Redeeming Theology Archives - Page 27 of 82

If Scripture reveals anything to us about people who live in light of the gospel, it is that the gospel does not make us into clones. The gospel is not about making Christian clones.

Humanity consists of a wide diversity of people, which means that when the gospel is lived out in human life, it will take a wide diversity of forms and applications. … So be generous and gracious as different people live out the gospel in different ways.

Instead, the gospel calls out the best in people so that they can use their God-given strengths, talents, abilities, and desires to glorify God and further amplify the impact of the gospel in this world. The gospel, when rightly lived, will not cause all Christians to look, act, and talk the same, but will cause all Christians to celebrate their diversity and follow Jesus wherever He leads, even if it is in opposite directions.

The sooner we recognize this, the better off we’ll be. Gospel unity does not mean Gospel uniformity, but the willingness to allow gospel diversity.

Ministry Disagreements with Paul and Barnabas

Take Paul and Barnabas as an example. In their first missionary journey, they brought John Mark with them. But for various reasons, John Mark returned home before finishing the trip. Because of this, Paul insisted that John Mark not go with them on a second missionary journey, but Barnabas, being the encourager that he was, wanted to give John Mark a second chance. When they were not able to agree, Barnabas went off with John Mark and Paul chose Silas as his missionary companion (Acts 15:36-40).

So who was right and who was wrong?

The eventual answer of Scripture is that both were right. Paul and Silas get most of the attention in Acts, but John Mark later becomes very important and helpful to Paul (Col 4:10).

Apparently, God preferred to have two teams of people living out the gospel in opposite directions and in different ways than just one team. It is not that one person was right and one person was wrong. Both had different visions, plans, dreams, goals, and strengths, and God wanted each to use these differences in their own way to live out the gospel in the various ways He had called them.

How to live in unity with others

This idea might help various groups of Christians understand each other better and work together in peace and unity.

If there is a local church where half the people want contemporary music and half want traditional hymns, both sides can stop accusing the other of cultural compromise or religious traditionalism and instead recognize that it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people, and that the two groups can either go their separate ways in peace.

Maybe God prefers to have two teams of people joyfully singing about the gospel in their own ways than to have one team of people where everybody is bitter, bored, and angry about the music that touches none of their hearts. The same sort of approach could be applied to nearly every divisive issue in the church.

The truth of the gospel is that when we live it out in our lives, there is no perfect, biblical blueprint that we are to model ourselves after. God needs all kinds of people to reach all kinds of people.

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

Hack the Theologian – Frank Viola

By Jeremy Myers

2 Comments

This is part of an ongoing series where I briefly interview a theologian, pastor, author, or Bible scholar that I highly respect, and ask them to tell us a bit about themselves, their most current teaching project, and the one most important truth (the hack) they wish every Christian could learn.

I call the series “Hack the Theologian.” This doesn’t mean I think these theologians are hacks. Far from it! It means that I am trying to find (and share with you) the one thing that makes them tick, the one insight that keeps them writing and teaching, the one truth they are most passionate about, the one idea that turned their life and theology upside down. You can read the other posts in the series right here.

(Do you know an author I can highlight in this series? Have them contact me!)

So Let’s “Hack” Frank Viola

Frank Viola is the author of numerous books and heads up an online discipleship group called “The Deeper Christian Life.” Here are Frank Viola’s answers to my questions:

1. Can you tell us who you are and what you do in 40 words or less?

Just an Italian guy who is captivated by Jesus and shares the same name as the MLB pitcher. Ever since I’ve been a Christian, I’ve known in my heart that there must be more. So my spiritual journey has been that of discovering the “more” and sharing my discoveries with others.

2. Tell us something about yourself that few people know.

I used to pitch in high school, and I was also the lead singer of an incredible music band. (Sadly, I never made the Majors — without counting in my dreams. The other Frankie V. did.)

3. What is the best book you have read this past year? (It doesn’t have to be theological!)

Shaped by Vision – the biography of T. Austin-Sparks (second time around).

