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One of the things I so love about the Church – the body of Christ – is that our God speaks to us through our brothers and sisters. God often uses our relationships to make us think. To speak a rebuke or to extend grace. Or just to help us understand him better.
That happened to me yesterday. I was deeply troubled about something I read in a report by the Barna Group and wrote a post about it. In short, I was troubled because it seems that we – the Church – are not living and sharing our faith like we used to. Man, that still bothers me.
Widening My Perspective
And I think I outlined a few good reasons this might be. But then Steve Grossman (@stevegrossman), a friend of mine, just totally blew the lid off of my perspective as he responded back to me in a comment.
I had been coming at my understanding based on a the perspective of Fear of Man and whether we really believe the Gospel. That may shed a little light on where I need to grow. But Steve’s answer was just so full of grace and truth, that I’d like to just quote him here.
Probably because I’m reading Dallas Willard‘s The Divine Conspiracy, but my answer to why is that we’ve been deceived into accepting the Gospel of “Sin Management” instead of heaven on earth and kingdom of God LIFE. So instead of living and therefore preaching the good news of power/passion/joy/purpose infused life, all we have is a list of don’t dos. And that is no good news at all.
(emphasis and links added)
The gospel of “Sin Management” which is really no gospel That’s HUGE. And it’s often what we try to sell our culture rather than the kingdom of God on earth. What a flip!
Making it Practical
And then, Karen Byrne (@karenbyrne), who I’ve never met in person, but who blogs here, responded with several practical ideas for how to engage our culture and impact the lives of the generation coming behind us. I’m going to list just a few of her suggestions.
- Use life as an opportunity to show how God is moving
- Be real – [people] can see right through our masks
- Pray, and pray, and pray
What about You?
Have you embraced the “gospel of sin management?”
Do you have any practical ideas for engaging people and the culture for Jesus?
How does God use your fellowship with other believers to change you?
