Presbytery Core Value 2
The Gospel of the Kingdom Moves and Shapes the Church
The Gospel is the long-awaited announcement that God fulfilled his promise to bring salvation to a broken world—the kingdom of God. John the Baptist announced this good news and then pointed to Jesus as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus came as the King of the Kingdom and through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension we find new life for ourselves and hope for a needy world. Personally, we enter the Kingdom by the new birth as the Spirit enables us to repent and believe the gospel. Then we are brought together as a community that Jesus called “my church.” Now, as Jesus’ Church, we seek to be transformed by the gospel and to see the gospel transform our world. We preach the gospel to ourselves, to the church, and to the world. When the Gospel is at work in us, it gives us new freedom, new power, and new relationships. The Gospel changes everything.
What a rich and enriching thought: in Christ, the most menial task and the most common man is holy in God's sight and useful in His service. God works powerfully in and through the believer's daily life, whether in the marketplace, the assembly line, or the sanctuary; whether over a meal, a bible study, or a back-yard conversation. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.... It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Col. 4:23, 24). This changes everything. Life is not cut into compartments, some for Jesus and His service, some not. Every man and woman saved by His grace is a man of God or a woman of God and is in His service every day in every way. So every arena of life is touched by God and can be transformed by the Gospel. He has sovereign claim and influence upon all of life.
The Gospel is the long-awaited announcement that God fulfilled his promise to bring salvation to a broken world—the kingdom of God. John the Baptist announced this good news and then pointed to Jesus as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus came as the King of the Kingdom and through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension we find new life for ourselves and hope for a needy world. Personally, we enter the Kingdom by the new birth as the Spirit enables us to repent and believe the gospel. Then we are brought together as a community that Jesus called “my church.” Now, as Jesus’ Church, we seek to be transformed by the gospel and to see the gospel transform our world. We preach the gospel to ourselves, to the church, and to the world. When the Gospel is at work in us, it gives us new freedom, new power, and new relationships. The Gospel changes everything.
What a rich and enriching thought: in Christ, the most menial task and the most common man is holy in God's sight and useful in His service. God works powerfully in and through the believer's daily life, whether in the marketplace, the assembly line, or the sanctuary; whether over a meal, a bible study, or a back-yard conversation. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.... It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Col. 4:23, 24). This changes everything. Life is not cut into compartments, some for Jesus and His service, some not. Every man and woman saved by His grace is a man of God or a woman of God and is in His service every day in every way. So every arena of life is touched by God and can be transformed by the Gospel. He has sovereign claim and influence upon all of life.
posted by M Clark at 2/10/2006 09:57:00 AM
1 Comments:
I think this is probably the most transforming things a Christian can learn. To the extent we exclude God from areas of our life, to that extent we still have idols that need exposing. And the things that go along with that exclusion--anxiety, powerlessness, stress--all weigh us down and keep us from the full riches of his love for us.
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