4. You have a new book called There Must be More. Tell us a bit about it. What is the main point and what do you want people to learn or do?

We are calling this monstrosity my Titan. It’s an oversized, 800-page, limited edition hardcover that contains over 380,000 words. It includes all of my published writings from 2008 – 2016, some of which were rejected by my publishers because they were too controversial. I (and others) regard the Titan to be more radical than Pagan Christianity, my 2008 book with George Barna. It’s also a robust follow-up to Pagan Christianity.

Here is what it covers and who it’s for:

Serious Reasons

It’s for those who have read some (or all) of my other works and want some of my best writings that have never been printed, which go deeper into the themes.

It’s for those who are part of a Christian community or plan to be in one. It includes my memoir about church and body life with dozens of lessons learned. It also addresses the dangers and the common problems, along with how to deal with them based on my experience in body life since 1988. It’s more detailed in this regard than any of my other works.

It presents a fresh look at God’s eternal purpose and driving passion through the sections on “Magnificent Obsession” and “Rethinking the Mission.”

It’s for any Christian who knows in their hearts, “There has to be more than this” (meaning, more than what they’ve been taught and what they’ve seen).

It’s for those who are interested in a totally different take on the baptism of the Spirit and spiritual gifts than the Pentecostal view and the cessationist view.

It’s for those who wish to have in print my critique of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire.

It’s for those who desire to get a fresh perspective on Christ and His kingdom that will warm the heart, edify the spirit, and inspire the soul.

It’s for those who want all of my unpublished writings in one place. The Table of Contents gives readers an easy way to navigate the content.

It’s for those who wish to contribute toward helping some of the poor and sick people we are trying to help.

Humorous Reasons

It’s for those who are looking for an excuse to buy a new coffee table (there’s a good chance that the Titan will break it immediately upon placement).

It’s for those seeking a blunt force object for a time of need (who needs guns when you have a copy of the Titan on hand).

It’s for those who are looking for a heavy, unmovable door stopper.

It’s for those who own fireplaces and are looking for good kindling material that will burn for at least 8 hours (the 800 pages are constructed in such a way that they roast slowly).

It’s for both my fans who desire to collect all my work. (My mother being one of them.)

5. Karl Barth was once asked to summarize his life’s work in one sentence. He answered, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” How would you summarize your life’s work? To put this question another way, if you could get people to understand just one idea, what would it be?

Jesus Christ is ALL, everything else is commentary.

The Titan will only be printed once and never again. It’s presently on discount until August 20th. Check it out and get your copy at ViolaTitan.com

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

4 Ways the Gospel Creates Unity in the Church

By Jeremy Myers

8 Comments

Once we begin to understand how the gospel creates peace, mocks our vain claims to self-importance, and teaches us to live as agents of joy and delight in the world, how will these truths begin to create unity among the bickering factions of Christianity?

Let me propose four ways the gospel creates unity in the church.

First, the gospel teaches us that truth is only true if carried out in love.

While we can agree that there is no love without truth, it is essential for doctrinally-minded Christians to remember that there also is no truth without love. True truth will always express itself in love.

If you are warring and fighting with your brother, especially over doctrine, it is probably a good indication that you have misunderstood the truth of that doctrine. True doctrine and theology leads always and only to love (1 Cor 13).

Second, the gospel brings peace to the various sides of the “works vs. faith” debate.

The debate has raged over whether or not the gospel requires works as a way to earn, keep, or prove one’s eternal life.

Yet this debate comes from a simple categorical mistake of confusing a small part of the gospel with its entirety. If two people are arguing about what qualifies as true “fruit” and one has apples in mind and the other has oranges, but they keep using the world “fruit” the argument quickly becomes quite messy.

Gospel debates are like that. The gospel is a wide-ranging message about what God has done for the entire world through the life, teachings, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It not only contains truths about how a person can go to heaven when they die, but also about how a follower of Jesus can live here on earth.

