way it practically works out is this, if you have the Gospel of the Atonement, and that’s all you’ve heard, the rest of your life you will run on your own and you may or may not think of being a disciple of Jesus or of obeying him or of devoting your life to the Kingdom of God. You can still do that, but those things are all optional for you. That is where we really stand in our Christian culture today. Anything more than forgiveness of sins, and by that I mean ‘Heaven when you die’, is optional and most of our professed believers now do not know that they can live in the Kingdom of God now. 

“By contrast, anyone who is alive in the Kingdom of God now knows that their sins are forgiven because they have the life of Heaven in them now. So Heaven and forgiveness are natural parts of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God whereas discipleship and holiness and power and other scriptural evidences are not a natural part of the Gospel of the Atonement. I want to emphasize that sense of being a natural part. 

“Here’s one of the ways I try to help ministers understand this difference. I ask them, ‘Does the Gospel you preach truly lead to discipleship to Jesus?’ and the Gospel of the Kingdom has that natural connection. It’s not trusting the Kingdom, it’s about trusting Jesus and living in the Kingdom with Him. So then, for example, the New Birth is the birth from above and as Jesus was telling Nicodemus, “You must be born again..”, now that’s about new life that isn’t just Atonement. One of the strange things that has happened is that verses like John 3:16 is treated as if it were a forgiveness verse whereas it is really a new life verse. The whole context is about having the life of The Kingdom. Nicodemus came saying he could see it and Jesus said, ‘No, you can’t see it’, and helped him to understand why he couldn’t.

“So, it’s the idea of a natural part of The Kingdom containing forgiveness, and if you’re trusting Jesus, and not just his death on the cross alone, but the person of Jesus, then life in the Kingdom comes with that and, as a natural part, also comes discipleship, forgiveness, all of the things that any good theology would cover.”

KG- “So, it seems to me that the reason why the Gospel of the Atonement is the most readily accepted and understood version of the Gospel today, especially in America, is because it’s sort of the fruit of the style of Evangelism we have employed.

DW- “Yes, that’s absolutely right. Now the reason for that, however, is the theology that’s in back of it. We do not evangelize for disciples, we evangelize to make Christians and then, maybe, later try to raise the issue of discipleship. Frankly, that’s like ‘bait and switch’ in advertising. You’ll hear people express that to their pastors and say, ‘Why are you talking about discipleship? I’m right with God. Why are you talking about obedience?’ It’s like I talk about in one of the chapters of my book about an upright citizen of the Church who came to his pastor and said ‘I’m going to divorce my wife because I’ve fallen in love with someone else’ and the pastor, of course, turned purple and said, ‘You can’t do this’, and the man said, ‘Of course I can, you’ve said that Jesus will forgive my sins if I believe he died on the cross.’ There’s honestly no response to this from the theology of atonement only.”

KG- I was teaching on this recently in our home group and I had a woman, innocently, not trying to be argumentative, but honestly puzzled with me on the subject who asked me, ‘What would you say to someone if you wanted to evangelize them? If it’s not about going to heaven when you die, then what is it about?’ It just seems that once you diffuse the idea of the Gospel of the Atonement as being an incomplete version of the Gospel, it kind of leaves us unequipped now. So, how do we witness if the language of the Gospel of the Atonement is not part of my script?

DW- That’s really an excellent question and I hope we can get a very clear answer to it because it naturally comes up because of what people have been taught all their lives. The appropriate question then is, ‘If you don’t die tonight what are you going to do tomorrow?’ and the answer should be, ‘I’m going to trust Jesus with all of my life, with everything, and that will allow you to live in the Kingdom of God.’ Now, if you do die tonight you may go to Heaven, but you see most people are not going to die tonight. They, like the rest of us, have to face life tomorrow and the day after and the day after. 

“The big question is, ‘Are you going to live life on your own tomorrow and the day after?’ and if you do then you’re not trusting Jesus. The evangelistic question needs to be varied a bit and I use various formulations for it. For example, if it is appropriate I will say to someone, ‘How are you doing with your Kingdom?’ and that usually opens up the discussion about how they’re handling their lives. I will then let them know that there’s a Kingdom they can live in that belongs to Jesus and that if they will turn their lives over to Him, then they will prosper for time and for eternity, in His Kingdom. That’s the difference. 

