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TechnoratiYou can see the narcissistic nature of this emphasis. There is absolutely no connection whatsoever to the kingdom of God. The gospel according to revivalism is all about you and its only real implication is eschatological: when you die you get to go to heaven. However, this begs the question: What does the faithful Christian do in the meantime? Answer: Repeat the process as many times as you can and manage your personal sin. The gospel becomes a sales pitch emphasizing only the personal benefits; the redemptive work of the kingdom is ignored. The result is irrelevance. As the late Dorothy Sayers observed, “How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?” (Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos [New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1949], 56).
Don’t misunderstand. My salvation is profoundly personal but it is not the exclusive goal of the gospel of the kingdom. It is so much bigger than that! I am not inviting Jesus into my life, he is inviting me into his: his present kingdom and his redemptive mission in this fallen world. C. S. Lewis said it well when he wrote, “Christianity is a fighting religion…. It thinks God made the world … But it also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again” (Mere Christianity). And this “putting them right again” is embedded in the good news of God’s in-breaking reign (i.e., Christ’s kingdom) into this fallen world, setting right what sin has set wrong. This gospel of the kingdom promises the redemption of God’s whole creation; the church is gathered and sent to actively participate in this redemptive work in multiple ways, including proclamation of the risen Christ, certainly, but also demonstration of kingdom life within the community of God’s people and service to the world.
Next week, I will take up the following step in our journey back to the right path. We will examine the Scriptures-the ancient paths-and see how Jesus and the apostles describe the gospel in relation to the kingdom, and from there recover the church’s purpose and mission in light of that revelation.
S. Michael Craven is the President of the Center for Christ & Culture. Michael is the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress). Michael's ministry is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, visit: www.battlefortruth.org. Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.