So if one person is thinking only about the parts of the gospel that tell a person how to go to heaven when they die or receive eternal life (faith alone in Christ alone), while another person is thinking about the parts of the gospel which tell followers of Jesus how to live on this earth (discipleship, obedience, faithful living), but both persons keep using the term “gospel,” the argument quickly becomes quite messy. But when we understand that the gospel contains both truths, about how to receive eternal life and properly live this life, then we can stop arguing about the role of faith and works in the gospel and see that both have their proper place with proper results.

Third, the gospel is about learning more about Jesus AND doing more with Jesus

When we see that the gospel contains a whole host of truths and doctrines to believe and teach and also a broad spectrum of behaviors to practice and obey, those who believe Christians should be listening to more sermons and attending more Bible studies can nod and smile toward those who prefer to be out feeding the poor and tending the sick, and vice versa.

Both sides recognize that if they are truly following the gospel, there will come a time when their roles must reverse, or at least become more balanced.

There is a time to study, and a time to serve; a time to learn, and a time to love.

The gospel reminds us that we are all one family

Ultimately, the gospel teaches us that no matter what, we are all one family. And just like any family, there will be internal disagreements, struggles, and arguments. There may need to be some discipline that takes place, some separations that must occur.

But when these arguments and breakups happen, the gospel reminds us that we are still family, and that despite our hurt feelings, theological disagreements, and interfamily strife, the goal of the gospel is reconciliation and redemption, not just of each of us to one another, but ultimately and eventually, the redemption and reconciliation of all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

But church unity is not easy

None of this means that the development of unity is easy. In fact, unity is a bit like humility: both vanish the moment you think you’ve achieved it. Unity, like humility, can never be our goal. Unity is a byproduct of living within the gospel.

Unity occurs naturally as a result of following Jesus as He leads us into peace with God and each other, into a gentle mocking of our own pride and ambition, and into a full-fledged delight at the beauty and wonder of life in this world.

When viewed this way, the gospel is a truth that binds us all together in unity, whether we are high church or low church, mega church or house church, or some mixture in between. The gospel is not something that divides, but unites, and brings us together into the unity of the faith.

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

Gospel light brings delight

By Jeremy Myers

6 Comments

Do you ever find yourself enjoying spending time with friends, family, and neighbors? If so, you are experiencing part of the gospel. The delight we experience as we live out the gospel among our friends, family, and neighbors is actually part of the gospel.

The gospel, when properly understood and practiced, becomes a great source of present joy and delight.

This is because the gospel is not just about the “by and by,” but also about the “here and now.”

The gospel message is intended to create delight in life, not just alleviate concerns about what happens after death. The gospel is not just about going to heaven when we die, but is also about experiencing heaven while we live.

The gospel is not just a message of hope for the dying, but is a message of delight for those who want to live. It does not call us to “Keep looking up” for the blessed return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but to keep looking out for ways that we can incarnate the return of Jesus in our very lives to those we interact with every day.

The gospel is not about waiting until we die or Jesus returns, but is about doing all we can to live our lives in such a way that Jesus returns in us.

I think it was Robert Farrar Capon who once said that while many Christians cannot wait to die so they can be glorified, God cannot wait for us to start living so He can be glorified. This is exactly the truth of the gospel.

The gospel is about how to live here and now so we look like Jesus and practice the principles of the Kingdom of God. When this happens, light, love, peace, and hope shine through our lives into the hopeless despair and darkness in which so many people live.

So when we live within the gospel of delight, we live our lives here and now with as much joy, love, contentment, service, and grace toward others as we possibly can. When we live in such ways, our lives become a vision of what heaven will be like.

Our lives point people to the reality of what God intends for the world.

We become a picture of what God desires for all people, a waking dream of what we might become. In this way, the gospel unveils a way of life for the here and now so that all who believe and follow the gospel can live, love, and look like Jesus to a dark and dying world.

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

The Four Gospels and the Caesar Gospels

By Jeremy Myers

7 Comments

Many people do not realize that the four Gospel accounts about Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) follow an ancient literary genre in the first century Roman Empire. These are called the Caesar Gospels.

Every time a new Roman Caesar came into power, he would have Gospel accounts written and distributed about himself throughout the empire.

These “Caesar Gospels” included stories about how the new Caesar was born, how he grew up, and some of the superhuman miracles he performed during his life. The Caesar Gospels usually included promises about how the new Caesar was the “Son of God” who would bring peace to the entire world, and how as a result, every Roman citizen must proclaim Caesar as Lord.

Many people think the Gospels are stories only about Jesus. But there were Caesar Gospels in the Roman Empire about the Caesars. The four Gospel accounts of Jesus are patterned after the Caesar Gospels.

The Four Gospels were Treasonous

One can easily see that in such an environment, the Gospels about Jesus written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John would be viewed as potentially treasonous.

These four Gospels were making the claim that Jesus Christ was Lord and Caesar was not. That world peace (pax Romana) came through Jesus Christ rather than through Caesar. That while the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus truly were filled with wise teachings and miraculous events, such things were only myths in the life of Caesar.

Using true history as a parody, the Gospel writers called into question all the central beliefs and practices of Roman life and worship.

They called people away from Caesar worship and into a politically, religiously, and culturally subversive life with Jesus Christ. Previously we saw that the gospel promotes peace.

The Four Gospels were Satirical

But when the gospel challenges and corrects the evils of this world, as we must do also, it does not use harsh rhetoric and name-calling, but parody and humor.

We see this in the parables of Jesus as well as in His actions and polemical teachings in the Gospels.

When Jesus seeks to correct, He does so with a smile on His lips and a glint of humor in His eyes.

The four Gospels are not alone in using satire, polemic, and parody to contrast the gospel of Jesus Christ with all other claims and promises of political and religious leaders.

Paul’s letter to the Romans, for example, also begins with parody. The opening paragraphs of this letter make a farcical mockery of Caesar and his empty claims to bring peace and justice to all.

In a time when every Roman Caesar claimed to be god’s divine representative on earth (even claiming the title Son of God), Paul courageously writes a letter to the Christians in the capital city of the Roman empire and makes the bold claim that in Jesus Christ, the true gospel of the true Son of God has been revealed, and in it, the true and lasting justice of God has been revealed to all men (cf. Rom 1:3-4, 16-17).

We could go book by book through the New Testament showing how the authors of Scripture spoke of the gospel in a way that both mocked and trumped the proud and foolish claims of political and religious leaders of that day. Such a survey would reveal that the goals and aspirations of politics and religion are usually not wrong, but the means and methods by which political and religious leaders seek to accomplish these goals are way off base.

The gospel shows believers how to live before a watching world so that the greatest dreams of humanity come to fruition in our very midst.

When we understand that the New Testament (indeed, the entire Bible!) mocks the power struggles of worldly-minded men, our eyes begin to see the proud and petty power struggles that exist in our own life.

The gospel challenges our own quests for personal prominence, recognition, and fame.

The gospel lays bare the motivations of our heart to reveal that many of our battles over the gospel are little more than struggles for control between power-hunger people.

Living the Gospel of the Four Gospels

When we begin to see that the gospel turns power on its head, mocks and makes fun of people who exert their own prominence and destroy others to protect their own positions of authority, it is then that we begin to understand that there is more to following Jesus than being right, being up front, and being the leader.

We begin to honor others above ourselves.

We begin to listen more than we talk.

We begin to serve more than seek to be served.

The gospel comes to be something we not only believe, but also live.

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting my work in this way!

Don’t become a Christian clone

Ministry Disagreements with Paul and Barnabas

How to live in unity with others

Hack the Theologian – Frank Viola

So Let’s “Hack” Frank Viola

4 Ways the Gospel Creates Unity in the Church

First, the gospel teaches us that truth is only true if carried out in love.

Second, the gospel brings peace to the various sides of the “works vs. faith” debate.

Third, the gospel is about learning more about Jesus AND doing more with Jesus

The gospel reminds us that we are all one family

But church unity is not easy

Gospel light brings delight

The Four Gospels and the Caesar Gospels

The Four Gospels were Treasonous

The Four Gospels were Satirical

Living the Gospel of the Four Gospels

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