“It opens up a different landscape on evangelism because it turns out that the people that need to hear the Gospel of Jesus the most are the people who are well off and in charge of a lot of things, not just the guy living in the box in the alley, or the person who is living the life of debauchery. All people desperately need to know about the Kingdom of the Heavens and their life in it. So, that’s how you evangelize, you call people to discipleship by announcing the availability of the Kingdom now. That’s what Jesus did and then when people understood him they also understood that He was the King.”

“The simple Gospel is; ‘Jesus is available to trust and what you need to do is to trust Jesus’. Once you begin to teach this fully then you begin to realize how great Jesus is and that He is actually running the World and that the Cosmos is under His charge. So then, the invitation is to become involved as a disciple. 

“One way I try to express what Salvation is is to say ‘It is participating in the life that Jesus is now living on Earth.’ That is why Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 15, for example, ‘If Christ is not risen, your faith is in vain and you’re still in your sins’. 

KG- “Right, and also that “..it is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me..”

DW- “Exactly. So, it’s participating in the life that Jesus is now living. Christ in me, the hope of Glory. That was the message to the Gentiles, as reported in Colossians, and that’s the message to everyone. The “Hope of Glory” is the living Christ in you and that’s another way of describing life in the Kingdom of God. 

[END OF PART 1]

READ Part 2
READ Part 3

Session 2: Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics] - His Message

Session 2 of "Jesus Without Religion [Or Politics]" examines the message of Jesus. What was his main point? What did he talk about more than anything else? What is is that Jesus himself says was the reason that he had come?

Listen in to find out. 

A QUESTION OF PERSPECTIVE

"When troops move to take a beachhead, they do so with the conscious plan that they will sacrifice thousands of men. What if the Christian church moved into the world with the same convictions? What if we had a conscious plan to follow (Jesus) even though it might cost many lives? ...It would appear that before the Christian church justifies giving the lives of so many of its people in military involvement it should look at the greater sin of being unwilling to sacrifice lives of affluent ease for the cause of building the Kingdom of Christ." - Myron S. Augsburger; War:Four Christian Views, page 93.

What has it cost you to follow Jesus? I mean, what has been the actual cost; what have you given up?

Are we willing to give up our time, our comfort, our entertainment? Are we willing to surrender our freedom, our job, or our reputation with others?

Are we truly living here as strangers and aliens in a foreign land? Are we really willing to let go of this world in order to embrace the eternal Kingdom of God?

Do we sacrifice the life of the Kingdom in favor of temporal pleasures in the here and now? Or are we willing to sacrifice the things that will soon vanish away in order to usher in the eternal treasures of Christ?

What really moves us? Do we have more passion for our Nation’s flag or the Constitution than we do for Jesus and His Gospel?

God’s heart was moved with compassion for the outcast, the broken, the lonely, the diseased, the sinners and the unclean.

Are we equally moved for the poor in our community, or the immigrants working three jobs to support their family, or the lesbian couple who gets shamed by their church?

We know that we shouldn’t have idols in our life, and that nothing should eclipse our devotion to Jesus. But if an idol is anything we will sacrifice our children for in order to maintain our way of life, then what is the name of the god we appease when we send our children off to die so that our nation’s foreign policy is defended and the price of gas stays under $4 a gallon?

What does it really mean to be “in the world, but not of the world”?

Are we first and foremost citizens of God’s Kingdom – without borders or flags – or are we at heart actually more American than Christian?

The truth is, the Body of Christ is a global reality whose citizens inhabit every nation on the planet. If you are in this Family of God, then you have brothers and sisters in Iran, Iraq, China, Pakistan, and every other nation on earth. Most of them are not Americans, and they do not ever want to be. Their hearts desire is to know Christ and Him crucified. They long to hear His voice and to walk in His ways. They see you and I – in spite of our nationality – as members of the ekklesia and as fellow members of Christ.

We are not properly identified as Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Charismatics, Pentecostals, or Anglicans. We are simply His children. We are His Body. We are ambassadors of His Kingdom. We pledge allegiance to no other nation except to His.

The question before us now is simply this: “Are we willing to lay down our lives for the Kingdom of God?”

There is a profound difference, I am learning, between "being willing" to lay down my life for Christ and actually laying down my real life for Him.

If I am in Christ, then I have already died to myself. I have already crucified my nationalism, along with everything else.

Now let the Kingdom come, no matter what it costs.

-kg

CREATION EAGERLY AWAITS

If I were to ask you, “What is it that all Creation is awaiting eagerly?” You would most likely say, “The return of Jesus!”

And you would be wrong.

No, instead, what Paul says is that all Creation is waiting eagerly for those who are in Christ to awaken and rise up.

