Living the Gospel

I’m curious. How would you react to this statement: “We have to be honest with ourselves and realize that if the message isn’t attractive and the people of God aren’t attractive, then we must not be telling the story right or we aren’t living the story correctly.”

I don’t know about you, but that hits me where it hurts. My first thought was, “Where have I failed—as a Christian and as a minister? What did I miss? Where’s the disconnect? But then I realized it’s not just “me,” it’s “us!”

The quote is from Hugh Halter and Matt Smay’s book, The Tangible Kingdom. And I should probably tell you it’s not a book about church-bashing nor is it “Ten Easy Steps to Righting All Wrongs.” Rather, it’s an honest attempt at encouraging church folks to be “kingdom people,” to use Dr. Ken Jones’ terminology. It’s about living out the kingdom of God on a daily basis where we live, work, play and worship. Sound familiar? The book is a compilation of the authors’ experiment of moving out of theory and into actuality as they share their struggles and successes. No more “this is what it should look like,” or “can we go to a seminar?” They did it. And are doing it!

Whereas we’ve considered ourselves fairly good at “telling the story” or what we like to call “preaching the gospel,” they (the authors) propose that we become better at “living the story.” Our dilemma is this: we have focused on leading people to a better understanding as we emphasized biblical authority, the inspiration of Scripture and the “how to” stories of conversion, but we have been weak at leading them to a better way of living. That’s why all the pollsters tell us there is virtually no difference between the churched and the unchurched regarding moral values. Hence, those on the “outside” don’t see anything to be gained by being on the “inside.” As the writers put it, “If our gospel is what people think it is, it’s no wonder that it’s not worth adding church to a busy recreational weekend.” If it hasn’t changed us, how will it change them?

The real lesson to be learned from Jesus’ encounter with the rich ruler (Luke 18) is not “money is bad.” The real lesson is “anything that gets in the way of kingdom living is bad.” Perhaps we should all take an inward look. What do people without Jesus see in us that makes them want what we’ve got? It’s my responsibility to take care of me. What a difference it would make if each of us took seriously the challenge to live the gospel.

Gracious Father you have described us as salt, leaven and light. So move in our hearts that we can “become” the gospel on a daily basis – not just know it. Impress on us the power of the gospel as a “lived message”. As the body of Christ instill in us a zeal for your purposes and an ear that hears your calling of us in moments that need your redeeming presence. O God thank you for Jesus who came to “show us the Father”. May we be imitators of Jesus everyday. Amen.

Bob Crass
Amarillo, Texas