The Gospel is Jesus
May 30th, 2007 · Posted in God Stuff, Linkage · 10 CommentsThe iMonk posted a great essay. Go read it.
Newsflash: The gospel is Jesus, it is not making people moral or having a great life in the here and now.
In other news, I heard one of my favourite songs this morning. Lost The Plot by Newsboys. It sounds good and hits hard.
Well worth the listen.
UPDATE: You can hear a (short) sample of it here.
Lost The Plot
Newsboys
When you’re coming back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard the rumor that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.
sigh
let’s be blunt
I’m a little distracted
What do you want?
Headaches and bad faith
they’re all that I got
first I misplaced the ending
then I lost the plot
Long among the free-ranged sheep
where the big birds sharpen their claws
for the time we stuck with the shepherd
but you wouldn’t play Santa Claus
sigh
let’s be blunt
We’re a little distracted
What do you want?
Once we could follow
now we cannot
You would not fit our image
so we lost the plot
Once we could hear you
now our senses are shut
We’ve forgotten our first love
we have lost the plot
lost the plot
When I saw you for the first time
you were hanging with a thief
and I saw my hands were dirty
so I dropped my gaze
but you said I was forgiven
and you welcomed me with laughter
I was happy ever after
and I was counting the days
When you’re coming back again
I’ll be ready for you
When you’re coming back again
We’ll be waiting for you
Maybe we will wake up when
Maybe we will wake up when
You are coming back again
lies
let’s be blunt
We’re a little unfaithful
What do you want?
Are you still listening?
‘Cause obviously we’re not
We’ve forgotten our first love
We have lost the plot
And why are you still calling?
You forgave, we forgot
We’re such experts at stalling
we have lost the plot
lost the plot
lost the plot
lost the plot
When you’re coming back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard the rumour that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here
(Lyrics retrieved from LyricsDownload.com)
RodeoClown: plotting
May 30th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
[...] friend RodeoClown gave me a little feeling of serendipity this evening. He had a post about the lyrics for the [...]
May 30th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
That’s weird! I just heard this song in the car. Great lyrics and song. Thanks for sharing with me.
May 30th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
‘Tis indeed a great song.
Heard it while skimming through my music files on the train this morning.
The last verse is what gets me, I love hearing stuff sung with passion (not lovey-dovey), and this one is my prime example.
It also is pretty convicting.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:56 am
I’m confused. Are you suggesting that Jesus doesn’t want us to make the world a better place? Because that’s highly inconsistent with my understanding of his teachings.
And I don’t really see how the Reformation settled any questions of the meaning of the Gospels – rather, it opened the door for more variety of interpretations!
I know that my own Christianity is far from where other people practice their Christianity, but I know that God is with me as surely as I know anything – that where I am and where I am going is a strange place I reconcile with the knowledge that I am only human, and it will not fall to me to have God’s perfect vision.
None of us do. None of us can. Surely…
The Gospel is Jesus? The Gospels are Jesus’ story – the most important story, to a Christian. But what that *means* to us, that is between each of us as an individual and God alone.
With unlimited love,
Chris.
May 31st, 2007 at 10:17 am
I’m confused. Are you suggesting that Jesus doesn’t want us to make the world a better place?
I can’t see that anyone said that. What is under discussion is the definition of the gospel.
At heart, the gospel is an announcement that God has intervened in the world to bring us into relationship with Him via Jesus Christ.
Our behaviour toward other people, and the world, flows out of that. But “make the world a better place” is not the gospel.
May 31st, 2007 at 10:38 am
Are you suggesting that Jesus doesn’t want us to make the world a better place?
Not at all, but I am suggesting that it wasn’t his primary goal.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Being good (“doing works”) isn’t the gospel – it is a response to it. The gospel is Jesus – his death and resurrection.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Jesus rocks the suburbs
May 31st, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Thanks for the clarification! I see your position now.
Paul, the author of Ephesians, seems to have followed John in formulating his position… I’m going to have to commit to reading the whole of the Gospel of John again soon – I have many questions about it that only prayerful study will resolve. There is so much of a cosmic nature in John that is not in the three synoptic Gospels.
The three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) show Jesus’ ministry as very much focussed on his teachings and parables, his comfort of the poor and the casting out of evil. This is a ministry that is focussed on the world; whatever cosmic perspective we take away from John, and however we intepret the Gospels collectively, I hope we can agree that God wants us to make the world a better place in our brief time here.
Best wishes,
Chris.
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:39 am
I love that song and I love the Newsboys…definitely in my top 10 favorite bands of all time. In fact, my wife Kim has used Phil Joel as her model when she decided to grow her hair long.
June 6th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Jason – The resemblance is uncanny. Although I think this goes to show that PJ looks like a chick, rather than Kim looking like a dude
Chris – The synoptic gospels definitely have a focus on his teachings, but they also encompass his death and resurrection as the culmination of his ministry.
I believe that it is in the resurrection that we can see that there is more to what he was teaching than just being good. We need to be reconciled to God (Yahweh), and this is now available to us via his death.
That being said, anyone who calls themself a Christian but does nothing to better the lives of those s/he comes in contact with is either deluded or a liar. (So I agree – in a roundabout way
)
Thanks again for your contributions, they are appreciated.