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” [Romans 8:19-21]

All Creation is eagerly awaiting the Body of Christ to rise up and bring forth the Kingdom of God which lies within each of us. Like tiny seeds of mustard pressed into the dry ground, or a light sprinkling of yeast that spreads within the lump of dough, we are the promise of a Kingdom to come that all Creation yearns for.

This has always been part of the Father’s Master Plan – to transform us so that we can transform the kingdoms of this world into the Kingdom of God. [See Revelation 11:15]

Forget about “winning America back for God”, our mission is to usher in the Eternal Kingdom of God – where His perfect will is always accomplished in the lives of His people – and to transform others around us into people who are also carrying around the promise of the Kingdom within.

It’s not about turning America into a nation where Christians feel more comfortable and “at home”. It’s about changing people into transformational agents of the Kingdom who are radiating love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, mercy and perseverance. Truth be told, if we start doing that our communities will start to be anything but “comfortable”, but never boring.

Just before this passage in Romans, Paul says something wonderful about our identity in Christ as “Children of God”:

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to son-ship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” [Roman 8: 14-17]

As the Children of God, we are:

“Led by the Spirit”

“Without fear”
“Heirs of God”
“Co-heirs with Christ”
“Sharing in the sufferings and the glory of Jesus”

In fact, it is this process of suffering that is key to what Paul is saying in this passage. This is why he says:

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” [v. 18]

Please notice: Paul does not say that our sufferings don’t compare to Heaven, or to a place we will go when Jesus comes back.

Nope. Look again.

Paul says, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the GLORY THAT WILL BE REVEALED IN US.” [Emphasis mine]

What is this glory that will be revealed in us? It’s the very same glory that Paul says “all creation waits in eager expectation for” when “the children of God are revealed”!

He encourages us to endure suffering in this life, because through that suffering for the Kingdom and the Gospel of Jesus, we are being transformed into His image and we are fulfilling our call as seeds and as yeast to usher in the glorious Kingdom of God in the here and now.

All creation is groaning for you and I to wake up, step out, and begin to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God at this very moment in time.

What are you waiting for?

If you keep waiting perhaps even the rocks will cry out, “Hurry! Child of God! Liberate us from this bondage and decay! Bring forth the glorious freedom of the Lord Jesus, our King!”

Let’s not delay any longer.

Rise up, oh sleeper. Wake up and step into the fullness of your calling as Children of God.

“Let the Kingdom come!”

Amen.

-kg

Conformed To His Image

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20)

Here we have our marching orders from our Commander in Chief. This is about so much more than Evangelism. Rather, it is a framework for what every Christian community should be focused upon.

Where the Christian Church in the West has failed most, I believe, is in taking this mandate to heart and putting it daily into practice.

Instead, the Church has twisted this "Great Commission" from Jesus and turned it into a justification for building million-dollar structures, launching extravagant outreach campaigns, and publishing thousands of "How To" books, all aimed at creating converts while at the same time ignoring any call to make disciples who understand how to "obey everything (Jesus) commanded".

This is largely why the Evangelical Church in America finds Herself in deep decline today. Instead of inviting people to know God more intimately through an ongoing encounter with Jesus, and creating a church full of people who are intentionally seeking to put His words into practice in their actual lives, we have opted for a Gospel that does little more than provide an escape from Eternal Torment; leaving our Churches with nothing to do but entertain a growing crowd of un-transformed converts until they eventually die and move on to their promised "Heaven".

It also creates a world where the Church hardly resembles Her founder and causes many outside the faith to doubt the love of God and the power of Christ to transform the human heart.

This is not the Gospel. It's also not what Jesus had in mind for His Body.

Reading the New Testament reveals that Jesus expected to inspire a community of people who were called out and empowered to not only call Him 'Lord, lord', but to actually put His words into practice.

Essentially, what the Church needs today is to return to Jesus, renew their allegiance to Him, and begin to become Disciples (so that they can start to "make Disciples of all nations").

A recent conversation with my dear friend, Dan Notti, honed in on this missing element of Christian life. Specifically, the idea of spiritual formation is becoming extinct in our Christian faith today.

Not only is it slowly fading away as a concept, it is actually becoming an idea that is radically opposed by many Christian teachers who argue that the teachings of Jesus cannot be kept, and that Jesus never intended for us to try to follow His teachings or to put His words into practice.

This is flabbergasting. Especially when we cannot read the Gospels without being inundated by the words of Jesus crying out, over and over again, that those who love Him obey Him, and that those who put His words into practice receive life, and that those who call Him 'Lord, lord' but refuse to do what He says will be told "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you."

