Matthew 9:35-38
Jesus went teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
What is the Gospel of the Kingdom? The word gospel, of course, means "good news." We've been talking about the Kingdom for a week or two, that realm of living the eternal, abundant life now (I know I wore you out last Sunday with a portion of Brother Lawrence's The Practice of the Presence of God, but that would be a great, cheap read for those longing for the Kingdom life--I'll link it here).
I've also been grappling somewhat in my mind with what Dallas Willard calls the "Gospel of Sin Management" in his book Divine Conspiracy, which I'll link here. His understanding is that we have reduced the Christian life to mere forgiveness of sin; that we as Christians are not concerned about anything but forgiveness, and as long as we're forgiven we're alright with God and need not worry about much else. I think we call this simply "the Gospel." What began with Jesus proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, we have reduced to simply the Gospel. And we don't proclaim even that very much. Why?
What is the Gospel of the Kingdom? Is it getting to go to heaven one day, or that heaven has come to us even now? Is it knowing that we have it made in the shade, or is it a challenge for us to strive even more to enter through the narrow gate (Luke 13:24)?
How do we proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom? By merely telling people their sins can be forgiven, or is there something of the eternal, abundant life that can be reflected in even our most menial tasks?
Are we Christians missing something, or am I making too much of this? Would you help me get to the answer? This weekend, as you can, leave your thoughts in the comments section about what you think the Good News of the Kingdom is, and why it is Good News to you (in other words, how it plays out in your day to day life).
