The Gospel Coalition

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel!”
- Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of His ministry (Mark 1:14)

Most of Jesus’ fellow Jews were clinging to God’s promise to return as Israel’s King, to once again assert His rule, end Roman oppression and vindicate His chosen people. They believed God would soon fulfill His glorious Kingdom promise to step into world history and usher in a new age through His chosen Messianic warrior.

At the beginning of his gospel, Mark summarizes the core of Jesus’ message: “The prophecies are being fulfilled; the time has come!” Jesus’ words carried explosive significance for His people. The new day was dawning! God was beginning to write the next chapter in Israel’s history.

Jesus saw His fellow Jews on a collision course with Rome. They believed that fighting for a nationalistic kingdom would bring religious and cultural freedom from their pagan rulers. Jesus told them the Kingdom was truly coming, but His announcement did not only demand celebration, but also repentance, for the Kingdom was not arriving as had been expected.

God was asserting His claim to kingship through Jesus. He was finally writing the pages of history that had been prophesied for hundreds of years. Thus, Jesus tells His followers to turn from their sins, to change their way of thinking and to accept the Gospel – the good news of what God is doing. “Repent” literally means to “turn around.”

When we call people to repentance today, we are asking them to turn from their sins and turn to a whole new way of thinking. When we preach about God’s Kingdom, we are speaking, not only of a heavenly afterlife, but also of loyally following Jesus as King here on earth. Jesus tells us to trust in the good news of God’s action and give up our silly paths to temporary happiness. We must trust that through His sacrificial death on the cross, we gain access to the Father. Then, as God’s children, we must work at bringing every area of life under subjection to Christ the King.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

A revolution of simplicity is underway, according to authors Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. Simple Church encourages Christian leaders to adopt the Bible’s clear, simple model of discipleship instead of the complex, program-based ministries that have become common in many churches today.

Rainer and Geiger offer four areas that can help churches simplify: Clarity, Movement, Alignment, and Focus. A clear vision should then move people through levels of discipleship with no congestion from competing programs. The church should unite around the vision and discipleship strategy by aligning existing programs according to the greater vision of the church. Finally, the church should focus on the vision by setting aside (or never starting) programs and ministries that do not contribute to the church’s simple process for making disciples.

Three Important Lessons to Remember
 Simple Church contains a wealth of thoughtful advice for the pastor seeking to simplify the discipleship process of a local church. Three suggestions stand out as especially important. First, Rainer and Geiger encourage the formulation of a clear vision for the church’s mission and strategy, but they believe this vision is helpful only if the pastor can effectively lead to the its implementation. Secondly, church leaders must avoid putting an undue burden on the active members of their congregations by offering too many programs and expecting a high level of participation at every event. Third, church leaders need to evaluate the different stages of discipleship in order to understand how to move a person from one level to another.

Over the next few days, I will be blogging my way through these three important areas addressed in Simple Church.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

O Son of God and Son of Man,
     you were incarnate,
     and you suffered, rose, and ascended for my sake.
Your departure was not a token of separation
     but a pledge of return.
I have trusted you
     and you have not betrayed my trust;
     waited for you, and not waited in vain.
You will come to raise my body from the dust
     and reunite it to my soul,
     by a wonderful work of infinite power and love.
Beyond the grave is resurrection, judgment, acquittal, dominion.
And after judgment, peace and rest, life and service,
     employment and enjoyment, for your elect.
O God, keep me in this faith,
     and ever looking for Christ’s return.

  The Valley of Vision (Puritan Prayer)

“There is something worse than an empty church, and that is an offended God.”

- Ian Paisley

Studies show that college students aren’t leaving the faith, just the Church. Should we be happy about this?

Southern Fried Baptists – To our shame, Southern Baptists are 30 times more likely to be obese than non-Christians. Perhaps that’s why the Convention passed an alcohol resolution last year, but dismissed one on gluttony this year. A little too close to home.

William Kristol tells us why he believes Bush’s presidency will be judged favorably by history

Russ Moore on Jesus in Exodus 

Can a church planting pastor really rely on expository preaching?

Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost) lists his favorite 100 blogs. I’m sure Kingdom People was #101.