How does this happen?

Partly because, as we've already seen, the Gospel that gets communicated is the bumper sticker "Pray this prayer if you don't want to burn in Hell forever" variety rather than the "Repent! The Kingdom of God is near" version we hear Jesus proclaiming.

Another reason we see the abandonment of the Gospel of the Kingdom, however, is the rise of a more Pauline version of the Gospel which emphasizes - or rather over inflates - the message of Grace so that it begins to eclipse the teaching of Jesus.

This is not to say that Paul and Jesus were at odds. Far from it. Anyone who reads the writings of Paul, or especially the Acts of the Apostles, will see that Paul, and the other Apostles, all preached the Gospel or Good News, of the Kingdom. [See Acts 28:23; 30-31; 14:22; 19:8; 8:12; Eph. 20:25, etc.]

However, when Christian teachers and preachers overemphasize the Gospel of Grace - in a way that Paul never intended - they create the false impression that Jesus' message and Paul's message were different.

Not so. Paul preached the Good News of the Kingdom everywhere he went. Yes, he did write a few epistles where he reminded the disciples that their salvation was a work of God's unmerited favor and grace. But this was always within the context of submission to Christ as Lord - something Paul writes a lot about - and an assumption that those Christians understood the "Good News of the Kingdom" which involved complete submission to Jesus as both Lord and Savior.

One revealing verse about how Paul truly understood the concept of Grace is found in Titus 2:11-12 where he says:

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.."

Notice two things:

1) Paul affirms that the Grace of God "offers salvation to all people."

2) Paul also teaches that the Grace of God "teaches us to say 'No'" to "worldly passions and to live self-controlled...godly lives in this present age."

According to Paul, the Grace of God is about salvation, AND about living a godly, self-controlled life - right here and now!

The Grace of God isn't only an instant "get out of hell free card", it's also an ongoing, continual power at work in our everyday lives that empowers us to become more like Jesus.

That's spiritual formation, folks.

Grace, then, is like the small amount of yeast that enters our lives the day we respond to the sound of Jesus' voice [to save us from our sins], and that continues to permeate our entire being every moment after as we continually become transformed into the image of Christ.

What if our Church family was single-mindedly focused on cooperating with the Holy Spirit in this process of becoming more like Christ?

What if our main focus as Christians was to collaborate together with one another, and with Jesus, to ensure that everyone within our church community was actually on the path towards having the heart and mind and character of Christ formed within them? [Ourselves included, of course].

To me, that is what is missing from our Churches today. That is what would breathe new life and vitality back into the Body of Christ again.

As Dallas Willard has put it, the Church should be about "...transforming disciples inwardly, in such a way that doing the words and deeds of Christ is not the focus but is the natural outcome or side effect." (from "Renovation of the Heart")

Simply put, we as individual Christians should begin by falling to our knees - daily - and surrendering continually to Jesus, we should focus on abiding in Christ and allowing Him to abide in us, so that our lives can bear more fruit.

If we do that, everything else will fall naturally into place.


-kg

THIS IS GOOD NEWS

New Is Good

Tired of the “same old song and dance”? Who isn’t? Luckily, Jesus has fulfilled and abolished the Old and replaced it with the New.

It all starts with the New Covenant that Jesus made with those who place their trust in Him:

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” – (Luke 22:20)

Once we drink from that cup, He gets right to work making us new as well:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – (2 Cor. 5:17)

Once we’ve been made new Jesus pours His “new wine” into us:

“Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” – (Matt. 9:17)

Filled with the “new wine” of His Holy Spirit, Jesus empowers us to follow His “new commandment”:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” – (John 13:34)

Next, Jesus opens the door wide open for us to enter into glorious fellowship with Himself and His Father:

“…. we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh…” – (Heb. 10:19-20)

Jesus even abolished the Old Law of Commandments in order to make both Jews and Non-Jews into “one new man” so that those who are in Him are united as His Chosen Ones:

“ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace…” - (Eph. 2:15)

To those who continue to abide in Him, Jesus promises to keep on making things new, even giving us a new name to match our new nature and identity in Himself:

“To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’” – (Rev. 2:17)

What’s more, from now until the end of time, Jesus is continually, daily, making all things new again so that, eventually, everything old is redeemed and under His final, ultimate authority:

“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” – (Rev. 21:5)

Now, that’s Good New!

-kg

 **

NOTE: For more about the differences between the Old and New Covenant, read "Questions About The Old and The New Covenants"