What is the Gospel? (Musings on The Jesus Action Figure) (Telling the Story of God II)

The greatest of all illusions [is] the illusion of familiarity. [1]
-G.K. Chesterton

I have a Jesus action figure in my office, discovered in the bottom of an Urban Outfitters discount bin one cold (by Southern California standards) Christmas-shopping day. I guffawed when I found it. I find it both funny and sobering. Funny because… well, you should never try to explain why something is funny. But sobering because we live in a society in which Jesus has become a parody, to be lampooned or mocked. Or at least, his Church has often become so, and he has the dishonor of standing in proxy for it. It is also a sign to me that our culture thinks it already knows the story of Jesus, so we can all laugh and joke about it.

This problem of presumed familiarity is a uniquely twenty-first century problem. In the first century, after all, few people had heard of Jesus. When you heard the story of a Jewish savior-messiah who had come to save not just his people, but the whole world—and not from barbarian hordes on the northern borders, but from death itself—it was a novel concept, to say the least. By now, though, the story has been told so often, and often quite badly, that overfamiliarity has bred contempt. It’s like when someone starts telling a joke and you say, “Yeah, I’ve heard it.” The Gospel has often been watered down to a punchline we’ve already heard, which is easy to dismiss. The true Gospel—the revolutionary good news of Empire subverted and new hope revealed—gets hidden, its story gets buried.

People’s responses to the Gospel can also be far worse than “There’s nothing there for me.” They can sometimes veer into outright hostility, partly because of how often Christianity has so poorly carried the Gospel message. Dallas Willard famously said that Christianity often gets reduced to “the Gospel of sin management,” which is the result of Christians focusing their efforts on rules of external behaviors and not on being transformed from the inside out.[2] Or perhaps people think that Christianity is an invitation to “get religion,” to become like Ned Flanders, pedaling Jesus. Some think it means you have to become anti-science or anti-reason. Or, as one Gallup poll made clear, it may bring to mind hypocrisy, perhaps because many Christians use the Gospel to be right rather than to love.[3] It may, more darkly, bring to mind abuses of power and, tragically, the abuse of children by Catholic priests. When such objections crowd the mind, a hearer might dismiss Jesus’ invitation out of hand, all while failing to understand Jesus himself.

They might miss that Jesus’ Good News is relationship with God that saves us from death in every form, beginning with the forgiveness of our sins and culminating in a new way of living—all possible because of the faithfulness of Jesus to us and the power of God available to us through him.[4] It is the story of Jesus being enthroned as the King of all, and the invitation to follow him with allegiance and loyalty as we participate bodily in his new creation.[5] It is an invitation to be made new from within by the grace of this good King, even while we are unable to get our own selves in order. It is a call to stand with the poor and the powerless as God has stood with us, to seek racial reconciliation and justice, to give what you have to those in need, to live in generosity and abundance, to live in freedom and the strength of the Holy Spirit, the power of God that makes all things new. Yet it gets reduced to a plastic punchline on sale for a discounted price amidst consumers rushing around to buy more stuff.

Charles Spurgeon purportedly said, “The Gospel is like a caged lion. It does not need to be defended, it simply needs to be let out of its cage.”[6] There is work, then, to reclaim the true Gospel of Jesus from the pretenders who now crowd the stage. How do we let the true Gospel out? This work proves more difficult than we might think.

For all of these readings in one place, order my book 'Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus.'

[1] Chesterton, G.K. The Everlasting Man. Rough Draft Printing. Seaside, Oregon. 2013. Page 98.

[2] Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. HarperCollins. New York, NY. 1998. See “Chapter 2: Gospels of Sin Management.”

[3] The poll is now over a decade old, though I doubt the results would skew differently now. See unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI. 2012.

[4] See John 1:12, Romans 5:8, I John 4:19.

[5] See Matthew Bates’s Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI. 2017. Page 13.

[6] As with many great quotes, this one is actually an amalgamation of several quotes, but rightly attributed to Spurgeon. See https://elliotritzema.com/2012/07/31/spurgeons-let-the-lion-out-of-the-cage-quote/ [September 11, 2017].

Proclaiming the Kingdom of God (Telling the Story of God I)

But you will receive power, and you will be my witnesses…[1]
-Jesus of Nazareth

In a calendar inscription from the ancient Greek city of Priene, in the year 9 BC, we read: “Augustus was the beginning of the good news for the world that came because of him.”[2] Augustus was a Roman Emperor, and the inscription declares him a savior. The inscription goes on to decree the counting of years based on the date of Augustus’ birth. The message is clear: with his reign and kingdom begins a new era, good news for the world.

The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that when a new Roman Emperor was proclaimed, feasts were often held and sacrifices offered to the gods to celebrate the “good news.”[3]

And after significant Roman victories, the legions sent runners back to the Roman towns behind them to spread the “good news” that Rome was victorious.

In Greek, each of these “good tidings” was signified by the word evangelion. In English, we use the word “gospel.”

How provocative then, is Jesus’ message—and all of the New Testament. When the angel proclaims Jesus’ birth, he says, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news (evangelion).”[4] Jesus, in his own words, proclaimed “the good news (evangelion) of the kingdom of God;” the apostles, too, boldly proclaimed this kingdom, made manifest in Jesus.[5] The message of the New Testament is clear: a new King has come, truly “the King of kings and Lord of lords.”[6] Your hope is not in Caesar, not in the wealth or power of Empire; your hope is in a Kingdom “not of this world.”[7] This is the true good news. Clearly, Jesus and the New Testament writers were subverting Empire, challenging and undermining its values and writing over its core assumptions.[8] The New Testament, then, is a call to revolution.

But subverting Empire is not for the weak of heart. In the first century, you could be killed for it. Rome was about power; if you didn’t kowtow to the Imperial narrative, that power would see you killed. Indeed, Paul, Peter, and many early other Christians were killed for this very reason. In his letters, Paul sometimes speaks in coded language to veil just how provocatively he is subverting Empire.[9] As the Church grew and became a threat to societal order, Christians who refused to worship Caesar were martyred.

The true Gospel, then, is both a radical subversion and an invitation into a new way of living, based on a different set of values. It is a life built on trust in God, not in Caesar, a life of humility, gentleness, and generosity, not to mention faith, hope, and love. Jesus trained his disciples to announce this revolution. To proclaim the hope born in it.[10] Jesus’ disciples are Jesus’ witnesses.

But what is this Gospel, this good news? And how do we proclaim it? In the next posts, we’ll dig deeper into the nature of God’s Kingdom.

[1] Acts 1:18.

[2] The Priene Calendar Inscription (different from the Priene Inscription) is now in the Berlin Museum.

[3] See The Jewish Wars by Flavius Josephus, 4.618.

[4] Luke 2:10.

[5] E.g., Luke 4:43, Acts 28:31.

[6] Revelation 19:16.

[7] John 18:36.

[8] For a specific book study on this notion of “subversion,” see Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat. IVP Academic, Downers Grove, IL. 2004.

[9] See, for example, Paul’s careful (and probably coded) wording about slavery in Philemon, an institution which he cannot attack head on, but which he clearly seeks to subvert.

[10] See ‘Chapter 2: Ambassadorship and The People Jesus Gives Us to Love.’ In Luke 10, we read that Jesus sent out disciples to “proclaim the Kingdom.” In Luke 10:9, Jesus tells these disciples to heal the sick and proclaim, “the kingdom of God is near you now.”

Jesus, What Am I To Give? (Giving VI)

What we do with our money—and, really, with everything we have—matters. If prayer is a conversation with Jesus about what “we’re up to today,” as Dallas Willard often said, then we should be regularly asking God what we’re up to, together, with our money and our resources. If we believe in the Missio Dei—the reality that God is out ahead of us and that He’s “prepared good works in advance, that we should walk in them” —then the pressure is not on us to make anything happen.[1] It’s God work to save the world. However, it is our responsibility to seek out and discern what Jesus is doing and to follow him, giving as he prompts us and leads us.

There are so many ways to give. We have already looked at money and forgiveness and hospitality. Indeed, listening, as part of our hospitality, is an expression of The Generous Life. So is asking questions and drawing out the stories of our neighbors, that they would be seen and known, just as God desires for them. What about giving by talking, sharing things about ourselves that we might otherwise keep hidden? This, too, is an expression of generosity. And we can give by naturally demonstrating the supernatural, asking our neighbor if we can pray for them when some part of us wants to hide and say nothing at all. And by telling our story of faith in Jesus and our experience of him.

Furthermore, consider how you’re spending your energy. Is there anywhere where you’re wasting it? Perhaps by saying “yes” to some commitment, even to a good thing, that will keep you from saying “yes” to something that’s even more important? Perhaps by grumbling and complaining?[2] It’s not that grumbling doesn’t make sense; of course it does—there’s a lot about life that causes frustration and heartache. It’s just that pouring energy into complaint is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it. It demands an endless supply. Ultimately unforgiveness, too, is a black hole, a huge waste of energy. It depletes our resources and our reserves. And indulging lust or pornography or any other addiction costs us dear time that could be redirected elsewhere. Time spent in self-judgment and self-hatred is a waste, too. After all, God’s Spirit doesn’t lead us out of destructive behaviors because He’s angry or disappointed with us, but because He has an abundant, productive, joyful life in mind for us. He wants us to participate in the divine dance of God’s love and generosity, together with Him.

We don’t need to feel anxiety about using our time and energy and money well. If we are following Jesus, the load becomes easy and the burden light.[3] However, we should treat each resource as a precious gift which can be directed either toward a Generous Life or away from it. As part of your prayer life, consider this question: “Jesus, what would you have me give today?” Somewhere around “Let your Kingdom come” and “Give me today my daily bread,” it makes sense to ask how the Reign of God might come through us, or how we might use our resources to make it known.

Indeed, Jesus, make us aware of all we have to give, and how, and when, and where to give it, whether it’s time or energy or listening or money, that we might live into the very life of God.

This is the sort of prayer to be made with open hands, signs and symbols of our willingness and desire to live into this question, by God’s grace, until it becomes a posture which we never depart.

For all of these readings in one place, order my book 'Learning to Live and Love Like Jesus.'

[1] Ephesians 2:8-9.

[2] Remember that sorrow and lament, which the Scripture consistently condones, is altogether different from grumbling and complaint.

[3] Matthew 11:28.