Several years ago I read a book by Erwin McManus called “An Unstoppable Force”.
To be honest, I don’t remember that much about the book apart from the fact that it was concerning the Church and the title was “An Unstoppable Force”. It was this title that really made me think. Is the Church really an unstoppable force? The Church (in the United States at least) is in decline. The numbers are actually quite deflating. More churches disband or die each year than are newly started. Don’t let the mega church phenomenon fool you; the Church is dealing with a significant loss of life (literally and metaphorically).
My questions are, “Why do we seem to be so stoppable?” and, “Why is the church in such a state of decline?”
You could make a case for quite a number of causes for this decline. Many books have been written on the subject. But I think there is one overriding factor, one cause that may be having the most impact. I think we’ve forgotten what the Gospel really is. We have accepted a reduced form of the good news that is only mostly good news. This reduced form of the gospel has created a situation where a huge portion of Jesus followers are in essence waiting around to die so that they can start living. Many of us are tiptoeing through life so that we can die and go to heaven.
The Gospel that most of us have been taught is that Jesus died on the cross for my sins so that I can go to heaven when I die. This is mostly true and has the added benefit of being mostly good news, especially considering the alternatives…
The problem with this reduced gospel lies not so much in these concepts being wrong, the problem is that it doesn’t go nearly as far as the Bible actually goes. The good news is actually far better news that this reduced gospel has shown us!
In this hope we were saved: What does the bible actually say about the good news?
There are actually two parts to the gospel, what God is doing now and what God will do in the future. Let’s start with what God will do in the future so that we can know where we’re headed. The scripture is surprisingly clear about the Christian’s hope for the future. The Apostle Paul explains our hope like this:
Romans 8:18-24a:
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved."
Listen to how good this news really is! God is going to resurrect our bodies re-create all of creation as well! The entire universe will be re-created! Creation doesn’t eagerly anticipate it’s own destruction. All of it, us included, looks forward to being liberated from the bondage to decay and ultimately death. God promises us a real future with re-shaped bodies and a re-created universe to live in that is so far beyond what we can imagine that we have to use language like “streets of gold” or “pearly gates”. I think that means that things will be so wonderful that what we currently call valuable and precious will be like asphalt and building materials in God’s newly created world!
This good news comes with a second amazing part. Listen to this: God has announced through the Birth of Jesus, his life on this Earth, his death on the cross, and ultimately his resurrection that this recreation project has already begun. The apostle Paul says it like this:
2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Jesus himself was the first to be resurrected to this new life with a new kind of body, and in him we have the promise of new life. The entire life and message of Jesus was consumed with the claim that God’s eternal and re-creative Kingdom is already here and that we have the opportunity to participate in it now! In other words, eternal life begins now. The things we do to bring about newness are of an eternal quality. You don’t have to wait around for death in order to really start living! That’s the good news. Jesus has made a way for us both now and in our future.
On earth as it is in heaven…
There are hundreds of thousands of ways to take part in God’s re-creation project. Maybe you love and connect with at-risk kids or use your civic connections to help break the cycles of poverty. Maybe you have a farm and you wisely care for the land and teach others to do the same. Maybe you are a great listener or you can make people feel loved and at home with your hospitality. There are almost as many ways to begin living the eternal kind of life now as there are people. If you are willing to engage in this kind of life in the name of Jesus Christ you will once again make our message of good news an unstoppable force for God’s kingdom!
Let me leave you with one thing to practice. A beginning point or an entrance into this newly created life. Jesus taught us to pray this prayer:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come, your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day, our daily bread
And forgive our debts and we forgive our debtors
Pastor and author Richard Rohr says that, “Forgiveness is the beginning, middle and end of the gospel life. It is the experience of being forgiven (when we didn’t even think we needed it) that renews our nagging spirit. Forgiveness is the supreme work of God for the re-creation of all things: Nothing new happens without it.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
We must learn to pray as Jesus did so that we can participate in God’s resurrection project. Sin and death have been defeated! As we pray the Spirit of God can help us understand how to be in this world while being of the next one. How to be in this world, working for re-creation and the healing of brokenness, without becoming broken down ourselves.