Why relevant preaching is so irrelevant

Tony Kummer on Four Foundations for Children’s Ministry

Top Post this Week at Kingdom People: My review of McLaren’s Secret Message of Jesus

 Keith and Kristyn Getty (writers of songs like “In Christ Alone” and “The Power of the Cross”) have written a song for Communion called “Behold the Lamb (Communion Hymn)”. It’s one of the best Communion songs I have heard in recent days. Check it out.

 They are making this available for free download here.

I recently read Brian McLaren’s challenging book: The Secret Message of Jesus, which was generously provided to me by the publisher in order that I might write about it on this blog.

Let’s start with points of agreement. We can affirm much of “the secret message” that McLaren “recovers” in this book. Okay… forget the hyped-up title for a moment (the title sounds more like something from the Gnostic Gospels, or a new Da Vinci Code). If you can get past the McLaren’s implicit claim to be just now, after 2000 years, recovering the original message of Jesus, you might just find a lot to agree with.

I appreciate the emphasis McLaren puts on the Kingdom of God as a central component to the gospel. This is missing in many evangelical presentations of the gospel, and its omission is glaring once we read the Gospels in their original context. McLaren is right to bring us back to the idea of God’s reign and Christ’s lordship as being central to the gospel.

I also affirm the aspects of the gospel that transform life on earth here and now. McLaren believes that Christians should be working to see life here and now look more and more like life in the new heavens and new earth. He challenges Christians to begin working to bring that future into the present. He rightly corrects several mechanistic views of “heaven” and shows how the biblical portrait of God’s presence is so much greater than what we have settled for.
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I suppose my musical taste for the Carpenters has been vindicated now that they’ve seen a resurgence in album sales during the last decade. Ten years ago,  some of the 1990′s top alternative artists (Sonic Youth, Babes in Toyland, American Music Club, The Cranberries, etc.) collaborated on a tribute album called If I Were a Carpenter, in which they pledged their unswerving devotion to the duo that got laughed off the rock scene in the 1970′s.

Horizon is the finest album by the Carpenters. Some fans have considered it to be the Carpenters’ equivalent to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The music is outstanding. Richard’s arrangements are flawless, and Karen’s vocals are extraordinary. This is also the album recorded at the very onset of Karen’s battle with anorexia nervosa, which just 8 years later would claim her life.

Horizon is brief, clocking in at just over 30 minutes. It begins and ends with two short companion pieces called “Aurora” and “Eventide.” A chilling piano fades in, followed by Karen’s entrance, singing “Morning opens quietly, a shadow vision over me.”  The lyrics of these songs employ a series of images, which is unusual for The Carpenters.
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This is funny. Because we talk about “death” being “dead” and other religious things like “missions” and “missionaries” here that are “dangerous”… my blog has officially been rated NC-17. Watch out kids! Parents, beware…

HT: Timmy Brister

Timothy George’s Theology of the Reformers (Broadman and Holman, 1988) has become a standard textbook for students interested in the theology of the Reformation. If you are interested in Reformation theology, but don’t have time to look through the primary source material, George’s book is where you should turn.

The book begins with a chapter that describes life in the Middle Ages – an appropriate place to begin if one is to understand the historical and sociological factors that led up to Luther’s break with Rome. George surveys the theological landscape of the period, as well as the mindset of “death” and “rebirth” prevalent in Europe at the time. The corruption of the Roman Catholic Church of the era is also described.

After setting the Reformation in historical context, George analyzes the life and theology of three magisterial Reformers and one Radical Reformer – Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Simons. Each chapter includes biographical information, quotes and excerpts from the Reformers’ works and debates, as well as an overview of the high points of each one’s theology. George does a fine job of hitting the highlights without entering into excessive detail.

My only point of contention was that sometimes George makes generalizations and doesn’t provide support. (An example is his declaration that Calvin affirmed the later Calvinist concept of “particular redemption.” Click here for my thoughts on that debate.)

One might wonder why George chose Menno Simons as the fourth Reformer to be analyzed in the book. It seems that other Reformers had more immediate impact than Simons, men such as Thomas Cranmer, Philip Melanchthon, or even Theodore Beza. Perhaps Simons is included as a representation of the Anabaptist strand of theology, which eventually led to an alternative view of church and state, as well as peaceful disagreement between different theological movements.

Theology of the Reformers is the place to start one’s study of the theology that drove the Reformation.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog