Where do you stand? (BETA)
John H Tuesday 7th August, AD 2007
A month or so ago I posted a “discussion draft” of a gospel outline called “Where do you stand?”. This provoked a number of very helpful and constructive comments, and I’m very grateful to everyone who contributed to that discussion.
Holidays, work and other distractions have delayed production of a second draft, but I have now posted a second draft after the fold. The only significant change so far is the inclusion of some new versions of the images that accompany the outline. These have been prepared by Kevin Spaeth, and I am hugely grateful for the work Kevin has done on these. Greatly appreciated, Kevin.
I still want to review/tweak the text and look for Bible verses to support each section (suggestions invited in the comments!), but for now I wanted to get Kevin’s pictures online and invite further feedback and discussion on the developing outline.
Please note that, as before, this post (both images and text) is excluded from the creative commons licensing regime that normally applies to this blog. The content remains “all rights reserved” for now, though the plan is to release it under some form of CCL once it is nearing final form.
Update: in response to a couple of comments, Kevin has produced a new version of the final image, which shows the person in a baptismal robe and with the cross on their forehead. Haven’t worked this into the text yet – I’m thinking it may be better as a springboard to the “what next?” part of the presentation.
God is the loving creator of all things and all people. He made us so that we could live standing in trusting dependence on him, as if held in his hand.
However, we have chosen to rebel against God. Rather than standing in trusting dependence on him, we shake our fist at him and reject him and his loving support for us. We try to stand on our own resources, but in reality we end up with nothing solid under our feet.
As a result of refusing to stand upon God’s loving care for us, we fall under his judgment, facing death and condemnation for our rebellion against him.
God has not abandoned us to death and judgment, however. Out of his love for us, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. Jesus stood on the earth as a human being, living a perfect life in trusting dependence on God, his Father.
Jesus also stood on a hill outside Jerusalem, dying on the cross to take the punishment we deserved and win forgiveness for us.
And Jesus stood once again on the earth after his death, having conquered death by rising to new life.
As a result, we have a new place to stand: trusting in Jesus and his completed work on the cross, and receiving forgiveness and new life from God.
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- Comments(16)
I like it a lot. The illustrations are superb. If I were going to suggest any change, it would be integrating the theme of perfection more strongly into the narrative, which is perhaps a little too focused on restoration to the neglect of perfection at the moment. Man may be naked at the beginning of the story, but at the end he is clothed in the glory that mature humanity possesses in Christ.
I believe the illustration is good and easy to understand, but on the other hand i believe there is not enough emphasis on Jesus Christ concerning the pain he endured on the cross for our sins making it possible for us to be righteous in the eyes of the Lord if we repent and trust in the Lord Jesus as our one and only saviour. I believe this should be emphasized because if it wasn’t for Jesus Christ dying for our sins there will be no way of getting to God at all.
[...] If you all read this, believe it, and submit to believer’s baptism, we can all stand at the same place. Revival will arrive. [...]
I was wondering about your thoughts on what it means to preach the gospel of the Kingdom vs. a gospel of personal salvation. Have we in the West generally preached only a partial gospel? I don’t disagree with anything in the outline, just some stuff I’ve been thinking about recently.
John,
I think the illustrations are absolutely excellent!!!
Albert,
You raise an interesting point, but the question is whether the proclamation and building of the kingdom occur after or consecutively with conversion? Is kingdom building part of the process of sanctification?
Albert: thanks for your comment. I attempted to show the links between the gospel of “Jesus is Lord” and the gospel of “Your sins are forgiven” in this post, so that might give you some idea of where I’m coming from with your question.
Al:
…the narrative … is perhaps a little too focused on restoration to the neglect of perfection at the moment.
Fair point. If you have any concrete suggestions I’ll give them some thought. However, this isn’t intended to be comprehensive – it presents the gospel from one angle, and I think it could lose focus if we start asking “But what about [x]…?”
I’m more concerned (given some of my recent posts) about the lack of any mention of the future hope. Again, I may just have to grit my teeth and accept that this is only “a” word, not a comprehensive summary of biblical doctrine, but it’s something I’ll try to think about.
This is good.
John,
Thanks for the link to the post, and also the recent post on hope. I’m new here so I appreciate directions around town so to speak.
My thinking/problem with these issues is not so much big mankind issues -I defer to folks like yourself who have the theological horsepower- but more personal, “Have I believed a different gospel” kind of stuff.
Most of the christian folk in my culture (I’m from the southeastern US, east Tennessee more precisely), if asked to boil the gospel down to its essence will say something like this, “Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he died to take away your sins. Ask Him to come into your heart, and your sins will be forgiven.” That, or something like it, would have been my answer for most of my life in Christ. It’s kinda the answer I’ve given my own children.
My problem is this, when I hear Paul say “I am not ashamed of the gospel” I cringe. The truth is I am ashamed of the gospel, at least the gospel of personal salvation that I’ve heard all my life. It’s not big enough. As much hope as it holds for me personally, it’s not enough.
I’ve begun to think that the only gospel that is big enough is the gospel of the Kingdom. A gospel that includes personal salvation, but also the redemption of the cosmos, the restoration of all things in the Kingdom under the rule of the King. I think now that the distilled essence of the gospel is, “The Lord reigns! Come and worship the King!”. Fill this out with all the details we must, but the core of the story is the same, the King is coming, and I serve Him. “Aslan is on the move!” to borrow a phrase. That’s a big enough hope and a big enough gospel for me not to be ashamed. I also wonder if this isn’t part of why “cheap grace” seems to abound in the West, to borrow another phrase.
Sorry to be so long, but your outline includes more “kingdom” language than most I’ve heard and got me thinking.
Peter O,
Could you help me with your question? Are you asking about the practice of someone “getting saved” first and then as a part of sanctification Jesus “becoming Lord” of their life as the process of building the Kingdom? Or have I missed your point completely, I’m sometimes very slow to catch on?
Morning Albert,
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m asking. The issue of what we mean by “Kingdom Building” will affect how we integrate it into a gospel message. I think you’re absolutely right that redemption involves the perfection of the universe around us, but the balance between that happening on the final day and our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation needs to be clarified.
I for one am an electionist with a healthy respect for Eastern Orthodox understandings of redemption so, to be simplistic, I believe that the new creation will involve the redemption and perfect of the elect AND the fallen creation, but not unelect humans.
John, I really like what you’ve done here. Even if this is again re-drafted, please never lose this version. It’s very valuable.
WRT the discussion of the bigness of the gospel, I can totally understand and support Albert’s point. But I think Peter’s qualification about “unelect” is unnecessary in our headline proclamation. I had a kinda “Lord, are they few who are saved? -’Strive to enter in by the narrow gate’” feeling when I read that.
Hi John, Peter, et al,
Let me start by saying that I am a Presbyterian, so the doctrine of election is one I’ve wrestled with a lot. (I was going to write a section on it, but it isn’t quite on point for this discussion). Suffice it to say that my wonder and faith is increased by worshipping the God who knows effortlessly how the scriptural realities of predestination and free will are both completely true, when the most brilliant minds of the past two millenia haven’t been able to figure it out. Go figure, mystery can increase faith! Who knew?
My question in this discussion about the presentation of the gospel is this- Why do we not present the gospel like this; “‘Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.’ (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity). Come join His Kingdom”?
Why is it always in the context of personal salvation? I’m serious in asking, I’d like to know what you all think.
Peter, I’ll need to think some more about how kingdom building, sanctification and restoration/perfection shape the gospel message. Like I say. I’m sometimes pretty slow.
This is a totally superficial comment, but I really love the illustration of “us” shaking our fist at God. It’s my favorite in the series.
John,
Just a quick comment for now.
I really like the illustrations and layout- simple and clear, but attractively done.
The “story” is easy to follow – you’ve simplified it from last time, but it’s more profound in its content.
This provides a good starting point for conversations.
I also appreciate the way you’ve incorporated the baptismal theme,
especially the robe and the sign of the cross on the head of the figure in the last illustration!
Every blessing with this!
Mark
Good morning all,
The Old Testament authors, building and enlarging upon the expectations of their predecessors, worked in sequence towards an ultimate goal; the establishment of an ideal kingdom; the Kingdom of God on earth to be ruled over by an earthly king.
The New Testament authors proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all the expectations concerning this earthly king but in a totally ‘unexpected’ way. They also procalimed that the ‘spiritual’ Kingdom of God was now in existence, but that Jesus would one day return to take up his rightful place as ‘literal’ King of Israel.
The base unit of the ‘Kingdom of God’ is personal character. Each unit is a particular case of this Kingdom. It is in the universalising of these particular instances on the basis of microcosm/macrocosm that the Kingdom of God will become a reality here on earth. The only difference between the “Kingdom” message and the “personal salvation” message is one of degree.
Having just come back from the Higher Things youth conference, “For You,” I’ve been imbued with remembrances of the importance of the salvation message getting personal. I too had kind of had it with the totally individualistic sort of salvation message where becoming a member of Christ’s church was presented as almost an afterthought. But at the same time, it really is quite important that the forgiveness that Jesus won on the cross is really *for me*– otherwise it’s not good news. I suppose some of the more Calvinistic persuasion would take issue with this approach because it suggests universal atonement, rather than the more “God is sovereign and it’s about being in his kingdom or out of it” kind of approach.
Todd Wilkin: “Anybody can die on a cross. Thousands of people have. Dying a cross is not remarkable. But only one person died on a cross for you.”